Moab Trip Notes 1999

May 15 Saturday Arrived at Slick rock campgrounds at 9.05 a.m. (19.25 hours, 1247 miles). Dave, John and Paul arrived about 9.40 a.m. Had lunch of Chicken spaghetti and orange fluff salad. Left at 2.20 p.m. for Porcupine Rim and started the ride at 2.45. This is always a pretty ride with the last part of the ride having great views over the Colorado River. We got back to camp at 6.55 p.m. and had dinner in town.

May 16 Sunday Left in the morning for the Portal Trail. We traveled up the trail, which is mainly a stiff hike, often carrying your bike. Passing the safety warning signs it is amazing that people ride down the thing. It is also not surprising that several people have been killed falling off the trail edge. The trailhead is at an altitude of 4120 ft and 1.5 miles later you are at 5170 ft. We then rode over to join the Poison Spider trail and came upon a group of jeeps going down the very rocky part, quite impressive! Stopped at the grave of Mary Anne Franklin 1889 - 1896. Always wonder about the story behind this seven-year-old girl. It is a simple gravestone and cross overlooking the valley. There were great views of Moab as we worked our way down. At one point Rob chose a soft landing in a cactus. - Had to be de-needled (over thirty) when we returned to camp. Cary had a puncture at the last mile out of the trail over the loose pebbles (3-6" dia.). Returned to camp for lunch of chicken brats, baked beans and pudding. After lunch we took the van and bikes up to the Amasa Back trailhead. We had a good ride to the top (about 35 minutes) and then a fast ride down. On the way back to town we stopped at the Indian petroglyphs and rock cleft. The authorities have started to cover the modern graffiti with a rock colored mixture so that the original petroglyphs are easier to see. We returned to camp and then went into town for dinner.

May 17 Monday Arose at 6.15 a.m. had breakfast, prepared and loaded the bikes and drove to Rim Cycle Tours shop. Met Denise the manager and also Candy and Janeen our tour guides. We transferred the bikes onto the top of their van and left at 10 a.m. for Canyon lands National Park. After setting up the bikes Janeen gave us a bike safety demonstration! We rode with Candy down the Canyon road with Janeen following in the van. It was a long downhill ride over a gravel road and was very bumpy at times. There were several other bike groups around. We stopped at the bottom for the van to catch up and persuaded Janeen to join us for the ride leaving the van parked at the side of the road. After traveled a little ways down the road we stopped at an impressive overlook of the Colorado River. There were great views across the valley to where we would be riding in the afternoon. We then went a little further and took an offshoot road to a rock bridge. This was a natural rock arch where the top was level to the ground and the rock had fallen away underneath to leave a bridge like structure about 100 ft long, 10 ft wide and 3 ft thick at the thinnest part over about a 100 foot canyon. (Park rules prohibit riding over it-$50 fine). After spending some time there for photo opportunities we rode back to the van (about 2 miles). Carey got a puncture as we neared the van and Janeen did a very efficient job of mending it for him. They handed out snack bars and apples (at the time thought this was a poor lunch) before we started our ride on another road that gradually climbed out of the river valley. We stopped at an excellent viewpoint where the river meandered around in almost a complete circle several hundred feet below us. Candy and Janeen set up a table on the side of the van and a pressurized washing set up. They laid out our real lunch, an excellent cold buffet with cookies for dessert. We all sat on the edge of the canyon enjoying the lunch and the view. We then continued climbing out of the canyon before a long drop down. At one point Cary caught up with us having had his left fork shock plug strip out of the threads and hit him in the chest, releasing the spring and other parts onto the trail. We came to an outlook over brilliant blue ponds. These are potash-evaporating ponds and the blue chemical is added to improve the evaporation rate. Moving on we came to an earth-moving machine scraping up the potash from the bottom of an evaporated pond. A rapid down hill run brought us to the end of our tour. Candy arrived with the van and we loaded the bikes and headed for home, they dropped us off at the campsite around 4.30 p.m. and John went back to Rim Tours shop to retrieve our van. We loaded the bikes in the van drove to Slick Rock trail. All had fun trying out the trails and watching some hot-doggers ride the rock bowls. At one point Dave caught his foot on a tricky turn and it became painful riding back. After returning to camp we cleaned up, and then walked to the Buck Steaks restaurant at 9.20 p.m. This is next to the campsite and Janeen worked there as a waitress. She served us and we had an excellent meal.

May 18 Tuesday Up at 6.30 a.m. Cary had made breakfast. We loaded the van and left around 8.30 a.m. with both vehicles for the Spanish Trail road. Dave left his vehicle there and we all took off for the start of Flat Pass. Very pleasant ride, the creek was low this year so able to ride all the creek crossings. At the end of the trail Paul and Rob rode back to camp while Dave drove his vehicle with John back to the trailhead to get the van. Returned to camp for lunch of Penne pasta and chicken tacos, then left for Gemini Bridges with both vehicles. We left Dave's at trail end (11miles out of town on highway 191). Continued in the other van to the trailhead, which is 25 miles out of town in the Canyon lands. Rob drove the van back to the trailhead and swapped vehicles and then returned to camp. This was a very different ride from our previous ones. The trail went across prairie land country with open views of the distant mountains. There was a strong wind but fortunately it was blowing us in our direction. We took a small detour to the Gemini bridges. They are across the end of Bull canyon. Similar to the previous bridge we saw yesterday but with two rock formations in parallel and of shorter span. We stopped and explored a little before moving on. Greg had trouble with his bottom bracket, we tried to adjust and it was just about ride able. We returned to the main trail and dropped into a valley and came to a trail junction. If you turned right it eventually took you to the top of the Portal Trail. We did not have time to do this but noted it as a possibility for next year. So we turned left for a long gradual climb out of the valley to the top of a cliff and then a long rapid descent on a gravel road dropping away from the cliff to the trail end at the edge of highway 191 and to our van. I drove the van back to camp with Greg and Carey while John, Dave, Tim and Paul rode back. (11 miles on the highway, but mainly down hill making it a fast ride). The bikes were overhauled and slicks put on. We cooked dinner in camp to use up the remaining food and we spent a quiet evening talking and relaxing. We agreed it had been a great trip and looked forward to next year with similar rides and maybe hiking for the one-day break into "the Black Hole". A hike John had done with some other people in 1995. We also thought that it could be one day longer.

May 19 Wednesday All (except Dave) drove to Slick Rock at 7.30 a.m. Dave stayed at camp to pack since his foot was still painful.   John, Tim, Corey and Paul rode the main trail while Greg, Rob and John F rode the secondary trail and then returned to the van, loaded the bikes and returned to camp. John I, Tim and Rob returned later and we finished packing up camp. Said goodbye to Dave, John I, and Paul and both groups pulled out at 12.33 p.m. Had an uneventful ride home and got to John & Sara's house at 8.12 a.m. (19.75 hours, 1250 miles). The gear was quickly unloaded and dispersed and we all went our own ways. The end of a great trip.