The day after the Paria Canyon trip was spent doing laundry, packing my items, and trying to stay awake during the daylight hours. The next day I filled the gas tank in Page after checking out, making a few stops for last minute items for the upcoming biking trip, and headed out towards UT. I drove to a few sights along the way like the Navajo National Monument, Monument Valley, and Mexican Hat. I made my way to Moab that evening and got a hotel for the night. The next morning I went to search for items I wasn’t able to buy in Page, like padded bike shorts. Refusing to pay $100 for a basic pair of shorts at the local bike shop made me seek out the thrift store which was a gold mine of interesting equipment. I ended up buying a pair of shorts, windbreaker, shoes, a little sleeve for my GPS, and even a rope. I went to the information center and inquired about the road conditions along the White Rim Trail. I was told that it was muddy, and they even had a rockfall near a place called Hardscrabble, and it was currently impassable. Later I got in contact with Kurtis and Mike who were coming in to do some bike riding. We met out towards the trailhead of Bartlett Wash. The slickrock was enjoyable and reminded me of Tuscher Canyon, except with more people. The playgrounds were nice, and there was even a little half pipe. We went down to the other side, and were faced with a very loose sandy road. I remember from last year going through on motorcycles that it went on for a while, and was relentless in its poor terrain. It was far more advantageous effort wise, and sanity wise to head back the way we came on the slickrock even if it involved having to gain a lot of elevation again. It did, but we found a gradual ramp that brought us right up to the top again. The trip down didn’t take very long, and there was much jumping to be had. We packed up the bikes and left in time to meet up with the McEntires who were eating at the SlickRock Café. With that, we checked into the hotel there downtown and I snoozed a bit while the others did last minute shopping preparations. Kurtis treated us to Crème Brulee that evening before him, Mike, and I did a night ride of the Slickrock Practice loop with flashlights mounted to handlebars. We ended up having to rescue a guy who was out riding w/o any lights on a 3% full moon. I gave him a ride into town afterwards. Then we met with the McEntire clan to eat some pizza at a restaurant, and then soaked in the hot tub before getting kicked out past hours.
The next morning, David and I jetted out to the Island in the Sky visitor center to inquire about road conditions, and to get our permits for the campout. The rock fall had just been cleared, and we were good to go. We went back to Moab, and Trevor and I departed to drop my car off at the end of the bike loop. By the time we returned, others were impatiently awaiting our arrival, and we snarfed some food as we jetted on out to the Potash Road. We were all full of energy and ready to hit up the White Rim. Since the Shaffer Trail was closed for the winter still, we had to start from the bottom of the Colorado River Basin. The road had several lengthy elevation gaining sections, and descents. By the time we had arrived at the intersection of the Shaffer Trail, we were exhausted! We only had a few hours of daylight to reach camp, but we managed to make a few stops along the way to see some scenic detours. We also spent a hefty amount of time at Musclemann Arch and played around with photo-ops. The sun got lower, and with the low angled sun, I frequently pulled over and snapped several shots of the scenery. At dusk, I made my way into camp where it got cool rather rapidly, and I was happy that I decided to bring my wool work jacket. I set up my tent just in case the weather turned, and we all gathered around a lantern, exchanged stories, and ate heartily the meals we had brought. That night we sprawled out on a tarp to watch the stars as we fell asleep, but in a few hours half the sky disappeared in a black inky abyss. The horizon illuminated in lightning flashes, and the clouds overhead moved closer. We barely had enough time to scramble into the tents before the wind kicked up sand, and pulled tent stakes out of the ground. That night it got so windy that I awoke to feel the wind push air under my tent, and lifted me slightly off the ground. Tents make a lot of noise when its windy, so nobody got very much sleep.
The next morning, the wind had died down enough for us to get a few hours of sleep. We broke camp and started on our way. It was rather chilly, and we made use of windbreakers to keep the cold air off exposed skin. It wasn’t until a few miles when the sun was high enough, and our bodies were warming up to overtake the heat loss from the atmosphere. We could look to the East and see large snow squalls traveling with us South. As we got closer, the storm seemed to bear down on us, so we looked for shelter. Trevor, Brandy, Kurtis, and I pulled our bikes off the road, and scrambled to a large sandstone overhang where we put our windshells back on to wait out the incoming weather cell. We waited for a while as the wind picked up, but the snow seemed to just miss us on the other side of the ridge. The rest of the group arrived with the truck, and we took some time to break out some snacks. Soon we were back on the trail heading for White Crack campground. We got to the turnoff, and spent some time dozing off in the sun, and waking up whenever the wind picked up a little. When the others caught up we made our way down to the campsite where we then took a short hike out to an overlook where one could see the confluence, needles, and the maze. There was still significant distance we needed to cover before getting into camp. There was a gradual descent for a mile or so which was delightful in some areas. One turn later, the wind hit us with such force that one needed to pedal in order to travel downhill. We finally got to the steep ascent to our campsite at Murphy Hogback. This section there was no shame in walking up. It didn’t take too long, but we got to the top, and shuffled into camp. The temperature had dropped significantly, the wind was gusty, and the sun was going down fast. Tents were set up quickly, and water was boiled for dinner meals. Kurtis placed his propane space heater in the McEntire’s springbar tent, creating a warm shelter from the elements. The sun went down, and we all sought shelter in the large tent while telling tales, sharing photos, and looking at maps. Even though I had set up my tent under the wind shadow of a large juniper tree, I slept in the large tent with several other warm bodies heating the tent.
The sun came up the next morning illuminating one of the most scenic camping sites I’ve been to. I munched on some breakfast and slurped the remainder of my hot coco. We broke camp and were excited for a short riding day, with lots of downhill. The first bit was so steep, that some, even me included, had to dismount and walk down. Then there were several miles of down hill riding. Much of it comparable to the Kessle Run in Fruita, CO. Lost of little jumps here and there. I think I might have hit one or two bumps a little hard because a day later I realized that one of my spokes had sheared at the hub, and my rim was a little bent. Around mid-day we got to a little slot canyon that needed to be explored. I brought my rope just in case someone slipped, or couldn’t get back up. Inside the slot canyon it got deep quickly, and there were sloppy muddy pools of water. I didn’t feel like getting my shoes wet, so I only went down until getting wet was no longer an option. One section took me a little while longer to get out of, but after a bit of Spiderman action, I was able to pull myself out without falling into the water. For some reason my camera started to act funny. I got strange images looking pinkish and weird vertical lines going through the image. After a few shots, I got frustrated and banged the camera on the side of the canyon wall. It somehow remedied the situation, and I was back in business. Later we got back to the bikes and started on our way again. There were a few uphill sections later on, but it didn’t slow us down that much. We pulled into Potato Bottom campground, and walked down to the Green River shoreline that was only about a minute or two walk from camp. The water was extremely cold, and had a respectable current. The sun was warm, and a dip in water seemed like a great way to wash some of the accumulated salts and odors from the body, and to cool off a bit. Cooling off it did quite well. We had significant daylight remaining that evening, and we had time to play a game of ladder-ball, take photos of birds, and watch others ride their bikes up Hardscrabble with binoculars. I believe it was Kurtis who brought out a can of herrings, which led to a chain reaction of kippered snacks being opened. Salty fish meat and oils were slurped down at an alarming rate. Needless to say, we could smell the fish in our breath all that night. I decided not to set up my tent, since I assumed the valley bottom would be warmer than the high windy plateau, and many of us slept under the stars. I awoke late in the night freezing and shivering and my toes were numb. I rolled around a bit, drew in the strings on my sleeping bag, and dozed in and out for the remainder of the night until the sun finally came up. Ironically what I thought would have been the warmest night, was in reality the coldest.
The following morning, everything was coated in a fine layer of frost and even my water bottle was frozen solid. I put the sleepingbag out in the sun to dry off after the frost melted. Marjorie didn’t want to hold any of us back, so she left early while we were still getting things packed. The trail ahead was the dreaded Hardscrabble section that I remembered from being on a motorcycle the year prior as a place not very mountainbike friendly. Eventually we packed things up, and ascended the steep switchbacks. Once on top, Trevor, Brandy, Kurtis, Bryan, and I took a few mile hiking detour to some old ruins where we got some photos. On the way back it was apparent that our muscles were getting tired. We got back on the bikes, slammed down some water, and went on our way back down to the river basin on the other side. From then on we got rather spaced out, and I was riding solo for a good stretch. I could see Kurtis every now and then about ¼ mile ahead of me. I then got to the intersection where the trail ascended out of the canyon. Kurtis was there, and had received radio transmission that Dave and Marjorie were just barely to the rim. At this point I decided to wait for Trevor, Brandy, and Bryan but Kurtis went on ahead. I also noticed that my spoke was broken and my brakes had been rubbing slightly on the bent rim. After the rest arrived and caught their breath, we started on up. I found the perfect rhythm in pedaling with one of my lower gears. I had only used 3 gears the entire trip, and this one kept me moving without getting too tired or slowing down too much. I was expecting I’d have to eventually dismount, but since I was in a good zone, I figured I could make it the whole way up. I kept on going. About half way up the switchbacks I felt my nose tickle. With my lungs working hard, heart pounding, my nose began to drip a considerable amount of blood. It might have been a combination of blood pressure, dry air, change in altitude, change in temperature, or physical exertion. Whichever the case, I was bleeding rather rapidly. I kept on pedaling, figuring that it would stop soon enough. I just realized that Brandy who was behind me might be rather concerned to see so many blood drops in the road going up. By the time I got to the top, the bleeding had subsided, and I quenched my thirst by emptying my water bottle. After our brief celebration of completing the White Rim, we strapped on the bikes, and headed out towards Moab where we’d grab food. Once in Moab I took Trevor and Brandy over to Potash to pick up their car, and then met up with everyone else to shuffle gear and go eat. After dinner we said our goodbyes, and I went towards Spanish Fork to meet up with Damion and his family. There I took a much needed shower, and was able to catch up, show off some photos, and geek out a little.
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