June 2 – Day 20. Wild camping 20 miles from Hite to just beyond the Gooseberry work station

Our juniper pinyon campsite perched out on the rim of Lost Canyon turned out to be great. We had a nice big flat rock “patio” for cooking and a view of the red rock cliffs. Like most other nights not another person within god knows how many miles. At one point a jet fly over 30,000 feet up and we decided those were the closest humans to us. It was true solitude.

We rode along the rim of the Dark Canyon Wilderness, incredible place

Today’s ride was not only my favorite of the trip thus far, I think Jen and Bob feel the same way, it was amazing in so many ways. Obviously the scenery and surrounding landscape were a huge part of this, but the road it’s self was incredible, a perfect grade for nearly 50 miles in beautiful fast condition. Although nearly the entire day was going to be gain in elevation, it was almost entirely giving at a reasonable rate. The only real downside to the day was that the 10 liters of water we each got in Hite would only be enough to get us to a water source about 46 miles into our day. This was certainly cutting close and had we not gotten out of the lower elevations before it got too warm we would have run out. As it was we were looking for other sources because the one we knew about was no guarantee.

Just before noon and 17 miles into the day we saw a group of RVers parked in a great camping spot off the road always. Jen and I decided to ride up there and see if they naught have a little water to spare. They were the nicest people! Not only did they give us several liters of water, they packed us a bag of “Kind” bars, tuna packets, peanuts and Olives! We had a nice long talk with them and were wishing we could have talked longer, always fun to have interactions like that out on the trail. There something about being on a bike that I think makes people curious and open to helping. Its not common to see people out there doing these monster trips in the backcountry, I think people are truly impressed and interested.

Looking back at the Henry Mountains that we’d crossed a couple days ago

Bob had ridden past the RVs and we found him just up the road pump filtering water from a really crappy looking stock pond. Jen tried to make me pump water from it too. Even with the way we had it would not have gotten us through another night of camping and a day riding to Monticello. I was not excited to pump from this source, I didn’t want to clog our filters and I was pretty sure there would be water at the work station. I ended up filling a 2 liter Jerry can without filtering it and dropping a couple of chlorine tablets in it this way I’d have a back up 2 liters if the work station didn’t have water.

We ended up eating lunch at that pond and helped Paul make his final decision about just what he was going to do about his failing rear wheel. All afternoon yesterday he was battling freewheel issues and chain fall off, extremely frustrating to ride but he totally toughed it out. We convinced him that it would be best if he was to bail off the route and hitch hike into Monticello rather than ride the two days with us. We all decided that there was not much we would be able to do if it was to fail completely and it could take a couple days for us to get to town and find someone that could go out and get him. So after lunch we parted ways and Paul headed off the route.

This situation made me super proud of the people I was traveling with. Paul’s rear wheel issue was certainly the elephant in the room, and all of us were concerned for him and his bike. Bob eventually asked the hard question that had to be asked, forcing a converstation that had to happen before something bad happened. Bob flat out asked Paul what he was going to expect from us if it all went bad in the middle of nowhere? Paul took no time in giving his answer, and it was a good one. All he would need would be for us to keep riding and send someone back to get him when we could. That was all that could happen. From this conversation we were able to put together a better scenario even though it meant splitting up. Paul decided it was best to leave the route and hitch to Monticello.

The good news is he caught a ride right away into Monticello from a BLM ranger and was able to deduce that fixing what turned out to be a broken axle was not going to happen in Monticello. As luck would have it again, Paul met two bike mechanics from Grand Junction who offered him a ride there to their shop! So Paul caught a ride to Grand Junction where they took a deeper look at the hub and wheel and Paul made the decision to fly back to San Francisco.

Meanwhile the now three of us were setting a torrid pace and a nice cruise through what was now a beautiful Ponderosa Pine forest along the rim of outstanding canyons. Most of our higher elevation riding was along the rim of the Dark Canyon Wilderness area, definitely a place I want to go check out one day.

We eventually did come to the Goose Berry work station and the gate was locked. There was a sign on it that said only to enter under case of emergency and that the water was not a available to the public. So we snuck around the side of the gate to see if anyone was there. There were two little cute houses on the edge of a big grassy meadow but no one around. We found the two water faucets and began filling up all of our bottles, it was really nice water.

Back on the road we decided to ride the 5 miles of downhill and no more in search of a campsite, we had done our 50 miles for the day. A mile into the decent we found a beautiful spot right off the road for the night.

Our campsite near Gooseberry

June 1 – Day 19 wild camping to wild camping in the Manti-La Sal National Forest

We had a really nice relatively smooth 10 mile downhill to state highway 95. It was punctuated with a couple of beautiful riparian areas and a cool of neat old cabins. There actually was some water too, especially at Crescent creek, plenty to fill bottles and quite clear. We didn’t even bother stopping because we still had plans from yesterday afternoon and we were banking on getting water at the campground in Hite.

One of the neat old cabins along the road
And my favorite was this stone one

We hit highway 95 at about 8am and almost immediately started a pace line. The four of us got in a line kissing each other’s rear tire and took 2 to 3 mile turns pulling the rest down the mountain. The grade tended downhill so we were capable of holding a near 20 mile an hour pace for nearly that many miles, it was really fun! Eventually we hit a few big hills and it was every man for himself just to get over them. The scenery peddling down North Wash Canyon was as amazing as any we have seen on the trip. Towering red rock walls with fresh leaf riparian areas and that deep blue sky.

First looks at the Colorado River

North Wash emptied into the the Colorado River and we got out first look at the River that is too thick to drink and too thin to plow. It was great to see it again, it had been since last summer when we did the Great Divide Ride.

Along the Colorado River

The last 8 miles into Hite Utah to us over the Dirty Devil river and then over the Colorado before an absolutely horrible paved 8 percent 1 mile hill up to Hite. The hill had just been oiled and that black pavement really held the heat! we had dropped nearly 7000 feet in elevation since the pass in the Henry Mountains yesterday, so it was significantly warmer.

Hite isn’t much. We ran into the manager of the store on the Colorado river bridge, she stopped to let us know that she had to run to town so the store was closed. We didn’t really need much, but she did tell us where to get water and rest up.

We ended up eating an early lunch at the RV park in Hite. There was water and a sad little shade tree, it’s greatly appreciated. I had a chance to wash out some clothes knowing that they would dry out quickly, a fine relief considering the sweat that had accumulated over the past three days. At about 12:30 we motivated to roll on I to the heat, I’m guessing it was around 90 degrees. Paul was having some issues with his rear wheel, maybe the cassette and maybe bearings, but no matter it what it was not shifting well and there were really no options for fixing it where we were. We tried to shoot some lube into it but with the rack configuration he uses it was nearly impossible to get anything in the driver. He decided to just ride on.

Leaving Hite. It was hot but beautiful

The route trended up hill but at an amazingly gradual pace. We started out in a rather bleak red rock environment that soon turned to Juniper and Pinyon woodland. The road surface was fantastic and we even had a little tailwind everything was perfect for an afternoon ride except for my legs. I guess it was from the big climb yesterday, but I was wasted, it was all I could do to keep the pedals turning, I stopped now and then, it this almost made it harder when I got back on the bike. I sort felt like I had drank too much water, sort of flushed out. Needless to say I was happy to stop eventually, it until we had done 58 miles and 4000 feet. A good day.

May 31 – Day 17. Capital Reef to wild camping below Bull Creek Pass.

A beautiful sunrise on the red rocks of Capital Reef at our cool little campsite on Cedar Mesa was how we met the day. The campground only has five sites and it’s first come first served so we got lucky yesterday with the last available site!

Camp site on Cedar Mesa

This mornings ride was wonderful, mellow grads and incredible scenery of Capital Reef National Park for the first 12 miles. We ended up getting water from an irrigation ditch about 7 miles into the morning, we had to filter it and it took some time. Future riders should know that there is a pump at the entrance to the Sandy Ranch another half mile down the road with excellent water that we were invited to use by the owners.

Leaving Capital Reef

The next 12 miles of the route was a lot of up and down but certainly trended UP! Lots of nice downhills followed by steep grunts through Juniper and Pinyon woodland.

We had lunch at an intersection that could have been a hack to the route that would cut off 1000 of climbing, but the profile looked a little rough and most of us really wanted to do this big climb, it had become rather legendary. After lunch the climb started immediately and impressively!

With about 4 miles left to climb there was a the McMillan Camp ground that had a nice water faucet and bathrooms, would be a great place to camp if we were coming from the other direction, but we really wanted to clear the pass today and even make some miles on the other side before dark. I filled up with 4 liters and used the embarrassment of riches and water to clean my bike and it’s drive train of all the horrible mud that had dried on from yesterday, it was very satisfying.

The ride from the campground started out good enough, but within a half mile the grade increased significantly and I was forced to get off and push the bike. This became the general mode of ascent for the next couple of hours, yes two hours to go 4 miles. honestly I did ride a little on and off, but the grade was certainly more than 10 percent and extremely rocky in parts. The only traffic was a couple of motorcycles and an old guy and his wife coming down in a pickup.

Paul giving it all he’s got on the climb

The last half mile or so offered a little relief from the grade and a more rideable portion than anything since the campground, it was pure joy. Expansive does not even come close to describing the views off of my left shoulder towards Boulder Mountain and where we had come from over the past several days, it was actually emotional to see the huge mountains and massive white monsoonal clouds above canyons of red rock and mesas of junipers, this is why we came here. I can not say that I was not slightly hallucinogenic due to the exertion I had put out, but all the better, it was an amazing sight to see.

All of a sudden I could feel the pass coming , it’s a funny one that one gets when the end of an extremely difficult event is about to come to an end. Maybe I could see a little more sky around the corner in front of me, and then, there it was, the pass! Bob and Jen were both there and getting their wits about them. Bob had been there 40 minutes, amazing, he totally crushed it. Jen had been there at least 20 minutes which was also an amazing effort, very impressive. We all did great on what we all described as one of the hardest climbs any of us had ever done in a bike.

The view from the top to where we’re headed

You can’t stay on the summit forever and the time came to head on down for water and a campsite for the night. We dropped down the north side and there was still a fair bit of snow along the edges of the road, all easily navigable. But it was steep! Maybe even steeper than what we came up. The Henry mountains are extremely remote, indeed it was the last mountain range in the lower 48 to be mapped! This puts a little more perspective on just how remote this place really is.

Bob and Paul at the top with a view of where we had come from

After about 7 miles of downhill we came to a nice creek crossing the road, it was Granite Creek and possibly one of the last places to get water before the long ride in front of us. Some of us filtered water and some of us opted for chlorine tablets and boiling later, it’s always about time and effort. Because we knew we would be dry camping tonight (no available water on site) we needed to consider water for riding today and for camping tonight, breakfast in the morning and for riding possibly 30 miles the next morning before getting to Hite Utah. I tend to over load on water so I left the creek with 9 liters, I knew most of the remaining ride would be downhill

so what the heck, carry it.

Coming Down off the Pass

It took us a while to find a good campsite, these mountains are so steep that a nice flat spot for three tents is at a premium! We did finally end up in a spy that more of less works, probably could have bet it it was getting late and we were all whipped and ready for food and sleep.

A view of Bears Ears Nation Monument from our campsite

May 30 – Day 16. Boulder to Cedar Mesa Campground in Capital Reef

Well today was the kind of day that makes it all worth while, and then hits you with a left hook that nearly craters the entire trip!

The view down into Long Canyon before we dropped in

It all started out with scenery as spectacular as any I have ever experienced anywhere. The geology and light on it was fantastic all day!

This large monsoonal system was building behind us all morning!

The road out of Boulder was a wonderful paved ride, I had expected a fair amount of traffic but literally there was nearly a single car in 20 miles! The second half of that run was in the beautiful Long Canyon which trended up canyon at a fantastic and comfortable grade.

The ride up Long Canyon was beautiful and nearly zero traffic
Likely the least used entrance to Capital Reef National Park

After entering Capital Reef the road immediately turned to dirt and gravel and we opted for a little lunch break before hitting the Burr switchbacks. As we ate we watched the ever approaching monsoon that had follow us all morning and rather unbelievable to me looked as though it might actually serve us some rain! Rain on these roads is definitely not what you want when you’re on a bike, the mud is sticky and relentless.

The Burr Switchbacks

After lunch we got our firay look at the Burr Switchbacks and the beautiful desert of Capital Reef laid out below. The switchbacks were originally built to move large numbers of cattle to and from higher grazing areas, today of offers tourists an expansive view and a thrill of a drive.

The monsoon finally caught us

Well as much as I had hoped for a little rain on the trip, today was not the right day at all! There are signs everywhere warning that the roads are impassable when wet, indeed we had all expected that situation before in the southwest. About 5 miles after the Burr Switchbacks the rain finally hit. It started out nice and slow but soon turned into a hard cold rain and we all retreated to a dense grove of juniper trees to wait it out. The longer it lasted the more concerned we all got for the road condition, at one point we started to see little streams of water running in the road, not good at all!

The wet road with Capital Reef in the distance

After about 45 minutes the rain let up enough for us to feel comfortable riding, and curious about the road. Fortunately or not the place where we had pulled off was along a rather Sandy and hard packed section of the road and was just fine to ride on so we forged on! Soon we encountered a different road condition that if we had been presented with earlier after hiding from the rain, would have forests us to camp right where we had been! It was the dreaded red clay, and there was a lot of it. The goopy stuff was hard to miss, and not easy to go around. At one point we got to a little climb and Bob was leading us, Paul right on his wheel. I was off to the left a bit riding a track left by a recent vehicle passing us. In that track the really bad mud had been pushed aside and I was mostly on dirt that had not gotten soaked. Bob on the other hand was off the track and his wheels began to pick up a lot of mud, to the point that his wheels seized up and filled his derailleurs and everything else. We all worked to try and free him up as much as possible but as soon as he started to ride again it would just pick up more mud. Jen, Paul and I seemed to be doing a lot better, I think it was mostly because the mud had never gotten a good start on our bikes, but it’s hard to know. After several stops to help Bob and at least two crashes that he had due to the poor handling of his muddy bike, we got out of the area where the rain had fallen. Poor Bob, it’s super scary and frustrating when that happens, it’s completely possible to cause serious damage to a bike in that stuff, but fortunately he was spared any major mechanical issues.

Camp at Cedar Mesa

We happily pulled into the Cedar Mesa Campground and were super lucky to get the last of the five first come first served campsites! Otherwise we would have had to ride another 6 miles out of the park to free camp somewhere.

As luck would have it our direct neighbors at the campground was the nice couple that we had met at Posey Lake three days before! They came over and brought us beers and we had some great conversations!

May 29 – Day 15. Posey Lake Campground to Boulder Utah.

The campground was actually called Posey lake, not Pine Lake as I called it in the present post. No matter the name it was rather forgettable in any case. We were all rather piled up on one another on the narrow parking spot that was considered a campsite by some forest service workers, but it was fine.

When we were packing up, a nice couple walked by a struck up a conversation with us, they were from Northern California and out camping all around Utah. It reminded me of another one of the big upsides of bike packing, people seem more interested in talking with you about what you’re up to! I think there is a genuine curiosity about a loaded up bike and some people camping that breaks down some barriers. We meet all sorts of great people on the road, the bikes help a lot.

Our reward for bailing on the the Great Western trail was a nice cruise on a well maintained gravel road , the riding was a welcome change from yesterday’s “riding” and even though it was off route it was extremely scenic and there was a lot of water.

One of the other upsides was that we got to ride over the Hells Backbone, basically a causeway between two separated mesas over a canyon, really cool!

The view from Hell’s Backbone

After a Couple of good climbs and about 15 miles we popped out onto a very nice highway just a mile or two from Boulder Utah, our destination for the night.

We stopped at the first little store that we came to which was still quite some ways from town. It was called the Hills and Hollows Market. Unfortunately their wood fired oven was not making pizzas today, but the store was well stocked if not more than a wee bit expensive! So expect in fact that they didn’t bother to put prices on anything on the shelves! So it was sort like Russian Roulette grocery store style and the bullet only fired when you got to the checkout counter! They also had beer and full blown liquor store which is a miracle in this part of Utah, it was the first we’d seen since Nevada. We got some beers and a bottle of Wild Turkey 101, out old stand by camping libation.

After a bit of a break and watching Paul eat and play with his food we rode off to find our hotel somewhere in town, a low key establishment called Poles Place, right across from the Anisazi museum and a fantastic burrito wagon!

Poles Place Motel. No Vacancy probably means there actually is a room

This evening we walked down the Highway and Had a good dinner at the Burr Trail Grill.

May 28 – wild camping beyond Powell Point to Boulder Utah

Well the morning started out easy enough with a nice breakfast with a warming fire and down the road we rolled. The aspens at this elevation hadn’t even begun to put out leaves, it felt wintery. After some fantastic downhill we hit a little pushy climb and I quickly realized that my shifting was not right. I pulled over to investigate and found that the cable had pulled through the clamp in the back and had to be reattached and indexed. It actually turned out to be a bit more than that, but we were able to bend the clamp back in to position and I was back on the road in a few minutes. It’s always nice to have a second opinion when a road side repair is called for.

Evening ride in the aspens

After a good little grunt of a climb we had some lunch and came to the Great Western trail , if I had it to do over again I would have looked for the nearest bail out point and found a highway somewhere. What we were about to experience is what makes people hate bike packing, including me. The only upside to this section of road is the horror stories we have to tell.

Even when there were not trees the trail had some terrible spots

The Great Western Trail is likely one of the most fantastic single track trails that you could ride a mountain bike on. Not a huge amount of elevation change and rolls through massive aspen and for groves as it runs west to east. Unfortunately it is mostly unridable due to the number and frequency of downed trees interrupting the ride. We decided about 2 miles into it that there is no reason to route people on any single track trail if it is unridable. What’s the point?

We soldiered on for 7 hours crossing dozens if not 150 dead and downed trees over 9 miles of trail, it was horrible and we all lost our sense of humor during this section. A lot of the trees were recent falls and still had lots of sharp branches that had to be broken off and we all got seriously cut up in the process. Lifting heavy bikes over some dead falls that had over a half a dozen trees nested together as tall as us was a bit demoralizing. But we didn’t really have a choice. We investigated options for bailing out but all the roads would take us far off route and down into Escalante and a long frustrating highway ride. So on we went.

Some nasty and smelly bogs too

After what seemed like an eternity we finally got to the other end of the trail and a good dirt road. We had decided hours ago that once we got to this point we would say adios to the Great Western trial, the route had us doing the next 8 mile section of it! Instead we rolled down the hill to a campground at Pine Lake and nursed our wounds for the evening.

May 23 – Day 9. Navajo Lake to wild camping at the pole canyon trail head.

Cabin “8” at Navajo Lodge

Admittedly sleeping in our little cabin 8 with it’s not so great propane heater and no hot water was far better than sleeping in a tent. The temperature got don to 15 degrees last night! Cold enough to freeze solid any water bottle on the bikes! It didn’t hurt that the lodge had good beer for sale at a reasonable price and there were plenty of beds for all of us and then some! Ed and his staff were gracious and wonderful hosts that went far beyond the call of duty to accept us when technically they were full. The cabin it’s self was 130 dollars a night and worth every penny, I would highly recommend this place to anyone traveling through the area. Sadly like a huge portion of the American southwest Navajo lake is extremely low and not real attractive this year. Fortunately there is still a lot of great hiking and adventuring in the area.

The lodge at Navajo Lake

We decided to “hack” the route a bit this morning. Rather than start out with some serious single track climbing we opted for a section of pavement and a nice smooth dirt road to get us back on the “Virgin Rim Trail”. It was still cold when we departed, certainly under 30 degrees and there was already a good head wind. It was cold! By the time we got to the trail head I couldn’t move my feet and my hands and fingers were worse. The view from the trail head looking out towards Zion National Park was stunning, a view of the park none of us had ever seen before. The big puffy clouds and the red hoodoos made for a breath taking moment.

The Virgin rim trail looking towards Zion Park

The trail it’s self was a bit easier than the section we had done yesterday and although there were certainly a lot of dead fall trees to lift 80 pound bikes over, there were less than yesterday. We figured that we lifted over nearly 50 dead falls in 12 miles yesterday and maybe only 20 in 10 miles. It also shelled that the riding was easier today. But did I mention the views?! We were right along the edge of the Plateau near the entire morning and as the light and scenery changed we were nearly constantly taking more photos, it was fabulous.

Riding the Virgin Rim Trail

We rolled into Long Valley Junction at about 1:30 and 28 miles into the day. The little hack we did saved us a couple of miles and a fair bit of elevation. We also missed out on some single track, but in preparation for promises to be two very difficult days we opted for some easier miles today.

Eventually we did end up riding 42 miles to our campsite here at the beginning of the pole canyon trail, and the last 8 miles putting on 1000 feet of climbing. The pole canyon trail will take us to the Grandview trail tomorrow and we will be on that for several days. It promises to be challenging beautiful and extremely remote!

May 22 – Cedar City to Navajo Lake Lodge

Our night at the Knights Inn was all anyone could hope for from looking at the Knights Inn from the outside. Basic beds and only a few broken and or non functioning items. It was clean enough and walking distance to stores etc. I’d probably never stay there again but it worked last night and Cedar City is busy and expensive!

I was up early and writing hoping to leave at a decent hour but it was pretty cold and nobody else was moving. At about 7:00 people were motivating but it was still only 37 degrees and the sun was just hitting us. It wasn’t the most inviting to get out on the 12 mile climb on what likely was going to be a highly trafficked road.

Mavericks is a great convenience stop chains

Instead of waiting in the cold hotel parking lot I rode over to Mavericks for a cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito being as the hotel breakfast was crap, big surprise there. I have to say the Mavericks burritos are excellent, I won’t pass another one with stocking up. I’d had a BBQ steak one for lunch in Virgin a few days before and the steak and egg breakfast burrito was outstanding! For a convenience store Mavericks is quite good.

So as advertised the climb up highway 14 was Beautiful with a consistent grade and as we guessed was super busy with weekend traffic. We only had to do 12 miles of it, but that took. Early 2 hours with really heavy freshly resupplied bikes, so a lot of exposure. It still was quite beautiful if you could see through the traffic.

At last we exited onto a fantastic little fire road Turn off up perfect fire road for 3 or 4 miles that brought us to the Virgin Rim Trail and a pretty long section of single track trail. The trail conditions were excellent and by know the clouds had moved in and the riding conditions were excellent as well. In fact it was still cold even though it was mid day, plus we had climbed to nearly 9000 feet of elevation.

Great fire road riding

At the top of the pass the fire rod crossed the The Virgin River rim trail fast and well made single track with unfortunately lots of dead fall trees to slow you down. I’m hind sight there would be future single tracks with far more deadfall.

Great times on the Virgin rim trail

Our beautiful clear and ever warmer morning was beginning to cloud over and the temperature was falling somewhat rapidly. By the time we got on the trail we were all digging for our jackets it was getting Cold and got colder! I general the trail was really fun, probably the best single track we have done thus far, all the way to Navajo Lake.

We popped out onto a maintained gravel road after about 8 miles of trail navajo lake and finding the lodge we jumped onto the road and oiled the fast downhill all the way to the lake, by now it was really cold and we weren’t to proud to go to the lodge and see if they had any room available.

The initial report was not great, they didn’t have any vacancy and. It really any place for us to camp, they did have beer however, and lots of it! The owner Ed and his staff were wonderful, very friendly and accommodating. Ed was really uncomfortable with us leaving and mentioned that he did have two available cabins, but the hot water heater’s were not working. Ha! Hot water!?! Who needs it. He rented us a cabin and we all fit nicely, it had a heater and beer, it was perfect!

Navojo Lake Lodge

Bob and I spent little time trying to fix the water heater and nearly flooded the cabin in the process, then eventually gave up. It turned out that there were great hot showers just down the trail that we could use! We all took turned at showering and cook dinner in the cabin, it was heavenly. Even better because it got down to 15 degrees that night but we were all warm inside little cabin 8.

May 26 – Day 13. Rest day in Tropic Utah

Eat drink and sleep with laundry and resupply thrown in for good measure. Tropic was the perfect place to get all of the essentials taken care of . It’s a small town so everything was close and there are enough tourists moving through to support some nice interesting restaurant and hotels. I liked the town a lot.

May 27 – Day 14. Tropic to camping on the Grand View Trail

After a breakfast of really good biscuits with eggs and bacon we mounted up our trusty full and heavy rigs and heads off towards Bryce Canyon Park entrance and the roads that would take us into the high country beyond Powell Point.

We started out in state highway 12 which didn’t have much traffic but a fair bit of construction. The construction actually worked in our favor as we ended up with a full lane for climbing to 2000 feet out of the valley. The intersection at the park entrance sent us back south and much higher.

We rode past Bryce Canyon Park

Once off the paved road at about the 12 mile mark we hit the Grand View Trail and finally got a good dose of very nice mountain Ike touring conditions. These were roads that we could actually ride and grades that did not require pushing bikes! And it was very beautiful.

We arrived right in time for lunch at Pine Lake which surprisingly was nearly void of people. We’ve been of the assumption that the parks and forest would have lots of people in preparation for Memorial Day weekend, but apparently not.

Bob did break his chain on the with up, no big deal

After lunch we knew we had another big climb and it started pretty much immediately. Like the earlier riding the grade and condition of the road made for an excellent climb! It went on for 6 miles and did get a lot rougher at the upper section, but it was enjoyable to be riding some real miles!

The conversation about the difficulty of the route and how it has been portrayed by the creator and the websites that promote needs to be discussed

At nearly the top of the climb we and to the turn off to Powell Point, the impressive monolith we’d been looking at for the past couple days. We opted not to ride the extra 8 miles round trip out to the point. I have to admit that I kind of regret that, but no one else wanted to go so I just went with the flow. We were now solidly at 10,000 feet of elevation and we could feel it! We still had 10 miles to ride for the day but it was mostly downhill although a lot of loose rocks.

Nearing the top

We found a beautiful campsite and made a small fire as the sunset and the chill came down.

Our beautiful campsite at 10,000 feet