August 23rd – Day 55
The Grand Staircase!
Right off the bat this morning we had about 1500 ft of climbing to do just to get to breakfast. This was boat loads of fun, not only on an instant coffee breakfast but a fairly stiff headwind, going uphill.
We made it to a town called Torrey and fueled up for what we correctly thought was going to be a long day. The climbing continued for the next 2500 feet which turned into extremely magnificent country. We reached the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument and it was really tough to comprehend just how massive the landscape around us was. At one point during our ride we were on the road with 100 ft drop-offs on each side completely surrounded by the Monument. There were canyons, giant bald mountains, and spectacular rock formations for almost as far as we could see on either side of us. This stretch of the trip was truly very memorable and unique ride especially when we got to descend down this narrow road with a 14% grade (we were both glad we were going down this one) and a strong cross-wind threatening to push us INTO the canyons below.
Overall the day was truly an epic day with all the sights and what ended up being over 5000 ft of climbing due to a couple of steep little guys thrown in there at the end of the day. What made the day even better was instead of camping at a drab RV park listed on the map; we discovered and stayed at the Escalante Outfitters instead. There was a great little café attached to it where we enjoyed some of their own beer.
-Brent
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