eLIFELIST.com Bike Trip

Escalante to Panguitch:

The night before we were having a drink outside at the Escalante Outfitters and someone came up to us and said she heard we started our trip in North Carolina.  Her name was Kim Cardwell and turns out she is from Winston-Salem, NC!  She was there with her family on a long road trip through the west and flying back to Winston in a couple days.  She and her daughters Katie and Lauren had to get back to Winston for school starting.  

After coffee at the Escalante Outfitters shop we headed out towards Panguitch, UT.  For me, today was the most beautiful day of scenery the whole trip.  Just really spectacular natural formations that don’t even seem real they’re so insane looking.  We didn’t have that much climbing for the day except one brief significant haul into Bryce Canyon.  In Tropic, UT we chatted with Pat, who had recently quite his job working in oil fields to go on an 11 week motorcycle tour.  He started in Minnesota and from there headed to Alaska, which sounded unbelievable.  Pat was a cool guy and it was interesting to swap stories from our journeys.

After Tropic we began the climb into Bryce Canyon which really is unreal and otherworldly.  One of the coolest things was the bike path which ran down “Red Canyon.”  The bike path was about 7 miles long and had great views of the super red canyon walls, contrasted by tons of evergreens.  Our ride was pretty much downhill from there into Panguitch although the last 10 miles felt like battling uphill because of a really nasty, hot headwind.  As someone described, “it’s like a hair dryer on high a foot in front of your face.”  Once we arrived in Panguitch we quickly found the local pizza joint (finding food has become like a 6th sense for us) and devoured a whole pie to end a great day of riding.    

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

YES!  Good connection!

August 21st and 22nd Day 53 and 54

After a great trip to Jackson, Wyoming to visit with my wife Melissa and her family and Brent spending time with some of his buddies we were back in the full swing of things on the trip.  The day after we returned we were scheduled to ride 130 miles through the desolation of “Grand Staircase Escalante” (which totals 2 million acres by the way and is a “monument”).  The first section was 75 miles with no services to “Hite Recreation Center” at Lake Powell in Utah.  We loaded up on water and set out to our first full day back on the bikes.  The ride wasn’t that bad and we had plenty of water to make it to Hite, we have these large water bags/bladders that we fill with ice and water.  We arrived at Hite around 5PM after riding through some really stunning scenery and seeing maybe 20 cars the whole day.  Scott and Zane, two students at Santa Cruz University were waiting at the Ranger station (which consisted of a bathroom and water fountain), they were heading east and had an impossible schedule planned out.  They were trying to make it to New York for their flight the 18th of September, attempting to do an average of 117 miles a day on average and that particular day they had only biked 60 miles and stopped because of the heat.  We chatted with them a bit and then they decided to go back out to the road and try to hitch a ride 50 miles east.  Apparently they got a ride from someone because we didn’t see them again.  What’s the point in "biking across the country" if you plan on catching rides over long distances, they were even talking about catching a bus at some point!  

After destroying Brent in several card games of “Speed” we got ready for sleep in the middle of the desert.  Brent decided to sleep outside while I set up my tent.  Our sleeping spots were about 100 yards apart and as Brent was walking back to his I heard this primal yelp that was a cross between a young girl’s scream and Homer Simpson’s scream.  Brent almost stepped on a baby Rattlesnake and the only way he avoided such a fate was because the snake rattled at him, thus causing the hilarious (in retrospect) yelp.  He was a little snake but it doesn’t matter we still would have had to go to the hospital somewhere more than 100 miles away if a bite occured.  Even after the encounter Brent still slept outside with no tent.  

Waking up the next day in the desert to absolute dead silence and the most vivid sunrise I’ve ever seen was pretty incredible.  We hopped back on the bikes to head to Fruita, a place where you can pick your own fruit in the Capital Reef National Park.  We had a significant amount of climbing out of Lake Powell, but I didn’t mind at all because of how ridiculously beautiful everything was.  We stopped in a Bakery on the way to Fruita (with nothing around for 50 miles) and had an interesting chat with the owner Randy.  He focuses on sustainable farming in addition to organic farming.  He gave us a sample of tiny fresh picked tomatoes (literally minutes before) and Ambrosia cantalope which he says doesn’t ship because it’s so fragile.  Unfortunately, we arrived 30 minutes too late for the “U-Pick” fruit picking in Fruita, we did have some tasty spaghetti O's and Chef Boyardi Ravioli though.  After two days of nothingness we were glad to be in a place with water and people and prepared to get a good night’s rest for the next day which would be our biggest day of climbing in Utah.  


        

Blanding, UT to Hite Recreation Center, UT

Hite Recreation Center, UT to Fruita, UT

August 14th – Day 46

Angels Landing!

Today’s hike wasn’t ever on our original agenda, but since we decided against the backcountry trip we had a chance to get in one more hike before leaving Zion. We are all very glad that it worked out that way because Angel’s Landing was one heck of a hike. It isn’t very physically demanding, being a 2.5 mile hike up about 1500 ft, but the last half mile will make your boots shake a bit. Once you finish climbing their paved path to intersection of the West Rim Trail, the real fun begins. The trail turns into a knife ridge where you have to climb on the side of the ridge with thousand ft. drop offs on each side. Needless to say, now is not the time to throw a water bottle at Lee and say, ‘think fast!’…

There are places along the trail were metal chains are bolted into the rock to give you something to hold onto as the trail becomes narrower and steeper. The path at some points is literally only a meter or two wide which means you better not be afraid of jumping off the high dive at the pool at this point. As Lynn pointed out, “The Angels Landing Trail is one of the most famous and thrilling hikes in the national park system. Zion's pride and joy runs along a narrow rock fin with dizzying drop-offs on both sides. The trail culminates at a lofty perch, boasting magnificent views in every direction. Rarely is such an intimidating path so frequented by hikers. One would think that this narrow ridge with deep chasms on each of its flanks would allure only the most intrepid of hikers. Climbers scale its big wall; hikers pull themselves up by chains and sightseers stand in awe at its stunning nobility. The towering monolith is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the Southwest."

The scrambling, cliff dangling, and climbing are well worth it because the views from the top of Angel’s Landing are simply incredible. We were rewarded with panoramic views of the entire valley, the Narrows Canyon and Virgin River, the White Throne (a rock formation…), and Jimmy Hoffa’s final resting place. Ok, that is in Giant’s stadium. Unfortunately for us the escalator down was having maintenance work done and not working today, so we had to climb back down the knife ridge the way we came up. What also made this climb a bit more challenging for me at least was the fact that I was wearing my Crocs since they were the only shoes I had that could handle the blisters on the feet from the day before. After going up and down this trail, I think Crocs can think about launching a new line of shoes called ‘Croc Climbing shoes’…I was very impressed.

Once reaching the canyon floor, the Virgin River was calling us again for a very refreshing dip. Climbing Angel’s Landing was one of the highlights from the past few weeks, a truly memorable climb, and are really glad that we actually got the chance to experience it.

-Brent

Day 45 – August 13th

The Narrows!

Once we reached the backcountry office of Zion National Park at 7 AM (when they opened their doors) to acquire our backcountry permit to camp overnight in the Narrows, we got some very unsettling news. The weather forecast for the day called for a 50% chance of rain at the headwaters of the Virgin River, which doesn’t sound like much of a big deal, but is when you are considering walking down a river that is prone to flash floods and has 1000+ ft. canyon walls on each side of it preventing any kind of escape. In addition, we would each also have to pay a pricey shuttle to take us to the top of the river (hour and a half ride), which would put us closer to the afternoon shower time zone. As much as we wanted to spend the night in the Narrows we decided we liked living too much and didn’t want to part with any more greenbacks, even though I am sure we would have been just fine. What we decided to do was the more traditional hike UP the Virgin river, which would still take us through the famous Wall St. section of the river and make it to the first campground upriver as a day hike. This would also allow us to do another day hike the following day since we budgeted two days in Zion. On our way to the beginning of the hike we met David Hatwell who was a very nice man and turned out to know several of the same people as Niki’s father since they are in the same industry. He was on quite a whirlwind trip himself and headed to Vegas next.

Once we reached the trail head and got in the river, the hike is a very surreal experience. You are hiking up a river that is probably no wider than 40 ft with thousand ft. canyon walls rising above you on each side. The Virgin river methodically cut out this canyon, straight down, over millions of years and now here we are hiking up it. You have to pick and choose your steps carefully since there are plenty of large rocks to navigate along the riverbed, which is why a walking stick makes it much easier. Some areas of the canyon don’t ever see light and others are lit up at certain times of the day since the canyon walls are so steep. We hiked up the canyon about 6 miles to Big Springs slowly becoming the only people hiking upriver before turning around. The hiking truly was an awesome experience. What wasn’t an awesome experience was walking in the one size too small Nike’s I had bought (bad $4 spent) at the thrift store in Monticello for the hike and Muddy Buddy. After 6 miles, I had worn some good sized blisters on the backs and tops of my feet which made for a tender walk back.

On the way back down the river, we took a side trip down Orderville Canyon, which is one of the more popular side canyons that gets even narrower. We didn’t make it too far up this side canyon, but was interspersed with small waterfalls to climb over.

Even though we didn’t get to spend the night in the Narrows, we didn’t feel cheated out of anything since we got to do a long day hike and experience a long portion of the canyon with about the same mileage as we would have done. Plus, the hike we were about to take the following day was going to blow our socks off…

-Brent

Day 43 + 44 – August 11th + 12th

Since we had a bit of extended time in Moab and now being mobile since Niki met us, we had the chance to take a short drive to see Arches National Park. We caught it just at the right time too and got to see some of the arches right around sunset. The fading light really brings out the amazing red colors of the magnificent rock and truly was a memorable night. We did not have the time to make it to see Delicate Arch, but were able to get to the North and South Window Arches to get some great shots of them and the sunset.

The following day was filled with a lot of driving to get across the state of Utah and down to the state of Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. We got a little preview of what we will be seeing once we get back on the bikes going West through Utah and I will hold off on the description of it now, but from the looks of it is going to be a really amazing ride. Though I have a sneaking suspicion that we may be shedding a bit more sweat than we did with the car windows down.

We got to the North rim of the Grand Canyon in the early afternoon, just in time for some afternoon showers. Both Niki and Lee had never seen the Grand Canyon before and after this much time in the car, very ready to see it. Both thought the canyon was beautiful and impressive but unfortunately did not have the best viewing day for it with the rain and a bit of haze. This was my first visit to the North Rim and after seeing both, I think the South Rim has much more impressive awe-inspiring views, but that is just my opinion. Also, I am very glad we made the executive decision to drive here rather than bike, which would have been a multiple day, hot, climb intensive ride, only for a few hours at the canyon. I believe we chose wisely…

After spending some time at the canyon, we were back in the car to make it to Zion for the night to get an early start to the hike the following day.

-Brent

Arches National Park

Grand Canyon