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Southern Utah
Day of the Dog
I had a thought. An interesting one for sure but not out of the ordinary for me. An organized ride was coming up for the San Francisco Northstars and it coincided with a holiday weekend. Hmm, why not extend the ride and take the week off? So with a week off where to go? Hmm, hadn’t been to Utah in a while. This being the Fall I’m sure there are trees changing color there that would be neat to see not to mention all that red rock. Hmm, I think I better take some time off and make this happen.
You see how thinking gets you in trouble? Of course I have friends that think like that too. My friend Elise in fact had something of a similar line of thought. She buys a new bike and thinks, “Why not take it for a ride?” “Why not take it for a long ride and break it in properly?” Thus this is how trips are made. Elise decided to join me on my ride to Songdog for the Fall Rally and then off to Southern Utah for a ride of our own not a day after picking up her slightly used SV650.
Our first day on the road saw a nice leisurely ride down the coast of California from Half Moon Bay to Santa Maria and then a short blast over the hills to Songdog Ranch. We were sort of in the company of the Montgomery Street gang as well as a couple of Northstars but that didn’t last long. They were hell bent for leather while we were in a meandering sort of mood. After all we had all week to ride and were in no particular hurry.
Despite the foggy conditions we enjoyed the Big Sur coastline, the twisty pavement of Highway 1 and the general good feeling of being on the road. Lunch was a quick bite in Cambria followed by a quick run to Pismo where we made a quick search for a shop to buy chain lube (something I value while on road trips and forgot to pack!). At Santa Maria we turned left and shot down 166 to 33 to the Dog. It was a welcome site seeing the campground up on the Mesa and the smoke rising from the BBQ pit.
For those of you who’ve never attended one of these events or have even been to the ranch you’re missing out! Jim Revely is your host and does his best to make sure you have a comfortable stay on the ranch. His BBQs are to die for and the scenery is pretty hard to beat. Not to mention the fact that he is the maker of the Rev Pack luggage for bikes. He also hosts two rallies each year that attract over 100 motorcyclists to the ranch, which features a BBQ and live music. Needless to say it’s a hell of a good time.
Hair of the Dog
The morning after dawned clear and beautiful. Most folks were packing up to head home. Lucky for me I’m not most folks. Elise and I loaded up our gear after enjoying a nice low calorie breakfast (French toast, bacon, and all the usual fixin’s…urp!). We soon set off in search of the open road. Today’s ride was a quick turn and burn across Southern California and into Nevada to Vegas. Not exactly a scenic backroad ride but still it wasn’t quite that painful.
Ok it was a bit painful but only because the temperature jumped up into the 90’s and my pants got sweaty and stuck to my skin underneath that nice black Aerostich which helped intensify the blistering sun that beat down upon my poor body. But enough about that, how about Vegas?
Personally Vegas has no attraction. I’m not a gambler and most shows there are of no interest. Except for one. Last Fall I had a chance to see the Cirque du Soleil for the first time. It literally blew me away! It was one of the traveling shows and I saw it in SF. Afterwards a few people told me that if I really wanted my socks blown off I had to see the show in Vegas. Who am I to argue! So prior to setting off on this adventure I made a reservation and tossed down $100 for a balcony seat to see “O”. Boy was I in for a surprise!
The big surprise about “O” is the stage. It’s a pool! No kidding! They pull back the curtains and reveal a huge pool with articulated staging and loads of other amazing goodies. Every act centers around the pool and includes some amazing aerial plunges into the water. It just kept getting better and better throughout the show. Despite the steep ticket prices I really think it was worth the money. For what these people did you really got your money’s worth. I highly recommend checking it out the next time you find yourself in Sin City…
Red Rock Country
In the morning we rode the 100+ miles to Zion National Park. I originally intended to zip right on through and keep moving but this was Elise’s first time in Utah so I figured she needed to get her money’s worth. It’s pretty hard to beat the scenery in Zion and you really can’t get much but the flavor of the park in an overnight stay but we did our best.
Rolling in after a quick blast up 15 and then a fun romp up along the Virgin River we were treated to the wonderful glow of red rock in the late afternoon. Our campsite was nestled down in the canyon below some pretty amazing rock formations. Since it was already pretty late in the day and I had to have a bit of a nap in my hammock we chose to ride the bikes up into the accessible part of the park for a quick tour. The rest of the park is only accessible via the tram, a pretty cool idea on the part of the park service. Keeps the traffic to a minimum and make the experience much more enjoyable.
It was fun to watch the rock change color with the fading light of the day. No matter how many times I go to the park I’m still in awe of the color and formations. We turned back at the tunnel entrance and then made our way into town for dinner. One of the only places I’ve ever enjoyed eating in Utah is the Bit & Spur located in Springdale outside of the park. It’s a nice combo of Mexican and Southwestern cuisine. The beer ain’t bad either! Afterwards I had to take my traveling companion over to another restaurant for her first taste of Bumbleberry pie. Never heard of it? Neither had I the first time I encountered it. Now I’m a big fan. Check it out for yourself…
We ended the evening lazing around camp with our little lanterns aglow and the sound of the crickets whispering in our ears. Yup, it sure is nice to be on the road.
From Depths to the Ether
In the morning we took the tram into the park and enjoyed a quick and dirty tour. We got out at the end of the line and took a short hike up the river trail. I sure wish I’d had more time to actually go up the river. It’s a challenging hike that involves getting wet and practically crawling across the rocks and through a very narrow canyon. The risk of getting swept away by a flash flood is quite real here.
Unfortunately we needed to head back and tear down the camp. As it was we got yelled at for not being out by the 11am deadline. So we were an hour late, big deal! Apparently so…
On the road again we had a grand old time romping in the twisties through the backside of the park and out towards Mt. Carmel junction. It really is amazing the difference in topography from one mile to the next. Emerging from the red rock canyon of Zion we entered a high grassland area with tremendous views out to the Southern desert and Lake Powell. Almost made me wish I were in an airplane rather than on the bike.
We turned northeast on route 89 and cranked up the speed a bit. It was nice to be out of the confines of the canyon and back on the open road. Mounted up on my handlebars was my new Etrex Legend GPS from Garmin. This handy little device made it easy to navigate without having to stop and open up my map case. I simply toggled between the various modes to see the map, speed, elevation and various other interesting info. Pretty cool little device.
In time we reached the junction with Highway 12 and pealed off to make the last dash to Bryce Canyon. Up ahead I noticed some rather severe looking clouds. In fact one particular thunderhead looked to be up toward the 60,000-foot mark in elevation. Amazing! Not wanting to get caught in the rain we high-tailed it to the park where we paid our $10 and headed for the closest campground. Once again we found the ideal spot with level ground for the tents and a couple of good trees for my hammock. Yeah, life is good!
Once things were settled and stable we suited back up and wandered off into the park. Unlike Zion where you essentially run up and down the length of a canyon while observing the sights up above you at Bryce you actually run the ridgeline and look down at the various canyons below you. As luck would have it we encountered some heavy-duty road-work. After traversing a few miles of loose dirt and gravel Elise threw in the towel and requested a ride. No problemo! I offered her a nice chauffeured ride out to the end of the road and back. We did get a little bit of rain but nothing horrible, enough to clean the bugs off our Aerostich Roadcrafters.
Bryce Canyon has some of the most amazing rock formations. Basically the combination of layered rock (sandstone, calcium, pumice, you name it) and the weather conspire to make Hoodoos. What is a Hoodoo? It’s a vertical tower of rock shaped in the most peculiar way from the combination of water, ice, snow, and snowmelt. Take a look at the photos and see for yourself. Pretty wild!
Our day ended with a slight clearing of the weather and a fairly full moon out. We settled down to a nice fire by our tents and were content to stare into the flames until fatigue and sleep chased us toward dreamland….
Canyon Country
Today would be a casual day. No long mileage or major elevation changes, simply a ride up toward Escalante and the Grand Staircase. I do need to mention one detail here. I had expected a certain amount of roughing it on our trip. Therefore I packed my tiny little backpacker’s stove and a mixed bag of freeze-dried foods. In particular I picked up a couple of packages of Alpine Aire Foods breakfast entrees. I’m sorry to say these meals just plain sucked. Maybe it’s my spoiled palate but I really couldn’t take the bland taste of the granola and strawberry mix nor the other mix whos name escapes me. I will say that the dinner meals are pretty decent. Just watch out for the breakfast food!
After a pretty casual ride we came upon a state campground in Escalante. It looked interesting but I just wasn’t ready to settle down yet. Something told me to keep going. So we did. We came across my favorite section of Highway 12 which most folks refer to as “the badlands”. It’s a scenic section of rolling rock hills and gullies. It also has some pretty cool switchbacks and twisties. Yeah, a rider kinda road!
Not long after this section we passed up a BLM campground nestled down into the bottom of a pretty cool canyon. I hauled down on the binders and nearly took out Elise in the process. I guess she wasn’t expecting me to do that. Sorry! I had to go back and check it out. One look and it was all over. Within minutes we found the ideal camp site and were stripping off our gear and setting up camp.
Imagine a deep canyon made of rock ranging in color from a soft tan to a deep red. At the bottom of this canyon is a quiet little river that meanders along down the middle surrounded by green grass and lush bushes and trees. Right along the banks of this little river were several campsites. Of course I found a nice flat spot to pitch my tent and not far away a place to hang the hammock. Yeah, life is real good!
The best part was the trail leading down through the canyon to Calf Creek Falls. A nice 3 to 4 hour hike complete with interpretive guide, Fremont Indian ruins, pictographs and a wonderful waterfall at the end. It was nice to be off the bike and out of the riding gear. I had on my shorts and Tevas and nothing more. The weather was perfect for hiking. Unfortunately a little cool otherwise I would have gone for a swim in the pool at the bottom of the falls.
That evening we chose to motor on up to Boulder in search of dinner. I’m really glad we did. As I topped the rise heading onto the ridge adjacent to Hell’s Backbone we were greeted with an incredible moonrise. The sun had set in the west leaving a nice warm afterglow. In the east a nearly full moon came up. Looking at my photos it almost looks like daytime! Incredible! I had so much fun racing along the ridgeline that night. Almost stayed up longer just to play.
Burr to the Breaks
During dinner the night before our host mentioned the Burr Trail. One of the reasons I had put together this trip was to ride the Burr Trail but I was hesitating doing so because I knew that it was mostly dirt and not to amenable to amateur dirt riders like Elise on her new street bike. But our host mentioned that the first 30 miles or so were paved. He also mentioned a great crack in a cliff about 12 miles in that was worth seeing. So what the hell, we might as well get a taste of the Burr.
Sure enough after motoring down the trail for a few miles we were greeted with some of the most spectacular canyon country I’d ever been privileged to see. We came I up high and then dropped down into a canyon that was roughly 100 feet wide by maybe 300 feet tall. We saw incredibly red rock with a small wash down one side of the road that ran down the middle of the canyon. About 12 miles in we found the giant cottonwood tree with the huge crack behind it. We wandered into the crack and were surrounded with wonderfully warm light and a great echo.
Further up the road the canyon opened up to a fantastic vista overlooking the canyon country heading all the way down to Lake Powell. If I were on my own I would have kept going. But alas I didn’t want to subject my riding partner to the trials and tribulations of dirt riding on an overloaded street bike. My Tiger eats up dirt like candy. Her SV would have put up more of a fight. So we turned tail and returned to the main road.
The rest of the day was spent riding a loop up to the north and then back west and then south. We encountered some snarly crosswinds in our quest to reach Cedar City but managed to survive the encounter and reach our highlight for the afternoon, Cedar Breaks National Monument.
I hate to say it but I was beginning to reach sensory overload on this trip. We rose over the top of the crest at 10,500 feet and were greeted with yet another incredible view. The overlook at Cedar Breaks is rather similar to something you’d find at Bryce Canyon and yet even more magnificent! Think of an amphitheater well over a mile in width and a thousand feet or more deep. Again that red rock with a bit of white tossed in for contrast and acres of evergreen forest with a few yellow aspens for variety. Man o man I can’t take it anymore!!!! After perusing the sights and checking out the visitor’s center Elise and I headed on down the hill into Cedar City. By now we’d had enough of the road life and decided to spoil ourselves with a night in a motel. We found an ideal choice in town complete with two queen-sized beds, a hot tub and Internet access! Yeah, life is good, especially when you can go online and make your friends jealous!
ET Ride Home
We finally got fed up enough with Utah food that we hit the road for home, or at least California. I gotta say that finding a decent meal in Utah is pretty damn hard to do. Just don’t know what it is about the place. So be it. I know some good places to go at home so that’s where we’re going. Sort of….
We motored out of Cedar City and set our sights on the Extraterrestrial Highway. Didn’t realize we had any extras but hey, with terrestrials you never know. Then again, with over 6 billion worldwide maybe we do have a few extras around. Actually, it derives it’s name from the fact that the infamous Area 51 is located out in the middle of the desert just off the highway. True believers think that the US government is hiding UFOs and such out there. Yeah, sure, whatever…
I think I may have stressed out Elise a bit out here in the desert. We managed to tap out her gas tank not once but twice. The first time we rolled into the gas station with nothing but fumes left in her tank. The second time she ran out just 5 miles short of Tonopah. Whups! Luckily I had anticipated the possibility and had carried an empty plastic bottle with me for the express purpose of draining fuel from the mothership (read Tiger) to fill her tiny tank. (In case you’re interested the SV will hold 3.8 gallons.)
Once into Tonopah we fueled up for our last gasp dash into California. Highway 6 was nothing to write home about although I must say Nevada has an interesting appeal scenery-wise. Thought not as in-your-face as Utah it is nonetheless pretty interesting to see. But as we rolled over the pass and dropped down into Benton, California I was ecstatic! Home at last! I absolutely adore the Eastern Sierras!
We stopped to pick up a six-pac of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and then made tracks for Benton Crossing Road. This sweet little gem takes you from Highway 120 just west of Benton Hot Springs and loops you down and around to the area east of Mammoth Lakes. The best part is that it drops you right into the heart of hot springs country! My favorite!
We managed to make it to my favorite tub in time for sunset. After tossing up the tents and tossing down our clothes we managed to slide into that wonderfully warm water and enjoy the soft red color of twilight. I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening than sitting in hot water in the wide open spaces of the Owen River Valley while watching the sun disappear over one horizon and then shortly later watching a full moon rise over the opposite horizon. Very nice.
Exploring Wonderland
Cold. The kind of cold that seeks ways to enter your soul. It works it’s way into the cracks and crevasses of your sleeping bag to attack your body and then enter your soul. Yeah, it was that kind of cold out. I woke up to a nearly frozen nose. I pulled the drawstrings on my mummy bag and tucked myself further down. I woke a couple hours later in anticipation of a gorgeous sunrise. It was still pretty dark out but I couldn’t wait. Braving the cold air I tossed off the sleeping bag and nearly sprinted full out to the tub. I was then surprised to find that I wasn’t the first one in. Another person had beaten me to it. Such is life.
Over the space of two hours I watched as the full moon settled down toward the mountains to the west while the sky became lighter and lighter. Soon there was burning fire at the mountaintops just to the west of the valley. Little by little this “fire” crept down the side of the mountains until the sun emerged from its hiding place to the east. What a glorious day!
Elise finally chose to join us for the show. By now the sun was up and I was turning into a raisin. Pretty funny actually. We soon chose to load up the bikes and head for breakfast. I had had enough of the freeze-dried stuff and was ready for something tasty. We found what we were looking for in Mammoth Lakes. I must say a good breakfast can make or break your day. Feeling fully satisfied I was ready to wrassle a grizzly bear. Too bad we killed them all off, so much for the state mascot.
We spent the rest of the day wandering through the various side roads along 395. The scenic loop from Mammoth Lakes north. The June Lake loop and finally a run up to Tioga Pass and back. It was clear and beautiful out although a touch on the chilly side. You could tell that Fall is here and that the cold weather is just around the corner. Still, I love this time of year up here.
In Bridgeport we broke down and spent too much money for a tiny room with a pair of twin beds. Alas we were too tired to care. We then motored on up to Travertine Hot Springs to enjoy just a touch more hot water and a nice late afternoon view of the Bridgeport Valley. Unfortunately Travertine is just too damn accessible and the crowd a bit obnoxious. Too bad…
Dinner was at Casa Michaela, my favorite place to eat while in Bridgeport. The owner is always happy to see you and at times gets a little feisty. We enjoyed some great food and a couple of Negra Modelos before heading back into town and off to bed. I finished up the evening reading about Clarence King’s adventures mapping the peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. For a good read check out his book titled Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada. Talk about adventures! Wow!!
Home Again
In the morning we loaded up the bikes with our gear and set off toward Sonora Pass. It was all I could do to keep from turning around and heading back into the hills. I absolutely adore the mountains up here. Unfortunately there were things to do at home and if I wanted to continue my employment with the Federal Government then I had better scoot. So we wandered on over Sonora Pass and dropped down into the flatlands of the Central Valley. For a change it wasn’t 100+ out there so the ride home was somewhat bearable. Our last effort at delaying the end was a detour to stop at the Wall. My favorite overlook of San Francisco Bay the Wall is located up in the Berkeley hills and commands an amazing view of San Francisco Bay. It truly is the greatest view in all the world and it’s my way of reentering society by stopping here on my way home.
In all Elise and I had managed to ride over 2000 miles in 9 days. From sea level near Big Sur to over 10,000 feet at Cedar Breaks. We had seen some amazing sights, smelled the Aspens and evergreens of Utah, felt the warmth of geothermically heated spring water and the caress of the wind upon our faces everywhere in between. All in all I can’t think of a better way to spend a week’s time. Craig |