Utah National Parks Ride - Day 7

It's the last day of our ride already.   I have had so much fun riding with Kyle and Tanner.

Tanner rode home yesterday.  He got up at 4:00am Utah time and was in Flagstaff by 9:00am AZ time.  I texted him that we were in Colorado and it was cooler than Utah.  He texted back that he was in AZ and it was hotter than Utah.

We took our time getting up this morning because all we have planned is to ride home.  We counted up the chargers, cameras, dirty clothes, computers, radios, bag, ice chest, and everything else that we carry along with us.  We ate some breakfast at the hotel, then got some hotel ice to fill the ice chest.  Finally we got one of the roll around baggage carriers so we didn't have to carry everything down ourselves.

We loaded the bikes and double checked the ice chest.  Then we did a radio check and headed out for the last time (this trip).  It was after 9:00 already.  The air was still cool and comfortable but I could tell it would be another warm day in Montrose.  They have rerouted highway 50 since the last time I was here.  Rather than going right down main street they have routed the highway 1/4 mile west down a new road.  But I think the reroute has really hurt the retail business.  There used to be lots of restaurants and businesses on main street, but most have closed now.

We rode down main street anyway just to look.  We rode East on 50.  About 25 miles East we started to climb up towards Blue Mesa.  The temperatures cooled quickly and trees became more plentiful.  By the time we were up on the mesa it was almost cold.

The ride to Gunnison was much more fun than I remembered.  Lots of twists and fairly high up so the temp stayed cool the whole way.  We stayed strictly to the speed limit and saw 3 different cars pulled over getting tickets.

In Gunnison we did a gas and go.  We were rerouted in town because a parade was in progress.  We watched a bit of it while we waited to get back on the highway.  They had the standard small town sort of things.  Big red tractors with flags all over,  cotton wagons with a band, etc.  The coolest was an old world war II jeep with some sort of custom frame with chairs welded to it.  There were about 15 men sitting all over the the thing playing music.  It was very cool looking.

We got stuck in the middle of an RV convoy as we left Gunnison.  There were 3 in front of us and 1 behind us.  They were all trucks pulling large goose neck travel trailers.  For such large vehicles they were really moving fast.  We finally pulled over and let the last one pass.  Within minutes they were way past us.  I can't imagine how much gas they were burning at 75 miles an hour.

From Gunnison you have to cross the mountains to get to Colorado Springs, and the best route is still highway 50 over Monarch Pass.  We reached the bottom of the pass and started climbing.  Gunnison is 7,700 foot high and Monarch is 11,300.  A climb of nearly 4,000 foot.  We say 3 vehicles pulled to the side overheating.  People just get impatient and try to rush over the pass.  We weren't in a hurry so just rode steadily up to the top.

We stopped for pictures and to drink something.  We also went into the gift shop and bought some fudge.  It was delicious.  We relaxed for a bit then continued on.

I had no desire to ride the river canyons between Salida and Canon City, nor to experience the heat in Canon City so we turned North on 285 towards Buena Vista.  The clouds gathered and sprinkled on us a bit.  We turned West on onto 24 and followed that all they way to Colorado Springs.  The temps stayed cool the whole way there with the occasional sprinkle.

Just after we entered Colorado Springs we stopped at Rudy's BBQ.  I had called Nannette and she met us there.  It was great to see my wife again and a nice way to end the ride.

Climbing another canyon on Blue Mesa


Blue Mesa


Blue Mesa Reservoire


Approaching the climb to Monarch Pass


Climbing Monarch Pass


More of Monarch Pass


Kyle and I on Monarch Pass - Crossing back to the Atlantic side of the Continental Divide


The store on Monarch Pass - bought great fudge here


The peaks around Monarch Pass


Highway 50 before turning onto highway 24


Highway 24


More Highway 24


Rear tire ready to be changed after this 1,600 mile trip


Met my wife at Rudy's BBQ for lunch at 2:00

Utah National Parks Ride - Day 6

We started the day in Arches National Park.  The temperature in Moab is supposed to reach 108 degrees today so we want to be WAY out of the area before that happens.  We rode through the park with only a single stop for pictures and were back out before 9:00.

We headed South out of Moab with nice cool temperatures.  It was only warm by the time we turned East onto the La Sal highway.  This highway climbs up as it passes near the La Sal mountains and the temperatures dropped back down into the chilly range.  The road beautiful weaving through the forest and the occasional cultivated fields.

As the road reaches the East side of the mountain it begins descending through cuts and canyons.  We stopped at the Colorado Border to drink and take a few pictures.  The whole time we were stopped only 3 cars passed by, and a bicyclist riding up the way we had come.  He was 40+ miles from Moab and didn't seem to have much stuff with him.  I hope he had a crew following him but I didn't see one.

We continued riding into Colorado and the road continued descending.  Finally we dropped off the edge of the mesa near a community called Paradox.  I remember my parents talking about Paradox as a kid.  It was very green with many cultivated fields across the valley floor.  We also rode through Bedrock.  In the past I've stopped at the Bedrock general store, but it was closed and for sale.  I think it was for sale last time too, but it looked a little more permanent this time.

Temps were still comfortable as we rode on, but as we neared Naturita the temps really shot up.  We got gas at the Naturita general store.  I had to go in and ask the lady to turn the pump on so we could get gas.  She only put $10 on the pumps which didn't quite fill both bikes, then we had the continuing skrew up as I tried to get the pump all the way off so she could reset it and add more.  By the time the bikes were gassed, we had bought more gatorades, and paid for it all I was sweating and the temps were killing us.

Naturita is my first home.  I was born in nearby Montrose, but my parents lived in Naturita at the time.  We about 5 miles North to get to the old farm and house where my parents lived.  The house is unoccupied and falling down now, but the fields were green and full of hay.  I remember my dad telling me that he and my brothers all spent days and days picking rocks out of the fields when they first moved there.  I guess it was nice to see the farm flourishing.

But the house is very sad to look at.  All the siding has come off leaving an odd Red exterior.  The inside is filled with old office equipment, furniture, and appliances.  I think it's just a junk yard for whoever owns it.  Kyle and I peeked around a bit of the main floor, but there is no way to go upstairs and I'm sure it wouldn't be safe to do so anyway.  The front door has fallen apart since the last time I was here 3 years ago.  I thought about taking the front door lock with me, but the door's main frame is still too solid to bust apart and I didn't have the tools to remove the lock. I guess I'll just take memories.

We went back to Naturita via the town of Nucla.  The two towns sit very close to each other and there is a back road near the farm that crosses the river and leads into Nucla.  3 years ago when I rode this way I hit a deer.  I was very careful and wary this time because I was sure that deer was just waiting for me to come by again.  Nothing happened this time.

I looked around Naturita a bit and saw many closed businesses.  I pass through every so often because it's one of the ways to drive from Colorado Springs to Blanding Utah where I have family.  If I have the time, I'll usually pass through.  Anyway, the tire shop where we once had to wait 5 hours for a motorcycle tire repair was closed.  The cement company that helped fill the flat tire so we could limp into the tire shop was closed.  A restaurant that I've never eaten in was closed.  The economy has not been kind here.

We stopped for lunch in Naturita at Blondie's.  It's just a small town burger joint.  The burger was ok and the fries were great.  The place was cool and comfortable.  The lady at the General Store told us that the owner of Blondies only opens a few days a week and has to work elsewhere to make ends meet.

We continued East after lunch.  Right after Naturita the road starts climbing and the temperatures dropped back down to a comfortable level.  We pass the local county fair and saw a rodeo going on with lots of horses and cows.  I thought about stopping but I wasn't sure if the temps would continue climbing.  We've had enough heat for one trip.

We continued to climb until we came to the edge of the mesa that drops back down to the river.  There was road repair going on with a long one way section but we lucked out and joined the group just going down.  It's little things like not having to sit in the sun for 20 minutes that make you feel blessed sometimes.

At the bottom of the mesa the road starts following the river (creek, stream?) and winds up a narrow canyon.  Even though we were fairly low, the water kept the temperatures down.  There are lots of twists and the road was fun to ride.  When we reached the Telluride turnoff I turned and found a nice shady spot by the side of the river to stop and drink some more gatorade.  The water looked cool and refresh but we didn't get in.

More riding up canyons as we headed towards Ridgway. The road climbs again until you cross a pass.  There was a turnout with some great views of the surrounding mountains.  I don't know if any of these are higher than 14,000 feet but they sure were tall and pretty.

Colorado has a thing about 14,000 foot mountains.  We have allot of them.  One site lists 53 but I think the number is subject to interpretations.  Anyway allot of people like to climb 14ers and the goal I guess is to climb them all.  Thus my interest in whether these particular mounts are or are not higher than 14,000 feet.

The road descends rapidly down into Ridgway with some very gentle sweeping turns.  It's easy to get your speed way up on these roads.

We gassed in Ridgway and headed North on a major highway towards Montrose.  It didn't feel like we were descending much but the vegetation rapidly thinned and the temperatures rose very quickly.  By the time we got to Montrose we were sweating again.  We found our hotel and checked in as quickly as we could.

It's hard to believe we only have one more day left.

Heading North out of Moab towards Arches


We rode the motorcycles up the sidewalk to get pictures near the sign, but we're both wimps and rushed the picture


I did get a decent pic of my bike though


You enter Arches by driving up a steep road onto the plateau.  The angled rock rising from left to right is roughly the road


The road leading up into Arches


Some of the rocks with the morning sun behind them


Here's what they really look like


Looking back out towards Moab. The ridge on the right side of the picture leading away is the Moab fault


More cool rock formations on the entrance road


I think this formation is called Broadway


Kyle in front of Broadway


The whole park is filled with rocks precariously balanced and look like they will fall and kill you soon.  Notice the rock that looks like an ! towards the center of the picture


Descending back out of the park you can get a better view of what the road is like


This is the road between Moab and Monticello.  I've ridden or driven this road a hundred times at least.


La Sal mountain shortly after turning East


Climbing up into the pine trees and cooler temperatures


More deer by the road.  This one hopped the 5 foot fence like it wasn't even there


Starting to descend off the plateau


Back in Colorado


Just about to start the winding descent into Paradox


A view of Paradox from the road


The Bedrock general store.  Closed and for sale


The gas pump in Bedrock


Naturiata - my first home.


My real first home


The fireplace my dad, grandpa, and uncle built when they bought the place


Blondie's


Road construction and the descent to the river


Winding along near the river


More road at the bottom by the river


Mountains South of the road


Kyle with the mountains behind him

Utah National Parks Ride - Day 5

This is going to be a slow day but a hot one.  We're just going from Torrey to Moab which is only 180 miles, but we have to go North to I-70 before coming back down to Moab.  That whole area is hot hot hot.

We were slow getting out because I was still trying to use the Days Inn's pathetic wireless to upload my pics for the last 2 days.  I ate breakfast and listened to the hotel staff gripe about being griped at while I sat there.  I also had to throw my riding jacket in the dryer because it hadn't drip dried very much over night.

We got packed and out before 9:00 though and because we'd gassed and bought gatorade the night before we just hopped on the bikes and went.

In fact, we went a bit too quick because we weren't 1 mile down the road before I heard Kyle on the 2 way radio saying "The ice chest just tipped over".  I had put bungies on one side of the ice chest but I'd never gotten to hooking up the other side.  Do you have any idea what happens to gatorade bottles when they hit the highway at 50 miles an hour?  Mostly they start spinning end for end and the caps pop off.  Of the 6 bottles in the chest, only 2 survived, and none of the ice.

We stuck our 2 lone bottles in the chest, carefully strapped the ice chest onto my bike, and headed for Capitol Reef National Park.

We took a few pictures then continued East trying to beat the heat, we wouldn't succeed.

The highway bisects Capitol Reef.  It follows a stream through a series of canyons for about 20 miles and then eventually dumps you on a pretty desolate looking plain.  Another 30 miles and you're in Hanksville which is just a wide spot in the road with a few gas stations and hotels.  We gassed up then replaced our gatorades and Ice.  There were 3 old men standing by their vehicles in the shade of the gas station talking.  2 trucks and a quad.  They'd chat for a few minutes about this or than, then just stand there for 10 minutes.  Then chat again and stand there.  I wasn't sure if they were waiting for us to leave or just didn't want to go do their work, or just had no work.  I had seen something similar in Kanab where 5 guys were sitting inside the station talking with the owner.  Maybe that's just entertainment in small towns,see who's at the gas station.  We were drinking gatorade and eating beef jerky which the old guys discussed and decided that both were probably good things and would keep us going.

We bought an 8 pound bag of ice but we can only use a couple pounds in this ice chest, so when I went to throw the rest away, one of the men asked if he could have it.  That gave them another topic for 5 minutes about what a great find that was and just what he could use the ice for.  I'm glad we could be of service.

The ride North from Hanksville has got to be one of the worst motorcycle rides I've ever done.  Not that the roads are bad, or the cars are stupid, or traffic is heavy or anything, it's just soooooooo boring.  Practically straight road the whole way, nothing to see, and hot.  I'll bet its even hot in January.  We took a calculated risk and actually rode about 5 miles over the speed limit through some of it.  Of course the cars around us were going 15 to 20 miles over so we got passed several times.

After 5 hours of driving we finally arrived at I-70 and turned East.  It was a short 20 miles to Green River where we stopped for gas and gatorade.  We also dunked our bandannas in the ice water again.

30 more miles of I-70 to Crescent Junction.  We turned south off the Freeway towards Moab.  After only 7 miles we hit more road construction.  We stopped in a line and waited 15 minutes until traffic coming the other way started past.  It was allot of traffic so I figured we had a huge single lane road ahead of us.  When traffic did start we were single lane for almost 10 miles.  We were way back in the pack so we were actually lucky that we only had 15 minutes.  I'm sure the people at the head were there nearly 1/2 hour.  Sitting on hot motorcycles on a hot road with the hot sun beating down on you isn't very fun.

We got through the construction and made it to Moab with any further inconvenience.  We went straight to our hotel to check in and get cooled off.  After an hour rest we headed into town to find some lunch.  I listed several types of food and we decided on pizza.  I knew of a pizza buffet so we headed there.  We ate and ate and ate.  Tanner said he's probably done eating for the rest of the trip.  But he was still able to breathe so that's good.

We walked around the shops for a while but didn't really feel like buying anything.  Kyle and Tanner found swords in every shop we went to, what's up with that?

We rode back to the hotel and rested for a few hours while I wrote the day 4 and day  5 reports.  I still can't believe just how much we did on day 4.  I took almost 300 pictures, uploaded 170, and used probably 40 in the report.  That was a long, cool, hot, neat, delicious, beautiful, wonderful day.  I liked it.

Tanner decided not to wait till Saturday to head home, so he rested a while then took of South for Blanding.  He'll stay with the same Aunt Kyle and I stayed with Sunday Night, then get up at 4:00 and head for Phoenix.  He hopes to be home before it gets hot.  I told him that there is no way he can make it to Phoenix before May since it's already July.  His alternate plan is to either hang out in Flagstaff till 6:00, or go down to Camp Verde with cousins and ride into the valley after dark.

Riding around Utah in the 90s has convinced me beyond any margin of doubt that I do NOT want to ride in Phoenix in the summer in the 110s.

At 6:00 Tanner called to say that he had arrived safely in Blanding.

At 7:00 Kyle and I thought it might just possibly be cool enough to ride out to Dead Horse Point State Park.  Our mistake.  It was still swealtering.  We gassed up and bought some waters, then headed back North.  The ride to Dead Horse was 35 miles long.  Once we got back into the canyons it cooled off a bit because the streams were evaporating leaving cool spots, and when we climbed to the top of the mesa it got comfortable.

We got to Dead Horse about 40 minutes before sunset so we tried for a while to get some pictures.  There was a haze in the air which must be from that fire we saw yesterday.  We walked around and talked.  Just enjoyed the evening.

The sky was almost completely clear and it became obvious to both of us that we weren't going to see a spectacular sunset, just a nice orange glow.  Neither of us felt like riding back down in pitch black so we headed out with the sun about 3 fingers above the horizon.  As the sun truly set I stopped with Kyle between me and the sunset, then tried to frame the sun behind him.  I think the pictures turned out ok.

We rode down with it getting darker and darker, but by the time we were back in Moab there was still just a bit of glow.

We hadn't eaten yet but I didn't feel like fighting through town trying to find a place still open and/or not packed.  So we stopped at the Denny's by our hotel.

Now its time to get to sleep so we can see some of Arches in the morning before the predicted 108 degrees hits us.

8:45 and ready to roll


The highway entering Granite Reef Park from the West


Me with Granite Reef behind me.  Notice the well bungied Ice Chest!!


Tanner with Granite Reef


Kyle with Granite Reef


Following the canyons through Granite Reef


Canyon walls getting shorter, must nearly be out of Granite Reef


Yup we're out, now just the ugly gray stuff everywhere


Gassing up in Hanksville.  You can see 2 of the old men just standing in the shade beside the station.


The one and only interesting rock formation on the road North of Hanksville


Did I mention that the road North of Hanksville was long and straight and boring?


OH a turn, maybe it will get interesting.


Nope


Cooling off the bandannas in Green River


Getting close to Moab


Riding across the mesa towards Dead Horse Point


The view from Dead Horse Point


Kyle with LaSal mountain behind him


Me with LaSal mountain and some water treatment plant or something behind me


Kyle and I


I forgot the camera was going to take 2 pictures


The sun is getting low


More near sunset


Staring to ride out


Sunset behind Kyle


There she goes