Excursions pour la Journee avec Gaston

After Porcupine Rim, it was time for gelato and showers. I recommend the gelato at the Moab Brewery.

Then it was time to pick up the rental motorcycle. I opted for a 450 KTM the first day because we planned to do White Rim Trail and wanted to simplify the gas business. Picking the bike up in the evening, we had time for a quick ride before dinner.

So it was off to Slickrock Trail for a shakedown.




It's a good thing we did the shakedown because this bike needed countershaft seal service, kinda like the penguin in the desert.

There was still some residual jeep mayhem on the Sandy Flats Road.





Jim of Dual Sport Utah got the seal replaced lickety split while simultaneously disrespecting Suzuki trail bikes.


Then it was back to the cabin for some grub. Two rides in one day.

One half of our hosting team got it going at the crack of dawn on Easter Sunday with a little bit of The Gospel Truth shipped in fresh from Spindale. It was all I could do to keep up this morning.









That 450 is a sweet bike, but not very enjoyable above 40 mph. No one said that this would be easy.

However, once we got to the White Rim Trail proper all was forgiven. Also, the Kenda 270 is a great tire for this area.











We rode. We stopped. We rode. We stopped.

We rode and stopped some more.









Eventually, you veer away from the Green River and head over to the Colorado River.












The scenery is on par with floating down the Grand Canyon, and, like the Grand Canyon, this riding isn't really destination riding, but it's pretty good.


Colorado River overlook




The Shafer Switchbacks




My companion did this trip as a three day bicycle ride. He said that this climb in the heat was pretty tough.



We came to the park entrance assuming that we would have to pay the admission fee, but the sign in the window said, "Please proceed after stopping."

"Let's head back to town, get a gelato, and go for another ride."





After 160 miles, I was thinking of something more substantial than gelato. Luckily, the pizza place is two doors down. We hee hawed about the second ride momentarily, but when will I be back in Moab, right?

Fins 'n Things




I returned the bike on time and lucked up on a ride back to the cabin as Layla was returning from a hike from some fossil beds. She found me at the bar of Club Rio.

Another two ride day.

Phil,
Great pics. Looks like you had a blast. Hope I get the chance to ride Moab before I'm too old. I bet it was hard to leave.

Good stuff Phil.

:jealous

+1. Good for you man. That's my dream trip

Been out there on motorbikes

Now need to go on my 29er

Thank you for the kind words.


Next day: Slickrock, but this time on bicycles. I felt a certain sense of dread having some idea of how steep the climbs were and not having a 450 motor at my disposal. Homeslice wasn't easing my concerns.








I remember watching a video of this place in 1988 or so and saying how I needed to go here. I finally made it.








We did the full tour then it was time to pick up another rental motorcycle. Juno likes Gas Gas too.





This bike was a rat if ever there was one. I found it to be inspirational. Anyone know of a nice 300 for sale?

We still have time for a quick ride before dinner. My guide had sussed out a place near the cabin.




We made a left off of Steelbender Road and headed up toward Flat Pass.








Don't get too comfortable on that, Bucko.




Because we know what's good for us, we turned around before too long and headed back to the cabin.


Tuesday's plan had us doing shorter loops between which we could refuel, but we still had to bring a gas container to premix gas.

That Gas Gas is a hammer, and there were a lot of nails where we headed.







We did a short side trip up yonder slickrock formation.




The green soil in the background was visible from Porcupine Rim as well. I wondered if we could get close enough to get a good look at it.








Back on Sovereign.






The rocks have an interesting collection of plastic.




You cannot pass up a trail named "Mother Load."




Next trail I make (and I know where it is) is going to be named Money Shot.




Mother Load brought us back to Sovereign. I don't know, we were on Cedar Mtn (I think) for a little while.

Thanks for looking!

Awesome.

Slickrock. Got its name due to the trouble the early settlers had getting through it with wagons and livestock. I think.

We might get to see that green dirt yet.








This step at the top of the mesa was a little offputting. The crux move had a 10+ foot fall off to the left. If the curling team had been there to sweep off the intermediate step, maybe.




Everyone has a little captain in them.









It turns out that the green dirt sucks to ride in. It could be that this trail was freshly cut. My guide said that he had never been on that section of trail before.



It took us a little over 5 hours to get to Klondike Bluff. We headed down to the Shell station on 191 for gas and repast. The wind was blasting at a fairly steady 40 mph with higher gusts--fast enough to move a 1 gallon gas can with a gallon of gas in it. It was necessary to stand upwind during fueling.


We then headed to Poison Spider Mesa. I'm not exactly sure of how much of this we bit off. We were getting a tad tight on time.







It's like a different planet there. This run isn't exclusively slickrock, but it has much bigger topography than Slickrock Trail.


We went to the town overlook and enjoyed the wind.











OK, time's up in Moab.




Hey, Dan, if you take a 29er to Utah, I recommend this.





Nice view of Escalante Grand Staircase.




A sample of Bryce Canyon













Gooseberry Mesa is the king crab leg all you can eat buffet of mountain biking. We only did one side of it, and it's only 12.5 miles long. If you like to jump up on stuff, roll across it, and drop off the other side, you'll love it.

There are all kinds of fossils on Gooseberry Mesa.




Good lookin girls, too.




The second day, I rolled a rock over into my rear derailleur on Hidden Canyon Trail. I didn't get to go out to The Point with those guys.

In an effort to get my rig rolling again, I cruised down into Springdale to see if I could get a hanger and a pulley wheel. No dice. Nothing in Saint George either.


The owner of this motorcycle kept taunting me about riding it.





To me, the thing about Utah is the eye-popping scenery that includes the jeep track or single track through it.


You might come across something like this. I think these folks know how to roll along.




There is cell service out there, and we learned that there was a 90% chance of rain. The idea of taking the Protégé out to the highway sounded good. We would still be there if we hadn't.

WTF, this is the desert ?!?!










Three cheers for R and his badass Tacoma. He shuttled two carloads of stuff down to the highway.




He is going to have some cleaning up to do.

Thanks much to our hosts. Layla and I thank them for their time and hospitality.

Rest in peace, Mike Huggins. He was a healer, father, and paddler.

Brown Mountain is open for business.

And business is good.






Didn't we just go through this out in Utah?













North Carolina slickrock. We came at this from the bottom. I don't remember it being so steep. Also, there was deadfall that stopped our progress. Had it been 10 feet farther down the hill, it would have been tricky to say the least.




I might be imagining things, but the water ruts seemed deeper than they used to be. Could last year's rains have made a perceptible difference?

This trail will become viable again.






The horses have found this one. dammit





Asheville!






While I was in Utah, this fellow was exploring and discovering closer to home, not to mention updating his look. Nice work!









I finally talked these guys into checking out a track I was shown back in October. This turned out to be much more difficult than October's run because the rocks were wet and slicker than owl droppings on a slate roof.




We had a hard time climbing perhaps 15 vertical feet over a 25 yard run on the way out. I shudder to think of what getting forced to turn around and climb out of here would have been like.








The color of the jam is greeeeen!




As long as you could get a little forward momentum, it was all good.









Utah is great and everything, but the whole time I kept thinking to myself that I was missing an opportunity to ride in Cocke County.









So we had a little mixup and got separated. That resulted in a bent shift lever. We'll get to Black's eventually.





I was beginning to find the puffy, white clouds, butterflies, flowers, and greenery somewhat tiresome.













Hey kid! Black's is this way.










:dg










We only rode 72 miles. I was toast today. I got observed by my county level people during 4th period.

Great pics! Agreed, that trail is a bear going the other way
Pete

I finally know where that place is. LOL. I'm constantly lost in the maze. Great pics as always

Hey Ric,
You might know where that place is, but I bet you couldn't find it on your own....
Bob

Another Rick's Rendezvous has come and gone. It was great to see everyone. I made some new friends and road some new roads. Thanks to Cuttle and BDXMPL for organizing this affair.


I'm at a loss for words on this one.





It rained like hell over night into Thursday, but then the sun was poking through. Helmets were donned, and engines were started.





We ran into MarkO, Carol Ann, and Laconic (Sorry, I don't know the other fellow's screen name.) up on Beauty Spot Road. The fog turned into rain about at that point. I was hoping that going back down the mountain would take us back to fairer weather, but, alas, no. The Nolichucky was big and brown.





That's it for ride pictures for Thursday. We rode from Huntdale back to Hampton in heavy rain. We nuked the floors of the Road Runner and Subway. Subway has a very nice "hand" dryer, by the way.


Kyle B brought the firewood equivalent of the refrigerator photo above. He rustled up some dry cardboard, and got it going.

Once critical heat is achieved...





Friday morning, I ate .349 acre of breakfast casserole. I did not get hungry until dinner time.

Laconic and I headed up the Tiger Creek race along 19E. I noticed a small road off to the right that I had never seen before. Off we went.

The right fork took us to a gate. We turned back and took the other fork.





This got a tad steep and rocky, and both of us were wondering if there would be some sort of impediment that would require coming back up this. If you knew how it was gonna turn out, it wouldn't be much of an adventure.




We made it to a house! Not so fast, boys. There was still some gnar to negotiate before we came to hard top. Nice road!





We went up to Cranberry divide and down into Minneapolis. Time for a quick run up Haw Mountain and a trip over Bigfoot Pass.









The bottom of Bigfoot





Squirrel Creek (nuts!) --> Licklog --> Plum Creek --> Stamey Branch (which crosses the Eastern Divide).


221 brings us over to Jonas Ridge.












We then went down Old 105.




I traded motorcycles at my house because tomorrow is the Stone Mountain tour. Thanks to Laconic for the company.