back in Wyoming

Utah was awesome, as was the drive into Wyoming.

I first drove about an hour east to Fruita, fruitlessly, where I was too sore to ride.  I packed up and drove out of Fruita on Thursday.  The Colorado portion of the drive was gorgeous.  I got a nice up-close view of a brown bear, who posed nicely for a picture.  I'll put it up eventually, but I don't have my camera on me.  Then I went through Utah on 191, through a mining area which was pretty neat, and then into Wyoming.  

I'll try to describe some portion of the first 50 miles of 191 in Wyoming, because it was spectacular.  I was driving on what appeared to be relatively flat plain land, when an enormous canyon opened up to my left.  Soon, a similarly enormous canyon opened on my right.  The canyon walls, while not too steep, were probably about 2500 feet, and the canyons were maybe 40 miles across in the middle portion.  About 100 miles beyond the end of the canyons (to the North, my direction of travel) were snowy peaks.  As I drove, the canyons met, and the highway rode the rim between the two for a mile or so before dropping down into the flats below.  Eventually I would parallel the snowy peaks, but I forget which they were.  Oh yeah, the canyons were empty.  The town of Rock Springs lay on the plains after the canyon, and nothing much lay between the highway and the mountains to the east.  Wyoming is a crazy state.

So I remembered why it was that I was coming back to Wyoming.  I'm also lucky enough to be camping all summer in one of the most beautiful valleys I've ever seen.  It's called Teton Canyon.  Here are a couple of pictures I found on the internet.  

Yeah it's pretty awesome.  I'll be camping on campsites accessible by 4wd roads.  They're about a 10 minute drive from Targhee, which is about as close to the 'ghee as you can get...

Today I bought a map.  I'll probably try to get a hike in tomorrow.  I'd really like to do some backpacking but I'm a little hesitant to do it on my own, especially when I'm camping on my own and who can ensure my safe return?  

I'm a little worried about getting lonely camping by myself in the middle of nowhere.  We'll see how it goes.  Fortunately I'll be working long, long days that will probably leave me exhausted and Jackson is 45 minutes away should I need some sort of social life--plus there are things like open mics and good music on the Idaho side, too.  Realistically I'll probably be fine, although I do talk to myself constantly.  I think I always have, but I stopped for a while during school.  I actually find it extremely helpful to talk to myself.  I'm able to clarify and organize my thoughts, figure out how to tell stories effectively, and sometimes I say funny things that I try to remember.

Don't expect frequent blog updates.  I will probably not have wireless internet in Teton Canyon, but I will probably go somewhere with wireless internet about once a week or so.  I think I have phone service in the canyon, which is good.

Folks I met and Porcupine

I ran out of water at the Juniper site, which I used as an excuse to meet some folks.  A few sites over there was a group of young people...the exact age I'm not sure.  There were five people total, and they looked like high school age to out of college age, but I could be wrong.  The filled my growler jug for me, and we chatted for a bit around their fire.  They were all from the Fruita/Grand Junction area, camping out somewhere new for the extended holiday weekend.  We talked about riding, I told some stories from the past few days (I thought I told them okay, too, I was pleased), and they agreed that I should come to Fruita to ride.  I'm in Fruita now, but haven't been able to get in touch with Matt, who gave me his number.  I'm mad sore from the past few days, so maybe no riding is ok.

Yesterday I rode the famous Porcupine Rim route.  I've been waiting for the trails to dry before I fork over the 20 bucks for the shuttle ride.  They drive you up to the top, which yesterday was truly the highest drop off point, and you ride down.  This means 27 miles of 95% downhill.  It was great, and exhausting, and beat the crap out of me and my bike.  It's not a thing to do on a hardtail, but hey...

Hazard was as close as you can get here to high alpine singletrack.  It's been a little wet so Hazard was a little rutted and had a lot of brake bumps.  I thought it was ok, but not as good as many had told me.  There were some sketchy rock gap jumps that I avoided...maybe on a big bike.

Then the trail opened up into fast fast doubletrack.  Flowy and fun, much better on my bike and body.  Then, for the next 20 miles, I rode primarily rocky, technical downhill trail.  I walked maybe three sections, dabbed only a couple of times.  The best section was the last--a singletrack bicycle section with great flow and technical difficulty.  The middle portion of the ride had some great exposed sections with awesome views.  All in all, a great ride, but I am really sore now.

The very top, near La Plata mountains:

Views from the  middle section:

Ha I impressed some folks by riding some super techy rock lines that they called unrideable (and I'm on a hardtail, which is considered quite a feat out here, especially on porcupine).  I dabbed, though.  (dabbing is when you put a foot down to prevent a fall).

So I cleaned up from the ride, ate at the brewery, packed up my bikes, and headed for Fruita.  I parked at a scenic trailhead, read some Dune, and went to sleep at like 9:30.  I awoke at 7, found a little coffee place, and that's where I am now.  I'll go talk to the folks at the bike shop next door, but I think I may just jet for Wyoming, crash at a friend's place in Jackson tonight, and find a good campsite tomorrow/get in touch with my boss, Andy.  I wish I had more time in the desert.  It was an incredible, incredible place with amazing scenery, great terrain, and more riding than you can shake a spoke at.  I would really like to do some backpacking in the desert, find some places off the beaten path.  Fortunately the Juniper site was pretty far out there.  I like the desert around here, it's awesome.

Moab 5/26

I’m writing from the last campsite on Sandy Flats Road, the Juniper site—recommended by the ranger as the best campsite, primarily because it’s 7 miles down the road and not as many people use it.

I camped last night on the first campsite on Sandy Flats, right by the Slickrock trail.  It was nice—lots of cool rock stuff to play on.  After the rain quit (it rained super hard), and as the sun set there were some folks 4 wheelin’ near the campsite.  I envied their ability to climb with ease to high points, but realized that I, too, could climb the rocks with relative ease.  I grabbed the camera and ran into the desert. [uh, it's not letting me copy these pictures, sorry]

I stayed out until it got reasonably dark, hoping to see some critters, but every time a truck or a motorcycle would make a racket the wildlife got quiet.  One Wheeler carried a gang of what sounded like young-ish girls.  They screamed and whooped and hollered and shouted as the 4-wheeler inched its way up a rock.  The absurdly slow movement of the truck coupled with the excited and sometimes fearful screams was actually pretty funny.

So I imagine tonight will be much quieter, and perhaps I will get to see some coyotes and whatever else is out here. 

Today I ran some errands—bought sunscreen, fixed bike, bought helmet, and headed up towards my campsite.  I was planning on a hike, but as I passed the trailhead for the infamous Slickrock trail, I had to pull in.  It was a good choice, too. The ride was about 15 miles, and took maybe 3 hours including a really long stop to help someone with a broken chain, or rather, to wait for them to finish using my tool to fix his chain.  He seemed to be having difficulty, so I offered an extra SRAM powerlink.  It’s like a chain link but can be attached without a tool.  We chatted, and it was a pleasant, although long, break.  In the end he handed me a dollar bill of some sort.  I refused but he insisted, and I’m not going to refuse money more than two or three times.  I didn’t look at the bill then, but turns out it was 10 bucks!  Sweet.

Ha, one dude told me they knew I had a chain tool when I pumped my way half way up the hill.  Pumping is when you gain speed by pumping the terrain, and the slickrock is prime for it.  I was flattered.  Good pumping is key to going fast with minimal effort, which I enjoy.

After the ride I reorganized my truck bed, then headed up here, and that’s where I am now.  (I’ll publish this later)

(added later:)

I didn't see any coyotes, but it was an awesome campsite.  I did a little riding nearby, explored the rocks, explored the desert.  There were canyons everywhere, lots of cool plants, and awesome lichen.  Here are pictures:

The Juniper site:

Storm developing:

pretty canyon:

juniper bush

Pretty sun:

Moab

yesterday:

Got into town around 1, checked in to a local shop and got a map and ride suggestions.  I headed out to Amasa Back, with the intention of riding Amasa Back (a jeep road) to some other (bike specific I think) trails.  I chickened out when confronted with a lightning/wind storm, so I only got to ride Amasa Back.  It was fun, totally different terrain and trail than I've ridden, and had nice views:

I drove back into town and grabbed a shower at the Poison  Spider shop.  Then I looked fruitlessly for a campsite, and ended up parking at a boat take-out on the Colorado river.  When I got there I saw some dudes pulling out with their rafts.  I started making dinner, and they rolled back around.  The driver hopped out and explained that they were looking for their buddy, who was an excellent kayaker but seemed to have disappeared.  He thought that perhaps his friend, Mark, paddled into town (long way...), and asked that if he show up I let him know his buddies were in town.

After dinner I was taking out my contacts in the cab of my truck when I heard some rustling in the bushes.  It was dark, and I shined my headlight over towards the noise.  A dude in paddling gear said hi, and I said, "oh, you're Mark."  

I gave Mark a ride into town, for which he was extremely grateful.  Mark spent the early part of his life in Decatur (near Atlanta), before moving to West Virginia, where he learned to paddle.  Last night he apparently waited for a long time for his buddies to catch up but they never did...I'm not clear on what happened, but they let me park at the rafting depot, and I called it a night.

Today:

I cleverly have adapted my sleeping schedule very well to Western time.  My 2 to 10 sleep schedule in Atlanta is now about a 12 to 8, although I think it'll be closer to 11 to 7 soon.  So I woke up today around 7:30.  Mark bought me some coffee, and I made some oatmeal, said my goodbyes to the rafting folks, and split for the trailhead.  

My plan, as described at Poison Spider shop, was to ride the Poison Spider trail to the Portal trail.  Sounds simple, eh?  right.

In the desert there are tracks all over the place.  The Poison Spider trail is a jeep trail.  Sometimes it's marked, sometimes there are side trails...and on a bike you can ride pretty much wherever you want on the rock/sand terrain--so it's easy to get off the trail if it's not marked.  I spent a good 6 miles doing unmapped loops on the Poison Spider trail.  It was good riding, but frustrating to go in unplanned circles.  I began to have images of myself, camelback empty, crawling around the desert in severe dehydration until some jeep happened upon me.  Just about then I found the trail that would not go in a circle, so I checked my water supply (kinda low), ate my one powerbar, and continued my ride.

Up to this point I had done lots and lots of climbing.  I was ready to go down, but knew that the point of the climbing was for the singletrack descent at the end, the Portal trail.  I asked some jeepers (including a guide) earlier if they knew how to get to the portal trail but they did not (I actually feel that the guide, either an asshole or an idiot, led me in the wrong direction (this was when I was doing circles)).  The guide said the trail was marked with skulls and warning signs, and that the exposure was so severe that you had to walk uphill of your bike and should it slip you have to throw it off the cliff and get it later.  The kid riding with them looked at me and said, "you're really going to ride that?"  I said hell yeah I was going to ride that.

So I finally made it to the Portal trail, much to my relief.  There were no skulls, but there were signs that told me to dismount and walk (hahaha).  To be serious it also said that three folks had died there from the exposure (like falling off the cliff).  It wasnt nearly that bad, but there were sections where if you crashed towards the exposure you would probably fall.  I didn't crash, which wasn't difficult, and I did walk some exposed technical sections.  

The portal trail hugs this cliff line:

My hands burned, the trail was super technical and rocky, and it was great!  Alas it was over too soon and I spun up the road back to the car.  I went back to town, ate a couple of pbjs, and paid 3 bucks for access to the public pool and showers and stuff.  It was awesome.

Here are some pictures:

a vista

a jeep trail on slickrock, identifiable by the black rubber:

And here are some from my ride in Arkansas:

Now off to the shop to get a ride suggestion for tomorrow.  I need something with little climbing, my hindside is sore from slickrock+hardtail+seated climbing.  A shuttle sure would be nice...

rained out

Drive went well--made it to Durango at about 6 pm last night.  Since it's been raining off and on, so I'm about to skip town and head for moab.  It may be hard to find somewhere to camp tonight, but we'll see.

Had a good ride in Arkansas, but I gotta run now to make it to moab in time for a ride.

Atlanta

I drove back to Atlanta last weekend, arriving just in time to sing a song and go out to dinner for Mother's day.  Since there's been a good amount of bike riding, family and friend seeing, and fiddle and frisbee playing.  

I went to a good show at Eddie's attic last night with my Dad, Sister, and one of her friends.  While the music wasn't what I usually listen to, it was good.   I especially liked Carolyn Aiken's style, and I thought Jeff Talmadge's tunes, while excellent, sure were sad.  I talked to the opener--Rachel Farley, cause I thought she and my friend Kyle ought to play together.

I am held in town (I don't mind, but I am itching to go to Utah) until my new fork arrives (a used Magura Wotan).  I expect to leave next Wednesday.  That doesnt leave me much time.  We'll see if I make it to Utah or if I take a leisurely drive and just head straight to WY. 

I gotta run, got frisbee plans.

I'm a slacker

Yeah it's been over a week since my last post.  I accepted the job at Targhee.  

I've been busy, but it's hard to say doing what...some painting here, some cleaning, some bike maintenance, some (lots of?) riding, some trail work.  We had a trail work day at Shindagin recently.  That was fun, check it out here.

Yesterday Steve did some filming while I did some riding.  He's putting together a video highlighting some of the local riding spots and folks, and my little dirt jump spot is one of them.

The 5" fork I ran on my Bitch (the bike i ride 95% of the time) has a crack in the steerer tube, at the base by the crown.  See below.  This is an area of high stress, it's an old fork, and I beat on it pretty hard.  I'm sad to see it go, and replacing it will probably cost me >=$300.  So it goes.  I'd like a new rockshox..maybe a domain or a lyrik, but that can be serious $$...and I am wary of buying used on the internet where I can't inspect the fork...

 Busted fork aside, bikes are working okay.  I'd like a fork for my Castellano (xc bike).  I'm running it rigid right now and I'm watching a ton of stuff on ebay, but it also needs a derailleur...  Road bike needs general inspection and maintenance.  My big rig is working great, but I need to make some sort of chain guide, or figure out how to run a front derailleur with the tensioner I have on there now.

So I gotta get to it, get this stuff done.  Today I'll finish my painting job, get payed for some stuff, work on bikes, go to bike shop, maybe make it to a local Ithaca jam.  I also would like to make it down to Elmira again before my mom leaves.  We will see...