Castle Valley

We went down to Moab for the holiday weekend to check out the progress on the cabin.  We have walls and roof framing!!  It is pretty exciting to see the progress.  We were able to camp on our own property for the weekend with electrical hook up and all.  It was great to spend time on the property and to wake up to such amazing views.


The Vatican

View of Porcupine Rim from the Bedroom

Canyon Rim to Swett Ranch - Bike Ride

I did the Canyon Rim to Swett Ranch Loop ride in the heat of the day and nearly killed myself.  The ride was a lot longer and harder than I thought or else I was just depleted from a weekend of camping fun.  I started out on the Swett Ranch Loop which was supposed to be a pretty easy 6 miles on gentle flowing dirt roads and doubletrack.  Tack on a little backtracking mishap in the beginning and an extra mile to check out the Swett Ranch (which is a must see) and the 6 mile loop turned into an 8 mile loop that took me a solid 2 hours to finish.  The climb out from Swett Ranch and around the loop was a consistent uphill grind that seemed harder than it should have. 

After the loop, I still had to finish off another 4 1/2 miles of singletrack back to the Red Canyon Visitor's Center where Mary and the dogs were waiting.  The bouncing, bumpy, rocky singletrack took me another hour to finish, landing me back at the car well behind my projected total ride time of 2 hours.  I think I would try this ride again under better circumstances, and it might be quite enjoyable.  Notes for next time - start earlier in the day, start with fresh legs, and drink more water!

Total Distance:  12.5 miles

Total Elevation:  1,840 feet

Total Time:  3:05 hours

Dowd Mountain - Bike Ride

While at Flaming Gorge, I was able to check off a couple mountain bike rides in the book.  There are actually four rides in the book out this way, so I guess I will have to come back and check off the other two sometime soon.  While the rides are in the book, I wouldn't say Flaming Gorge is known for its mountain biking.  Boating is obviously the big attraction.  And the bike trails clearly resemble their second place priority.  The singletrack portion of the Dowd Mountain trail was pretty faint and didn't look like anyone had riden the trail in years.  The cheetgrass and sage bushes were gladly reclaiming their territory. 

There seemed to be some newly developed double track trails in the area as well that were NOT on the map in the book.  I suppose this can happen when you use a book that you've had for 14 years!  Anyway, I survived the singletrack and jumped on the graded road to the top for a great overlook viewpoint of the twisting apendages of the reservoir.  It took me about an hour to get to the overlook.

The ride back down on the otherside of the loop was about the same - faint singletrack and non-existant doubletrack back to the car. Not a soul out on the trail the entire ride.

Total Distance:  10 miles

Total Elevation:  1,140 feet

Total Time:  1:50

Flaming Gorge

We went camping this weekend with the professional campers at an amazing group site in Flaming Gorge located right on the water.  The group site is called Dutch John Draw and it has a great pavillion and plenty of room for lots of big trailers.  The best part is that the campsite has its own private dock and beach area for fishing, swimming, kayaking, hanging out and whatever else you can think of to do on the shores of a beautiful reservoir.  It was a hot weekend so we spent a lot of time down by the water and in the water.  The professional campers are great.  They managed to keep us laughing the entire weekend with all of their shenanegans.  My favorite was the evil baby in the trailer trick, or maybe the "party barge," or the "chopped cocktails" competition, or perhaps the synchornized send off.  Needless to say, we had a fabulous time and arrived home exhausted but smiling.

Geyser Pass to Oowah Lake - Bike Ride

This ride starts out at the Trans La Sal Trailhead off of Geyser Pass Road.  There is a nice five mile uphill climb on the well-graveled Geyser Pass Road from the trailhead to the start of the singletrack cutoff to Oowah Lake.  It took me about an hour to churn out the uphill portion of the ride.  This was my favorite part of the ride.  The rest of the ride along the singletrack was more of a hike-a-bike.  I suppose some people could "ride" this trail, but it wasn't my cup of tea.  I walked my bike most of the way along the three miles of singletrack down into Oowah Lake.  It was nice scenery, so I had a good time, but I really didn't need my bike.  It took me an hour to do the singletrack portion of the ride.  I'd rather be churning on a rideable uphill than walking my bike three miles downhill.  Since this ride requires a shuttle, Mary dropped me off at the trailhead and then drove over to Oowah Lake.  She hiked up the singletrack from Oowah Lake with the dogs and met me near Clark Lake.  It was nice to have some company for the hike out.

Uphill along Geyser Pass Road

Singletrack Cutoff to Clark Lake and Oowah Lake

Working my way down the singletrack

Clark Lake

Cutoff at Clark Lake to Oowah Lake

Mary, Darwin and Riley

Rare shot of me on my bike on the downhill

Oowah Lake

Bike Distance:  8.5 miles

Elevation Gain:  2,043 feet

Ride Time:  1:34

Total Time:  1.52

 

Brumley Ridge - Bike Ride

Brumley Ridge is a great accessible and easy bike ride in the La Sals.  Many of the bike rides in the La Sals are technical and tricky single track that resemble more of a hike-a-bike than a bike ride.  But Brumley Ridge is rideable the entire way.  The ride is a 9.2 mile loop that heads out on a 4WD dirt flanking Brumley Creek and an interesting canyon.  After climbing for about 4 miles on the 4WD dirt road, the trail connects with Geyser Pass Road, a well-maintained gravel road.  After a couple miles on Geyser Pass Road, the ride connects with the La Sal Mountain Loop Road for a fun descent on the paved road back to the start.

 

Bike Distance:  9.1 miles

Elevation Gain:  1,642 feet

Ride Time:  1:24

Total Time:  1:34