Klondike Bluffs and Moab Brand Trails

30 October 2013. The last day of our second annual fall break mountain biking in Moab trip. It had to be the last day was because we had to be home for Halloween. There were some who began to reconsider that need, however, given the adventure that was still to be had in Moab.

We headed north of Moab to the Klondike Bluffs area. Started out on a newly developed trail called Jurassic, which is an easy and flat trail that runs along the base of some remarkably unvegetated cliffs that were deposited in the Jurassic Era. The tread was smooth, loose, and bounded in many places by chunks of rocks. Not super interesting if you're seeking challenging technical riding, but sort of fascinating from a colorful barren dirt perspective. It was also a great alternative to the soft, sandy Copper Ridge Road that crawls up the center of the valley,  It was easy to imagine that we were riding on the surface of an alien world; or maybe the early days of our world (say, Jurasic Era), with dinosaurs possibly lurking around the next bend; or maybe even a post-apocalyptic earth, with brain-hungry zombies walking mindlessly down from the ridgeline. Other worldly, anyway.

Click here to see the Garmin log.

I found the easy trail enjoyable. I rode fast, which lent challenge to the curves because the surface was loose and provided little confidence in the way of traction. Quinn, on the other hand, found the lack of boulders, ledges, and drops, and the continual very gentle climb rather unexciting. He was nearly bored to tears.

But once we reached the top, he enjoyed this little bit of precariously perched downhill.

Our intent was to follow Jurassic up to Baby Steps, which would take us down into and then across the valley and up the other side to either Dino Flow or EKG, which in turn would deliver us back down the valley to the starting point. When we reached the junction with Dino Flow, at about mile 5, there was a nice smooth rocky area that compelled us to take a lengthy snack break. Since Quinn and I were in the mood for something challenging and dangerous, we cranked up the steep climb to EKG while the girls started down Dino Flow in search of the fast and flowing.

EKG heads sharply up and down from ridge to valley as it zig-zags back toward the Klondike Bluffs parking area to the south. The tread is smooth but broken rock, and is punctuated by crumbled rock, fissures, and boulders. A very fun trail, indeed, but it was slow-going on the uphills and we began to worry it was going to take us too long to get back and still allow time enough for an afternoon ride at the Moab Brand trails. So we short cut down Little Salty, a crazy fun 6% grade dropping to Dino Flow; the sort of trail that gives you the opportunity to make full use of all the suspension travel you brought with you.

The boy tackling some jumbles on his new Fulcrum wheelset.

Rest for the wicked.

When Quinn and I arrived at the truck, worrying that the girls were going to be bored, sitting at the truck waiting for us, we were surprised to find them absent! I knew immediately that there were only two explanations: a crash and injury or bicycle damage somewhere along the trail near the top of Dino Flow, or a wrong turn and lost riders. I felt a twinge of nervousness about the risks of our sport. Fortunately, it was neither Jurassic times nor post-apocalyptic, so I simply picked up my phone and helped them identify where they'd made the wrong turn and how they could go to get back most efficiently. Quinn and I packed up the bikes and had some post-ride beverages while we waited. At least they got to see the dinosaur footprints on the original Klondike Trail.

After a bit of debate about options, the girls dropped Quinn and me off at the Bar M trailhead, where we made just one more loop. They headed into Moab to look for lunch and a sweatshirt. Hoping for the full circuit of Rockin' A and Circle O was probably too much given that we'd just finished 10 miles at the Klondike area, and Quinn is only 10, but I was willing to give a try. Poor kid.

We hammered along through Lazy EZ, with Quinn leading at a fast pace, and then we climbed more slowly through Bar M's two-tracks. I detected a winnowing of strength. Rockin' A is challenging, requiring powerful moves and confidence to climb and descend boulders and short steep slickrock mounds. We were alone in the vast expanse of Rockin' A, when the rain began to fall. Slickrock, normally anything but slick, became slicker due to the sand the stuck to our tires. The temperature went from comfortable to cold, a little hail or sleet began to fall dusting the rocks with little balls of ice, and some too-close-for-comfort lightning smashed on the rocks to our south. The cold and rain and lack of traction on steep rock and scary electricity pretty much sapped whatever resolve Quinn had left, so when Rockin' A took us to the junction with Circle O, we cut out on the jeep road that connects to Bar M and then took another connector back to the parking lot. No point in pushing a good day into bad. There in the parking lot we lay on the gravel in the partial sun, seeking geothermal energy, while we awaited salvage by the girls in our Nissan adventure truck.

Click here to see this Garmin log.

Getaway and Bull Run

Getaway and Bull Run are part of the complex of trails known as the Mag 7. There are more than seven of them now, and since they are new they weren't on our map. We hadn't originally planned to ride this area ahead of time since some of the trails are expert level trails with big exposure, and I didn't want to get us into something like that. But after talking to Chris and looking at some recent maps on the Utah Mountain Biking website, we decided that Getaway and Bull Run would make a nice loop. It was really, really nice. Beautiful, challenging, and fun.

Click here to see the Garmin log.

We parked at the Gemini Bridges parking and rode down the road to the beginning of Getaway. Then we followed Getaway uphill and through some slickrock outcrops and wide open areas of scrub desert. It was expansive and awesome. Maybe the best part was that I started feeling like I had to put out some effort to keep up with Quinn! Yep, he was hammering up the trail and I actually had to think about keeping up with him! Finally!

Near the top, Getaway led us across some really nice big expanses of rock. Recent rain had filled hundreds of little depressiona with water.

This is my favorite kind of trail. Cindy liked it, too!

Bull Run took us along this canyon back to where we'd started. Bull Run presented a greater technical challenge, with many mostly small drops and climbs up ledges and slabs. Occasionally it was uncomfortably close to the cliff edge, based on my sensitivity to that sort of thing, but it was never dangerously close. As long as you didn't make a wrong turn, anyway. It was so fast and fun that I apparently didn't stop often enough to take pictures.

That night we had a nice clear evening with a campfire, hot dogs, and s'mores. We were glad we stayed. Later that night, however, when we were snug in our tents, the rain fell hard and thunder and lightning kept some of us awake. But not me.

Sand Flats Camping and Slickrock Trail

On the second day of our fall break trip, 28 October 2013, we got a not-too-early start and drove west to Moab. We had decided to try camping for a few days at the Sand Flats Campground in the Sand Flats Recreation area, a BLM property that is just up the hill from Moab. The famous Slickrock Trail starts from the Sand Flats Recreation Area, and we thought that the wide-open nature of the campground might be nicer than a canyon for late-season camping when the days were short and the nights cold.

So there's a reason it's called "Sand Flats." There's a lot of sand. Who'd have guessed? The road to our campsite even had sign recommending four wheel drive due to the soft deep sand. Our truck floated through just fine, and the campsite was actually pretty nice. But it was sandy.

Sand alone would have been OK, but it was also insanely windy. Like 40 mph windy. We pulled the truck into the site and ate lunch at the picnic table. We literally had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Or were they sand and peanut butter jellywiches? It was a mess, so we decided to do a short section of the slickrock trail, hoping the wind would calm down before set up the tents. We knew that if we could even get the tents setup in such a windstorm, they'd be completely filled with the blowing sand.

We'd left the bikes on top of the truck hoping they'd be above the worst of the sandblasting, and just drove back across the sandy path to the main road; the trailhead parking was just across the road from our campsite. I managed to get the bikes down in the windstorm and we set off on a ride.

Click here to see the Garmin log.

Nothing like steep cliffs and strong winds! A cattle grate?

Just like driving on a highway. Follow the painted white line. It might seem silly, but there's no dirt to sink a post to hold a sign, and if you don't follow the trail, you can find yourself falling off a cliff or completely lost and surrounded by cliffs and canyons. That's Quinn out there.

Abbey intense.

Don't turn right.

The picture above looks cliffy on the approach, but it actually wasn't. And we made it back, despite the wind blowing all but the largest of us (me) off our bikes at times.

The wind did not calm down and in fact it blew strongly all night. For a while, we sat in truck wondering if we should just pack up and find a motel. But we decided to stick it out. The wind blew sand in through the mesh windows of the tents; and the girls' tent especially since it doesn't have covers over the mesh windows and doors. They awoke the next day with at least a quarter inch of sand covering them and everything in their tent!

Mary's Trail

This post covers the first day of our second annual fall break trip to Moab. The date was 27 October 2013. This year, as last, we stopped in Grand Junction for a visit with our Western Slope family and rode one trail in Fruita before heading further west to Moab for the remainder of the trip.

We rode Mary's Trail out to Pizza Point, and then rode back. The weather was perfect, and although the trailhead parking lot seemed packed, the trail was not at all crowded.  Click here for the Garmin log.

The view of the Colorado River from Pizza Point was outstanding, with later afternoon sunlight hitting the bright yellow leaves on the cottonwood trees along the river. So why do they call it Pizza Point when there's no pizza there?

The trail runs just a little too close to the edge of bluffs in a few places.

Granby Seven

Day Seven, August 2nd. 2013. I know six isn't up yet, but I'll get it done soon.

Quinn and I went back to the Trestle Park and rented real downhill bikes, full-face helmets, and all the associated protective gear - chest and back, arms and elbows, shins and knees. I ended up riding a Specialized Status II, and Quinn a Kona Stinky 2-4. It was fun. I could complain a little about some details relative to the bikes, but they were in decent condition, so I won't dwell on that here.

I liked the idea of having the facial protection afforded by the full face helmet. The downhill trails are sort of like riding a roller coaster, and it's best to ride at the speed that fits the trail. That is, flow across the berms, rollers, and jumps works best in the range of maybe 15 to 20 miles per hour. Too slow and it just doesn't flow, too fast, and well, you're likely kissing trees. I suppose some people ride it faster.

Here's a picture of Quinn and me in all our gear:

I didn't bother to track our rides with the GPS this time. And I took almost no pictures because there just wasn't any good way to stop and pull out the camera. The pictures below, of Quinn riding rocky technical stuff, really aren't the norm at Trestle. The norm is fast, mostly smooth, sculpted berms and jumps. The best way to document it would be with a helmet cam, but I don't have one of those. Here's a link to a video, made by one of my co-workers who frequents the Trestle Park, which gives a good flavor for the more advanced trails: Click Here.

Quinn and I made six runs throughout the course of the day. We rode most of Green World first, just to get a feel for the bikes, and then we worked our way up. Our favorite was probably Double Jeopardy, which had a really fun rocky technical section (I love rocks!), but we also like Rainmaker, which was jump after jump for miles. No wonder my knee pain has gotten worse! We did most of the advanced trails in the park, but we skipped those with really big jumps -- it's good that Quinn was there to put a cap on things. As it was, we got through the whole day, completely exhausted, but with no crashes.

Quinn tackles the rocks on Double Jeopardy with ease:

Granby Five

I'm determined to get through the blogging of this trip, but it's taking a long time, and in the mean time I've missed writing up all the fun stuff we did in August. I haven't even mentioned Cindy's new job as a bus driver for the Cherry Creek School District!

Click here to visit the Trestle Park website. The guy in picture looks just like Quinn, doesn't he? As the planet warms, ski resorts may go the way of glaciers and dinosaurs unless they come up with something that doesn't require snow. That might be mountain bikes.

Wednesday, July 31. We took our bikes to the Trestle Park and bought a day's worth of lift tickets. Trestle has trails that vary in difficulty, from reasonably easy to reasonably insane. Since the lift takes you up, most of the trails are entirely downhill, so even the most out-of-shape riders nearly-novice mountain bikers can find something to ride.

These are links to the Garmin logs along with a little discription of each

Green World first, then Green World, Shy Ann and Free Speech. This track covered the first two rides up and down. On the first ride, all five of us, the usual scaq plus Abbey's D rode the lifts up and headed down a trail called "Green World." It's the easiest trail at the park, but has a little section of climbing. Green World is pretty smooth, and fast and fun.  Quinn, however, managed to take a big spill on the only real jump on Green World. After a long section of fast switchbacks, there's a large hump in the trail that comes up somewhat unexpectedly. Quinn jumped it, but pulled up little too a hard, and after flying for a while, landed on his rear wheel but couldn't get the front down and wound up going over backward. He was probably traveling over 20 miles per hour. His knee pads saved his knees, but he scraped up his side pretty well. He was able to pull himself together and ride down, blood soaking into his jersey, and we took him to the on-site medical facility for repairs.

It took about an hour to get Quinn's belly patched, and after that he was ready for a break. So Cindy sat out the next ride with Quinn while Abbey, Daniel, and I made another trip up the lifts and down. This time Abbey and Daniel took Green World again while I tested some parallel blue (intermediate difficulty) trails -- Shy Ann and Free Speech. The blues were not particular hard, but Shy Ann had some really bad washboards heading into some of the berms.

Green World, Free Speech, Long, Lower Long, Boulevard. After Quinn's rest and some really good pizza for lunch, we made another trip with all five of us. We added Long and finished on Boulevard. Long was fun with some bigger, deeper berms and jumps. Lower long was interesting -- it involved some climbing and a descent down some very eroded, poorly designed, and poorly maintained trail that most people seem to avoid. Next time we will, too. Boulevard was only real alternative to finishing on Green World, but was rough and not all that fun. It was at least single track, whereas finishing on Green World was just rolling down a gravel road and nearly 30 miles per hour.

Green World, Free Speech, Green World. Daniel's mom was supposed to pick him up around 4, so we really didn't have time for this ride, but some puppy dog eyes got us one more ride before he left. To make it as quick as possible we stuck to Green World and Free Speech. We rode fast and with minimal stops.

Green World, Free Speech, Long Trail, Jury Duty, Boulevard. One more for Quinn and me. The girls were beat and ready to stop. Abbey's knee was getting sore. Quinn and I took Jury Duty this time, which was something like a 1/4 or 1/2 mile of elevated board walk. A little spooky at first, but fun and easy once you adjusted to the idea of riding on a wood sidewalk 15 feet off the ground.

It was challenge to get good pictures at Trestle Park. While the trails were fairly wide, in most places it wasn't safe to stop and pictures. On the more difficult trails (which we didn't do this day) there were signs saying "No stopping on trail." So I'm a little disappointed in the pics, but we got a few.

This is Quinn riding down in pain just after his big crash.

The group coming through some rollers; pain revealed in Quinn' expression:

At the boy repair shop:

Cindy rounding some gently bermed curves:

Long Trail had some features you could roll across, but would also serve as big jumps at higher speed. Cindy is demonstrating the low speed roll-through method.

Abbey in a curve:

Bike racks:

Near the top of Green World:

Wood Rollers on Free Speach:

Quinn's belly patch:

Granby Four

Now we're up to Tuesday, July 30th. But today is September 6. And my memories are getting fuzzy. Good thing we have pictures.

July 30 was the last day of the trip for H,C&C. Our kids, Daniel included, were worn down and wanted a day off from biking, so we let them stay in the townhouse with Sharon and Cailan while Cindy and I went for a ride with Heather and Chris.

We decided to ride the Tipperary Creek trail back down in the same general Fraser/Winter Park area we'd ridden the day before. Here's a link to the route: Tipperary - Flume.

In short, the ride started with a couple miles of easy singletrack through a meadow that was a forest before the beetles hit, then another couple of miles of gradual climbing on a somewhat muddy gravel road, and then a nice, stiff climb up a steep, overgrown, gravelly two-track that was mostly one track. The climb was steep and steady for about 1200 feet; enough to make it almost grueling, but not quite. The Tipperary Creek Valley was quite beautiful, really, and for the first time in days there was no rain.

One particularly memorable spot early in the climb was at the first crossing of Tipperary Creek, where the trail dropped sharply into the creek alongside some inconveniently placed rocks. Cindy took my suggested route for getting through the crux of the problem, but perhaps would have been better off to select her own approach. She was not seriously injured, but was seriously wet.

A while later we had another chance to cross, this time without incident.

We reached the top of the climb, cresting just over 10,000 ft after nearly 9 miles of riding. Cindy was having some trouble with her shifters after dunking her red Superlight in the creek. There's a bend in the rear shifter cable housing that can get sticky when it's been wet and muddy, but we were able to clean it out somewhat and lube it into order. Cindy's fingers were cold and numb in her wet gloves -- and I can't imagine that her wet bike shorts were comfortable either. Heather was getting the hunger shakes, too, so we took a nice snack break while we worked on the Superlight.

And then we went down fast. Spruce Creek Trail was steep and reasonably straight. The good visibility that comes with straightness allowed us to zip down the trail quickly without concern about unexpected encounters with other trail users. Large, loose, sharp rocks, awareness of our mortality, old age, and hydraulic disc brakes governed our speed. 

And then a little gravel road, a zoom down Flume...

...and in no time we were back to the trucks. Zoo wee mama! 

One might think that 15 miles and 1400 feet of climbing would be enough for one day, but that was just the morning! Quinn, Abbey, and Daniel were well-rested by the time us old folks got back from the morning ride, so after lunch it we were off for more. Cindy decided to stay back with Sharon while the kids and I rode, and H&C had to get back to GJ. So we decided to go for rematch with Granby route that had foiled us twice -- once due to Abbey's brake and then due to excess mud. This time it worked out.

Fraser-Granby-Rabbit Run-Sweet Nancy-Natures Way. Click it to see the route.

I didn't get my camera out early enough in the ride to capture our climing, but we followed the Fraser-Granby Trail to the south along the west side of the Granby Resort, then crossed through the valley on gravel roads until we hit Rabbit Run, which is one of the Granby Bike Ranch cross country trails. It was rough; it seemed like the trail had been cut by mechanized equipment, but no trail crew had ever gone out to turn it from a road cut into a trail. Rabbit Run took us up to the ridge line on the east side of the Granby, where we followed the Vista Ridge north until we reached the top of Granby Ranch, right to the top of the ski lift (which was not running mid-week).

The view was spectacular, especially looking east across the deep Fraser River valley toward the Continental Divide. 

The ski lift was closed, so the official 'downhill' trails were closed and roped off. Someone in our group might have posed the idea that we ride down one of the downhill trails anyway, but I was the adult in charge and put a stop to such nonsense, appealing as it may have been. We rode down Sweet Nancy, which is listed as a cross country trail, so was not closed. It descended quickly, nonetheless, but had no jumps or other technical features. Like the other trails we rode, Sweet Nancy was not a well-groomed trail. Corners were sharp and unpredictable and most lacked berms. The tread seemed unkempt and uncivil; it was a hard, fast, and rough ride down. But I suppose it was still quite fun...

    

Granby Three

This post covers Monday, July 29. I'm so far behind now -- I gotta speed this up. Extra steps to get photos resized then rotated are slowing down the blogger.

We have Garmin logs; the first ride was this one: Creekside - Zoom - Chainsaw. A really nice loop it is. Not surprisingly, Creekside Trail climbs gently uphill beside a creek; easy but rocky. Then there's a long grind up a gravel road -- must be a hundred miles and a few thousand feet -- to Zoom downhill. Zoom is rugged and loose and steep and this time a little damp. Chainsaw is wonderful and swoopy and switchbacky and when it starts raining it's a river.

Here's Creekside:

And the gravel road:

Top of Zoom:

 Bottom of Zoom:

Chainsaw:

Later in the day was this one: Ice Hill - Blue Sky.  We started this ride at the Winter Park Resort, with a long steady climb up a gravel road, followed by a long fast descent down another gravel road. And then there was a bunch of nice, up-and-down single-track with plenty of wet roots and rocks that I found quite challenging. The last portion of trail followed the railroad back down to the resort. It was fun and wet.

Chris and I traded off a couple of times, one of us captaining the Ventana tandem with Cailan as stoker, while the other rode his new Salsa 29er. This gave Daniel the chance to ride my Nickel, which it seems he quite enjoyed. After experiencing that bit mountain biking bliss, he's been after his parents to buy him a comparable piece of equipment -- quite unsuccessfully thus far. I enjoyed the opportunity to ride Chris (and Heather)'s bikes. The dual suspension tandem with it's plush long-travel fork is really nice for getting over slippery roots, and the Salsa with the Lefty fork and clutched derailleur was without question the lightest, smoothest, and quietest bike I've ever ridden. It's a good thing it was a little small for me -- I was less tempted to keep it.

Did I mention that most of the afternoon, it was either raining, just about to rain, or just finished raining?