This morning, we made a quick trip out to Alderfer Three Sisters Park to get in a ride before Cindy went to work at 3 p.m. We parked in our usual spot and started out on the usual route (click here for a previous post), we opted to include the Summit Trail in our usual loop, which added another 250 feet of climbing at the beginning of the ride; which means we climbed right at 1000 feet in 3 miles. Everyone, even Quinn, did an incredible job of climbing and navigating the tough spots. In the past, Quinn has struggled with the 750 climb, but he was much stronger today. Maybe it was because I offered him $5 if he could make it to the summit, the full 1000 feet without complaining.
Yesterday, we went to Roxborough State Park with the Diddiwah and Chris's uncle, Roger. It was a walking trip, not a peddling one, but it was very nice, despite the clouds and cool temperature, and lack of bicycles. Heather and Chris had planned to bring bikes when they came over to Denver for the weekend, but Heather's injuries, broken finger and internal bruising (you'll have to ask her), are keeping her off her bicycle for a few days. This time at Roxborough, we took the South Rim Trail, which presented us excellent views of the valley to the north.
Abbey, a wary eye and a sock monkey hat.
And the day before that was a trip to the zoo. And before that was Thanksgiving. It had been several years since we'd had a Thanksgiving dinner with any family other than the immediate. In Michigan, we usually had dinner with some of our neighbors and about thirty of their closest friends. This year we cooked dinner at our house and were joined by the Diddiwah and Bob and BJ. It was nice; we spent quite a long time sitting in our living room, playing music, and talking while we waited for the turkey to hit 165. I didn't get any pics of any of it.
And between Moab, on the 4th of November, and Thanksgiving Day? Well, Quinn's been playing basketball, Abbey made first chair in the Cherry Creek District Middle School Honor Band. I went to Long Beach, CA, for a week. Cindy's been holding it all together as usual. We've had some runs and some rides, but nothing I'd consider a reportable adventure. So with that, I think I'm ready to get back to posting Moab pics.
The morning of Friday, the 2nd of November, we awoke in Grand Junction and, after coffee and breakfast, packed up to drive to Moab and find a campsite. And then we did. And then we went riding at the Bar M trails. The Bar M trails are short distance north of Moab, and comprise a network of trails that are mostly on pale slickrock called Entrada sandstone. We rode Lazy EZ, Bar M, Circle O, and Rocking A. It was too much fun!!
Our caravan heads off into the Utah desert with the Utah dog in the lead.
Below, Abbey follows the trail down a steep slab while Cindy waits here turn. On the slickrock, all of the trails are marked with paint, so that trail users will neither become lost forever in the desert nor find themselves riding off an unexpected cliff.
Chris and Cailan prepare for the descent:
Heather rides her new machine through one of many sharp dips between slabs, with Abbey and Cindy following:
We all enjoyed riding the slickrock at the Bar M trail area. It was moderately challenging in terms of technical riding, so it was quite fun. It was flat, in terms of elevation, so it was not necessarily aerobically challenging. Of course, after something like 9 miles of continuous riding through terrain like that in the picture above, it was exhausting!
On our second day in the Moab area, we drove up out of the Colorado River valley to Dead Horse Point State Park. The park provides incredible views of the Colorado River, and has a recently built mountain bike trail system, the Intrepid Trail system, which makes really nice way to travel around the mesa and access the incredible scenery.
We thought we could get a nice family picture at the first overlook. It didn't work. And yes, that rock behind us is the edge of a thousand-foot cliff. Even Chris and Quinn stayed comfortably back from the edge.
The Intrepid Trail itself was located far from the cliffs, but there were bike racks and short foot paths at each of the overlooks.
Lunch after riding the Intrepid Trail.
The overlook at the picnic area. I was not especially comfortable at this one.
Not only was the scenery nice, but riding the Intrepid Trail was really fun. It's considered a kid-friendly trail that is accessible to all levels of riders, but it had enough interesting features, including rock ledges, short rocky climbs, and lots of curves, that it would be fun for just about anyone. Definitely worth another trip around the loop!
At the campsite on the morning of our last day:
After packing up our campsite, we drove north past the Bar M trails to the Klondike Bluffs area for another ride on pale slickrock. We followed the original Klondike Bluffs 4x4 trail up to the border of Arches National Park where there was a foot-only path into the park. It was worth the walk into the park.
On the Klondike Bluffs Trail we followed the footprints of dinosaurs; Cailan added water so we could see the toe prints.
Much of the trail was a flat, steep slab of sandstone...
...but not all of it.
A pin popped out of Abbey's chain and it took us a while straighten the links that bent when it happend, and then to push the pin back into place. I was glad I brought my chain tool, as it would have been a long walk out with out it!
Walking into Arches National Park:
A rest and a snack on top of a rounded column:
After our snack in the sunshine, we walked back to the bikes, and then rode back to the trail head down the rock slabs much faster than we'd come up. And that was the end of our trip. That night we were back at home, and back to work and school the next morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment