Spring Break 2015 - Moab Brand Trails

April 1. Fools' Day. The day on which we picked up Abbey's friend -- we'll call him "Luca." He was at the Dinosaur Museum in Fruita. Funny coincidence; so were we. The original plan, laid out on a scrap of paper on our well-worn oak table week previous, was that we would pick up this Luca on Wednesday morning, add him to our tribe, rent him a bike in Moab, find a campsite near Moab, camp a few nights and ride many trails with him. All of that worked out except for the part about the campsite.

Heather warned us weeks before our trip that our spring break dates coincided with the annual Jeep Safari in Moab, and that campsites could be scarce. So we knew we would need a plan B. Plan B, conceived at the last minute, Wednesday morning before getting Luca from the Dinosaur Museum, was the Highline State Park. Near Fruita, within site of the book cliffs, was an oasis of green grass and trees, and showers, in a landscape of desert agriculture. Although Heather and Chris later ran into some technical issues with the staff regarding whether or not they could occupy a site without actually being at the site, it was a fine place to camp. We checked it out, decided it would work, picked up Luca in Fruita, went back and reserved a site, had a picnic lunch at the site, and then drove on to Moab where we picked up Luca's rental bike and headed straight for the Moab Brand trails. A Kona Process 134 was the bike.

We followed the usual route: Out Lazy EZ...

On to Rockin' A (Luca on the Kona)...

One of my favorite rocks on the whole planet...

Just watch the sand at the bottom...

Why do they call it Circle O? But this time we did not venture out on Circle O; some of us were tired, others needed a bathroom break, it was getting rather windy, and we didn't want to kill Luca on the first day.

So we cut back on Bar M; Luca and the girls went back to the car while Quinn and I made a quick loop around the North 40.

And then we went back to Colorado, back to the Highline State Park Oasis of Green Grass and Trees, where we made burritos, hung around the campfire, and ate dark chocolate s'mores. An excellent end to an excellent day.