Some hiking instead of biking - Days + 1 - 4: around Moab

Schafer Canyon in Canyonlands National Park

Just in case you've been wondering where we got to on the last few days before we flew home after we surrendered our bikes.

View of Salt Wash from I-70 on the way to Green River

Saturday - it was raining cats and dogs all day. A short walk in the rain got us to the Enterprise Car Rental place in Cedar City. We considered seeing a movie at the cinema rather than hitting the wet roads in a downpour but decided to brave the weather instead and ended up at Green River for the night on the I-70 on the way to Moab. We got the last room available at the Budget Inn, the overflow room in a hallway in a dodgy part of the motel. Steve thought we might be in the middle of a meth den. I think he's been watching too much Breaking Bad.

Still in eating when biking mode, we over-shopped for dinner at the grocery store and had food leftover for breakfast.

Beer of the day: Uinta Wyld Extra Pale Ale.

Petroglyphs at Wolfe Ranch - Arches NP

Sunday - After filling up on the free continental breakfast at the Budget Inn (we couldn't get ourselves out of this over-eating mode), we drove out East directly into the rain storm, came out the other side and ended up in Arches National Park. Despite the questionable weather, there was still a multitude of tourists in the park. After checking in at the Visitor Centre to see if all the trails were open we legged it out to Wolfe Ranch so we could get a parking spot and hiked out to Delicate Arch. This trail was like Pitt Street, with lots of tourists in inappropriate footwear walking all over the slick rock. Still, it was worth the hike.

Hiking to Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch

The ledge you walk along to Delicate Arch

Next stop, Devils Garden Trailhead to hike out to Double O. We made it past Landscape Arch which was huge and had just started up the steeper portion of slick rock when the thunder and grey skies behind us made us turn around. We probably could have kept going as the storm ended up going around us but I just didn't want to get stuck up on the slick rock in the wet as I only had my running shoes with me and they didn't have much traction. It would have been a slippery slide getting back down if it had rained as the primitive trail on the other side of the loop was flooded out from the overnight rain.

The impressive Landscape Arch

Hiking up the slick rock trying to get to Double O

On the way out we checked out Pine Arch, Skyline Arch, South and North Windows and Turret Arch.

Pine Arch

Skyline Arch

From underneath you can see where the last chunk or rock came off Skyline Arch

Rocks, mountains and mesas

Double Arch

Double Arch

South and North Windows

Looking thru Turret Arch to North Window

Turret Arch

View thru South Window

Standing in South Window

Arches is a nice, smallish National Park with lots of cool, thick red rock formations, windows and arches, and fat fins and spires but there are just way too many people there for my liking.

In Moab, we headed straight for the Moab Brewery (of course), sat at the bar, downed a couple of beers and had an early dinner followed by some of their yummy gelato.

Beer of the Day: Moab's Derailleur Ale.

After this it was straight to Gearheads to find me some hiking boots so we could take on a longer hike tomorrow. Then we checked in at the Inca Inn - no more camping in the rain for us!

Monday - we made the 60 minute drive out to The Islands in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. This park is huge and extensive with so much area to explore either on hiking trails, by 4wd or by mountain bike. With only 1 day to explore the park, we opted to hike the 10.8 mile Murphy Loop which took us down the cliff side with its panoramic views over the White Rim to Murphy Wash. We hiked through the dry wash for 2.7 miles, then up the dirt White Rim Road for 1.3 miles with views over the wash and out to the valleys and buttes below. In the distance we could see a mean storm coming our way.

Ummm, maybe this hike isn't such a good idea

Finding the obscure path by following the stone cairns

Finally getting below the fog

Covered in clouds

Hiking thru Murphy Wash before the storm

Desert landscape

View of Murphy Wash from the top of the Mesa

Our exit point is at the top of the V in the cliff face

Yep, there is a path to the top somewhere in the V

Hiking up White Rim Road

Soon we hit the site of the Murphy Campground which had a drop toilet outhouse. We watched the storm approaching as we scoffed our lunch down, trying to decide whether to push on or take shelter in the toilet. Bright flashes of lightening were striking the buttes through the dark sky and loud claps of thunder promptly followed so we decided to stay put for a while.

Watching the storm roll in from the campground

Sheltering in the camp toilet

Rain and hail thru the toilet door

It turned out to be a good decision as the wind came up, the rain came down hard and it started to hail. We were cheering because we were warm and dry hiding in the toilet, and had made the right decision to hike through the wash first before the storm hit.

Eventually the storm passed over and we hiked over the Hogback following the tail end of the storm. The Hogback was completely out in the open. Low shrub covered the sandy floor which was now full of red puddles and clumps of hail on the top of the mesa. From the Hogback we had great views of the Green River and Candlestick Tower.

View of Green River and White Rim from the Hogback

We legged it out and up the cliff hoping to stay dry. By the time we got to the top of the cliff the sky was blue again above us. The weather here just changes so fast! We were stoked that we fit this hike in and that my brand new hiking boots did the job, only giving me a slightly sore pinky toe but absolutely no blisters.

Making our way out

Finally we have blue skies

I loved the vast expansiveness of Canyonlands, the feeling that you are such a small and insignificant part of this rugged land and the complete solitude you could potentially find out here. On our 5 hour hike, we only saw one other group of four hikers, a mountain biker and one 4wd.

Schafer Canyon

We figured our hike today justified another feed and another round of beer at Moab Brewery.

Beer of the day: Moab Desert Select Series Scottish Ale (pairs really well with their Jalapeño corn bread!)

Tuesday - this journey ends with the drive from Moab to Salt Lake City Airport for our flight back to Houston, stopping for breakfast in the historic town of Provo en-route. It was a sad day.

From our last few days of driving through Utah, we can definitely attest to the fact that you most certainly absorb more of your surroundings from the saddle of your bicycle rather than from the seat of your car. From a car, there is a much more pronounced detachment from what appears outside your window, a certain de-sensitisation to the scenery that flashes by you in the blink of an eye.

From your bicycle you have so much more time to contemplate the view ahead of you and beside you - seeing an object from miles and miles away, your appreciation growing more and more the closer and closer you get, the extra time, slower pace and lack of barriers playing a major role in your awareness of your surroundings.

I miss traveling by bike. I miss Miss Lacksadaisy.

Beer of the day: Rock Bottom Brewery Red Ale

 

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Not quite 3,000 miles - Day 55: Panguitch Lake to Cedar City (42 miles)

We actually made it!

I love it when a good plan comes together. We arrived in Cedar City, our final destination on this Cranking Odyssey, this afternoon right on schedule, exactly on the day I planned all those months ago and timing it perfectly to get in before the impending thunderstorms struck.

For some reason, the first day and last day of this Odyssey seemed to feel so anti-climatic. Our first day seemed so rushed in our eagerness to get started, get on the road and just get through the first day; full of nervous excitement, not really knowing or fully understanding what lay ahead of us.

Today, I spent most of the day wishing it was not our last day on the road, not really wanting to reach our end point because I know and fully understand what comes after we finish this journey. Snap back to reality...

We even drew out the last 85 miles of the Odyssey into 2 days trying to delay the inevitable and savour the moment for just one more day. We could have pushed through to Cedar City yesterday, but it would have been a hard and miserable day, with a long, long, long uphill. We didn't want to end feeling miserable.

As it was, Steve still managed to have a partly miserable day, letting the Wyoming type winds that slapped us in the face as we climbed steeply uphill get to him. Then he'd check himself, remember it was our last day on the road, make himself just kick back and take in the enormity of what we had done.

Today was actually the day I had feared the most in Utah. People had told us that the climb into Cedar City was brutal. By stopping at Panguitch Lake overnight, we had broken the climb in half so we only had 19 miles to cover the 2,000 foot elevation gain from Panguitch Lake at 8,400 feet to Cedar Breaks National Monument at 10,400 feet.

Golden aspens colour the mountain

We had a lazy morning, delaying packing up our tent and loading up our bikes for the last time, watching the clouds move in fast over the mountain. It was a quiet morning on the road, with not many cars passing by except for the odd hunter in his pick up heading out for the kill and passing tourists.

The wind was at us right from the start, making it a slow climb and making us have to push with each pedal stroke that little bit harder. As we climbed higher and higher the wind got colder and colder, and we watched the aspens changing colour from green, to golden, to sunburnt orange until the trees were bare with just their spindly grey branches protruding, all their leaves having blown away in the wind.

It turned out to be a pretty hard climb (mainly because of the wind), but nothing we couldn't handle. I had saved granny gear in Utah for no reason, not even needing it on this ascent. Although the grades were steep, at least you get a break on your legs every now and then as the road deceptively makes you think you are rolling downhill in between as they lessen the gradient every mile or two.

Sunburnt orange fall foliage

Our peaceful ride through the trees

Cedar Breaks National Monument was a bit of a let down after all the wonderful canyons we had seen so far in Utah, but still impressive in its formations and colour. We stopped at a couple of View Points along the way thinking back to when we started riding in Oregon and how much we loathed these two words because it meant a climb was ahead of us - a climb so small and at such a low elevation in comparison to what we accomplished in Colorado and Utah.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

Our highest elevation reached in Utah

Point Supreme Viewpoint

Wishing it wasn't all about to end

The descent into Cedar City was by far our longest and cruisiest on this entire ride, a fun and fitting end to this journey - 20 miles of sweet downhill, coasting around the windy bends through the canyon gorge along Coal Creek. We were enjoying these final moments of the ride so much, we didn't bother to stop to take many photos, letting the momentum carry us into town, the wind rushing past our ears.

The descent through the canyon

The approach to Cedar City

Our last selfie of the ride

Cedar City is a bigger town and there were plenty of cars flying past us on the road. It was a rush for us to get all our chores done before the forecasted storms arrived. We grabbed a Kamping Kabin at the KOA Campground so we could stay dry, unpacked and had a quick shower, then rode our bikes back into town and dropped them off at Cedar Cycles to have them packed down and FedExed back to Houston for $115 each bike. It was sad to leave our bikes, knowing we wouldn't be getting back on them again in the following days.

Having completed our odyssey, we have finally found suitable names for them though. Steve's bike has been named "Mule" for carrying our tent, tool kit, spares and his heavy frame throughout the entire 2,900+ miles. My bike is called "Lacksadaisy" - she just takes everything as it comes in as calm and languid a manner as possible, getting me wherever I want to go.

After dropping our bikes off we found the Hong Kong Buffet, an all-you-can-eat buffet for $10.99 pp. We tucked in for dinner at 4pm and ate all we could for a solid hour. These two hungry cyclists certainly got their money's worth, not leaving until we felt like our bellies were about to explode. It's going to be hard trying to stop consuming everything we can get our hands on now that we are no longer riding, but we'll start worrying about that tomorrow.

Somehow I managed to consume as many calories as I burnt throughout this trip and have finished the same weight as I started. Steve on the other hand had lost about 7 kg by the half way point but since then has only lost another 4 kg. His beard grew about an inch during the 2 months and got more knotted by the day, curling into his mouth at night if he slept in the wrong position. Egg at some point during the ride just re-absorbed himself back into my butt.

As we walked back to the KOA it started drizzling and we made it back just in time before the rain started. Tomorrow we'll pick up a car rental for our last few days before we fly back to Houston from Salt Lake City on Tuesday. Let's see where the final days of this journey takes us.

CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS

Total Odyssey miles: 2,935

Overall Fastest Speed: Steve (46 miles per hour) Mandy (37.4 miles per hour)

Bludge Days: 6

Bonks: Steve (1) - Day 46

Dog chases: 3

Dummy Spits: Steve (7) Day 10 - because it rained; Day 16 - because the rocks in the river were slippery; Day 29 - because it takes me so long to get ready in the morning; Day 36 - because I was blogging and Steve was dieing of starvation; Day 44 - because the clothes dryer didn't dry his clothes; Day 45 - because by the time I got organised he didn't get to eat a crappy dinner until 8pm; Day 47 - because his bike shoes were smelly and wet from sitting in the pool of water around our tent yesterday afternoon

Mandy (3.5) 0.5 Day 14 - those freakin' wreckless Idaho drivers!; Day 26 - because my bike computer had a meltdown; Day 28 - because Steve wouldn't help hold my bike up in the wind after watching it nearly fall over 3 times whilst I tried to put my clothes away in the panniers because it looked like rain ahead; Day 44 - because Steve's bushies flew back and hit me in the face (twice)

Flats: Katie (4); Steve (1); Mandy (2)

Wrong turns: 8

Beer of the day: Payette Brewing Co Rodeo Rye Pale Ale (an Idaho beer in Utah......go figure)

Lesson of the day: a 235ml / 8oz tube of Chamois Butt'r lasts 44 days

No. of days with no shower: 20

No. of days in a hotel: 13

Starting weight: Steve (90kg) Mandy (51.5kg)

Day 30 Rawlins weigh in: Steve (183 pds / 83kg). Mandy (110 pds / 50kg)

Final weigh in: Steve (175 lbs / 79kg). Mandy (113 lbs / 51kg)

 

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