Checked the weather this morning and the wind looks ominous. Not sure we are even going to do this, but we figure we're here, we made the camping reservations months ago, let's at least drive to the visitors center and see what the rangers say. They are very encouraging. "Sure, the wind might be a little annoying but you won't blow off a cliff or anything. This is a trip of a lifetime. You got goggles to keep the sand out of your eyes? Just get an early start -- you ought to be able to reach today's camp site by 2 pm."
Uh-oh.
Bill points to our route at the Visitors Center. With my YouDoodle app I've circled the words "White Rim." The red line (hard to see) is the White Rim Road.
On the way from Salt Lake we had stopped for a couple days hiking at Capitol Reef NP. The ranger there immediately asked if we had bikes and recommended a 10 mile backcountry hike (Lower Spring Canyon). "Drive down to mile marker 83, hide the bikes behind a tree, drive back up to Chimney Rock trailhead. Once off the main trail, you may or may not see cairns… can't remember if they were there last time I was out there… take the path of least resistance, follow the main wash. Explore the side slots if you want, you'll come to a couple impassible spots, look for the bypass to the left, it's a foot wide and goes along the edge of a cliff… eventually you'll have to ford the river -- do you have poles? no worries, the water won't come higher than mid-thigh -- I recommend traversing at this angle because of the current (draws rough map). Make your way back to highway, find bikes, ride (uphill) back to car."
The rangers here are a far cry from the ones in Yellowstone who repeatedly warn that if you walk down the paved walkway you WILL have to walk uphill to return to your car.
The day was fantastic and gave us a chance to shake out the bikes before our big adventure.
Orange is my favorite color
Lunch stop
Barely came to his knees! On the shore, reed rush. (This comment will only make sense to other bassoon players.)
Back to Canyonlands and our biking narrative: it had been around 9 when the ranger told us we'd be at our camp by 2. We didn't even leave the parking lot until 11:30. We'd had to partially disassemble the bikes to get them back in the car, plus now we were adding racks, camping gear, and three days' worth of water. We carried 27 liters, i.e. over 57 pounds. Based on former weigh-ins I estimate we were each pushing over a hundred pounds of bike plus gear. We don't have mountain bikes so we outfitted our touring bikes with the biggest tires we could fit -- 26x2 inches for me, 700x40mm for Bill. I spent a lot of time fiddling with my brake pads and aligning wheels to get them to spin without rubbing. The guy in the bike shop had to true my wheels because there was so little clearance. We have a spoke wrench but I'm not very good at those adjustments… hoping for continuing truthiness.
This always takes longer than we expect.
Two hours later… eating an apple, one less thing to carry.
It was less than a mile on the paved road to the turnoff for Shafer Canyon Road. Within about ten minutes I was blown away by how beautiful it was; this is my fifth trip to Utah and I am never disappointed.
About to descend into the canyon
I am nervous about this
First up were a set of switchbacks, a loss of about 1500 feet. I've done this sort of thing before and just took it easy though it was a little unnerving right at the beginning of a trip when I was still getting used to the feel of the loaded bike. I mostly hugged the wall side which meant riding on the left on alternate switchbacks -- generally not a problem since there was almost no traffic. One badass woman cyclist was climbing (i.e. I was in her lane) and I did my best to stay out of her way, apologizing profusely. Something along the lines of "oh my god oh my god sorry sorry sorry." She had her head down and just cranked away -- she wasn't about to give up her line. All was fine and everyone stayed upright.
Headed down there
Riding on the wrong side of the road so I don't go over the edge
At the bottom, unscathed!
Once at the bottom we saw a few groups of riders -- all traveling with a support vehicle, so they were carrying nothing, riding mountain bikes, and MUCH faster than us. Most of the rest of the day was pretty flat, and we stopped a lot for pictures as well as a walk on a natural arch. The surface varied between gravel, packed dirt and slickrock. Slickrock is evidently slick when wet but it's super grippy when dry. There were lots of bumpy uneven sections but our bigger tires did pretty well. It was slow going though. Around 4:30 we ran into a guy traveling the other way who estimated it was two more hours to our campsite. His parting words were "Godspeed" which I took to mean "you're never gonna make it" though Bill thought it was just his way of wishing us a nice ride. It didn't really matter if we made the camp site; we had everything we needed with us and in an emergency you could set up a tent virtually anywhere in this landscape. But of course that would mean a longer ride tomorrow when the big winds were due, so we really wanted to make the mileage.
Strange to see snow capped mountains beyond all this red canyon stuff
crazy beautiful
Bill!
We pulled in around 6:30 -- only 4.5 hours later than predicted by the ranger! Soon a guy came down from the other camp site and offered us a hot shower. Huh? It was a large group with several vehicles including a truck with an enormous water tank and propane heater. We mainly wanted to get into warm clothes and set up the tent so we declined (also there was a line for the shower) but when he returned later to invite us to dinner we accepted. Bunch of very nice folks from north of SLC. I invited them to my concert next Sunday at the U -- the reason we're in Utah in the first place -- but that weekend is also the LDS General Conference so they probably won't make it.
As the light was fading a couple backpackers showed up. They had been unable to find the trail to the back country camping area and asked if they could share our site. Of course we agreed. The sites are huge and the park limits the numbers of permits so everyone can enjoy a quiet solitary camping experience. Even if they bring their own showers.
To the left of the tree, way in the distance you can see the folks with the shower truck. Two camp sites in total: ours (which we shared with the hikers) and theirs. You have to reserve in advance.