Day 6 of the San Juan Huts Durango to Moab mountain bike adventure had loomed large in our minds as the biggest day, but to be honest, after the Ultimate Mudder Challenge of day 4, I was relieved we could just do a boat load of climbing and reward with beer. As long as the thunderstorms stayed away and the group pulled together to get our butts and bikes from the Paradox Hut to the Geyser Pass Hut in the La Sal Mountains, we would be victorious. If we could do that, we would sail home to Moab on day 7.
Departure from the Paradox Valley Hut with not a cloud in the sky and the promise of a hot climb.
But first we had to do that elevation thing. At mile 2.5 the route description said simply, "the road will begin climbing 1613 feet out of the Paradox Valley over 3.9 miles." Cycling friends will recognize that statement as one that should put fear in the quadriceps of even the fittest cyclist. That's steep!
The beginning of the climb
Climbing a graded gravel road. Up, ...
up, ...
up, ...
and up! At the top of Carpenter Ridge we had cell phone reception.
The climb was long and hot, but everyone made it fine.
Bonus geologic picture. The sandstone poking out toward the viewer was deposited in an paleo river channel. The finer grained, more easily eroded sediment below was deposited as over bank deposits in the floodplain. This is a good example of paleo river channels.
The next bit of riding was quite enjoyable as we continued to climb, but at a much more civilized pace, through pine forest and a large burn scar.
I think this picture is funny.
Our half way point and lunch stop was Buckeye Reservoir. This 100 acre reservoir is at almost 8000 feet elevation and looks to be a nice spot for camping and fishing. I wonder if it is important for storing water for agricultural use down in the valley.
Buckeye Reservoir lunch stop
Weather can change quickly up in this high country. It was time to get moving.
Storm clouds brewing = time to hit the trail.
We didn't make it far before we had to duck under an unoccupied cabin's porch for nearly an hour to let the heaviest part of the rain shower pass.
Taking shelter from the rain.
I could have stayed here all day out of the rain, hanging out. Especially since we had more climbing to do.
With the Utah State line in our sights, we hit the road again. We found a spring that half the group drank from. Given the massive cattle impact in the immediate and local area of the spring box, I declined. It turned out no one got sick, but I figured a 40 mile bike ride from flush toilets and hot soapy water was not a place I wanted to get diarrhea.
Sally and Heather crossing the last flat.
After we crossed into Utah, we really thought we were in the clear, but the last 3 miles was a slog of mostly pushing our bikes in the brush to avoid the mud slick of a road.
We were so close to the hut, but then there was this. Note Sally and Karl being cozy while the rest of us wallowed in mud and self pity.
But finally, the Geyser Pass Hut at 9750 feet elevation! We had climbed nearly 5400 feet in 22.5 miles.
Glorious Geyser Pass Hut filled with beer and food and beds.
Could you ask for a more picturesque potty?
Beer, snacks, muddy unattended shoes and bikes. This picture describes post day 6 in every way.
The hut was a welcome sight. It was situated in a wildflower meadow only a short walk to a grand view of the peaks of the La Sal Mountains.
Aster wildflower meadow
The high peaks of the La Sal Mountains from the Geyser Pass Hut
Big bucks bounding through the meadow.
We ate "Hawaiian dump pile" (rice with random veggies on top) for dinner and drank our allotment of beer. We had done the hard part and would enjoy one last night of hut living before rolling downhill to Moab in the morning.
The stats: Ascent 5370 feet, descent 1010 feet, 22.5 miles, 4 hrs 33 minutes moving time. Max elevation 9750 feet. average speed 4.9 mph. 1314 calories burned. A good big day!
Drew had vacation in late April so we went down to do some work on the vacation condo in Moab.
The weather was chilly and there was a lot of work to do, so we didn’t ride the first day.
The next day Drew went out for a looooong road bike ride on the La Sal Mtn loop since I had forgotten to pick up his bike from the shop.
It was cold on top of the La Sals
Castle Valley is amazing
Meanwhile, I checked on a monitoring well installed by the Utah Geo Survey. I helped design this well a few years ago and it was time to collect some data from it.
Details of the well can be found in this publication. The well flows just a little bit, even though we have tried to seal it between checkups.
That quick check took longer than I thought so I barely had time to get out for a quick ride.
Last weekend Drew and I helped the Utah High School Cycling League pull off a Moab Family Skills Camp.
Camp Coaching
The camp is designed for high school mountain bikers and their parents to learn new technical skills.
We went down early and Friday and got in a ride on a new-to-me trail system called Klonzo.
The lighting was terrible for pictures but I threw this one in so you can see the flowy ribbon of trail in the lower third of the photo on the red dirt. I think the finer grained red in the foreground is Summerville Formation and the white rocky parts are Salt Wash Member of the Morrison. All Jurassic in age.
Klonzo is a series of short, low to intermediate level loops that you can link together for about an hour and a half of riding.
Primrose in bloom on Klonzo trail
Drew is happy to be on his bike in red dirt country.
I love how the trail goes between these huge rocks.
First ride of the year for us together in Moab. Big smiles!
Sun splashes on the far peaks.
Post ride, we grabbed a growler of beer and some nachos to-go from Moab Brewery and trucked on out to the condo. Our friends the Binghams were staying with us so we wanted to make sure we beat them home.
SKILLS CAMP
The next day we assisted skills camp instructors all day. The camp is divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced groups that rotate into different skills clinics: 1. Braking, 2. Cornering, and 3. Managing terrain. Each group also did an hour of trail building a brand new trail linking two parking areas and went on a ride to use all their new skills.
It was a really long day for us because we spend all day watching and assisting kids while all kitted up to ride, but not really riding much at all. After the skill camp activities were done, we stuck around and did a loop there at Klondike Bluffs. We rode up Mega Steps and down Alaska. The trail is phenomenally fun, and the views are some of the best in Moab.
Looking off the ridge of Summerville Formation over into Salt Valley, which is a valley because the salt in the underlying Paradox Formation has been dissolved and removed. I briefly explain the formation of this type of valley at the end of this post. Snow-capped La Sal Mountains in the far background.
Another picture of Salt Valley. We could just barely make out a camper in the valley in the center of the photo. I wanna be there!
Skills camp again on Sunday morning was fun. All the participants had rested and were eager to ride and put their skills to use. We took the beginner-intermediates out on an easy, flowing trail (across Morrison Formation - shale for the most part, which makes for smooth trail) so they could practice ride position, braking and fast corners. I think they had a lot of fun.
Like herding cats at times.
We returned on Dinoflow trail. They were all much improved over how they started the weekend.
Riders and coaches at Moab Family Skills Camp
For the final ride, we took that same beginner intermediate group on Mega Steps. They did awesome.
Mountain bike cool factor: Intermediate level high school riders making it up Mega Steps trail. Geology cool factor: Most of the top of Mega Steps and Alaska trails
traverse across Salt Wash Member (Morrison Fm) and Summerville Formation, but
occasionally there are erosional windows where Moab Member (Curtis Fm)
is exposed, seen here as the flat, white sandstone to the right of the
trail.
Coach Lucy and two female high school shredders.
At the end of the camp on Sunday, many of the students seemed to have progressed quite a bit in technical skills and they all seemed to have had a positive experience. It is my sincere hope that we were part of a weekend that infected these riders with the slick rock mountain biking bug.
Coach no more
After out duties were done, we stayed a couple of more days. Monday we had a chance to ride Captain Ahab. We had wanted to ride this trail since it opened last year and we watched the video of how the Moab Trail Mix crew built the trail. It is a completely amazing video. Watch it here on Vimeo.
The way to access Cap't Ahab is on a very fun, techy new trail called HyMasa, which lets you avoid riding the Amaza Back Jeep road. I highly recommend HyMasa.
On HyMasa
The top of HyMasa or maybe we were already on Captain Ahab at this point.
Plants grow where they can in the desert.
We found the bat cave! At least I think this is bat guano on the underside of an overhang.
Views off the south side of the trail.
Captain Ahab is really fun. Lots of technical riding. Quite a few
places I walked, but after coming off teaching and practicing skills for
two days, I found I was doing better than ever on the technical stuff.
My new 2x10 drive train and 170 mm cranks may have contributed too.
Here is a silly 17 second video of me coming down a series of rollers.
On lower Captain Ahab, there is a section that goes around a cliff.
The sign says "Walk Your Bike".
So I walked that section, but also filmed it. Watch the 20 second video of that cliff section.
After the ride we headed into town for a milk shake but ended up with smoothies. Bonus health points for D and L.
It's not all fun and games in Moab. We spend a fair amount of time doing maintenance and deep cleaning the condo, which is how we spent Tuesday morning before driving back.
The end result of the weekend: awesome time teaching high school kids to ride slickrock and I love the new trails!
