1st day in Moab we headed out the backdoor literally and rode the Sovereign Trail.. We had ridden it before but added in a few side trips to make it more interesting. One where my daughter pleaded me to wear my helmet.
2nd day in Moab was Kane Creek Canyon. I was on it 4 years ago and my daughter wanted to try it. Great entry trail for one that is considered difficult. Now last time they didn’t have the metal ramps on the ledge near the river. That would have made a difference 4 years ago., I looked at it when I rode it last time and said to my self. There ain’t no way I’m gonna make it back over this ledge on the return. This time much nicer with the ramps. We headed over and did Hurrah Pass and Jackson Hole to round out the day
3rd day was a washout because of the rain. Oh yeah it rained dang near every day in the afternoon or evening, but this was an all dayer. Flash floods all over the place.
4th day we hit Dome Plateau, this year I made it easy on my daughter. We trailered over there. Last year we went from the back door over there and back, 155 miles and 105+ degrees. She enjoyed it much better this year. Had the whole place to ourselves as much as I knew. Many people don’t venture out too far in the heat of Moab in July. Except for the Europeans on vacation. Or my dumb ass because I like that heat. It’s funny to see them take off on rented atrv’s in shorts and tank tops and come back a nice shade of glowing ember on their skin. I swear I have helped out so many people who were completely lost out there over the past 5 years. These people rent them an ATV and give them a hand written map and let them go play. Not the area to do that in. They go out with a can of pop and think they’ll be OK. Hell I’m prepared and will survive if I need to hike out, not these idiots.
Anyway day 5, my daughter really wanted to go over to Book Cliffs these trails run back from I-70 to the North. Very easy trail/roads, but exceptionally beautiful. You end up at an Indian reservation and return the way you came.
OK day 6 was where things took a different twist. This was one of my daughter’s graduation presents just from me. We took a guided hike through some canyons with a few 120ft rappels. Let me make one thing perfectly clear I’m scared crapless of heights. And that’s a good thing because if I wasn’t crapless I would have stained my shorts. I had fun and I’ll do it again but S.O.B. that was one heck of a way to get my adrenalin going.
We headed to the San Rafael Swell on day 7. I have ridden here every year and it just gets more beautiful. You are literally on your own, there are no services anywhere, you are one with nature and if nature gets the upper hand, you’re toast, literally, add 5-10 degrees to what ever the temperature is in Moab. Well the recent rains put a little damper on this ride, many streams and dry washes were raging torrents of water. Had to back track a lot this day. Still saw amazing scenery.
Day 8 we took off for the LaSal Mountains. She loves these mountains. You get to play with easy trails to hard core. I found this one trail that looked to be a little fun, ended up being a rocky, hill climbing, creek crossing, low gear 4w4 son of a gun and I had a grin on my face the whole time. The look on my daughters face was some what less than enthusiastic. She kept saying over and over, “why are we here” Because Dad’s havin’ fun that’s why.. This is the hilarious part. This trail was not on the maps I took. When we got back to the house I found this trail on another map and showed it to my daughter. She pointed out that it was a double black diamond trail in regards to difficulty. Then proceeded to read the definition of that rating. I hurt from laughing. “Extremely Steep technical climbs, route finding extremely difficult. The last sentence. YOU MAY ASK YOURSELF “WHY AM I ON THIS TRAIL?”
Day 9 we went to the Hook and Ladder trails south of Moab. I had heard great stories about them. Maybe we had had enough riding and needed a break or something but we just didn’t find them as enjoyable as others found them. We did have fun on the extreme slick rock climbs, but we just couldn’t find the sweet spot here.
Day 10 we headed back to the San Rafael Swell since they had not gotten a ton of rain for a couple of days. We took off and just couldn’t get enough, we rode and rode and rode. Found new trails, tried them then found more. We ended up taking a huge loop back to the truck for 125 miles.. We were both exhausted at that time. We both said that this was one of the best days of riding.
Day 11 we crossed HWY 191 in front of the house and played around Rainbow Terrace and other obscure trails in that area that I hadn’t ridden for a couple of years.
Day 12 my wife and son flew in and so we just spent the day doing our own thing.
Day 13-14 were easy days with my wife and son. We hit Book Cliffs again and Deloris River Overlook. Deloris is tame if you don’t go and explore. I explored the off shoot trails a few years ago. No one else in my family would have liked them so I behaved and kept it simple.
Day 15 was Dad’s day. I rode from Moab to Marysvale for the second year in a row. Took off at 4:30am and arrived at 8:45pm. It’s really difficult to put into words what it was like. You go through 2 deserts, over 3 mountain ranges and enjoy the solitude. Didn’t see one other person except when I got fuel in 2 towns. I hid a 5 gallon can of gas when we were riding in the San Rafael Swell earlier that week. I had planned on riding around 400 miles but that was cut short because of a rock slide in one area. Because of this it ended up being 355 miles but some of those were pretty brutal. Even more so than last year. But even those were fun and scenic. The date really worked out well because my Dad passed away a year ago that day and I got to reflect on that by myself. I can’t wait to work on a new route for next year. Some people have scolded me for not taking time to smell the roses and rushing through these trails. I figure if I’m riding I’m still seeing everything I would if I stopped all the time. As for speeding the through the trails. There wasn’t any speeding through any those trails. Open mountain and desert roads, yeah I left a dust cloud but that’s fun too.
Day 1 on the Paiute was the Barney Lake trail. You won’t find this on any map but it is a legal trail to ride. Gets more intense every year. My daughter said it is a ”must do” I don’t understand this because it’s a very steep rocky climb and she really doesn’t get into those types of trails. Women? Ran over a big ole’ rattlesnake and didn’t even see it. My daughter told me latter on and said she had to wait for it to crawl off the trail because it was striking at everything because I made it mad.
Day 2 we went down to Casto Canyon. This is a “must do” also. My wife was in awe with the red rock cliffs and canyons.
The rest of the time we enjoyed trails we had ridden on before. My daughter and I had planned on being dropped off near the Nevada state line and run the High Desert Trail back to Marysvale for a couple of days, but this was put on hold until next year because of strong storms everyday. You just don’t want to be the highest point at 9000-11000ft during a storm. We were both quite disappointed in this because we had spent numerous hours this past winter figuring out a trail route for this ride.
I’m already starting to work on next years rides out there.
And yes here are the pictures!!!
https://s1114.photobucket.com/albums/k537/sr2381/