Boulder, UT Sunday October 6th

Several months ago Mike C. called me and asked when we were going to go to West Virginia to ride as we hadn’t been there for a few years. I replied… instead of going there let’s go to Central UTAH to ride around for 4 or 5 days. He thought that was a great idea. I asked two other buddies if they would like to go. I even had a friend who volunteered to put us up for the week. How could we say no to that! I had to get my 24′ box trailer ready to haul 4 bikes. Put E-Track in it and got some Condor Universal E-Track chock mounts. Checked the bike over and added a mount for an Active 5 tablet so I can be out of cell phone range and still have a GPS display. This past Friday they converged on my house. We loaded bikes and gear in the trailer. Truck was full of fuel. Everything checked for proper levels and tires at correct pressure. Then we sat on the deck and ate ribs, baked beans, green beans and Jalapeño poppers. Next morning we hopped in the truck and left by 0800. I just had a 62 gallon fuel tank put in the truck to replace the stock tank. We made it well into Nebraska before we refueled. Found a place that had diesel for $2.95 a gallon… compared to 3.40 or more everywhere else. I found it using an app that I discovered called iexit. It will give you fuel prices at every exit along the Interstate. You can preplan your fuel stops that way.

We drove through the night and arrived Sunday morning at 0600. Unloaded bikes and gear. Then we took a three hour nap. We got up and rode down the Burr Trail off of hwy 12 in Boulder, UT. The guys loved the cliffs and formations and then we dropped down into Long Canyon. In Long Canyon there is a slot canyon called Singing Canyon. It is a mere 100 yards deep but the acoustics are awesome as it magnifies your voice. There is a huge beautiful cottonwood right at the entrance of Singing Canyon. We left that and went down Long Canyon which is like a Mini-Zion NP. They have now chip sealed the Burr Trail all the way to Capitol Reef NP. So to get some dirt action we went on Wolverine Loop Rd which leaves Burr Trail and then it loops back to BurrTrail. That loop was challenging as it had good inclines and declines, rocks, some sand and some rough terrain. Saw some great landscapes along the way. We eventually made it back to Burr Trail. Mike said he saw a 4’ rattle snake crossing the road. We got to the Burr Switchbacks that go down the face of the Reef. From there we made it to Notom road and it didn’t have bad washboard like in July but it had a lot of sand! 30 miles of it. The worst part was you couldn’t distinguish between the hard pack and the sand. None of us went down but it was quite intense and we had a few close calls. We got back to pavement and I was very ready to get back on pavement by this time. We got to hwy 24 and rode through Capitol Reef and on to Torrey, UT. Along the way we passed these impressive red cliffs. Stopped on the outskirts of Torrey at the gas station in front of The Noor Motel and then ate at the restaurant on the other half of the gas station. It’s called Las Cuevas. Delicious food. You should stop if you ever go through Torrey. After a late lunch or an early dinner we headed over Boulder Mountain to Boulder, UT on Hwy 12 and we were done for the day. After driving through the night and a quick nap and that sand we were all ready for bed.