Adventures By Guy

Out by 0815 and we headed west on hwy 12 to Escalante 30 miles away. Hwy 12 is a beautiful road with wonderful curves all surrounded by spectacular scenery which is very unique. The road goes over a hogback where there is almost no shoulder and it falls away steeply on both sides. Then down you go winding your way along a cliff with the Escalante River Canyon below you. Then it climbs out from the river and winds around some more. All the while winding through awe inspiring cliffs of many colors. Hwy 12 west will take you to Bryce Canyon NP. I will have video up eventually to show it to you. A little past Escalante we got on gravel and it ran along a Canyon bottom but then we started to climb. As we climbed we could stop and see Escalante way down in the valley far away. We were riding in pine forest and had great views of the valley. The distance was hazy due to what looked like smoke being blown in from some forest fire in another state. As we climbed up to the top we broke out of the forest and into high mountain meadows that at first were small but we kept going and then the whole surrounding country for miles were all meadows and we were at 9600′ to 10,000′. The grass was brown since it is October. But still… just the size of the wide open country was something to see. We rode for miles across the grasslands and then started coming down. We could see Loa, UT way down in the valley surrounded by green irrigated pastures or hay fields. It was cool at 10,000’ and as we came down the Temps started rising. We came down a steep incline and around a corner and at the bottom was a switch back. Sheep were packed in the roadway with more streaming down the side of the mountain/hill. Eventually 3 cowboys (sheep herders) and 4 dogs came down after them. Two of the dogs made a beeline for me as I was up front. Hmmm, they look like they want some pets. Sure enough they did and whined when I stopped. We waved at the cowboys and they waved back. They apologized for blocking the road and said when they got out of the hollow that they would get them off the road. We watched them and were keeping up behind them just so we could watch. The dogs must have had a long day as they were behind the horses just walking along. I asked if they were moving them out of the high country before winter set in. Yes, we are taking them home. In about 10 minutes or so they got to where they could get them off and they waved us through… with sheep scurrying out of the way en masse. We got by and continued to descend to Loa and my compadres gassed up. I didn’t need to as I have the custom 8.2 gallon tank. Mike wanted to eat but I was good with drinking water and chewing on some beef jerky. We went in a cafe and ate lunch. Mike said he needs to teach me how to vacation right. I shrugged and said… I don’t get to hungry when riding. I’m good with simple protein and water.
After lunch we headed out of Loa, UT and started up Thousand Lake Mountain. We topped out above 9,000’ and the Aspens were gold. A lot had already lost their leaves but there was still enough to be very pretty against the green of the pines or against the brooding clouds as we had a storm brewing over the mountain and the temp was 60°F and the wind was picking up. As we came over the mountain we could look down on the desert scene around Capitol Reef NP far below. What a contrast as the gravel mountain road turned and you were looking at a mountain side with golden aspen and green pines, grass, dark clouds filled with rain…. Then the next turn of the road you would be looking out over a wide desert expanse with shapes that you would think you’d see on a Mars. The desert was red, dark maroon, yellow, white, and gray…
As we descended the temps climbed. As we hit the lower elevations it was 82°. Not to bad… one reason we waited until October! We were miles from a paved road and we started on down the “gravel” road. There was a lot of sand but worse than that was we were traveling down a canyon next to a wash. We had to cross that wash a lot. We could tell that they had just graded it. We found that the wash was soft where they graded it. Cars and trucks would float over it. I was point man and what looked solid many a time would be so soft that my front wheel would sink to the hub instantly. I had never experienced anything like this before. I went down 3 times and probably had at least 6 close calls but I didn’t go down… the saves were not pretty but I didn’t care one bit. I was just happy to get to the other side without going down. One time I made it 50 ft and I was within 5 feet of getting out of the wash… I could taste the victory… then my wheel sunk in soft stuff and my bike was deep enough I was standing over it and it was staying upright!! I really started dreading a wash crossing. On the road the sand was 6” or deep or more and you couldn’t tell until you were in it. Then it was just throttle control and powering through it, hoping the whole time you didn’t flop down. Some of the stretches were 100’ long. The “road” would sometimes go down a wash for a bit then climb out of it. Some were hard bottom and some weren’t. You just couldn’t tell which it would be until I went in it. We finally got out of that and we had made it to within a mile of the paved road. I was feeling pretty good… until we came down to a river bottom and the sand was thick! We fought our way out of that and the pavement was a half mile away. We got it made! Then I came around the corner and came face to face with a river. The road went into it… but I couldn’t see where we got out on the other side???? The rest of the guys came up and said what’s up? Then they saw the river. Oh, where do we get out? I don’t know yet. I got off and went up to the bank and I could see we had to go 100’ upstream to get to where you could exit! Holy cow! We discussed it. Someone said… we have to cross here or go back. I said… There is NO WAY I am going back through that again. We were doing good to get this far. It might be dark by the time we fight our way to higher ground and then have to go over two mountains. (I have good aux lights but one of them was now skewed 45° and it would shine off like a lazy eye! I exclaimed that I will push my bike through that river before I go back. Everyone agreed going through would be best. I started throwing big rocks into the river as we walked down the bank trying to gage the depth of the river and figure out the most shallow route. We could see riffles and it looked shallow if we wemt straight in and crossed the river then follow the bank up the opposite side until we could get out. We knew that was the most shallow
We were worried it might be soft as that was not where the current flowed. Someone had to go. I said I would as I had been point man all day long. Mike was ready and my bike was 30 feet back. He said he would go. He went and the deepest might have been a foot and the bottom was solid. He rode out the other side without a problem. Then I went and no problems. Jared next and Mike said… don’t drop the bike and let it suck in water… no pressure. Jared and then Trevor made it with no problems. A half mile later we were on pavement. We went west on hwy 24 to Torrey and gassed up. Mike and Trevor stayed to eat at Las Cuevas because the first time was so good. Jared and I went to Boulder as we wanted to get over Boulder Mountain before it got dark. Three reasons… there were a lot of free range black Angus cows grazing along the road, we had seen a lot of mule deer in the daylight and it would be colder when dark. As it was we saw cows, mule deer and it got down to 59° but at least we could see the animals. Later we heard that Mike had a somewhat close encounter with a cow… but everyone was safe at the end of the day.
Hey Mike… let’s figure out a route for tomorrow that has no sand. I am sick of it!