Many of you aren’t interested in the trip report and just want to see the pictures so here’s the direct links to the pics.: Moab Pics (Zion, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Needles, Natural Bridges, Moab, Islands in the Sky, Arches)

Day 1 (Sat, Sept. 28) Zion
Our journey began at a little past 8 AM as we departed San Diego. The route was fairly simple - straight up the 15 to Zion National Park where we planned to car camp for the night. Lunch found us at the El Pollo Loco (mmmm . . . yummy cilantro!) in Barstow and by late afternoon, we had arrived at Zion. We checked into the Watchman campsite and had dinner at the Bumbleberry Inn, home of the famous Bumbleberry pie. Unfortunately, it began raining. I wanted to do something to protect the bikes but soon discovered that the tarp I had bought previously (5′ X 7′) was too small to provide adequate coverage. So we stopped at Zion Outdoor to buy a larger tarp (8′ X 10′) and Judy took the opportunity to buy a pair of convertible pants. The tarp turned out to be a really good purchase because it rained pretty hard that night. The storm that evening was actually a really cool experience as the rain pitter-pattered on the truck and frequent flashes of lightning illuminated the skies throughout the night.

Day 2 (Sun, Sept. 29) Angel’s Landing
When we awoke, it was still raining. We were kind of bummed because we wanted to spend the day exploring Zion. Due to the weather, we decided to just cruise around in the Zion Canyon Scenic Shuttle loop. Because of past problems with severe overcrowding, you cannot actually drive through Zion anymore. Instead, you must take the shuttle to get to various places. Our shuttle driver, who could have passed as a brother of Dave Thomas (of Wendy’s), was one of the crankiest we’ve ever seen. He was curt and seemed annoyed with even reasonable questions from inquiring tourists. The weather soon cleared up during our ride and it turned out to be a pretty nice day. The shuttle driver probably thought it odd that the two youngest and fittest people on the shuttle were the only ones who actually stayed aboard for the entire loop.

Since the weather had cleared up, we decided to grab some food and water and do Angel’s Landing, a 5-mile day hike that climbs 1,488 feet. The hike consists of a gradual uphill then some fairly steep switchbacks. Then near the end of the trail, you have to scramble over some rocky terrain as you go up a steep and narrow ridge. Chains have been installed to assist in the climbing. It was a bit scary in places and we were surprised at how many people were actually doing it. We reached the top and were treated to a beautiful view of the valley below.

There weren’t many opportunities for mountain biking in Zion. They have only one bike trail in the park and that is the Pa’rus trail, a 3.5 mile paved trail. Uhhh, no thanks. After the hike, we continued driving towards Midvale/Sandy (just south of Salt Lake City) where we planned to check into the Homewood Suites there. Along the way, we saw a bunch of signs for JC Mickelson’s, a restaurant chain. Nothing else really seemed appetizing so we decided to try it out. I ordered a steak and Judy ordered the blackened chicken. Neither were very good so we won’t be eating there again.

Day 3 (Mon, Sept. 30) Jackson, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone
The weather looked kind of cloudy when we awoke which kind of worried us. We had tuned in to the Weather Channel the previous night and they had mentioned the possibility of a cold storm moving through Salt Lake City later in the week. If this was the case, that would mean the storm would be passing through Yellowstone in the next day or so since the jet stream hits the Yellowstone area on its way to Salt Lake City. We hoped for the best and continued on our way.

Somewhere on the 89 enroute to Jackson, Wyoming, we got pulled over for going 75 in a 65 mph zone. Weak! And to add insult to injury, payment for the ticket was due on October 09 which was before we would even be home, and it had to be a money order - no checks or credit cards accepted. Hey Lincoln County, WY, what kind of shit town ticket policy is this?

There was quite a bit of construction on the 89 with many sections where we’d have to follow a lead car after waiting for the line of traffic heading the other direction to pass. This slowed down travel a bit, but the beautiful scenery and patches of brilliant autumn foliage made things better. We got to Jackson later that afternoon and had lunch at the City Sub Shop in town.

We continued through Jackson and entered the Grand Tetons National Park where the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Somewhere along the way between the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone we came upon a small group of people pulled over on the road. We slowed down to see what the attraction was and discovered that they were observing a black bear cub near the side of the road frolicking in the bushes. I looked at the surroundings and decided that an attack threat from momma bear would be minimal so I jumped out and snapped some shots.

We ended up car camping at Louis Lake in Yellowstone that evening. It got really cold that night. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night and checked the thermometer on my watch. It read 27F! Brrrrr!

Day 4 (Tues, Oct 01) Geyser Basin, Snow, Back to Salt Lake
That morning, we awoke to chilly temperatures and snow was just beginning to fall. If a snowstorm was on its way, we certainly did not want to be backpacking in it so we headed to the ranger station to get a weather update. The closest ranger station was a few miles north in Grant Village, but we unfortunately didn’t know that it was closed until we got there. So we had to backtrack and go to the ranger station back at the south entrance to the park. After a short wait, a ranger showed up and I inquired about the weather. She informed me that the weather was very unpredictable and that they were expecting anywhere from 2″ to 12″ of snow that day and night. Judy and I decided that we’d put off our trip for one day and obtained permits to start our trip the next day.

Since we had a day to kill, we decided to check out Old Faithful and reserved ourselves a room at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. I wanted to head there immediately to get our bikes indoors. The snow was turning into slush on the roads and driving caused the slush to splash up onto the bikes resulting in a thick layer of slush that collected on the front wheels of each bike. On the way to Old Faithful, we passed by Geyser Basin so we swung through to check it out. The winds were whipping and it was really cold so we just quickly got out, took a few pics, and got back in the truck.

As we were pulling out of Geyser Basin to head towards Old Faithful, we came upon a roadblock and were informed that the road to Old Faithful was indefinitely closed due to the snow. This wasn’t looking good. We decided to head to Jackson and as we drove, it seemed the snow kept getting harder and harder. It looked like we weren’t going to be able to backpack Yellowstone as planned. So what were we going to do now? It was only Tuesday and we weren’t supposed to meet Ryan and Cynthia in Moab for another week. We needed to plan another trip on the fly.

When we got to Jackson, the first thing we did was to look for a store to buy a car charger for Judy’s cell phone. Re-planning a trip on the fly would require many calls so a charger was imperative. After purchasing one at a local cell phone store, we headed for Teton Mountaineering to see what kind of books they had. We talked a bit with one of the store employees who highly suggested we try backpacking the Canyonlands in Utah, particularly the Needles district of Canyonlands. By now, we had a pretty good idea of how the jet stream flowed so we wanted to make sure that the storm in Yellowstone didn’t follow us into Utah. Unfortunately, the jet stream actually does flow from Yellowstone to Salt Lake and into Utah, but it was possible that Canyonlands was southeast enough that we’d be safe. We tentatively planned to backpack through Needles, but bought two Falcon Guide books, Hiking Utah and Mountain Biking Utah, just in case Needles didn’t pan out.

So we were back on the 89, heading south to Salt Lake City again. On the way, Judy put her new car charger to work and called the ranger’s station in Canyonlands to check on permit availability and things to do. They indicated that we should have no problems getting permits.

We had to go through all the construction along the 89 again and the wet weather made it even harder on the bikes. The construction areas seemed to be covered with something that I could only describe as unmixed concrete. I don’t know exactly what it was, but driving through it just covered the bikes and the bike rack with a bunch of gritty stuff. We had dinner at an Arby’s just north of Salt Lake. After 5 roast beef sandwiches, I had had my fill of Arby’s for some time. When we finally got to the Hampton Inn in Salt Lake, it was still raining, and the bikes just looked trashed. We brought them inside the hotel room and I went through half a roll of toilet paper (that’s all I had - I didn’t want to trash all the hotel towels) cleaning the crud off.

That night, all we watched was the Weather Channel, trying to get an idea if we’d have decent weather in Needles. It looked like we might, but it was hard to say.

Day 5 (Wed, Oct 02) Needles District of Canyonlands, Natural Bridges National Monument
We woke up, had our free continental breakfast and headed south on the 15, south on the 191, east on the 70, and then south again on the 191. Scattered showers were experienced the entire way down. We passed Moab, where we’d be meeting Ryan in about a week, and then hit the 211 west towards the Needles district of Canyonlands. We drove the 20+ miles in to the visitor center and took in all the scenery along the way. Although Canyonlands is very scenic and pretty, it wasn’t exactly the kind of terrain that we wanted to backpack - it was too dry and “deserty”. A new plan was in order. In the Hiking Utah book, we found an interesting backpack trip called the Fish Creek and Owl Creek loop which was near the Natural Bridges National Monument, nearly 100 miles south of Needles. We decided to give that a shot and headed there. Along the way, we hit the Subway in Blanding for dinner.

The weather still wasn’t cooperating and we were hit with showers all along the way. When we got to Natural Bridges, we found that the main campsite was already full but that there was space available at the overflow campsite. We headed there to car camp. It was still raining and we hoped the morning would bring better weather.

Day 6 (Th, Oct 03) Natural Bridges
It had rained all night and when we woke, it started snowing. Arggghhhh!!! We didn’t really feel like backpacking through the snow and with the weather, there really wasn’t a whole lot we could do. We stopped by the Kane Gulch ranger station for some backpacking trip ideas. For first timers to the area, they highly recommended the Kane Gulch trail. This trip was also in our guide book so we were somewhat familiar with it. Based primarily on their recommendation, we decided that we would do this trail if the weather cooperated. Hopefully tomorrow’s weather would be better and we could start then.

That day, we visited Natural Bridges National Monument where natural bridges of rock and stone have been formed by years of water erosion. We headed to Blanding for dinner at the Old Timer’s Restaurant based on a recommendation from an employee at the Natural Bridges visitor center. The food was pretty good. As we left the restaurant, the weather was definitely showing signs of clearing up - we actually saw some sunshine! Hopefully, this was a good sign of things to come. We stopped by the local market to get some fruit and some magazines to read that evening.

We drove back and got a campsite at the main Natural Bridges campsite where we slept in the truck, eagerly anticipating that tomorrow would bring sunny skies.

Day 7 (Fri, Oct 04) Kane Gulch
Finally! Good weather at last! Not just good weather, but great weather! The skies were clear and the sun was beaming! We stopped again at the Kane Gulch ranger station and the forecast for the next few days was clear and sunny. We decided that we were going to do the Kane Gulch trail and obtained the required permits. We were feeling ambitious and decided to hike nearly 30 miles in which we would start at the Kane Gulch entrance, emerge from the Bullet Canyon trailhead, and then hike back along the road to the ranger station. The ranger informed us that water may be somewhat difficult to find and showed us on the map where some springs might be found.

We began our trek, our spirits high from the good weather. The trail was fairly easy to follow, but we didn’t really have a good idea of how far we had gone. The first attraction was Junction Ruin which was at the intersection of the Kane Gulch and the Grand Gulch. Somehow, we missed it entirely! However, we soon came upon Turkey Pen Ruin, Stimper Arch, and Split Level Ruin, other key attractions of the trail.

Unfortunately, we could not find any water sources. We searched the area where the ranger had indicated that there was a high potential for water and just couldn’t find the spring. We were becoming a little concerned because we had each brought only 2 Nalgene bottles full of water with the expectation that we could find water to pump. We finally found a spring with lots of water, but the water was all muddy and silty which almost instantly clogged the water filter. The water could be boiled, but it tasted pretty bad and I wasn’t sure I brought enough fuel to both cook and boil water. Because of that, and because we had already seen much of what there was to see, we decided that we would just make the trip an out-and-back overnighter. Plus, this way, we could check outJunction Ruin on the way back.

So we found a really nice campsite (near the water source and just north of Split Level Ruin) and proceeded to set up the tent. As we unpacked the tent, I realized that we were missing something. The ground cloth for the tent was in a separate bag that I had neglected to bring. Not having the ground cloth is not that big of a deal, but the ground cloth bag also contained the stakes! Doh! Major blunder! We quickly ran through our options. One option would be to hike the 10 miles back. However, that was quickly ruled out because it was already pretty late and we were both pretty tired. The best option was to try to set the tent up by tying it to a tree and using big rocks in lieu of the stakes to hold everything down. Amazingly, this ended up working quite well and the tent remained solid and sturdy throughout the night.

Day 8 (Sat, Oct 05) Moab!
The morning was once again beautiful. We packed up and headed back towards the ranger station. This time, we paid closer attention to the map and its features and about 8 miles later came upon Junction Ruin and the Grand Gulch intersection. They were somewhat hidden behind tall cottonwood trees so we didn’t feel as bad about missing them on the way down. The ruins were really cool and we were glad that we were able to see and explore them. There were also some great campsite locations in this area.

After getting back to the truck, we headed towards Moab and got a room at the Comfort Suites and did a few loads of laundry. Dinner was at Buck’s Grill House. The Elk Stew looked really interesting so I got that. It was good, but nothing really special. I enviously eyed other people’s steaks which looked really good and wished I had gotten a steak instead. Judy got the Trout Salad which she enjoyed.

Moab is a really cool town. On the weekends, especially in the fall months, it gets pretty crowded and it is really cool to see all the off-road vehicles and cars/trucks loaded with mountain bikes. It’s quite unlike any other town that I’ve been to.

Next, Moab 2002 Part II (mountain biking Moab, the mecca of mountain biking! Also Islands in the Sky and Arches)

Posted by Roger at 7:53 pm.