Day 9 (Sun, Oct 06) Klondike Bluffs, Islands in the Sky
Upon getting up, we got our free continental breakfast, the highlight of which were the Belgian waffles that you make yourself by pouring cups of pre-made batter into a griddle. Although we had a fairly good idea of the rides in the area through our Mountain Biking Utah book, we decided to stop by the Poison Spider bike shop to get some local advice.

We chose to do the Klondike Bluffs trail which was supposed to be a good introduction to slickrock. We parked in a small lot on the side of the 191 and rode 2-3 miles in on a dirt road. After riding in, we realized that we could have drove in this distance and avoided the somewhat boring dirt road. The actual trail was a whole lot of fun and gave us a good taste of slickrock. We even got to see some real dinosaur footprints fossilized in the slickrock. And at the top of the trail, we were treated to a cool view of Moab and its surroundings.

Our bikes were functioning remarkably well considering all the crap they had been through. Judy was having a small front derailleur shifting issue and I felt that I could use a little lube in my pedal cranks so we brought the bikes in to the Moab Cyclery for a quick adjustment. The guy we talked to there was really nice and gave us a bunch of tips, including some suggestions on some good singletrack rides in the local La Sal Mountains. It sounded fun, but we’d probably have to save the La Sal’s for another trip. One of the cool things about the Moab Cyclery was that they had a mini North Shore course set up in front with narrow planks and a teeter-totter. I didn’t trust my skills enough to give it a shot; I probably would have killed myself.

For lunch, we hit Zack’s Woodfried Pizza. I was famished and got the all-you-can-eat pizza, salad, and soup special while Judy got just the salad buffet. Afterwards, we perused the shops along Main St. and Judy bought a bunch of souvenirs.

The plan that night was to car camp at the Islands in the Sky district of Canyonlands. There was still plenty of light left so we drove to Canyonlands, found the Big Mesa campground where we planned to camp, and then drove through the scenic loop. After doing the loop, we returned to the Big Mesa campground to look for a campsite. Big Mesa is, as its name implies, a big mesa that has quite a view all the way around. We found a campsite that had a pretty nice view and retired for the night.

Day 10 (Mon, Oct 07) Amasa Back, Gemini Bridges
We woke up early and watched the sun rise over the nearby La Sal Mountains. Klondike Bluffs was fun, but we wanted something a little bit more challenging so we decided to try the Amasa Back trail. We parked at a lot just before Kane Creek Rd. turns to dirt and rode up to the Amasa Back trail head. Once again, we realized that we could have driven in a bit to bypass some of the dirt road. The very first part of Amasa back involves a fairly technical slickrock staircase. When we got there, two guys with really nice bikes were taking turns trying to descend the staircase. After a few tries, they were both able to make it cleanly. I decided to go down an easier route just to get a feel for it, but after watching the two guys do it, I had to give it a try down the harder section. I made it down cleanly, and it was quite exhilarating! Judy ended up walking down, but was kind of frazzled about what might lie ahead.

Right after the staircase was a thigh-high drop-off. And right after that was a technical rocky section. A short stretch of fairly smooth riding quickly met up with another technical uphill. It was a bit too much for Judy, so we decided to head back and find another trail.

The Gemini Bridges trail is what we decided on. It consisted of a somewhat long climb on a dirt road, a descent, and then a long flat section which was kind of boring, although the scenery was pretty cool. Then we hit a bunch of slickrock mixed with dirt which was a lot of fun. We finally arrived at the Gemini Bridges, a pair of large natural bridges, and took some cool photos there.

Dinner found us at Pasta Jay’s which is a very good Italian restaurant with good portions. We decided to spend the night at the CastleRock Inn, which was right across the street from the Comfort Suites that we had stayed at two nights before. The CastleRock Inn was nice and new (only a year old) so we wanted to check it out, especially since we weren’t that impressed with the Comfort Suites.

Day 11 (Tues, Oct 08) Arches National Park, Hole in the Rock
We decided that today would be a good day for rest since we’d be doing the famous Slickrock Trail the next day. During the Gemini Bridges ride, we had talked to two guys who said that they found the Slickrock Trail to be an extremely physically demanding trail. We spent the day in Arches National Park checking out the cool rock formations throughout the park. Judy’s achilles tendon was kind of hurting so she stayed in the truck while I did an hour and a half, 4.2 mile hike to check out the Landscape Arch and the Double-O Arch.

We spent some time looking for a campsite. Steph Davis, a famous climber who Ryan climbed with last year, had given some directions on some campsites near the Amasa Back trailhead. Judy and I went to check it out, but decided that they were kind of far (we actually never even found it). We discovered that there are campsites right next to the Slickrock Trail that would be much better so we decided to go there to secure a campsite.

Ryan and Cynthia were due to arrive that evening so we decided to wait for them for dinner. To kill some time, we decided to check out the Hole ‘N the Rock, a house that was built years ago into the rock. We went on the 10 minute tour through the house. It was pretty interesting. After the tour, we checked out the ostriches next door (not sure what they were doing there). Ostriches are weird-looking creatures!

Ryan’s monstrous Land Rover finally chugged into town around 8:30. Ryan wanted to eat at Pasta Jay’s so we ended up going there for the second night in a row, which was fine because it was a good restaurant. After dinner, we headed up to our campsite. Judy and I did the typical sleep-in-the-truck thing, Cynthia slept in a tent, and Ryan shacked up outside in his bivy.

Day 12 (Wed, Oct 09) Slickrock Trail!
The famous Slickrock Trail of Moab awaited us. Ryan had ridden it once before, but for the rest of us, it was our first time. We prudently decided to try out the Practice Loop first. The Practice Loop is about 2.5 miles and is no easier than the main trail, but gives you a good idea of what the trail will be like. If you decide it’s not for you, you can turn back. We did the Practice Loop and continued on.

The Slickrock Trail is unique in its characteristics, with endless seemingly impossible uphills and downhills. Contrary to its name, the slickrock is not slick at all, but grips your tires very well. The steep uphills are relatively short (5-15 seconds), but physically demanding. You are required to be in granny gear and be up out of the saddle, peddling as fast and as hard as you can - you’re basically doing quick sprints up the hills. On any other surface, your back wheel will skid out, but on the slickrock, your back tires grips pretty well. It does skid out occasionally, which requires you to balance a bit between keeping your front tire grounded and keeping your rear tire from skidding.

Nowadays, the trail is very well marked with dotted white lines. You’ll find occasional “fried eggs”, yellow splotches within the white lines, which indicate a more technical section. For most guys, however, the fried eggs are not really that big of a deal. Some sections are kind of scary because of the terrain - you sometimes can’t see what’s over a hump and don’t know if you’re going to be riding straight off of a steep cliff. Fortunately, that won’t happen (as long as you follow the trail) and once you get closer to the hump, you realize that its totally ridable. All in all, it’s a really cool trail! In fact, it’s Judy’s favorite trail of all time!

People have been known to do the trail in under an hour and a half. We took nearly 5 hours! This was primarily because we stopped several times to take pictures. Also, Judy and Cynthia were encouraged to do a lot of stuff that they might not have done without some encouragement. Several steep downhills gave them some hesitation, but for the most part, they rode them down and realized that they really weren’t that bad. And of course, Ryan and I had to try to do the more technical sections, sometimes several times.. All in all, I think both Ryan and I rode the entire trail cleanly with the notable exception of one long, steep climb in which both of our lungs and legs just simply gave out.

As we were packing up the trucks after the ride, a bunch of Ryan’s buddies from the Land Rover Club of San Diego spotted his beast of a truck and stopped by. They had hired a guide to take them on a 4X4 trail and asked if Ryan wanted to tag along. It was time to test the mettle of the Defender! Judy and Cynthia headed back to the CastleRock Inn and Ryan and I got ready to do some off-roading.

The guide led the group of Land Rovers on a trail called Fins and Things. We did some pretty amazing stuff that I just couldn’t believe. We went up and down some impossibly steep hills. I wouldn’t have believed it was possible without seeing it. Ryan’s Defender definitely proved its off-road worthiness!

For dinner, we hit Buck’s Grill (again for Judy and me). This time, I ordered the steak and wasn’t disappointed. In fact, Cynthia, Ryan, and myself all got the T-Bone steak while Judy got her Trout Salad again. That night, we stayed again at the CastleRock Inn.

Day 13 (Th, Oct 10) Wall Street
After getting our continental breakfast, we headed towards the local climbing store, Pagan Mountaineering, to get the beta on the local climbs. Ryan spent some dough on a bunch of cams and we headed for the Ice Cream Parlor which is along Kane Creek Road, several miles past the Amasa Back trail. The road was very dusty, especially when following another vehicle, and I had my rear window open for ventilation. That was a mistake as the entire inside of my truck got coated with a layer of dust. Yuck! We finally got to the climbing area. We had hoped that the climbing wall would be in the shade, but that was not the case. It was directly in the sun and it would only be getting worse as the sun continued to rise. We decided to go check out Wall Street instead.

On our way back, we decided to stop by the Amasa Back trailhead to show Ryan the beginning of the trail. We didn’t ride it, but just walked down. For some reason, the slickrock staircase did not look nearly as technical as when I had first ridden it. Ryan was not impressed. It probably seemed more difficult previously because it was the first technical section that we had encountered while at Moab. Now, it just looked like a lot of fun. We knew that Wall Street would be in the shade during the afternoon, so after checking out Amasa Back, we decided to get some lunch in town.

Wall Street is somewhat of a strange area because the climbs are right on the side of a road. For some reason, there were a lot of big semis cruising along this road. Where they were going, we weren’t sure. The sun was on these walls as well, but it would be getting better as the day went on. Ryan set up a 5.9+ climb and a 5.10a climb. Cynthia led a 5.9 that I followed and cleaned. By the time I started the climb, it was pretty much dark so I had to do the climb with my headlamp, a new experience for me!

When we were done, it was pretty late but we still needed to eat. As we were driving around, we saw Fat City and decided to go there. Ryan and I ordered the sampler’s platter, a carnivore’s delight of tri-roast, ribs, and a half-chicken. A smoked sweet potato, which Fat City is supposedly known for, was thrown in as the lone vegetable. The food was pretty good. After dinner, we headed back to the Slickrock campground.

Day 14 (Fri, Oct 11) Porcupine Rim
We awoke to a very windy morning and somewhat cloudy skies. It felt like a storm was approaching. We were planning on doing the Porcupine Rim trail that day, but were having some doubts because of the weather. Judy and I were actually thinking about just heading home. We were both kind of homesick and by leaving then, we could get home a day early.

We drove into town and had breakfast at Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The food was pretty good. Judy and I were still on the fence, but Ryan and Cynthia both wanted to do the ride. A part of me wanted to do it because were were already in Moab, but a part of me was tired and wanted to head home. Ryan’s potent powers of persuasion, however, convinced us to do the trail.

Porcupine can be done either as a 14+ mile shuttle ride or a 30+ mile loop. Much of the loop part is on pavement however. We decided to run a shuttle which was quite a pain in the ass because the distances from the start and finish points were pretty far. We dropped the women off at the trailhead and then took both vehicles to the end point where we left my 4-Runner and drove Ryan’s truck back to the start. It took about an hour just to do that.

We started on the trail and found it to bereally fun with lots of slickrock bumps interspersed between dirt - my favorite kind of terrain! About 2-3 miles into the ride, Judy all of a sudden started hyperventilating uncontrollably for some strange reason. It was kind of scary. After a few minutes, she calmed down and recovered to a normal breathing rate. She claimed that she wasn’t even working that hard. None of us knew what caused it (Judy and I thought that Judy might have breathed in too much dust the day before as we were driving to the Ice Cream Parlor). Judy felt fine, but we didn’t want to take any chances. I would ride back with Judy. Ryan and Cynthia could continue on since the shuttle had already been set up.

Judy and I got back to Ryan’s car, loaded up the bikes, and then drove back to the CastleRock Inn. Unfortunately, we did not have our wallets (they were in the 4-Runner at the trail end) so we couldn’t buy any food and couldn’t check into the hotel. So we spent the next several hours just tooling around the hotel parking lot. It was actually kind of fun since there was a long, straight curb in the parking lot. We practiced our balance by trying to ride along the curb and by doing figure eights between the parking lines. Passerbys probably thought we were weird for spending hours mountain biking a parking lot while in Moab.

After Ryan and Cynthia returned, they told us about the trail. They both like it alot. Ryan said that the last half mile or so was really technical. He had several crashes in that section and simply had to walk others.

We washed up in the hotel and went to the Sunset Grill for dinner. The Sunset Grill is on a high hill and offers a nice view of Moab. Ryan highly recommended the smoked salmon appetizer so we ordered two, one for Ryan and one for Judy and myself. Cynthia tried some of Ryan’s but didn’t really like it. The rest of us thought it was delicious.

Day 15 (Sat, Oct 12) Homeward Bound!
Our trip was rapidly coming to a conclusion. Ryan and Cynthia, on the other hand, had a few more days of climbing left. Judy and I planned to make the trip home in one day. The drive actually wasn’t all that bad. We left Moab at 7:30 AM PST and got back home around 8:00 PM PST, which included about an hour and a half stop at the Primm Outlets.

It was sad that our vacation was over, but at the same time, it was nice to be home. And we were both looking forward to picking up the Latte Dog the next day. Although the weather did not quite cooperate initially, the trip still turned out to lots of fun and we ended up doing a bunch of stuff that we might not have done otherwise. All in all, it was one of the most memorable trips either of us have taken.

Once again, here’s the link to the pics.

Posted by Roger at 7:59 pm.