Cycling
The Burr Trail is one of the most scenic roads in Utah, and that’s saying something!
It winds through deep canyons, descends the colorful water pocket fold and finishes at Lake Powell.
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Trans America trail
On the road
Looking out over the Pacific Ocean, we began to realize what we had gotten ourselves into; a 3 month journey between the two coasts.
What would we encounter? How steep were the mountain passes? What about the heat in Kansas? Would everybody be able to get along?
We then turned east towards Virginia as America slowly unfolded itself before us.
More Trans Am. ’81 impressions:
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Moki Dugway
Dropoff
Boring, boring, boring! Pedalling across the flat, monotonous, Colorado Plateau – we wondered when it would ever end.
Then we spotted the sign; ‘10% grade, switchbacks, narrow gravel road.’
We had reached Moki Dugway cliff and over 1,000 feet below the paved road continued.
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Dodge tow-truck
Dodge
An advantage of cycling over driving is that you can’t have engine problems.
So you’ll never have to call a tow-truck.
Another Silverton impression:
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Ophir Pass
Summit
“Ophir Pass? It’s spectacular! You guys shouldn’t have a problem cycling up it,” said the tourist information lady reassuringly.
Perhaps she had been altitude training – or lying – because we suffered. We weren’t acclimatized and by midday, we were still struggling to reach the summit.
She was right about the scenery though. We ended up pitching our tent near the top with a panoramic view of the San Juan Mountains.
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White Rim trail
Classic
After heading down the switchbacks of Mineral Canyon, we spotted the entrance sign to Canyonlands National Park.
“Entrance to another planet is more like it,” remarked Paul as we struggled to pedal (and push!) our bicycles through the sand.
Dwarfed by this landscape of immense rock, we realized why the White Rim Trail has become a classic mountain bike route.
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Gateway cafe
Café
Gateway’s supermarket-café specializes in greasy hamburgers with extra ketchup. But after a week of granola bars, they were heaven!
Sadly, the store’s shelves were empty. So the next morning we set off with hotdogs from the restaurant as we headed up towards the La Sal Mountains.
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Snowed in
Snow
“I don’t suppose you guys have snow tires for those bikes?” asked a hunter. We just laughed.
That night a storm hit and the next morning, we woke up to a ‘winter wonderland.’
We tried to pack the tent in, but even without stakes it stood frozen in place.
So we crawled back into our sleeping bags for a day of card games and listening to country music.
More plateau impressions:
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