Hi Guys,
Ok..Day 2 started off cold...no way to describe it other than just cold. My roommates, decided 60 degrees was too hot in the room so they opened the window in the shack and left the door with at least 12 inches open. About 5am, I woke up huddled in my 20 degree mummy bag cold...hmmm... Needless to say, at 35 degrees, it was a cold morning cooking breakfast outside.
Moab is at ~4K feet or so and our trail head started at 9000ft. The Colorado crew, Wayne, Matt, and Pam dropped a car off at the end of the trail and came to show us how to get way up to the Hazard County trailhead. Saved a $20 shuttle ride per person.
Ok, here is the trailhead. We looked at doing the Whole Enchilada, but were told too much snow. Not sure how well us 200feet above sea level guys would do starting at 10,000 feet riding up with 11,500, before descending. The snow saved the ego and we decided to go for the 25 mile trip (which turned into 31 for Pam and I).
After re-inserting our lungs, Matt arrives at 9500 feet past some nice trees.
Wayne was like an Energizer Bunny....just kept going at a steady pace the whole day.
When we got to the top, they made a really nice poster with all the points and canyons marked out in the background.
Here is a panorama of the La Sal mountains in the background. We nearly hit 6 mule deer on the way to the trailhead. Pretty country.
The gang before we start. By days end, 1 sprained wrist, 1 flat tire, and 1 bent derailleur hanger, priceless memories. Not bad for such a harsh ride. Leg pads were very nice to have as the rocks kicked up. Note the jackets, it was cold. I think the car said it was 33 when we started from the trailhead.
Washington Matt caught some good contrast of Pam and the canyon rim we will be following all day. In later pictures, that spire in the middle is really close by the time we mid-way through the ride.
Some gnarly flowing singletrack. Reminded me of when Crystal Mountain had lift serviced MTB trails. By skills at taking even picture for a panorama were impaired due to altitude. Note the trees below.
Look at the trees above. It didn't take us long to reach this point and 1k feet down the mountain. Washington Matt with some extra lean around the corner.
Pam came roaring around the corner, but managed to catch this picture.
Scott had an uncanny ability today,to pick up everyones pieces as we tried to fall apart down the trail. The steel hardtail of 17 years, still going strong.
Our path took us through a recent burn area. We noticed several guys on horseback that sure looked like law enforcement of some kind. Thought it kind of odd to see them on horse back, but imagine in this terrain, they can cover a lot of ground.
I finally got Wanye to stop long enough to take a picture. Then he was off again.
We came across an old abandoned/burned down house and Trey found this old vehicle in front. I guess it didn't' ride as well as his Steel Framed Hardtail, so he soon switched back to the bike and blasted down the hill, passing up several of us fully suspended guys.
The trail came to a split, and Pam and I took one way, and the group took the other. This is where we were supposed to turn, but got too side tracked with cool rocks and missed the trail marker 20 feet up the road.
While going the wrong way, we came across a random chair abandoned. Pam saw this as an excellent photo op. It wasn't until we started going up hill that Pam convinced me we were going the wrong way. Later we found we traveled nearly 2.5 miles the wrong way before turning around. Made for a long detour, but finally met up with the group. Cell phones are awesome to communicate such wrong turns.
Some of the rocks as we descended. Sometimes it was hard to pick the right line down them cause you couldn't always see what was below.
San Diego Mike, showing us how to lean back and blast through the rock piles. That is what suspension and a carbon framed Ibis is for.
Wayne catching some air of another randomly placed launch rock pile.
Colorado Matt showing us some of his downhill skills, taking flight, yes he landed this just fine.
The trail got right on the edge of the cliff face. Sometimes, too close for my taste.
Hey...look at me...I'm pretending to be falling over...maybe not such a smart thing to do so close to the edge of the cliff.
Remember the first couple picture, Pam was looking into the valley. Well, we are above that valley looking down.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Moab MTB-2008 Day1 Evening
Hi Guys,
Yes...as Kathy O pointed out, I did switch from North Africa to Moab, Utah USA. Yes there is quite a resemblance.
So what do a bunch of mountain biker do when they only rode 7.5 miles, 1721 vertical feet decent, 1678 accent by GPS in the morning. What better to do than switch over to Rock Climbing and hiking. While our Colorado group spun around Slickrock again, part of our group switched over to climbing gear, while the rest got ready for a nice 3.5 mile hike to an arch off the Colorado River.
Here Scott climbed up the rock like a Gecko to set the rope so he could belay from below.
The hiking group met up with the climbing part just in time to get a nice climb in before heading out hiking. Here Matt scales the wall.
Matt also scurried up the rock with the ease of a Gecko.
Ok, the start of the hike. Just as we started hiking, Matt and Pam of the Colorado crew pulled into the parking lot. They arrived just in time for the sunset hike.
Right away we were greeted with huge cliffs and beautiful rock.
Hey, what am I taking a picture of...and what is with the tripod?
Nothing too much, just creating a 4 picture panorama of the valley to hike in. Much easier to stitch when using a tripod.
Sometimes you forget how little rain falls down here.
The trail had us cross this rail line. I cannot imagine trying to put in a rail line having to blast that much rock. That is crazy.
The Matts' decided Pam needed some camera attention. Colorado Matt and Washington Matt took this photo.
As the hike continued, you can see the railroad line below the rock cliffs. What amazing rock.
The trail didn't mess around getting you up the mountains. It was nice they carved out foot steps.
Our first sight of bowtie arch.
Here is a panorama to get the whole arch in the picture. This thing was really big.
We were at least 1/4 mile from the Arch to get this picture.
In the middle lower part of the picture you can see people to get a perspective on how large this Arch was.
A bigger expanded view of bowtie arch with Matt and Pam in the foreground.
Corona Arch, what we came for. Note the lack of crowds! If this was delicate Arch in Arches National Park there was a line up to get a sunset photo with 100's of people. This arch was free to park and a short hike and no people! I recommend this hike for an afternoon.
Different view. At first it was hard to see the arch with the rock in the background.
We will get a better size view below.
The above pictures were zoomed in, but this is when we first spotted the arch. To the left is Bowtie Arch. Keep in mind how large the rocks above the arch when we see the photo of Matt next to the lower part of the Arch.
Yes...as Kathy O pointed out, I did switch from North Africa to Moab, Utah USA. Yes there is quite a resemblance.
So what do a bunch of mountain biker do when they only rode 7.5 miles, 1721 vertical feet decent, 1678 accent by GPS in the morning. What better to do than switch over to Rock Climbing and hiking. While our Colorado group spun around Slickrock again, part of our group switched over to climbing gear, while the rest got ready for a nice 3.5 mile hike to an arch off the Colorado River.
Here Scott climbed up the rock like a Gecko to set the rope so he could belay from below.
The hiking group met up with the climbing part just in time to get a nice climb in before heading out hiking. Here Matt scales the wall.
Matt also scurried up the rock with the ease of a Gecko.
Ok, the start of the hike. Just as we started hiking, Matt and Pam of the Colorado crew pulled into the parking lot. They arrived just in time for the sunset hike.
Right away we were greeted with huge cliffs and beautiful rock.
Hey, what am I taking a picture of...and what is with the tripod?
Nothing too much, just creating a 4 picture panorama of the valley to hike in. Much easier to stitch when using a tripod.
Sometimes you forget how little rain falls down here.
The trail had us cross this rail line. I cannot imagine trying to put in a rail line having to blast that much rock. That is crazy.
The Matts' decided Pam needed some camera attention. Colorado Matt and Washington Matt took this photo.
As the hike continued, you can see the railroad line below the rock cliffs. What amazing rock.
The trail didn't mess around getting you up the mountains. It was nice they carved out foot steps.
Our first sight of bowtie arch.
Here is a panorama to get the whole arch in the picture. This thing was really big.
We were at least 1/4 mile from the Arch to get this picture.
In the middle lower part of the picture you can see people to get a perspective on how large this Arch was.
A bigger expanded view of bowtie arch with Matt and Pam in the foreground.
Corona Arch, what we came for. Note the lack of crowds! If this was delicate Arch in Arches National Park there was a line up to get a sunset photo with 100's of people. This arch was free to park and a short hike and no people! I recommend this hike for an afternoon.
Different view. At first it was hard to see the arch with the rock in the background.
We will get a better size view below.
The above pictures were zoomed in, but this is when we first spotted the arch. To the left is Bowtie Arch. Keep in mind how large the rocks above the arch when we see the photo of Matt next to the lower part of the Arch.
Whew...if Matt wasn't holding up the arch it may fall...well not really but makes for a fun picture.
My turn to hold up the Arch. If you look closely at the lower right inside part of the Arch, Matt is standing up. At the far right outer part of the Arch Trey is hiding out.
Look above at the arch and try to find Matt in this same picture. This begins to show how large this arch really was.
This is a 3 picture panorama looking upward at the arch.
Behind Corona Arch was a really neat boxcanyon. This is really crazy terrain to navigate.
Look above at the arch and try to find Matt in this same picture. This begins to show how large this arch really was.
This is a 3 picture panorama looking upward at the arch.
Behind Corona Arch was a really neat boxcanyon. This is really crazy terrain to navigate.
Here I am next to the box canyon behind Corona Arch.
Colorado Matt had a thing for getting really close to the edge of large cliffs and looking over.
Colorado Matt had a thing for getting really close to the edge of large cliffs and looking over.
At the end of the hike, there were old petons pounded into the rock to rope up. Here Colorado Matt climbed up until the cut out rock ended. Needed climbing gear from here. A buddy from Team Dart Nuun completed an Expedition Adventure race here several weeks before here and mentioned they got to rope up, climb this section and then overland to the next checkpoint 4 hours later. Rugged terrain for an adventure race...especially when it is over 3 days long.
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