Moab UT - Monday - 55 miles
One thing we learned after riding in the Utah desert after a couple of days, and that is to get out of the sun early. So, we employed a new strategy for our start in Moab. Our goal was to be at the trail at the break of dawn. Fortunately there was a Denny’s nearby that was open 24 hours and we became regulars for a week. We would normally hit it around 5:00, eat and then ride to the trail mostly in darkness. So, by 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon we were done riding and we could get out of the heat. On our first day in Moab we decided to do the Kane Spring Road tour and follow the Colorado River. In retrospect in didn’t look like we did much but this was really a good day. After Denny’s we rode back towards the heart of town and found Kane Springs Rd easily enough and started our venture. We found our way down to the river and the road was paved which made us a bit uneasy as we blasted 40 mph down the road hoping to find dirt soon. Once we got into Kane Canyon it turned to gravel and we felt a little better. It was nice going through the canyon and looking up to see the sun touching the tops of the canyon walls but not yet the valley floor. We stopped for a couple of pictures along the way, but didn’t take too long. Our first major stop of the day was on Hurrah Pass overlooking the Colorado River and the surrounding valley roughly 1k feet below. After another half hour or so we made a little run around a 200 foot butte that narrowed the path to only a few feet wide, not for the faint of heart here. We stopped there to take some pictures There we had a great view of the Colorado and not a sole in sight. It was only about 9:30 local time. We saw some excursion boats running up and down the river and we could hear people talking as if they were only a hundred yards away. We yelled a couple of times and they could hear us, but I don’t know if they could see us. Not long again, and we reached the end of the trail at Chicken Corners. It was roughly the same view but perhaps even more secluded. After our normal 20 minute stop we were back on the bikes coming back the way we came in. We made a couple of more stops along the way back and got back around 3:00 local time and took a dip in the pool.
