I just completed a fantastic road trip with Cari starting in Bend, Oregon and ending here in Las Vegas. We found a random hot spring based on a tip from an elderly man at a bar in Austin, NV and camped in some amazing spots along our drive...
We drove down through some pretty wild and barren country in Nevada and Utah to our first destination...Cedar City, Utah. I wouldn't recommend the night life,* but the mountain biking is first rate!
The first day we rode the Three Peaks Recreation Area and saw only ONE other person the entire day. I had a bike malfunction wherein I had to ride the entire ride with my brake on. After only 12 miles I felt like I had done an Ironman. I was feeling pretty apprehensive about our more ambitious riding plans to come.
We left Cedar City the next morning and drove to the bustling metropolis of Hurricane (pronounced "Hurrikun"). We arrived late and ended up camping at the trailhead for the J.E.M. trail. This was a 20 mile loop that included fantastic easy single-track. It was one of my favorite rides of the week.
Next, we drove up to Gooseberry Mesa. It had rained in the area the week before and the dirt road was trashed. I was worried my little Honda wouldn't make it but after some excellent driving by Cari, we decided to re-name my car "Bitchin' Honda." Several folks were impressed with BH when they saw us camping up on the mesa.
Gooseberry was a slick-rock, technical mecca, but not the kind of ride that you'd "g-out" on. Cari rode the trails and I'd say I did more of a hike-a-bike on our first day. Just to get our adrenalin going a little more, Cari nearly rode over the biggest rattlesnake that I have ever seen. Thankfully, we came back the next day and rode the rest of the trails without incident.
We took a "day off" from our 5-6 hour daily riding routine to do some hiking in Zion. We spent the night with the masses at a campsite in Springdale and hiked Hidden Canyon, Observation Point and the beginning of the Narrows (in one day). Amazing! I highly recommend a visit to Zion. I wanted to spend a month there.
Our last epic ride was at Little Creek Mesa near Hurricane. The guidebook and everyone we asked said that it was "a little tough to navigate" and that you "either need a guide or GPS tracks." Well, that didn't stop us! We had our GPS watches, headlamps, emergency gear and water. We did really well until we came upon an area where the cairns just stopped and our map failed us. Luckily, our GPS watches pointed the way we wanted to go. However, we didn't see a trail there...At that point we were chasing daylight so we went back to a fire road we had seen earlier and just followed it to see where it ended up. Fortunately, it let to the main road and back to the trail-head. We commiserated with our new found friends from California about the tricky route in the parking lot just as the sun was setting...
Our last two rides were hot, hot, hot ones in the St. George area. Again, Cari tried to ride over a rattlesnake.
This afternoon I had to say good-bye to Cari at the Las Vegas airport. It was a wonderful trip and I hope to meet up with her again soon for another epic adventure.
Cheers,
Kelly
*When we asked a few people "Is there a brew pub in town?" and received the following answer..."What is a brew pub?" we knew we should just concentrate on finding the good biking spots.
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