Today we cycled down the first 13-14 miles of the White Rim trail. I nixed any delusional ideas of a technical ride (I could see Mike veering toward that like a bee to honey) and we settled on a physically challenging one instead.
We actually had to scrape frost off the windshield this morning and I was wearing a few layers as we started the descent. Glances off the side of the road were reward with a little seat clenching by those gluteals - quite a drop into some rough looking country. Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful, however.
We encountered a few groups who were outfitted to do the full over-100 mile ride with vehicle support . They were pleasant enough, although I would have preferred the solitude and the silence. We only had a few jeeps to deal with and two motorized dirt bikes. The support vehicles and jeeps were all extremely courteous and gave us wide berth. In comparison one of the dirt bikers seemed to exult in destroying the peace with the deafening roar of his engine. You would hope he would feel completely emasculated and silly driving by a woman who was clearing the canyon with her own muscles. It’s that whole compensation thing, every time.
The formations were phenomenal. Arches and buttresses and swirls in the rock faces. There was a section where it appeared an entire layer of rock fell at about the same time. It looked like crumbs broken from the edge of a very large cookie on the lap of the canyon. A person can understand why places such as this inspire a magical mythology - you can create nearly any creature you wish from the eroded rock faces. Mother earth is truly a master sculptor.
Again - NO atv’s, NO jeep, NO motorized vehicles of any kind in any natural space. If you have to burn fossil fuels for fun, join the military. Or, at least stick to the motorparks and leave the forests, deserts and beaches as pristine as possible for the rest of us.
The climb out wasn’t as hard as we thought. We were tired, to be sure, but not completely burned out as I feared. Not to bad for my first week out of my splint! We left some sweat behind, but that is a fair price to pay.
Moab Brewery welcomed us with hard-to-be-found 8.5% beer (this IS Mormon country, after all) and surprisingly good food. As we finished, the bar and restaurant was wall-to-wall packed with weekend warriors looking for a place to re-fuel. How can you go from starving to STUFFED in 15 minutes? It’s the American way!
A much needed rest tonight and we head back to the rat race in the morning. It’s beautiful country here. I hope we as humans are smart enough to preserve it.
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