Plan B

 

  Dates were marked off on the calendar. Shuttles were reserved. Campsites reserved on maps in our head. Places where we might get water, places where we think we need to drop off water, All these things were planned out.

But none of that will matter, because it's going to rain.

  Not only is it going to rain, but it will rain all day. Enough rain will come down to saturate that fragile desert soil. Soil that doesn't like to hold water. Until it's forced to by the sure volume that is falling from the sky. This dirt posses little risk to gum up adventures, but when you pour water over this area, the texture turns from hard packed dirt to grainy toothpaste. They have a name for this. It's called clay.

 Clay made us change plans. So we were off to find something that has more sand and sandstone in the mix. We ditched clay and met up with Joe.

  Joe would require no shuttle, offer a fair amount buff single track, jeep roads, sand, hike a bikes, river edge riding, climbing and some solid technical desert riding. Over half of the terrain would be new area to explore for us. With over 100 miles of riding, only a handful of jeeps, motorcycles and a few cog heads were encountered. As far as we know nobody has done this route in its entirety for awhile. The hike a bike sections showed only a few faint signs of other shoe or tire marks in the crypto. Evidence of only a few walking their bikes down a 1,000 ft cliff in the last few weeks, or months for all I know.

On well graded roads, travel is easy. The temperatures were perfect for riding. Mild wind to keep you cool. The sun would go behind the clouds and you would wait patently for it to return and warm your fingertips up.

A break from the gravel grinding for some Moab single track that contoured the landscape and took you on the scenic route.

Flirting with clay. We took the cookies out of the oven a little early on this section. 4 hours prior and we might have been forced to turn around and abandon this ride with the amount of sticky mud and clay that forced its way into our drivetrains. Making pedaling a fully loaded bike almost impossible as the clearance between our tires and frames was gobbled up and packed full of wheel stopping clay.

A barran landscape that showed signs of recent rain. We left wandering tire tracks on the playa as we navigated around moist earth.

Once off our bikes, we attempted to refuel ourselves with different concoctions to make food in the back country enjoyable.  

While morning is my favorite time of day. Sunsets are second best.

Not even fat tires can save you from sandy hills.

Sometimes the rock cairns get spaced out enough to keep the adventure an adventure.

What goes down must eventually go back up... Climbing down, only to have to pedal back up on access roads cut into solid rock. The roads were short and steep to lesson the amount of earth that had to be cut into, to make roads down into canyons in search for Uranium.

Back at camp, a full meal, a good beer and good friends telling stories of the days ride.