Slickrock bike trail

After riding the MOAB Brand slickrock trails, John was keen to check out the "real" Slickrock trail that makes Moab famous among mountain bikers. I wasn't quite so keen (knowing that it doesn't take much for me to lose confidence in my biking ability), but I went up there to see it with him. John rode the 12-mile loop while I trekked the practice loop and took photos.

On the way up we snagged this photo for Bob:


The bike trail looks great - very smooth, much better riding than the 4WD roads we were on previously, and it seems like it could be lots of fun. I tested it briefly on my bike, but the steepness in some places was too much for me. Here is the practice loop that I did on foot:




While I was in the parking lot, someone reported a rattlesnake hanging out in one of the bathrooms, so I had to go take a look:


John on his way back:



He absolutely loved the trail! His only endo was into a pile of deep sand, and in front of some jeep folks, so that was a funny story. Otherwise, he stayed on the bike for just about everything. Nice riding, John!

Canyonlands NP - The Needles

The Needles district of Canyonlands NP is a bit out of the way, but it was SO totally worth spending the day. We did a 15-mile run that was on par with the awesomeness of Chiricahua National Monument. It was that special. I highly recommend it as ultra running training!

On the way, we stopped at the local Newspaper Rock to see what was happening lately (your guess is as good as mine):


We did the short hiking trails along the roads in the park, including the trail to the cowboy camp of old:


Our favorite brand of coffee:


Low clearance:


A couple of sights from the viewpoint at the end of the road:



What a sweetheart!


Yucca:


I really don't know what to call this:


Some interesting berries on a holly-looking shrub:


The start of our run (we went opposite directions so you won't see as much of our mugs this time):


Everywhere we go, we see different types of rock formations:


Don't bust the crust!


Neat trail toward Chesler Park:


Great views of red/white rocks everywhere we ran:



The start of the Joint trail - it's not easy to get to this trail unless you run/hike several miles or have 4WD. Well worth it!




One of the "Joints" between giant blocks of rocks:



Hi John!


The canyon heading up to Druid Arch:


Nice one!


Fence posts - they almost look like someone planted them:



Harvey sitting on a cairn in the desert, helping show the way home. Thanks Harvey!


Dumping dirt out of my shoes after an excellent day on the trail:


Canyonlands rocks!

Long biking day

The next day we went for a long (quite long!) bike ride. Not in terms of miles, but in the amount of time it took us to complete the loop. I do not recommend this route unless you are training for an adventure race.

It started out fun though - we headed up to the MOAB Brand trails, and I did better on the slickrock this time as I figured out a few things. We rode Rockin-A and Rockin-O, and John really enjoyed it (his first time on slickrock). We played around taking photos of each other.




Arches National Park in the distance:


I didn't even know John was down there taking this photo - I *really* like the result!


John got a good start in bloodying up his appendages (there would be more scrapes that day and subsequent days as well, this was just the beginning). Nothing serious at least!


From there we climbed up the Gemini Bridges road and veered off to the Gold Bar and Golden Spike 4WD roads.

Below the Gooney Bird rock where we had a snack in the shade:


Riding away from Gooney Bird - bye!


People really drive jeeps down and up these things? I am still amazed.


John started riding up some steeper slopes, and he was amazed at what he could do on the rock. I was impressed!


Taking a break:


The road pops out on the rim overlooking the highway a couple of times:


A nice view of Moab and the La Sal Mountains:


This was called "Launch Pad" - like The Wall at Rocky Hill Ranch, but bigger!


John almost made it up the other side.


From there we turned onto the Poison Spider trail, but didn't take that loop around. Instead, we fought sandboxes and eventually made it down to the road. I was pretty tired and thirsty - not much in picture-taking mood! We were just glad to be done :)