On the Road Again

Actually, I've been on the road again for the last five weeks. For those who may not know, I've been riding my bike through the great deserts and mountains of Nevada, Utah, and now Arizona. I started the trip near Carson City, NV in a humble town called Yerington, then rode to Salt Lake City, south into Arizona through Monument Valley, and to Sedona, where my brother picked me up and took me to Tempe. Check out the map for a visual on all this.

Now that I only have two or three days of riding left before I get home to Tucson and end this 16-month phase of compulsive cycling, I decided it was time to add a couple posts to my long-ignored blog. This will be the first of two or three covering my Great American West tour, the ideas for which have been brewing on the road over the last couple weeks of pedaling.

And now, a quick discussion of the highlights (unfortunately my digital camera retired on the second day of my trip, so I can't offer you any photos):

Sagebrush Land

Route 50 cuts right across the center of Nevada on an east-west axis, following a simple topographical pattern of wide valley, short n' steep mountain range, wide valley. It took me eight days to cross the state and I went over a mountain pass every day, sometimes two, and one day three. Needless to say, it was hard work, but excellent training for the rest of the trip, which generally increased in difficulty.

Nevada is sagebrush land. The plant is everywhere. The huge valleys that typically run north-south between frequent ridges of mountains carry the sweet, spicy aroma of the brush like mammoth incense holders.

Although it may sound monotonous and tedious, crossing sagebrush land was full of pleasant surprises. Every one of those mountain passes afforded brilliant, sweeping panoramas of the valley and mountains to the east and west, as well as wizened forests of juniper and pinyon pine sparsely covering a jagged landscape of boulders and cliffs. A few rare oases of streams and small lakes nestled in the rugged mountains made for lovely, cool campsites and rest areas, while tiny mining towns perched on mountainsides, such as Austin and Eureka, made for welcomed refuges from the elements, which proved to be surprisingly cold and harsh a number of times.

Great Basin National Park was the climax of this stage of the trip, a little-known park on the eastern edge of NV that encompasses a full sampling of the landscapes of the Great Basin Desert from the 5,000' sagebrush valley floor to the 13,065' stone crown of Wheeler Peak. In addition to the park's great variety of forest and shrub land, pristine streams and fantastic mountain scenery, Lehman Caves is an other-worldly labyrinth of surreal limestone formations that can be visited through tours offered by park rangers.

Capitol Reef National Park

In south central Utah sits this stunning national park that seems to get very little attention compared to its neighbors to the south and west (Glen Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion), which of course was advantageous to me as a cyclist in search of peaceful natural beauty.

In Cathedral Valley, a line of serrated red sandstone monoliths tower over a vast arena of sand and scrub flanked by red, orange, and white layers of sheer cliffs. The Temples of the Sun and Moon, two pyramidal towers of differing size, expertly arranged by nature to face the same direction and perfectly catch sunrise and sunset on opposing faces, provided me with one of my most memorable sunrises ever.

In Fruita, the Fremont River provides a lush oasis that contrasts splendidly with the surrounding red and brown cliff faces topped with pale domes. Nearby, Grand Wash gradually narrows until you find yourself besmurfed by tremendous vertical walls at a choke point just 16' wide.

The whole park abounds with geologic magnificence in multi-colored rendering. My 10 days of camping and riding in the park ended with a series of 10% grade switchbacks on the Burr Trail Road that cut through the southern end of the Waterpocket Fold, a colossal, multi-layered crinkle in the earth's crust that is one of the most distinguishing features of the park.

Lake Powell

Following a chain of unfortunate and uncomfortable events at the end of a hard day's ride, I had a spirit-lifting encounter with a fellow who invited me to dinner with his group of friends, which led to an invitation to spend the following day cruising Lake Powell with them on their boat. It turned out to be a perfectly-placed rest day, preceding four consecutive days of long, exhausting rides. It also turned out to be a perfectly enjoyable day in general, touring one of the most scenic lakes I've ever seen, picnicking, swimming, and cliff jumping. Although Lake Powell, a reservoir, has flooded out one of the most remarkable and extensive canyon networks in the country, and is therefore a menace to nature by some standards, it certainly has created a marvelous recreation area. The abundant tributary canyons and endless nooks and crannies provide innumerable areas to explore and enjoy by boat and land. All the while, soaring cliffs and amphitheaters and vaulted overhangs shoot skyward out of the water and loom overhead.

Monument Valley

Unfortunately my enjoyment of this impressive region was marred by a stiff headwind that drained my energy and motivation over the course of a long day, but still it was impossible to overlook the grandeur of the monumental red buttes jutting out of the plateau. The clarity of the air and the expanse of the plateau made it possible to enjoy the monuments for nearly the whole day, and I was surprised by the number and variety of them. From spindly spires to gargantuan mittens and long, toothy ridges, the curious formations dotted a region of the plateau spanning at least 50-60 miles along the highway.

Grand Canyon

The climax of the whole trip, GC inspires, bewilders, humbles and awes. I camped my first night there at Desert View Campground, a refreshingly small and quiet place compared to the much more popular area around Grand Canyon Village. Now, I've come to the conclusion that sunsets differ little around the world and a truly exceptional one is a rare and lucky treat, but my first night at GC was one such treat. A heavenly arrangement of clouds and color presided over the underworld of the shadowy canyon, and silhouetted a stately, but unobtrusive, stone watchtower perched near the canyon edge. It was an excellent recipe for a truly exceptional sunset. For the morning after, sunrise was pretty darn cool, too, and started a full day of absorbing as much of the GC as I could from every vantage point I could, until sunset again.

Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon

The day I left Grand Canyon was a record-setting distance day: 103 miles. Not coincidentally, it ended with the final highlight of the trip (I have two more days of riding, but don't expect to hit another highlight that would compete with these babies). Oak Creek Canyon starts about 15 miles north of Sedona, between there and Flagstaff. Coming straight from the Grand Canyon, I could imagine Oak Creek nestling comfortably within the Inner Gorge of the Colorado River - the lowest and smallest canyon section of the whole GC. Regardless, I was taken aback by the scene when, in late afternoon, I began descending the switchbacks that would drop me about 700' in three miles to the floor of the majestic canyon that stretched before me.

The canyon was a fine mix of substantial forest covering most of the rocky slopes but for a few tasteful accents of barren, pale yellowish-orange and grey cliffs and rock formations on the upper portions of the mountains. The forested flanks dropped steeply to the narrow floor and the clear, bubbling waters of Oak Creek.

As the canyon dropped steadily toward Sedona, the forest thinned out to scattered desert vegetation and the pale rock was gradually replaced by more dramatic buttes, ridges and peaks that were red ochre in color. What a superb final highlight!