South Western Ride (May 27 - June 6 Ish)

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Probably the wrong night to not have signal, but the mountain lions failed to kill me!
Yesterday we hiked zion and got to see some really cool sights, our original trail got closed so we had to think of something on the fly and walked along the river. Unfortunately didn't have my phone or camera, one was heavy, one was dead. But it was nice to be able to focus on the views. We then went and saw a cave. The size and darkness were astounding to me.

After cooling off for a few hours we took highway 12 and got to see Bryce canyon and some other good views. We decided to skip hells backbone ridge, and the burr trail because we were tired of the heat. This ended up being a good decision because we not only got an amazing campsite next to a river, but also decided to cut the trip a few days short.

This morning my friend took off to find signal to get passes for rocky mountain national park, however he forgot where he left me and I eventually had to decide to start down the road without him and hopefully come across him since I knew the general area he would be in. As I made my way out of camp, the oil light came on. I parked and let the bike sit for 15 minutes but the oil never came into the sight glass. I started towards town and found my friend along the way. I have the bike on its center stand in the parking lot of a gas station, the oil is back in the sight glass so I am going to assume it was just how it was sitting over night. If not, my friend has oil in his car and I will be with him almost all the way to home.

 

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So, cougars are the source of the deer legs? I wondered about that.

That's my best guess, I can't think of another animal that would (or could) move its kill to one common area to eat.

 

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Yesterday we worked our way back to Colorado and it was an uneventful drive. The sights along Utah state route 95 were amazing, however a cross wind caused me to over-estimate my range and during the 100 mile no gas stretch, I ended up on empty for 30-45 miles, which is far more than I am comfortable with. I can't say we stopped to see anything along the way. Combined with the low fuel situation, at this point we were starting to get the itch to get home. We stopped in Delores to pick up some food. I found someone's lost hat fairly comical. (It says Alzheimer's Tennessee)

We made our way up highway 145 towards a campsite just outside Rico. I sold my adventure built nissan a while back and the new owner was in town managing a campsite after a trip down to Costa Rica and I was keen to swap stories. On our way we came across a bear cub, really cute, but moving too fast to get a picture. We made it a ways back into camp and set up for the night without signal, but with some welcome trees around us in contrast to the familiar setting of the desert.


This morning we woke up to some pretty cold weather and got a slow start waiting for the sun to warm things up. We had some good coffee, breakfast, and a coco drink with my friend and traded stories. However, time went a little too fast and before we knew it, we had hit noon and not even left camp. We made tracks towards snowmass, where my friend is working and where I can stay the night, but had to move pretty quick. Unfortunately, because of this the million dollar highway got skipped, and we only got a quick glimpse at telluride. Fortunately, I am a short 6 hour drive away, so I will definitely be coming back. We took McClure pass back and it was a great sight, and I really recommend it. However I was focused on riding and short enough on time that I didn't want to stop for pictures. With one last stop a a local ghost town, we finally made it to snowmass for the night, I am finishing the trip tomorrow with a 3.5 hour ride home and hopefully it will be as uneventful as most the trip. One thing I noted along the way, I saw almost no super tenere's along the way until I got to Carbondale, then I saw four. I just found it funny that I finally tracked down the "nest"!

 

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Decided to take Independence pass into Leadville on my way home, then I-70 into Denver. I caught a fair amount of traffic on my way through Aspen but other than that things were pretty smooth. I wanted to stop for photos at the top of Independence Pass however the freezing temperatures made me think better of it and just keep riding. I am home now and need to spend some time cleaning and organizing things.

Looking back (for others wanting to plan, and my own future reference)
I loved this trip overall, being able to get away for a while and just ride was amazing, and very much needed. I think this type of travel where I move every day is fun, I enjoy stopping to look at things but I get bored spending days in one spot. As far as the route goes, the only thing I would do differently is how I got to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Arizona Highway 160 is the most boring road I have ever done. I actually ended up liking the south rim more, the north rim was certainly less developed, however, less development means less capacity. So, even though there are less people that go to the north rim, it still felt crowded. However, if you like to hike it's probably still the best. For the south rim, If you use the east entrance and camp in the national forest, it is actually fairly isolated, and being that you are a 45-minute drive from the main campgrounds and area of the park, if you wake up early you can have it all to yourself for quite a bit. I have already had three trips to the desert this year so I may be done for a while, but when I do go back I would love to see Bryce Canyon. I really feel I missed out by not spending a day or so there.

Things I would leave home

• DSLR (big bulky, too worried about theft or damage)
• Pot/pan (with what I ate I never needed it, my knock-off jet boil was enough)
• Swimsuit (the one time I went swimming I just went in my underwear, I didn't have anywhere to change anyways)
• Hiking boots (my riding boots were good enough for walking quite a ways. It wasn't until zion where I had a planned hike that I needed them)
• Tent (slept in a bivy the whole time)
• Woobie/blanket (even at 30* it wasn't cold enough to need it)

Things I am glad I brought

• Chair (thought I would sit on a side case but it is so much better to have a dedicated seat)
• Base layers (I thought it would be too warm but one 30* night and a cold ride over Independence Pass made me glad I brought them)
• Two camelbacks (I thought it was overkill but I almost ran out of water one night)
• Two gas canisters (One full one, or a large one would probably do the trick but on my last night, I ran out of fuel. Both of mine had an unknown amount of fuel)

Things I forgot

• BOOK (Made for some boring nights)
• Sunscreen (could've picked some up but I never got burned, but felt the back of my neck getting cooked)
• Hand sanitizer

Cost
I chose to do this on my motorcycle mostly for cost reasons. I left on the 26th and came back on the 3rd, so a total of 8 full days of camping, and one partial to get home. I did not have to pay park entrance fees (Military) and I camped all but one time on BLM land, and the one campground I did go to could've easily been avoided, I just wanted to say hi to a friend. Breakfasts were mostly yogurt and granola, lunches were store-bought sandwiches, or a protein bar, or I just skipped it if I felt like it. Dinner was typically canned chili (high in protein) or an MRE. The one time I did eat out was on the last day my friend and I ordered a pizza and split the cost. I also stopped to do laundry one time which was $13.

Total Cost (Food, campsite, fuel, etc...) = $275.45
Total Mileage = 2200 (roughly)