much better views than last time

We were up at 7 a.m. Monday morning, but lollygagged around a bit because it was dark and chilly to start.  After gassing up the truck and picking up coffee and more water, we drove to Dead Horse Point State Park.  When we were here earlier in the month, it was entirely socked in with clouds (and rain); this time you could see the red cliffs and white rim and river canyons below.  It was partly cloudy, cool and pleasant and seemed like a good morning for a MTB ride.  Cars started coming in as we ate our parking lot breakfast and got ready to ride - one guy got out on the trails ahead of us.

 The Kokopelli Lodge, nee the Atomic Motel

We did the Big Chief loop on the park's Intrepid trail system (older trails, east side of the park road) and didn't see anybody.  The trails were in pretty good shape - very few puddles and only one muddy spot - but you could see where some people had gone off trail in the wet, leaving tire marks in sensitive areas.  It made us sad that people can't respect the trails - we try so hard to leave no trace ourselves.

I need a less dorky helmet

We crossed the park road and did some of the newer trails: Crossroads to Whiptail to Twisted Tree.  I felt like I was riding these trails as well or better than I ever have, probably because the recent wet weather packed down the sand.  (I still hike-a-biked most of Twisted Tree, however.)  We saw six people on these trails but not until we were heading back out, so we were able to concentrate more on our riding and less on avoiding other riders.  Back at the parking lot, we had beers and snacks and watched the local ravens doing barrel rolls, cackling with glee.  It was also pretty good people-watching: I was surprised at the number of people, although far fewer than in peak season. 

Parking lot snacks

We headed back to the motel to clean up and, with our tummies growling, decided on an early dinner/late lunch at the Moab Brewery.  We've decided that we prefer going there on Mondays as opposed to Fridays, as we used to do, because lots more locals are around then, meaning interesting bar conversations.  We found a couple of the guys we'd talked with last time and were treated to photos of some beautiful handmade tables and benches that one of them has been making, using local stone and tamarisk wood.

Ride stats:  16.57 miles; 2:02 hours; 8.15 m.p.h. average speed; 16.6 m.p.h. max speed