return to moab

The Three Gossips and the Sheep

When H's parents arrived Wednesday afternoon, they were pretty tired from a long day of travelling but they rallied and went out with us to the Porcupine to celebrate our third move-iversary - three years in Utah already!  We didn't stay out late partying, though, because the next morning we were getting up and going back to Moab.

Double Arch - so cool

We had rented a condo this time so B could go with us, staying at the Cedar Breaks condos on 20 South 400 East, just four blocks off Main Street.  The condo was fine, suiting our purposes, but the walls were very, very thin - if we'd had loud neighbors, it would have been bad.  We had a late lunch at the Moab Brewery and then tried to do a long scenic loop through the La Sal mountains, finally turning around after our dirt road dead-ended.

View of L and P from Double Arch

Arches National Park was our first stop Friday.  We took our time, stopping at every single scenic turn-out and overlook and walking out to lots of arches.  For some reason, H and I hadn't gone out to the Windows area on prior trips: the parking was tight on that side so we walked out to Double Arch instead, which is just spectacular.  There were lots of tourists, both European and American, and lots of bus tours and by the time we got out to the near overlook for Delicate Arch, the place was swarming with people.  But the great thing about having our national parks pass is that when Arches gets too busy, you can leave and come back first thing in the morning the next day!

L and P at Delicate Arch overlook

We had packed sandwiches and beer for lunch, and found a shady picnic table down along Potash Road by the Colorado River, not far from the petroglyphs.  We followed Potash to the end, discovering where the Shafer Trail starts up but deciding that we didn't really need to take the rental car up it.  After a break back at the condo, we had dinner at Zax on Main Street, sitting in the busy bar and enjoying the Full Suspension on tap.  The evening brought card games and cocktails back at the condo, with a return to Arches to look forward to for the morning.

Potash Road petroglyphs

pardon the interruption

But our houseguests - H's folks - just left and we're sorting through the 100+ Moab area photos from our long weekend down there.  Yes, we were just there but we really love that part of the state so much that H's parents wanted to see what it was all about.  And if you give me a day or so, I'll share with you what it was all about too.  Thanks for your patience!

two canyon day

H had a full day planned for us on Sunday.  First he got on his road bike and rode from our house to the top of Emigration Canyon and then back down again, so B and I could meet him at Ruth's Diner for breakfast.  B waited in the car, of course, but she was pretty happy to get a car ride.  We opted for a table inside as H was a little chilled; the patio was full of breakfasters, despite it being in the shade.  I had the French toast (I think they add vanilla to the egg batter, which is a nice touch) and H had the Ruth's Big Breakfast (hash browns, cheddar cheese, two eggs, bacon and sausage) because he'd earned it after 33 miles.

Still some green leaves holding on

It was still early enough when we got back to the house that we decided a hike was in order.  We got our gear together and were back out the door, leaving poor B to pout at being left behind, and on the White Pine   Lake trail by 12:15 p.m.  We passed just a few people on the lower part of the trail, before the turnoff to Red Pine Lake, and after that only saw hikers coming back down.  Although generally past peak, the foliage was still pretty colorful, especially the aspens contrasted against the dark evergreens.

Spectacular aspens

There were a few people up on the shores of the lake, fishing, camping, enjoying a snack.  The lake itself is very low, although whether it's because of the dearth of snow this year or just because it's the end of summer  we don't know; it wasn't the spectacular turquoise color we'd seen the first time we hiked up there two years ago.  It's still awful pretty.

White Pine Lake

The breeze was brisk up there at 10,000 feet so we didn't linger too long, wanting to avoid getting chilled.  We descended quickly: the trail is steady but never really steep, and the grade means you can move right along even with the rocky footing.  We heard a pika; H saw two deer moving away from the trail as he went by; and right before we got back to the trailhead, we heard a ruckus in the trees - a sort of grunting moan - which turned out to be at least two young moose.  We didn't get a picture because the underbrush was so thick, but now we know what foraging moose sound like.  Hike stats: 8.2 miles (per signage) or 9.8 miles (per book) or 10.5 miles (per our GPS) round trip; approx. 4 hrs. 20 min.

Nice day for a hike

When we got back to the car, we decided to head up to Alta to pick up our 2012-2013 season passes.  The guy in the sales office was super-friendly and - surprise! - originally from Maine, moved out here four years ago.  We got our passes and then got the cooler from the car, toasting the upcoming ski season sitting on a picnic table outside the lodge.

By Sunday night, after the dishes from dinner were done, we looked at each other, wondering where the weekend had gone.  Keeping busy, keeping active, getting outside - it goes so fast!

back in the valley

It wasn't Moab but we got back on our MTBs Saturday and did our favorite mile loop on the Round Valley trails in Park City.  The weather was great - warm enough but cool in the breeze or when the sun went behind a cloud - a far cry from some of the blistering days we slogged through this summer.  I don't know whether it was the cooler temperatures or whether I had some confidence leftover from Moab or whether I was happy to be on trails that I was familiar with, but I rode really well (and didn't crash at all!): faster and stronger and better than I have been riding.  I even think I'm up to riding eight of the sixteen Rambler switchbacks (but not eight in a row).

Cruising through the sagebrush

After our ride we had quick beers, then drove home over Guardsman Pass.  I much prefer going over the pass - through Deer Valley, over the ridge and down Big Cottonwood Canyon - to driving on I-80, which scares the bejeezus out of me.  It takes about the same amount of time, maybe five minutes longer over the pass, but is well worth it for the fact that I don't have twelve heart attacks from all the crazy highway drivers. Bit of news: they have paved Guardsman now, where it used to be dirt from the Midway road up to the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon.  The asphalt is extremely rough and H says there's no way he'd want to ride a road bike on it, but it is paved.  I'm sure it's for erosion and dust control but it still makes me kind of sad.  I like dirt roads.

Ride stats:  Distance: 18.61 mi.; time: 1 hr. 54 min.; H's max. speed: 29.5 m.p.h.; total climbing: 1,447 ft.

bikes in the desert, pt. 4

Sunday, our last day in Moab.  For breakfast, we walked a few blocks north on Main Street to the Eklecticafe (353 N. Main), an incredibly funky little breakfast and lunch spot in an old ranch house.  There are only about three tables inside, but there's seating on the lovely wide porch and plenty of tables in a shaded patio to the side.  It's a mellow place: you stake out a table then go inside to order, where they give you a plastic vegetable to put on your table so they know who gets what when they bring out your food.  There are several jars of serve yourself water and coffee urns for the refills.  Despite all the tofu on the menu (they seem big on tofu, brown rice, seaweed and soy butter, but have the real stuff too), I went with the biscuits and gravy and H ordered the huevos rancheros.  The food was good - homemade country gravy for sure - but the portions were way too big.  Neither of us could finish our plates; H, who is a good eater, scarcely put away half of his.  We felt guilty for wasting so much food - next time we'll split something.

We biked around that on the slickrock

After we went back and packed up our room, we had time for a short MTB ride, driving north out of town for sixteen miles, then turning in at the Mill Canyon Road.  We parked in the enormous dirt parking lot and jumped on our bikes, heading down the Lower Monitor & Merrimac Trail.  The Monitor and the Merrimac are the names of two enormous rock formations that look rather like the Civil War ironclad warships; we weren't heading out that far, but the trail we took had great views of them.

Heading towards the slickrock

This short (6.62 mi. per our GPS; 7.5 mi. per the trail description) lollipop (an out-and-back with a loop at the end) trail got mixed reviews from us.  The out-and-back portion was a pain in the neck because it was riddled with deep pockets of sand that forced us to get off and push.  But once we got out on the slickrock, it was just wonderful.  This is great slickrock for beginners:  wide and rolling, with no cliffs or technical sections.  It was really fun because even though the trail was marked with blazes, you could ride around and pick your own line across the rock.  The trail encircled a huge chunk of rock looming out of the slickrock, then looped around by a seasonal creek bed - at the bottom of which we saw big animal tracks, bear or mountain lion perhaps as they seemed far too big for coyotes.

Trail-side self-portrait

We finished up our ride, finished up a couple of PBRs and piled back into the truck to head for home.  We had one more stop to make, though: lunch at Ray's Tavern in Green River.  Now, there's not much going on in little Green River except for melon stands (Green River melons are fabulous) and Ray's Tavern (25 Broadway), and both were hopping on that early Sunday afternoon.  Ray's serves really good burgers and great hand-cut fries (and beer).  Yes, there are some other things on the menu - I think I heard someone order a grilled chicken sandwich - but you stop at Ray's for the burgers.  There were all kinds of folks stopping there: locals, old folks driving through, bikers, folks out on the patio with their dog.  I had a cheeseburger with fries, H had a bacon-cheeseburger with fries (there is coleslaw for people who don't want fries but the fries are fantastic).  They didn't ask how we wanted them cooked and they were delicious, charred on the outside and still juicy.  I would totally stop there again.

Eat at Ray's!

And that was our long weekend.  After demolishing our burgers, we headed north, retrieved B from the kennel, still damp from her bath, and went home to do about eight loads of laundry ... and figure out when we'd get to go back to Moab.

bikes in the desert, pt. 3

H was up and at 'em early Saturday morning, getting on his road bike before the sun came up to ride to the start of the Moab Century Tour for its 7 a.m. start.  (More on the ride later.)  I slept in a little longer, then took my time putting my hiking stuff together, eating 1.5 blueberry muffins and deciding where I was going to hike: Negro Bill Canyon to Morning Glory Natural Bridge, and then maybe back up to Corona Arch if I had time before I was supposed to meet H.  He had promised to take his time this year, stop at the rest areas and eat enough on his ride; we figured a 1 p.m. meet-up would give him six hours to do 100 miles.

The creek at the bottom of Negro Bill Canyon

The trailhead to Negro Bill Canyon is about three miles east on 128 (a Utah Scenic Byway).  It's a four-mile out and back along a lovely stream.  The walking is pretty easy - a slight climb all the way up the canyon, with just a couple of short, steep scrambles - but you have to cross (and recross) the stream nine times, and the path is mostly soft red sand.  This is probably a great hike in the summer since it stays shady until the sun is well overhead, plus walking along the stream keeps things cooler.  It's certainly a popular hike.  The trail ends at the Morning Glory Natural Bridge, a massive 243-foot long rock alcove arch, the sixth longest natural rock span in the U.S.  It's 75 feet up in the air but only separated from the wall behind it by about fifteen feet, so it's kind of hard to photograph.  When I got up there, there were a bunch of folks on top of the arch and rapelling down the adjacent wall; apparently there is a back way to hike in if you want to do that - there's no way up there from down below.

Morning Glory Natural Bridge

After watching the rapellers for a bit, I walked out (approx. 2 hr. RT), enjoying the gorgeous canyon views.  It was just after 11 a.m. when I got back to the truck so I thought I'd drive down Potash Road and hike in at least a little ways to Corona Arch.  I'd forgotten that the trailhead is ten miles down the road, though, so it didn't leave me a ton of time once I started up the trail.  I got in far enough to see that spectacular arch - and watch a crazy local attached to a bungee cord throw himself off the top of it - before turning around.  I was just about to get to my meet-up with H fifteen minutes early when I got a phone call from him: "I'm at the motel. Can you come let me into the room?"

Heading out Negro Bill Canyon

H had done the century in just 5 hr. 14 min. (avg. speed: 18.6 m.p.h.) and was the first century rider to finish!  He'd had a good time of it, riding with several other riders on a couple of occasions, but tending to drop them all on the uphills.  The roads were dry, the skies clear enough for views at Dead Horse Point.  I was really proud of him.  We got cleaned up at the room and then returned to the Aarchway Inn finish line so H could get his Mexican buffet lunch (I picked off his plate, much to his annoyance) and one free Moab Brewery beer (we brought back-up PBRs with us).  It was quite pleasant, sitting under the tent talking to other cyclists and watching scores more come in.  No one knew that H finished first - because it was a charity ride, not a race - but I did.

We hung around our room for a couple hours that afternoon, reading and napping, and then strolled over to Woody's Tavern.  Neither of us was particularly hungry because of the late lunch, so we just had a few drinks instead: $3.75 draft microbrews and $4 tart and tasty margaritas.  When we returned to the motel, Main Street was busy with people in the shops and restaurants, but we'd had enough for the day.  One more MTB ride tomorrow before we have to head home!

bikes in the desert, pt. 2

Friday morning was rather chilly to start, so we walked over to the Moab Diner for breakfast while the sun started to warm up the desert air.  The Moab Diner is okay but nothing special - I had a mediocre granola, yogurt and fruit (being just down the road from Green River means the melon should be local!) while H had eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast - what sets it apart from all other diners is that it's closed on Sundays, which seems like an odd choice for a breakfast joint.  After thus fortifying ourselves, we went back to the motel, got our gear ready for the day's MTB adventure and headed north seventeen miles on 191 to the Klondike Bluffs trails.

Klondike Bluffs area

There were a few vehicles in the trailhead parking lot when we set out but we saw very few people all day.  The first trail we did was the Klondike Bluff Trail, an 8.2 mile out-and-back, combination 4x4 road and wide-open slickrock, climbing subtly but steadily out to the Arches National Park boundary.  Some of the 4x4 road was sandy and I quickly added sand to my list of MTB nemeses: even when coasting through, holding the handlebars steady, my rear wheel would slide out behind me.  I walked the sandy bits.  The slickrock portions were fun, especially since the rock was so expansive that I didn't have to worry about falling off any cliffs.  The MTB trail ends at the national park boundary but there's a footpath through the fence, so we left our bikes and hoofed it in another half mile or so, to a view point out over the park.  The skies were a little hazier than we would have liked, the result of the smoke from the Idaho wildfires that was drifting to cover all of Utah, but the views were still pretty spectacular.

A climbing the slickrock

We debated trying a different trail for the return (part of the Baby Steps loop) but ultimately decided to retrace our steps until we got to a trail junction where the Dino-Flow Trail joined the jeep road.  Not yet ready to quit, we headed out on that trail, a lower-intermediate skill level 4.6 miler of single-track and a little slickrock.  Dino-Flow was more challenging for me - I find single-track tough because my bike-handling is so all over the place; double-track gives me more margin for error - but H loved it as the trail wound up and down over small rollers, skirting the foothills.  I finally crashed, just as I was catching up to where H was waiting for me: he was up a little rise and said, "Don't stop pedaling!" and I of course stopped pedaling right before the top and fell over, banging my elbow and skinning my knee a little.  That took the wind out of my sails a little but we were near a short connector that brought us out to the Copper Ridge jeep road (lots of sandy bits) that we were able to follow back to the truck and our cooler of PBR.  Ride stats:  16.35 mi., 2 hr. 57 min. riding; 1,313 feet of climbing.

That's a purty MTB trail

We headed back to town, hit the grocery store for muffins so H would have something to eat before his century ride on Saturday, got cleaned up and then walked down to the Moab Brewery.  This time it was a gyro wrap for me (lamb and steak, with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and feta) and the chicken cordon bleu dinner special for H.  And beers, of course: Scorpion Pale Ale and Dead Horse Amber.  We moseyed back to the motel for an early evening since we'd have an early morning: 100 miles on a road bike for H and a little hiking for me.

Cowgirl on a cattleguard

bikes in the desert, pt. 1

Figuring B had had more than enough fun camping last weekend, we dropped her off at the kennel last Thursday morning and hightailed it down to Moab for a long weekend of MTBing, road cycling, hiking and general desert revelry.  We love Moab.  Yes, it's a tourist town - it seemed like every other person was speaking French, and every third person was speaking German - but it's still got a mellow, outdoorsy vibe.  And the scenery!  Well, Moab could scarcely be more different than what I grew up with in New England, and the novelty of the red rock has not yet worn off for me.  The main purpose of the weekend was for H to do the Moab Century Tour like he did last year; this year we decided to take an extra day to get some more MTBing in.

Happy to be back in Moab

Like last year, we stayed at the tiny, adorable (but not for everyone) Kokopelli Lodge.  Check-in wasn't until 3 p.m. so we popped into the Moab Brewery for lunch and a couple of beers, then drove out to the Moab Brand trails to get our wheels dirty.  We did a combination of the Rockin A and Bar M trails (9.13 mi., 1 hr. 13 min., 536 ft. climbing) before I pooped out from a combination of it being hot (about 90+ F in the afternoon sun) and the Rockin A's terrain being more than I was comfortable with.  The Bar M trail I like: wide, rolling up and down, combination of easy slickrock and gravel jeep trail.

Why, of course I rode my MTB up there

After our ride we checked in, cleaned up and walked about two blocks to the funky Miguel's Baja Grill for dinner.  Although the service was a little rushed, and the salsa boring, our meals were good: I had two roasted lamb tacos, served with a lovely spicy red sauce, pico de gallo, rice and beans; H had the "Mother Of All Burritos" with roasted pork, black beans, rice and both chile verde and the red sauce.  We also had margaritas (along with a spirited discussion of whether the bright blue wall color would be suitable in our own home).  Then, en route to Eddie McStiff's for another couple of drinks, we stopped into one of the storefronts along Main Street and bought cowboy hats - yeehaw!  (Pictures coming later. )

b goes camping, pt. 3

Our second night was about as chilly (46 F inside the tent upon waking, 35 F outside) but not quite so restful: at 1:30 a.m., both H and I woke up to something snuffling and pawing at the ground, seemingly right outside our tent.  H assumed it was a moose or a range cow; I immediately guessed bear ... and then H couldn't stop thinking "bear" either.  So he shouted for a bit until we couldn't hear anything anymore, and then he poked his head outside with a flashlight.  He didn't see anything and we didn't hear it again, although it did take some time to get back to sleep since we were focused on all the night noises.  In  the morning, we looked around for any tracks but didn't see any.  It'll remain a mystery, I guess.

Taking a mid-morning break

Our Sunday morning routine was much the same as Saturday morning's: huddle around the campfire, clutching hot beverages, and then snarfing down breakfast (French toast) before it got cold.  Note to selves for next time: keep the butter container lid out of the dog's reach.  The only plan for the day was to pack up and go home (and commence the many, many loads of laundry to divest all the fleece of campfire smoke smell), so we took our time, cracking our first beers at 10:30 a.m.  It was 59 F by late morning, and felt warmer in the sun, as we leisurely took down the tent and loaded the truck, saying farewell once again to Cobblerest around noon.

H's girls

We were taking bets on how quickly B would fall asleep once we got in the truck.  Sure enough, she crashed as soon as we got going, resting her head on H's knee, just as she had done for our road trip across the country when we moved out here.  I think she had a good weekend.  Exhausting, what with all the fishing and digging and stick-chewing and general vigilance, but she seemed like she was having fun (as were we).  And she finally got to go do stuff instead of getting stuck at home.

b goes camping, pt. 2

Brrrr!  Coffee!!

It gets chilly overnight at 8,280 feet!  When we woke up at 7 a.m. Saturday, it was 42 F inside the tent and 36 F outdoors; it didn't get much warmer until the sun peeked over the surrounding mountains two hours later.  H had started the campfire, put the water on to boil for coffee and hot chocolate, woken B up and fed her all before I managed to convince myself to get out of my nice, warm sleeping bag.  We'd bought an air mattress to fit inside the tent and boy, did that make a difference - sleeping on the ground would have been awful.  We lingered over our hot beverages by the campfire, then gobbled down scrambled eggs and bagels toasted over the fire (imparting a nice, smoky taste), and by 11 a.m. it was warm enough to shed our layers of fleece.  It was time to go fishing!

The breakfast (and dinner) chef

We drove up the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway, checking out the roadside lakes and stopping at Mirror Lake itself (elev. 10, 200 ft.).  The place was hoppin' with lots of overnight campers and plenty of day picnickers, kayakers and fisherman - we wondered how busy it must be in the height of summer if it was so busy this late in the season.  There's a nice walking path all around the lake so we three walked it, dodging other dogs and noting potential fishing spots.  Back at the truck we loaded up with H's fishing gear, the camera and a couple of PBRs, then went back to the far end of the lake where the wind seemed calmer and there weren't as many people.

Fishin' buddies

Back in Maine, we learned that B hates the water.  Hates it.  Hates getting her feet wet on walks, hates wading, absolutely despises swimming.  We also learned that she loves fishing: at my folks' camp in western Maine, she would stand on the dock with H for hours, trembling with excitement as he cast and reeled in little bluegills and bass.  It had been several years since she'd been fishing and we wondered if she'd remember how much she used to like it.

Nice-looking rainbow

She remembered.  She was absolutely beside herself as H cast into Mirror Lake.  Fish were rising all over the place and she stared at the water, twitching with every splash.  When he reeled in his first rainbow, she waded in without hesitation, trying to grab the fish with her mouth.  The next one he brought in, she actually pounced on it, jumping off a rock into the water and knocking the fish off the hook.  She focused in on the fishing for nearly two hours - unheard of concentration for this dog - while H caught and released six beautiful trout (the ant and bubble rig was the way to go).  By the end, B was so excited that when H cast out a hookless bobber, she swam out and retrieved it, not once, not twice, but four separate times.  We were in hysterics.

Such focus

After all the fishing excitement, we went back to the campsite for afternoon reading and beers.  It was super-pleasant in the sun but as before, the temperatures dropped quickly when the sun went behind the mountains: 59 F at 7 p.m., 52 F at 7:30 p.m.  Our dinner of bratwursts and potato salad was more low-brow than the night before but required less dish-washing, and we settled around the campfire and watched the brilliant stars pop out, the first one appearing in the sky at 7:50 p.m.  Bedtime was about the same as Friday night ... only this time I wore two pairs of socks to ensure warm toes.

Mirror Lake and surrounds