the sky with no clouds

 The next MTB we did was up at Dead Horse Point State Park, which was not too busy (seeing how it wasn't a weekend).  It was mostly sunny and windy, but not as windy as it would be later in the day), with very pleasant temperatures.  We did our usual loop and saw fewer than fifteen people.  I didn't do the Twisted Tree loop due to some cumulative fatigue, so H did it alone and then caught back up to me just before the last long climb on Raven Roll.  It was really nice to be able to ride my MTB as opposed to just pushing it through deep sand; I even managed to ride one corner that has given me trouble for years.  In the afternoon, the winds really picked up, blowing so much dust into the area that the La Sal mountains were completely obscured from view.

Left fork

It was much less windy the next day, clear and sunny but cooler than it had been.  After H's road ride, we set off for a Grandstaff Canyon (left fork) hike, arriving at the parking lot around 9:30.  There were several other cars in the lot already but it wasn't packed; it would be overflowing by the time we got back from our hike.

Cacti (not prickly pears)

Grandstaff really is such a beautiful canyon.  (They could use a few more directional signs around the creek crossings, however.)  We turned onto the social trail into the left fork and the canyon just opened up in front of us.  There were lots of flowers but still a little too early in the season for prickly pears.

Discussing creek things

  We went about halfway up (the upper half would have brought us out on Fins 'N Things) and then retraced our steps.  Milton enjoyed wading in the creek and chasing critters - there were lots of lizards.  Back on the main trail there were many more people coming in as we went out, although certainly not to weekend levels.  Lots of dogs too, and mostly well-behaved, although Milt did get hassled by a grumpy Boston terrier.

Oh lawd he comin'

After easing ourselves out of our parking space, we drove down the river just a little bit to a new picnic area on Route 128, overlooking the Colorado River.  This used to be an unimproved dirt lot but now has picnic tables and a couple of sun-shelters.  It's a great spot and had been much needed as pretty much everything else along the river is a campground and not accessible for day use.

Heading back out

Ride stats: 16.85 miles; 1:57 hours; 8.6 m.p.h. average speed; 19.6 m.p.h. H's max speed

Hike stats:  6.24 miles; 2:27 hours/2.5 m.p.h. moving; 2:44/2.3 m.p.h. overall; 840' elevation

Additional ride stats: H did a 22.19 mile road ride before our DHPSP MTB ride and a 24.06 mile road ride before our hike