Arches: Mag7

    Sarah and I decided to get a little later start today as we thought we would need to take a shuttle to the top of the bike ride.  After stopping in a local shop called Poison Spider and getting a map of the area we headed up to the trail head with a plan to just ride back up to the top instead of taking the shuttle.  Our plan was to do a ride called Mag7 or The Magnificent 7.  Mag7 consists of 7 rides called Bull Run, Arth’s Corner, Great Escape, Little Canyon, Gold Bar Rim, Gold Bar Rim 4x4 and Poison Spider Mesa 4x4.  Most of the trails are downhill, super technical, single track trails.  Sarah decided to take it easy today as she hadn’t been feeling well since last night.  That means I had a ride once I got to the bottom, or so I thought.  After riding the brutal Bull Run, Arth’s Corner and Little Canyon I was about 8.5 miles into the ride and torn apart.  I would compare these rides to trying to hold onto a roller coaster without being strapped in.  After I got to the bottom I realized that Sarah wouldn’t be able to make it all the way down without 4 wheel drive so I biked back up the hill and finally found Sarah relaxing on the side of the road.  


We were both desperately looking for some relief from the sun, so we found a local waterfall/ natural pool to go cool off in.  It was a great spot for jumping from the rocks into the pool below.  After 20 minutes of waiting in the pool below for Sarah, I actually got her to jump in.  That night we packed up our head lamps and headed out to watch the sunset from a trail that was close to our site. On our way we got to see the Landscape Arch, which is one of the more peculiar arches that we saw since it was so wide and skinny. We knew we were close to missing the best part of the sunset so I made Sarah run so we didn't miss it. When we go to a clearing at the the top of the rocks the winds were brutal. Sarah had sand in her eyes and was being blown back and forth. I made the mistake of setting down my nalgene, which got blown off the cliff.  It was all worth it though when we got to take in the most beautiful sunsets of the whole trip.  The hike back was fun since it was pretty dark and we were the only ones out on the rocky trail. Luckily, the only run-in we had was with a ranger who was checking for any lost hikers. 

  

 

Moab: Arches

    Today Sarah and I drove through poring rain the whole 4 hours to Moab all while worrying if we were going to get to ride some of the epic bike trails there.  When we arrived in Moab it was still pouring so the only thing to do was get some local beers and burgers.  When we stepped back outside the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.  Since most of our day consisted of the Drive to Moab we decided to check out what Arches National park had to offer.  We were able to see some really cool sites like Balanced Rock, Park Avenue, and the infamous Delicate Arch.  I really wanted a cool photo of Delicate Arch without any tourists in the frame so Sarah gave a few people the stink eye to help me achieve my goal.  It’s hard to describe how amazing the landscape is here. After seeing most of the arches in the park we were off to our campground, Devil’s Garden.  Devil’s Garden is located at the very end of the park.  There is only one way in and out of the park so it takes a while to get there but the views along the way are not to bad at all.  Our campsite was in the perfect spot and after we set up we watched the sunset over the amazing rock formations then hit the sack so we could get up early to ride SLICK ROCK BIKE TRAIL!

Park Avenue

Scotty jumping in Delicate Arch

Sarah jumping in Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch

A little climbing and sight seeing

Squeezing Delicate Arch

Hiking on some slickrock

Hiking on some slickrock

Delicate Arch from Behind

Sarah being a tourist

Delicate Arch

Balance Rock

Pushing over Balance Rock

Sunset at Devils Garden Campground

Sunset at Devils Garden Campground

Escalante

    After a morning hiking in Bryce, we were headed to Escalante National Park. We had reserved our campsite at Escalante State Park Reservoir. Scotty wanted to go swimming but I did not allow it since they informed us they had some gross parasites in the water that gave you “swimmer’s itch”. No thanks! We then decided to hike to the Escalante “Natural Bridge”. We realized that average hikes are now going to seem boring after doing Angel’s Landing and The Narrows. We didn’t realize that the trial led you back and forth over a river where we had to keep taking our shoes off to wade across. That got old quick, so Scotty took one for the team and just gave me a piggy back ride across. Eventually we got to the bridge, which was pretty cool.

            That night I was stoked because we could actually have a campfire.  We bought way more firewood than we needed and had dinner, a bonfire, and s’mores. As we were going to bed we both realized that the fly was on backwards, so we actually could see directly up to the sky, which was kind of neat at the time…. until 2 am when we woke up to rain smacking us in the face. After we turned our sleeping bags around, we fell back asleep and had a soggy cleanup the next morning. It wasn’t the best case scenario, but all the people who we ran into that day were happy to have their first day of rain in 3 months. 

Bryce Canyon

    We were sad to leave Zion and see the last of it’s epic beauty, but we were on to our next destination: Bryce Canyon. On the way to Bryce we had no choice but to stop at the sign that read Shaved Iced. Little did we know that it was a family run farm operation to attract tourists to partake in every activity you could think of, including fishing and riding their homemade zip line. Sarah was quick to say no thank you and run back into the car. On our drive we noticed all of the effects of the Utah wildfires. We were both really excited to get to the Bryce Canyon Resort, but upon arrival we realized that in Southern Utah language “resort” loosely translates to “shithole”.  Even though it wasn’t what we had imagined, the air conditioning, bed, and warm shower was exactly what we needed. We went to dinner at the Bryce Canyon Lodge inside the park and had a delicious meal that was served to us and we didn’t even have to clean up the dishes afterwards.

            That night we grabbed or headlamps and went for a night hike to check out the sunset over Inspiration Point. The views were amazing. Since there was a wildfire in the distance, the smoke created an even more colorful sunset. Quickly after the sunset a full moon appeared over the canyon. It was fun being the last people up on the dark trail but also got a little scary for Sarah as I was taking pictures “too close to the edge”.

            The following morning we went for a hike through the lower portion of the canyon. The views from the bottom up were even better. It’s like being trapped in a giant sandcastle. You shouldn’t leave Bryce without seeing both perspectives. Overall Bryce was beautiful, but still hasn’t topped Zion.