Hanksville, Utah

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I finally got my thanksgiving meal today at the 'Blondie's restaurant in Hanksville. When I got into town yesterday just after dark everything, including all three gas station/convenience stores were closed. It was raining and I was very cold, so I sought shelter in the 24-hour Post Office PO box Lobby. I ended up laying out my sleeping bag and spending the night there. It was heated, and didn't open until 8ish the next morning. I got up packed my sleeping bag long before they opened, so they were none the wiser. All in all I think of it as a great success; I now have one more place in my arsenal of options for where tospend the night besides my tent.

One story I've been meaning to put up for a while is my stay with the Wheelers just outside Moab. Barb Wheeler was a friend of my Mom back in highschool. i didn't know until just about a week before arriving that they are bike tourers. They arre currently planning what sounds like an amazing six-month bike tour in France. they have toured southeast asia, other parts of europe, and all over the place here in the U.S..
I was served a great stir fry and salad upon my arrrival, and I greatly appreciated the fresh greens(something I never get on the road). that was toped off with a dozen or so great fresh-made oatmeal cookies.
We stayed up for a while talking about my trip and their trips, and bicle touring in general. I slept great that night. I awoke to fresh coffee and a bounty of delicious waffles, topped with butter, apples, blueberries, and syrup. They were the sivze of dinnerplates, and I hade at least seven. During and after breakfast we talked about my upcoming route, and I got lots of great advice on places to go and how to get htere. Eventually i got my junk together and got back on the road, loaded with a bag of apples, cookies, a couple quick dinners, and other goodies.

My most recent new-peopl e-meeting experience was yeasterday. I was freezing; feet were at that blissful stage near complete numbness, and my hands were almost hter, resideing in the less comfortable constant burning stage. I pulled into a rest stop and took refuge in the outhous bathroom. that didn't work; it was unheated and unpleasant. I sat under a picnic shelter and ate peanut butter and jelly with a spoon because I was out of bread. I was still freezing, and it was still raining. There was aan RV parked at the stop, and I made up my mind to ask if I could come in for just a minute to warm up. Just as I started to approach the RV a women came out and asked if I wanted to come in warm up. "Don't laugh," she said,"but we're having pie."
Over two and a half hours I got back on the road, full (well, not full) of pie, oranges, cheese, carrots, tea, and a sandwich, and plenty warm. I am so bad with names, I have already forgotten the women's name. I gave them the blog address, so if they read this, she can remind me. The man's name was Cal. They were fantastically generous, and also really interesting. We talked solidly about all sorts of things for the near three hours I hung out in their RV, which cal was in the process of converting to ethanol compatable. They eventually invited me to stay and have thanksgiving dinner with them. I thought about it, but then decided to press on. I had that occasional reoccuring mileage fever; I felt like I was ready to devour some mileage, and I was ready to spend a coupl ehopurs biking in the rain. Beside that, I envisiond Alavish and large dinner at a restaurant in Hanksville. I would get a meal, then a malt, and a piece of pie, maybe two. Of course, I ended up spooning more peanut butter and jell and sleeping in a post office.
I feel I've made up for it though, as I had a great huge breakfast along with a whole carton of eggnog I bought at the grocery store. I think I'm goin gto go back to "Blondie's" and get a malt and some more food later. My appetite is currently larger than my stomach, so it's gonna take two meals to satisfy the build up to my thanksgiving feast(courtesy, by the way, of my Aunt Julie, who sent me money for a thanksgiving meal).

Goodness gracious this is a lot of typing! Look at me go! Whooo! Okay, I scrolled up and it actually isn't that much.

Two nights ago I stayed under an awning of a closed ranger station in the town of "Hite". I put Hite in quotations because it's really the new Hite. The original town of Hite is under water. When they built Glenn Canyon Damn, and created lake powell, they did so knowing that Hite would be flooded. Edward Abbey got to me as a kid, so I'm naturally inclined to hate Glenn Canyon Damn and mourne the loss of Glenn Canyon. Lake Powell, however, which is what has filled Glenn Canyone, is beautiful. I will not however, that if the bit of the canyon that is still above water is any indication of the beauty and grandeur of the old Glen Canyon, Lake Powell a sorry trade. I reccommed, by the way, 'The Monkey Wrench Gang', a hilarious and fun fiction novel by Edward Abbey. I have actually spent the last several days on a road he fough tagainst tooth and nail. Highway 95, or Utah's "Bicentennial Highway," was a gravel road until about 1973. To say abbey was strongly against paving this road does not do justice. This road is supposedly one of the places that inspired "The Monkey Wrench Gang."

Weeellllll, I think that's all for now. This chair is really uncomfortable, and it's making my neck sore. As always, thanks for reading.

more, but this time, mostly words.

Okay. Once again, I am at a computer in a public Library, making the other patrons endure my what I assume is a less-than-enjoyable odor. I sit here, after procrastinating by posting pictures first, preparing to attack another helpless and unsuspecting keyboard, spewing a stream of semi coherent blather onto the already massacred creation that is our beloved interweb.

I am in Montecello, Utah. Last time I wrote I was in Palisade. The route is as follows.
Nov/13 - Palisade to just east of the Utah border in open range cattle country
Nov/14 - Utah border to Moab and then north to Arches National Park, crashed near Balanced Rock.
Nov/15 - moved to Arches Campground
Nov/16 - stayed in Arches, took a hike
Nov/17 - left Arches and went to the Wheeler residence four miles south of Moab
Nov/18 - Moab to near Newspaper Rock State Park
Nov/19 - Got to Canyonlands, Camped at the campground
Nov/20 - Stayed in Canyonlands, hiked
Nov/22 - Stayed in Canyonlands, hiked
Nov/23 - left Canyonlands camground and pedaled to Manti-LaSal National Forest Campground
Nov/ 24 - left National Forest and descended to Montecello

Tentative route; Montecello to Grand Gulch Primitive Area near Blanding, There onto a gas station near the Glenn Canyon crossing, there to Hanksville, and then on to Capitol Reef National Park. Then.....

i arrived today in Montecello and headed immediately for the Post office. There I was reunited with my wallet. Hewever, they had not yet received the other package I was expecting; a package from my Aunt in Baltimore. The package should be here tomorrow, so I made it a short day and decided to update the blog (as I checked my voicemail today for the first time in a week i recieved a message telling me that the blog was in serious need of attention).

My stay in Canyonlands National Park was incredible. I was surrounded with astounding and breathtaking scenery, and managed to meet a couple great human beings while there as well. Tracy and her husband (I'm awful with names and his has slipped my mind) operate The Needles Outpost, a gas station/grocery/souvinir shop/restaurant located just outside the park boundary. It's the only place to get anything gas or food related besides Montecello, which is the closest town to The Needles District of Canyonlands and is 50 miles from the park. Tracy gave me great deals on a bunch of food items, and rounded everything down at the cash register. 4.99 became 4, 2.99 became 2, etc. This was in addition to making a couple items half off. Sunday was their last day open for the season, and I stopped in on my way out of the Park, hoping to buy a couple of the Outpost's homemade muffins. I left with a loaf of bread, a package of instant stroganoff, a new brown bandanna, and two muffins. The price on the loaf of bread said 4.2- something, Tracy said the muffins were a dollar apiece, and yet my bill was a flat five dollars. Thanks Tracy.

The other folks i met in the park was a family staying in the Campground next to me. I don't know how many people were in the group, but they had two modest trailors pulled by reasonable cars. Not once, but twice, they offered me fresh fruit and ended up giving me a bag of fresh fruit plus other goodies.

I need a break form the computer. I may get a chance to get back on before I leave Monticello, or I may not. Thanks for reading.

more...

From the top; the road into Canyonlands; a picture from a hike in the park(Big Spring Canyon), sunset in the park, and two pictures from the road within Canyonlands National park.

pictures!

I'm trying a new format. Exciting, huh?! I though making them smaller it might make uploading pictures faster. It had zero effect. Any way, from the bottom; Newspaper Rock; then two Newspaper Rock close-ups; entering Canyonlands National Park for what ended up being a four night stay; an ancient granary in the park.

pictures!

All these pictures are from Arches National Park. You can figure out which is which; Balancing Rock; Landscape Arch; two evening shots, and the sandstone fins of Devils Garden.

Pictures!

Starting with the sunset; Sunset on open range near the the Utah Border; biking the Colorado River before Arches; A view through Partition Arch; a Utah border marker turned shooting target(sorry the pictures aren't chronological); and Landscape Arch(it's longer than a football field!).

Back on the road and on to Moab

I feel like I owe everyone who reads this blog an apology. For nearly three weeks now I have been doing a positively horrendous job of keeping you informed on my travels. During the last week and a half, I have even had abundant access to a computer and the interweb, and I still have fallen short of what I feel I owe to anyone who takes time out of their week to check and read over this little patch of the interweb.
Since last Monday I have been, for the most part, stationary. I arrived at my Uncle Jon and Aunt Jenny's house in palisade Monday evening, and proceeded to stay for several days. It's tremendously easy to lose momentum. As soon as I have a warm bed, food, and the internet and TV to distract me, it's real easy to take a week and call it a rest. In addition, in fact perhaps most enticing, is having family around. Anyhoo, whatever the many reasons, I stayed in Palisade, growing plump on GrapeNuts and ice cream, until my Uncle returned his elk hunting camp. Him and several friends haul three canvas tents, a barrel woodstove, several coolers of food, over a hundred gallons of propane, and a ton of other stuff, in a couple trucks, a jeep, and a trailer, out to prime elk migration land. It's about a three hour drive from palisade, and here they spend the strangely divided elk season, five or so days at hunting camp, then a few at home, then back to the camp. My uncle suggested I go up with a friend of his who was going to watch over all the gear and the jeep they had left behind. My uncle would then join us at the camp a couple days later.
The friend's name was Chris, and we drove up to the camp loaded with two more coolers of eggs, milk, meat, etc. Chris was a great guy, and I thought we got along great. I have been dreaming about getting a canvas tent with a woodstove for a couple years now, so it was awesome to spend a few days sleeping and cooking in one.
Chris and I went to the camp on Sunday, and my uncle arrived Tuesday night. I considered staying longer, but I was beginning to get mileage fever. I was ready to get back on the iron horse.
So, at about two this afternoon I drove one of the four-wheel-drive pickups back to palisade. The roads leading back to the highway form the camp were quickly turning to soup under a light drizzle that changed to snow. Back on the highway, and back in two wheel drive, I turned on the radio, and headed back to Palisade.

Which brings us to now. Tonight I will pack my panniers and then tomorrow morning I will sling them on the trusty trucker and hopefully get to Moab and Arches National Park. Enjoy the pictures, feel free to comment, and as always, thanks for reading. -Alex

more pictures.....why not?

from the top; switchbacks on Cottonwood Pass, the descent from Kenosha Pass into the Valley, more switchbacks on Cottonwood(look closely), and evening on the Blue Mesa Resevoir.

....more.....

After spending a great morning with ken and jen and their great family, I set off for Cottonwood Pass. Ken had suggested to me that I go this route instead of my planned route over Monarch Pass. Cottonwood, he said, was higher(greater glory), more beautiful, and would have much less traffic than Monarch.
I'm glad I took his advice. Cottonwood Pass starts out slow, on a mildly inclined road in a valley. The road will be steep for a bit, then level out, get steep, and then level out; back and forth like this. This allows you to recuperate on the flatter sections.
The road from the town of Buena Vista to the summit of the pass is 25 miles. The slow incline starts perhaps 5 miles after Buena Vista. The slow climb stays, aside from a few short very steep sections, stays pretty constant for quite a while. Then the swithbacks start. The switchbacks are not a slow climb.
About four hours after leaving Buena Vista, I arrived, exhausted, at the top of Cottonwood Pass. At an elavation of more than 12,000 feet, the summit is above tree line. the view is literally breathtaking, as there is less oxygen in the air. Crusty snow remained either from last winter or from this fall's first snow. It was cold. It was absolutely incredible.

more words.

Where was I? I left off at Kenosha Pass, right?
The next day I enjoyed a great ride down the pass into a beautiful valley, where I got a massive plat eof biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I biked two more passes that day, Red Hill Pass and Trout Creek Pass, and ended the day in Nathrop when I was flagged down by a stranger. His name was Ken , and he wanted to know where I was from, and where I was going. He explained that he and his wife had doen a ton of touring themselves, and that he just had to know my story. He also offered give me a place to stay the night.
Ken, Jen, and their two little kids, molly and scout, were great. I stayed up late swapping stories with Ken and Jen, hearing about their exploits in Europe and all over the U.S., and getting ideas for the route ahead.

-I'm gonna go take a shower.

...and more

pics from Cottonwood Pass.

more....

pictures, yes, some of me.

From the top; James likes skittles, me in the morning in Greeley, a wavy highway, me in the morning in the tent, me in the same morning outside the tent.

Palisade, Co

I know, it's been a while. I'm sorry to leave all of you in the dark for so long. Let's see, last I wrote I was basking in the hospitality and generosity of James and his roommates. I'll get you up to speed. I stayed in boulder for a full week, and left on monday the 27.

oct 27 Boulder to Golden
oct 28 Golden to Conifer
oct 29 Conifer to the top of Kenosha Pass
oct 30 Kenosha Pass to Nathrop
oct 31 Nathrop to Almont via Cottonwood Pass
nov 1 Almont to just west of Gunnison
nov 2 wherever that was to Crawford
nov 3 Crawford to Palisade

So now you know how I got to where I am. This brings me to the massive task of filling in the spaces between the mere locations. Since I last wrote I have met many great people, and crossed the mountains, so I've got a few stories.

In Golden I made friends. As I was biking along, a car pulled up next to me, and the driver asked about the trip. We chatted, and when the driver found out that i didn't know where I was staying that night, he invited me to stay at his place. His name was Tom, and he had just moved into a house with two other friends, Austin and Travis. They were great hosts(they provided food) and even better company. Tom and Austin played guiter, and they were all a perfect relaxed crowd to spend the evening.

Afer Golden I headed to Conifer, my first day dealing with mountain riding. I kept stopping to check the bike. I thought there must be something wrong; then I realized it was not the bike. I felt slow because I was always on a hill.

I spent the next night at 10,000 ft above sea level, camped at the top of
kenosha pass, and made it to Nathrop the next day.

--- got to go, I'll be back.