Part Two - Moab, UT

Day 1

Our traveling companion to this point, Jon, had to return home so we dropped him at the Grand Junction airport on our way to Moab. His bike (and trailer), however, made the remainder of the trip with us. Here we are in the motel parking lot preparing for our first day at Moab. It was nice and cool at this time in the early morning. That would change later in the day.

The terrain here looks NOTHING like Colorado of course. We started our day by riding to Chicken Corners

The water in the distance is potash drying ponds. We'll pass by those close up when we ride the White Rim Trail later. That's the Colorado River nearer to us.

Onward to Chicken Corners!

Pretty typical Moab surface. Lots of exposed rocks with a little dirt to fill in the cracks

Not many trees here. Not much shade either when the sun gets a little higher in the sky

Out there is Chicken Corners. Although vehicles are prohibited, the last time I was here a couple of years ago there was evidence that someone had ridden a motorcycle around.

This is the view from the other side. Behind the camera is a flat mesa about 100 feet wide ending in an abrupt cliff.

Why do they call it Chicken Corners, you ask? Because you're a "chicken" if you don't walk round the 18" wide ledge. It's about 1,000 feet down to the river here. You would not survive a fall.

Here's the view looking back. That's Galen standing on the rocks.

I call these Wylie Coyote formations. There are MANY such amazing stands of rock that simply seem to defy gravity.

From Chicken Corners we rode north of Moab across the Gemini Bridges area (didn't take any pictures there). Our next destination for the day was the Hey Joe Uranium Mine This photo was made at "the turn". It's memorable because leading up to this point is a high speed gravel road. Then you crest a little knoll and the road abruptly turns right. If you are running a little too hot, it could be a catastrophic trip off the ledge...

... into Hey Joe Canyon. That's the road center left.

The ledge road itself is in pretty good condition most places although there are a few wash outs and rocky sections on the way down.

After a wet spring and summer the Green River has flooded this area repeatedly. The riverside road is heavily covered with sand and washouts. This is actually look back since the road runs on the eastern side of the river.

And then... we encountered the mud. Sticky goo on top of hardpack. Our bikes simply bottomed out on the mud. We had to man-handle them out of this. There is a temperature inversion in this canyon and Galen's little thermometer told us it was 114 degrees right here. And, although you can't see 'em, the mosquitoes were swarming like honey bees around a comb. We might have ridden around the mud and gone on but the conditions were just too inhospitable to proceed. We dragged the bikes out and headed back.

It can't tell you how great it felt to get into the shade near the top of the canyon. The temperature here was about 98 but at least there was a little breeze and NO MOSQUITOES

Day 2

Our mission for today was to ride the White Rim Trail out to the where it had been closed due to flooding of the Green River.

Much of the White Rim Trail truly is a "rim"

 



Amazing views

But damn was it HOT!  I searched for a shady spot to cool off for at least 30 minutes before finding this overhang.

In fact, it so hot we decided to abort for the day and head back to the air conditioning and swimming pool at the motel

Awesome road out of the canyon

Galen and Lil Pig

Day 3

To this point we were riding mostly west of Moab. To the east is a mountain range and a great ride called Onion Creek The spire is called Totem Pole - another defiance of gravity. You cross Onion Creek something like 24 times. In dry weather it's not very deep but there was evidence of water being 10-12 feet up on the canyon walls from previous flash floods. The terrain on this side of Moab is COMPLETELY different from the more desert-like western side.

With a sandy clay surface that would probably be very slippery when wet

There are even trees! As we gained altitude in the La Sal mountains, we actually got into some pretty dense forest

Expose yourself to the Rockies!

Doesn't even look like the same part of the world, huh? We REALLY liked the Onion Creek / La Sal loop

There was lots of variation in surface on this day. Everything from mud to sand to typical loose rock surface.

I don't recall the name of this impressive peak. The GPS said we were at about 9K feet altitude here.

I LIKE MOAB!