April 22, Boise - Camel's Back Trails

Francine ripping down on Sidewinder trail, Boise, Utah

 We spent last night at our normal Boise stop, Comfort Suites Boise Airport hotel.  This place is always clean and quiet.  We stopped by the bike shop for the new Ridge to Rivers map, and headed out to the Camel's Back trail head at the end of 13th.  Umm - don't these people in Boise work?  The park was packed, and the super wide trails were packed with walkers, joggers and bikers.  What is this place like on the weekends?  Must have to park high to get away from folks.  Can't imagine stopping for all the people one would meet on the trail on the weekend.

Rode out Red Fox Trail (#36) which is basically a road to its end at an upper parking area.  Crossed the road and headed out Lower Hulls Gulch (#29) to Red Cliffs Trail (#39) to Crestline (#28) to Sidewinder (#24) to its end.  Hmph - quite a grunt.  All these trails are super smooth, super wide, and starting to get a little dry.  Hardtail heaven.

We took a break at the top here and enjoyed the view.  We started our descent and retraced our steps on Sidewinder to Crestline and took a right to the Lower Hulls Gulch trailhead.  Sidewinder was a fun, curvy descent.  And Lower Hulls Gulch (#29) was narrower and had a few more rocks thrown in to keep you on your toes.  In no time we were back at the 2nd parking area and finished on Chickadee Ridge (#36A) and back to the car.  11 fun miles.  We were definitely moving a little faster here and yesterday, at Corner Canyon, than the rockier trails in Moab.  After a grumpy start,  we were both smiling at the end, after the fast and flowy downhill.

Made our way to Hyde Park, the cute shopping district a few blocks away for mexican at Parilla Grill.  Then cruised on the highway to Prosser, where we stopped at Horsehaven Saloon for dinner and made it home by 9pm.  Great trip.  Great friends and Great company.

Francine pushes her bike up a steep pitch
as we approach the top of sidewinder.

Fun downhill on Lower Hulls Gulch

April 21, 2016 - Corner Caynon, Draper Utah

Francine at Corner Canyon trail system, Draper Utah.

We packed up and left the Desert Blue house we rented in Moab thru VRBO and headed to Draper Utah, just south of SLC to ride in the Corner Canyon area, where we have ridden a couple of times before on our way to/from Moab or Fruita.

The city of Draper is putting a 12inch water pipe down the entire Corner Canyon, so there was restricted access to the up trail Clarks and the downhill Rush trail.  It was amazing how much land they had to disturb to put in the road to the top.

We climbed Lower Corner Canyon Trail to Gasline Trail to Ghost Falls Trail.  We should have taken Rattlers Trail on the left as we were climbing Ghost Falls Trail, as it seemed to be the easier uphill.  We rode Ghost Falls Trail to its top at the parking lot.  Here we headed up half a mile on Jacob's Ladder Trail.  When it hit the jeep road, Francine headed back to the down, while Kevin continued up the jeep road to the top of Jacob's Ladder.  While waiting for Kevin, another nice biker informed Francine that there is a better, easier, road route up to the top of Jacob's ladder from the top of the Rush Trailhead.  We will have to check that out next time.

From here, we descended back down Ghost Falls Trail to Canyon Hollow Trail, and climbed back up that, turning right onto Brock's Point Trail to the top of Rush Trail (also known as the Peak View Trailhead).  Since Rush trail is closed due to the water pipe project, we descended Ann's Trail to Potato Hill Trail to the BST and finished on Creek View Trail to Lower Corner Canyon Trail to the car.  12 fun miles.  The descent kept continuing.

Francine where Jacob's Ladder trail meets jeep road (1/2 mile climb)

Kevin at Rush Trailhead - see fencing for waterpipe project.

April 20, 2016 - Hymasa Trail, Moab Utah

Francine on the Hymasa climb

Legs are getting tired.  Last day before we check out tomorrow.  Hurray - today's high is supposed to hit 73.  Yesterday we did finally hit 60, and the previous days have only seen highs in the mid 50's.  Unbelievably, it is hotter at home in Seattle, than down here in Moab.

We wanted a short ride that wasn't too far from the house.  Once Francine saw on the map that the Hymasa Trail was only a blue-black, she thought that was a viable option, being only 4 miles away.  She made Kevin promise that we were going to do an out and back on Hymasa, and not descend on Captain Ahab - a super technical route back down.  It was only the two of us, as Val and Don did separate rides.

The climb was super well made, as it crossed the Amasa Back jeep road climb a couple of times.  In no time, we were at the top.  They sure do a good job running the trail thru pretty scenery and terrain.  Once at the top, we headed out Upper Captain Ahab for a very short bit and turned around.  Then we went out a jeep road for a very short bit before turning around and descended the same fun trail we climbed.  For some reason, Hymasa seemed smoother than the other normally rocky trails in Moab.  We were down in no time, on the fun, more flowy trail, back at the car.  Only 8.5 miles today.

Headed back to the house, where Val had returned from her ride to Hurrah Pass and Don was also home from riding the 9.5 mile slickrock loop.

Francine

Francine

Francine with the La Sal mountains in the background

Kevin on Captain Ahab

Francine descending Hymasa trail

April 19, 2016, Bull Run to Getaway, Moab

Don on Getaway

Tom and Lori packed up this morning and headed home.  We're down to 4.
Temps are sure cold.  Only supposed to be 53 today.  The four of us, Don/Val and Francine/Kevin, made our way to the Magnificent 7 Trailhead at the top of Gemini Bridges Road.  Today's ride is a reverse, where we start at the top, and finish with a climb on Getaway Trail.  We started down on Getaway trail to Bull Run to it's end.  Bull Run is a Blue-Black rated trail, which means all the rocky drops and climbs are easily ridable by Francine and Val.  For rocky Moab, this was a nice downhill.  Then we made a wonderful climb on Getaway, that was rated Blue, and had flowy ups and downs as it climbed back to the car.  Great fun Loop.  16 miles

Val on Bull Run

Francine on Bull Run

Kevin on Bull Run.  La Sal Mountains in background kept getting snow while we were there.

Couples shot on Bull Run

April 18, 2016 - Arches National Park, Moab

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

Got off the bikes and went for a hike.  Don and Val left around 6:30am for Arches National Park for the Devil's Garden 7 mile hike.  Francine, Tom, Lori and Kevin left closer to 8:00  and made the hike to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park.  This week is free for park entrance.

Kevin below Delicate Arch

Francine and Lori

Tom and Lori

Delicate Arch

Francine and Kevin

Lori and Francine

Chilling in the backyard, Lori and Francine

Can you believe it is the middle of the day, and it is cold.  Lori has on her pants and a down coat.  Francine has on a fleece.  It's chilly when the wind picks up.

Kevin and Tom

After having lunch at the house, Val, Lori, Tom, Francine and Kevin rode the paved MillCreek Parkway to Rotary Park.  From there, Lori split off and rode back to the house.  The four of us made our way to Mill Creek Trailhead off of Powerhouse Road, and back.  9.25 miles.

April 17, 2016 - Dead Horse Point State Park, Moab Utah

Don on Big Chief Trail

We were hoping for a little less wind today.  We drove up to Deadhorse State Park, 6,000 feet, to the visitor center, where the wind was still howling.  Thankfully, the sun was starting to peek thru the clouds.  But, it was a chilly 43 degrees with a strong wind.

Headed up Intrepid to Great Pyramid to Big Chief.  Then bombed back down Raven to the parking lot, to find Lori, who was touring the Green Circle rated trails on her own.  Had some coffees and snacks outside the visitor center, and headed out Prickly Pear, left side of the loop, to Twisted Tree to whip tail.  We skipped the part of Whiptail that went out onto the point.  Took Whiptail to Prickly Pear and headed back to the car.  16.26 miles

Francine on Big Chief Trail

Don on ledge by Prickly Pear Trail

Kevin 

Francine and Lori outside the visitor Center,
where we spent time, hoping the wind would die down.

The gang taking a lunch break at the visitor's center

April 16, 2016 - Navaho Rocks Moab

Don and Francine on Rocky Tops trail

Where to ride when it is blowing 25-35 miles an hour with 45 mile an hour gusts?  We spoke to a couple of bike shops, and didn't really get a consensus.  So, we continued on with our plan for Navaho Rocks, a new singletrack area for us.  Tom and Lori went on their own to Arches National Park, with Free Entry fee for the week.

Kevin

Val and Don

Francine and  Kevin  

We didn't know the "recommended route",  so Kevin talked to some guys in the parking lot  (we parked in the lower lot).  So, we crossed the road and headed up "Rocky Tops trail" to the mid parking lot.  Then headed up Big Mesa Trail for an out an back.  After some discussion about taking the road back to the Ramblin Trail, we retraced our steps back on Big Mesa Trail, which was a fun trail in reverse.  Finished the day on Ramblin to the parking lot.  Great loop, too bad it was so windy.  The extension going out Big Mesa was really a grunt, but fun coming back.  16 miles

Don

Val heading home on Rambling.  The wind is really howling out in the open.

April 15, 2016 - Moab Brand Trails, Moab Utah

Tom rocking his new Devinci mountain bike.

Day 2 in Moab.  The gang was all here with the Davies and Heckers ready to ride.  With a forecast of rain, we got an early start to the day and hit the fun Moab Brand trail system just north of Moab.   With Lori on a hardtail we started on the easier trails, EZ and Lazy.  Dropping Lori we headed for the North 40 loop then hit EZ back to Deadman's ridge.  15 miles.

The riding here is a lot fun.  Deadman's definitely ramped up the technical level.  When we hit Deadman, Tom rolled home on Sidewinder, which looked butter smooth.  Next time will definitely include rusty spur and sidewinder.   Don't miss this area for a close to town quick, fun ride.

Don, Val, Kevin, and Francine

Val

Francine

Don on Deadhorse trail

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April 14, 2016 - Klonzo Trails, Moab Utah

Tom on Carousel Trail

We made the easy 4.5 hour drive from Eden Utah to Moab.  Since we couldn't check into our house until 3pm, we squeaked in a ride at the Klonzo Trails.  We have not ridden there, as it is one of the new singletrack mountain bike trail systems that Moab has been steadily building.

Francine  

Lori

Lori  

Francine & Lori on Carousel trail

Rode Hotdog to Carousel, where we went around the Carousel loop, taking the inner spokes of Wizard, Magician and Gypsy.  Tom, Kevin and Francine climbed up Midway to the top of Roller Coaster and met Lori, who continued on another loop on Carousel.

After that, Tom and Lori headed back to the car retracing our steps on Hotdog.  Francine and Kevin headed out on Houdini.  By the time they got to the top of that and headed down Red Hot, the wind really started to pick up.  At the intersection of Redhot and Hotdog, we avoided the blowing wind on the back side of the ridge and headed down Hotdog to the car.  Easy 9 mile day.  We only rode the trails on the south side of the road.  Would not recommend.  Better trails to do, maybe the North side?