October '10 Road Trip

We left for our 11 day trip, Thursday 10/14 - Sunday 10/24, without really knowing where we were going beyond Missoula.  Glacier?  Moab?  Tetons?  MTBing across WA?  Well, we decided on Moab and 2600+ miles of driving. That's more than I normally do in a year so this was pretty epic.  Our story follows.

I worked in the back of the westy while Anna drove us to MT, we camped out near the border of MT and ID, and we rolled into Missoula on Friday 10/15. I had my shiny new Pivot MTB which I was very excited to try out, so we rode up the Rattlesnake canyon shortly after arriving and helping Shaun set up for the Rolling Thunder cross race. 

The bike

 We spent the day Saturday at the course and both raced and did well.

I stayed in on Saturday night and Anna raged until 4am as per usual.  Sunday Anna and her crew went out and did some trail work in preparation for the Pro XCT MTB race that Missoula is hosting and Shaun is organizing next July while I rode up into the mountains behind Anna's neighborhood in Missoula. I made it up 3500' to 6900' and the wilderness boundary, ditched the bike, summited (7900') on foot, and then came back down. The descent was pretty rad and the Pivot shined through the whole ride.  I was really excited at this point to have made a good purchase, especially having never ridden a full suspension bike!

View from atop Stuart Peak

We stopped in Victor to check out a co-worker's old cabin.  The drive down there and from there further south through the Bitterroot valley was amazing.  The leaves were turning and the mountains were awesome.  They were different than in the Cascades because they were more continuously tall rather than just coming out of nowhere and towering over everything like Hood, Rainier, Adams, Jefferson, Shasta, etc do.  The Cascades are better but these were sweet too.


We rode trail at Lake Como on our way south on Monday. It was rocky and flat, more technical than the Missoula riding.  Great trail with some awesome views of the mountains, waterfalls, and the lake.  Despite the great weather and it being a popular summer destination, there was hardly anyone there.  Like the rest of the Bitterroot, remote wilderness was very close by.

Happy to be riding!

Bruce is happy to be out of the Westy

Conquering Lake Como

Anna did very well on the trail and felt good about it since she had a hard time last time she was out on the trail.  We all need that kind of reinforcement sometimes!


From Lake Como we headed to SLC via the most scenic route that was in the right direction, which happened to take us near Borah Peak, the highest point in Idaho at 12k'+.

We got in late to cousin Nathanial's place in SLC, shared a couple beers and scouted his under-construction home before crashing in the westy.  The next morning we had breakfast at a local joint and took off unfortunately without seeing cousin Tony.  The drive from SLC south was boring highway but we quickly got back on the beautiful road less traveled:

That afternoon (Tuesday 10/19) we landed in Moab!  Land of epic mountain biking, as far as we knew.  We grabbed a map, got some advice, and hit the trails. 

Day 1 in Moab

Morning Yoga in Moab

Trying the back "entrance" to Arches

Turning around and barely making it out alive.

On day 2 in Moab, we made a failed attempt and getting in a side entrance to Arches.  Turns out when they say 2wd drive vehicles not recommended they sorta mean it.  Technically, we got into the park, we just had to turn around before we got to the main road because shit got sketchy and I was tired of dragging the bottom of the van across the slickrock.  We headed out and went into the main entrance.

The arches were cool and the park was touristy.  Dogs were not allowed and there was one hike, which we did a few miles of.  I'm glad we did it.  From Arches, we headed back into town.

This place sucks even more than my dad said it would

We hemmed and hawed and then made our way to the Slickrock trailhead where we found some cheap camping and the most popular trail in town.  It was maybe a little gimmicky--the whole ride is on Slickrock "petrified sand dunes"--but it was still really freaking awesome.  The sun set during our ride so the lighting was beautiful, and then we rode under a clear sky and a full moon with headlamps as needed.  Wow.

On day three in Moab, Anna got in touch with her friend Heidi from Missoula who had moved down there.  It turns out that her bf runs a shuttle company and she recommends the shuttle to the top of the La Sal mountains as one of the best rides in the country.  So we get a late start again and shuttle up to 10,500' and bike up to the pass at 11'400'.  It was friggin' cold and the descent was too steep and loose for us for a while but things started to come together for us after riding for an hour or so.  The views were incredible and we rode through several distinct ecosystems.  Just when things got a little redundant the riding and the flora would change dramatically as we descended.  The ride was by no means easy.  It was very technical with 2' drops and tons of rocks, and long at 30 miles.  It took us 6 hours to ride with lots of stops.  Our shuttle driver holds the record for descending from the pass to the bottom in 1:37.  That means he averages 20mph and probably hits 40 at times.  Wow.

If I were to do Moab again I don't think I'd do anything differently, other than stay for another couple weeks.  Sadly, we had to hit the road on Friday morning after only a few days in the desert.  We chose route to cross Nevada on rt 50, "The lonliest road in the USA" according to the maps.  

Anna jamming out in NV

NV was hilly and long.  Up and down, up and down, up and down...  It was actually quite beautiful, especially given our low expectations for the state, but damn was that road lonely.  We stopped into not this bar but the one next door to us and mingled with the locals.  Old "Red" didn't convince us to stick around for karaoke--we cut out after our Bud.  In Reno we headed north and cut off the road to sleep.  For a couple hours on Saturday the scenery was the same, but when we got off of 395 and onto 139 to Klamath Falls, the forest changed and it was awesome to be back in the PNW!!  Man I love our trees.  In K Falls we got a growler of some mediocre brew and some of the worst thai food ever.  We headed for crater lake but it was raining like hell and that rain turned to snow at about 5000', and eventually got deep enough that we didn't know if we'd make it, and there was a lot coming down.  So unfortunately I got to take a rain check from crater lake, which I continue to hear good things about.

Wait, we have another 1k of climbing?  Shit.

We made it to the hot springs on the N. Umpqua trail that night with only a little bit of gas left and a lot of miles under our belts.  It was raining like hell but the hot springs were pretty nice.  We camped out at the trailhead and then headed out into the pouring rain on our bikes on Sunday, but hit a lot of flooded sections and a bit of mud (which we try to avoid as to not damage the trail).  It got a lot better but we bailed to the road to make the ride back quicker.  Really we just went fast and didn't have to pedal so we froze our asses off and should've just ridden back on the trail.  Anyway, we made it.  The NUT is awesome and we want to return one day.  It was the shroomiest trail I've ever been on, with many many more where these came from:

Wet and frozen, we beelined it for Pizza Research Institute in Eugene, where we were not at all disappointed by the chef's special, piled high with a million toppings.  That place rules.


From Eugene, it was a quick trip back to PDX, where we are happy to be back in our own bed for a little while.  Well, not for too long, it's almost time to break out the cross country skis.

-Greg