Moab with Friends

October 24
First stop was in Moab for Rudy to pick up his new bike shoes! Of course the ones he likes are never in stock anywhere, so had some sent to a bike shop somewhere we knew we'd be awhile - he likes to tell the story, ask him about it! We then headed south of town, reserved a site at the Moonflower Canyon Campground, and ended up at Amasa Back trails where I ran and the guys rode. The trails in this area were relatively rugged, I don't think there was much I would have enjoyed riding, but the run was long, challenging, and beautiful!

So big and incredible

More fantastic rock

Hard to stay on the trail with the distracting scenery

An intro to slickrock

The mighty Colorado River

 More mountainy and less deserty than I was expecting. The guys were out a good hour longer than me and apparently had lots of challenging fun. There were quite a few people at the trailhead, many interested in the van, or with vans, so lots of sharing about van set up, as well as general information on Moab - like where to places to get hot water! Since it was another cloudy day, I was happy to get something warmer in the solar shower - the tough guys cleaned up in the river again. Once back at the campsite, we made fried potatoes and shells and cheese for dinner, then played teams Trivial Pursuit - Rudy and I won out as the bigger nerds.

October 25
Lots of rain overnight, and the four of us were pretty slow to get going. We got in some exploring of Moonflower Canyon and enjoyed the sunshine when it finally came in.

End of the canyon

Heading back out of the canyon

Cactus living on the edge

We made it a relatively easy day and went to the Slickrock bike trail.

My favorite description of this stuff is 'lithified cookie dough'

There is a practice loop and the main loop - I actually was not having much fun even on the practice loop, so that is all I ended up riding and spent the next few hours strolling, strength/stretching and puzzling, and a little hanging out in the sun while the guys were out on the other ten miles of slickrock route. After the boys were refueled, we stopped by the river, then needed to acquire some groceries - surprisingly crazy for a weeknight! We eventually got out of there, headed back to Moonflower, and had a late dinner of beans and rice.

October 26
An early morning as the guys had to catch a shuttle to embark on most of the 'Whole Enchilada' - normally ~33 miles with over 8,000 feet of descending mostly expert trails, but the shuttle wasn't going to the top anymore, so they missed out of the top five or so miles. We dropped off the van (and me) at a trailhead near the bottom - William Longstaff aka Negro Bill Canyon. I jogged the short hiking trail up to Morning Glory Bridge - awesome scenery, and fun plants.

Lots of fun trail

Cactus thriving near the creek

Morning Glory Bridge

Different sage brush than I've seen...

A couple hours of chilling, then a run on the flat bike path along the Colorado River, a little more chilling, then I hiked the trail in the much busier afternoon - glad I got to enjoy it during the quiet morning too! The guys had a successful descent!

They started in the mountains way back there, and ended up at the mouth of the canyon

We headed back to the river and ate lots of pasta. An attempt was made to repair a damaged bike tire, but more supplies were needed, so a bike shop trip was planned for the morning.

October 27
A nice slow, relaxed morning since bike shops don't open until 10. While Peter and Dennis worked on getting the tire repaired, Rudy and I strolled around town just a little to complete some 'errands'. When we reconvened at the bike shop, I ended up getting some knee pads in the hopes of increasing my bravery, and preventing some of the cuts and scrapes I've been piling on. We next headed out to Poison Spider trail for a little less technical going. Most of this trail was jeep road - some impassible by bike, but I could manage most of it and just did an out and back, making some stops to watch jeeps do their thing.

Looks more impressive in person...

Vehicles go up that?

Little Arch

End on the road

The guys went on some of the more advanced trails, including the Portal Trail, touting as being deadly - I guess there were some stretches even Rudy and Peter opted to walk through. After my ride, I had a look at the dinosaur tracks, right at the trailhead, then took a short hike to Longbow Arch.

For real dinosaur tracks

Trail to Longbow Arch

Longbow Arch

I returned to the trailhead close to sunset shortly after Rudy and Peter - apparently Dennis opted to skip the more rugged trails and go back the way they came - he barely made it back before dark! A quick stop at the River, then we decided to pay someone to make dinner for us. We tried a Mexican place, but that one closed at 8, so Moab Brewing. Everyone was quite satisfied with their food and drinks, and despite being very full, we all agreed to take a crack at 1.75 quarts of key lime pie ice cream, which we surprisingly took care of without too much discomfort after we got back to Moonflower. The campground was pretty busy - apparently there was a bike and film festival in town for the weekend.

October 28
We made a stop at Lions Park for water, and just a little goofing off.

Even a little bouldering area

I just like this plant...

Then on to Navajo Rocks for biking. These trails were much flatter and less technical than what we've been on in Moab so far - also great scenery!

Part of the Big Mesa Trail

Part of Big Mesa

The 'battleship' mesas, Monitor and Merrimac

I think they would be a good 'warm up' for a flatlander trip to Moab, or for more novice riders in general (I think I had more 'fun' here than the guys did). Once we were finished biking in the early afternoon, Peter and Dennis started making their way back to Denver and Rudy and I found some dispersed camping further down the road. Being Friday, there were quite a few people around, but the area didn't seem too crowded and was nice and quiet. I finally tried out the yoga board Rudy and Erik put together for me (just a piece of particle board to put the mat on for less forgiving ground) and that was just great. We sauteed some veggies and made shells and cheese for dinner and got in the next Harry Potter - Order of the Phoenix - very similar plot to all the previous ones...

Grand Junction/Fruita

October 19
Cold morning, but no big plans for the day, so we relaxed with some hot beverages before going further north, and down in elevation. Nice rock formations and rugged mountains to look at during the drive. Still a cool and windy day though, good for taking care of some town stuff and hanging out. We parked for the day in the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area just south of Grand Junction.

We did a bit of wandering around, and I got in some yoga by placing some rocks on the mat, but mostly hung out in the van, hiding from the wind - at least there was sun! Fried up some potatoes for dinner, to go with leftovers, then played a little Trivial Pursuit.

October 20
We continued the drive to Grand Junction with a stop to visit a former coworker of Rudy's from Superior, and also just happened to see my Dad's friend, Mike, from when we lived in Gypsum working at the same place - a funtastic surprise! A few hours were spent visiting before we moved on to Third Flats. Rudy ended up opting to do most of his ride in an adjacent area, while I did a few of the intermediate trails where we parked. This is more of a dirt biking area, so lots of loose rock, and a bit technical for my taste, but still good to get out and do something! Next we headed to my college buddy, Erik's place for some real showers! Then we went out for food and beer and catching up. Erik has actually been traveling for work a lot, and we really lucked out on catching him for a few well deserved days off. Spent the night in Erik's driveway.

October 21
A nice relaxed morning with delightful coffee and some more visiting before Erik and I headed to Monument Canyon for a run in his open Jeep - extra refreshing on a brisk morning! The sun warmed us up quickly. Erik claimed he hadn't exercised in a month, but he's still a better athlete than me, so I think we both got a good, challenging workout on the 2+ hour run, which included about a mile of essentially hiking up stairs. The canyon was amazing though, and the trails in pretty awesome shape, making for a satisfying outing.

View from the 'top'

Trail Monster

During our run, Rudy kept himself busy rotating tires on the van and repairing his bike fork. After a few hours of relaxing, Erik took us to 18 Road mountain bike trails. We ended up doing pretty much the same trails, notably Zippity Do Da and PBR - Rudy and Erik just went a lot faster! I can blame having to stop to let a big snake cross the trail.
 
Rudy was inspired to make another cheesecake, so we stopped for supplies, got that thing baked up, and made some pasta and just hung out and ate, soaking in the great day.

October 22
Just a few more hours of hanging out with Erik, then we headed to the Tabeguache Trailhead for the Lunch Loops trail system. We met Peter and Dennis from Washington State there - we'll be enjoying Moab with them in the coming week. I ran while the guys biked, more nice trails and cool views.

We headed to the Colorado river for the boys to clean up and cool off (I wasn't hot enough to get into that river!), then we headed to Gypsum Mike's place in Fruita. Bean burritos for dinner, then tons of visiting. I think I last saw Mike about 15 years ago, it was pretty cool to see how life has changed in some ways and stayed the same in others for the both of us!

October 23
We spent a few relaxed hours at Mike's before hitting the Kokopelli's Trails for some biking. I really liked this system - some great stuff for novices, including an easy loop with sign posts to learn about mountain bike techniques, trail etiquette, even the local ecology. I wasn't patient enough to stop and read them all, but I'm really glad they are there! I looped around some of the intermediate trails - they were mostly easy and scenic, but definitely some challenges here and there - enough that I didn't want to attempt any of the advanced trails, which Rudy and Peter thought were great!

A lot of trail along a Colorado River canyon rim

We all finished our rides close to the same time, got in some eating, then made the drive to Moab, taking the beautiful Highway 128. We stopped for the night at Upper Big Bend Campground just outside of town - apparently just in time, I think it was full within an hour of us settling in.

More river cleanup for the guys (I made do with the tepid solar shower), then some split pea gruel for dinner, followed by just hanging out at the picnic table.

Cortez, CO

October 15
I accidentally deleted my notes for this day, so hopefully not forgetting too much...
We woke up early (like set an alarm!) to get to the Cortez Farmers Market early enough to hopefully snag some pie we heard about in a segment on The Splendid Table about the 'Perennial Plate' project. We made it there by 8 to get one of the few remaining pies! I felt bad taking two, but apparently it is unusual Bessie runs out this fast, someone before us bought like 10! After a little hanging out around town, we headed to the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument - there are some trails that bikes are allowed on, but more like hiking trails that I didn't do so well on - a couple of dumb crashes for me, and an unfortunate, but not too terrible cactus collision for Rudy! Got some cool scenery, pueblo ruins, and rocks to make up for it!

Lots of hike-a-biking for me

We got to a camping spot not far from the next day's destination, made barley with red sauce for dinner, and started Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets. I think pie intermission was my favorite part...

Score!

October 16
A nice morning, relatively warm, good for me to motivate for a little road run before we went to Phil's World for some biking. Sam and his roommate were able to make the drive from Durango, so Rudy had some friends to play with. I ventured out onto the easier trails, which were easier than I expected, so I went ahead and rode nearly all the trails out there. There were spots I wasn't able to ride, but most of it was manageable and fun, this is definitely a great destination for all levels of riders!

We went back to same area to camp, but tried a different spot (original spot was taken, but we quickly found a good one!). Dinner was Native American inspired beans + squash + cornmeal - one too many jalapenos in there too, it was a bit spicy! After that, finished up the second Harry Potter movie.

October 17
We made a return to Phil's World for short run for me and ride for Rudy (he caught the easier trails he didn't get on yesterday. Next we did mostly a driving tour through Mesa Verde National Park, learning a lot about Anasazi and Pueblo societies of 700 + years ago, plus there was some cool scenery - not as spectacular as some other parks, but certainly interesting.

No informational sign telling us what this is about

Canyons are cool

Lots of 'Kiva's - underground ceremonial sites

Lots of yucca parts with lots of uses

Even gutters!

Experts think this was for water storage, Rudy says it's a race track

We were able to cover most of the highlights before they closed at sunset, and headed back to the same camp spot, dined on leftovers, and started Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (after attempting the third movie, and having technical difficulties.)

October 18
Highlight of the morning was Rudy getting to share van discussion with a neighboring camper. We made a quick stop in Cortez for some bike supplies, then headed north on Highway 145 for some mountain trails. Another stop happened at Dolores Market for what we heard are awesome homemade pies - picked up a triple berry and a few other local goods - a nice little store, but spendy! A little more driving until we reached our destination in San Juan National Forest. Rudy biked and I hiked/ran for some good 3-4 hour outings including Colorado Trail and steep Salt Creek Trail - fun, challenging, and some great views.

Colorado Trail and big mountains

Pretty grove at the top of the toughest climb

Fantastic sandstone and conglomerate layering

More big views

We originally hoped to camp near the trail head, but not wanted to intrude on some already established hunting camps, found another quiet spot just down the road. Made some wild rice and veggies, then finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - I think the series is getting a little more entertaining to us. Oh, and we enjoyed lots of fantastic pie - the Dolores Market held up to the reputation!

As delicious as it looks