Friday, May 11, 2012

Moab day 2

Day two in Moab took us to Poison Spider where we rented really nice Mountain Bikes (MTB).  We also rented a rack to put on the back of our rental SUV and we took off for the Bar M trails.




Did I mention Sally had never ridden a MTB?  She did real well before Chance veered off onto a technical trail.  Sally ended up going down three times, each time at a spot where it was extremely steep.  She also gained a new respect for the pretty yellow flowered cactus!  Through all that Sally kept riding but was a bit more cautious.

 We finished riding those trails in the middle afternoon and went back to the hotel to eat lunch and get our hiking clothes on. We did not want to over do ourselves day one because we had two more days of bike riding.    Off down Potash road to hike to Corona Arch. 





This arch was made famous by a You Tube video by a videographer that Chance was following.  He shot some friends who made the arch their personal swing with climbing rope and repelling gear.  Unfortunately for Sally and I Chance found the rock path that went to the top of the arch. The path went straight up.  He put us over the edge climbing and filming everyplace he could.

 

Thursday, May 10, 2012

MOAB bike trip day 1

Sally, Chance and I flew into Salt Lake City May 10th. We originally planned to ride in Moab's Grand Fondo but the route had an elevation change of over 5000'.  We are flatlander that ride skinny tires in  Georgia and Florida.  We chickened out and decided to Mountain bike in the area instead.

Moab is an incredible place.  For the adventurers there are mountain bike trails that are considered to be some of the best in the world.  For roadies there are some great routes that offer incredible scenic views.  Mountain climbing, skydiving, ballooning as well as Colorado river rafting  are all activities that are in Moab.  The most popular activity which I have not mentioned is four wheeling on the solid slickrock that makes up Moab's scenic views.  This was my second trip and I am not one who returns to places I have vacationed before but Moab is like Disney you can stay a month and not do it all.

Day one - Drive from SLC to Moab through Provo, Price and Helper, UT.



Views from the car.



  In Provo we diverted to Bridal Vail falls to hike up to the base. This was a surprise for Sally and Chance who were along for the ride.  We then stopped in Price for a Mexican lunch that ended up as a feast.



 Another side excursion was a ghost town called Sergo.  There is a active town that looks like Radiator Springs but the remains of sergo are north about 5 miles.  The old coal mining town left some ruins and a number of ancient Petroglyphs. There are few internet sites that explain Sergo.  We arrived into Moab in the late evening and went to the local brewhouse which ended day1.