Turkey Day in Moab

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to take a trip down to Moab, Utah to go mountain biking. Mom was able to fly into town and go down to Moab with us to spend time with Sara. We rented a really nice townhouse so that Mom and Sara were comfortable being left behind and we took off.

The first day we were there, Dan and I rode out to Gemini Bridges. It's a 13.5 mile round trip ride. It has its challenges too, sand pits that are so deep it's ridiculous to try to ride through them and steep hills to climb. When you get to the sandstone part of the trail however it gets really fun. Mountain biking on sandstone is like nothing else. You get super traction and you feel like you could climb a nearly vertical bolder, sometimes you do. It does take a little getting used to the feel of the bike bumping off rocks however but once you do, you can really fly and just let the shocks take care of it.

Here's a pic when we reached the Bridges area and a pic of the La Sal's that I took on the trial with the moon rising.



At the end of the Gemini Bridges trail you have to climb a steep hill with a sheer cliff above and below you. It's a challenging climb and I was just on the downhill side when I hear someone screaming over my head "STOP! STOP!" I looked up and a guy had base-jumped off the cliff above and was about to land on my head, he was 15 or 20 feet above me. I have disc brakes, so I stopped on a dime and he landed just in front of my bike. It would have sucked if he had landed on me and we both went tumbling down the cliff. I don't really look up much while mountain biking so it's a good thing he was looking down.

That night we went to the Moab Brewery for Thanksgiving dinner with Mom and Sara. It wasn't anything like the fest that Dan usually prepares but it was better than McDonalds for Thanksgiving. The atmosphere is always great there too.

We all went back to the Townhouse and sat around the gas fire place and read our respective books and relaxed. That was probably our favorite part about the townhouse was how comfortable and homey it felt and how easy it was to relax there. I wish now that we had a gas fireplace at our house.

The next day I wasn't sure I could ride because of how difficult the ride was the previous day but I decide to really force myself. This is what we came down here for and I didn't want to miss it. We did the Klondike Bluffs trail and it was really an experience. Starting off on the trail with us were Jeeps and full size Blazers and Motorcycles. Everyone was making their way through the narrow wash along with all of the bikers, it was some kind of weird mish-mash. Bikes were weaving in and out around vehicles. Vehicles were spinning their tires and smoking trying to get up and over obstacles. It was kind of crazy. Luckily once we hit the huge sandstone formation the motor powered vehicles went their own way and we could ride anywhere on the sandstone we wanted.

We met a really neat couple from Colorado that we rode with on the rest of the trail. They were about our age and had a 9 month old son. They apparently co-own a camper and they travel with another couple and they take turns baby-sitting kids. We were glad to have the company, especially Dan since he never has anyone to ride with.

I highly recommend the Klondike Bluffs trail. It's a fast fun ride with some good sandstone and when you get to the top, the Bluffs are fantastic. Here's a pic of us at the top. I wish we had gotten a pic of our friends that we biked with too.


Up on this bluff I found pools with lots of little shrimp in them, OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT! Also I found places where ancient people had been flint knapping on top of the bluff. When we rode back down the trail, Dan wanted to ride some more but I had already done 10 miles and had hit my limit. I decided to wander through the desert on foot while he rode another trail. I was glad I did because I found huge pieces of chert and gypsum and some really cool green and purple rocks. The Natives had probably collected the chert where I was finding it and hiked it up to the bluffs where they flint knapped and fired it.

Later that night we ate at the most wonderful Mexican restaurant I've been to in Utah. Mostly because they had huge Margaritas, definitely the largest in Utah and the strongest. We will be going back there again.

Thanks a million to Mom for watching Sara for us so that we could have an adventure.