So Chuck recommended I take the scenic byway back towards Moab and ride Thunder mountain today. This meant doing something partially unplanned e.g. where will I sleep tonight?! It was a 124 mile trip to the trailhead and I grabbed a trail map from the Red Canyon visitor centre on US-12, set amongst the hoodoos and arches.
I pedalled out on 5 miles of paved cycle lane then up a couple of miles on dirt track, reaching the singletrack just as the storm approached and the hail started. Luckily it was not too bad but the whole trail lived up to its name as I encountered Thunder for the whole way but not too much rain/hail.
It was an incredible ride, rolling red rock singletrack through sparse trees, mainly dead or burnt out, fast and flowy with some techy stuff for a challenge and making it a blue run so far. Then the views of the hoodoo rock formations opened up and I got close enough to touch some rocks that are precariously balanced.
As the descent started things turned from blue to black difficulty, a climb through the hoodoos and across a very thin fin ridge with sheer drops either side. As if that was not scary enough (espesh riding alone) the next section was tight steep swicthbacks on narrow ledges with sheer drops of 100's of feet into the canyon (no pics of that as I was gripping on for dear life). Eventually spitting me out onto a fast swoopy flowy singletrack for a mile back to the trail head.
Wow (yes another wow)- Chuck really knew what sort of riding to recommend me that was perfectly my style of riding. Great great ride.
From there I became a tourist and drove Highway 12 the scenic byway through Bryce, Escalante, Boulder, with incredible views of these weird and wonderful rock formations. I stopped off at 7pm at Oak Creek Campground in pouring rain and am camping almost alone next to a creek which is babbling in the background as I write.
No plans for tomorrow but to drive and see what I feel like doing when I get wherever. (Now that is sooo unlike me! But good!)
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