Slickrock city- up early and up Sand Flats Rd to slickrock trailhead. What an awesome moonscape that is. Terrain like you've never experienced- the first few miles I had huge grin factor as I rolled down the rolling rock and then managed to climb gradients in my granny ring out of the saddle and leaning right over the front of the bars- anywhere else and my back wheel would lose traction but here it just dug in and got me up stuff I never thought I'd make.
Now don't get me wrong I had not turned into super climber- there were still quite a few steeps I could not make it up- but they were super dooper steep! And there were techy descents to be had too, bouncing down rock faces into sand traps that were so loose and deep they stopped your front wheel dead and I almost went OTB in the first sand trap! That is some of the finest sand I've ever seen.
To top off all that fun the views were incredible- I could see for miles and miles and no civilisations to be seen anywhere just moonscape and weird towers of sandstone. What a great day! But by 7 miles into it my legs were growing weary of the tough out of saddle climbs and the grin was more of a grimace. By the turn back towards the trailhead at mile 10 I met a Puerto rican guy from California and some guys from Texas and we all had a great chat and rode back the last few climbs and swoopy downs together- great fun.
I was pretty exhausted but after a Turkey wrap and a berry banana smoothie (yum) at the Peace Tree juice bar, I decided to drive into Arches National Park and be a tourist. Wow the scenery here is just incredulous- how on earth has all that sandstone been laid down for millions of years and now eroded away to form arches and pillars and balancing rocks at the top of pillars. Every where you looked was a wonder to behold. I drove to the end of the parkway and hiked out to Double O arch- just a 2.5 mile hike which started really easily on almost disabled accessible trail for 1 mile then climbed up some narrow sandstone and became more of a scramble- what fun!
At the double O I climbed up for a photo then heading back got chatting to some nice guys from San Fran and then some Calgarians at the Partition Arch who took my photo and I returned the favour. Canadians are so friendly and so love the outdoors.
It was 6:30 when I got back to the car so I zoomed back to town and had a meal at Eddie McStiffs, joining the club so I could buy liquor cost me $4 but I also got a $4 voucher for my meal- what odd liquor laws they have in Utah- all this paperwork for nothing!
A storm is brewing as I prepare to retire to my tent. Tomorrow early start for a huge ride!
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