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My "reunion" cross-country bicycle tour
Escalante to Boulder UT, 28 miles, 2898 ft of climbing
Day 22, June 3:
I really didn't want to try to go over the pass today - it would make for a
long day with nearly 6000 feet of climbing. So this is another short day
with a moderate amount of climbing.
Lodging tonight is a little three-room motel; we're in room number 3.
It's actually perfectly fine - a small suite of two rooms with good
facilities and comfortable beds. They had a last-minute cancellation
so we were able to reserve a room.
Boulder UT to Capitol Reef NP, 49 miles, 4365 ft of climbing
Day 23, June 4:
It was a good thing I split up the climb into two days. It would have been
a LOOONG day.
Capoitol Reef NP to Hanksville UT 49 miles, 1942 ft of climbing
Day 24, June 5:
Val wanted to ride the second half of Capitol Reef National Park, so the
solution was to park the car in the first shady spot a couple miles past the
park boundary and then we both rode back to the visitors center and back again.
Then she drove the rest of the way to Hanksville while I rode it.
There are signs prohibiting skinny-dipping in the waterfall.
Lodging tonight is a patch of grass in Duke's Slickrock Grill and RV Park,
just on the edge of town. It does have a laundromat, which I made use of.
Hanksille to Blanding UT 49 miles, 2497 ft of climbing
Day 25, June 6:
The plan today was to ride to the Hite recreation area of the Glen Canyon
National Recreation Area. This is at the upper end of Lake Powell.
The Adventure Cycling map says that Lake Powell Resorts and Marinas
has lodging there but when we called they said the facility was closed
for the season for renovations. I suspect that the real reason is that
Lake Powell is at such a low level the marinas are non-functional so
they just decided to close.
There is also National Park Service primitive camping there, but the
guy at the store said the toilets are closed while they renovate them
to add showers. So I wimped out and convinced Val to ferry me to
Blanding. I am getting tired of the desert and really wasn't looking
forward to spending a night in a primitive campground and then riding
74 miles through the desert with no services and close to 5000 feet of
climbing. I'd much rather spend my rest day in a motel than in a
primitive campground.
Along about noon a strong south wind sprang up so I was fighting strong
headwinds for several hours. It felt like the ride was more than 49
miles with 2500 feet of climbing.
Val rode back from the visitors center, where the road to the campground
is, so she could experience the dramatic descent to the Colorado river.
This is from the bridge.
Day 26, June 7: Rest day in Blanding
On our day off we did a car trip to Natural Bridges National Monument.
The Owachomo bridge is the easiest to hike to:
That's Val down in the lower left-hand corner:
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Last updated Juie 15, 2018