There was a place I once went… Moab, Utah. It was the pinacle of my moutain biking obsession. I haven’t gone moutain biking in a few years. The punishment to my body was taking its toll. I have pleantly of scars to prove it.
Castle rock, as seen from Porcupine Rim (pictured here) was the most awsome sight I have ever laid eyes upon. The vastness, the beauty… I will never forget the moment that this scene unfolded. I was walking my bike up, up, up the hill when… Shazam! Castle Valley appeared through the trees. I sat upon a rocky ledge and peered out into the misty valley below. It was breath-taking. I must have stayed there for an hour at least before I made the long journey… as it turns out… down the ridge. Gravity was my friend again. What a great ride that was: technical in such a way that it rarely required a dismount. It was all down hill until I got near the Highway. There was a really confusing part at the end… where a spur ebbed down into a rocky abyss and the trail seemed to end. There seemed to be no way out. Finally I figured out that a rocky ledge which subtly rose from the far side of the draw was in fact, the trail. Only those who have navigated this know what I am talking about. It was strange.
There were so many of these breathtaking sights and experiences there. There were some 12000 ft plus mountains down the road which had there own unique flavor. The alpine Forrest; the cool-dry air; the incline of the trails. The trails were confusing even with maps. I took a wrong on one of them, which took me into a heard of cows who didn’t seem to care that I wanted to ride through. After ye-ha ing a few times, I was forced to negotiate through the woods, around the heard. At the end of this misstep, I found myself at a beautiful lake with really no idea where I was. Someone saw me looking at my map and reoriented me towards this trail which seemed quite steep. I climbed and climbed and climbed to the top. It started to get dusk and I hoped I was on the right trail. I had a GPS, maps and a compass but the topology was so complicated that I could only say generally where I was going. I finally popped out near my car, drove back to the Hotel and slept like a baby.
There was one: Poison Spider Mesa which almost did me in. I ran low on water and had to negotiate some cartoon-style ledge down the ridge face. That is a story for another blog.
