In the middle of April 2003 I took a break from home remodeling and
took a 5-day mountian bike trip in and around the Maze district of
Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah. The trip was put on
by the very nice people at Western
Spirit Cycling, they do an excellent job and I highly recommend
checking out one of their trips.
Since I don't trust baggage apes with my bike, that and the cost to fly
with your bike one way is almost the same cost as two nights at Motel 6,
I decided to drive to the start of the trip in Moab, UT. It was a
pleasant two day drive and with many stops to sight see in Glenwood
Canyon, CO and the final 30 miles into Moab on the 2nd day, I arrive at
6:00pm Sunday and check into my hotel and grab some dinner.
The trip started on a Tuesday, so I had Monday free to do
whatever. I spent the morning checking out my bike and fiddling
with the bike computer, then rode over to the visitors center to get
some info on mountain bike trails and the surrounding area. I was
thinking about going riding since the MN trails weren't open yet, I
thought it might be a good idea to get some trail time in.
Instead, on my way to a trail, I decided that I'll be biking for the
next five days, so I spent the day hiking in Arches National Park.
Pictures in Arches -> coming soon
Day 1:
The trip started with everyone meeting at Western Spirits offices to
load our stuff onto the support truck and the shuttle van to take out to
the starting trail head. The drive out to the trail head was a
2-1/2 hour ride that where the last 40 miles were on a rough dirt road
took as long as the first 70 did on pavement. After setting out
and going about 3 miles, we stop for lunch. After at lunch the
weather gets worse, the wind picks up and for a short stretch, we have a
stiff headwind blowing freezing drizzle into our faces, I could only
look up long enough to make sure I stayed on the trail. We stop at
the canyon rim to look down at ther road we are about to go down.
Its called the Flint Trail, it drops down the canyon side to the
bottom. Well as we start down it starts to snow, HORIZONTALLY,
limiting visibility and making parts of the trail very slippery.
We get to camp and the clouds blow away and we get a fabulous view of
the canyons below.
Day 2:
Overnight was really cold, someone said they had frost/ice on their
tent when the awoke early in the morning. After breakfast we ride
down a fun downhill and over some small rollers to our next campsite at
Maze Overlook. Pablo, one our guides, said this was his favorite
campsite out of all the trips he has done with Western Spirit.
After stopping to rest at the edge of another canyon, we ride up a
gentle, sandy slope upon cresting the top we are greeted with a gorgeous
view of the Maze section. It was absolutely breathtaking coming
over it, Pablo was right!.
After setting up camp, we head down into the Maze to check out some
5,000 year old petroglyphs. This was a hike down the canyon side
to the bottom where we encountered the most pleasant smelling flowering
tree and several lizards. We go view what is called the Harvest
Scene. It shows a bunch of people with big heads and thin bodies
and a crazy guy with a big hand juggling some animals.
That night the full moon lit up the canyon spectacturly, unfortunately,
I should have used my little tripod with the long exposure required to
get a decent picture. They all came out a little blurry, I've
posted the best one.
Day 3:
We leave Maze Overlook and go back up the fun downhill, but it was not
as much fun going up. After a short break at the top, and watching
our support truck make its way up the climb, we stop for lunch at the
trail side. After lunch, we head toward our campsite for the next
two nights under a formation called Teapot. The way there was
another fun downhill with a great view around every turn. It was
one these turns where my hard pack tires showed a bit a grip problem in
deep sand. I took a corner a little too fast [big surprise ;-)}
and drifted to the outside into even deeper sand with my exit line
showing me a big rock and the cliff edge. The deep sand and some
braking slowed me enough to get back on the trail without
incident. We get to camp and enjoy a beer.
Day 4:
Today we do an out and back to a formation alled Standing Rock.
We could see it from our campsite at Maze Overlook. The ride
starts by boing past a sign that says "High Ground Clearance 4-Wheel
Drive Vehicle Requred", this was going to be fun. The sign didn't
lie, as the first 3 miles was riding up and down piles of rocks.
After that the trail just rolled up and down until the short climb up to
standing rock. We had lunch under a bit of an overhang that was
out of the brisk wind that was blowing. After a short session of
throwing rocks at randon targets, we head back to camp. Pete, the
other guide and I have fun just blasting down the trail together until
we reach a large flowage where we stop to regroup with everyone. I
made the mistake of sitting the whole time and my legs just knotted up
big time, this made the challenging rocky finish a bit more
challenging. My legs finally loosened up on a climb about a half a
mile from camp. Upon reaching camp, I stretch out and enjoy a beer.
Day 5:
Today we awaken to rain. The rain manages to blow through during
breakfast, but the sky still looks threatening as we start off towards
Lake Powell and the end of the trip :-(. After about 10
miles, we leave the park and the skies start to clear. We enter
BLM land where there are free range cattle. We rode past a couple
of groups of cows just standing just off the road. It was a
little weird, since around here, they are fenced in. The jeep
trail we started out on transitions into a gravel road as we approach
Lake Powell. This road winds around several buttes and one narrow
canyon along the way with great views all along the way. I was a
bit strange to see an asphalt road in the distance as I came over the
final rise in the road after riding on rocky jeep trails for 5
days. Overlooking Lake Powell we have lunch and load up our bikes
for the return ride to Moab.
The Maze Trip Photos
Click on Thumbnail below for a full size picture
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