Just three days after the SERC in Chattanooga, we were on the road for Utah. We left late on a Wednesday night and were nearly exhausted upon departure. I had spent the beginning of the week cleaning up from the whirlwind weekend of dirt track racing and mountain biking in Chattanooga while also trying to pack for more than three weeks on the road. This trip was to be a long one for me. We were going out to Utah for a week, then I was going to head up to Wisconsin for Tour of America's Dairyland. I finally had enough money to do one of the big races on my list. The plan was for my Mom to join us on the trip as she wanted to visit everyone in Utah again and then would be my support at Dairyland. Her going and splitting costs with me was the only reason I could afford a trip this long. Shannon was going to fly home as she only had one week of vacation time she could use right now. I was doing all this planning while working and getting the farm ready to be unattended for three weeks. Shannon would be there to take care of it after the first week, but I wanted to leave her as little work as possible.
I had to make a new set-up for the van as we would have more stuff with us than our typical trip. We also had three bikes as my Mom was planning to bring her mountain bike. I stayed up super late on Tuesday night, probably irritating the neighbors as I sawed and drilled on a new bike mounting system.
While I was gone on Wednesday, my Mom came by the house and looked at the van. She thought there was no room for her and backed out of the trip last minute. She didn't tell me her reason until we were on the road. I was annoyed as I had done so much to make sure there was plenty of room. We did everything to accomodate her. If she had only told me I could have explained, but she didn't speak up in time. We had to repack the van again before we left. I knew now I could not afford to stay in hotels or AirBNBs at Dairyland and would instead have to sleep in the van. I had to make room for me to be able to sleep comfortably back there for more than a week fo crit racing.
I was worn out just after we passed St. Louis. Shannon took over there and got us west of Kansas City before she had to stop for a nap. We are all about driving through the night, but we were just too worn out to do it safely this time. We had planned to take I-80 out through Wyoming and stop by Curt Gowdy State Park, but there was major flooding along the Missouri River that had shut down I-29 in Iowa and Missouri, plus parts of Hwy 2 in Nebraska. So we stayed on I-70 into Kansas.
By the time we awoke from our nap, it was daylight. I was ready for a ride so we hit up Wilson State Park, a place we camped at last year on our Kansas adventures. The Switchgrass Trail was a really fun ride. I liked the flow and the old post rocks that were sticking up from the ground in places. This stop was not near as fun as last year though. The flooding was bad in this area too. The lake was beyond its banks in places, covering the trail completely in several areas.
What wasn't underwater was muddy and overgrown. I rode the little bit of decent trail I could find and then we left. The stop wasn't a total waste though as I managed to get us a post rock that was being discarded where a new fence was being constructed. Getting it to the van was quite the story, but Shannon will have to tell that story to you from the witness point of view. All I will say is that they are bigger and heavier than they look.
We hit Denver in the afternoon and traffic was a nightmare. We couldn't get through town and over the pass, so we had to detour up I-25 to Ft. Collins, then cut across to Laramie, WY. I-25 creeped at less than 20 mph for more than 30 miles. I was about to poke my eyes out by the time we reached Ft. Collins. Then things got better as Ft. Collins was a nice city to drive through. Hwy 287 follows and is full of all kinds of sights as you cross into Wyoming. The larger mountains become small rock piles and cliffs that change color around every corner. We ended up passing within 30 miles of Curt Gowdy. Probably should have just gone this way in the first place and rode ol' Curtis, but it is what it is. We pushed on across Wyoming and pulled into Gma's house about midnight. Worn out again, but at least this time we were in a bed instead of reclined in a bucket seat.
My first ride to hit up in Utah was over to Butterfield Canyon. It was a rainy morning and a bit chilly. This was quite a bit different from my trip up last year when it was blazing hot and my head was sunburned from hiking to Lake Blanche. The rain was snow in the higher elevations so the mountains to the east and west were capped with a fresh white blanket. The ride was only 43 miles, but it was a quality 43, going up Rose Canyon twice and Butterfield Canyon once.
When I got back from Butterfield, I found out there was a road race coming up the following weekend in nearby Rush Valley. Of course I wanted to do it, so Shannon and I went over to check out the course the following day. Rush Valley is located in the valley to the west of the Salt Lake Valley. We drove around the south side of the Oquirrh Mountains to get into the valley. The road course did loops within the valley, followed by a finish climb up Johnson Pass. The valley loop was about 8.5 miles around a big square in the middle of the empty desert. Not much to look at. It was going to be boring to do eight laps on it for the Pro/1/2. It would likely be super windy as there were no trees to stop the wind at all. After we completed lap 8, we would head straight up Johnson Pass for 8.1 miles to the finish. The climbing began as soon as you left the loop. It was more of an annoying false flat for the first mile, then got a little more gradient to it as you left the desert valley and neared the mountain itself. Trees began to appear as you crested this portion at around 2.4 miles. It went back to false flat for another half mile before the real climbing began. It was a pretty steady grade the rest of the way up. Trees appeared and then got bigger as you climbed with the final two miles being almost fully wooded along the side of the road. It was a beautiful climb. If you looked back over your shoulder you could see the snow capped peaks of the Oquirrh Mountains. I really liked the grade, especially in the second half. I was pretty excited about this race.
After I descended back down to Rush Valley, I hopped in the van and we drove north up the valley toward the town of Grantsville. We went into the Stansbury Mountains that line the western side of the valley for a hike up South Willow Canyon to South Willow Lake. Supposedly, it was 2.8 miles uphill to the lake. The trail began with a steady uphill on doubletrack that was used often by dirt bikes and horses. It was a bit loose in places. The trail crested in a beautiful meadow full of wildflowers, then descended for a quarter mile. The serious climbing began after that brief respite. It started on an old gravel road, then transitioned more to singletrack as the trees began to thin and the boulders became more plentiful. About halfway up the mountain, we began to hear thunder in the distance. We kept climbing and the thunder grew louder. We stopped to check out a mountain stream and thought about turning back. We were 2.5 miles into the climb. The lake had to be close. We didn't want to get so close and not see it so we kept going. The darks clouds seemed to be on the opposite side of the valley anyway.
The climb kept getting steeper and now was entirely rock. It was fallen debris from glaciers that rolled through here long ago. We finally could see a crest that looked like where a lake would be. The snow line was just below the crest. We had to scambled across the slippery snow. It was firm enough to walk on, but staying on the trail became a challenge. We were able to reach the crest, but no lake. The snow was melted in this spot, then came back as we neared another crest that seemed like another great spot for a lake. We were now beyond 2.8 miles. The snow here was not firm and our legs kept busting through. We were literally crawling at this point. We had on shorts so our legs were quickly feeling like icicles. We lost the trail again, but I managed to get to the top of the crest. Again, no lake. There was another crest visible in the distance, but it was all snow to get there. It was going to be slow-going with frozen skin on our legs. Shannon was done with the frozen legs. I turned back to help her up the crest and saw the black clouds were now on our side of the valley. The thunder was sounding near. We decided to turn back at 3.1 miles as we didn't even know where the trail was anymore. We followed our path back through the snow and rejoined the uncovered trail. Both of us were tired, but we suddenly had energy to pick up the pace as the clouds were beyond ominous. At this elevation, it was probably going to pelt us with sleet. We started jogging on the gravel road portion, then actually ran a bit through the wildflower meadow. We made it back to the car just as the storm hit. Lightning was flashing across the valley ahead of us as we drove out of the canyon.
It seemed like the hike was a fail as we did not reach our destination, but the drive out made it all worthwhile. The timing was perfect to see a pieace of a large rainbow shining across the valley. We also got an excellent view of the storm rolling toward the Great Salt Lake. The storm pelted us with rain as we drove by the lake and around the north side of the Oquirrh Mountains back into the Salt Lake Valley.
The following day was full of storms as well. I managed to get in an hour on the road around West Jordan between showers. We also hung out with the animals at the house next door to Gma. They are the ones with the giant tortoise. They also have horses, a sheep and some crazy looking chickens. We tried to feed the sheep some of our green grass, but he wasn't interested.
The storms finally rolled out the next day and I was able to go exploring on the mountain bike. Trailforks showed some new trails at Corner Canyon in Draper near the top of the mountain. I have only climbed all the way to the top once and have been wanting to go back up there. It's a long climb just to get to the turn to go to the top, which is where the new trails start. I took a different way up than I had ever gone before. After 35 minutes of climbing, I made the turn to head to the crest of the mountain. I found the new trails, which kept going up before finally giving me a break with some descending down toward Alpine, a little town nestled up against the base of the mountain behind Draper. Some of the new trails looked brand new, not even fully packed down yet. One section had a few roller jumps that gave me some air time. They were perfectly timed because on the final hump I saw a rattlesnake stretched across the trail just as I lifted off the ground. I cleared it and immediately stopped. I have never really seen a rattlesnake up close. I turned around to find it was gone. I knew it was still nearby somewhere. I shuffled my feet slowly and worked my way back to where I saw it. The weeds along the side of the trail were tall and hid it easily. I tried to keep my bike between me and the snake just in case I got too close before I spotted it. Even with my intense concentration I did not spot it until it rattled at me. It was literally only three or four feet ahead of me before it sounded the rattle. I almost walked right up on it. The snake didn't want to fight though and quickly moved away while continuing to rattle. I got a quick picture and then it was gone.
I crossed a few roads and continued on newer trails into Alpine. The trails eventually went off my map. I went out for a few more minutes, then backtracked. I stopped by Three Falls on the way back, then ran into a a big bullsnake stretched across the trail. It was about six feet long. This dude was a bit lower down the mountain from where the rattlesnake was spotted. The bullsnake was enjoying the sun after the past few days were so wet and cold. It did want to fight and I had a hard time getting by. It attacked my bike, then finally moved enough I could slide by without getting bitten. The end of the ride was great, finishing with a long descent down the canyon passing by Ghost Falls and twisting through fields of waving red-tinted grasses. Over three hours of awesome trails!
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