Last weekend update

Update time... Last Saturday morning I went for a ride up to the top of the Monument.

Steeeeep

Deer crossing the street on top of the Monument

Its a long way up to the top but once you get there it is pancake flat and you feel like your in Kansas, not at 7000'. Even the roads are dead straight.

Then we went to the Mesa State Football game against Western New Mexico (I think). We won by alot.

Big crowd! Kind of like Williams-Brice with about 77000 less people.

The Edge - The loop, not the guitarist

This morning I decided to ride the Edge Loop, a 30-35 mile loop around the boockcliffs with 3800 feet of climbing (according to IMBA). Like all good decisions it was made on the spur of the moment after drinking a little too much coffee before class. I packed a full pack with food and water and semi-tolerable energy goo and was off.

Excuse #1 My legs were really tired. I made the mistake of going to the gym yesterday, always dumb, and Time says it makes you fat too, and my legs were a bit tired. No Problem! Ill just spin it out and be fine.

Excuse #2 I looked at my trail map after I was about 30 minutes into the ride and saw the little note that says "2100 feet of climbing or descending from here". I was climbing that way.

So Im going the wrong way, as usual, but no worries. I was slightly prepared and had read up on the trail and knew there was a dried up 30 foot waterfall you had to portage. No problem though, there are ropes and its probably pretty easy anyway.

Excuse #3 The waterfall is, in fact, steep and its really hard to get a foothold on slickrock in mountain bike shoes. And if you didnt read before, I was going the wrong way so I was going up the waterfall and not down. Gravity you are a cruel mistress!!!!!!!

Check out that sweet rope, safety first......sometimes.

After lugging myself up the first little pitch, and then dragging the Spooky up with a rope with one hand while holding on for dear life with the other, I was almost there. JK! I left my alpine climbing skillz at home today and after finally making it to the top, I realized there was no way the bike was going to make it up with me. Since walking the next 25 miles didnt seem to appealing, I decided to head back from whence I came and skidded and flopped my way back down to the bike. Then I repeated the process of getting the bike up, just in reverse. Turns out this is harder than it should be.

Hearing the sound of your bike smacking into rocks is rather unpleasant it turns out. it was even worse for my Singletrack Solution bar-end, may it rest in peace (probably not good for the carbon handlebar the bar end was on either...). At least the ride back home was mostly downhill, and even more importantly, no one saw my 15 minutes of shame and ineptitude. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you a 30 foot vertical portage of rock in bike shoes, make for the car. Life lesson right there.

Sunday Hiking

Sunday morning we got up early and headed up to the monument for a little hike. We hit the Mica Mine trail which is a pretty easy trail through a canyon that goes past the old mine.

I 'supposedly' took a wrong turn and we ended up on the rim of the canyon, not in the canyon. Whatever...
Once we made our way back down after our nice little detour it was back in the canyon. We never actually saw the mine, but we did see some super awesome mica, if your into that sort of thing.



That afternoon Kelly went do school to do some work (so dedicated) so I decided not to follow her lead at all and went out to Mt Garfield. This is the second time Ive done this hike, I was hoping it would be easier than last time.

It wasnt. Its a nice view though.

Weeeeee!! Long way down. I met some nutty dude on the way down who apparently climbed up the side of the bookcliffs, since the 19% grade of the trail wasnt crazy enough. He "had no idea there was a trail here" and "hated all trails" . He also had 3 teeth and was climbing in acid washed jeans and no shirt so I moseyed on down the trail (I like trails, I didnt tell him that though).

This is Gearhart Mine. I walked up above it and there are still pilings and mine equipment up near the top. Creeeeeeapy. There are also warnings all over about how abandoned mines can kill you seven hundred different ways, so I decided to forgo the spelunking and taste testing of the old mine dumpings and head home.

Dinosaur Bones

Saturday morning we went for a hike in McInnis Canyon. We hiked from the lake at Snook's Bottom (really) close to the entrance to Devils Canyon.

I had been here a few days before for a geology field trip and knew there were fossils around.

Searching for dinosaurs.

Success!! Dinosaur Bone!

Field Trip

This morning my students and I took a field trip to Riverbend Park in Palisade to walk a nature trail. It was for a fundraiser for our school's PTA, but mainly we just went on a walk along the Colorado River and took in the nature and got water, an apple, and a cheese stick afterwards! It was a nice change of pace from the normal school day.

I asked Will to help chaperone, but he wasn't feelin it... Maybe next time.

Keep Singletrack Single!

So says the sign. Went for a nice little ride out at 18 Road yesterday, 73 degrees but it felt like 90 with the sunlight. At least its not humid though! Finally got to ride Joe's Ridge. All thats left are the Vegetarian Loop and the original IMBA epic, the 35 mile Edge Loop.

Field Trip

Saturday I went up to Grand Mesa (east of here) with the Western Slope Field Conference. We hiked up to the top of Grand Mesa on Crags Crest Trail which tops out around 11000'. Grand Mesa isnt actually a mesa at all, its whats left of an ancient volcano and we tramped around up there looking at the former vents and lava flows (exciting, I know).

Looking south towards Durango. Fun Fact: There used to be and 18k' volcano here about 10 million years ago.

Looking SW toward the San Juan Mountains. In the upper right corner you can see Capitol Peak in the distance. One of Colorado's 14ers, and supposedly the hardest to summit.

We finished our trip driving down a 1 lane dirt road that drops a mile from the top of Grand Mesa to GJ with about 50 switchbacks, all in an old Econoline van. Exciting!