Moab: The second time

Amasa Back parking lot. Tombstone above the
front wheel.

Glamping, Colorado River, 3 miles from Moab

After returning to Salt Lake City from Connecticut we picked up the RV from the long term parking and headed south. In the month since we dropped the RV off snow had appeared in the mountains around SLC. On the way to Moab we drove over the 7500ft Soldiers Pass and Symi jumped out to have a quick play in the thin spread of new snow. She is still very excited by seeing fresh snow on the ground. We arrived in Moab early afternoon to a beautiful sunny and warm day.  We stopped off at the Moab Brands trails and Rob went for a quick ride to blow the cobwebs away. We were all surprised at how beautiful we found the red rock and desert colours after a few months of trees.

2 of 14 fluffy animals come out to play at sunset

Still some Fall colours on display as we ride into the Amasa Back trails

We spent the next 10 days doing some riding and some exploring. After a warm-up at Moab Brands Symi and Fiona were talked into riding in the Amasa Back area and we did the (blue/black) Hymasa trail. Rob felt they shouldn’t miss out on the stunning scenery the trail has to offer, however it’s a 

big technical climb of 1400 ft. Symi was offered dollars to spend on itunes, increasing at strategic points on the trail. After three falls early in the climb (the hardest part), Symi needed the incentive, and we did pull out some bonus dollars after the third fall. Huge credit to her (and Fiona of course – who was offered nothing as an incentive!) as we all made it to the top. Fiona and Symi impressed with their massively improved technical riding both up and down. Hymasa is a hard trail. While they descended Hymasa, Rob continued on the double black (its difficulty probably over rated) Ahab Trail, huge fun.

Symi descending Hymasa

The view top of Hymasa and a well earned rest

We managed to repeat this ride twice over the next week.   The second time we met an Aussie, Brett, who is travelling the USA with his family (8 year old daughter and 10 year old son) and surprise, surprise - into mountain biking. The third time we pulled into the  Hymasa parking lot it was full of base jumpers. Never having seen anyone do this before we waited for one of them to throw himself off the aptly named Tombstone. We warned Symi about how these jumps can go wrong but all was fine. The parachute opened with a massive crack and it was all over very quickly.

Trail re-routed from here second run :(

 

Photo opportunities Gold Bar

Rob also managed two runs of the Magnificent 7. The first time on the shuttle, luckily meeting two riders from Durango doing the Gold Bar/Portal exit. One of them, Will, had dinner a few days previously with Jim who we had stayed with in April! Talk about a small world. Most go an easier option as the Portal has many nick names including America’s deadliest trail. It’s obviously comforting for Fiona if Rob has company on this style of ride, not that company can stop anyone falling off a cliff. However, Rob wouldn’t ride around the outside of another rider next to a cliff face like you can see here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erk4BR2GNPo&app=desktop . The first run was in perfect weather, blue sky and no wind. The second run was with Brett and we were kindly shuttled by Brett’s wife Suzie. The start of the ride was in temperatures well below freezing. The first 15km’s or so of this ride is down, ouch, fingers went completely numb and ice cream headaches were the order of the day. The Mag 7 with a Portal exit is epic and a classic. There is a new section of trail that interestingly opened between the first and second runs. It’s called Gold Bar and runs from the top of the Gold Bar jeep track along the Moab fault to the Portal Trail. It was even re-routed so it doesn’t go past the overhang in the photo above, probably a good idea as it would be a dodgy section of trail if it was windy.

Looking towards the beginning of the Portal Trail

Survived again, end of the 'death' section Portal Trail, trail somehow runs behind

When we visited Moab in March/April it was very busy. We had wanted to do a walk into the Fiery Furnace that requires you to be led by a Ranger and these walks were completely sold out. This visit we easily booked a tour and we thoroughly enjoyed the three hour walk despite the cold wind. We enjoyed the talk from the ranger, interesting rock formations

Fiery Furnace

 

Scrambling involved

 

Park Avenue

 

Sunset, Delicate Arch

and as usual on these walks had some interesting chats. One man lived in Manhattan and was near Wall Street, on the street, when the twin towers collapsed. He had an amazing story to tell. We also revisited Park Avenue and walked up to Delicate Arch to watch the sunset. The conditions were freezing, on the way to Delicate Arch we passed a puddle that had 1cm of ice on top of it. We tried to huddle out of the wind while the spectacular sunset then quickly walked the 2.5 km back to the RV.

Quote from the book Desert Solataire

Some states in the USA, including Wyoming, Colorado and Montana, have been experiencing their coldest November for decades. On the last day in Moab Rob jumped on the shuttle to ride lower Porcupine Singletrack and Porcupine rim. At the top there was a light dusting of snow. That evening we had a spontaneous dinner party in the RV as Brett and family had pulled up next to us at the RV Park. The kids enjoyed playing Lego in Symi world and the parents compared RV travel notes. At about 9 pm it started snowing and being typical Aussie kids, still fascinated by snow, the kids grabbed their snow thongs to head outside and play in the freezing conditions.

RV social life

The next morning we said our goodbyes with perhaps a potential plan to catch up in Sedona. We drove south from Moab and as we ascended there was increasing snow cover. Our exit from Moab was timed perfectly, the trails would have been unrideable due to the snow and Rob most likely had one of the last rides down Porcupine Rim for the season. We were headed for Grand Canyon to try and do the walk down to the Colorado River. As we drove south west the snow was spectacular against the red rock. Whilst admiring the beauty we were hoping that the trails at GC were still going to be walkable and not packed with ice.

Almost an 'RV movie' moment. Repairing the pipe that
became dislodged from the black water (that's the
unpleasant stuff) tank. Smell NOT pleasant in there!

 

The LaSal Mountains and fresh snow on our drive out

 

Snow gone by Monument Valley southern Utah