Deserts and Mountains

Today was another big day in Utah, from our start in Hanksville at 4400', climbing to the pass just north of Boulder at 9600', then dropping down to Boulder at 6703'.

We rolled out of Hanksville just after 7, with our official farewell party there to see us off.

"Have a nice ride!"

This gives a good sense of Hanksville

It was another beautiful morning, clear and crisp.

Rear Projection

As we were pulling out Tom remarked that he felt like he was forgetting something. Sure enough, after about 3 miles he realized he had left his cell phone charging on the end table at the AirBnB house. Luckily our call to the wives went through and they were able to shuttle it to us. That also gave them the opportunity to snap some action photos.

Luna? No, Utah

As we headed west the scenery changed from the dry moonscape we saw yesterday to a scenic fertile valley along the Fremont River. It was nice to see signs of habitation after yesterday's desolation.

After about 25 miles we entered Capitol Reef National Park. The road climbs gently through the scenic canyon and there are many pulloffs with hiking trails and viewing spots. It was a little busy with tourist traffic but not bad. Overall it was a gorgeous ride.

One of the many rock formations in the canyon

The always-popular visitor center

After 48 miles we came to the little town of Torrey, where we stopped at Subway to fuel up for the upcoming climb. Torrey is at about 6000' so we knew we still had plenty of work to get to 9600'.

The climb itself was long, and very steep in some spots (my Garmin reported 12% at one point), but extremely scenic. Most of it is in the Dixie National Forest. Almost immediately the landscape changed from the Utah brushscape to (borrrowing Anne's phrase) "alpine wonderland", with pine trees and aspens as we got higher.

Up, up, up

Most of Utah is open range. That means the cows can go wherever they want. This one chose a spot with a good view

The lady that took this was impressed enough to take one for herself too

Fortunately the mountain mostly shielded us from the strong south wind, since the hill itself was enough to contend with. Finally, after about 25 miles of steady climbing, we reached the summit. It was so windy that we had trouble posing for the obligitory summit shot.

Hold on tight

The descent into Boulder was steep, and for me, a bit nerve-wracking because of being buffeted around by the strong winds. I was frankly glad when it flattened out a bit and I could get off the brakes.

We are staying at the Boulder Mountain Lodge, a first-class resort with great views and facilities. Even the Wi-Fi seems to work. We are looking forward to a nice dinner with our wives one last time before we go our separate ways tomorrow.

Todays ride: 84 miles, 7200' of climbing, super scenery, and perfect weather. All in all, a great ride.