Showing posts with label Microadventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Microadventure. Show all posts
Birthday's have always been about the weekend. An awesome, radical adventure with the best of friends; great food; and getting outside. True birthday weekenders are a dying breed as with each aging year the weekending becomes less and less of a priority with life's other "priorities" taking the front seat. The one night, 2-hour dinner meet up with friends doesn't quite satisfy the quench. There's a feeling with each coming year to prove you've still got it, you've still got what it takes to push yourself that extra mile, to do something to top off year's past. Birthday weekends are the time to celebrate and start your next year of life with a bang of bad-A-ness.
We got lucky with this one and TK was all gung ho to get out of the city with us. We got off to a little later start than expected, surprise, but it ended up being perfect night riding desert conditions--yes, it is still February. We rode through the night following the spiraling road leading up to Jacob's Chair until we found the perfect soft sandy spot to lay our bivy's. We woke to views of canyons as fas as the eye can see and in a bed of petrified wood chips. The ride ended with the final ascent to the base of Jacob's Chair and masterminding plans for future climbing lines. Of course the descent was the sweet reward and end to a quick desert bikepacking escape. Cheers to another year TK!
We got lucky with this one and TK was all gung ho to get out of the city with us. We got off to a little later start than expected, surprise, but it ended up being perfect night riding desert conditions--yes, it is still February. We rode through the night following the spiraling road leading up to Jacob's Chair until we found the perfect soft sandy spot to lay our bivy's. We woke to views of canyons as fas as the eye can see and in a bed of petrified wood chips. The ride ended with the final ascent to the base of Jacob's Chair and masterminding plans for future climbing lines. Of course the descent was the sweet reward and end to a quick desert bikepacking escape. Cheers to another year TK!
full set | Jacob's Chair
Monsoon season can be the pits. Sure our country is dry as bones and can always use the rain, the rock and dirt magically change colors with the touch of water, and we have the best lightning shows. BUT when it's always raining it puts a slight damper on exploration; roads flood, trails become mud slides (sometimes fun...just not when they're rocky), and with the rain sometimes comes hail...yea hail in the summer welcome to SE UT ha! We can really only stand so much "crafting" before we start getting antsy and restless.
Well three great things happened this past weekend 1) we convinced D's BF Scott to come down 2) we woke up to a sunny skies 3) the shemagh shipment arrived (that's 100 for our upcoming Indiegogo campaign in case you were wondering, yes 100). Sunny skies permitting with shemagh wrapped heads we headed to Bayles Ranch nestled in Chippean Rocks.
Bayles ranch is now split into 3 separate private properties. We've been wanting to speak with the owners but as luck would have it one lives in Germany, one in England, and the other in Blanding. It was our first time riding down to this area, and we took a chance dropping by one of the ranch properties. The England owner by chance happened to be visiting and we were able to have a nice chat on his porch and find wait out a looming rain cloud. The cloud emptied and subsided to a drizzle we parted ways with our new friend and as chance would have it we made it back to the truck in time for the hail show.
With skis, in dire need of grinding, strapped to the top of the runner we headed a couple hours south to 700 vertical feet of sand aka Little Sahara. Without any motors to get up the hill, we planned for a late night start when there was relief from the sun. However, driving up to the dunes in the dark they were swarming with ATV lights creeping like ants into their hill. Arriving at the base we strapped our skis to our backs and started weaving our way up the ridge to the night sounds of crickets, motors, and echoing sounds of Beiber. The ride down was definitely far short of epic, but worth the experience of saying we did it. We did a final run in the wee hours of the morning, sans motors and Beiber, when the camp was in deep hung over state. The sight was beautiful, another natural oddity of sorts.
Permits in process the only thing left is setting the course. We spent the weekend bushwhacking, biking snow covered roads, making bliking a thing, scrambling chancy cliffs, and practicing our six-shooter draw, lest I mention we are dog-tired.
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The best adventures are the ones in your backyard. We've recently moved to the Millcreek area and there's a little peak aspect that has always been of interest to Dustin. We pass it everyday to and from work, driving on the freeway, and if you walk down our street there's a pretty good view. From the looks of it Dustin thought it might be worth a climb, so we headed off for a afternoon exploration. We hiked up the ridge, the rock ended up being too chossy so there was no climbing but we enjoyed chilling with some hot cider at the top under a bosai-looking tree.
We took the weekend and went on an exploration: map, truck, gear and all. Our plan was to take the Blue Notch Canyon to Good Hope Bay, an appendage to Lake Powell. The only problem was there was no beta, no mile markers to look for, no milage. All we had was a Forest map showing us the general area, and the name Blue Notch giving us a unique landmark in the red rock to look for.
True explorers we headed off down 95, me wide-eyed and gapping at the amazing red rock towers, canyon, landmarks, and unimaginable country. Dustin tapping his memory of the same landmarks to figure out where we were on the map. There is so much untouched country, I only wish we had more time to explore (or re-visit for D)!
Natural bridges, Fry Canyon, Cheesebox, Jacob's Chair, then there was the break of a Blue Notch in the canyon and we found our road. Surprisingly, the road was well maintained, but still fun dirt road driving, weaving up the canyon, with amazing views. At the end of the road we found the bay, choose our beach to camp on and set off in the kayak.
We spent the weekend paddling, bouldering, scrambling, eating good food, sleeping under the stars well full moon, finding seashells, chucking rocks, and enjoying each other's company.
Most importantly the truck made it and is still kickin'.
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