Memorial Weekend was memorial!

Guy and I went to Red Canyon on Friday (May 22) night to ride Thunder Mountain. Grant, Taylor, Sadie, Paul and Annie (friends) were all going to meet us on Saturday at Big Rock Candy Mountain to run the Sevier River.
Guy and I left on our bike ridearound 7-7:30 pm. Guy dropped me off at the top of the trail and parked the car back at the camp ground. In the meantime, our friends, Dave, Sandra, Jason and Tammy were going to arrive and get settled in the campground.

After I basically got to the top of the climb, White Point, it started to rain on me. I stopped to put on my poncho and kept going. The ground was so dry that the dirt was like pastry flour. The rain would wet the top layer and when you would rider over it the top layer would separate from the dusty bottom layer and it would stick to your tires. Every revolution would pick up more clay and it would build up thick until the bike wouldn't move! I was riding my (Pink) single speed so i wasn't affecting my shifting but the tires would get so heavy and bogged down that I didn't have enough strength to pedal them. I would stop and clean all the mud off and start again. At one point I couldn't clean the tires and the bottoms of my shoes off enough to get started again. I was very frustrated, getting a little nervous because the sun was setting. I still had at least 4 miles left and I was close to leaving my bike leaning on a tree and walking out. The only problem was that my shoes were collecting so much clay and mud that I would just slip around. I ended up putting my bike on my back and hiking it for just a little bit until I was out of the really bad area of clay. I cleaned up again and started on my way. Guy finally caught up to me, (he usually does) I had almost thought he would have turned around because of the conditions. That would have been the smart thing to do but he had to keep going knowing that I was in front of him and he couldn't leave me out there alone. I was putting my helmet light on when he showed up and he could see that I was not a happy biker at the time. He gave me a little pep talk and said he would wait for me at the bottom. The trail got better but the sun went down fast. We made back to camp around 9:30 p.m. Sandra knew we were out in the dark and in the rain. They were all worried about us and very glad to see us before 10pm. Guy spent over an hour washing our bikes and shoes.

We were hoping that after this rain the next morning would look better. It rained all morning. The kids were going to meet us to run the river but the temperature was only 46. That would be a pretty cold day. They stayed home and hopefully we will get to do in another time before Grant leaves. A warm sunny day would be preferable.

By noon our camping partners had had enough of the rain and loaded up and went home to ride in the sunshine. Guy and I went for a drive to do some hiking in Escalante. We had to do something in the rain! We went to a trail just below Calf Creek that went to some Indian Ruins. We were intercepted by the Escalante River along our hike. The heavy rain brought the river up and Guy insisted on crossing it to following the trail we were hiking. He looks funny with his shorts hiked up so high.

I didn't want to cross after watching him. He said it was very swift. I told him to go explore and let me know if it was worth crossing. I played in the sand while I waited for him.
He came back and said it crosses the river a few more times back and forth. We aborted the hike and went back the way we came. I am glad I didn't get wet. It was a cold day anyway. When we got back to camp we had learned that a micro burst had come in and blew our awning so hard that it broke. It had collapsed and gouged the aluminum on the side of the trailer. It seems that there is always something to fix after each trip. I guess that is the price to pay. We will know better next time to leave out the awning in not-so-fair weather.

The next day the sun was out and we got on our bikes early before the thunderstorms started in. I went up Cassidy over to Casto Canyon. Guy went the opposite way and we passed each d other just before the rain started in. I got bogged down just before coming down Casto Canyon and it rained on my all the way down the canyon. It was actually really pretty and coming down the canyon the trail is packed down and the mud doesn't stick to your bike too much. Here is what my bike looked like at the top of Casto coming over Cassidy.
Muddy Tires....
Muddy Gears....
Muddy Fork....
Muddy Everything!
Guy met me at the bottom of Losee Canyon and we rode out on the dirt road (ditching the singletrack) to the highway and back to the campground in the heavy rain. The semi trucks would splash huge water on us as they past us by. Most of the ride was great, no one was hurt or stranded so it turned out to be a good day. I am so glad we have a nice warm trailer to recover and shower in. Guy spent several more hours cleaning all our gear.

work hard, play hard, rider harder.