Why-oh-ming here we come

 

Howdy y'all. Am just writing this from possibly the dullest and most uninspiring road we have driven on so far. Straight, flat, huge expanses of nothing-ness, and virtually no sign of life. Keeps going on and on and on......boredom levels have reached maximum, and car games (I spy and suchlike) just aren't having the same impact any more. This is south Wyoming!

Shouldn't complain really, as we are on our way to the spectacular Grand Teton National Park, which is just south of Yellowstone. We are going to hang out with the grizzlies! Eeek! Must buy

ourselves some bear spray actually (pepper spray for hikers – it's the latest hiking accessory).

We hung out in the Rockies National Park (Colorado) for a couple of days after the memorable experience at speed-junkie Mile High Nationals (as Brent wrote about below). Washed away the car fumes and soaked up some lovely scenery, and did lots of wildlife spotting. Saw heaps of elk with huge antlers, just wandering around the streets. Was quite bizarre! They seem quite unafraid of humans. Did a 4 hour hike near Grand Lake which was very pretty and rewarded us with great views at the top. Also spent the day hanging out in Estes Park township as well, which is the gateway to the Rockies. Not sure why, but we just didn't have the best experiences in that town. Travelling (especially on a budget) doesn't always go smoothly, and sometimes you do get the occasional bad day (although has been very infrequent for us fortunately!). Estes Park was our bad day. Only minor things, and quite pathetic things really – but they all added up to ensure our stay was minimal! The laundry machine ate up a dollar of my money (OMG), the weather was grey and showery, the hotels were all expensive, the campground was full, the queues at the shops were long, the restaurant brought me the wrong meal, the guy in the supermarket carpark stole my park & then I had to shout at him and give him the rude hand signal, the burger in the diner was terrible & expensive, and the hike we wanted to do was still covered in ice.....this place was telling us to move on!!!! So we did. Left late in the day, but it was the right thing to do!

The drive through the Rockies National Park was just spectacular. Dramatic, moody and very scenic. Definitely one of our fave memorable drives.

Leaving the Rockies, and heading northwest-wards, we spent the night in Steamboat Springs. Now this was a nice spot. A town surrounded by hot springs, pine-covered mountains, and dotted with great mountain bike trails, we were bound to like this town. Only downside to the place was that our primitive campground was infested with aggressive mozzies.  Keeping them outside of our van, thus ensuring a good nights sleep, was very strategic & quite tricky!!  Did a fun 2 hour ride on the trails at Emerald Hill, although had some mean-as climbs which tested the lungs. Afterwards, we soaked in the 'Strawberry Park Hot Springs' just outside of town, which was just what the doctor ordered. Very basic, nestled in a forested valley, with several large hot pools that had sandy / rocky bottoms, and a natural stream running alongside with fresh cold water for the 'plunge' afterwards! The sign said that clothing was optional after dark.....we left on dusk.....so not sure what sort of antics went on after that :-) heehee

So, here we are, in a new state, Wyoming, looking forward to checking out new territory. Be in touch soon, E&B ...hope our friends and family in NZ aren't too chilly!!

Emma the petrolhead

 This entry written by Mr Symes!!

 

We went to the Bandimere Speedway for the "Mile High Nationals" yesterday for a change from nature, one extreme to the other! We got there about an hour before the first 1/4 mile run and took a look around the pits. Big money trucks with workshops in the trailers, where does all the money come from? Easily filled in the hour looking around, it was like a Vegas for speed freaks. Once the starting ceremony rubbish was done, which I did with my hand over my heart to avoid offending some tattooed patriots standing nearby, the show started. Now it probably sounds a bit boring to watch a couple of cars drag down a stright bit of road and it would be if the cars were normal but the "top fuel" cars are more than you might expect. I was too scared to take my fingers out of my ears for the 4 seconds they were on full throttle, it was near permanent ear damage with my ears blocked, a bit like when you're drunk and dancing in front of the speaker with the sound going right through you but times about 5. The first run actually bought a tear to my eyes, I'm pretty sure it was just the methanol fumes but bloody impressive nevertheless. Put this on your list of things to see before you die, even your not into motorsport it's pretty cool. For the record these 8000 horsepower cars were doing 310 miles per hour (over 500 km/hr) in just under 4 seconds, it shouldn't be possible but it is... I think Emma enjoy being scared every time they went down the strip, except maybe the first run which was a shock for her I think.

Today was back to normal, after camping the night at 10,700 ft we got up early for a change and got on the bikes before 8am and headed up Mount Evans Road, a road ride for some variety, which headed up to the top of the hill at 14,200 ft. (highest paved road in North America). Quite an easy gradient if it wasn't for the lack of oxygen, I think we have half acclimatised to the altitude but it would take a while to get used to it properly, the lungs burned a little bit. Got a bit of chest pain towards the top when I stepped the pace up a bit and foolishly did the maths on how old Dad was when he had his heart attack, why do I do that, dumb idea so focussed on spotting some of the abundant wildlife for a bit (marmots and mountain goats) while the lungs settled down, no problem! It's probably the highest we will ever ride our bikes so it was a good achievement for us both.

Went to the airport in Denver this afternoon to sign the paperwork for our extended rental period on the car, a pain but done now so we're heading for Yellowstone soon. Might climb one of the 14,000 ft peaks on the way there. Just in Rocky National Park at the moment.  Rumour is the late snow is nearly gone and it is possible to do it without any special climbing gear so will find out more about that tomorrow. All for now, Brent and Emma

Heading north in Colorado

 

Without stating the obvious, there's definitely some fundamental differences between Brent and I. One of them pertains to biking style & preference. He appears to enjoy punishing his body up brutal technical climbs, and pushing himself on ridiculously technical descents. I, myself, enjoy a physical & mental challenge, but today it just went too far!! :-) (seriously, though, Brent is very good at technical riding - I just have a lot to learn!)

We are currently staying in Idaho Springs, near Denver, Colorado, in the cheapest, crappiest motel we could find (this one doesn't even seem to service the room daily! Albert is having night off as all campgrounds are full). The last few rides have definitely been fun, but Brent has been hankering for some more sharp rocks, drops, tight switchbacks, stupidly steep climbs, and general inducement of physical pain. I agreed to give it a go. The chosen ride was called 'White Range Park' near Golden, and the Net reviews certainly endorsed its mean reputation. Long, long ascent on loose gravelly rocks – and up horrible water bars that required big wheelies (read, getting off the bike and walking, for me). Technical, narrow descents with big drops and tight corners. Brent was loving it! He had ample opportunities to enjoy the glorious views, thanks to me being sloth-like slow, and him having to wait every few minutes. Anyway, 8.6 miles and nearly 3 hours later (that is a seriously SLOW pace!) we got back to Albert – INTACT! Definitely a memorable one.

We did the Monarch Crest trail a couple of days ago (as described below) back in Salida. Awesome fun – 5 hours to do 33 miles (55kms) – got up to 12,000 feet (3660 metres – ouch), and descended down to 7,000 feet. Glorious views and met some nice people along the way too.

Stopped at Independence Pass (which is near Aspen) on our way up here to Idaho Springs. 12,095 ft pass and simply stunning. I got the bike out the sailed all the way back down the road, downhill for 45 solid minutes.....wooohooo!! Overtook a couple of Harley's on the way down....haha....not really, but I wish I did :-)

Going to check out the local hot springs shortly, and rest the aching muscles. And, tomorrow I am going to pull out the most trashy items I can find from my dismal choice of clothing – because we are going to the Drag Racing!! It's being held just outside Denver at the Bandimere Speedway. A day of watching ridiculously fast cars, and joining in the atmosphere of the crazy crowd. A true American experience! Looking forward to it!

Catching our breath in Colorado

Crested Butte (pronounced 'Bute', which I was informed after calling it 'Butt' for a long time, oops) lived up to our expectations. As a huge ski resort in winter, it was well set up for mountain bikers in summer. We are discovering that a lot of towns here in Colorado are self-described as 'mt bike meccas' – makes us feel like we have to visit everywhere!! I like this state; it is truly beautiful, clean, rugged and full of adventure.

Camped in a free camping spot next to the FREEZING cold Slate River, but with glorious views of the Elk Mt range. Noticed that most of

our camping neighbours had mountain bikes, which is a good start! Made friends pretty quickly. We talk the same language :-) Within 1 hour of being there, sirens could be heard in the distance, and before you knew it, about 10 vehicles with flashing lights came tearing up the shingle road. Turns out that a kayaker was stuck up a nearby creek (called 'Oh Be Joyful Creek' oddly enough). He had 'pitoned' whilst going down a grade 5 waterfall – meaning his kayak was stuck nose-down in the rocks at the base of the falls. The emergency vehicles had to cross the Slate River in order to get up to him quickly – which was a sight in itself, as the river was flippin' high!! Made us flinch watching the vehicles drop in to the fast flowing river, that's for sure, but all 4WD vehicles made it. We were told it was likely he'd be dead, but found out the next day that the kayaker was very fortunate. He was stuck under water for 25 mins in freezing conditions, but he had an air pocket around his head, due to the position he was in – and survived. No doubt a bit worse for wear though. Have to say that kayaking white water really scares me – and this incident definitely confirms that!! Was very pleased to hear he was ok.  Another reminder that we aren't invincible.

Went for a mammoth bike ride the following day with our campsite neighbour, Jay. He was from the US Air Force (on unpaid extended leave as they've had huge military budget cuts here – trillions & trillions, down to just trillions – the US economy is up sh!t-creek), and looked young & fit. He demonstrated this to us on the first hill climb. I thought I was having an asthma attack – gasping for oxygen at high altitude! Rode the 2 legendary tracks in

Crested Butte, called 401 and Snodgrass. Ended up being about 30 miles (50 kms) on some pretty lush single track. Rode up to 11,260 feet, which is our record so far. Traversed some snow pockets too which was fun, although made it slow-going in places. Brent made a good go of riding on slippery snow. Tricky!  5 hours later, we made it back to Albert, shattered & ready for a hot shower ($5 in local hostel, best money spent EVER! The closest we got to a shower in the campground was a 3.5 second micro-dip in the river before our toes turned blue. Refreshing).

Checked out the quaint and historic town centre of Crested Butte - another old mining town which has an air of 'Wild West' about it too.  Visited their museum & MTB Hall of Fame which was interesting, albeit a little dusty.  Slept like a log that night after a big cook-up!! 

Went for a walk up the 'Oh Be Joyful' creek this morning to see if we could work out where the kayaker got stuck – but to be honest, the whole stretch of river looked so utterly knarly and full of continuous white water, we couldn't work it out. Those kayakers are nuts!! Will stick to bikes, thanks.

Left beautiful Crested Butte this morning, and drove 2 hours south east to Salida, Colorado. Just booked in for a shuttle ride tomorrow to go on the legendary Monarch Crest Ride. It's been labelled as one of the top 10 rides in the US. Shuttle up to 11,300 ft at the Rockies Continental Divide...ride up to 12,000 ft – and then 40 miles (67kms - ish) of single track back down to 7,000 ft altitude where Alby will be waiting for us. Think it'll be epic.  Hope y'all are keeping warm and well...be back on here again soon...

Beautiful Telluride

Wrote this post yesterday......only just got to upload it now....heading up towards Crested Butte at the moment :-)

Got back to Telluride in time to score ourselves a perfect camp spot in the 'Town Park', next to a lovely freezing stream (snowmelt season). No swimming for us! Can hardly stand in it for more than 10 seconds. Only slightly fewer mozzies here, but seems to have other 'bitey' insects that deserve to be punished and squashed! Rode up the gondola again with our 2 well-used bikes, but this time actually rode some uphill (after getting off the gondola at 10,500 ft) on their 'Prospect Trail'! Got up to 11,160 feet which is around 3200m – ish. Saw some marmots – large, furry creatures that look a little like beavers, but without the dam, of course. Lungs were burning on the steep bits, but I think we are slowly getting used to the altitude. Awesome, fast downhill singletrack back to 9,500 – and then back up the gondola a few more times to do their 'downhill' tracks, just to make the most of the freebie. :-) You know us!!

Rushed back to town, as Brent wanted to catch the Moto GP in one of the pubs, but alas, after settling in with beers & a full meal, we were to find out that the tv schedule had changed. No Moto GP for Brent. But it was a delicious meal. Wondering whereabouts to head to next. Maybe Fruita. Maybe Crested Butte. We really are making this up as we go along. We haven't booked any accommodation in advance...meaning sometimes, we are searching for a little while to find somewhere suitable (i.e. 'cheap ' haha). But for the most part, it has been great to have no commitments.....can leave schedules and plans for when we get home :-)

Moving onwards

 

I wrote this a few days ago but haven't been anywhere near the Net...so here goes....

As suspected, the ride with the Texan boys (and gal, Mel, joined us too) was rather epic and fast paced, and very lung-punishing. We rode the 'Dry Fork Track / Colorado Trail', which in itself would've been a good 3 hour ride, but for good measure, we added on a further 2.5 hour single track exploration (on the 'Super Secret Track') – just to fully exhaust ourselves. 58 kms later, we felt sufficiently knackered and ready for a beer & swim. Big thanks to the Texan (Austin of course) crew for forcing us to 'up our game' and stop dilly dallying around like tourists on our bikes!! Haha

Said cheerio to Lightner Creek Campground (prob our fave so far) in Durango – and started our drive upwards – literally. Up to a 10,900 foot pass and then

dropped down along a spectacular piece of road in to Silverton, called the Million Dollar Highway. This place used to be a hotspot for gold and silver mining. Now a tourist attraction, the place does feel like you've

gone back in time to the Wild, Wild West – classic saloon bars and dusty streets, complemented by its own steam train too. They have a mock gun fight on the main street every night :-) Moved further northwards to Ouray. An ice climbing mecca in winter, this place is simply beautiful. Surrounded on 3 sides by towering snow capped peaks, and cut in half by a fast flowing and clear river. Ate dinner in the 'Western Hotel' – which was definitely on the slant. Brent tested it out, and I swear the food on my plate was sliding sideways. Built in the late 1800s, it used to be the place to have a beer and rest for the night back in the cowboy days. Stayed in Ouray for the night, a bit higher up than Durango, at 8000 ft altitude. Trying to acclimatise ourselves.

Drove up to Telluride today. Probably comparable to Aspen, this place just oozes style and money!! Quite a stunning town with a multitude of fancy restaurants and lodgings – you won't find a McD's or Subway here. Beautiful snow capped mountains, it is a winter ski resort, but they host mountain bikers and hikers in summer. Bonus of this place was that we could take our bikes up on the FREE gondola (yeehh) from 8,500 at town level up to 10,500 feet! We like! There is 30% less oxygen at this altitude, so biking uphill is definitely tougher. Did some neat single tracks, including a black diamond challenging downhiller one (despite advice from the Bike Park attendant), which was just about rideable by me. Brent flew down it, defying any comments from afore-mentioned attendant that hardtails should definitely not ride it. Ha.

Went to a Freestyle Motorcross event this evening in Norwood. Don't think this place is on the tourist route, judging by all the local country folk present there! Was fun, and saw some awesome stunts. We are now parked up next to the San Miguel River on the way back to Telluride, we can't afford accomodation at Telluride! Free camping for us, and even comes with a loo. Just have to share it with 5000 over-sized mozzies. Going back to Telluride tomorrow for some more FREE Gondola action! Yeh!

Delightful Durango

 Why are we travelling?  I have been pondering this question the past few days - we aren't exactly being 'productive' or 'life altering' during our time - i.e. we aren't saving the planet, we aren't helping anyone along the way, we aren't solving problems of humanity, we aren't exactly doing anything apart from satisfying selfish purposes - exploring new places, having fun, meeting new people, taking time off work & routine, taking our bikes to new trails and escaping the NZ winter. It's all about us and what we want to do.  I think we all have a sense of adventure, albeit at different levels - but to satisfy a craving to travel and explore truely is selfish.  I guess we should make the most of

it whilst we can.  I think that Brent and I are VERY fortunate indeed to have had this opportunity to get on a plane, let go of all responsibilities & see a whole new country.  Very lucky indeed.  And we are trying to make the most of it!

The past few days have been fabulous.  Durango is a lovely, historical (old mining) town that has plenty of places to explore.  We have enjoyed glorious blue skies and warm mornings, and then soaked up the thunderous atmospheres & storms in the late afternoons.  The volume of the thunder is louder than anything than we have heard before.

Went for our 1st mt bike ride here yesterday over on Horse Gulch trails near town.  It

started out ok but then got muddier & muddier - and then all of a sudden, our wheels stopped spinning.  The mud is clay based and super-sticky & tacky and turns bikes in to mud-fests. The mud clings on.  Everything gets clogged up and stops working eventually!  Anyway, finished the ride without any mishaps but the bikes were worse for wear :-)

Today, we explored a new area with our campground neighbours  - a DRY place!!  Awesome flowing, fast, non-technical single track over at 'Phil's World' near Cortez. About a 25-30 km spin. The 3 guys we rode with are from Texas.  And they were blindingly fast.  One chap was an A grade road cyclist and another chap came 4th in the World 24 hour solo MTB champs.  Great.  I had to put on my 'race pace' to try and keep up, and boy, was I huffing & puffing (still blaming altitude).  Brent loved riding with the fast boys - think it was probably nice for him to not have to go 'girlfriend' speed for once!!!  He had a blast.  Visited 'Mesa Verde National Park' on the way back.  A Pueblo settlement built in 550 AD, and then abondoned in 1300 (nobody knows why they left) - set in to the huge caves overlooking the valleys.  Pretty spectacular and very scenic (see above pic).

Going for another ride tomorrow up in the Durango hills with the 'speedy gonzalez' boys from next door.  PHEW, better rustle up some energy for that one... til next time...

Bye bye Moab, hello Durango! Life is sweeeet

Had a wicked night out in Moab, with the 2 Canadians we 'rescued' (see below post).  Actually, it was more Brent who did the rescuing & manouvering the bike over obstacles- the girl of the duo called Brent 'Super B' all night which was highly amusing (and has obviously caught on now haha).  Shouted us beers and a nice meal - can't go wrong with that!  They were a very fun and generous couple..we were pleased to come across them!!
Went canyoning on Sat morning with a small group - through Chamisa Canyon, just outside Moab.. a relatively beginner canyon with a few slides, abseils and scrambles, but still lots of fun!  Managed to avoid any flash floods, so that was a bonus. :-)
Visited Arches National Park afterwards which was just stunning & very unique.  Has a huge concentration of arches and funky rock formations which kept us entertained for a few hours (see pic at bottom).

OK...what next....I did a short mt bike ride in Moab on Sunday morning whilst Brent did some chores (I like that!!!) then started to drive south....not sure where we were headed....but knew it would involve cruising through  Monument Valley!!!  Yet another gorgeous national park in Utah (Utah is a really diverse and picturesque state...blessed with beautiful natural features).  See pic at top - just stopped to do the touristy thang, and then kept moving on with Albert.  Drove past about 6 huge storms - the lightening strikes were super-visible, and went all the way to the ground!  Was all pretty exciting stuff.  We kept stopping to take photos.  Drove through Navajo Nation, which is a massive area given to Navajo Native Americans, to own and partly govern themselves (71,000 sq km all up I believe).  Pretty impressive really, although no doubt there's more politics to this than we know about.  Realised that there were bugger-all campgrounds and motels in every town we passed through, so just kept driving and driving...until we got out of the 'Nation'..  about 10pm.  Turns out that the Navajo Indians take 50% of profits from all businesses owned by out of towners - which of course, puts a lot of people off.  Hence no accommodation.  Imagine NZ giving away a large chunk of land to Maoris?  Unlikely.

Visited the 'Aztec Ruins' National Monument this morning - a settlement built in 1100 - 1200 and an important centre for the Pueblo people of that time.  Kinda cool, and involved seeing another snake.  We were freaking out that it was a rattlesnake, but then the ranger told us it was a simple Garter Snake and they've named him 'Herman'.  Then we felt silly. LOL
So, we are in Durango, Colorado now - up at 2000 m elevation, so nice and cool (our idea of 'cool' is 30 degrees now...funny how everything's relative).  Got ourselves a little log cabin in amongst some mts, with a gurgling stream next door.  And mountain bikers for neighbours.  So, we're happy.  Going to check out their famous trails tomorrow!!!  Hoping to stay here a few days...

Moab day 2

 This post is written by Brent!!!
After our first ride here not quite matching the hype, we (and by we I mean Emma) booked a shuttle that delived us to 8500ft, 2600m for you metric people. Moab town here is at 4000ft so we had a good descent ahead. After grinding up the hill for 45 minutes in a good old VW van we headed off in fresh air, maybe 15 celsius, which was nice for a change. Dirt surface for a start then onto some more Moab slick rock shortly followed by the first flat tyre of course, my front tyre, pinch flat. Soon after getting going we stopped to watch a snake slither away, nicer looking snake than last time, only half a metre long and a nice deep green colour and I was nowhere near running him over like the last one. Probably still deadly, ignorance is bliss!  Saw a neat coloured lizard too.
This track, "Porcupine Rim Track", is probably the

best ride we've done so far. I reckon it would be around 3-4 hours of gradual downhill with something for everyone on the way down. After a few hours we passed a couple of Canadians on motorbikes who had decided to take a shortcut out of the desert as one of them was suffering a bit. They decided the mountainbike track would be a quick way out to the road but they were wrong, after we passed them the track was sort of unrideable & very technical for a bit so we waited for them and ended up helping for an hour or two. If you know bikes you will know a KTM530 is one of heaviest pigs of a bike for this sort of stuff, this one had a nice but heavy 2 wheel drive setup to add to the weight, oh joy. By the time bike drama is sorted we have added a couple of hours to our trip and shared the last of our water with our new friends. Not a big drama as we know it's only half an hour to town but we did stop at the first crappy takeaway we came to for a lemonade and fries! Great mission and now we are heading out for free beers and to talk bikes for a while with the Canadians. Em will probably fall asleep after half an hour... Later. 

Moab MTB Mecca

Howdy y'all.  Just writing from  the adventure capital of the US - MOAB, Utah! 
Travelled up from Bryce National Park a few days ago - through a very scenic and remote bit of road.  Had our first sprinklin of rain (in 4 weeks)- so Albert got a wash (which was desperately needed)!  Also realised he has automatic wipers that sense the rain and wipe accordingly (gotta love the gadgets) - was a bit erratic though (Brent called it epileptic) ...went fast in light showers, and slow in heavy rain.  Amusing.
Anyway, enough about windscreen wipers.
1st day in Moab, got ourselves a cheapo motel (too hot to sleep in the van - 35 - 38 deg in the day and was still 30 deg at 10.30pm last night).  Went for a

walk to Corona Arch - see the photo - and see if you can spot me in the bottom right of the arch.  It was huge!  This place is covered in awesome rock features.  Saw some rock climbers on the way back to town and stopped by to watch.  They offered the chance to have a climb on their rope, so jumped at that offer (we brought harnesses and shoes with us but no rope)!!  Have been itching to get on the rock and climb.  Was awesome although found out afterwards it was only a grade 13, which is embarrassing as I found it a bit tricky in places.  Think my skills are a bit rusty.  Brent didn't climb that route but he got to practice belaying :-)  Went to the local brewery for a beer afterwards.  Nice.
Those in to mountain biking may have heard of 'Slickrock Trail' in Moab.  It's world famous!  Did that this morning in very hot temps...we were expecting a reasonably technical track but seemed pretty easy really, compared to other trails we've done.  (arrogant I know)  The only major challenge was the heat (and the distance) which was stifling and made it tiring on the climbs.  Even Brent found it difficult!  Great fun though and good to tick it off the list!  There's oodles of other riding here in the MTB mecca of Moab so we will be well entertained over the next few days.  Going canyoning on Sat as part of a group, and riding another famous slickrock trail tomorrow - Porcupine Rim!  We like Moab!!!

Happy 4th July

Rodeo was very cool!  Proper cowgirl and cowboy style. Some real rednecks in amongst the crowds!  Had ourselves a couple of Buds and settled in for some action.  Most entertaining!  Not sure how they do it - looks bloody scary.
Fireworks were awesome too - we were expecting piddly little efforts, as we are in small -town Utah, but no - Americans don't do things by halves, and it was flippin impressive.  Brent reckoned it was one of the best fireworks shows he'd seen.  I've been to Sydney NYE (show-off), so can't compare to that - however, still scored top marks for loud, bright and long!
Weather has cooled off a bit where we are - nice

cool evening temps which makes it much easier to sleep in Albert.  Having issues with our air mattress though - darned thing keeps getting punctures!  Imagine us waking up at 3 am on a virtually flat bed, trying to find the pump in amongst all our crap, but not wanting to open up the van door for   fear of mt lions, bears (but mostly insects) - and trying to pump up the bed with VERY limited space.  Has had me in fits of laughter.  Anyway, that's a mission for today.  Fix the bloody airbed! :-)
Til next time.
(more pics of Bryce Canyon off to the left by the way) (also - I entered 2 posts today as couldn't get online yesterday! Apologies for length of writing)

Busy little bees in Utah

Will try not to ramble on too much but the past few days have been so busy! Have been all over the place, and loving every minute. Mountain biking has proved to be an excellent way to explore off the beaten track and get away from the crowds (I knew there was a reason why we did it) – have done some awesome rides lately that have delved in to the heart of this canyon country :-) And got away from the holidaying masses.

After Zion, we headed south towards the North Rim of Grand Canyon.

Yup, it is as impressive as they all say – but it's really hard to fully appreciate the scale of it – I think it's 217 miles long and 1 mile deep. That's big. The Colorado River has spent a long time crafting this masterpiece. We camped in the middle of nowhere and explored the North Rim on our bikes, on a very fun and scenic 3 hour ride. Think we were riding at about 2500 metres altitude. That hurt the old lungs.

Just 1 night there along with about a thousand chipmunks, and then started heading upwards to Brian Head at 3000m altitude. A beautiful alpine ski resort in winter, but during summer it markets itself as a mountain bike mecca. Sounds sort of like the kind of place we'd be in to, right? :-) Shacked up in a luxurious hotel which cost us peanuts really (low season hehe) and tried to ride their famous downhill trails. Unfortunately thanks to a very late snow season (there was still lots of pockets of snow around – we thought they were light coloured rocks at first! Seems weird having snow around on 25 degree days..hmm..)...they had closed the mountain to bikers, so we couldn't take our bikes up on the chairlift. Darn. I was all up for lazy uphills on a chairlift.  We still found some trails lower down though (Scout Camp loop – fun apart from the 20 down trees we had to clamber over), so we had our cheap entertainment sorted :-)

Then back to reality and checked out of our luxurious hotel (bye bye bathtub and fridge) and back in to sleeping in Alby. Drove east to a free camping spot in Red Canyon State Park. Neat spot with just a table, and fire ring. And the biggest ants ever - perhaps the size of my little fingernails? Checked out a trail which was recommended to us by our newfound friends in San Fran – Thunder Mountain. AWESOME track. Has to be my fave so far. Weaved its way in and out of these red rock formations called 'hoodoos'. Fast and flowy and rocky, and a little technical in places. Brent got maybe his 6^th flat tyre of the trip? What the!! (tres rocky - not good for his lightweight, fast tyres)

OK, off again – to Bryce National Park – just a stone's throw from where we were the night before. Had heard great things about this park, so was bubbling with anticipation ! Went for a walk today through the Bryce Amphitheatre. It really is quite an odd place, and unlike anything that either of us have seen before. Red rock spires, arches, 'fins' and hoodoos. Got away from the tourist track by trying to scramble up one of the many 'canyons' but got a bit out of my scrambling comfort zone,

and had to backtrack. No injuries on this trip please!

4^th July today so we're celebrating Independence Day. Rodeo tonight at Bryce township, and fireworks later on. Might even have ourselves a few beers. I seem to get lightheaded after 1 beer at the moment. I swear it's the altitude!! Haha.

Thinking we will leave our campground tomorrow and head east – not sure where yet (we tend to make it up as we go along). Then hopefully Moab not long after that. Be in touch again soon! Ta-ta for now.