Packsaddle Loop

Today we finally got around to doing a classic mountain bike loop ride over on the Idaho side -- Packsaddle Loop. It's a 15 mile ride in the Big Holes, west of Driggs. The riding is on easy forest service roads, with some gravel county roads down on the flats to close the loop. 

Janet and Lisa were already planning to do this ride, so Jill and I tagged along. We had some gorgeous views east to the Tetons, no traffic to speak of, and perfect weather.

Echo Canyon State Park, Nevada

Jill and I headed to Echo Canyon State Park, east of Pioche NV, hoping that it would be a good base for watching the annular solar eclipse on Sunday May 20. We pulled into the campground on Saturday afternoon and had our choice of several good sites; the campground was about 2/3 full. The camp sites (about 30) had shaded picnic tables and running water, and were well maintained.

The main attraction here is Echo Canyon reservoir, a small dammed reservoir that appeared to be full of hatchery trout. The trout received steady pressure from fishermen on the bank, in float tubes, and in small boats.

After two days of driving, we were ready to get some fresh air and exercise. The Ash Canyon trail is a short (1 mile or so) trail that runs from the campground at Echo Canyon State Park, through Ash Canyon, to the Meadow Valley Road. It can be done as an out-and-back, or as a loop by walking back along the road. We added a little bit of distance and elevation gain by hiking up to the top of a nearby ridge, looking for potential eclipse viewing sites. Ash Canyon has some very rugged volcanic rock formations that are a striking contrast to the surrounding juniper ridges.

After the hike, we went for a drive to Spring Valley State Park, about 15 miles by road but less as the crow flies. Spring Valley SP also has a (larger) reservoir full of hatchery trout. The campground here was full, so we congratulated ourselves on having picked Echo Canyon instead. Spring Valley State Park was quite the busy place, full of weekend campers and day users. I have to admit, it is a more scenic location than Echo Valley.

On Sunday we took the mountain bikes for a road ride from Echo Canyon SP up to Spring Valley SP, but we took a shorter route on paved roads through Meadow Valley. This valley was lovely, and we saw very few cars on this back road. North of the reservoir at Spring Valley SP (which is actually known as the Eagle Valley Reservoir, hmm) we did a short hike through some interesting sandstone formations.

On the way back to camp, we stopped at Eagle Valley Resort for an ice cream bar. The resort is a small RV park with a bar, restaurant, and general store; nothing special in my book. Other camping alternatives in the area include lots of BLM land, and the Meadow Valley BLM campground between Eagle Valley Resort and the Spring Valley SP. The BLM campground is small, maybe 8 sites, and only a couple of those would be suitable for a small trailer.

Back at Echo Valley SP, we showered off the day's sweat and then drove up in the hills south of the Echo Valley reservoir. The evening before, we'd found a great spot for eclipse viewing; we set up lawn chairs atop a small ridge just 50 yards from the road, opened a couple of beers, and settled in to enjoy the show.

We had that viewing site all to ourselves. I didn't think to bring a camera tripod on this trip, so my eclipse video is all handheld; it turned out well enough, though.

We enjoyed the Echo Valley - Meadow Valley - Eagle Valley - Spring Valley area, and thought that it would merit a longer visit for more exploring. Mountain bikes would be a must, and the area is much less crowded mid-week compared to the weekends.

Rites of Spring

Last Saturday, the inner roads in Grand Teton Park were officially opened for non-motorized travel. No vehicles are allowed until May 1st, so this makes for some gorgeous biking when the weather is cooperative. The weather on Saturday was perfect; Jill, Lee, Steve, and I logged a 38-mile round trip out to Jackson Lake dam and back.

Colorado Overlook Trail

The weather was cloudy with a chance of showers, and the blister on my heel was sore from yesterday's hiking. I decided to bike out to the Colorado Overlook; the 4wd road leaves from the Needles Visitor Center and goes seven miles out to, well, an overlook of the Colorado River. The first three miles is an easy 2wd high clearance road, the remainder gets considerably more technical; definitely 4WD high clearance and I wouldn't take my truck.

I was hurrying a little bit to make sure I could get out and back before it started raining. Out at the overlook, it was 50 degrees and windy, not very pleasant at all especially after the gorgeous weather the past few days. So I snapped a couple of obligatory pictures and headed back.

The squall that came through only rained long enough for me to put on raingear, it was over in less than five minutes and never rained hard. Oh well. I spent the rest of the day exploring all of the roads and nature trails in the Needles section (the cowboy camp at Cave Spring is very interesting). When all was said and done, I'd put 32 miles on the mountain bike and that was more than enough time in the saddle for one day.

Trough Springs and Canyon Rims

Leaving Moab, my plan was to head for the Needles District in Canyonlands NP. But first, there was this road on the map, north of the road into Needles, that led to some places called Needles Overlook, and Anticline Overlook. Those sounded interesting. The map also showed a campground there. With a bit of online research before leaving Moab, I found the BLM web page describing the Canyon Rims Recreation Area. It seemed like this would be worth one night.

The Hatch Point campground is about 25 miles from US 191, first on good paved road (the Needles Overlook road) and then well-graded gravel road (the Anticline Overlook road). It's a small campground, nine sites with pit toilets and water, and it was very quiet when I was there; only 2 other sites occupied, one by a couple from Durango with a Scamp trailer of their own. Site #1 has great views.

I drove out to the Anticline Overlook and Minor Overlook, and oohed and aahed over the views there.

The BLM information sign mentioned a hiking trail, so I figured I'd better check that out. The Trough Springs trail is a down-and-back-up trail, 2.5 miles each way. The total descent is 1100' but the majority of that comes in the last mile as the trail descends a steep rockfall section of the canyon.

At the end of the descent is Trough Springs, a pretty oasis. From Trough Springs it is a mile or so down to the Kane Springs 4WD road (accessible from Moab). The Trough Springs trail was well-cairned but it didn't appear to get much use at all. I didn't see any recent tire tracks at the trailhead, or any recent footprints on trail except for one set of tracks down at the very bottom by the springs. It had been rainy the previous two days, so that had reset the track-meter as it were.

Trough Springs GPS log and pictures at EveryTrail.com

The next morning I rode the mountain bike out to the Canyonlands Overlook, about a 13-mile roundtrip from the Anticline road. The Canyonlands Overlook road is signed as "4WD Required", which I would agree with. The first 5.5 miles are mostly easy 4WD high clearance; there is one stretch of sand about 4 miles in, maybe 100 yards long, that might be a little bit tricky. At about 5.5 miles in, there is a small turnaround area with a nice overlook to the north. Beyond that point is technical 4WD, not suitable for normal road vehicles, but very nice intermediate mountain biking. It is about 1 mile to the Canyonlands Overlook itself; pit toilet, picnic table, and more killer views...

Klondike Bluffs

After six nights of boondocking in the Scamp, and two weeks total traveling, I was ready for a couple of nights in civilization -- restaurants, laundromats, grocery stores, liquor stores, the whole nine yards. Also, one of my hiking shoes was blowing apart after many miles of use, so I had some shopping to do. The weather was deteriorating as well, so it was excellent timing to be a townie for a day or two.

I headed for Moab and signed in for 2 nights at the Canyonlands Campground. It's a well-kept RV park right in town, practically across the street from the brewpub and a few blocks walk to any of the downtown restaurants and bars; perfect. Their rates are a few dollars higher than the places on the edge of town, but I thought the location was worth the premium.

After an afternoon of retail therapy and watching the clothes go round, the next day I was ready to get outside. This being Moab, the only self-respecting option was to go mountain biking. Jill mentioned the Klondike Bluffs trail, said she had really enjoyed it; that was recommendation enough for me.

The trailhead for Klondike Bluffs is about 15 miles north of town, just short of the airport. The (very old) bike trail guide that I had made it sound like the turn off the highway was a bit tricky to find. Well, not anymore; there are huge signs on the highway for the Klondike Bluffs trailhead as well as the other popular trailheads in the area. There is a parking area right at the highway, but the real trailhead is about 2.5 miles east on a dirt road. The weather was still cool and scattered showery, when I got to the trailhead I sat in the truck and waited out one squall. The skies looked reasonable behind that one, so I unloaded the bike and started pedaling.

The trail is about 10 miles out-and-back, much of it on easy-to-intermediate slickrock. I hadn't done any slickrock riding to speak of, so this was a new adventure and quite a treat. I was really enjoying having a full-suspension bike!

The pot of gold at the end of this rainbow is a short hike (no bikes) inside the Arches NP boundary to a nice overlook of the north end of the park.

By the time I got back to the truck, the next rain squall held off just long enough for me to stow the bike and the rest of my gear; perfect timing. Back to Moab, and I felt like I'd earned pizza and beer for dinner.

Two-fer Tuesday

The weather forecast wasn't all that great, but the actual weather sure looked good. Eric and I went mountain biking on a Cache Creek - Game Creek loop, first time either of us had ridden the Game Creek trail since it had been rebuilt last year. (Kind of lame that it's the end of July and we're finally getting a Cache-Game ride in!)  The new trail is nice, not as exciting as the old one but also not as dangerous.

Going for a multi-sport day, Eric suggested a late afternoon kayak trip down Alpine Canyon. I didn't have that much energy, so we did an evening raft trip instead. Dropped off a vehicle at the South Park bridge, picked up the raft, bought some sandwiches for dinner, launched from Wilson bridge at six o'clock straight up, and landed at South Park about 8:45 using just about all the available daylight. The fishing was slow, but it was a lovely evening to be on the water. Lots of new snags this year in that stretch of the Snake River!