I had some friends to pick up near Moab on Sunday so I decided to drive there Thursday night and hammer on the bike for three days before heading back to SLC. The plan was to camp all three nights at one spot - in Kane Springs Canyon, do two days of riding there and last day ride in La Sals before heading down to Colorado to pick up the friends.
I left SLC on Thursday evening and got to Kane Springs Canyon at about 10.30pm. After one unsuccessful try, I found the campsite where I was three years ago. It's on a nice flat area with big fire ring (which I did not use) and some cottonwoods and tamarisks for shade. The canyon walls were blocking the east side, the sun did not get to the place till about 9.30am, which made it for chilly mornings.
The Friday plan was to ride several jeep road trails west of the campsite, alongside Colorado River and end up exploring Amasa Back. Clickable map and fotos are here. All went well except for crash on final descent from Amasa Back. I got to the camp at about 5pm and spent an hour or so icing knee that got hit, preparing the aforementioned webpage and drinking a couple of beers in the process. Then I ate dinner and entertained myself with an evening companion, that can be seen here and here. It was quite cool especially since I was just getting over the loss of my favorite rodent - Vincent, to whom I dedicated this ride.
On Saturday I rode east of the camp, up Kane Springs Canyon and up and down in the Behind the Rocks area. Clickable map and fotos are here. This ride was somewhat more challenging due to riding in the creek and locally harder terrain Behind the Rocks. I again got back to the camp around 5pm, which was good since there was several hours to hang out before it got dark. The evening was nice but around 10pm came strong winds that blew some sand into my tent which made for challenging sleeping rearrangements.
On Sunday it was quite warm in the morning, I packed up and headed through Moab to La Sals. It was relatively chilly above 8000 ft, and I saw the first snow of the year, which made for some changes in the ride plan that ended up being somewhat more challenging than previously thought. Clickable map and fotos are here. I got back to the car again a bit before 5pm, several hours later than I planned. Quickly washed, changed, packed bike and drove down to Sorrel River Ranch at the Colorado where I loaded two friends and their stuff - I was glad that we all fit in the car. Then we took off and did get to SLC just about on time to go to bed.U of U / CHPC / Cuma / Travel / English / Moab 2004
