Day 4: August 25^th, 2011.

Sipapu Bridge – Natural Bridges National Monument

I woke up early in the morning, feeling rested and refreshed after finally being able to take a good shower. I packed up all the gear, hopped on the bike and headed out for the Natural Bridges National Monument. Natural Bridges is a somewhat secluded area in the south central part of Utah, directly south of Canyonlands National Park and about 40 miles west of Blanding, UT. The monument contains three naturally formed bridges in which water from the winding streams slowly cut through the canyon walls. The monument includes a 9 mile loop which provides scenic views of each of the three natural bridges, “Kachina,” “Owachomo” and “Sipapu”. The bridges were named in honor of the Native Americans that inhabited the area.

I arrived at the park and made a quick stop at the visitor center to collect my pin and passport stamp to prove that I had been there. I filled as many water bottles as I could find and head out on the loop. There were several scenic pullouts that provided good views of the bridges, but it was clear that if I wanted to get a truly spectacular view, I would have to hike down into the canyons. I was not prepared to do much hiking, even though the weather was a lot cooler than the previous day, so I snapped as many photos as I could and headed back out.

As I was heading down the freshly chip-sealed road back towards Utah Highway 95, my Garmin GPS unit decided that it was going to try to commit suicide. I had been using the suction cup mount attached to my windshield, and although I had been having a few problems with it popping loose, the power cord, which securely fastens to the unit, had always acted as a tether. This time the stars aligned just right and when the bracket hit the frame, it released the GPS unit from the mount, causing it to tumble down onto the road and get run over by my bike. I swung around, rode back and picked up the unit, fearing the worst. Fortunately it still worked, although the case was severely chipped, scuffed and beat up. The two halves of the case were separating, exposing the circuit boards inside. A couple of quick snaps, however, and it was all back together. The power switch did not go together quite right, and it was difficult to turn on, but I was very grateful when it powered back up and began barking directions at me! Read the rest of this entry »

Day 3: August 24^th, 2011.

Arches National Park

The third day of this trip through the canyons of Utah started out just like the others. The weather was perfect, although a little bit warm. I got up early and packed up my campsite so that I could hit Arches National Park early, before the weather got too hot. Since there were really no trees in the campground I stayed at, I had to break out the tent.  Packing up a dome tent and mattress takes a little bit more work than taking down the hammock, but as I get farther south I am finding that there are fewer and fewer trees to hang from. I had gassed the bike up the night before and wasn’t really hungry, so once I got things packed up and hit the road, I headed straight north out of Moab and to the park entrance.

Once I entered the park, I made a quick stop at the visitor center to get my stamp, collector pin and some water before heading into the park.  I started up the winding pass and over the scenic route and was almost immediately greeted with some of the most incredible geologic formations I had ever seen.  I pulled off at the first turnout and broke out the camera so that I could get as many pictures of this amazing place as possible.  I stopped at several turnouts before finally reaching Balancing Rock, one of the most famous attractions in Arches National Park. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 2: August 23^rd, 2011.

Day 2 started off beautiful. Who could ask for better weather! I got up early and cleaned up my campsite. As it turns out I was the only camper in the campground that night, so getting ready to go was quick and easy.

After packing up my hammock and loading up the bike, I set out for Price, UT, my previous day’s intended destination. The ride was nice, but I did run into a small bit of road construction. Once the pilot car arrived to shuttle us across the construction zone, things went pretty quickly and I was in Price before I knew it.

I pushed on past Price towards Moab and Canyonlands. One stop on my destination was a gas station at the intersection of I-70 and US 191 (the road to Moab). I figured I should stop and get gas as I was getting low, so I pulled in. It was the only business in the area which should have tipped me off that something wasn’t right about the place. First off there was painted replica of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, except it was blue instead of green. The place looked like an old rundown junkyard with gas pumps out front. I could swear I had seen this gas station in at least 1 horror flick in my time. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 1: August 22^nd, 2011.

I had intended to get up bright and early and hit the road, but of course there’s always something that gets in the way of that plan (namely my snooze button). I did however still manage to get up pretty early and finish up my packing.  Toothbrush: Check.  Deodorant: Check,  Spare batteries and chargers: Che… err… crap,  I left them sitting in the garage…  Oh well, I guess I will just have to pay the touristy price for my AA batteries.

I finally got on the road about 8:30.  The bike felt a little weird as this is the first time I have ridden it this year with all of the gear loaded up.  The new tires I put on 2 days ago probably didn’t help things either.  The bike was actually responsive now!  Imagine that.  After getting used to the scrunched forward position and much smoother ride courtesy of the new Dunlops, things were feeling pretty good. Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday, June 27th, 2010: Day three started out quite nice. I woke up at about 8 AM, having slept in for an extra couple hours after sunrise. The morning was perfect, the cool crisp mountain air made it difficult to get out of bed. Before the trip I purchased a Coleman queen air mattress, and this trip was the first time I had used it, and boy what a difference it made! I finally succumbed to the sunshine though and climbed out of my tent into the outside world.

I packed up camp and loaded the bike up as quickly as I could. I really wanted to head back by the visitor center and the Colter Bay Marina so that I could take some morning photos of the Tetons. Once I got there, I climbed off the bike and wandered down by the water to take some pictures of these beautiful mountains. This was not my first time here, but it is hard to not be awe inspired by the site of these behemoth, jagged peaks protruding from the crystal clear water of the other side of Jackson Lake. I got a few pictures and wandered up to the visitor center to collect my pin and a souvenir for my girlfriend back home. Once I found what I was looking for, I hopped back on the bike and headed for the nearest gas station.
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Saturday, June 26th, 2010: Saturday morning finally arrives and my alarm starts screeching. As I reach over to turn it off, I can’t help but notice the bright glow through the red curtains in the… let’s call it rustic… cabin where I spent the night in Ennis. I stumble out of bed and over to the window, pulling back the curtain to see a bright blue sky and sunshine peering over the mountains to the east. Today was shaping up to be a beautiful day! So what do I do now? Back to bed for me!

About an hour later, I get a phone call from my girlfriend. She wanted to know if I was awake yet and how the ride was going. I lied to her and told her I had been awake for a while and we talked about the ride. After talking to her for a few minutes, I finally got out of bed and started packing up all my gear. Most of my riding gear got wet the previous night so it was sprawled out all over the floor to dry. I gathered it all up and put it back in it’s rightful place, with the exception of my chaps and jacket which I would be wearing, of course. This sunshine was really starting to motivate me. I thought about having breakfast at the hotel restaurant, but thought otherwise as I walked inside to a huge crowd. I got on the bike, rode over to the closest gas station to gas up and hit the road.
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Friday, June 25th, 2010: The day was looking to be pretty nice. The temps were in the mid 80′s and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. This was somewhat of a spur of the moment trip, but I had done a lot of packing the night before so that I could ride out straight after work. All I would have to do is stop by home, gear up, strap the sleeping bag on and head for the hills! Unfortunately, as luck would have it, the beautiful day turned rather ugly right about the time I decided to leave.

Just before I had planned to leave work, some coworkers and myself headed upstairs to the cafeteria for a quick break. Since it had been warm out all day, we decided to go sit in the courtyard. As we were out there, I could see some thick black clouds rolling in from the west. Not even five minutes later, those very same clouds decided to open up, so we headed back inside and down to the dungeon (IT people always work in the dungeon it seems). I hung out for about another 30 minutes finishing up some last minute work and then headed out for the day. As I got back upstairs and to the parking lot, it was no longer raining, although it was still pretty dark out. I wiped the raindrops off the seat of my Road King and headed for home, hoping for better luck than I had encountered so far.
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This past fall, I got to go on an absolutely amazing ride from my hometown of Missoula, Montana to Northern California and back up the Pacific Coast. I have never taken such a fantastic trip in my life. However, after the post road trip high had worn off and winter started to set in, I started thinking about what I could do to outdo that trip. Then it came to me. Why not ride through all of the National Parks in America (well, the ones I could get to by bike). So I started plotting and scheming and I came up with a pretty good plan.

My goal over the next five years is to ride through every National Park in the lower 48 states, not including island parks. The vast majority of the parks are actually not too far away, relatively speaking. What a great way to see parts of the country I have never been to. So for each year over the next five years, I will be purchasing an annual pass for the National Parks and riding to as many as I can. As a souvenir and proof that I have been there, I will also collect a pin from each park I visit so that I can not only be reminded of the wonderful memories, but can also show them off on my favorite riding jacket as a symbol of pride for all of the rides I have taken.

Being that I live in Montana, the obvious starting places would be Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park, both located at least partially in the state. I have already been to both parks, but never on bike, so this will be a nice start of the adventure. There are so many cool things to do and see on the way to the parks that the ride there should be an adventure in itself.

The next planned adventure is to ride through the parks in Washington State. Ever since I was a little kid, I have been interested in volcanoes, and the Cascade range is filled with them so the rides through North Cascades National Park and Mount Rainier National Park should prove to be extremely interesting as well as scenic. Last fall I visited Mt. St. Helens, which was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, rain and bad weather kept me from visiting Mt. Rainier, so this should be a pretty fun ride. In between the two parks, why not hop a ferry from Seattle and take a trip to the Olympic Peninsula and through Olympic National Park. I have been in the Seattle area before, but the weather was always bad, hampering my ability to really see things, so hopefully I will be able to get a trip in while there is plenty of sunshine and blue skies.

This August I will also be attending the Sturgis rally in South Dakota. During this trip, I imagine I will be able to see quite a few different places. I may even take a detour or two on the way back so I can get a couple more parks checked off of the list.

Stay tuned to this blog for updates on my trips. I will also be talking about some of the gear and equipment I use and providing tips and tricks for taking road trips yourself.