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A Week In Moab
By Dennis Oaks
Like many trips in the past, things do not workout
the way you planned. Not to say that this is bad but just
the way things seem to go. I had asked as many as 7 people
to go on this trip to Moab. As things worked out Steve Fischer
and I were the only ones that went. Things worked out it was
a great time just the same.
Driving out went well, it's a long drive but
it went fast. We did have a mishap driving through Vail Colorado.
This is a ski area with lots of snow this time of year. A
guy passed us in a small 4-door car and all I could see was
arms and elbows inside. The snow was slippery and thought
this was nuts, well as it turned out he spun out in front
of us. I moved over to the left (lucky there was no cars)
trying to avoid him. He then hits the gas and darts across
right back in front of us. Not wanting to jackknife the trailer
I stayed off the brakes and moved as far right as possible
(very close)! Steve showed me a magazine that was in his hand
and it was "crushed" He couldn't believe that we
missed this guy and I was sure that I needed to "clean
out my pants".
The first day we rode at a place called "Rabbit
Valley". This is a great place to ride and we were not
able to ride here last year because of bike problems. So this
year we rode here on the way out. Rabbit Valley is (for those
who don't know) west of Grand Juction Co. about 2 miles from
the Utah boarder. When we unloaded there were some other riders
out riding but nowhere in sight. We suited up, gassed the
bikes and it started to snow ! we took off anyway and found
out quickly that are goggles would fill up and we could not
see. My hands were getting cold and we deiced to ride back
to the trailer. Looking around I had to laugh because it was
snowing hard! We waited for a bit and saw the sky starting
to break up. Now it was time to give it another try and off
we went, this time was a charm and we rode till around 6:00
I can't believe that we didn't get lost. I asked Steve when
we were out riding if he knew where we were and he said "who
cares" and we rode on. The riding was great and got us
ready for what was instore on this trip.
We arrived in Moab Saturday night. Moab is unlike
any place I ever been, a tourist town in the west that will
grow to 4-5 times it's size during the busy season. Steve
and I have been here 2 years and this is a very "reasonable"
place to come. The people are as it seems all from some place
else and moved here for one reason or another. The mountains
and canyons are breathtaking and pictures never due them justice.
This is an off road paradise, 4x4's, mountain bikers, hikers,
and oh yes motorcyclist are all welcome here. To give you
and idea of it's size Steve and I have been her for 2 years
now and have only seen 8 out of 45 trails that are marked
here in this area. Although of the bunch I have picked the
hardest and toughest one I could find! (Steve likes extreme
riding).
Day 2 was on a trail called "behind the
rocks" this is the toughest trail in Moab. A good ride
with lots of drop offs and ledges. A section that they call
"white knuckle hill" is about 3/4 the way through.
There is no bypass and you must go down! Well we went down
and what a ride! Mr. extreme had so much fun that he deiced
to ride back up ! He got close to the top when he came off
his bike, trying to stop it from landing on him he pushed
it away. In amazement it balanced on a ledge the size of his
skid plate and elevated 6 feet of the ground! The tires where
suspended in mid air(quite an amazing sight) this was very
tricky to get down from there.
This year we added a twist to our off road riding
adventure. I brought my trials bike and found one on the internet
for Steve which we had shipped to our motel. I had never thought
that this could be so much fun! We rode a day here on "slick
rock". this is a trail that has the famous "Lions
Back" on. Lots of twist and turns with lots of vertical
ups and downs. Some of these would climb up 60-70 feet! These
were so steep that you could not climb them on foot, but the
traction on the trialsbikes was unbelievable. We rode this
for a few hours and then connected to a trail called "hells
revenge" on this trail we turned the trials bikes into
off road racers! On this trail riding as hard as we could
I found that these bikes are great for this. Riding through
sandy whoops and leaping over rock sections ,Steve and I rode
like we were being chased by a wild bear (what a blast!)
One of the trails I have to tell you about is
"Kane Canyon". Back on the Ktm's there is section
of this trail that crosses water 39 times! With tight turns,
sandy whoops deep enough to swallow your bike, and rocks everywhere.
We had been riding for about 5 hours and were always looking
for places to "turn it up". Well this was it and
we didn't hold back ! Pushing and shoving cutting back and
fourth crossing water and blasting the guy beside you was
all part of it and let me tell you this was the wildest thing
you have ever seen! Lead changes were often and flying around
a corner just to find a drop off into water was as exciting
as it gets. We were at one time racing side by side blasting
through water on a river bottom just loaded with rocks but
that didn't matter, who was in the lead at the next corner
was what mattered. After that section was over we were both
smiling and laughing at how wet we both were and how nuts
that just was!
On our last day we went to a place I saw in
"Dirt Rider" called "5 miles of hell".
We were given some directions from a guy Steve and I met in
Moab last year. We drove an hour and a half to this area west
in the middle of nowhere. He had told us where to park and
some basic direction on where to find this trail. We searched
and searched up every washout and every trail we found but
could not find a sign anywhere. I wanted to find this trail
and wasn't going to give up so we climbed up to a high ledge
and looked north into massive canyons, but they all looked
the same. By the entrance we found a map that showed this
trail but we found no signs. So we deiced to guess and headed
in the direction we hoped would lead us to our goal. Along
the way we came upon some remains of mining years ago.The
area had a uranium strike in 1956 by a guy named Charlie Steen
and he struck it rich. This started a boom and there was mining
everywhere. Traveling along this trail we came upon a road
that seemed to be on our map so we followed it for what seemed
to be for miles. Climbing up to around 7500 feet we found
snow and this was not fun to ride in but we were still on
a mission. Steve found a trail marked " motorcycles only"
and we followed it. Riding through snow 8-12 inches gave us
major arm pump trying to keep the bikes going in one direction.
The map showed this trail and it came to a "T".
To the left was the trail that lead to "5 miles of hell"
and to the right was the direction south that we hoped would
lead us back to the truck. We kept a mountain top in sight
to help us find our way back but this looked to be 25-30miles
away. This was a tough moment for me, the sun was setting
and was worried about getting to "5 miles of hell "
in the dark and then still having to find our way out! I chose
not to go and to use our mountain to navigate a way back.
Steve said I was a "sissy bitch" and to pull my
skirt up and ride! I took the abuse and we started back. I
think he knew to that we should head back but no one wants
to quit. You have to remember that there is no one out here
for a long long way and that was on my mind. Fortunately the
snow stated to disappear as we went south and for a while
mud was an issue. This was a single track and the more we
rode the better it became. We turn it up for a while and made
it back with time to spare. All in all it was still a great
day of riding but to our disappointment fell alittle short
of our goal to ride "5 miles of hell"
A great trip again with an awesome riding partner
and great memories of this beautiful canyon land. Steve and
I have rode in a lot of great places and he doesn't call me
"sissy bitch" to often as I can remember a time
in Antigo Wi. When it got a bit cold but thats another story.
Dennis
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