I’ve taken pride that the last five or six places that I have resided were within pedaling distance of local trails. Many of you have been on Lounge start/stop rides. KB and I have a 25 mile route that is almost entirely on dirt and runs through some of the area’s red rocks. Not having to drive to ride my mountain bike, is pretty awesome.
When the snow started dropping on Saturday, we joked about being able to go snowshoeing from the Mooseknuckler Cycling Alliance Social Lounge. As the day proceeded that thought began to seem more of a reality. I lost count of the cars unable to make it up the small hill on 100 South in front of the shop. Countless cars pulled up to the intersection and once they stopped, they began to slide backward. It was all laughs until we all had to drive home.
Waking up to single digit weather on Sunday and an almost completely frozen road, the plan was solidified.
A few weeks ago some lady had asked me if I was familiar with hiking trails in the area. Being someone who likes to walk around in the desert playing Edward Abbey, I felt confident saying yes. She proceeded to ask me for directions to Elephant Arch. I hadn’t ever even heard of that arch. A quick search on a local map and I found it and was able to give directions to get there. I also realized that I had ridden my bike within about a mile of said arch and had no clue it was there.
Destination set.
By the time KB and I were ready to head out the door, the sun had come out and the temperatures, at least of the road, had risen sufficiently to melt some of the snow. I strapped the snowshoes to KB’s back and I packed the camera and water. We strapped the leashes onto the dogs and headed up the street looking like we were serious about something and that something was being out of place. The mile or so to the trail head kind of suck, but once we hit snow it turned into a great afternoon.
We slogged along as the dogs ran in every direction. The road out had been driven so we didn’t actually need snowshoes until we crossed into the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and then we probably didn’t “need” them, but we put them on nonetheless.
The arch was a little less than spectacular. We arrived and it took us about ten minutes to finally see it. The lighting was such that it was hard to tell that there was an arch there. We didn’t take any photos.
On the way out the snow had melted in some places enough that the ground was clear. I spotted the tracks of a fat bike and was a little surprised. This stoked my fire on increased the desire for one of these portly rides. Mostly, I was surprised that anyone had been out there recently enough to leave tracks. On our way back, we were startled by two bikes coming up the Bone Wash, one fat and the other following in his tracks.
Despite the slight disappointment of the arch, we were stoked by this,
What this was, was a short slot that entered into what I am calling Upper Bone Wash. We talk a little side jaunt and explored just pass this entrance. Not sure how much of this slot style wash is there, but even above where things opened up it looked worth the walk, or pedal on a fat bike.
And seeing that my last post was way too long, I won’t leave you with lots of homework for the weekend.
P. L. and R.