I awoke to a hot breakfast of french toast and good coffee, as promised, and then we packed the gear into H&C's Nissan to hit the trails. It was quite cold that morning, a good bit below the freezing mark, so we dressed warmly and left Cailan with his grandma.
Looking for the driest trails we could find, we went northwest of I-70, past Fruita, to the Kokopelli parking lot where we could access several trails from a single starting point. We began by heading up a moderately steep and rocky trail, Mary's Trail, until we reached a rock shelf overlooking Horsethief Bench.
The descent from the shelf to the bench is quite steep. It may look like we're on the edge of a cliff (below), but it's actually the beginning of the descent. Most people don't ride it. Most people who try probably end up breaking something. Today it was especially treacherous because it was covered in ice. Of course, I didn't get any photos of the actual descent because I was too busy trying to descend without getting killed or dropping my bike off the boulders. Below, Heather holds my Nickel and talks to Utah while I take pictures before we descend.
Most of the Horsethief Loop was plenty dry, but some of the sections on north-facing slopes were not. This picture shows a snowy north-facing slope in the near background. Heather and Chris are climbing on the tandem.
After doing Horsethief, we carried the bikes back up to the shelf and continued around on Mary's Trail. The section below was undoubtedly the most exposed section of trail we rode. It actually looks worse in this picture than it really seemed, although one would not want to take a wrong turn here, or even look away at the scenery for a half second.
We stopped for a snack where Steve's Trail split off from Mary's, and then turned back to return to the parking area. Below is Steve's trail taking off toward the north and heading downward towards the Colorado River.
After heading back home for a quick lunch, we picked up Cailan, along with friends Maria and Max, did some bike swapping, and headed back to the same trail head. This time we rode Rustler's Loop, which has a few challenging hills and some rock shelves to climb, but is overall a fairly easy trail. Chris and Cailan are getting ready to climb up some of the most challenging shelves on the loop. They made it up, of course.
Marie and Max at the same spot. Max was probably shouting and laughing with the sheer joy of trail riding when I took this picture. He loved being out on the bike and wasn't afraid to let us all know!
Click here to see the GPS log for the day's rides.
Moving on to Sunday, we thought we'd try something a little more distant and a little more adventurous. We didn't know we were also trying something a little more snowy and a lot more muddy. The Rabbit Valley is a little further from Grand Junction; the trailhead is not far from the Utah border. We left Cailan at Grandma's house for this one. Utah stayed home too. He wanted to come, but after doing more than 20 miles on Saturday, he probably needed a break.
Since it was muddier than expected, we mostly stuck to the road for this ride instead of taking the somewhat parallel single-track. I suppose that means we were road biking, but it's good that we had fat tires with knobs. On this trail -- er, road -- it was easy to feel like we were out in the wilderness. Aside from the tracks in the mud and the snow made by jeeps and ATVs, and the trails in the sky made by airplanes, there was hardly a sign of man's influence anywhere.
Progress was slow and challenging. We often rode on the snow because it provided a firmer surface than the wet ground beside it. In some areas the sand or clay or earth was dry, but mostly it was not. Typically, as responsible conscientious mountain bikers, we avoid riding trails when they are muddy. On this four-wheel drive road where ATVs and 4x4s outnumber bikes, our shallow tire tracks seemed relatively benign. Below, Heather is descending with Chris up ahead taking the fork to the right.
We stopped for a rest at the time of a climb. Is Heather shaking her finger at Chris?
Stopping short of Heather and Chris's usual destination, we rested at the lookout before turning back toward the trail head.
The descent from the lookout was really fun, with large rocks obscured by snow. Taking it fast required a certain level of confidence, some trust that the suspension and tires would accommodate whatever lay underneath, and a good dose of adrenaline-induced stupidity.
We got through it. Here's Heather coming in near the end of the snowiest.
Check out this rock!
And click here to see the GPS log from Sunday's rides. I forgot to start watch until we'd gone a couple of miles, so the track is not complete.
And then I drove back to Denver. It was a really fun weekend. It would have been much much better with the whole of scaq. I miss them all so much (even though we talk every day).
The interesting thing about doing these rides without Cindy, Abbey, and Quinn, was that I really wasn't without them. The whole time we were riding, especially on Saturday, with the scary cliffs, I was thinking about what it would be like to do the ride with Quinn on the big black tandem. Which climbs and ledges would Cindy and Abbey be able to thrust the green Cannondale over? Would Quinn and Abbey be too scared to ride along the exposed ledges? Would I be too scared to let them? Cindy? Even though they weren't with me in person, they were in my mind.
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