Saturday, July 15, Monument ValleyBlanding
(75mi/120 km)
Around five I got up, just in
time to witness a beautiful sunrise. Took a
great picture of the silhouette of Monument
valley's rocks. After breakfast we loaded our
bikes and took off early in the morning. The
route to Bluff (64 miles ahead) was again
very scenic. The climbs in Utah were not long
but had sometimes very steep (1015%) grades.
Erwin's climbing was also improving, since he
was used to pedal in a lower gear. As result,
I didn't have to wait any more on the climbs,
for he could easily catch up with me in the
descents.
That day we met three other cyclists, one
duo and just a few minutes later followed by
one solo rider. All of them from Britain,
cycling (east) coast to (west) coast. Like us
their daily average ranged between 6080
miles (100130 km). Just a little lower then
Erwin's expected average of 100 miles per
day, he initially had in mind!
In Bluff our ways separated, time to say
goodbye to Erwin, who'd planned to ride to
Four Corners and Durango. From there over the
Rockies, heading to Kansas, he should meet
his wife and decide how to travel further. He
asked me for joining him until Durango, but
in that case I would miss Moab and Arches NP,
so I preferred to ride solo the rest of the
trip.
The lonely ride from Bluff to Blanding was
dominated by rolling hills with meadows and
farmland, not very spectacular. In Blanding I
found a small campground, for the first time
since Flagstaff I had to pay for a campspot!
Ten bucks, oh well, that was not too bad.
Sunday July 16, BlandingMoab
(76mi/123 km)
From Blanding to Monticello
was another dull ride compared to the beauty
I'd had left behind. Past Monticello the
landscape changed a bit, the first arches,
more forests. Just along the highway I hiked
up to Wilson Arch, a beautiful view on the
snowcapped La Sal Mountains. A friendly
Flemish family is inspecting my bike. They'd
offered me a soda and a refill of my water
bottles with fresh cold ice water. I gladly
accepted the offer, since the last 50 km to
Moab there were no services along the road
and the temperatures were rising to
unbearable levels (nearly 40 degrees Celsius!).
In the AAAcampground guide only expensive
RV campgrounds ($1520) were listed in Moab,
but luckily I'd found a small back street,
where a small hiker/biker friendly campsite
for only $7 was located. Unfortunately those
campsites were very rare in this part of the
States.
Monday July 17, Moab (52mi/83 km)
A visit to Arches National Park. Fantastic
arched formed rock formations with
spectacular views on the snow capped
mountains near Moab. Because of the overcast
weather it was not as hot as the day before.
Moab is also known as mountain bike capital
of the world. A lot of motels were displaying
welcome signs for bikers, several trails for
mountain biking over so called slick rocks
have been marked and a lot of souvenir shops
were selling fancy cycling Tshirts.
However, it was slightly disappointing I
didn't meet any other cycle tourists in this
town.
Arches National Park
