Biking the New Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST), October 31, 2021

 

View south from the Hidden Lake Trail, the silhouette ridge is the Woodbriar Ridge above the Wild Rose Trail.

Well that was embarrassing, and my no-vomit record of over 20 years is now toast. At the Jct. of the Wild Rose South Ridge and the start of the new BST (mile 4 into my ride), in the span of about 5-seconds I went from feeling like Super-Man to down on my hands and knees in the dirt and heaving my breakfast and lunch. The three hikers and two bikers who witnessed it had looks of horror on their faces, but they were sweet, asking if I needed help. No thanks, I was too embarrassed.  So, feeling like crap the new plan was to peddle  over to the Woodbriar cut-off and go home, but about 2-minutes down the trail I felt fine again, so it was back to plan A, and I pedaled to the end of the BSL trail. 

So weird, I’ve pushed way harder than that without vomiting. Maybe it was the three cheese sticks and the Big Hunk I wolfed down just before starting?

As of January 18, 2022, there is about seven miles of new BST cut, starting at the south ridge of Wild Rose to about a half mile into the south slope os North Canyon. When completed the new cut will add 16 miles of single track from the Beck Street Antennas Pass to the Kenney Creek Trail on the north side of Mueller Park.

How good would you look just after vomiting two cheese sticks and a Big Hunk?

Dude Peak from the end of the cut at the North Canyon divide.

The Vomit Comet under Dude Peak.

New BST cut seen across the way. The personality of the new cut is defined by wooded drainages, it cuts in and out of numerous, wooded drainages with little elevation gain or loss. The Joeys think it’s boring, same terrain mile after mile, but I like long cross-country riding, away from crowds. I don’t give a shit about down-hilling on a bike.

Fast climbing is a gift from God, fast DH’ing is a gift of weight and no-brains. When you get old you realize that broken bones and popped tendons are a bitch. You avoid injury like you do COVID19. Wait,  this is Utah and Utahns are prone to believing fairytales, so go ride down Mueller's at 40mph. That next blind turn just might shed some light about fairytales (deniers), and reality (grow-up and do the right thing), if not for you, for that poor hiker you’re about to steam-roll. 

So far, with the new BST still officially closed and almost no traffic, it gets my love.  

This section of the new cut is still unpolished, but when the second pass is done, it’ll be so smooooooth, even a Roadie could do it.

Rough-cut trail, view NE into North Canyon. I’m no Joey, but I like the rough-cut better than the finished product. More thinking, less mind-less pedaling.

The cutter at the end of the line entering North Canyon from the south.

View NW

North

View NE from Dude Peak, now just a skip away from the new BST.

Biking Antelope Island, October 22, 2021

First time riding Antelope. Smooth trails with a few rocky sections to keep it interesting. The Elephant Head spur was gold, but crashed once on a steep, rocky climb when I had zero momentum to carry it through, but too proud to unclip. Hitting the ground forced the unclip. I was told we lucked out, mosquito netting not required today.  The drive through Layton and Syracuse is a total shit-show. Crazy traffic, sprawl and strip malls getting closer and closer to the GSL. It use to be quiet farm-land back during my LOTOJA training days. . . . With Brett Fuller, my hero, one week away from retirement.

Map showing all the bike trails on Antelope Island. Hiking trails are not shown.

Strava footprint showing we rode the White Rock Loop and Elephant Head Spur. We hoped to also ride Split Rock Loop, but one of us forgot their through axle on the tool bench at home, combined with the Syracuse traffic, delayed our start by about two hours. All I’m going say, in 30 years of climbing, skiing, and general adult-male-screwing-off, it’s the first time the fuck-up wasn’t mine;). But I’m not judging . . .

View NW from Beacon Knob.

Coyotes stop and stare like I’m a lunatic when I mimic their howl. It’s a terrible impersonation but I’m not totally nuts. When I was a kid, about 10, on a back-door Reeder hike, my brother shot and killed a mother, so of course my Dad brought one of pups home to raise. Coyotes are wild, even when raising one from a few weeks old we couldn’t nature our the nature. A year into the experiment, Yipper (my Dad picked the name) would always reveal his ‘inner-wild.- He constantly bit us, ever so lightly, never breaking too much skin, but I could tell he wanted blood. I was always wary, never trusted that thing, and a big reason I’ve never liked canines for pets. To be honest, I’m scared of growling/barking/aggressive dogs, and I don’t have the patience to love the wild out of anything, except my Grandkids. But back on point, all those years ago with Yipper, my brothers and I could get Yipper howling by mimicking his howls,  a nightly occasion to the chagrin of the neighbors. That was the only singing the Reeder Boys ever did. Now, out of old-habit, whenever I see a coyote I go all Yipper and HOWL.  

South-East view toward Bountiful from Beacon Knob. The Great Salt Lake is toast, mud-flats and no lake east of Antelope Island.

North.

American Bison. I got to close, shortly after taking this shot his tail was erect, a sign of aggression. 

View NW from Elephant Head

View SW from Elephant Head, toward Stansbury Island (middle) and the Stansbury Mountains with some snow beyond (left). 

View south over Split Rock Bay.

Two old men , trying to “not go gentle into that good night.” (Dylan Thomas)

Old bike still brings joy. No plans to replace it for at least 30-years.

“Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright,
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. . . .
Do not go gentle into that good night.”
 - Dylan Thomas

Good Water Canyon Rim Trail, San Rafael Swell, September 24, 2021

Stunning! The continuous, overwhelming view in these few photos does not begin to convey the deep sense of Divinity experienced today. I’m told that God can only be found in a church, but men can’t replicate this. The Segrada Familia in Barcelona comes the closest, but still, a large gap of separation remains.  

The ride footprint. The outer-ring are the roads ridden counter-clockwise, the jagged inner-ring is the rim trail single-track, which was ridden clockwise.

Main Trailhead, we parked here then rode/biked westward (left) on the road to ride the Rim trail in a clockwise direction. (Roads ridden counter-clockwise, single-track ridden clockwise).

Statistics
                                                                                                                                                
Lap                                                                                                        Time        Miles     Ascent   Descent
                                                                                                                                                  (ft)     (ft)
Main TH to Wedge Overlook, 2-track                                                 19:56         2.82         305        30
Wedge Overlook to Good Water Rim Trail                                           8:36           .93           36        39
Rim trail to Main TH                                                                        1:15:10         8.23         190      479
Lunch at truck                                                                                      12:39            -                -           -
From truck at Main TH to East TH on Rim Trail                             1:11:28           7.1         322      118
From East TH on road back to truck at Main TH                                12:58           2.87         59      243   

                                                            Totals                                     3:20:49         22.02       912      909
                                                            Moving Time                        2:19:18
Average Speed     9.5mph
Max Speed         22.6mph
Max Elevation     6,219 ft
Min Elevation     5,904 ft

We parked here at the Main Trailhead, which is in the middle of the rim trail, starting from here rather than at either end of the rim trail only to shorten the road commutes at the start and end of our ride. We’re seen here dressing and gearing-up before starting the ride. To start, we pedaled west from on the the road to the west trailhead, a quick 3.75 mile ride (per Garmin) on a wide, smooth, rolling double-track to the west to start the single-track at the Wedge Overlook. Midway through the Rim Trail we stopped here for a few minutes to reload water, eat some sugar, drop unneeded layers, then back to the single track, continuing our eastward (clockwise) loop.

View at the Wedge Overlook, where the single-track Rim Trail starts.

The Little Grand Canyon looks pretty damn huge to me. 

Brett, a month away from retirement, and always game for anything outdoors and he never quits anything first. When back-country skiing he keeps doing laps until everyone else has pulled out headlamps and  started down to the trailhead. It was the same when we were younger and really into climbing and alpinism. Snowing and slippery rock at 13,000 feet, and Brett was still climbing upwards when I’d be making excuses about going home because I was cold and all my clothes were soaked. It’s aggravating to  ALWAYS be the quitter on the team. 

It’s called the Little Grand Canyon for good reason. It is one of those places that you hear about with too many adjectives, but given the source of most cyclists, the blather is quickly dismissed. But when you go, you are shocked, the real thing is absolutely stunning, expectations are completely annihilated because no photos or sappy-writing comes close to conveying the beauty.  

It’s not called the Little Grand Canyon without reason. Man-made structures all fail to inspire me like our natural world does, contrary to what I’m told at church. If God does dwell in a man-made structure, my vote goes to the Bascilica de la Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, Espana, designed by Antoni Gaudi. An immense forrest of stone, light and color.