My other ride...

[kaybeejay]

I took my other ride on a 2300+ mile, 4 state, 5 day road trip this past weekend.Went from Bay Area to Reno to Wendover, UT to Salt Lake City to Moab to Las Vegas to Bay Area.I visited.....RenoBonneville Salt FlatsSalt Lake CityMoabSecret Spire Trail in MoabGemini Bridges Trail in MoabArches National Park in the moonlighthiked Lion's Back Trail (cause I was too chicken to drive it!!!)Spent the night in a 4 star hotel on the Las Vegas StripWalked Hoover DamSome info in case you guys don't know the places I listed....Lion's Back Trail:In March 2002 a 4runner tried to drive up it, and didn't make it. It rolled a few times and fell off the side of the trail. I believe the 3 passengers all survived. The 4runner is still in the crack.http://www.moabtimes.com/issue....htmlThe Lion's Back trail is a popular trail for thrill seekers. Accidents do happen, but they are rare. The entire trail is probably about a 25-45% grade on smooth sandstone. My pics:http://community.webshots.com/...kxCPeThe day that I was there, it was warm and sunny. There was no wind at the base, but probably 50mph winds at the top. To enter the "lion's back" you have to pass thru private property. The guy running the grounds asked us for $1 per person to hike it. Normally they charge $10 per vehicle to drive it.The rock surface looks slippery but it is actually VERY grippy. My shoes never slipped, even when standing at a pure 45 degree angle. That doesn't make the experience any less scary though. (You try to stand on a sloped smooth surface with 50 mph winds blowing in your face while being 100ft off the ground)Next trail report.... Gemini Bridges

[kaybeejay]

Gemini BridgesThe trail is a broad rocky gravel road, with some steep sections and one stretch of ledgy slickrock. As an out-and-back from the highway, it's 16 miles round trip. Total climbing is about 1500 feet, in 3 sections of 500 feet each (two on the way out, one on the way back).The highlight of the ride/drive puts you on top of the bridges at GPS N 38° 35.123' W 109° 42.456'. Approach them with caution. You could easily ride/walk/drive off a 200-foot cliff. Gemini Bridges are twin spans over a deep canyon. Be carefull when exploring them --a fall would be fatal. The capstone of Kayenta forms a ledge that protects the underlying Wingate sandstone from erosion. The Wingate fractures away in large vertical columns as the soft Chinle Formation underbeneath it erodes, forming breath-taking vertical cliffs. My pictures are here:http://community.webshots.com/album/179018097FimXsXMy trail report:We were loosing daylight. The plan was to go visit Secret Spire - hang out and head over to Gemini Bridges. We got lost in the vastness of the wilderness and if we didn't run into a BLM Ranger, we may never have found the Secret Spire trailhead. It took us longer than expected to find the spire, so our time for Gemini Bridges was looking grim. We were quickly loosing daylight and it looks like a nasty Storm was heading our way. We could hear thunder and the clouds were looking increasingly menacing.We found the trail head and proceeded into the trail. We came across a family (dad, mom and two young sons) on their bikes heading into the trail. We chatted with them briefly to make sure this was the right way and then continued on. Unlike the trails to the Secret Spire, the area around Gemini Bridges are very clearly marked. We had no trouble finding the parking area for the bridges and making the 200 yard hike down to the bridge formations. When we arrived, it started to rain. Let me rephrase that.... it started to Rain HARD!!! There was no cover to be had so we made the decision to just hurry up... take some pictures and bail back to the Xterra. As soon as we started to rush around - the rain stopped. Then it came back again... then it stopped. Then we could hear the deafening BOOM of thunder off in the distance. We spent maybe 15 mynutes enjoying the views of the bridge formation and exploring the area. We were visited by a lizard (probably looking for shelter from the rain), who mistook my backpack as such.We returned to the Xterra and continued out of the area. We had several more miles left before we would encounter paved road and we knew that the storm was still on its way so we tried to make good time out of the area - since neither of us liked the idea of being stuck out there in a storm. The trail decended several hundred feet down into and thru a box canyon slowly enjoying the breathtaking scenery which surrounded us. When we exited the Canyon, the trail started to accend one of the ridges. Now we were on a shelf road overlooking HWY 191 below. We took extra caution to stay on the shelf road, cause neither of us liked the idea of tumbling a few hundred feet off the ledge to our likely deaths (that would put a serious damper to our trip).The shelf road had a few sections which were off-camber and narrow. I took advantage of my Xterra decent ground clearance and just rolled over the rough sections being very careful to keep my distance away from the steep edges of the road. As the trail was comign to an end and the road flattened, we encountered a Toyota Minivan. Surprised to see such an " ordinary" vehicle on such a treacherous road, we stopped to chat with the driver. He was looking for some campgrounds which (according to his map) was in the middle of the canyon we just exited. He seemed concerned that his van was not going to make it, and asked for our recommendation. We told him it would be safer to turn around and find another campsite. The road "gets worse" and there is a storm coming. He agreed and followed us back out to the mainroad.The Gemini Bridges Trail was filled with breathtaking canyon views, fun and easy 4wheeling and we were even able to help a fellow traveler out.Great time.

[AKLGT]

looks like fun! makes me miss my tundra when i see pics like those!

[kaybeejay]

Secret SpireMy pics: http://community.webshots.com/album/179017974etaREf/2 This trail rides the rolling mesa top between two of the Green River's large tributary canyons, Hellroaring and Spring Canyons, and it crosses upper Spring Canyon to visit a strange tower, dubbed the Secret Spire. It is a good trail for some mild four-wheeling through an interesting and scenic expanse of country.Scenery: The large vistas are to the west and north and encompass the San Rafael Reef, the Book Cliffs, and a glimpse of the Green River. The close-up views are into deep, rugged canyons and a range of local rock formations, including arches and towers. Bluffs of Entrada Sandstone, called Needles Rock and Rainbow Rocks, stand high above the trail. Road Surface: After twenty miles of pavement, the roads are largely sandy dirt - sometimes mostly sand and sometimes laced with rock. There is some sandy washbottom and a little bare rock. Highlights: Near upper Spring Canyon washbottom, one gully often washes out and may have to be repaired a bit. You may take a spur to Dellenbaugh Tunnel, which is a strange, usually dry watercourse piercing the Navajo Sandstone. The tunnel is about 100 feet long and high enough that one hardly needs to stoop to walk through. The floor of the tunnel is a limestone layer rich in red chert, and it extends another couple of hundred feet to an abrupt drop into Spring Canyon. The Secret Spire is a strange tower of Navajo Sandstone standing alone on a dome-like base. Nearby are two small arches, one of which is just beside the main road but is easily missed. Source: http://www.utah.com/offroad/secret_spire.htm We left downtown Moab and headed north on Hwy 191. Then we turned eastward onto HWY 393 toward the Canyonlands National Park. The dirt road leading to the Secret Spire is not marked, so we had to guess at which of the many dirt roads was the right one. My navigator used a map that I printed off the internet and my trusty Garmin etrex to triangulate our location and find the correct dirt road to use. After trying 3 different roads, we finally found one that fit the description listed above. We stopped to consult the map again and make certain we were headed in the right direction. Just then a white Jeep Wrangler buzzed by us and continued up the road. It was a BLM Ranger. We lamented at our missed opportunity to ask a “pro” for directions to the Secret Spire.So we continued down the dirt road. The road was wide and realitivly flat. A normal car could have made it down this road. We drove slowly so we could enjoy the vastness of the vistas which surrounded us. After driving several miles, the road got rougher and we started to doubt if we were going in the right direction. After a quick look at our maps and trusty GPS – we decided that we must have missed the fork to the Spire and turned around to look for it.We found a road which looked like the right one, so we started to turn down it. Just then – off in the distance we saw something kicking up a lot of dust. It was the white Jeep we saw earlier. GREAT – we could flag down the ranger and ask him for directions. The ranger stopped and we asked him to point out the spire. He was very friendly and stopped to point out a few of the less noticeable features of the area. He told us that he was tracking a couple of ATV’s which had done some damage to a fence. The tracks went in the direction of the Spire, so he offered to lead us there.The Ranger promptly just took off down the dirt road. His Jeep was more heavily modified than my Stock Xterra and he had the advantage of being more familiar with the terrain. I had to really press and step on the gas to keep up with him – as well as dodge the various dips, jumps and cow catcher traps. We were literally and figuratively eating his dust!We followed the ranger for another 7 miles past the landmark called “The Tombstone” and over dry streambeds cattle grazing areas and open flat pastures. The ranger stopped at the correct fork leading to the Spire and he stopped to tell us how to reach it. He also offered a few other sights which were nearby. We thanked him, and he continued to look for those troublesome ATV’s.Now we were off the main road and onto a side spur which (from the looks of it) had not been traveled on in sometime. This trail led us thru an easy section of shelfed slickrock and thru some very soft Moab sand. We had to exit the Xterra a few times to explore the trail by foot because the trail pathway was not obvious to us. We guessed wrong and ended up finding a dead end trail which led to an area surrounded by native vegetation and Crytobiotic Soils. Cryptobiotic Soil: http://www.moab-utah.com/rack/minimpac.htmlAfter more exploration by foot, we found the correct trail and made our way to the Secret Spire Parking lot. The Spire was breathtaking – with the vibrant blue skys providing a colorful backdrop for a very unique rock formation. We hiked about 100 yards from the parking area to the Spire. We were pretty out of shape and the high elevation of Moab combined with the uneven hiking really got us pretty winded. We spent about an hour at the Spire just taking pictures and soaking in the views of the distant Indian caves, the canyon below and the sun light breaking thru the various clouds as they passed.This trail was supposed to only take 1-2 hours to complete, but because we got lost several times it ended up taking us twice as long to reach the Spire location. It was here that my memory card decided to go cough-cough-sputter-sputter. I don’t know what happened, but it froze up and refused to display some of the pictures that I was taking. I had taken about 80 fantastic shots and I was fearing that they were all lost because of a memory card error. We brought out our laptop and tried to off-load the pictures we had shot during the day. We could not – the error was interrupting with the transfer to the laptop. My heart sank – as I thought about all the great photos that are probably lost.(It turns out that two days later when I got home, I was able to extract the photos from the memory card via the camera USB connection and I did not loose any photos. – Hooray)Our time was now short and we were not sure we had enough daylight to reach our next destination on our schedule – Gemini Bridges. Also watching the clouds and sky, we could see that a storm was brewing and it was heading in our direction. We packed up our gear and headed out.Now that we were more familiar with the terrain and we were short on time, we decided to step up our speed a little. I took my Xterra down the wide dirt roads at speeds close to 50-60mph for several miles until we reached the main road again.From the main road – we continued along a few miles to the next trail head – leading to Gemini Bridges.Next Trail Report **here.**

[Reynoma]

Man, could that sky be any more blue?

[Merzbow]

Awwww...I would never dream of seeing anything that beautiful here in Michigan...the closest thing we have here is maybe the Sleeping Bear dunes, which by no means should be considered THAT big (removed).

[kaybeejay]

Update:I added the GPS tracks and profiles to my albums.

[joatmon]

yeah, but what kills did you get while street racing on the trip?just kidding looks like beautiful country and a lot of fun!

[kaybeejay]

I made alot of kills.My estimation - about 30 RV's and at least 40 semi-trucks. Not many Imports in Nevada and Utah, you know.

[kaybeejay]

oh yeah... probably killed a bunch of bugs on my windshield too.