It was a nice easy morning ride into Hanksville, a dusty little town on the edge of the desert. I rode up and down the main drag, getting my bearings on food and water for the days ahead and breakfast right now. The Slickrock Grill looked like the place for breakfast (I think the one and only) so that’s where I got a table and ordered up eggs, hash browns, hotcakes, bacon, toast and coffee – fuel for the road. Everyone there was really nice and laid back – I wrote my previous posts there and sipped coffee for a few hours.
Then they filled my bottles with ice and water and sent me on my way. At the grocery store I loaded up as heavy as I dared with the limited provisions that were available. I had about 1.5 gallons of water too. But when I saw the sign at the edge of town stating that there were “Very Limited Resources for the next 125 Miles”, I stopped at the gas station/convenience store to ask if there was really no water for 125 miles. The clerk nodded and pointed over to the water display and I added another two quarts. 125 miles through the desert is no big deal when you are in a car…..but on a bike! That is at least a two day ride, if all goes well! I took one last long look at the cooler full of cold drinks, and rode off into the desert. There is no doubt that this is beats Nevada as the loneliest road in America – starkly beautiful but wide open, unshaded hot desert with hardly any traffic on the road. I did have a driver pull up about 20 miles in to ask if I needed water……I was still full, but could have used him in about 60 miles or so! The riding was challenging, but not crazy, and I made decent time and drank a lot of water. One weird thing is that many of the vehicles that passed me were towing boats – big, sparkly ones. Then I realized that this was the road to Lake Powell from the north.
Around 6:30 I figured it was time to look for a campsite and when I saw a big trailhead area with a few groups already set up, I figured it would be a good place to stop. The couple camping closest to me were from Canada – Calgary – and were out here exploring canyons. No shortage of those! The desert cooled down quickly once the sun set and I fell asleep quickly.
Jeff and Carmenza's Adventures 