Author: jeffjinn

I was on the road by 8am, which is pretty early for me – I wanted to beat the heat! About 5 miles down the road there was a nice picnic area with restrooms, so I made a quick stop and had a second breakfast.

As I was leaving, the couple from Canada pulled up as they were doing a hike from the picnic area – and they graciously offered to fill my water bottles. It turned into a hot day, but I did have a bit of a tailwind for most of the morning. The scenery was incredible and I also crossed the Colorado River – which at that point reminded me of the Rio Grande when it is low – muddy and not too impressive.

I burned through all my cold water and was now faced with drinking water that was warm as ……..let’s just say it was warm. Where was the guy offering me drinks now? Warm water does not do it for me, so I was on the lookout for sources of cold water. When I saw an SUV parked on the side of the road I pulled up and met Don and Shelly – from NM no less! They had pulled over to do a little rock hounding in the canyon off the road. I asked if they had any cold water they could spare and Don quickly produced a bottle of glistening, ice cold water. I drank it in about 10 seconds and he generously handed me another, which I put in my thermos. You meet the nicest people on the road!!

Rejuvenated, I carried on…..but by 5:30 or so I was back to warm water. This time I spotted a motor home parked off the road with a fun-looking vintage dune buggy in tow. “Hello” I called as I pulled up “any chance you have some ice water to spare?” It was my lucky day again as John and Dawn had a freezer full of ice! Not only did they fill up my bottle, but they sat me down in a lawn chair and handed me a bowl of chips to munch on as we talked. John and Dawn are from Cave Creek, AZ, just north of Phoenix. We had a nice chat about traveling and about life…and then I figured I had better get going as it was getting harder and harder to get up out of that chair. We said our goodbyes and I pedaled off down the road. Another chance meeting with awesome people!

I rode another 10 miles or so down past Natural Bridges National Monument and started looking for a potential campsite. Just then a doe and two little fawns ran right across the road in front of me! Even though I was alone, I had to say “Awwwww”. Shortly afterwards I turned on a dirt road snaking off to the left, and a few hundred yards up found a nice campsite.

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.

It was cold when I woke up – no sunshine yet down in the canyon where I was camped. That and the anxiety about the climb coming up led me to linger in my warm sleeping bag for awhile before I got up and got going – so it was about 9am as I finally pulled out of the campground. This is where things got strange and fell into place – I am still mystified. Read on. I pulled onto the road, which immediately went into one of those 14% climbs. Within minutes I was gassed – my heart was racing and my bike stopped. Not knowing what to do, I started pushing my bike up the incline, hoping that the super-steep part wouldn’t be that long. Just ahead there was a pull-out area so I pushed my bike there. There was a Prius parked there with a guy flying a drone standing next to it. I stopped to watch as he brought the drone in and I asked him what he was doing – he was filming aerial footage from different vantage points as he drove up the pass. Just then a cyclist pulled up – and it was Max! Remember Max from way back at Middlegate? I was so surprised that at first I didn’t recognize him. Then we started telling each other the stories of our travels since then. All along the drone flyer (Vadim) stood listening. I told Max that I was having a lot of anxiety about this climb as the Cedar City climb had wrecked me for a couple of days. Vadim looked at me and said “I have a bike rack in my car, if you like I can give you a ride up the pass”. Wow – what a dilemma! It’s like someone just offered you a cheat code to a game you are playing and losing! Do you take the free points or remain a purist? Hmmm. I looked at Max and he said “Jeff, you should take the ride – this pass is really tough.” And so, with that endorsement I said “Let’s Go!” Vadim rearranged everything in his car, put a bike rack on the back for his bike (which was in his car) and my bike. And within minutes we were zipping up the pass. We stopped a couple of times on then way up to enjoy the scenery and Vadim took more drone footage. What a friendly and super-intelligent guy. I probably won’t get all this right, but Vadim is originally Belarus, and came to the US with his family when he was 9. This came up because at our first stop there was a group of Russian tourists taking photos and Vadim started talking to them in Russian. I was like, HUH? He grew up in upstate NY, went to Cornell for undergrad, UC Davis for graduate school, is currently at U of Kansas for post doctoral study and then will be going to the U of Maryland for a professorship (he is 32!) I gathered that in the big picture he is a Marine Biologist, but studies planetary problems, ecology, and mathematical analysis of biological systems and lots of other stuff that my brain cannot comprehend And he is a big fan of IPA’s. Another big-hearted guy that I could have talked to for hours – but he was on his way back to Lawrence, KS and I had a cycling tour to work on. So at the top of the pass we exchanged contact info. and said goodbye.

I’m glad I took the “cheat code”! I made a new friend, and my legs thanked me as I cycled hard for 50+ more miles. I grabbed a late lunch at a Subway in Torrey and headed on towards Fruita and Cainville, just past Capitol Reef State Park where I intended to find a campground.

Easier said than done! First I went to the National Park Service campground at Capitol Reef – but they were completely sold out and have no cyclist spots available. Very disappointing. There was a campground called “Sleepy Hollow” about 10 miles or so down the road, so I headed there. I arrived to an unkept campground that looked almost abandoned. But there were 3 RV’s in the park. I went up to the office, which was locked, but a sign said to go around the corner and call with the number listed – ? I went around the corner and there was an old pay phone that, surprisingly, had a dial tone when you picked it up. I dialed the number and a guy answered. I explained that I was a through cyclist looking for a tent spot for one night (which a sign said was $25). The guy immediately said “sorry, we are sold out for tonight, I have a lot of reservations coming in”. To which I replied “All your tent sites are reserved? There is no one here and it is 6pm.” It got even stranger as he said “I have to manage my water and sewer capacity and cannot help you.” And he hung up. Bizarre. So I got back on my bike and rode down the road a bit until I saw a dirt road veering off on then right. I took it and ended up finding a nice little campsite right by the creek for $0. A much better deal.

I headed out of Tropic and struck out for Escalante, a nice little tailwind pushing me along. Soon I came across another cyclist going West and we stopped to chat. I couldn’t believe it when I found out that Juan was from Colombia! Not from Cali, where my girlfriend Carmenza is from, but from the Capital, Bogota. He had started his trip in NY four months earlier and was headed to Tijuana, where he would catch a flight back to Bogota.

We had a nice chat before heading our separate ways – he recommended a campground at Calf Creek as a good place to stay before tackling a grueling 20 mile or so climb that was coming up after that. My anxiety already started building as I was still traumatized from the last massive climb. Juan had met a German cyclist who was on a similar path and they were traveling together – I met up with him a few miles further down the road (no photo) – Jan has started his trip in Alaska and was headed to Argentina – just like the German couple I had met a week or so ago. What is it with the Germans and that Alaska-Argentina trip? I rode into Escalante around lunch time and saw a promising local burger joint that was bustling, so I pulled in. I was enjoying my huckleberry shake and waiting for my burger when a couple asked if they could share my table – Dmitri and Celina were French, but had been living in Playa del Carmen, MX for many years. They have a travel agency that specializes in Mexican travel for travelers from France.

They were on vacation touring Utah (and I think Colorado) – super-nice and friendly people. We could have talked for hours in our combination of Spanish, English and French (them to one another) – it was interesting and fun, but we both had places to so – so we said “au revoir”. I headed on to Calf Creek, where the climbing intensified as went along, as did my anxiety about the 4,500 + foot climb coming up! You know it isn’t good when you see these signs!

This should not be legal! I made it to Calf Creek just in time as there was one campsite available. The camp host, Richie, got me signed in – but, instead of going right to my site I hung out and talked to two really nice couples from Northern Utah who had been down at Lake Powell and were interested in my travels. By the time I went down to set up camp…..someone else had set up there. Yikes! I went back to talk to Richie and in the laid back manner you would expect from an old, gristled, bearded, hippy campground host with purple hair, he said “don’t worry dude, I will set you up with my favorite campsite” – and then he led me down a trail to the “Primo” campsite, which is rarely used because you have to walk there on a trail – so not car access. It was right on the stream that goes through the canyon and was a great site.

I was lulled to sleep by the stream rushing by.

I packed up and headed up to Panguitch Lake, which was a beautiful high country lake with some houses around it and people already out fishing.

As I rode past the lake I ran into Andreas and Heidi, a couple from Bern, Switzerland are on a bicycle tour of the Western States. They are Warmshowers hosts in Bern and I have a standing invitation to visit them there!

From there I had a short ride into the town of Panguitch, where I had a nice breakfast at the Goat Cafe and got provisioned up for the coming days. I also dealt with my Garmin problem by sending mine back and getting a new one delivered to my sister Jill who will meet up with me in Pueblo, CO. Hopefully I will be able to load my maps onto the new one! I have definitely been electronically challenged on this trip so far (just ask my daughter Suzi, who has fielded numerous calls about how to access all the features of this blog!!) So being fed and provisioned, I headed on down the road towards Bryce Canyon. As I entered the park there was a nice bike path that took me the last 10 miles or so up to the park entrance – it was nice to have the peace and quiet without a constant stream of RV’s going by!

Unfortunately I didn’t actually see Bryce Canyon…..it was another 5 miles or so off of my route to get there – and I am on a mission. Will have to go back another time as I hear it is spectacular. I continued on to the little town of Tropic, where I snagged a nice campsite, a hot shower with a clean towel, and live country music at the Bryce Pioneer Village! (OK, it was one guy with a guitar). (They also have a Pool and a hot tub that I didn’t try) The restaurant was decent though and I had a salmon salad and a couple of IPA’s – both which I desperately needed after freeze dried dinners.

In the morning they had fresh, hot coffee and they filled up all my water bottles with ice and water. If you come through this part of Utah, I recommend Tropic as a place to rest your bones!

Geez…I knew that the pass was going to be tough – but it was ridiculous! As you approach the climb, there are two signs – one big flashing sign says “Bikers Use Caution – Steep Climbs and Narrow Shoulder Next 15 Miles” and then another smaller sign – “Route 14 Not Recommended for 18 Wheelers” – or something like that. The first sign was correct – and not one trucker paid attention to the second sign. Throw in the gusting headwind that I estimate at about 30 MPH and I pray that this is the toughest climb of the trip! It was beautiful though – with views like this:

I also met another cyclist on the climb – his name was Yoki and he was from Montreal, Canada. But, the cheater or genius (depending on your thought process – I am undecided) was on an E-bike and zipped up the pass, leaving me in his dust. Here was my progress report:

I reached the top after about 5 hours of climbing!

I guess the state of Utah got wind of my plan to re-name all the Summits, and so raised the height of the sign to be unreachable to all but an NBA player. I guess I could have shimmied up the pole, but I barely had the energy to smile. This is the highest I could reach:

After a little rest I headed on down the road through some very lush and beautiful high country. I was going to try and make it to Panguitch Lake, which has multiple camping options. But the climb had taken a lot out of me, and by 5:30 or so it was obvious that I would not make it to the lake. I passed by a sign for a picnic area and turned in to find a really nice day use area – not technically a campground……but I was too tired to care and set up camp. Worked out just fine.

Turns out I was camping pretty close to the top of the pass, so my uphill climb in the morning wasn’t too bad. By the time I made coffee, had a light breakfast and got all packed up it was after 8am. The plan today is to make the 30 mile ride into Cedar City and then spend the day there getting cleaned up and taking care of business and personal stuff that has gone unattended. But first I dealt with this Utah unnamed summit issue. Done!

That’s right, from now on every summit in Utah will be named “La Reforma Summit”. From La Reforma Summit it was a nice mostly downhill ride through Enoch and into Cedar City – a decent sized town of about 25,000 and the home of Southern Utah University. I had planned to stay at a campground in town, but the $50 price tag seemed a bit outrageous when I could get a hotel for $20 more. So I made a reservation at the luxurious (not) Bardmoor Inn. It’s actually not that bad and since a storm hit last night with high winds and rain…..I am happy I was indoors! I stopped by the Utah welcome center and got some maps and a recommendation for a good breakfast place and had a nice late breakfast at Vittles Cafe. Then it was off to the post office to mail home some unnecessary stuff that I had packed. This is common in the bike touring world as you initially think you need all this stuff, but after a few weeks you realize that you don’t and you also don’t want to pack and haul anything that isn’t vital. Mine was mostly clothes and bike gear. I spent about an hour on the phone with Garmin trying to get my darn GPS to work – they even convinced me to not send it home as we were going to fix it…….nope. They even had me take the GPS to a local bike shop so they could hook it up to a computer to try and diagnose it….nope. Anyway, after checking in to the Bardmoor I did laundry (much needed) and sat down to make calls and get caught up before heading off to the hinterland again today. Right now it is the morning of the 21st and I am heading off to tackle my highest pass yet – a 20 mile, 5,800 foot climb up to La Reforma Summit #2 at 10,400 feet. My legs are already tired!

Since I had camped at the top of the pass, I got a nice, brisk downhill ride early in the morning to wake me up! I had about a 30 mile ride into Milford, which was beckoning at the end of that long stretch of road with no services. My water and food were running out, so sustenance was a motivator as I cycled across the valley against a pretty stiff headwind. It was a beautiful day though, and not too hot.

I thought I would get to Milford for breakfast……but I guess I wasn’t moving as fast as I wanted to and hit town at lunchtime instead. I haven’t been taking as many photos as usual, but here is my welcome to Milford:

I went to the grocery store got a couple of days worth of food, then scouted the restaurants in town before settling on a nice-looking diner called Penny’s. It was a good choice as the meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy were dee-licious, and they had wifi – so that is where I wrote yesterdays post. They also filled up my water bottles with ice and water, which was much appreciated. I lingered long enough to officially be a “camper” before gathering all my stuff and hitting the road. After 13 miles or so I came to the little town of Minersville, where I figured it was time for dessert – and that ice cream sandwich tasted so good. An old-timer came over to see what I was up to and he let me know that last year a 70 year old guy came through on a coast-to-coast ride, so it shouldn’t be that hard for me. Then he proceeded to tell me how tough the upcoming pass was. Damn that guy! He was right though – I started climbing and then kept climbing. I had planned to camp at the top of the pass like the night before, but by the time the sun was pretty low on the horizon I still wasn’t there – so when I saw a dirt road off to the left that had the signs of a good campsite up on a hill, I deviated to plan B and stopped for the night. One good piece of advice I got from a seasoned tourer was “never pass up a good campsite” – and for sure you never want to be tromping around in the dark looking for one! I set up on a nice flat spot on a hillside and kicked back to watch the sunset. I had eaten so much earlier that I just snacked a little before heading into my tent and that was just fine. I read a little of my book “Kon-Tiki” (recommended by a fellow bike tourer and I am enjoying it) and since I amazingly had one bar of cell service I gave Carmenza a call. But by 8:30 or so I was falling asleep. No elk bugles that night!

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention about yesterday – here is an entry for the weird stuff found along the road:

I guess the chili wasn’t good!

The Whispering Elms owners were very nice as they left a bag of ice in an outside freezer for me so I could ice down my water bottles before hitting the road. Interestingly, the female owner and I have the same first name, although she spells it Jefri. Really!

I have a nomination for the new “Loneliest Road in America” – that would be the one I rode on today. Except for the perfunctory “goodbye’ and “have a nice day” to the other campers at the Whispering Elms, I did not talk to a soul or see anyone except through their windshield, and there weren’t many of them. Here is the sign that let me know what was in store for me. Luckily I packed extra water.

The big news of the day is that I crossed another state border! WooHoo! Utah

There it is, the highlight of the day! Other than that is was grinding out the miles – up passes, down passes. The landscape was magnificent and overwhelming as you can see for miles and miles – and when you have a climb coming up you can see it coming for a long time.

Oddly, Utah does not identify the pass as you cross over it – as you can see, the sign just says “Summit” and the elevation – On the map there is a name – ? Utah, you need to step up your game. We cyclists like a photo with the name of the pass identified; it gives our lives purpose. As I reached Summit 6460 it was getting later in the afternoon and I could see thunderstorms in the distance so I figured it would be a good place to stop for the night. I went up a little dirt road for 1/4 of a mile or so and found a really nice campsite.

I whipped up a freeze-dried chicken and rice dinner, adding a zucchini and a serrano pepper to liven it up. Was actually pretty good. As the sun set and the temperature started to drop I hopped into my tent for the night.

Have you ever heard an elk bugle? Well, it is one weird sound and I was woken up by a loud one about 3am – sounded like the elk was right outside my tent door, although who knows how far that sound carries. Really freaked me out until I realized what it was – that horny elk carried on for a couple of hours with no respect for my sleep needs.

I couldn’t bring myself to go into the casino for breakfast, so I just packed up and headed East out of town, figuring that there must be more to Ely than the decrepit downtown I was in. And sure enough, the main drag out of the other side of town was more like a regular commercial area. I made a quick stop at the grocery store for a few things and then stopped at the McDonalds – I have been stopping there often for water and ice when I see one as they are always accommodating and there is nothing worse than 4 water bottles full of tepid water when you are thirsty. As long as I was there I ordered some pancakes and eggs and coffee to fuel me for the day – I was headed to Baker, which was 62 miles and two passes away. As I was eating I noticed that there was a sharp dressed Asian man eating right across from me. He was working on his IPad, and something told me that he was a pastor working on his message for the morning. Curiosity got the best of me and I went over to talk to him. Sure enough, he is the pastor of the Methodist church in Ely. Joshua (his American name) came to the US from South Korea 11 years ago to study at seminaries in Denver and Washington DC. He had previously worked at Korean Methodist Churches, but had only recently been assigned to the church here in rural Ely, where there are no other Koreans. Wow – talk about a huge challenge – both culturally and linguistically, as Joshua’s English is decent, but not totally fluent. We had a nice conversation and I wish him the best in his adventure of faith – he is a brave man!

He invited me to the service at his church, but there was still quite awhile before it started and I had many miles to ride, so I regrettably had to decline. Today’s riding was beautiful, and even though the two passes wrecked me as they usually do – I made it!

I also passed a huge wind farm that was out in the middle of nowhere.

The descent from Sacramento pass took me almost all the way in to Baker, which is a tiny town with way more going on than many towns much larger that I passed. I stopped in at the General Store, which was kind of a mix between a store and a boutique – very nice. They gave me the low down on an RV campground that always took in bike tourists – and sure enough, for $10.75 I got a spot and a hot shower! I felt so good afterwards that I walked over to the restaurant in town and had an excellent salad with seared ahi. My first salad in 9 days! I feel human again. Now I am in the bar at the campground – yes, not only hot showers, but a bar! Writing my thoughts for the day. Tomorrow I will cross into Utah. Well, they are closing the bar at 8pm – so I gotta get out of here. Adios.