Spectacular Scenery

July 13, 2013

Day 20: Blanding, Utah to Hite Recreation Area

Out at 6:30. Today would be one of the most difficult days of this trip in terms of services: There were absolutely none from Blanding to the Hite Recreation Area, a distance of at least 75 miles. No stores, no houses, no businesses, almost no evidence of human existence at all (well, except for the paved road I was riding on...)

I made an immediate stop at a convenience store and bought Gatorade, water and snacks. This would be the most liquid I've ever carried, and the bike felt heavier than ever.

It was cool this early in the morning, although that would quickly change, and the streets of Blanding were completely empty. I had a tailwind for the four miles out of town until I got on State Route 95, on which I would be riding the entire day. My map described this section (and some of the following sections) as having "some of the most spectacular scenery in America along paved roads."

Things started off easily enough, although the first little climb was steeper than anything in Colorado. I had heard about this from other riders, some of whom swore that nothing in Colorado was greater than 6%, while Utah had grades in the teens.

After some fairly easy rollers, I started the major climb of the day. Somehow it seemed longer and steeper than the elevation profile on my maps. It was hot now, and I was riding so slowly that gnats were able to catch up with me. This was the first problem I've had with bugs on this trip, surprisingly enough. They motivated me to go faster, although I never completely escaped them during this long climb.

After about 25 miles I pulled off a few hundred feet onto a dirt road to look at some ancient ruins. There was some shade there, so I had a Payday bar and Gatorade and rested a while. Strangely enough, in the middle of nowhere, I had a cell phone signal, so I gave Joy a call to see what she was up to. She was repairing a plumbing problem at home while I was out goofing around on my bike in Utah. Uh oh.

The road was surprisingly (and happily) empty all day. This was the quietest road since Nebraska, which was something of a surprise, given the awesome scenery, and the fact that the road provided access to Lake Powell. This was the kind of riding I was hoping for when I planned this trip.

After about 33 miles, it was mostly (but not completely) downhill to my destination, except for one super-steep climb a few miles before the end. This was tough, because it really was hot now. This was the desert, not the Colorado mountains of a few days ago.

I pulled into the Hite Recreation Area at about 3:30. This was the only place to stop for the day, because the next place with services, Hanksville, was 50 or more miles away.

Hite Recreation Area has a store, a ranger station, and some primitive campsites (no shower.) According to my maps, the store is open every day from 8:00 to 5:00. So I was shocked to find that I had gotten there with only a half hour to spare. The hours are now 9:00 to 4:00. If the store had been closed after I had ridden 80+ miles through the desert, drinking warm water, my disappointment would have been profound.

I made short work of a quart of chocolate milk and a couple of Gatorades, then bought some snacks for tomorrow. I had noticed when I rode in that there was no water in the lake. The ranger at the store told me that this was done every 10 years for some maintenance reason, and that things were very, very slow now. The relatively few trucks pulling boats that had passed me today were on their way to some other access point to the lake.

I went to set up my tent under one of the three small trees in the area when minor disaster struck: One of the tent poles, on which I had noticed a small crack the other day, broke. After a few half-assed attempts at fixing it, I gave up and went to the ranger station, where Ranger Rosemary first opened up the store to see if they had a tent pole repair kit (they didn't), then allowed me to sleep on a picnic table at the ranger station. She told me I should not sleep on the ground because their dog was recently bit by a rattlesnake, which are in the area. I had been seeing small lizards running around all day, and I was not enthusiastic about the idea of them crawling on my exposed face while I slept on a picnic table. Also: scorpions.

So, after reaching Joy via pay phone, and consulting with her, I got the tent semi-working by bracing it against one of the walls under which the picnic table sat. Hopefully it wouldn't collapse on me in the night, because that would be very alarming for a timid camper like myself.