May 24, 2022
Day 2 Airport to Murphy’s Hogback
Today lots of flowy riding on both rock and sand until the big climb at the end of the day. There was lots of sand and lots of rock not much in between. We were either being careful not to get bogged down in the sand or trying to negotiate over and around rocks.
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We had quite a few very steep hills with steep descents on the other side. Sometimes the descent was so steep you couldn’t see where it was going when you started down. These were all part of the “flowy” sections. Often we would put everything into it to climb a very steep rocky or sandy grade and when we got to the top there would be almost no flat spot and we couldn’t see down the descent to plan how we would ride it. We would just go and plan the descent as we went avoiding obstacles and making good use of our big disc brakes.
Some of us had lots of fun riding over rocks and bumps, bouncing along because the mountain bikes will roll over anything. Those 29er wheels seemed like they could handle most anything, rocky steps included. Just point it where you wanted to go hang off the back if going down hill and keep pedaling if you were on the flats or uphill and it just rode over everything!
We regrouped at gooseberry campground and walked out on the sandstone to get a better look at the canyon and the pillars. We rode in and out and around about 5 canyons on todays ride.
Today we saw several really interesting rock formations. One of the most interesting was washer woman arch. It really did look like a woman bending over a washboard doing her wash. It was a huge stone monument that could be seen from all around.
We also really began seeing more of the white rim today. The white rim is the top layer of sandstone that is at the top of the cliffs all around the canyon.
At one point we came up a really steep hill and expected a steep descent as we gained the top but there sat the truck. Time for lunch! What a relief!
Lunch was at the turn off to White Crack a deep fissure in the white rim sandstone. Lunch today was sandwiches, pretzels, and lemon Oreos and of course flavored seltzers. The cooler had lots of flavors of seltzer available at all times when we were near the truck. There was also a snack box with candy, bars, fruit, and cookies always available for those needing a little something.
After lunch we saw keyhole arch out across the canyon. It really does look like a keyhole! Some of us saw a little sliver of mesa arch hiding way up on the canyon wall far away.
The rest of the afternoon had lots of steep ups and downs and more steep ups and steep downs…. We have started getting better at negotiating rocky climbs and descents. Many of these steep climbs were leading up to the final climb up to Murphy’s Hogback which was our campground for the night.
The last part of the climb up to Murphy’s Hogback was extremely steep with lots of sand. All of us walked. It was difficult even to walk up. The guide Bobby was the only one who rode up and even he said there was one place where it almost got him. He rode to the top to make sure no one was coming down so our truck could climb the hill. The road is very narrow so two vehicles cannot pass on the hill and there is a blind corner. Then Bobby and others who got up the hill first walked back down to help others get their bikes up. For the first time used the walk mode on the ebikes, that really helped getting them up the steep incline.
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2 years ago
2 years ago
Murphy’s Hogback campsite was gorgeous with views all around. It was extremely windy up there, we had to use big rocks, really big rocks, to keep our tents from blowing away. Like about 100 pounds of rocks in some cases. The guides were lifting really heavy rocks and putting them in our tents to keep them from blowing off the cliff!
Dinner was chicken fajitas with chia seed pudding for dessert. Appetizer was guacamole and home made chips.
The sunset tonight turned the red cliffs firey!
The stars were very bright this night because there were absolutely no clouds and we kept our rain fly off so we could lay on our cots looking at the millions of stars. We could look straight into the dark sky at the Big Dipper which looked so close it seemed like we could touch it.
It was very windy all day. The gusts were so strong they stopped us from forward motion riding. The wind died down soon after we went to our early bedtime. And Marcia was very relieved she wouldn’t be blown over the ridge!
Today's ride: 27 miles (43 km)
Total: 546 miles (879 km)
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