Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Escalante, UT



We followed UT Rt 12 for 66 miles to the town of Escalante. The day started with a 27 mile 2500' climb to 9600' up on the Aquarius Plateau. The elevation change brought aspen and pine forests, green pastures, and running streams, a welcome change from the arid rocky land below. It was then a descent into the town of Boulder where we had a nice sit down lunch instead of the usual PB&J in the back of the truck. RT 12 had only reached Boulder in the early 40's as the result of a CCC project, making it one of the last communities in the state to be so linked. After Boulder we entered Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. Two more shorter but in places steep (14%) climbs were required before the last downhill run to Escalante. In this section of road there was a four mile stretch of road called The Hogback that followed a ridge line with drops on both sides. In Bob's view the hype of the exposure for cyclists in the Adventure Cycling map was overstated. Sally thought it was a bit of a nail biter, but the drops on both sides were seldom at the same time. But the switchbacks were kind of steep and tight.




Sally upheld the social side of trip today with several encounters. She met a writer from Salt Lake City in Torrey, who accepted Bob's business card. We'll see if there are any comments. She befriended an expat French family at an overlook who are residing while in the states in Georgetown in DC. She befriended another Utah family at our lunch stop who we subsequently saw at several other points of interest. And she was chatting with a nice lady,originally from Michigan, at the Escalante Information Center as Bob rode up at end the day. The husband at our motel tells us his 3 great grandpa sold an island in Lake George, NY and came to Utah with the other Mormons around 1831.
.

2 comments:

  1. The photos from the past few days have been great and have brought back some wonderful memories! Who takes the photos, Bob while riding, or Sally while driving, or both?

    We hope that you will put together a nice slide show when you return home and invite us down for dessert and photos!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The pictures are great! I just plotted Blanding to Cedar City in Topo. 38,000 feet climbing elevation!!!! Your quads might make Paul Wood jealous about now.

    Keep up the good work, be safe and get that hub replaced.

    ReplyDelete