Bears Ears
Today’s ride was a keeper. We road up and out Elk Ridge State Scenic Backway past Bears Ears and then just kept going. The dirt road actually goes out 87 miles towards Canyonlands but we can’t leave Fletcher alone that long so we did 17 out and then turned around and came back. The road conditions are VERY weather dependent. We climbed 2923′ up to 8500’and while we didn’t encounter any snow, I know it did snow and rain earlier in the week. The road was deeply rutted in places and puddles and little streams crisscrossed the road and filled in meadows. It was nice to be back in a forest again!
Exploration Ride
I usually pass a dirt road or singletrack and think, I wonder where that goes? This is the case with today’s ride. On the way to our Citadell hike the other day, we passed a road. Looking on the map, it wasn’t maintained, but worked it’s way out to an overlook. So, off we went on our mountain bikes to scout.
This ride ended up being 25 miles with 1600′ of climbing. It was more like double track in most places and featured sandy parts, slickrock, chunky rock, and some hard packed dirt. We pedaled through grassy meadows with wildflowers, down rocky dirt roads lined with gnarled scrub, and smiled the whole way. At the end we came out to a rocky overlook and what do you know, our camp spot was waaay below us on the valley floor.
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