Furnace never turned on last night up at 4290′. No cramps while in bed in spite to tremblers before laying down, almost over slept 9AM bfast at Main st cafe to meet Stacey and Jeff for Gander ride.
More riders joined. 4 bikes in the back of Stacey’s van which has 3 bike mounts mounted onto the van floor. Fast ride on pavement to the Smithsonian rd which is notorious for horrible mud when wet has been reconstructed to an all weather road. Newness stops right at the Gooseberry turnoff. We continued on Gooseberry until a nondescript unsigned double track took off to the right. Pinstriping on rig finishes. Winded along until a small wide spot appeared. This is the start. Gander is a social trail meaning it was not built with land managers permission hence anything goes for route choice and no signage. Nasty tight single track with lots of limited sight lines to prepare for the next move. Lots of nastys. Trail kept to the edge of Gooseberry Mesa as much as it could. There were numerous Thelma and Louise opportunities.
The trail ended up at the yurts 8 plus miles from the start. I was way off the back just enjoying what I was able to ride and at my slow speed. Their plan was to do a Gooseberry ride in addition. I bailed choosing to leave a mesa ride with the Sat ride group. Returning had a slight downhill pitch which helped make step ups. I missed the sketchy spur trail to the rigs continuing to a wash. I remembered from previous ride that the trail dead ended at the fence. I had crossed a road a short piece behind to which I returned to and rode back to just 1 ride. The others did Gooseberry but then rode the road back down arriving well before me and left.
Horse shoe tracks on the trail said that horses and riders negotiated a nasty trail corridor. I am surprised that it was ridden on horseback.
Rode this Monday to make a lariat loop w/ the Mesa. I liked it better riding West to East for sure. Great day to be up there!