Vernal, UT is on my way to snow melt latitude. I arrived here as scheduled. The drive from Colorado Valley was over Douglas Pass at 82xx’ up the 25mph twisty climb to the pass, the van’s automatic transmission dropping down to 3rd. Made the summit with the engine temp where it belonged, now would be the test of the braking system as the road was not as well engineered. made it down as the van continued its strong performance at 264,xxx miles. I am now out at McCoy Corral home to a trail system made by local energizer.
While driving I had been feeling vibrations maybe from what I figured were the tires, the fronts were worn down to the wear bars on the outboard edges. I figured on replacing them once at Bend. Sunday driving and anticipation of distancing myself and van from the resources available in Junction. I decided to rest on Monday and drive into a Discount Tire store to have tires checked. Forecast for Monday called for showers which fell during the morning for maybe a couple of hours. I was parked out off Road S on bare ground at an angle to the backing out direction. I was pretty close to edges of the mesa with several gulleys falling away. To misjudge my drive on rain softened dirt could lead to the end of these blogs. If the dirt was slippery I might have difficulty squaring the van on firm dirt to back out. At the site several sets of soft dirt tire tracks said that the dirt could get pretty soft. I waited for several hours of drying sunshine before I made my exit. No problem, firm dirt. I called Discount in Junction inquiring about tires, yes, they had but they were the newer replacement model and there were no longer my model, they were to be identical. The van needed new shoes. I made a 4 PM appointment. The van now has new tires on the rear and the rear on the front. Drove away and slowly a feeling of relief rolled in because what I felt was gone. New tires. Spent the night back above Loma.
On the downhill side of Douglas Pass there are several petroglyphs locations.
Tues AM I drove away arriving at Vernal later.
I stopped at Altitude Cycle, the shop in town. I learned that Troy, the entrepreneur former owner, had sold the shop. Their restroom walls were open to whatever anybody wanted to write. I searched for my note: I found it, I dated it 2010 and 2017, my previous visits when the shop was open. I forgot to add 2021 to my note. Bought groceries including Sooley, Grisham’s newest novel, then drove out of town to McCoy. I parked at the old corral, there were several campers nearby, at previous visits I was all alone. New RV crowd, none of them bikers.
Ride today. Chilly and very windy. I wanted to ride the monster climb up Jackalope which I set out for. Trails at intersections in places still have trail names. The trails are on Trailforks on my phone which is inside my pack instead of on my handlebar because I haven’t found the correct phone holder. Big hump like almost 200′ / mile. I stopped several times for blows. Trails here are mix of loose non sharp edge loose rocks, cow shit, sand, rolled firm sand, and some slick rock. Going downhill was made more pleasant by the suspension upgrades.
Creative:
I ran into a couple and visited. They are from Steamboat, he said we had run into each other somewhere, maybe here previously. Maybe. They returned today for their ride.
Last night I walked a loop on system trails from van. cattle grazing, lots of them. As I walked up Combo trail I noticed a cow path parallel to bike trail, the cows chose to make their own path.
Windy warm night but 42 degrees at wake up enjoying furnace and being able to ride from van.
The couple from yesterday arrived. They were going to ride in the other direction on a new trail, Festicle. I rode away with an ideal of trails to ride to get there. Vandalism destroyed many intersection markers and my phone was in my pack so I lost my plan. The intersection to Festicle was unsigned and faint, I saw fresh tire tracks, I dropped my pack, and called up Trailforks which showed me I was where I needed to be. New trail is raw and is challenging to follow it. I ran into the couple and stopped to visit.. they told about where the trail I would be on was separated from the trail coming back by about 5′ and to continue as the trail would eventually come back. Trail was all about twists and wanders. Great old school singletrack.
I finished my ride by riding into the trailhead as i saw the couple were there. Another guy was visiting with them. He looked at me and spoke, he recognized me and I his voice. It was Troy, builder of these trails and former bike shop owner. I enjoyed the connection as we visited about things. He said to watch for recently purchased recreation toys being put up for sale in the next 2 years as people spent money on toys who will have grown tired of them and or in $ trouble. If so perhaps the sheer numbers of campers will diminish.
They all left and I returned to my nearby van. I set up my chair and sat in the sunshine reading Sooley.
I had a scheduled telemed call with the alternative care provider to go over last lab results: not good, I still have leaky gut. She told me just to avoid gluten and rice and can eat beyond the SIBO diet. I will pick up new meds when I arrive in Bend later this month.
Hot fully exposed to sun at the corral. Sun has gone down bringing coolness.
Tomorrow is laundry day back in town using the same laundromat I used on a previous visit. Troy told me of 2 newly built trails that I will get a kick out of riding which I will do then spend another night here before heading to Red Fleet trails.
It’s 9:22 PM. I need to wipe off today’s sweat then get my nose buried back in the book.