dead desert

It’s on your dinner plate. Cows ate it all up, a few people made money off it while the rest of the public pays for damage in terms of environmental degradation. Gone are the wild animals that lived on the living desert, the food pyramid is missing parts. But the cows paid for desert death with their lives, the perpetrators remain free. What remains now are the plants the cows didn’t eat which are prolly invasive weeds. Change is only noticeable after you have experienced “it” for the first time. Kinda like the first hit of crack, the next hit ain’t the same. I have passing first hit of crack experience but I have many years of Moab desert. Where will the ranchers graze their cows next season, or was the years of drought a decision point? If you are experiencing Moab for the first time it’s what you saw. I was here last spring out at N Klondike watching cows strip whatever nutritious greens they could bite. I checked bushes out there that I thought were sage but on closer exam I saw thorns, the cows ate just short of the thorns. Past travels will prolly put me back here in April to view what spring growth appears. It just ain’t right.

But the riding is well, Moab style. I will now admit that of all the places I have ridden, Moab is tops. I can say that because of the trails and also I am not here in the heat which would lower the score. I enter my ride data in a spread sheet, out of curiosity I asked Excel to show me UT data. I have camped at Moab for 1196 nights, I have ridden 1673 rides in Utah for 5562 miles. I was not able to easily break out ride specific data for Moab. First visit here was back in 1992 car camping, big gap till next return of like 2003. The above data is from the start of my odyssey. So, yes, I can attest to change here. There  are more new trails and still only 1 City market. Today I learned there were 4 laundromats, today there is only 1. Six bikes later change.

Moving back to safer info. I anchored out past Horsethief for several nights and rode 2 days from there. After resting Monday i tackled a big one, Bull canyon, park of the Mag 7 route. Bull is a popular coaster geek ride. I pedaled from anchor down a dusty BLM road to intersection of Lasso which at 1 end connects with Chisholm which I rode to its end at Mustang on the other side of the highway. A bit of Mustang to Get Away which is the coaster trail for them and also climbing for my return. Jump on Bull down to Arth’s corner to start of Get Away for the climb return and repeating earlier trails. Just another beautiful fall day with sharing trails with prolly fewer than 12 riders. and no clashes with coasters. Bull drops with many rock drops etc. The bike and me enjoyed the trail, each earning high marks.

My ride was 22.3 miles but only climbed 1529′. As seen above up here at Navajo Rocks the topography appears as a large plateau. Elevation change are small dips. Lots of distance between tech challenges.

Yesterday I again rode from my anchor spot over to Rodeo which stays up high close to my camp elevation of 5674′ 15.3 miles climbing 889′.

I sure am enjoying the prowess of the Rail. I have been heeding advice of pedaling up the step ups. The l-9 Hydra .52 degrees of engagement hub is an enabler for completing the moves.

The anchor spot is out of ear shot of highway noise. Quiet dead desert.

Yesterday I drove back to town for some resupply then drove up to Willow Springs rd. I was first vehicle at first turn out where I choose to stay. Unfortunately it is maybe 300 yards away from busy US 191. A railroad runs on the other side of the highway that becomes throbbing noise when the UMTRA train runs. However, as the evening grows the traffic slackens reducing noise and the van walls complete the quiet.

Today is a full blown city day doing laundry and filling propane. This after I have an appointment with Reid to do preventative maintenance on my Murphy bed van interface. I stopped at Verizon store to seek advice on the health of my phone. They said that it was wearing out as the LCD is fading. I ordered a replacement to arrive tomorrow, next is the data transfer that I fear I could lose data. My right knee is acting up again such that what I have been shown to help is not curing, I googled PT in Moab then picked the clinic that had Rehab in its name. I see them on next Thurs.

Tomorrow I plan on returning to N Klondike for several more days of riding.

Excel spreadsheet data, as of Nov 1, 2021, I have ridden 2717 rides for 39,525 miles. 13 plus years.