Tuesday morning I turned north onto Douglas Pass up, over, and down on way to Vernal, UT and McCoy Corral trails. As always worrying about van’s performance with the climb to the pass testing all systems on the 25mph narrow highway. Transmission downshifted to 2nd I believe. Crazy, the cooling fan that should have turned on to cool the hard working engine did not turn on, per the temp gauge it wasn’t needed. However, it turned on for the downhill. Westward on US 40 thru oil fields. Vernal is first large city in far eastern UT. Enter Vernal.
McCoy trails are west of town is where I drove to. I have ridden here several times. I parked at the cow corral. I slid open the sliding side door to official welcome of hungry mosquitoes. Like lots, many entered uninvited before I could slide the door closed, they were the first wave. My exposed flesh while I changed to riding clothes was prime poking skin. I squished 3 in 1 blow, not Oregon’s MT Bailey 6, but I chose not to see if a new kill record could be set. Strong wind perhaps blew them from a cattle tank maybe 1/4 mile away. Certainly their sense of blood was not that strong to find me. I wonder how they would find standing water to lay their eggs as that water was upwind. Today i am still scratching.
All alone out there. I selected a route in Trailforks to ride Festicle. Pedal trails most part some using cow paths. Spring bloom.
What those flowers are
Warm enough to keep side door open which I blocked with mosquito netting. I slept under just the sheet. At get up time there were mosquitoes inside, many with swollen bellies containing my blood, but not everyone. Quick outside chores, I even drove short distance to CXT outhouse. BLM added a second one.
Continued to Heber City near Park City. I reserved a campsite at Rockport SP for the night. Clouds threatened rain. I parked at UVU with plan of riding Coyote loop. I pedaled away on machine built trail still wearing creation scars. Too formulary layout. I made myself pedal uphill for 50 mins then coast back. I lacked the drive to finish the climb to complete the loop.
I followed google maps direction to campground. Always interesting following their choices. Nice campground.
Thursday I headed to Kimberly, ID and Indian Springs. Interstate driving in metro Salt Lake City. Windy. Stopped in Burley, ID laundromat as it was Thursday. Made Indian Springs TH for dinner. No mosquitoes or trees.
Friday morn I rode up Lower Sugarloaf, a greener , to gain elevation to descend blues. My body seemed to be short of gas as I stopped for blows frequently. Trail climbed like 200’/mile so blowing was understood. On previous rides I pedaled up Dry Gulch which would not be its namesake and cows would have messed the tread.
Observe the land’s contour. Trails are rough unsanctioned hand built. The descent was satisfying as I allowed gravity to pull me over the rock features. BLM has posted carsonite posts with trail names on them replacing the missing social signs. Trailforks kept me found.
I drove into downtown twin Falls to a coffee roaster for bean resupply. City where google took me was almost empty of traffic but exisitng business, few were retail. Route out of town was on 4 lane retail area, blocks of sprawl. Crossed I 84 leaving city behind. Cross wind most way to Hailey. I had my brake pad mail order sent to Hailey. The forecast and trail conditions here in the Wood River Valley are and were for wet trails. I wanted to check post office hoping pads were there and if so I would not be held captive till their arrival and me hanging out in the wet. Score, pads arrived that morning, choice to stay or leave. Visited with Chip at Sun Summit South. Dinner salad at KBs. Drove out valley to Steve’s driveway. So much green.
I belong to Wood River trail something, I receive weekly trail updates, Also mentioned was a trail work day at Croy on Sat, today. I scheduled my travels to attend. Steve and I drove our vans with bikes attached to TH under threatening skies. Plan was to do trail work till noon at end of work, pass on provided lunch to get a ride in before rain. Steve and I piut off gearing up because of the required effort of uphill pealing. We packed rain jackets. We started the climb. Flowers blooming are lupine, larkspur, bluebells, balsam arrowroot, and others we do not know. Oh, bitterbrush was starting to flower. Lupine scent the air,
As our ride progressed the skies became less inviting. As we started our descent to parking lot sprinkles were heavy enough to dampen the tread. The closer we got to our vans the harder the sprinkles. We braked to a stop at our vans as the skies dumped. Steve’s bike rack carries the assembled bike, he put his bike on. My bike attachment requires more time to attach. I chose staying dry and sought shelter inside van. I hung inside until rain stopped many minutes later. Dirt is prolly hero dirt now and no one is here to experience and my riding is done for the day.
Steve will lead me on trails that are passable. Rain is forecast and if so, riding will be affected. I will stay here till weekend should riding be had. Next stop is Bend for dentist appointment a week from Tues.