Last night I identified a dentist & a chiro and called each on Wed morn & scored a same day appointment. My teeth were cleaned by the dentist who remarked that my teeth look fine. OK by me. Later in the day the chiro straightened my neck and back from the repeated step smash my head on the cutting board.

I started the day by touring a historical museum in Hurricane. 70 yo couple were the volunteers during my visit. The woman and I shared history facts. Several times she said w/ a sincere comment that she really enjoyed listening to me for the facts I shared. She asked if I was a professor.

I stopped @ Over the Edge bike shop in town which is somehow tied to namesake in Fruita. CO. Learned that gnats are Utah Juniper gnats and yes they bite. Somebody said that different people have different tolerances to their bites. I am so bitten and welted and itch. One guy @ Virgin Bike complained about mosquitoes that don’t bother me. They seem to like the mesas. If the spring is wet and cool they last longer. He said that several 100 degree days kill them off.

Stories intermingled.

Wed was spent @ drs etc in Hurricane. Woman @ propane store told me to drive up Kolob road and camp in P-pine forests away from gnats. I followed her advice. my route took me towards Zion NP. Kolob split of from main road and ducks in @ out of Zion as it works its way up higher into mtns. Miles and 3000 some ‘ of elevation I arrived @ reservoir in a mtn basin. The peaks on ridge ringing the body of h20 still had winter cornices. Lots of people were camped. Road around lake was not Sprinter certified so I parked on a concrete pad much like the start of an RV campground. Exposed spot but it was late afternoon and the skies were overcast. Temp in Hurricane around 3000′ was 100 degrees when I left. At the reservoir @ around 7800′ was in low 60s. Great sleeping night.

Thurs I  crawled out of bed with a neck that turned like it meant to be turned. Chilly @ 40 deg. Fixed bfast, cleaned up, and headed down mtn while hardly anybody else stirred. Kolob is a small bedroom community near the res. Ranch land. I passed 5 heavy duty pickups pulling calf stuffed stock trailers up to summer grazing. The brakes will be well worked during the descent in the fall. Steep road.

Drove up towards Zion NP to Bike Zion, the shop dean @ Sedona used to own, to learn of the trails off the Virgin River which flows out of Zion NP. He was the gnat knowledge person. I picked JEM trail. He was suggesting other rides but they were on top of mesas in gnat land. I emphatically said NO. I will not be bitten again no more.

JEM TH is back down towards valley. Passed mile post 24 where people are primitive camping and where I will go tonight. Today’s ride is all exposed desert. i followed the route guide and rode up jeep road to upper TH and then down ST back to lower TH. This ride is right under Gooseberry mesa. No gnats. Actual ST JEM is an almost buffed trail with a gentle elevation drop turning around sage bushes. Fun keeping speed and slaloming small berms on trail.

77 degrees when started, 2 hours later it was 91. Rode over to Zion Falls park to scope out dunking in Virgin river. 4 young men were in and claimed it was cold. It was not a fresh mtn stream and I would have wanted a shower afterwards. I left them to their chilly fun.

I drove down into laverkin to fill up h2o and the shower and to do computer work.

I will stay @ mp 24 primitive on the river site  tonight and then ride a 22 mile desert ride tomorrow that ties JEM and several other trails for the loop. And then move down to ST George rides.

Some of the rides are very technical, some are simple fun like today. Great to work on spin. The tech stuff calls other skills into play. Mix ’em up.

Its windy here in town. I am hoping for a sheltered camp spot to pitch shower in to have it stay expanded instead of wrapped around me. On my jeep road ride today i was blown around on the road; the wind was steering me and I was forcing my will on the correction.

Warm night, Didn’t sleep well.

Up @ 6:30 to get ready for 8:00 ride w/ Randy. He called @ 8:00 to say he was still working a shock issue w/ his bike and that he would be late. That gave me the chance to install the new The Captain rear tire. I gambled that the slime tube would still seal all the thorn holes from old tire. And it did. I counted over 15 thorns sticking into tire, many were on sidewalls. New tire for riding slick rock on the mesa.

Randy arrived. His shock is a 5th element and the dampening sucked. he bobbed horribly so he pumped up other chamber to calm his suspension.

He lead and I followed the white blazes on the rock. Gooseberry is like Sedona in the technical nature and slick rock but different in the color  is sand and there is more slick rock and riding is on established trails. Sort of like Sedona.

We ran into a couple from SD and they were experiencing something they don’t see in the plains. We all rode along to The Point. randy, for being off his bike for 4 years still has the moves on the tech stuff.

I made a climbing move transitioning to a hairpin turn into a wheel trap and stuffed my front wheel and fell over downhill and smeared myself onto rock to keep from falling down a rock face. Putz move.

At the Point we encountered 3 other riders. One was a chiropractor. I am seeking an adjustment from smashing my head into the cutting board all those times. I said I needed a treatment but he wouldn’t pick up on it and do me on the rock. I searched my insurance coverage and found a clinic in Hurricane that I will try tomorrow.

Clear bright blue sky and high temp. Water was consumed. Randy is not in riding shape and the long ride took its toll. Not many miles but minutes spent riding the tech trails. 14.65 miles 1411′ on a mesa.

Randy split for home.

I filled the solar shower before the ride and left in sun. Upon return the sun heated the h2o to almost scalding. The first time I used a solar shower was here @ Gooseberry back in ’98 to same results. Hung shower from tree branch and I am now clean w/ 2 gallons of hot h2o.

Sat in my chair in tree shade. The darn biting gnats returned and chewed me up. I put on long pants, buttoned the collar of my shirt, put my hat on, and sat reading. the gnats were biting up on my scalp. i put a bandana on my head under my hat to keep them @ bay.

Open this link to learn about Gnats:

http://watchingtheworldwakeup.blogspot.com/2009/05/road-trip-part-3-all-about-cedar-gnats.html

I am camped @ edge of mesa. 20 mph gusts blew the gnats away until late afternoon and they seemed to disappear.

Pretty sunset out over peaks towards Zion NP.

Tomorrow I drive back down this rough road and will ride the JEM trail and swim in the Virgin River. And several other days of riding b4 Bootleg Canyon near Vegas.

Solar panel recharged the batteries during the day. great.

My knees liked the day off yesterday and experienced little pain on today’s ride.

After 2 days on North rim of Grand canyon @ 7000′ and more I am in  down in Hurricane @ 3000′ and upper 90 degrees.

Gracie smoked all sport women for overall first at Bump & Grind @ Oak Mtn. Goodness gracious Gracie!

Tonight is out to Gooseberry mesa, right now I am in town under shade trees and internet connection. Just a quick update in case anybody is worried that I fell into the Canyon.

OK, Drove out to Gooseberry TH somewhere. The road is gouged in red sand and then leaves for climb up to TH. Pretty rough like 2 mph. Rain storm hitting me and not sure what road surface will become w/ a bit of h2o added. Found spot out on edge of bluff under a pinon pine. Winds picked up and rain fell harder in squalls. Quite spectacular looking off probably towards Zion and seeing the rain sheets. Quite the place. Just under 5000′ elevation and temp dropped into lower 70s.

That is sort of now, need to catch up on Grand Canyon.

Les, I bailed on Bright Angel before your advice. I could have coped w/ mule piss but the foreigners are not overly friendly. Besides, my right knee has some issues that causes me to just ride and leave the hiking shoes under the refrigerator.

I drove out of park via Desert View. Along drive there are numerous view points. The canyon is just too big to comprehend and the views offer just more ahhs. Drove East out into real desert to Cameron and Painted desert. No plants. Topped off diesel, beleive it, depends upon pump, but numbers said 31 mpg.

I motor along between 50 & 55mph and am passed whenever. I was passed by a gaggle of Harley riders. What i noticed about the mama on back was she was nothing like a mama. They were wearing form fitting leather jackets and were trim. I liked them better than the bikes but I probably could have petted the bike before the passenger.

The law enforcement officer @ Sedona told me about the Rainbow trail along the North rim of canyon on USFS land and it was my goal. I bought the necessary map while in Flagstaff and read that roads leading out to the 5 points of land @ border of NPS land where less than all season roads. I needed to learn of road before driving on it. I read that the preferred riding point id Locust Point in the middle of the 18 mile 1 way trail. The map showed that it was a double dashed line meaning an unimproved double track. I wanted this one but the road freaked me out before even getting on it. I stopped @ FS visitor center to learn of roads. Useless help other than drive conservatively and if it doesn’t feel good, back up and try another way.

I chose the more maintained road out to N end of trail @ Parissawampitts point. Several hours previously a t-storm dumped rain and fresh snow out towards rim. It is 24 miles of gravel roads out to Paris… , the last 3 seemed to have more dirt in the gravel. And rain was falling again. I looked in rear view mirror and saw that my tires were making tracks like being in fresh snow. Except this was slippery mud and no idea where the bottom might be. I am just so freaked out by getting stuck. I thought that road might deteriorate further. I found flat land and no berm to drive over and pulled in. My thought now is to stay here tonight while waiting for h2o to leave the clay.  Before dinner I walked about 1 3/4 miles of 2 1/2 miles to the point. My shoes made prints like fresh snow albeit red dirt and stuck to lugged soles. Some feet of surface where firm. There were several small uphills that would have been slimey to drive up.

I made dinner and cleaned up w/ no rain falling. I shoe checked a few wet spots and they had firmed up. I wanted to camp @ rim. And I drove on. I made tracks but didn’t slither to TH and parked. I had the place to myself. The road and trail stop well short of rim.

B4 bfast the next day I bush bashed out to rim over look and took pictures. Lots of pictures of this incredibly big ditch.

The rainbow is 18 miles one way. I set a ride time of 1 1/2 hours out. The trail is well engineered and made. I rode by 3 of 5 points of land that are the vistas. The trail went right along the end making looking at the view secondary to keeping on the trail. I did stop several times and took pictures.

I passed a guy who parked @ Locust point which is mid way and was planning on riding entire trail as 2 out & backs like i wanted to do. He told me about the big puddles on the road he drove thru in his 4×4 truck. I passed a couple who started @ other end and were doing the entire out & back.

I reached my turn around time @ 12 miles. In the distance I saw lightning. To me it meant a slippery road getting out. On the way back I passed the couple and the solo rider who was struggling just to complete his first 18 mile out & back. But he was trying and I was dashing.

I competed my ride b4 rain fell. I gambled on rain and took a Coleman hot h2o on demand shower. I pushed the set up and take down staying ahead of rainfall.

I drove out driving over my cast in prints from yesterday. I made the good gravel before the rain fell. Whew.

Light scattered rain. I passed a fire lookout. I checked it out. It is a large box bolted onto a metal tower way up there. Gulp, it is a long ways up there. During the winter I gave action to applying for a fire lookout job. OK, if I was stationed at this tower, I would climb up & down. Might as well see how well I would do. I made 4 flights out of maybe 10. I was way above the roof of my Sprinter. Cool solar collector. And then it started raining, sprinkling. The lookout was manned by license plate from FL. I didn’t think i would be allowed into lookout to get out of rain and i didn’t want to get soaked. My reason for down climbing. If it was my job I would do it. Because it was not my job I am untested.

I primitive camped just West of Jacob Lake.

The North rim of Grand Canyon is 7000′ plus and is wetter and tree covered, a wet difference from South rim. And nobody around. The drive S thru a large years old forest fire and later meadows w/ aspen greening out. Just beautiful.

Today I drove down out of mountains and back into desert. I drove by road to Gooseberry but didn’t see it. My plan was to drive into Hurricane and further to St George to find a bike shop to get my bearings. Rt 59 into Hurricane passed in front of a bike shop. Cool. Parked & walked across street and was greeted by a guy who asked if I was doing tours because he saw my van. No. And that started along conversation. He is working on a bike touring business. On my drive today I was thinking bout the same business. We both had same questions on how to define a market and separate money and people. years earlier he rode w/ Dean who used to own Virgin Bikes, perhaps developed Gooseberry trails, lives in Sedona, and I rode w/him 2x. We lined up a ride @ Gooseberry for tomorrow @ 8AM which is why I am parked here. Has 4 kids & non biking riding life, good Mormon.

I drove down to St George to find a bike shop for a wrench to work out brake rub that I couldn’t figure out. The first shop said if I could leave it for 2 days, I said I will ride w/ drag. I did buy a Specialized S-Works The Captain to replace an almost smooth rear tire. Here is a potential issue: the tube is slime filled and has many holes sealed w/ slime. I was told that when I deflate my tube to replace the tire and pump it back up it might no seal because there are too many holes letting too much air out for slime to reseal those holes. I will gamble to get a grippy new tire.

Was 93 degrees @ St George. I planned to be out of NM and AZ by end of May to beat heat. I should have added SW UT. There are several days of riding around here. I am going to swing back S to ride Bootleg Canyon and then over to Mammoth in CA.

The bug bites on my legs are almost all healed from Sedona