The drive from Boise to St. George is about 10 hours, but the LT and I had to divert to Duck Creek Village where he’d leave his car and ride in my car to St. George. The LT couldn’t arrange a full week off, so he’d bicycle with us to Duck Creek Village getting in nearly all the climbing and drive home on 1 June as we started sailing downhill for 3 days, or so we planned.
29 May 11 40.4 miles 5:05 Riding Time 5,200 ft of gain
St. George, UT to Pine Valley, UT
Temple View RV Park seems the obvious place to stay in downtown St. George, with its thick luxurious grass to sleep on, but the tent area is well lighted, and noisy kid’s sneaked into the nearly pool at 0300 hours, so not all the group was happy there. I don’t like testing out new equipment on tour, but I was trying out my Old Man Mountain Cold Springs front rack- a “high rider” rack for a road tourist who’s been a fan of “low rider” racks since they were invented. On the 2 mile trip to breakfast my bike’s front end seemed to shake all over the place, and the bike seemed difficult to move. I wondered how I’d do on tour and if this rack would work. That short two mile ride had some kind of optical illusion- though it looked flat it was actually fairly steep into a stiff headwind. During the real ride the “high rider” rack never gave me any issues. Much to my surprise I’d recommend it for off road touring. Low riders balance the weight better, but low riding panniers are an easy target for passing rocks..
When we arrived at the above creek, Doug and the LT seemed eager for the challenge of crossing the fast moving water. Scott, Jen, & I weren’t so sure and nearly went back to the highway. After talking the LT into the trip, I didn’t want to be a stick-in-the-mud, so I followed, and Jen and Scott were right behind me. Doug and the LT had braved this bare footed. Jen & I needed shoes for our tender feet.
Within minutes of the stream crossing, Doug’s Shimano chain broke. He’s well prepared and had another chain with him, so we were going in a few minutes. Amazing how quickly a mechanical guy can slap on a new chain with a master link.
Pine Valley is slightly off route, but we’d planned to spend the night in its nearby campground. The temps fell rapidly as we entered town- down 4 degrees as we crossed the narrow valley. Was our 3:00 meal lunch or dinner? As we ordered one meal and planned on returning for another, unknown to us the staff was preparing for their routine Sunday afternoon shutdown though Monday’s Memorial Day. A light mist fell, with some of the biggest snowflakes I’ve ever seen. The forecast was now revised to predict a low of 20 that night. We decided to seek out shelter at the grill across the street. Management and its staff seemed caught off guard by the arrival of Memorial Day. The owner had gone to town for more supplies leaving two teenagers to run the place, and the cold weather was filling their few cabins with last minute guests. We were in luck someone had vacated a cabin that we could have, a teenage employee was assigned the job of cleaning a just vacated cabin which would be ready in about two hours. Our wet shoes made the cold seem worse.
30 May 11 58.9 miles 6:07 Riding Time 3,576 ft of gain
Pine Valley, UT to Cedar City, UT
We were glad for our shelter the next morning as we saw the forecast was wrong. The skies hadn’t cleared and the temps hadn’t drop to 20 degrees, but we did get wet snow that then froze hard, the skies were still dark with clouds, and it was still freezing as we ate our breakfast huddled in our cabin. It was 34 by the time we rode out. The snow hadn’t stuck to the road, our route was uphill, and we all had dry shoes, so no one suffered with the cold.
I mentioned I was uncomfortable with new untested equipment on the ride. Jen was riding a brand new bike with 2 accumulated miles on it as she headed out on day one. She and Scott made a couple of small adjustments that day (if I may call tightening all 32 spokes on the rear wheel "minor"), but as we were climbing the road out of Pine Valley, her Shimano 10 speed chain broke. Unfortunately, no one was carrying a spare one of those. Scott shortened the chain by a link; we considered returning downhill to St. George but continued on toward Cedar City where Jen hoped to buy a new chain that would let her use all 30 of her gears. The mountains were beautiful, and we had a tail wind as we did the day before, and the skies were clearing.
The LT figured it was his time for mechanical issues while in the mountains. I believe the sequence of events was: he lost left rear rack bolt which let the rack weave causing the right rear rack boss to pop off the frame. That created such vibration the LT stopped to declare the lost bolt. Scott had several of those, but while we were examining the bike, someone noticed the boss just off the seat post was no longer attached. Scott carries lots of spare parts, and came up with the below repair which had us going as soon as we’d eaten our PB&J sandwiches.
We dropped out of the forest and into the grass by New Harmony. Enjoying our moderate tailwind and a down hill, we made good time to a freeway convenience store. No one even noticed LT Klein was 50 to 100 feet behind us. Scott and Jen were suffering almost identical allergy symptoms swollen watery eyes. Doug was wheezing but didn’t seek out the same allergy medications that brought some relief to Scott and Jen. As we prepared to leave, the LT took off like a shot. I had to struggle to catch him, and asked why he was riding ahead of everyone. “You guys about dropped me back there, and I’m doing my best to see it doesn’t happen again” was his reply. It seems the Mike Simpson approach, “If I drop you, you can’t drop me” isn’t entirely gone! We regrouped just before the turn off that would return us to dirt roads and a 1,400 climb up above Cedar City. It turns out that the neither the allergenic group nor the LT who was concerned about being dropped had any interest in completing what I thought was the challenge of the day, so we headed into town on the freeway frontage road.
The LT and I had spotted a KOA in Cedar City as we passed through on our way to Duck Creek Village, so we headed directly there as the bike shops weren’t opened on Memorial Day. Doug, Scott, and Jen had what they described as poor pizza delivered to the KOA. The LT and I walked 1/4 mile for a Mexican dinner. Cedar City has an interesting downtown, but we stayed in the strip mall section this evening.
31 May 11 33.4 miles 4:51 Riding Time 4,450 ft of gain
Cedar City, UT to Duck Creek Village, UT
Cedar Cycle opens at 9:00 instead of 10:00, so we headed there directly after our restaurant breakfast. Brian was able to replace the chain and cannibalize one of his bikes for a 10 speed shifter that was also needed to get Jen's new bike going with all 30 gears. Still we were out of there in just over an hour. Thanks Brian & Cedar Cycles!
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The climb out of Cedar City is steep, long, and beautiful, but Highway 14 was also full of trucks of every kind but especially dump trucks which combined with the severe head wind gave the ride an unpleasant side. We struggled with strong headwinds all day. Toward the top as the winds relentlessly tossed us, Doug yelled, “I curse you, wind gods!” As we rounded the next corner which cut through the mountain's flank, Doug, Scott, Jen, and I were blown off the road! Four of us were blown onto a pull out, but Scott was blown into a ditch. After straightening his handlebars we pushed the 50 yards to the top because of the wind. The LT was ahead of us for that blast, and only joined in the pushing to be social. At the top Adventure Cycling’s route turns back onto dirt roads that were covered in 2 to 5 feet of snow, so we stayed on Highway 14. Several of the hoped for campsites were buried in the snow. The last one had mostly melted snow, but flowing water was everywhere making it equally useless. Duck Creek Village was just ahead. Maybe this would be another night inside. We rented a cabin with two upstairs bedrooms, a nice kitchen, and living area for $100. We also had the best ice cream of the trip while in Duck Creek Village.
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Lost without the LT
1 Jun 11 64.9 miles 8:21 Riding Time
Duck Creek Village, UT to campground outside of Zion National Park
The LT had ridden to the highest point of the trip thinking he’d be there for most of the adventure and miss the easy coasting back downhill to St. George. He had to leave us this morning after breakfast- leaving us four to contemplate the “Red Flag Warning” with forecast wind speeds of 60 MPH which could lead to a layover day. The cabin was great for the 5 of us, but we didn’t want to spend a day in the nearly vacant Duck Creek Village, so we headed out into the wind but down the highway. Highway 14 is too busy to really enjoy, but Adventure Cycling’s route was still snow covered, so we turned off on the first alternative, Strawberry Creek, which we hoped to follow up to the ridge line, drop off the mountain, and rejoin the route. Good plan, but the top of Strawberry Ridge was snow covered with trees down everywhere. Getting to Strawberry Ridge represented 7 miles into a stiff headwind, and then reversing course because of downed trees, mud, and snow, but at least the return had a great tail wind.
The next draw over was Swain’s Creek. We met a seasonal resident & mountain biker who highly recommended this route. Then Jen & I met the assistant County Assessor who also highly recommended the route but warned of a 100 foot mud wallow to cross. Doug then joined us and asked about downed trees and possible snow/mud as he was concerned this would be another out onto the ridge top and back. The assistant assessor agreed it was possible we'd find those things. We turned around riding back out to Highway 14 where we again met the mountain biker (in his car). He didn’t know the current condition of the road but stated a weird winter storm had taken down a lot of tress above 8,500 ft, that this route would stay below that elevation, and reiterated that this was his favorite route in this area. I asked if he were in the area only one time and had a chance to see the canyon/vista or ride county #1 which way he’d go. He diplomatically avoided that question.
Now, Scott and Doug are generally of one mind, but in this instance Doug wanted to ride down Highway 14 to the lower country route #1 and proceed into the valley avoiding any chance of ruining his sprocket on down trees and back-tracking again. Scott wanted to see the dramatic scenery of this canyon. Jen somehow stayed out of the discussion. I saw both sides of the issue- not relishing another 7 miles into the head winds just to turn around, and not wanting to miss the best scenery of the trip. Asked to cast a deciding vote, I went for Swain Creek. So, we turned around and backtracked again.
The Assistant Assessor knew more than he realized. We arrived at the mud slough, and sure enough it was 100 to 150 feet long with no way around it. Doug was the first across. Scott seemed to abandon all caution and walked through the worst section, but when we were all across he was the cleanest. Jen won the contest for dirtiest.
It wasn’t many feet of climbing to the ridge top, and we never reached an elevation high enough for all the down trees. Views from the top were great, but soon we were confused. There were a spider web of roads going down. We selected what seemed the road most traveled, but soon it wasn’t so well traveled. Jen prayed for signs of civilization and soon two ATV’s showed up with three pleasant but non-local riders. They recommended a route down that would end at a private fence. We found a hand painted sign that read “Zion”, but it was very steep, and we decided to follow the advice of the ATVer’s. That road may have been steeper. We had to push down parts which reminded me of Crystal Creek that leads from North of Winchester into Mission Creek; rocky with wash outs- not really suitable for loaded touring bikes, so we pushed down sections. We were almost relieved when we saw the private property sign on the dilapidated gate an old dog could have jumped. Scott’s GPS finally picked up a signal that showed we were about 4 miles off AC’s route. The road was little used but discernible though no more than a cow trail. Soon we reached another fence- no gate- and no discernible trail- not even a cow trail as we crossed it and continued down hill trying to avoid the marsh like bottom lands. This is an area Corrie would have hated, but unfortunately, he’s apparently sworn off traveling with this adventurous group! I was thinking about the tall grass and not running over rattlesnakes that I’d have never seen! The LT would have loved this day.
The marshy area to our left and the fences and hillside to our right kept us in a narrow area that soon led to an abandoned cattle camp. The hired men’s shack was obviously abandoned. The old cattleman’s house looked empty. We walked our bikes quickly pass, and within 1/4 mile heard the roar of a motor. A newer king cab pickup with Colorado plates was buried up to its frame in the mud. A pleasant young family watched as the father and a heavier man with Utah plates on his pickup worked at pulling out the larger pickup. We apologized profusely for crossing the private land. The CO couple said it was OK, but the guy with UT plates seemed grumpy about it. We took no photos and hurried off though once their ordeal was over, they might have enjoyed a photo e-mailed to them.
The road soon became solid and led to a fence- clearly marked “No trespassing” from the other side. We were relieved to be back on public roads, and soon on route. When I look at the AC maps from the comfort of my home easy chair, I think I see how we got lost! Back on route as we crossed the E fork of the Virgin River, it was 5:00 p.m. Seeing a nice patch of flat green grass near the pleasant river, where I could have swum and we could have filtered water, I asked about camping. “We have only 10 miles to reach a hot shower” was Scott’s reply. I was pleasantly tired, and 5:00 is a great time to end a day’s travel especially when going to a non-developed camp, but I was sure I could handle 10 more miles no matter how many ridges it crossed. It crossed a lot of ridges, and, Scott, it was alot farther than 10 miles! This was my day to tire out first. It seemed we’d never quit crossing ridges, up and down. At 8:15 or so Doug started talking nightfall. We’re within 3 weeks of mid-summer’s day, so we had another hour, but I was tired, and was the last member of the pack to make it up each ridge, but the others also said they were tired. Somehow, we'd forgotten to eat lunch which, doubtless, made for more tiredness. When we reached Highway 9, we were all ready to camp and hoping we wouldn’t have to set up camp, cook, and clean up in the dark! Just a couple miles down the road, there was a sign “Pizza”- not my idea of the perfect food to sleep on, but it beat cooking and clean up after dark! We’d arrived about 8:40 p.m. at an RV Park just outside the park. Dusk was ending by the time we’d eaten a great pizza (no salads or fruits available to go with it- only some high-fat cookies and candy bars that I refrained from), and the quick tent erectors had their tents up without the use of lights. A sound sleep awaited us all after a good hot shower.
2 Jun 11 46.1 miles 4:34 Riding Time
Campground outside of Zion to Hurricane, UT
I awoke still tired from the previous day’s events. The pizza parlour didn’t serve breakfast, so we had instant oatmeal. It was downhill into and through the park with some great scenery. The National Park doesn’t allow bicycles to ride through its tunnel, so we were reduced to hitch-hiking. They were painting cross walks at the tunnel’s entrance so stopped traffic which made our hitch-hiking somewhat easier with stopped vehicles to make our pleadings to. Jen soon found a ride with 3 elderly people in an SUV though she wasn’t too happy about crossing alone. That turned out to be a good choice as when we eventually found a ride from a park service truck, it barely held the other 3 of us. Having made it though the tunnel we’d met one of the ride’s non-cycling challenges.
The park offers some beautiful vistas from the seat of a bicycle. Soon we were through the park and in Rockville with a bike shop. As we started up the dirt hill out of town, Scott’s wheel wobbling became a problem. Jen threaten not to continue riding until he had taken care of it. One of his 32 spokes was pulling through the wheel. He loosened the problem spoke and tightened the adjacent spokes, gave the tent to Jen, and continued on. A new 36 spoke touring wheel is the likely fix that will be taken later. Soon we reached what the AC maps call “the worst hill you’ll ever see”. By the time Scott’s GPS showed an 18% grade we were all pushing.
We rode by the turn off to “Gooseberry Mesa” which I had planned to visit before yesterday's travel tired me. AC’s info says of it, “In this region of striking beauty and startling contrast, you can ride world-class slickrock in places like Gooseberry Mesa”. I should have at least seen it!
The route into Hurricane is a bit odd. It looks like the county road AC's route had us on had been abandoned to a new golf course. We rode into the course, felt lost, and found highway 59 with all its truck traffic, but with a steep speedy down hill grade into Hurricane.
We arrived in Hurricane planning to camp, but found only an RV park only for RV’s and a Good Sam Campground that despite all it’s grass had no room for non-member drop-ins. They recommended a couple of campgrounds 10 miles off route, but 10 miles off route means 20 extra miles. We ended up at a Motel 8 for less than $50- an option I need to keep in mind when I’m wanting to camp and the campgrounds are either too expensive or full.
3 Jun 11 32.8 miles 3:10 Riding Time
Hurricane UT to St. George, UT
We had a quick “continental breakfast” of cereal and English muffins before leaving the hotel which was adequate for this day’s short ride through the high desert. We were in St. George by noon. Doug had pleasant memories of the “Bear Paw” café we enjoyed on the way out of town, so we returned there for the final meal of the trip.
Summary: This is a great route that Adventure Cycling recommends for the fall. Every ride works well in early summer 3 weeks from Midsummer’s Day with all this light and little heat. The heavy snows forced us to divert onto more busy highways than we would have liked and probably caused our getting lost. Our route totaled 276 miles verses AC published route of 287. Keep in mind the early summer snow pack, but otherwise the route works in early summer. Getting water for our filters would have been no problem.
Check out Doug’s blog. He’s a great photographer, and his blog takes the opposite approach of mine- it’s mostly photos with a few descriptions.
