Adirondacks

Greetings from Lake George!
I've been living the life of leisure with my Cousins, Aunt and Uncle for the last week, swimming in the lake, boating and loafing around reading.  After a 5 day stretch of 450+ miles a day through the American Heartland, I slept for a day and a half and feel relaxed and refreshed.

After my return from Alaska, I spent a couple of days with my buddy Eric in the hills outside Denver.  We took a little hike up Mt Evans to almost 12000ft!

The Dalmata

A little trickery with the Panorama Cam..

Lake George is a beautiful lake up in the Adirondack Mountains.  A lot of boating, swimming and ham mocking...

The Arrival

Party Boat!

Cousins hanging out..

Tomorrow off to New Hampshire for the weekend and then the final ride to the Atlantic Ocean....

A little ride video from the trip. I'm still working on my editing skillz....

North! To Alaska!

Hello from Grinnell Iowa, the heartland of America.  The scent of Cow shit and fertilizer wafts through my nostrils. Aaaaah Freedom!
Been a while...Last we spoke I was leaving my bike with my old college friend from Alfred, Eric, in Evergreen CO, just outside Denver.   After a night of reconnecting and partying I was off to Sitka AK to see Dad.

First night had a nice sunset.

The Bay outside the cabin

Cooking is a serious business up here.  Every night a different meal production.  Steak night with beer battered onions, roasted potatoes.

A little Conga drums with my cousin Jürgen who flew in from Germany to help with work on the cabin

Chillin' on the deck...

Crab Night...

We (Jürgen) caught a Salmon..

Two chefs debating the best course of action

This is the salmon heart.  See how fresh?  Also some eggs.  Don't watch if you're squeamish!

Totem Pole in Sitka.  Lots of old Tlingit Totem Poles in the Park

Boating through town.  Sherry likes that boat..

More tomorrow..

Rocky Mountains

Well, looks like I took a wrong turn somewhere because I'm back in Frisco, Colorado that is.
Little town outside of Breckenridge, a major Ski resort.  I have seen all the big ones but Vail.  Telluride, Aspen, Crested Butte, and now Breckenridge.  The past week has been spent crossing mountain passes, hiking, and sleeping in bear infested camps. (more on that later)  The roads in the mountains are truly riding roads.  A lot of motorcycles out here and for a good reason.  Long winding roads with beautiful forest and views of snow capped mountains, streams, lakes, some nice climbs up steep slopes. I ended up shooting a lot more video with the GoPro than taking pictures.  The riding was just so much fun....

From Telluride, I headed up to Crested Butte, where an old college friend August and his Family put me up for the night. They have a beautiful house with a million dollar view and a great family that loves to camp and enjoy all that Colorado and the surrounding environs have to offer. I'm jealous.  If there was an ocean nearby I would consider moving to this place.  After enjoying their hospitality I took off over Kebler Pass headed for some white water rafting in Buena Vista, via Aspen.  The pass is mostly hard packed dirt and not too hard to ride.

Unfortunately, about 15 miles of it was being sprayed with Magnesium Chloride, a water and chemical sealant that keeps down dust.  The way they do it is to drench the dirt road in water with big trucks going up and down the road and then spraying the Mag down and let it dry.  All well and good when dry but wet it was like trying to ride in liquified shit.  Not fun. I was doing about 5 mph just trying not to drop the bike. Not fun.  That and the bike got caked in a mix of mud and the white Mag which is nice and corrosive like road salt.

Luckily when I stopped in Aspen at the Forest Rangers to enquire about camping they let me use their garden hose in the parking lot and rinse the bike. Rangers pointed me to some nice camps by the river outside of Aspen and casually said watch out for bears.... No big deal, I've camped in bear country before, heard them at night and know enough to keep my tent free of food and other odors.  It's the other folks in camp who are dangerous....


I had gone to sleep early at around 9 as I wanted to be up early for the ride over the Continental Divide and Independence Pass.  At around 9:30 I am awoken by Pop, Pop Pop Pop.  Great, some rednecks shooting off guns.  I get out of my tent and walk to the bathroom. As I do my neighbor calls me over and says there were two bears in the camp, a big 450 lb one about 100 feet from my tent just walking by and sniffing for some food.  The idiot starts shooting again and we two walk over to tell this guy to chill out.  He was really freaked. We try to explain that him turning the camp into a shooting gallery is way more dangerous than the bears.  He and his family and friends are hysterical. They start going in their trucks and circling the camp shining lights into the trees, one guy walking around camp with flashlight over handgun, cop style,  shining this way and that, comical if it wasn't for the chance he could end up shooting someone.  After about an hour of this crap they pack up and head out of camp, leaving their tents. No way the bears are coming back after this, so I head back into my tent a little spooked but fall asleep after a while.  For those who are not familiar with bears, they basically are just looking for a handout.  They are way more afraid of us.  People leaving food lying around give the bears a free snack and they become less scared.  If you have no food or scented items in your tent they will walk right by.

Next day up and out by 7am to hit the pass.  I love riding early in the morning. The light is softer, the air calm and cool and less cars on the road...

Independence Pass

The descent..You can see me pointing up at a sheet of snow.  There are a few little dots you can see. Those are people.  Probably practicing their snow climbing... One thing you notice here in Colorado is people are active.  All over they are biking, climbing, kayaking, hiking.

In Buena Vista I did a little white water rafting.  The Arkansas river runs through this valley with nice 40 degrees white water.  I ran a course called "The Numbers" a class IV run. Lots of fun, but cold, cold, cold.  I was nominated to be in the front since my group consisted of a family and their son and I were the strongest of the bunch (not saying much, I know). The front takes all the water in the face as you go pounding through the rapids.  Mom, behind me fell out at one point but held on to the rope so we were able to haul her back in.

So I'm now in Frisco.  I will be flying out to see Dad in Alaska on the 26th so probably no updates until I get back on July 9.  Don't worry I haven't been eaten by a bear....

Colorado

Well hello again. Colorado is a lot different than Utah. You notice it almost immediately after crossing the State line.  Dusty scrub brush turns into rolling farmland with little streams and Trees!  Still a little semi desert, I headed up to Mesa Verde National Park.  A little pricy but they have showers and Wifi!
I Spent 3 nights there, exploring various Pueblo Indian ruins. These are the forebears of the Pueblo and Hopi settlements in New Mexico. They were here farming the land and then one day just up and left.  Nobody knows why, but the guess is drought. 700 years later some Cowboys stumbled upon the ruins as they were herding their cattle up on the Mesa

Some sites are harder to access than others.

Then I spent a couple days near Telluride, hiking and riding a little off road.  It reminds me a lot of Europe.  Very alpine and cool and crisp.

A little dirt for the bike

The End of the Desert.

Hello from Mesa Verde, Colorado.  I decided yesterday morning, after waking up under a light dusting of red sand, that it was time to say goodbye to the desert and its searing heat and head for cooler climates.  I had been in Moab, Utah and it was hot and dusty and well, I've just had enough of it, beautiful as it is...

After Zion and before Brice Canyon, I met up with Luke, the Manager at Bocadillos who happened to be out this way on a little motorcycle adventure.

 We met at the Kawasaki dealership where I was having my oil changed and then met for a little lunch. He rode up with me at the neck-breaking speed of 65 mph to Cedar City, where he was headed back west to California, through the area 51 road.  Turned out to be quite the adventure for him..

The obligatory long road to Monument Valley shot...

Beard check.  Looking good.

Moab.  Heart of the Off-Road, Mountainbiking, Hiking community.  Beautiful as usual and hotter than hell as usual.  I headed up to arches for a nice hike in the blazing sun.  Get ready for some arches...

The trail out was quite rustic and led along some cliffs ..

Past a lot of natural Bonsai.

Weird alien looking rocks

 And of course Beautiful vistas everywhere...

Utah truly is a beautiful and magnificent place.  If it wasn't so ball-sweatingly hot, I would stay and explore some more.  As it is I'm Canyoned, Arched, Sanded, Washed, Dusted, Bouldered, and Red-Sandstoned out.

Today I spent the day exploring Pueblo Indian ruins, that will be in the next post.  For now I'm sitting in the camp cafe having one of these. It seems like every place sells them and I had to try.  

The Verdict?  Not bad, really, not bad. Almost good.  

Canyons, Canyons, and more Canyons.

Hi everyone.  Last post left me stranded in Bullhead City AZ, the ass-end of the universe.  Because the shop was busy with previously scheduled bikes and only one awesome mechanic, Jose, it took a day and a half to fix a very minor carb problem.  He worked on it between his other customers and kept me updated as I sat in my motel room and watched TV. Outside temps peaked at 112 F so I wasn't about to go out in that. Long story short, bike is fixed and it was ready to go...

I left Bullhead City early and headed north past Las Vegas to Valley of Fire State Park.  Once again, beautiful campground set in the red rocks, with a covered picnic table to boot! Not very rustic but very much appreciated in the 100 or so degree heat.  This is a beautiful park with amazing deep red sandstone formations and carved formations

Beard is coming along nicely...I've decided not to shave it until I get to Maine, so stay tuned..

I was planning on spending the next day here, hiking around and such, but as I woke up at 6 it was already about 80.  The night was spent in my boxers, sweating and looking at the stars. The ground was so hot it kept my sleeping pad warm all night. So I thought, fek it, Off to the Grand Canyon.  I had thought to split the ride up into 2 days but decided to just bomb it up there in one quick run. As you climb from the hot desert to the Kaibab Plateau, you go from about 5000ft to about 8000.  The difference is amazing.  Almost Alpine Spruce and Cedar forests, with sweeping meadows, and more importantly, a high of about 70 and a low in the 40's at night.  Refreshing after the hell-heat of the dessert.

Luke, the manager from Bocadillos had clued me in to some dispersed camping outside the national park, where you can camp anywhere away from the road, and on a specific spot where you can camp on the ridge of the canyon. Oh, and it's free.  I've since become a great fan of dispersed camping.  A little more rural but worth every penny.

My Camp, overlooking the East Rim of the Canyon in the distance.

Reading Chair set up.

Get ready for some Canyons Y'all!  

I am the Beard

So after a few nights here, I decided that I needed to rewarm my old bones.  (It was windy and chilly at night). Hence the trip to Zion National Park.  One of the most beautiful parks out there as far as rock formations...crazy colors and shapes, but also one of the most overcrowded..I arrived a little before noon and had my choice of 2 sites.  One more secluded and one shaded near the entrance (lots of traffic)  I chose the shade.  I had a young couple show up around 5pm after my river swim and asked if they could park their car and sleep there. I told them to set up a tent and enjoy. 18 year old kids on a cross country trip in on their Freshman year in college. I was happy to have some company...

Next morning I was up early for a trek down The Narrows, a hike up a river through narrow a narrow canyon.  There is no trail, the river is the trail...Luckily I was one of the early crowd as on the return trip, there were hordes of people coming up the river.  Loud teens, families, etc  just so many people, about 20-30 every 10 minutes as the shuttle busses unloaded.

It starts out with sand banks and you crisscross...

..and eventually turns into this. A narrow channel that you wade up.  It goes on for over 16 miles and you can do a one day trek down for the day.  I opted for the up and out at my leisure.  I did about 2 hours up and then down again as the hordes of tourists showed up on my way back.

Stick is important.  Kept me from falling on my ass in the river a couple times.

Beautiful place

So here I am in Page AZ. on my way to Bluff Utah, where I hope to check out some Native American ruins and petroglyphs. I rode through Bryce Canyon on my way out but didn't take any pictures, I think I'm canyoned out....

Till next time. I have some video but need to edit them first.