Day 26 (September 26, 2019) Trail Riding

RZRing

My expectations for this trip included a lot of driving, a modicum of hiking, maybe falling down a mountain, etc.  One thing I did not expect was to have my innards shaken up like a mixmaster just for the fun of it.  But that was what we voluntarily chose to do today.  We rented a RZR - an ATV with the seeming capability to climb a cliff and not fall off.  It was a theory we tested anyhow.  Here is our RZR with Susan missing because she is the photographer.

We first challenged the slickrock trails of Sand Flats Recreation Area.  The rocks were sometimes smooth and other times straight up (or down).  They were often broken into large pieces that made for severe bumping or leans.  There was no way to capture the tough areas on camera as I was doing everything to save my extremities from being slammed into hard parts of the RZR's structure.  We did stop a couple of times and got a couple of photos.

Those were among the milder sections.  The rough sections were far worse.  When we finished half of the loop, we looked at the map and saw that it was 5 on a 1-10 scale.  I don't want to know what a 10 is.  The entire trail is contained in a large area of slickrock formations.

After that brain-jarring experience, we took a much easier ride on a back road into the LaSalle Mountains, a range that looms over Moab.  It was a much more pleasant experience with nice views and cooler air as we climbed in elevation.  We looked down on  parts of Moab at several points.  The following was taken about halfway back down.  The cliffs in the background are the view we have from our rental.

Southern Moab

So now we've done as hard as we wanted to do and as easy as we wanted to do. "Let's try something in between" we say.  Chicken Corner Safari Trail was supposed to be a step down from Sand Flat so we headed off that direction.  It started on a paved road with a nice river view ...

... that turned to a dirt road for a while.  Then it got mean.  It was so rough Susan lost her hat.  Actually, that happened on pavement but it taught her to hold onto it when things got worse.  And things got worse.  Way worse.  First, it turned into twisties with no protection.  As you know, that is Susan's worst nightmare.

But it got far worse on the climb out on the other side.  The twisties added bumps that would shake the warts off a toad.

We knew we reached the top when we saw the sign "Hurrah Pass".  That was great except that John mistook a trail for the road and we turned right instead of going over the pass.  I told Susan that I didn't think we were on the road.  That became obvious when we came to the next turn.  It was like a V-turn - not a U-turn - but a V-turn.  The bottom of the V was the point where the turn met the cliff and a several hundred foot drop.  I swear that the tire over which I sat exposed itself to those cliffs.  I know for a fact that the circulation in my left arm was cut off from Susan's grip.  And I also know that my ears filled with the scream "Holy Sh!t" from my left.  John then recognized we were in the wrong place and he turned around.  But that meant going through that V-turn again.  I might regain my circulation by tomorrow morning.

We looked over the map and realized how badly it misrepresented the route.  There was a section labelled "Turny rocky climb out of canyon".  We thought that was what we had just done.  But the label was past Hurrah Pass.  In fact, we had not yet even begun the official trail yet, although we were 10 miles into an alleged 11-mile drive.  We looked over the pass and saw 2 other ATVs approaching through better terrain but we chose to turn around due to time constraints.  Don't believe that one for second.

On the way back, we stopped at a rock with more petroglyphs called a birthing scene.

We returned to the rental place where Susan, Marcia, and I were replaced in the RZR by Lonnie.  They headed back to Sand Flat for a more challenging trail.  I learned one thing today.  I like ATVs for seeing sights difficult to reach by car.  I'm not into bone-crunching rides designed for the sole purpose of crunching bones.  So we went home and relaxed before cooking dinner.

Susan’s quote of the day:  “I need coffee now ... or I'm going to get some drugs."  She had a rough night of little sleep.  But the ride on the RZR gave her a shot of adrenaline early and often.  (Her real quote of the day was "Holy Sh!t" but I needed to use it in the body of the post.)

The highlights - RZRs.
The regrets - None.

Today's total miles - 15
Today's miles from start to destination - 0
Today's miles on side trips - 15
Today's miles driven by Paul - 15
Today's miles driven by Susan - 0
Today's hours in car - 0.5
Total Miles Hiked - 0.0

Cumulative total miles - 6,901
Cumulative miles from start to destination - 3,668
Cumulative miles on side trips - 3,233
Cumulative miles driven by Paul - 5,919
Cumulative miles driven by Susan - 587
Cumulative hours in car - 142.5
Cumulative Miles Hiked - 47.3

ATV miles not included above.