La Sal Mountains 10/24/2012

Except for the three mile climb to our lunch stop, this was quite an easy day. We left the canyons and arches for a day to ride in the pinion pine forests of Manti La Sal Mountains east of Moab. Legend has it (legends again) that the La Sal Mountains were named by a Spanish missionary and explorer who saw them during an expedition in the summer of 1776. He thought the mountains couldn't be covered by snow in the summer, so that must be salt, so he named them "Salt Mountains".

This morning we were dropped off at 8000 feet elevation and it was COLD! Surprisingly, everyone had their cold weather gear and donned it all. We feathered our brakes to keep our speed under control as we freewheeled down the 7 miles to the lunch turn off. Seven miles of downhill!! JimAli would be in heaven.

Starting out at 8000 feet

 

I did stop to take a photo or two

 

See the road about in the middle of the photo -- we are heading there

Hairpin turn coming up

Down that road

It was, in a word, exhilarating! In more words it was at times scary, at times tiring on the hands, at times gorgeous. After that fantastic no pedaling 2000 feet descent we stopped to shed cold weather wear in preparation for our three mile climb. It was not a steep climb -- but is was climbing every inch of the three miles. Then -- we topped it off with a gravel way to our lunch area!! Loose gravel, soft sand and potholes are not my idea of terrain for cycling. Fortunately it was no more than two tenths of a mile to this lovely picnic spot.

After lunch (and gingerly maneuvering through the gravel/sand/potholes) it was all down hill or flat (more down hill than flat) into town and to our hotel. It was early and I felt a need to add a few more miles. I asked and was granted permission to keep the bike to ride wherever I wanted. I did a repeat of our shakedown ride of a few days ago.

On the close-in ride that I did on my own

This was the earliest finish of a day (even with my extended ride). I did a little walk around town and back to my room to catch up on the blog and -- to relax. At the end of my little walk there were a few raindrops falling on my head, and it is lightly raining right now.

 

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