Trans-America Trail (TAT) — Day 14

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Madelyn and Scott awoke to the sound of thunder and droplets of rain on the tents. We collected the laundry before any serious rain and we lucked out as the rainstorm passed us to the south. Oatmeal and coffee were quick and a sufficient way for us to get our day going.

No significant dew on the tents or motorcycle covers, so tear down was much more efficient. We were torn down and rolling by 9:15am. Better than our performance in Silverton, but still nothing like a 7:00am departure from a motel.

This part of the TAT parallels sections of Interstate 70 (I-70) in Utah. The first non-paved roads were dirt farmroads, then back onto I-70 for a stretch. Using I-70 almost violates our rule of “No Interstates”; however, the TAT uses I-70 simply because there are no other roads that permit the TAT to cross this part of Utah without using it.

Anyhow, the TAT splits off I-70 with no exit, just a dirt lane to a gate in the right-of-way towards Black Dragon Canyon. This was one of Jarrett’s favorite portions of the TAT, so Scott was particularly looking forward to it. Very quickly we got into sand trouble after a small navigational error. We quickly rerouted ourselves towards the canyon. Before you knew it, we found sand again.

We worked our way to Black Dragon Canyon and soon discovered we had our hands full with trying to navigate in and out of the wash, which was littered with large rocks and sand.

We made it into the canyon, just before the petroglyphs before we made the decision to retreat. Four motorcycle recoveries in a mile span in a canyon with increasing temperatures and another hundred miles or so to travel, meant that Black Dragon Canyon would not be on our conquer list this year.

That being said, we’re glad we tried and seeing the petroglyphs was certainly a great reward for the effort.

We retraced our path, but still couldn’t avoid having to recover motorcycles along the way. This was a bonus round with two motorcycles at one time. And by-the-way, Kendrick has multiple drops at this point and has trouble finding humor when it occurs.

Another alternate route helped us put too technical stretches of the TAT behind us as we headed towards Richfield, Utah. Not unlike every other state we have ridden in, we found mud and soft spots that make TAT travel tricky. The red sandy plateaus of Utah disappear into terrain covered by scrub oak, before transitioning into irrigated agricultural land as we approach Richfield.

By the time we arrived in Richfield, our hydration packs were empty, our supplemental water bottles were empty, and we were just about ready to break into our one gallon RotopaX water containers, as the temperatures were in the mid 90s. The desert is nothing to fool with when it comes to water.

A motel with laundry facilities, ice, WIFI, and air conditioning was in order to help us prepare for another warm day on the TAT in the desert of the American West.

Trans-America Trail (TAT) — Day 13

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Ahead of us is Moab! Clothes washed, batteries charged, bodies showered, and bikes re-packed we headed out, but not before breakfast. We enjoyed a nice, quiet breakfast at the Peace Tree Cafe in Monticello, Utah.

Just before hopping onto our bikes, a couple and their son approached us. As it turns out, Jarrett, Robyn, and Marshall Mathews just finished the TAT and were on their way home to Texas. They gave us some fantastic condition reports and advice regarding our BMW F800GSs vs their KTMs on the roads we would soon encounter. Thanks a million for the advice, as it helped us plan out our coming days.

North out of Monticello we rode on the TAT. At first we were taking those zig-zag PLSS roads east, then north, then east, then north, then west, etc. Then, things started to get more interested as we passed through the town of La Sal, then up and over La Sal Mountain as it winds its way into the red rock canyons south and east of Moab.

As we were riding down the pleasant and not-so-technical roads towards Moab, around the corner was this nice little black bear alongside the road. Radio collared and not freaked out by our presence, it wandered back into the scrub oak almost as if we weren’t even there.

Those red hillsides and roads that took us down into Moab, were the perfect introduction of what we would be seeing over the next day or so.

By noontime, we had arrived in Moab and found Milt’s Stop N’ Eat for fast service, great buffalo burgers, fries, and shakes/malts. We’ll definitely return to Milt’s the next time we’re in Moab.

The technical level of the TAT increases north of Moab on the road to Gemini Bridges. The road starts out climbing the face of a sandstone canyon wall, then transitions into navigating through washes up and around the plateau until we reached Gemini Bridges. Temperatures were in the mid 90s and fortunately the heat was dry, so shade makes a huge difference in comfort level.

The day wouldn’t be uneventful without someone finding a reason to drop their bike. This time, it was Scott in deep sand. Again, this is the price you pay to be the leader… ;>).

A minute or two later (maybe five), we’re back traveling towards our night’s destination, Green River. The TAT leaves the red sandy terrain, to lighter colored buff rocks that follow powerline corriders. The roads are mostly straight with a couple of turns, so sand, and mud spot avoidance skills.

Around 5:00pm, we arrived in Green River and took Jarrett, Robyn, and Marshall’s advice to stay at Green River State Park. This was a great suggestion, as the campsites had perfect grass for tents, clean washrooms/showers, and room for us!

Before dark, we knocked out some redneck laundry, rollchart updating, showers, and dinner.

The night was warm and we fell to sleep as crickets sang a loud chorus around us.

Trans-America Trail (TAT) — Day 12

Friday, August 15, 2014

Cool mountain air and the joy of being in warm sleeping bags, translated into a great night’s rest. Madelyn is particularly fond of her Big Agnes down sleeping bag. We awoke to a heavy layer of dew on the tents and motorcycle covers. This means, we’ll have to delay our departure until the gear was dry enough to pack. To kill some time, we got dressed and walked into Silverton for breakfast at the Brown Bear Cafe. Breakfast consumed, we went outside to enjoy the early morning sunshine and update our rollcharts.

Rollcharts updated, we returned to our campsite to assess our level of dryness. Things were still rather damp… This wasn’t anticipated when it came to camping… how it would affect our departure schedule. Staying in a motel is easy, you get up, shower, pack the bikes, and leave. Camping is a whole different scenario and we weren’t able to get out of Silverton until 11:15am.

Knowing that our schedule was compromised, rain had fallen and rain was forecasted for the day, and our 700+ BMWs were a handful in the wet and muddy conditions on Cinnamon Pass, an alternate travel route was going to be necessary. This would eliminate the toughest pass in Colorado, Ophir Pass, and based on the circumstances, it was necessary.

Our revised route scooted north through Ouray, around through Placerville, a quick visit to Telluride, and then south towards Rico to reconnect with the TAT. This alternative route was a good choice as the conditions allowed us to make miles relatively quickly on basic TAT roads that wove though aspen groves, coniferous patches, and then opened up into high altitude plains as we approached the Utah state line.

We left behind storm clouds and windy conditions as we rode into Utah. This part of Utah is defined by big skies, agriculture, and we started to see the presence of the LDS in every community we drove through. Eventually, we arrived in Monticello for dinner and a night’s rest.

Dinner came in the form of iconic west at the K&A Chuckwagon. The perfect place for a hearty, cowboy style dinner. We enjoyed steak and ribs, salads, and ranch potatoes along with four other families from out of the area (France). 

At this point, we have ridden two-thirds of the TAT, which leaves more difficult riding ahead in Utah, Nevada, California, and Oregon.

Trans-America Trail (TAT) — Day 11

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Wednesday was a work day, so we were back to the TAT first thing Thursday morning. Salida’s altitude meant the night-time temperatures were cool. By the time we left Salida, the temperature was in the mid 50s, so it was cool enough to warrant the use of heated grips.

The TAT heads west to Ponca Springs, then south before the route starts gaining altitude to our first pass of the day, Marshall Pass. This portion of the TAT uses fairly well-groomed United States Forest Service (USFS) and private roads up through the central Colorado mountains.

Up and down we rode through a variety of forested sections and alpine pastures. The terrain never looks the same. On most of the TAT, we have been almost entirely alone on the circuitous route that steers clear of common travel paths; that would not be the case on this day of riding. From before lunch and throughout most of the day, we would pass probably over a hundred smaller displacement dualsport motorcycles. Some were street legal, while others were nothing of the sort. Apparently, there was a two-day ride event that attracted a good crowd of dualsport enthusiasts and was the primary reason for the increased presence of traffic. These smaller bikes, made navigation of the increasingly more difficult terrain a lot more manageable.

The Colorado summer has been cooler and wetter than “normal”, whatever that is, and this riding day would expose us to some of that moisture. The road types vary with clean gravel, to layers of dirt and gravel, dirt, and everything in between. And because of the wet summer, we were routinely riding over roads that had been recently regraded. In some instances, we were riding on roads that in the process of being regraded.

Aside from some logging operations, the most frequent other form of occupation (other than tourism based activities) is ranching. While riding, another opportunity to engage a local became possible. As we were riding down from a lower pass, we came across this fellow driving a side-by-side. Well, his name was Curt and his working buddies were Lea (seen in the back of the side-by-side) and puppy Tippy (short for “Typical”) in the floor of the passenger side of the side-by-side (not visible). Curt has lived here his entire life and seems to quite enjoy his life as a high mountain Colorado rancher.

We stopped at a day use part along the shores of Lake San Cristobal for quick picnic lunch prior tackling our next pass, Cinnamon Pass. The skies had been overcast throughout the day, with no rain, yet… In addition to the KTMs we had been seeing, we also started seeing heaps and heaps of Jeeps. We soon found out why.

The road up to Cinnamon Pass started out as most of the other non-paved roads – mixed grades, mixed surfaces, narrow in spots, and breathtaking views were frequent. The increased as we road west. One tricky spot after another presented itself and things got more interesting as the rain started to fall. The TAT got steeper and switchbacks challenged us as we road to the pass. At one point, the conditions were such that we had to rely on teamwork to get our 700+ pound BMWs over the slick rocks and muddy roads; meanwhile, we were doing this and having to share portions of the road with the four-wheeled vehicles that were both descending and ascending Cinnamon Pass.

Hours later we reached the pass, all 12,600 feet AMSL! We made it with only one tip-over and through expending lots of energy.

Despite the mixed reports we received from other riders, the descent was still some of the toughest riding we’ve ever done; however, it didn’t compare to the ascent. Downhill we rode, losing thousands of feet in elevation in a very short distance to Animas Forks. In this part of Colorado, there are lots of abandoned and still operational mines. Animas Forks is an abandoned mining town and a decision-making point for TAT riders. Either continue up to California Pass and over the mountains towards Telluride or continue down towards Silverton.

Given the time of day (late afternoon), our energy level, and rainshowers, our better judgement was to head to Silverton for dinner and to find a place to rest our heads. Silverton is another historic mining town that survives today on tourism (Jeeping in the summer months) and snowsports (snowboarding in the winter). Even though we arrived before 6:00pm, none of the local lodging establishments had any vacant rooms.

Until now, Scott had made advance reservations for every other night. As the TAT gets into the more mountainous states, the difficulty level increases. As such, it would be more difficult to predict our pace and possible location, so we decided to address our lodging needs day-by-day moving forward. Given that no rooms were available, we would camp for the first time on the trip!

On the edge of Silverton is an establishment with tent camping spots called Red Mountain Motel, Cabins, RV Park, & Jeep Rentals. We didn’t have any options, so we gave it a go. Their proximity to restaurants in Silverton would also give us the flexibility to walk to town for dinner and breakfast. The fellow working the counter was friendly and got us squared away with a camping site in short order.

This gave us the first opportunity to use the camping gear we got at Next Adventure. Bryan Knudsen and his crew at Next Adventure in Portland, Oregon hooked us up with kick ass camping gear. Several months ago, Ryan Slagel, spent the morning with us selecting compact, lightweight, and technical gear. The gear is outstanding (we’ll have another blog post about this gear later)!

With our campsite set, we needed dinner and it was getting late, so we walked up the main drag in Silverton and decide to grab dinner at Thee Pitts Again. Based on the workout from climbing and descending Cinnamon Pass, we celebrated with breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches and deep fried pickles! What a treat.

Conquering Cinnamon Pass and getting ourselves down the mountain safely allowed us to mark another day off our TAT trip with smiles on our faces.