April 30 to May 7, 2006

I hadn't heard from Roger, my old buddy and climbing partner, for a long time.  When I gave up rock climbing, we sadly drifted apart.  His email inviting us to a Moab mountain biking trip alerted me to a great opportunity to spend a little time with Roger, as well as his equally delightful partner Lorilee.  We have been best of friends for years, in spite of less time together.  Cosima and I were available, so we committed to join them and several of their other good friends at the Portal RV Park in Moab for two days of play in the desert.

Our Amassa Back riders minus Jan and Dave

Since everyone but us works full time, we decided to extend the trip a bit, and get in some extra mountain biking, hiking, and play.

We love to spend time in Durango, Colorado, so we made reservations for three nights at the historic Strater Hotel.  This gave us plenty of time to mountain bike in and around  town, go to movies (three different movies), shop for recreational gear, eat, and rest.  Durango is really great for us!  Unfortunately, we didn't manage to get any photos of our two bike rides here.

Boarding time on the Durango & Silverton

We also decided to take the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad from Durango to Cascade Canyon.  I had taken the train twice before, but got off prematurely at Elk Park  to do backpacking and rock climbing in the Grenadiers.  This was Cosima's first narrow gauge ride.  See the "Durango to Cascade Canyon Narrow Gauge" gallery below for photos.

After Durango, we headed to Moab with only one two hour stop to hike.  We found a beautiful trail along the road, that took us to a view spot that will soon be a huge reservoir.

Arriving in Moab a day earlier than the rest of the crew, we decided to stay in a motel, and get in a nice bike ride before we transferred over to a cabin at the Portal RV Park.  Our bike ride for the day was "Dry Fork Canyon", a moderate 21 mile ride on a "mostly maintained" dirt road.  That evening, after a nice meal, we took in the fourth, and final, movie of the trip.

Finally, we transferred to the Portal and met up with Roger, Lorilee, and friends.  Our biking contingent was Lorilee and Roger Rumsey (trip organizers), Allison Fritz, Debbi and Marshall Maez, Joy Torres, Dave Jones, Cosima Leedom, and Jan Studebaker.  We discovered  that the Portal Campground will no longer be available for future trips, as they are turning it into an expensive "Class A" motor home park.  This park had been a favorite for years.

The next morning we did our hardest ride of the trip, and it was superb!  We rode the "Amassa Back" with several nice diversions.  The end point of this ride provided great views of the Colorado River from atop a huge vertical cliff drop.  By the time we returned to the cars, we were all pretty tired, and felt that we had truly had a great ride.....we were very satisfied!  Dinner together was great fun, and all present seemed to enjoy each other.  See the "Moab's Amassa Back" gallery below for photos.

View into Arches National Park

The final day was also rewarding!  We rode the "Klondike Bluffs" for about 15 miles, and added a very nice short hike to our end point by wandering into Arches National Park for a lunch break.  The views were beautiful!  Unfortunately, Joy had a substantial accident (badly cut calf) within the first 15 minutes on Klondike.  She was whisked to the doctor by chivalrous Dave for several stitches, and both missed the rest of the ride.  However, Joy was in good spirits afterwards and lived up to her name.  See the "Moab's Klondike Bluffs" gallery below for photos.

Moab Music Festival at the "Old Town Park

Cosima and I had one other short but pleasant diversion while in Moab.  We attended a free music festival at the "Old Town Park".  We have a few photos from that to show that Moab does have something other than beautiful desert.  See the "Moab's Old Town Park" gallery below for photos.

All in all, this was a trip to remember!  Camaraderie was high, everyone was patient and got along well, and there was no competitive behavior.  We definitely look forward to riding again with this great group of new and old friends!  Final note: all of our Moab rides are detailed in "Mountain Biking Moab" by Lee Bridgers (A Falcon Guide).