June 4
Short ride up to the tunnel and then up to the lodge and back within the park. Only 16 miles and 1,000 ft elevation gain. But still a great way to end the trip. Then shuttled back to St. George. We were let off at the airport where we picked up a rental car and waited several hours for Kayla to arrive on the shuttle (Salt Lake Express) from Vegas. It was in the 90’s but we had a great lunch at George’s Corner under a mister on their deck, and then we hung out at Pioneer Park where we climbed through mini canyons, watched rock climbers, and toured the Red Hills Desert Garden which was beautiful and interesting. Kayla finally arrived late, around 5:30, and we drove right away back to Bryce City, stopping for an early dinner in Mt. Carmel at the Thunderbird Diner (home of the “ho-made pies”). We spent the first of three nights in a very rustic cabin at Bryce Canyon Resort.
June 3
Most of the group headed to the Narrows to hike, but we had promised Kayla we wouldn’t do it without her, so we opted to do a ride instead. Jeff was the only other guest who wanted to ride, and Lauren graciously offered to shuttle us to a good starting place for a ride up to a reservoir. We didn’t intend to do the entire climb (5,200 ft elevation gain round trip) but once we got started, it was hard to stop, especially with Jeff (74 years young) well ahead of us. Lauren ended up riding herself as well, and we met her early on in the descent and we all rode down together. Quite an accomplishment (in 90 degrees no less) and the downhill was fast and FUN! About 3 hours up and 1 hour down. Then we all went to dinner at Bit and Spur.
June 2
Today’s ride didn’t happen. We did do a short hike (less than 3 miles) from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point via Wall Street. The views were incredible, although the hike was pretty crowded by the time we started. We stopped at Cordwood (Zion Mountain Lodge) for a great lunch in a beautiful setting (huge dogs, ponies, birds, rustic window arrangements, an old forge), then drove into Zion National Park. But we got stopped short of the tunnel, after which we were going to ride into Springdale. Supposedly five mountain goats triggered a rock slide which was bigger than usual and they closed the road for the foreseeable future (which ended up being 4-5 more hours). So Maggie expertly turned the van and cargo trailer around and we drove the long way (1.5 more hours) into Springdale and scrapped the ride altogether. We are staying the last two nights at Flanigan’s, which is a lovely property, and we ended up having a bonus dinner with the group at Zion Pizza and Noodle Company – yum!
June 1
41 miles (3,100 ft elevation gain) out and back (or rather up and down) to Rainbow Point, the end of the road into the Bryce Canyon National Park. So many views – of the “natural bridge,” the “Hoodoos,” etc. The colors and varieties of trees and rock formations were stunning! After descending (including a 2 mile bike path with sweeping turns – wheeee), we had lunch in a nearby park. Then we showered, rested, and shuttled to dinner at Stone Hearth Grill in Tropic (family run restaurant in a house with sweeping views).
May 30
Rode to Escalante for an excellent lunch (giant sandwiches) at Escalante Outfitters, rode on to Tropic, then shuttled the rest of the way to Bryce City. 47 miles total. Settled in at Best Western (not a lot of hotels and restaurants in Bryce City) and then had dinner “on our own.” Chris and Stacey gave us a ride across the street to Ruby’s Diner (they had a rental car because they missed their connecting flight in Boulder, CO but had stilled joined us yesterday). The restaurant had a buffet and I ordered a greasy mushroom croissant sandwich but the company was lovely at least.
May 29
Yesterday we flew into St. George (via Salt Lake City). For some reason I booked us on a 7 AM flight which meant Hannah had to drive us there before 5 AM. But the flights and connection were no problem. We just had to wait at the airport for awhile to catch a taxi into town, but then we walked/hobbled (my ankle) to Denny’s for a lunch and had snacks in the hotel for dinner instead of venturing out again. Then, this morning we met Trek and 8 other guests in the lobby and piled into the van for a 4+ hour ride to our first destination, a lovely hotel called Boulder Mountain Lodge (as in Boulder, UT, not Boulder, CO). It was in the middle of nowhere, but lovely rooms on a creek. We geared up and did a 33 mile out and back ride into the nearby valley, with a 3200 ft elevation gain and a nasty headwind on the return. But the views were excellent! Very spent from the last 5-10 miles – some people opted to van back. I had a noisy Garmin mount which led to an unhooked cable (for which I had no high speeds), and Craig swallowed some of the gusting dust and proceeded to cough the rest of the evening. But happy hour with the other guests and a gourmet dinner outside at Hell’s Backbone Grill (random afghans for warmth) made up for it.
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