Day 39 - June 2 - Dead Horse Point State Park

"Three hours up, one hour down."

Deviations

I left Kevin's house in the late morning, expecting an easy ride to Green River. I followed a bike trail that ran parallel to the main road until it split. One way went up the Colorado river for 4km, and the other was where I needed to go. On a whim, I decided to explore the Colorado river, and after a while, I was back on my route.

So I did what any reasonable person would do, and I called my fiancee, Sarah, for advice. She told me to go for it, so I did.

The climb was long, hard, and magnificient. The rocks were in every formation I could imagine, and I was very slow. The entire day, I had no headphones, and just enjoyed whistling, singing, or just hearing the rhythm of my own breathing. In a sense, the climb was completely uneventful, but in another, it was the main event. Sure, I got to the top, and took all the requisite pictures. I even refilled water, and had enough reception to talk to my dad for a few minutes. After seeing the place, and refreshing, I started my way down.

I do somewhat regret not spending the night up there in the cool mountain air. It definitely beats the crummy backcountry campground I've pulled up to tonight. But hindsight is always better than foresight, and while I don't have the sunrise over the cliffs, I have the luxury of not being amongst thirty other campers.

The landmark of Day 39

When I started, I thought to myself that if I get to day 39, I'll probably get to day 56. I would be biking through the Florida countryside, imagining what I would be like by day 39, like how when I was in grade 2, I would imagine myself in the far-flug, unimaginably distant future of grade 12. On the first week of this ride, I would imagine that the person I would be by day 39 would be some rough-rugged bicycle expert. I'd be used to the ride, the tent, the routine, and the road. By day 39, I would have stories, and scars to prove them. I would not be afraid of anything, and would push ahead through rain or sun (I didn't know about wind back then). My bags would be torn, worn down by the ride.

I also thought about the other option. I thought that I might run into trouble. The bike might break, I would get tired of biking, or my phone would stop working. I imagined that by day 39, I might be a completely different person, hitchhiking across the US, taking trains and buses to all fifty states, or deciding to just turn the bike around, and visit Sarah for a bit. I thought about what failure would look like, and how I would turn it around. In my head, day 39 was the threshhold. Beyond day 39, I'll be making it to Portland, on my bike.

Well, like all of my past imaginations, time is the ultimate judge. Today is day 39, and I do feel more experienced. I do feel stronger, a better cyclist, and full of stories. But I am also still Assaf, with the same friends, mannerisms, and history. This is something that I never really considered early on. I never thought that the person I would be on day 39 would be wearing the same shirts as I did.

The Image Gallery

This is Kevin, my host. I took this picture in his backyard. Anything more than about 10m away is public lands. In the back, you can see the rocks we climbed onto.

Moab was an amazing little town. Bikes everywhere, bike lanes everywhere, bike shops everywhere. It was very tourist-ey, hippie, but also family friendly. At some point I got lost, and found myself in a bike-only-access neighbourhood.

After leaving Moab, I started seeing the cool rock formations of the area. I was on a dedicated paved bike trail that lead me through some really pretty mountains.



The branch of the trail that goes up the Colorado River is very pretty.


Here is the bridge crossing the Colorado River

I made it to the entry to Arches National Park!

But didn't go in because of the traffic. Actually, that's a bit of a lie. I didn't go because I wasn't in the mood to go 10 miles off route with a 200m climb. I guess my mood would change later.

Check out these rocks!

The only arches from Arches National Park that I saw:

The following pictures are all from the route to, and inside, Dead Horse State Park. There's really nothing else to say about them. The park was pretty.



















And finally, here is my campground for the night. Modest, but sweet. There was a little box to put money in to pay for the campground. It was $20, and under any other circumstances, I would have ignored it, but this was public land, and that money went towards keeping public lands accessible, clean, and wild. That's a cause I can get behind.

The Map

Today I biked for almost 120km over the course of seven hours. However, the net distance I did from my start point is only 34km.

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