Saturday, November 14, 2009

Segment 8. Carbondale, CO to Durango, CO (via Moab, Utah), Oct 17 to Nov 17, 2009, 644 miles, 5461 cum. miles

NOTE NEW PHOTOS IN THIS SEGMENT
Leaving Carbondale ahead of fierce storm, Mt. Sopris in the background
Our gracious Warm Showers hosts in Palisade, CO: Randy and Nancy. Thank you! !Smmile! Pennyfarthing bench in Fruita, CO The trailhead for the Kokopelli trail from Fruita to Moab Koko


The Koko trail began immediately with incredible cycling
Singletrack meets the Colorado River.
Woot woot! Kokopelli!
Sandstone trail. Koko hills are no joke, requiring long hike-a-bikes upslope. A real challenge with fully loaded distance touring bikes...

Dawn at Knowles overlook. (of the Colorado River). Spectacular. Sweet trails abound in the Kokopelli's midst. First views of the La Sal Mtns.
Gnarly terrain, eroded cravasses...
We cycled our gear ahead on the highway, then doubled back and rejoined the Koko Trail so we could cycle Yellowjacket Canyon with no extra weight.
At Dewey bridge, we rejoined the paved road into Moab, UT. With 40 lbs. of water apiece, we cycled 35 miles up to Canyonlands NP to ride the White Rim, a 4 day excursion. The following photos are nice, but they don't nearly do it justice. Phenomenal scenery and cycling.
Looking down into Shafer Canyon Here is Jason, flying down the switchbacks, burning up his brakes.
View from our 1st campsite, near the Colorado River overlook.

Jason walking across Musselman Arch.


Wow, the colors, man, the colors!... Dawn at White Crack, our 2nd campsite. Like watching the universe being created, in super slow motion.

Find Jeff in this picture....
"Sick, Dawg!" Just a little man in a big landscape... Green River overlook, a nice spot to eat lunch.
Endless beauty in all directions... What critter makes these tracks? Down by the river. Cottonwoods.
Park boundary, almost to the end of the White Rim... Loose, long, sandy descent down Longs Canyon, now outside of Canyonlands NP. Insane. Small obstacle in our path. Longs Canyon, Amasa Back, La Sal Mtns... Jug Handle Arch, back along the Colorado River corridor. meeting up with AD, Cecile & Sasha Kai on the Colorado River...




Sasha Kai says good morning to Jason

Bowtie Arch.

Corona Arch.
sasha wanders neath corona arch
owl mask neath corona arch
"ohmygawd! i'm falling!"
death mask beneath corona arch
much needed respite -- Jason contemplates death mask
koyaanisqatsi

About to go for a ride on Poison Spider with homie A.D. (Sasha left behind due to safety concerns)... "sick, dawg!" (barbaric yawp to the wildlands around Moab)




Poison Spider slickrock.Little Arch, with a view down to the river. Of caves and cavemen. There's a cyclist here somewhere... Along the Portal Trail. Nuts. OK then! Almost back to Moab, after a great day of riding. We spent a day resting in Moab, then hightailed it towards Durango to make up some lost time. Here's our not-so-stealth campsite, 1/2 mile from downtown Cortez, CO. Whatevas! We're heading into Mesa Verde NP to check out the ruins. Doing some dips, ancestral Puebloan style... These next 2 pics are of kivas in the Mesa Verde dwellings. Great design, functionally and aesthetically. A wood-and-mud roof would have finished the 'room'.
Cliff Palace. House of Many Windows.

Spruce Tree House. Fossilized tree roots in the sandstone. In our 5,000+ miles on the road, we never see the 69 mile markers because people are always stealing them. In Montezuma County, CO, they've found a way to circumvent this problem. Making stuffed onions and peppers with Djeneba (Ryan) in Durango. She and Jeff were both Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal (2003-5). About to do a dayhike outside of Durango with Ryan and Steve. Notice the footwear on Jeff and Jason...
It's sinking in about now that our balmy days around Moab in November are not going to repeat themselves in southern Colorado or northern New Mexico.
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