I am from Atlanta, Georgia and have never seen anything west of West Virginia prior to this trip. Everything has been new to me since the first few weeks of the trip. With that said, much of the landscapes have been very similar to ones I have seen in my travels along the east coast. This all changed when we crossed the Rockies, I was face to face with terrain and scenic views I had never encountered anywhere in my life.


Since I began planning for this trip a year ago I had a very concrete idea of what I was going to look forward to and what I was going to see. Without question there have been several regions that surprised me. For example when Ohio was not as flat as a pancake I was surprised. I had always heard that past West Virginia all the way to Colorado was flat. Colorado was a huge milestone for me. It was where I marked being half way done with the trip and what I thought would be the biggest change of scenery of the entire trip.


Now many of you are wondering what any of this has to do with being in Utah. Well, all of what I have shared goes to show you how little I know about the West. Besides the fact that eastern Colorado looks just like west Kansas and east Kansas is actually not flat and very pretty, I have decided to put all of my biases and prejudices aside and take everyday as it comes. Kevin said it best yesterday when he said that “this landscape is unpredictable and all we know about it is what we can see in front of us. We don’t know what could be around that boulder whether it is just more of the same or it is something amazing.”


Today started similar to many days that we have. We tried to wake up at 6am, rather unsuccessfully. I personally have been having a hard time getting enough sleep so I tend to roll around in the clutches of my sleeping bag till 6:15 or occasionally 6:30. (shhh don’t tell the leaders) After breakfast we set off on what we all were expecting to be a difficult day. We had all been briefed about the climb at mile 11 that lasted 10 miles with a 5-8% incline the entire way. Our gain in height was close to 3,000 feet. We have of course done climbed much worse but at 9am it is always difficult, especially if you are not all the way awake.


Our roster was set up as follows. Driving the van was Gabe with Mary riding shotgun because she caught one of the many colds bouncing around in the group. Before the beginning of the big first climb Liza too had decided that she was in no condition to battle the elements and took the day off. We have a guest rider in George’s Dad, Don. He is riding with us for the next couple of days. It is cool to see the similarities between George and his father. They are both tall and thin with big smiles and similar postures. From the short amount of time I spent with the two of them they use many of the same fraises and mannerisms, similar to most father son duos. I have been able to tell a particular sparkle in George since his father arrived. He seems to really be enjoying this quality time with his “D” which George so lovingly refers to him as.


Back to the climb. I rode with Anna for much of the day, something I have not done since earlier in the trip. I had a good time because we have similar paces and did not have to really wait for each other. As we approached the base of the climb we made a small descent into a valley. There were rocks jutting up everywhere with towering rocks all around us. The walls of the canyon loomed over us and, as Anna so accurately put it, it looked “like Mars.” The red of the cliffs was set off by the still rising sun.


The beginning of the climb was marked by a sign that said that the climb was 9 miles long with 10 switchbacks and a continuous 5-8% grade. In our usual style, Anna and I took the hill with only one picture stop on the way up. We counted down the switchbacks and encouraged those who had stopped to catch their breath. By this point the sun was up and very hot. This was the most I had sweated in the dry west. In Atlanta you can walk outside and come back in drenched in sweat but here you really have to earn it. And we were; earning it that is. Everyone was glistening like Greek heroes, like Achilles in the movie Troy.


At one point we could look up and see the guard rail from where the road turns and it looked really steep. We collected our guts as we turned the switchback and attacked it expecting it to fight back like the wall it appeared to be however everyone I talked to has said that it was one of the easiest parts of the climb. For whatever reason, this incline, as steep as it seemed, rolled away from beneath everyone’s wheel with ease. Mind you that was only one section of the whole climb and the rest was pretty hard. At one point in the climb Gabe took the van to the bottom and proceeded to blast inspirational music, slowing next to every rider long enough for them to look up and have their grimace turn into a smile; reaching the top was a glorious feeling, leaving us with a true since of accomplishment.


After a few more rolling hills we had made it to lunch. It was warm enough that everyone had drained most of their water from their camelbacks and we did not have enough water in the coolers for everyone to get full refills. We had plenty of Gatorade so we filled up and went in search for a camp ground with water at it. Most people found a good site down the road a mile or so but a couple of us who left earlier did not stop there and continued going. The topographical map of our route had looked like after the big hill it was almost all down hill. Well that was a poor interpretation of the map. We ended up climbing through an aspen forest which Ellen loved. As she pointed out “we haven’t gone through a legitimate forest since Kansas. Don’t get me wrong there were trees in Colorado but nothing dense enough to call a real forest.”


By 2pm we were still climbing and the temperature was still rising. The heat was intense and the nerves among the front group were shot. We were worried about water since we were in the middle of no where and I was not prepared to climb as much as we did. My legs were really sore and the heat was really getting to me.


Now I am sure my depiction of this next part of the ride will do it any justice however it is my duty to attempt to give you a glimpse of it. We crested a hill and began a 5 mile downhill that was full of twists and turns but at the top we took our first turn and were confronted with a gorge that rivals the Grand Canyon. I have never seen the Grand Canyon however Tony claimed that it reminded him of when he visited it. It has also been described as “the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen” by both me and several others. George loved the “bright red of the canyon walls against the crystal blue of the blue water at the base of the gorge.”


The rock walls truly were amazing and the water’s blue rivaled the pictures I have seen of the Caribbean. The following 5 miles were a twisty descent into the canyon with us getting ever closer to this paradise. It took another 15 miles to make it to our campsite and we passed through Wyoming for a few seconds before returning to Utah. The base of the canyon was significantly hotter and drug the last bit of energy out of us as we made the final small climbs to the campsite.


We had two campsites and got to bath and swim in the lake at the bottom of the gorge. It was cool and refreshing and fun. We had tacos for dinner and half the group slept outside under the stars.


It was a long day for all of us but the beauty made it all worth it. I can only imagine what surprises the rest of the trip has in store for us both in terms of scenery as well as terrain and weather.


Peace-
Will McNulty