Dans Big Adventure - Canada and Beyond (and below?)

WWR  Kanab Day off - Route Assessment Wed Sept  18, 2019 Taking a day off after 11 days of straight riding. Laundry, showers, groceries. Also need to research how to get across the Navajo reservation. While I have a Navajo Backcountry permit, campspots are highly restricted ( only 4, undeveloped), and all front loaded on the 120 mile stretch. Plus water is essentially non existent outside of the one town 90 miles in, where there is an RV park and motel which I will need to stay. It will be a challenge. I  start looking at camping option to make reservations ..... On my Kanab chores wandering ,I was hit up by an elderly  fervent biblical historian type who has researched ancient texts to find the garden of Eden  and other old testament locals amongst references, searched all over north and south America. He emphatically believed all of the references point to the deserts east of Kanab, and can show me Abraham and Isaiah graves. It will blow up our thinkin...

WWR Day 40 Deer Springs Ranch to Kanab Tues Sept  17, 2019 Distance 38.4 Start elevation 6270 End elevation 4931 High point probably 6520 Low point  4931 Climbing maybe 800' Ride time 3:58 Total time about 4:30 Days bike camping: 29 Contiguous days riding : 11 And Now!, Back for an encore performance, from the high plateaus and rolling sage lands of Utah W-w-w-waassshhh b-b-b-board and the Head Winds , together once again, for your biking enjoyment!!! Ok mostly cloudy, partly sunny again this morning, with gusty breezes out of the west. Some of the clouds are dark, and are teaming up as theountain lift them on their kourney. Glad I am heading down today. I bustle through my morning rituals, guarding against the inquisitive Sheep and goats. The goats tried nibbling one of my stuff sacks (no food) and the sheep has a memory, always working to check out my worktable when I am not looking. No wandering away for me. I start out heading into a stiff head wind an...

WWR Day 39  Bryce Canyon to Deer Springs Ranch Mon Sept  16, 2019 Distance about 32 Start elevation 7690 End elevation 7230 High point probably 8520 Low point  6230 Climbing maybe 1400' Ride time 3:50 Total time about 4:50 Days bike camping: 28 Contiguous days riding : 10 Morning came in mostly cloudy at busy Ruby's Inn RV park. But old Sol chased many away during the morning ritual. Another later start but the day is not super long. My ride takes me back up through Bryce and then exiting via a service road to the NF on the west side. Route say a pedestrian gate at the NP boundary, and sure enough, there is. It is however, paddle locked,  so I get to hump my steed and gear over. No traffic on the other side!! More rollers over a few small ridges, all of the  bigger ridges have Bryce envy with their more subdued pink cliff breaks. Just a few hoodoos here and there. The climb up Crawford Pass is only 900 feet but as I turn to h...

WWR Day 38 Pine Lake CG to Bryce Canyon NP Sun Sept  15, 2019 Distance 38.7 Start elevation 8150 End elevation 7690 High point probably 8160 Low point  about 7400 Climbing maybe 1200' Ride time 3:45??? Total time about 5:30 Days bike camping: 27 Contiguous days riding : 9 Another beautiful morning, warmer than even yesterday. I bustle my morning ritual, made easier by easy water. By the time I start riding it is very comfortable out, and I crank down the FS road to the pavement. Choice's, choices, choices. Pavement directly to Bryce, or back track a bit to the routes dirt? It looks pretty easy day even on route so I take the back country route. Climb out of the sage barrens into the hills and park like ponderosa forests. The south wind is picking up a bit, but not too bad, peddle on you crazy diamond.  A few hunters RVs are hiding out on spurs. The buttes to the west are lit up nice, even this late in the morning. I wander for 15 miles before popping ou...

WWR Day 37 - "Dan unloaded" -Pine Lake CG to Powell Pt, and back again Sat Sept  14, 2019 Distance 22.4 Start elevation 8150 End elevation 8150 High point probably 10325 Low point  about 8150 Climbing about 2600 (unloaded) Ride time 3:37 Total time about 4:20 Days bike camping: 26 Contiguous days riding : 8 Well, I took a day off route riding to tackle Powell Point, the high southern tip of the Table Top Plateau. Only 11 miles up, and a mere 2200'+ climb, but today I will be "Dan Unloaded". I had this on my route for last falls' tour, at least until Gaia decided on an early Utah winter the first week of Oct. and shut me down. So no breaking camp, slept in until the sun forced me out of the tent. Beautiful blue sky fall day, I don't even have to put on my down jacket on this morning, no ice in my water bottles. "Dan Unloaded" implies no panniers, no front roll, no clothes bag on rear rack. Probably 30# less weight. I also dit...