68.10 mi / 5:50:12 time / 11.6 mph avg. / 39.0 mph max. / 4551 ft. climbing
Staying at Natural Bridges National Monument Campground

Once we finished writing our computer stuff last night, we went back to our campsite and found that the ferocious winds had thankfully died down quite a bit. There were also several other tent campers that had found spots out on ledges like ours. Even if it had been windy, once my tent pegs are hammered directly into the sandstone (we actually broke some hammer-rocks in the process) and all my gear is strategically laid out on the floor inside, it ain’t going anywhere. Before bed we sat on some rocks and ate Oreos and Nutter Butters with the shadowy hulks of the Mitten monuments looming before us. (that’s another great-to-have Dennis along item: how have I lived for 32 years without being acquainted with the exquisite beauty of Nutter Butters?!)

I kept my the door on my rainfly rolled up so I could see the monuments all night, waking right when the sun rose behind them, and got pictures along with just about everyone else in the campground. I got to use some of my toilet-paper stash since the porta-potties in the high-class campground didn’t supply any, yay!

Once we hit the road, Dennis was pushing hard, partly because he had some doubts about being able to survive the day. I felt bad for that, and would like to be able to give him complete reassurance that we’ll make it through just fine. But that day up to Dead Horse Point didn’t just put doubts into him, it put them into me as well. Due to my experience, I thought I had a much better idea of what we can handle in a day, but my experience counts for little in this canyon country, and that scar from Dead Horse does make me less confident that we are biting off chewable-sized pieces.

Well, the first part of the day wasn’t anything to be concerned about for either of us. It was a mostly-downhill backtrack to Mexican Hat, where we made it by 10am in time for second-breakfast at a cafe we saw on the way out of town the day before (one nice thing about backtracking: you know every place in town by that point). I got an enormous green chili breakfast burrito, which was awesome, along with some more fry bread, since we were still in Navajo Land. Our server was a goofy but very amiable older character with a cane, who almost seemed like he might have a mental deficiency. Only found out later how much I had been judging a book by its cover when he said he would love to do a ride like ours, and that he used to run the Salt Lake Marathon every year, until he got hit by a drunk driver. The Navajo Nation is pretty clear about not allowing any alcohol on the reservation, but judging by all the cans and bottles on the roadside, this is unfortunately an oft-ignored rule.

Then it was back to the Mexican Hat Shell Station/Food Mart, which is surprisingly weak as food marts go, especially since it’s the only grocery store in town. We spent $41 there stocking up on two days of food, because we’re really heading into wide open spaces, where food and water will be tough to come by; we’ll see no real towns for more than two days.

Then it was time to begin the section that Dennis feared, and I simultaneously feared and looked forward to: climbing on top of Cedar Mesa via the Moki Dugway. It would take us up 2400 feet from the San Juan river in 13 miles, most of the climbing in a three-mile stretch of gravel switchbacks rising straight up a 1200-foot cliff face. I knew that if we made it, the views and the experience would be awesome, but what if we didn’t make it? As it turns out, we survived pretty well, with Dennis leading the whole way. The gravel was a little loose and washboard-y, but we could dodge the worst of it, and although there were certainly sections of 10% grade, there were also sections that were lower, and some of the corners of the switchbacks were even paved to make things easier. The only reason I can guess as to why they don’t pave the whole thing is to keep it from becoming a popular shortcut for commercial traffic. The views were astounding (especially looking down at the long, snaking road that we had come from), and the feeling of accomplishment from conquering such a beast is hard to beat, so it put us in just the mood that I had hoped.

Once we were on top of the Mesa, we were in a different world, which included cool temperatures, and trees. The final 30 miles of “flat” riding still took us up another several hundred feet, until we finally descended to Natural Bridges National Monument.

Upon arrival, we found that the campground was full. Crap. The guys in the Visitor Center suggested that we go back out and wild-camp on open BLM land, which actually didn’t sound like all that bad of an idea. The only problem was that it meant we would probably have to skip seeing the Natural Bridges, because we wouldn’t want to come back in for them. Oh well, I actually had never been terribly interested in this particular Monument anyway. So we went to fill up all of our water-carrying devices (really the main reason for stopping here!) and prepared to head back out. But then a couple pulled up from nowhere in a truck-camper and asked if we were looking for a spot. Why, we certainly were! They said they weren’t using the tent pad at their site, so we were welcome to it. Well wasn’t that just darn wonderful? The Visitor Center guys had actually also suggested asking around the campground if anyone wanted to take us on, but I’d have a hard time imposing on someone like that. So we were so grateful that Pat and Dennis took the initiative to offer to share their site with us. Not only that, then they shared their food with us, including a great pot o’ beef stew and days-old cookies that tasted as if they were fresh from the oven, given the circumstances under which we received them. But supreme generosity wasn’t their only gift; they were also great people and fun to talk with over dinner.

So a day that started out with some doubts ended with a restoration of faith in ourselves, and in the kindness of strangers. It was a pretty great example of why I love bike touring.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 8:28 am and is filed under 2009 Bike Tour, bike. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.