Poison Spider Mesa

Challenging, scary, awe inspiring, gorgeous—did I say scary??—ride on Wednesday!!  After being on the trail a mere five minutes I totally understood why Geri and Larry never took Michael and me up there when we were still riding 4-wheelers.  Way too difficult a trail for 4-wheelers yet Geri has the skill to make it look easy! 

The views were just spectacular—rock formations, vivid colors, wildflowers, occasional blue skies and white capped mountains.  Unfortunately my photos are disappointing—usually I am able to snap on the fly as we are bouncing along—maybe it was just a tad too bouncy, maybe the sun washed out the colors—I don’t know but when I saw the photos in Picasa last ngiht I was disappointed.

Twenty-three miles and six and a half hours of breathtaking scenery.  This trail is way more crowded than any other Moab area trail we have used—we passed/they passed with two groups all day—one a family on ATVs, the other a group of jeeps.  We stopped to view this arch which looks down on the highway and the Colorado River reaching it via a short but very steep hike—the muddy streak next to the green way down below is the river.  The family of ATVers came up the hill while we were having our lunch near the arch and were going to just drive on by—we flagged them down and told the lead ATV driver about the arch.  They were thrilled—a couple of the younger people even hiked out onto the arch. 

Our fearless leader Geri is always prepared—she researches these trails and notes the highlights plus she and Larry have ridden so many of the Moab trails—we are fortunate. 

We had rain again on Tuesday filling all the rock depressions and low areas.

Golden Spike—on top of a rock with an incredibly steep/scary/breathtaking climb because it was so steep!!This photo doesn’t show well but the gang is standing several feet back from a significant drop down into a creek bed—we had those all day—significant drops! 

We finished the day by having a wonderful meal at the Atomic Lounge—thanks Mike and Cathy!!  We enjoyed lunch there with Larry and Geri on Tuesday while we were out scouting staging locations for future rides—the food is outstanding!!

Here is a short video of a couple of the more challenging spots on the trail:

I am typing this blog from Baggs, Wyoming just across the Colorado border—we are boondocking in an abandoned port of entry station—with a few truckers!  We have a new name for Larry—“he who moves when it rains”—Larry was ready to go back to North Ranch and started an epidemic this morning—we pulled out of Moab about 11am.  It rained a lot during the night and was to have rained more today.  Of course, it’s going to snow in Wyoming and Montana but that grand-baby is calling!