Moab, Utah

Sidewalk Art in Moab. Or is this Captain Jimerica?

Day 1: Pipeline and Deadhorse Canyon - 

The terrain I’ve ridden in each destination has all had it’s own little twist. Brevard, NC was somewhat like what I was used to up in PA/NY/NJ, except much bigger. Santa Fe had a lot of woods, but it added slippery pebbles, sand, lizards, and thin air. Sedona was similar to Santa Fe, but much bigger, wide-open views, towering stone structures, and longer trails with more challenging down hills. What Moab brings is all of these things is the little twist that they seem to really love to carve bike trails into shear cliffs. This Jimerica! is not used to. I’m a pretty good rider (not great), but cliff side riding with little room for error isn’t my bag (see: Bo from Atlanta). I learned this quickly when I did my first ride on the Pipeline trail. Some of the trail was fine, but other sections were just stressing me the hell out. It’s hard to concentrate on the trail when your brain is fixated on the great big drop 8 inches from your tire. Fortunately, there is plenty of riding here that isn’t cliff side, or at least the cliffs are minimal.

One of those places is Deadhorse Canyon State Park, the place irritating people go to beat a point to death as well as those who like beautiful views and non-existential-threat mountain biking. Here are a few shots from there:

On the road to Deadhorse

View from the Deadhorse parking area

Yes

I crashed in a most stupid and unnecessary way about 1 minute after taking this picture:

I was completely alone here too. Nothing but me and the breeze.

I still rode another 2 hours, but was really sore the next day because of my new handlebar chest imprint (Congratulations, Josh Straub). So, I decided I would spend Day 2 on foot in Arches National Park (looking at you, Becky Brenner).

Day 2:

The Grand Canyon dominates the narrative of things to see in this part of the country, and for good reason. However, places like Sedona and Moab allow you to get up close and personal with the landscape in a way that the Grand Canyon cannot. After visiting the Grand Canyon and Sedona, I thought that Moab really couldn’t offer me anything that different, although more of the same would have been fine by me. But Moab is unique. It’s a massive area with parks like Arches, Deadhorse, and Canyonland. My new habit of cursing in amazement under my breath at the sites I’m seeing has not subsided here. I've honestly ridden off the sides of trails due to being distracted by the view. The photos I’m about to post really don’t do these places justice. I guess the best way to put it is that you’re seeing the photos as humans, but when you’re here, you feel more like an ant. Here’s some shots:

Double Arch. See the people climbing beneath?

Balanced Rock

I was stuck here for 127 seconds. I had to cut a fingernail off to escape.

Beneath Double Arch.

This is the very end of the about 1 hour hike to Delicate Arch. It's about as cool as it looks.

A shot of Delicate Arch with people under it to give you some perspective.

See the bird?

This isn't a landmark or anything, but I see a face.

And as if that isn’t enough, they have petroglyphs:

These were left by the Native American Ute Tribe. This particular marking is of a Native American on horse back with goats and dogs. They don't know exactly how old it is, and can only say that it was created sometime between 1620 and 1850.

As for the town of Moab, I’m not one for roaming streets window-shopping, which seems to be the thing to do during non-park exploring time. There is a plethora of crappy t-shirt joints and tchotchke shops. But people don’t come here for the shopping. There are a couple cool cafes for breakfast. Love Muffin is my favorite. They have great coffee and breakfast wraps. As for my habit of checking out some of the local breweries, it’s a bit difficult here due strange beer laws.  All of the draft beer is about 3.5% ABV, which impacts the flavor. The really weird part is that although the law controls the ABV of draft beer, full strength beer bottles and cans are totally legal, as well as liquor. So, just strange. In any case, they have only one brewery here, which is appropriately named The Moab Brewing Company. Good food, nice atmosphere, and the bar tenders know everything you could want to know about the area. As for good Utah brews (in bottles), look for beers made by Wasatch, and ones made by Squatters. However, do not buy these in a gas station or a grocery store. Buy them at a bar, otherwise you get the 3.2% variety that just isn't very good.

Day 3 (writing this blog)

I’m currently taking a day off from hiking/biking. I managed to bruise my ribs on that aforementioned stupid little crash two days ago, which will need a few more days to heal.

Finally, I was told that I needed more selfies on my blog. I agreed to selfie. Singular. No smile. Yes, I'm mean mugging. You'll accept it and like it. I consider this matter closed.

Thanks everybody for reading. I still have a couple days here in Moab, so you might see a brief update in a couple days. Otherwise, the next time you'll hear from me will be from the next super secret location. I hope you are all well. Thanks for reading.