Moab - Friday and Saturday

On Friday I left the office early, ate lunch with some coworkers at Smashburger, and then headed over to Craig's house. After Lanny and Dwight arrived we packed up and then picked up Dave in Manitou. The 7 hour drive to Moab was uneventful. We arrived to the campsite tired at about 9:30 Friday night. However, once the tents and camper were set up we all got a second wind and sat around until 11:30 talking and sharing a few beers. The other 5 guys had already arrived that afternoon and they were fast asleep by the time we arrived.

On Saturday everyone hopped in 2 of the 3 white Toyota trucks and headed to the Porcupine Rim trail head. That's right, our group's 3 vehicles this weekend were 3 white Toyota trucks (my pickup, a Tacoma, and a Tundra). Porcupine Rim trail was by far the longest ride. We rode about 20 miles on this one trail. The trail climbs at first but then levels out at the top. At the top was a great view of the other ride of the valley. We rode along the ridge for awhile and then descended down the other side to the valley created by the Colorado River. The climb and descent were fun until it turned into a single track that hugged the mountainside. At that point the terrain was too rough to ride in many places. Once we got off the trail we still had 5 miles to ride down the canyon and back to town - that part wasn't fun. That night we ate at an "adequate" Mexican restaurant. That's saying something considering after days like Saturday anything resembling food usually tastes fantastic.

My initial impressions of the area were good. It's very pretty in a desert sort of way. There were a lot of people on bikes and 4WD vehicles. As far as the trail was concerned, I didn't think it was anything that special. As one guy said, it makes you appreciate what we have in town in Palmer Park, Ute Valley Trail, etc. It was pretty rough and we all took a beating from the terrain. There weren't any spectacular crashes today (see upcoming posts). I pretty much kept up with the lead riders. I soon realized that despite my inexperience, my conditioning and athleticism made me one of the better riders on this trip. I was the first one back to the other white Toyota truck at the end of the day. All in all, it was a good day out with the boys.

Instead of a video with small pictures, I'm going to post a lot of individual pictures with captions.

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View at the top of Porcupine Rim

At the top of Porcupine Rim - riders, Joey, Me, and Dave/Craig

My trusty steed - Rocky Mountain Blizzard

Taking a break - the group, Craig

The trail - upper section, single track (un-rideable section), group photo

Colorado River/parking lot

At the end of the day I called home and Julia finally said her first words to someone on the phone. All she said was "Dadda home".