Utah!
I realize that the last time I updated the blog was in Eureka, Nevada. That feels like a long time ago. I'm currently writing on Tom's laptop at a KOA in Panguitch, Utah. The last two days have been pretty short; ~55 miles from Milford, UT to Cedar City, and then 59 miles form Cedar City to Panguitch. The ride today involved about 4000 ft of climbing. I spent the first 20 miles or so going up. I think I averaged about 7 mph. It was nuts. Tom has been hauling my gear in the car, so my load is a hell of a lot lighter, but that doesn't stop an 8% hill from being rough. Especially when it lasts for the better part of two miles. My phone was out of juice this morning, so I wasn't able to capture any pictures, but the valley I rode through this morning was nothing short of spectacular. The valley was probably about 400 ft wide, with steep cliffs on either side. The cliffs were unlike anything I've seen so far on my trip. It appeared as if someone had stacked up a series of squat, squished rocks in precarious piles on top of vertical shelves. To my side a swollen creek was raging with the runoff from all the rain we've been getting. Everything was lush and verdant; the cliffs were covered in deciduous trees and grasses. Tom, and some locals say that this is the greenest Utah will ever get. Apparently all the valleys are normally brown and burnt this time of year. Instead, my surroundings are vividly green. In a way, it reminds me of the Midwest. I left around 6:55, so the sun was just starting to peek over the top of the mountains as I started my ascent. This meant that I could ride without a shirt. This is always such a nice treat, even if it goes against my inner roadie. It almost felt cold this morning!
I'm super glad that I'm out of Nevada. Other than $2.50 beers and gambling, there isn't much in my mind to recommend the place. That said, I also passed through during the first two weeks of my trip, so things were hard. The landscape is hard to stomach, especially coming from the Midwest. Both Iowa and Nevada don't have super high population density, but the difference between the two places is the difference between developed and undeveloped land. Iowa is highly developed, insofar as Iowa is mostly farmland. Nevada, on the other hand, is not highly developed. Most of the land around highway 50 isn't used for much of anything, except for the occasional grazing land for cows. This can be psychologically devastating. Going from Eureka to Ely, for example, you climb up three ~1000 ft climbs that are separated by about 13-20 miles of mostly flat valley. From the top of anyone of these climbs you can see a ribbon of highway that stretches all the way to the next pass, about 30 miles down the line. Sometimes the road is so straight that you experience a disorienting effect -- the road appears to be a thin, straight rod sticking out of the ground and reaching directly up. When the wind starts up, you sometimes end up going faster up the climbs than on the flats, as the climbs are protected from the winds. Some days I would average about 11-12 mph for a 70 mile ride. These long stretches of highway are lonely, despite the decent amount of traffic. (Highway 50 bills itself as the "loneliest highway in America." This might be true, if one were to qualify the statement by saying that highway 50 is the loneliest US highway in America. I've ran into some state and county roads in Utah where I'll go 2 hours and see as many cars)
Things changed as soon as I entered Utah. We got a lot of rain from the time I took a rest day in Austin up until about a day or two ago. The landscape, burnt and barren in Nevada quickly became green and lively. As I left Milford, UT, for example, it felt like I was back in the Midwest, except for the mountains on three sides. People tell me that I need to prepare to encounter the same desolate, Nevada landscapes when I reach Eastern Utah, but for the time being I'm reveling in the green beauty of this place.
In case I don't get to post for another few days, here's a preview of what's in store. I'll take a rest day in the next couple of days. After that, I'm going to snake my way through central Utah, doing another 4000 ft of climbing after Boulder, Utah. I'll hit Hite recreation area on the Colorado River in the next three or four days. In a week, I'll already be passing into Colorado.
I'm trying to embed using Google maps, per Cam's advice, but Google maps doesn't allow me to incorporate custom routes. Apparently this is a known issue, but I haven't seen a satisfactory solution. Bing maps are perhaps more annoying than Google maps. Any help?
I'm super glad that I'm out of Nevada. Other than $2.50 beers and gambling, there isn't much in my mind to recommend the place. That said, I also passed through during the first two weeks of my trip, so things were hard. The landscape is hard to stomach, especially coming from the Midwest. Both Iowa and Nevada don't have super high population density, but the difference between the two places is the difference between developed and undeveloped land. Iowa is highly developed, insofar as Iowa is mostly farmland. Nevada, on the other hand, is not highly developed. Most of the land around highway 50 isn't used for much of anything, except for the occasional grazing land for cows. This can be psychologically devastating. Going from Eureka to Ely, for example, you climb up three ~1000 ft climbs that are separated by about 13-20 miles of mostly flat valley. From the top of anyone of these climbs you can see a ribbon of highway that stretches all the way to the next pass, about 30 miles down the line. Sometimes the road is so straight that you experience a disorienting effect -- the road appears to be a thin, straight rod sticking out of the ground and reaching directly up. When the wind starts up, you sometimes end up going faster up the climbs than on the flats, as the climbs are protected from the winds. Some days I would average about 11-12 mph for a 70 mile ride. These long stretches of highway are lonely, despite the decent amount of traffic. (Highway 50 bills itself as the "loneliest highway in America." This might be true, if one were to qualify the statement by saying that highway 50 is the loneliest US highway in America. I've ran into some state and county roads in Utah where I'll go 2 hours and see as many cars)
Things changed as soon as I entered Utah. We got a lot of rain from the time I took a rest day in Austin up until about a day or two ago. The landscape, burnt and barren in Nevada quickly became green and lively. As I left Milford, UT, for example, it felt like I was back in the Midwest, except for the mountains on three sides. People tell me that I need to prepare to encounter the same desolate, Nevada landscapes when I reach Eastern Utah, but for the time being I'm reveling in the green beauty of this place.
In case I don't get to post for another few days, here's a preview of what's in store. I'll take a rest day in the next couple of days. After that, I'm going to snake my way through central Utah, doing another 4000 ft of climbing after Boulder, Utah. I'll hit Hite recreation area on the Colorado River in the next three or four days. In a week, I'll already be passing into Colorado.
I'm trying to embed using Google maps, per Cam's advice, but Google maps doesn't allow me to incorporate custom routes. Apparently this is a known issue, but I haven't seen a satisfactory solution. Bing maps are perhaps more annoying than Google maps. Any help?