Stardate 2019.329

Sandstone Dreamin' On Such An April Day
Hang-on, I think there may be a song in the above.

Currently, I'm very spotty on my posting. I blame it all on being tied at the hip to Parkinson's. In short, I can't sit still long enough to write. I'm like a snake trying to shed its skin, but can't escape. So, I get frustrated and go harass Snowcatcher or take the bicycle out or something. But, rest assured, I'm working on my body's attention span. The following pics are of a small lemon-squeezer that provides a more sporting line-up through a favorite cliff band.



Today's post takes place at Colorado National Monument, just southwest of Grand Junction, Colorado, my home town. Numerous other sandstone cliffs and towers call out to the avid scrambler and climber. The red hatched line approximates the lemon squeezer. The hatched line also represents the route being behind stone.

Cliff Band


Route


Entrance


Not shown is another "cave" located after scrambling out of the terminus of the lemon-squeezer. The "cave" deposits you on top of a higher cliff band.

That's it for now. I think I'm going to take a brief hiatus from blogging until we can buy a new computer. This one is very overheated, tired and unpredictable. I hope to be back in about a month or so... Thanks for reading.

Lizard:11
Parkinson's:0


Adios

Stardate 2017.060

Sandstone Dreaming
What can I say? I grew up amongst the stuff. I miss it.

I can feel the rough grit of sandstone on my bare skin. I can feel the gritty, suspended sediment load in the runoff. I can smell the heady scent of wet sand, silt and clay. I can smell the earthy scent of rain and snow wetting the stone. The ultra-fragrant wet sage teases my senses. I can smell the hard-to-penetrate river-lining tamarisk. Fragrant cacti blooms catch my nose. I can feel the cool, wet wind retaining a hint of winter. The high desert spring taunts my soul...

Catching a bit of weather, four major towers from the Fisher Towers group are shown in the following pic. Left to right rise Kingfisher, Echo Tower, Cottontail and the Titan. In short, big leagues climbing on dangerous and difficult mudstones with a colorful climbing history. Look them up.


I've previously posted the following pics along the way in one form or another. Since the Moab mountain bike and hiking season begins a little over a month from now, I thought it all right to have a little tease post of one of my favorite regions. Let's start with the Onion Creek area of Professor Valley. I hope you enjoy the pics.




Amasa Back, Moab, Utah




Behind the Rocks, Moab, Utah




Princess Plume




Horsethief Bench, Loma, Colorado




Big drop onto Horsethief Bench from Mary's Loop, Loma, Colorado




Horsethief Bench, Colorado




Moab, Utah




Behind the Rocks, Utah




Dead Horse Point, Utah area and a sand-trap




Climbers on Ancient Art, Fisher Towers, Utah.




Sunrise on Castleton Tower (far left tower), Utah




Success on Ancient Art's summit




Arches National Park




I hope you enjoyed the show.

Adios

Stardate 2016.855

I work hard and play hard.


Me, Myself and I
By
A Hatchling Without a Name
I've always had a thing for two-wheeled bikes, with or without a motor. However, my roots lie with the motorized bike; more specifically, two-stroke dirt bikes. Now that the cost of many bicycles equals or exceeds the cost of a motorcycle, perhaps it's time to go motor again. Following is a synopsis of my motorized roots.

1976
This is where it all began, Big Red Park, Colorado. When I was 15 years old, I landed a summer job as a dishwasher for the Sidestep Restaurant in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I also took up space at my uncle's house for the summer. He was one of the top enduro riders in the state and, along with staff from the Yamaha shop and several local riders, the group put on a popular race called the Timberline Enduro. The enduro took place near Hans Peak, Colorado, north of Steamboat. Big Red Park was the staging site. The furry creature in the pic was my childhood ol' English sheepdog, Rowdy.



1977
My first race was a small, local event in Grand Junction, Colorado. At the time, Grand Junction proper was much smaller than today. I placed fourth, riding on a flatted rear tire. My head was swelling.



1977
I worked my tail off on a farm, trap and skeet range and Tuesday night league trap shoot to buy my first brand new, full-blown motocross racer – a Yamaha YZ 250. After working every day, I was rewarded Tuesday nights with play. My boss was a retired professional trap shooter sponsored by Winchester. He often let me fill-in for teams short a shooter, and I still got paid! Head swelling complete.

Bikes have come a long way since 1977. Modern bikes have aluminum frames, water-cooled engines, disk brakes, additional 3 inches of suspension on each end, lower center of gravity, yada, yada, yada!




My moto uncle came down for my first race on the YZ 250.




Me, myself and I!



1978
Holeshot! My first hare 'n hound desert race was at an event called the 8-hour. You guessed it, an 8-hour race. It was a team race, and my uncle asked if I would like to partner with him. Guess what I said? The start was a dead engine start with about 50 teams lined-up. The first turn was about a half-mile away.

I was a "hefty" 155 pounds, soaking wet. My uncle's bike (rules called for only one bike shared) was a Yamaha YZ 450. Back then dirt bikes were two-strokes, and the 450s and 500s were immensely powerful. For the dead engine start, I stood on a milk crate to kick start (no electronic starter then) the big-bored bike. Well, to make a long story short, I was the first bike to the first corner, known as the holeshot. When I realized where I was, heaps of adrenaline kicked in, and I just held on. Little did I know the dust gods had a surprise waiting several hours out.




With one lap down, the bike took on petrol, and my uncle took the cockpit.




I was starting lap three and an hour away from severely breaking my collar bone. Surprise!



1982
My final motocross bike was a 1982 Honda CR 250R. I loved this bike. In 1984 I quit competing, headed to university and immersed myself in pedal power.




Me, myself and I; letting the good times roll!




I often reminisce about those whirlwind years. Where did the time go?




Thanks for reading...

Adios

Stardate 2016.036

The Grand Mesa Is Quite Grand

My secret cache from the previous post is Grand Mesa. It towers above my home town of Grand Junction, Colorado. It often collects massive amounts of snow, and this may be one of those years. Snow depth during our visit was well over 4 feet.



For Day Two, we journeyed back to the top of Grand Mesa for another round of cross-country skiing. We parked at the Nordic Center at Skyway, which is on the western lip of Grand Mesa. The top is a relatively flat area full of subalpine parks, meadows and lakes dispersed throughout a forest of Engelmann spruce. The Skyway elevation ranges between 10,600 and 10,750 feet.



A person could do some backcountry skiing here, but not too much in the Skyway area, considering it's flat, with no downhill reward for hard skinning up to a summit or ridgeline. Being a Nordic center, most of the trails have been groomed for basic cross-country skiing, skate skiing or classic cross-country skiing in machine-groomed snow tracks. Moreover, you can still ski off-trail if desired.



Grand Mesa is billed as the largest flat-topped mountain in the world. That's a pretty big statement, and I don't know if it's true or not; there are a lot of big mesas around the globe. Moreover, I'm not sure if there's an "official" dividing line between mesa and much larger plateau.



Moons ago Grand Mesa was born from basaltic flow of a shield volcano. Basaltic flows capping Grand Mesa are up to 400 feet thick. The summit area is 800 square miles of rarified air at an average elevation 10,000 feet. Leon Peak is the highest point on Grand Mesa, touching the sky at 11,234 feet. Did I mention lots of fluffy snow? We enjoyed intermittent flurries and sun. Enjoy the pics.




Notice the animal tracks that are afloat over the rolling sub-alpine terrain.




We played hide and seek with the sun all day.




The small clearing might be home to a pond in hiding.




The northern rim of Grand Mesa is in the clouds (pic taken from the 9,600-foot contour).




To the northwest, late afternoon light is washing the flanks of the Roan Plateau.




That's it for this set of Grand Mesa pics.
I'm sure I'll find something else to post; stay tuned...

Adios

Stardate 2015.485

Day Two RtR

The Mesa

Day Two took us from the arid, ancient seafloor of the Grand Valley up 6,000 feet into the clouds and volcanic terrain of the Grand Mesa. The huge lava-capped summit area averages 10,000 feet in elevation and sprawls over 800 square miles. Several hundred trout-filled lakes dot the top. Geologic rocks are Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments capped by up to 400-feet of basaltic lava flows. The lava cap is of probable Pliocene age. If I recall my Colorado Geology correctly, there was a shield volcano in the vicinity of the Grand Mesa and another shield volcano more easterly resulting in the Battlement Mesa volcanic features. The highest point of the Grand Mesa is Leon Peak at 11,234 feet.



The Grand Mesa is one of the hardest high passes to bike over in Colorado – pure and simple! I think it's one of the three most difficult climbs alongside 14ers Mount Evans and Pikes Peak. It's a bear! It's no surprise that Day Two was my hardest day of Ride the Rockies. After approximately 35 miles and 600 feet of elevation gain, the road ramps up (understatement) and gains 5,430 feet of elevation over the next 20 miles to the Nordic ski center of Skyway at 10,614 feet. Several miles later, the "official" pass is crossed at 10,839-feet. The grade is consistent, except for one small flat area not far from the top. If you're still alive, you've earned a fine downhill into the town of Cedaredge at 6,200 feet.



This is the view west from about 9,500 feet. Some of the dwellings seen in the distance are the Powderhorn Ski Resort, the approximate halfway point of the climb proper.



In zoom mode, the far horizon is the northern terminus of the Colorado Plateau, home to Day One's Colorado National Monument route. The middle ridgeline is the backside of the Bookcliffs, which provide the northern border of the Grand Valley, the home of Grand Junction and the vineyards and orchards of Palisade. A herd of wild horses often may be observed foraging throughout the Bookcliffs. The closest ridgeline is the Grand Mesa's northwest shoulder.



This is one of hundreds of idyllic settings higher on the Mesa. At this point, I was about 4 miles from the top.



Welcome to the top and the Skyway area.



What goes up must come down. This video includes the first 6 minutes of the descent from the top. This is one descent that definitely is earned.



Subalpine meadows quilt-square the top of the Grand Mesa.



The drop into Cedaredge and the North Fork of the Gunnison River can be scenic. The West Elk Mountains rise in the distance.



Our campsite location at Hotchkiss High School was fairly hidden.

Approximate stats:
96 miles
7:39:49 ride time (add another 1.5 hours for stops)
6,255 feet of total elevation gain (excluding rollers into Hotchkiss)
5,430 feet of elevation gain on the Grand Mesa proper

See ya on Day Three

Adios