Arches NP Trip

[Mellow]

The first official
TentSTOC event
in
Arches National Park, Utah
Sept 4-7, 2008
http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368349119_QkXmb-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368349119_QkXmb-L-2.jpg)

Tue - Sept 2
DFW to Tucumcari, NM
477 Miles

I had to work on Labor day but that gave me the option
to take off Tuesday afternoon instead of Wednesday and
take a little longer to get to Utah.

I left DFW and tried to find a camping spot at Ute Lake
State Park in NM but it was dark and I didn't know the
layout so I just headed for Tucumcari and found a typical
RV type site in town. Nothing special but it was a windy
day.

Wed - Sept 3
Tucumcari, NM to Moab, UT
563 Miles

I took my time getting up and taking down the campsite. This
was day 1 of the vacation so I wanted to take it all in and not
rush. I saw a few Harleys leaving, they were coming back from
the big celebration in Wisconsin.

I showed up at Arches but they said the campground was full. We
had reservations for the next 3 days and I was early so I headed
for the KOA that I stayed at 5 years ago.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368348692_MEbQZ-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368348692_MEbQZ-L-2.jpg)

I took the opportunity to take a shower, check the site via WiFi
and just relax.

There were two brothers camping next to me, one on a Harley and
the other a Yamaha. We chatted for a bit. They were on a long
trip and the 3rd brother had to take off due to other committments
but these two were having a nice relaxed trip.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368349024_wWdKV-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368349024_wWdKV-L-2.jpg)

Thu - Sept 4

This was an easy day for me, I just wanted to be around the
area and get to teh park by noon to be there when people
started showing up.

I rode Hwy 128 that runs along the Colorado River, really
cool road.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368349073_2wXpP-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368349073_2wXpP-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368349761_DZjhk-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368349761_DZjhk-L-2.jpg)

As you can tell, it was a fun ride.....

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350051_ybLo6-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350051_ybLo6-L-2.jpg)

When I got to the campground Dan, Danny and George were already setup.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350444_LSqUb-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350444_LSqUb-L-2.jpg)

Wow, what a location....

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350567_sBSL5-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350567_sBSL5-L-2.jpg)

Shortly thereafter, more people started to show up while we were walking
on rocks..

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350508_TQ35a-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350508_TQ35a-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350622_iHXAw-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350622_iHXAw-L-2.jpg)

This already had the look of a successful event.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368352306_PfhTq-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368352306_PfhTq-L-2.jpg)

Since Don brought his trailer and was heading into town he was gracious
enough to take some orders and brought back some steaks, potatoes and
veggies for dinner...

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368352012_ZHSCZ-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368352012_ZHSCZ-L-2.jpg)

With the exception of Bryan (AZST) we pretty much all had a good steak. His
sorta fell into the coals but we were able to drag it around a little before getting
it out and washing it off. Bryan was pretty disappointed but still managed to get
some of it down... Of course that was what we thought was the last steak.
Afterward, we saw two that no one had touched..
oops.. LOL Bryan had beans the next night.

Fri - Sept 5
Just Riding....

The sunrise in Arches NP is incredible. When the sun hits that red rock it just
explodes with color.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368352341_9uV2L-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368352341_9uV2L-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359868_fsVLM-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359868_fsVLM-L-2.jpg)

I rode today with Bryan (AZST) and Bob (AzDesertRider). We rode Hwy 128
and stopped at what used to be the longest wooden suspension bridge in
Utah before it was burnt down in April, 2008 by a 7 year old boy playing
with matches. Chicago Tribune Story (http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-history_hole_fill_0730jul30,0,1684770.story)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353205_xQEch-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353205_xQEch-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350266_yiPCk-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368350266_yiPCk-L-2.jpg)

After that, we backtracked and turned off towards Castle Valley and the
Lasal Mountain Loop road George had told us about the night before.

I'm not sure if this was a good sign or a bad one but we quickly passed
this guy as soon as we could...

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353251_VzEKC-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353251_VzEKC-L-2.jpg)

The Lasal Loop was pretty cool, you started out at the bottom..

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353361_uXadz-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353361_uXadz-L-2.jpg)

... and quickly climb to the top ...

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353509_cofdx-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353509_cofdx-L-2.jpg)

... even though a controlled burn area ...

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353814_vREXW-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353814_vREXW-L-2.jpg)

... and some overhanging forest area ...

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353880_GKCBC-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353880_GKCBC-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353998_mHAjA-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368353998_mHAjA-L-2.jpg)

We even had a dog that wanted to go along..

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368354166_qSUH4-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368354166_qSUH4-L-2.jpg)

When I stopped ahead to take a pic of Bob/Bryan down the hill
the dog stayed about 20 yards away... apparently, he'd
never actually caught anyone... LOL

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368354228_Vhaix-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368354228_Vhaix-L-2.jpg)

We had lunch in Moab and then headed to Canyonlands
National Park.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368354734_F2E5y-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368354734_F2E5y-L-2.jpg)

They were repaving part of the road so there was lots of loose
gravel but we just took it slow. The view was pretty impressive.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368355386_twZee-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368355386_twZee-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368357365_7cMhb-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368357365_7cMhb-L-2.jpg)

We got back to camp to see who else showed up. Then
Dan, who little did we know is also a monkey, wanted to
go hiking so we followed him to some of the nearby Arches.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359172_LwGox-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359172_LwGox-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359334_8qojY-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359334_8qojY-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359451_QjW45-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359451_QjW45-L-2.jpg)

After the hiking, we got back to camp for some post-ride-BSing.

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359618_M77w2-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359618_M77w2-L-2.jpg)

Then, of course, Food and Fire...

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359656_CzTJR-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359656_CzTJR-L-2.jpg)

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359692_w2Wjg-S-2.jpg (http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368359692_w2Wjg-L-2.jpg)

Sat - Sept 6
Arches NP to Amarillo, TX
663 Miles

This was time for me to start heading home but I could
at least ride through some great areas. I didn't take any
pics as I still had to push some miles today.

Sun - Sept 7
Head Home...
350 Miles

What a great trip, they never seem to come fast enough
and they all seem to be over before you come close to
getting tired of them. Great scenery, good weather and
life-long friends. Hard to beat that combination.

Here (http://mellow.smugmug.com/gallery/5918006_PekTv#368348692_MEbQZ) are the rest of the pics.

[Black and Blue]

Good write up. Love the pics. Looked like someone was having fun:D
Black and Blue

[GulfXray]

That looked like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing...

[Mr. Guy]

I didn't think I'd have enough time to go to Arches with Rick and Chief after the TAT. But now I may have to call the boss at work and tell him I'm having "trouble" and wont make it back for a few more days.

Guy

[Ironheadziggy76]

Joe, as always, great pics! Looks like you all had a blast.

[Mellow]

I didn't think I'd have enough time to go to Arches with Rick and Chief after the TAT. But now I may have to call the boss at work and tell him I'm having "trouble" and wont make it back for a few more days.

Guy

When we looked down into the canyon in the Canyonlands NP, you could see some tracks, 2 wheeled and I was wondering if one of those was part of the route you guys are planning for the TAT..

http://mellow.smugmug.com/photos/368355386_twZee-S-2.jpg

[Trailace]

Joe,
Great report sorry I could not make it with ya.

[Tx White Knight]

Looks like all of you had a great time, thanks for sharing
:tent4:

[George]

Happy to be there but had to depart early, Pony Express, don'ja know. :D

Joe, I gotta send the pic with me 'n the shadows to my friend who's afraid of heights! :D

No else has mentioned the Thursday night dinner included baked potatoes for desert!! They didn't quite finish up with the steaks. :D

[Mellow]

Happy to be there but had to depart early, Pony Express, don'ja know. :D

Joe, I gotta send the pic with me 'n the shadows to my friend who's afraid of heights! :D

No else has mentioned the Thursday night dinner included baked potatoes for desert!! They didn't quite finish up with the steaks. :D

LOL.. that's called carb-ing up for the next days ride.:eek:

[Alan]

When we looked down into the canyon in the Canyonlands NP, you could see some tracks, 2 wheeled and I was wondering if one of those was part of the route you guys are planning for the TAT..



Took this picture showing dirt roads in Canyonlands NP two years ago. My son was interested in riding it on his KLR some time.