Today was a day I was and was not looking forward to. You could best describe it as “only one climb” but that climb was brutal. We only rode a little over 22 miles today but gained well over 4,500′ in elevation. Yowza!

I order to avoid the heat we opted to start early today. I was hoping to be rolling by 7am but we all eventually got going just past 7:20am. There was plenty of shade early on in the canyon and even a slight breeze towards the top. The climbing started almost immediately after leaving the paved road. Only one way to get this done, keep pedaling.

Everyone just settled into their own pace, and we eventually were spread across route. Carl and Matt were on a good day and were quickly gone. Colby, Prosser and I just traded passing each other at points and stopped towards the top of the climb for a snack and to contemplate bad decisions in life.

With Carl and Matt ahead of us they were completely unaware of the short side trip to the appropriately named Hidden Lake. Colby, Prosser and I spent well over an hour there sitting in the freezing cold creek that fed into Hidden Lake and then just relaxing in the shade along the banks of the lake. This was a much much much appreciated side trip.

I think Carl and Matt must have been wondering where the heck we were. At one point they walked down from the hut to the road and in another moment of pure luck Dean and Johnny B’s shuttle was coming by. What the heck were the odds of that? The Lost Boys were done though and headed for Moab. We’d meet them there tomorrow afternoon.

With the 7(ish)am start we arrived at the hut quite early in the day. Even with the three of us chilling out at Hidden Lake for so long it was just barely past noon when we arrived. This hut was in an open field so was not shaded all that much. Being back up at elevation again meant temps were only in the mid 80’s. As soon as the sun started going down it cooled off nicely.

By this point in the trip is feels weird to be almost done. As I was riding on days 1, 2 and 3 if felt like Moab was so far away. Now as day 6 was coming to an end there was the sense of “damn that went by fast”. It is bizarre how time can fluctuate like that. One moment we were just starting and now all of a sudden, the trip was coming to a close.

I had no issues hanging out with this group of guys. I think we all get along really well. I was looking forward to seeing Mia though. Sleeping in my own bed, a hot shower sounded nice too.

Thanks for reading,

-Pete

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5