833 miles from home to Las Vegas
When I woke up this morning, it was 11c – which is rather cool for me thus far on my ride. However (spoiler alert) it was 43c when I got to my destination – which was damn hot by any measure (thats 109f).
However, before we get to stories of unbearable heat, lets start back in Bryce. I did my usual pottering and packing, and was rolling before 0800. I had to put on thicker gloves and a layer under my summer jacket, and even then I was a bit too cold once I was riding. However, I didn’t stop to add any more layers, preferring to bank the memories and sensations for later – I knew waht was coming – and so allowed myself to be chilly.
I rode west on highway 12 for about 10 miles or so – passing through Red Canyon, which once more provided wonderful landscapes of deep, dusty red. Where we intersected highway 89, I turned south (well SSE) and rode another 45 minutes ish to a lovely little coffee shop in a small town called Orderville.
I am not much of a fan of the type of coffee served in many diners, which I have previously referred to. No such issue today, the American I had was lovely, a was the breakfast burrito and croissant. I was just in time to watch the lat 20 minutes or so of the Charity Shield between Liverpool and Crystal Palace, and the dissapointing penalty shootout that followed. ’nuff said.
Anyway, while the football was a bit of a downer, breakfast almost made up for it, and I headed back out into the great wide open with a tummy full of food and an anticipation of another day in the saddle. I love time on my own, riding the bike through open country, observing the world, taking in the beauty of nature, and letting my mind find things to contemplate which do not always get space and time.
Maybe half an hour from breakfast and `i was on some nice twisty road approach Zion National Park. I have heard good things, but never been myself, so was looking forward to the experience. I am 99.9% a Parks kind of person, and 0.00000000000001% a Vegas person. Maybe even less, Vegas-wise. Anyway, Utah never disappoints with its parks, and so I was ready, without any real expectation, having deliberately not researched the park.
It was quite warm by the time I entered the park, but not unpleasant, and so I stopped to check the map, adjust my attire, and bimbled (the official term for slow, easy riding, making sure to leave plenty of time for observation of ones surroundings while still having time to ride safely) off into the park. Immediately, the alien landscape began, spectacular in both appearance and scale.
The first interesting site was the Checkerboard Mesa. Geological and weather conditions scored horizontal and vertical lines across the faces of this large mesa, giving the appearance of a squared playing board – hence the name. Quite unusual – but, as I was soon to learn, just one of the many spectacles to behold in this area.
Checkerboard Mesa
Numerous different rock formations shared the path with me, and my thoughts wondered to early times in the earths formation. You really get a sense of the incredibly massive measures of time that have passed on this earth, and the forces that formed, shaped and continuously reshaped the forms. I love the sense of billions of years (well, as much as I can conceive of when it comes to that kind of scale) that we are privileged to witness, appreciate and be in awe of.
Several miles of beautiful geology and I reached a queue of cars. There is only 1 road through the park, so you are sharing it with every other visitor. The queue turned into a 15 minute wait, though while i was waiting, I was not sure what I was waiting for as I could only see about 10 or 15 cars ahead of me, behind a tour bus, and then a corner which was obscured by a large boulder preventing further assessment of the road and queue.
after about 10 minutes wait, a long stream of cars began passing us in the opposite direction, so I realised that there was probably a 1-way system in place to let vehicles through one direction at a time. Finally it became time for our train of vehicles to move, and not too soon, because I was kind of beginning to bake, being sate on a running 1.9 litre engine just inches from my legs in a 32 degree celsius sun. Movement on the bike is the only way of getting airflow to cool you down (though more on this later), and so I was happy to be bimbling once more.
We rounded the obscured corner, and I realised we were entering a tunnel – which was showing 2 lanes, but I assumed experience had taught the park administrators that it was not prudent to let 2-way traffic flow through it. The tunnel is over a mile long, and was leading to a truly amazing set of vistas and sceneries.
Carved into the rock at a few points along the tunnel are large openings, a few meters long, that afford glimpses into what is on the outside of the mountain that you are boring through. And the glimpses show a really high wall of sheer rock, forming a canyon opposite to the tunnel, and adding to the anticipation.
Exiting the tunnel, the views are incredible. A high canyon, closed on 3 sides, opens up to the right, with a set of hairpin bends awaiting a descent to the floor of the canyon. I rode to the first vista point, and snapped a few pictures. 3 large touring Harley Davidsons pulled up, and 3 French couples stopped for the same views I was observing. They had hired the bikes in LA, and were doing agrand tour – and one of them took a few pictures of me with the bike and the canyon in the background.
A few more miles of beautiful twisties, hairpins and vistas, and the road flattened out, and wound more gently through pretty, but less impressive scenery for a few more miles, until I came to the exit of the park. I loved this place, and will be back – Lena and I need to spend more time in Utah!
Exiting Zion, there is a very well manicured and inviting town, Springdale, which obviously serves to support the tourist and services industry relating to the park. It looked nice, and a good place to stay if visiting the area. I rode slowly
About 20 miles or so beyond Springdale lies the major motorway, which connects tothe I-70 some way back, and heads south west-ish from Utah into Nevada, and stretches into California to meet LA. The last 120 miles or so of my trip took me along the I-15 almost to the hotel door.
Before coming to the motorway, I stopped to get some water, a lot of which I used to douse myself just before setting off – the temperature was getting into the late 30s (Centigrade), and the only way to keep cool on the bike is to be wet, and let the evaporation cool you down.
The motorway was quite busy but fast flowing, and so I sped along at 75-80 mph. The landscape was rocky or mountainous desert, largely without any artificial features – no buildings, farms, animals – basically no anything except an increasingly heating desert.
As I moved further south – and as the day continued to heat up, the temperatures continued to rise. I stopped twice more to pour a bottle of cold water over myself, but even then the relief did not last long. within 30 minutes of being on the motorway it was over 40 degrees, and the air was actually hot. It felt like I was riding into a furnace. The expereince was not pleasant at all, but fortunately only lasted 90 minutes or so overall on the motorway, before I was leaving the highway and riding the last mile up to the hotel.
Riding onto the huge (it is the worlds 2nd largest hotel) property, I found the parking garage, found the bike parking, and very gratefully got off the bike, looking forward to a cold shower. I checked in, schlepped miles across the hotel – walking through a major casino area littered with folk who were either throwing their money away, or deliberately unaware of their surroundings and getting in my way. I didn’t punch anyone, but it was sooo tempting.
Anyway, I finally got to the room, was able to unpack, have a good wash and start to cool down. Here is the final picture of the “out” leg of the journey, in my hotel room before I was fully settled.
We will see you on the way back home, starting Friday 15th in the morning.