EPIC Utah MOTO 2008 Day 1

It's weds morning. The kids are off to school and Allison has given me a big kiss and made me promise not to kill myself. She really doesn't ask much does she? :-). I pace the kitchen waiting patiently for my riding buddy Van who is suppose to kiss his family off and then ride his motorcycle back roads to my house from Kaysville, Utah. I finished packing up last minute items, secured a few things to my bike and waited patiently. He didn't show up til 10 or so. Turns out he got held up by a large tractor down on the east canyon dirt road on his way to Jeremy Ranch. We make a few final bike and gear adjustments, close the garage door and head to the Jeremy store for our first fillup. We've ridden almost 2 miles! We are moving quick today.


"The first fillup, Jeremy Store, Park City, Utah"

The original plan was to ride up to Deer Valley, down the dirt road from guardsman into Heber and then out to Strawberry Reservoir. But due to the fact that construction workers dug up a 100 year old stash of TNT from the Park City mining era several days before, the Park City PD closed the road for safety. So against our will, we jumped on US 40 (i hate that road!!) and drove to Strawberry Reservoir. After all, we were running way behind and needed to get rolling.

We hit the first backroad of the ride just before strawberry reservoir. This road would take us south down to US 6 where we would start our 100+ mile journey on the famous Utah Skyline drive trail. I've driven this (Indian Creek) before and was quite familiar with it. Just as we left the bleak pavement and started our ride on the teeth chattering washboarded Indian creek road, I looked down and noticed my GPS was missing from the handlebar mount. I immediately locked up the brakes to turn around. Just after I stopped, I noticed a huge diesel truck hauling a 5th wheel coming the other way. My first thought, was I need to get turned around and find my GPS before this huge truck and 5th wheel run over and smash my GPS in a million pieces, perhaps the most important piece of equipment I was carrying, besides my motorcycle learners permit :-).

I was able to stop the guy and ride back 100 or so feet and there it was, laying in the dirt. I knew I should have spent $125 for the Touratech GPS mount instead of the made in China RAM mount. I picked it up, wrapped about 10 feet of electrical tape around it, and that was the last time the GPS would ever vibrate off the mount.


"Our first scenic overlook, Indian Creek Road, Utah, just north of US6"

We arrived at US 6, filled up our bikes at the Sheep Creek Sinclair, and rode the 5 or 6 miles up US 6 to the Tucker rest stop - the official furthest north starting point of the famous Utah Skyline Drive Trail.

My heart was pounding as I knew the next fuel stop would be a good 125+ miles down the trail according to the GPS. I knew once we started up the Skyline, we would be committed. In preparation for this trip, we ripped off the cheap KTM stock fuel tanks which hold about as much fuel as a small can of Red Bull. We replaced the stock tanks with a Clarke 3.1 gallon desert racing tank. We also mounted 1.2 gallon rear fuel tanks from Baja Designs in California. We were each carrying nearly 5 gallons which on a 4 stroke bike of our size is quite a lot of fuel. With that in mind, I was feeling calm about making it to the end of the skyline for fuel which according to plan would be Salina.


"Cruising the Skyline Drive at 10,500 feet, backside of Mt. Nebo in the distance"

Turns out we were riding the Skyline Drive in the middle of Elk Hunting season in Utah. This would explain why we were seeing more trucks, RV's, 5th wheels and rednecks than one would see at a NASCAR race in Vegas. I was extremely impressed with the quality of road. It was easy to cruise safely at high speeds, atleast during this section.

As we approached the southern end of the skyline, the elevation increased slightly to just over 11,000 feet. With the higher elevation came more snow and mud from the recent and first major storm of autumn in Utah.



"Skyline drive road becoming muddy towards the southern section"

The Skyline Drive crosses over several major west/east highways at various points as it meanders along the ridge of the Sanpete Valley. It eventually becomes the Great Western trail which I believe runs all the way to I-70 and then down south just east of HWY 89. The Great Western Trail is a 4500 mile trail which runs from Canada to Mexico. Now that would be an EPIC journey someday.


"Great Western Trail sign on Skyline Drive, 10,800 feet"

The autumn leaves were great, but I think we might have missed the best part of the change perhaps just a week earlier. The leaves in Southern Utah would prove to be more colorful. I kept thinking to myself as I rode along the Skyline how much I wanted to bring my family back camping here some day. Allison would be in heaven with her camera and the incredible 360 degree scenery.

As we approached the turnoff to Manti Canyon from Skyline drive, we stopped and decided to head down to Manti because of possible limited daylight due to our late start. The Manti canyon turnoff was probably our last and final option for getting off the skyline before I-70 and Salina. We figured we had ridden about 3/4 of Skyline at this point and started heading down. The road down the canyon was extremely muddy and rocky. I'm not sure that would be a good way to access Skyline via a car, unless of course you don't care about your car.

We arrived Manti and filled up with gas. Our bikes were filthy and tracked a lot of mud into town. Oh well, I guess that is why they call them dirt bikes :-).


"Fueling up the filthy beasts in Manti, Utah"

After filling up and phoning home to check in with loved ones, we decided we would hit the highway and get to Richfield, Utah before the sun goes down. That would be our first hotel and night of the trip. We felt pretty good about our progress only because we had pretty much stuck to plan with the exception of ditching Deer Valley and bailing off the Skyline a bit early. A nice hotel and hot tub was sounding pretty good so off we went.

We arrived at the Comfort Inn just before the sun started to set. We unpacked the bikes and rode them into Richfield to the Little Wonders Cafe. The cafe was definitely little but wasn't such a wonder. Any food was good after a day of 230 miles (almost 300 for Kaysville Van). Our moving time for the day was approx. 5 hrs 38 minutes according to the GPS.

As we rode down the street to the cafe, I looked to the west and could see the backside of the Tushar mountains glowing in the distance. Crossing over the snowy Tushars would be 1 of tomorrow's first major challenges. Hot tub, advil and sweet dreams of the skyline.

jww

Click here to read about day 2 of the trip