We are 10 eager travelers. Three of us from San Juan Island (Leslie, Val and Eric) and seven from Colorado Springs (Shane, Charlie, Karen, Beth, Stormy, Mary and Bill). We have three support vehicles that are driven by Beth, Stormy, Bill, Mary, Leslie and Eric taking turns and helping one another over rough sections of this rough four-wheel drive road.
We started at Island in the Sky Visitor Center and each day’s riding is colored in alternating red and blue in this map.
Day 1: Island in the Sky Visitor Center to the Airport Tower Camp
Diving down the Shafer Trail is a steep and 1500 foot downhill introduction to the White Rim mountain bike trail. Our rental bikes have both front and back shock absorbers and disk brakes operated hydraulically. Poison Spider Cycles told us use only one finger on the brake (two may be too many!) or we would likely catapult ourselves over the handlebars! We dutifully followed the rules….
The White Rim is a geological sandstone structure that is some 1000 feet below the canyon rim and some 1000 feet above the Colorado and Green rivers. The trail is a jeep road and the surface is at times hard rock and then gravel and then sand and, if it rains, MUD.
At Musselman Arch (actually a straight and level bridge) we walked out and stared at the camera and then down at the abyss! It is said that some people ride their bikes across this 1.5 m wide structure. We walked – carefully. But, Charlie, approaching us, tripped! We then learned that he has cultivated his fake fall over the years, frequently horrifying his wife and daughters.
The first day ended after about 20 miles at the Airport Tower Camp.
Beth & Bob
4 Jan 2015Thank you for the detailed notes! I wanted to journal some thoughts/experiences, but had not written some of the names of structures/trails. There were definitely moments of survival for me! Beth