Westworld: My 2016 CO/UT trip

The high alpine terrain transitions to an Aspen forest. The fall color changes are spectacular. There's a great mix of Summer's green and fall's yellows and oranges. The aspen area is fast single track, not very technical, but still loads of fun. I don't hammer this as hard because I want to take in the stunning visuals.

image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
 
The trail with the aspen groves is called Hazzard county. After the aspens the trail has deciduous vegetation, about chest high. I think they're called scrub oaks. They remind me of mountain laurel back home, except the leaves are bigger. Here too the fall color change is taking effect. These leaves are orange and brown. Unfortunately I did not get any good pics. Hazzard has a modest climb but it's quite enjoyable as the surrounding views are magnificent. At one point there was a huge black cow grazing on the trail. Fortunately he let us pass.
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
 
After Hazzard are the Kokopelli and Porcupine Rim trails. Terrain is transitioning to more desert-like. Due to daylight concerns, I don't stop much for pics. However this is even more spectacular as the trails take you right up against the canyon rim. It is a LONG way straight down if you mess up.

There is a lot of speed in sections here plus it's getting more technical. There are slickrock sections with multiple line options plus long rock gardens - I'm in heaven. We take this all the way down to the river where we left the car. I get lots of air hucking off of this and that. So much so that my upper body is getting fatigued. The 6Fattie handles it all very well. I'm really happy with the confidence-inspiring ride of the bike. You come up fast on drops you don't see until the last second. Straighten the elbows, get your butt back, and fly over them.

In the end, we finished before dark. Total time about 7 hrs since starting from the cabin. The WE is truly an epic ride, though not for everyone. This was my second time doing it but first on a FS bike. It's SO MUCH BETTER on FS. One of the things that makes the ride unique is the varying ecological/geological sections. The pics I took and the go pro vids my friends got don't do it justice. It must be experienced in person to truly UNDERSTAND.

image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg


Final stats: 38 miles, 4,600' gained.
image.jpeg
 
awesome pics. Riding through aspens on my bike in the fall, and on my snowboard in winter is on my short list
 
Thin Diesel said:
After Hazzard are the Kokopelli and Porcupine Rim trails. Terrain is transitioning to more desert-like. Due to daylight concerns, I don't stop much for pics. However this is even more spectacular as the trails take you right up against the canyon rim. It is a LONG way straight down if you mess up.

There is a lot of speed in sections here plus it's getting more technical. There are slickrock sections with multiple line options plus long rock gardens - I'm in heaven. We take this all the way down to the river where we left the car. I get lots of air hucking off of this and that. So much so that my upper body is getting fatigued. The 6Fattie handles it all very well. I'm really happy with the confidence-inspiring ride of the bike. You come up fast on drops you don't see until the last second. Straighten the elbows, get your butt back, and fly over them.

In the end, we finished before dark. Total time about 7 hrs since starting from the cabin. The WE is truly an epic ride, though not for everyone. This was my second time doing it but first on a FS bike. It's SO MUCH BETTER on FS. One of the things that makes the ride unique is the varying ecological/geological sections. The pics I took and the go pro vids my friends got don't do it justice. It must be experienced in person to truly UNDERSTAND.

View attachment 41663 View attachment 41664 View attachment 41665

Final stats: 38 miles, 4,600' gained.
View attachment 41666
Click to expand...

Your 2nd pic here ...

1000267_10203001772796424_159313015_n.jpg


Amazing posts! Same spot circa 1994 with my now-wife. Please ignore dorky outfit.
 
Man that ride looks just awesome.
Adding fall Aspen forest to the to-do list too.

There's a nice one in Flagstaff, but my timing is never right.
 
amazing journey - great write-up, fantastic pictures.

how many more days? is it snowing in the mountains?
 
fidodie said:
amazing journey - great write-up, fantastic pictures.

how many more days? is it snowing in the mountains?
Click to expand...

Thx Pat - you prompted me to do this!!

Leaving Saturday. Got good riding in today. Will post a write-up later. No fresh snow that I've seen...
 
This is great to read and see...ridden in a bunch of states out there(including Utah) but the WE is on my list to do as well...that aspen shot is killer. I now know that I need to ride that this time of year as I would like to experience it with those color schemes.
 
rottin' said:
This is great to read and see...ridden in a bunch of states out there(including Utah) but the WE is on my list to do as well...that aspen shot is killer. I now know that I need to ride that this time of year as I would like to experience it with those color schemes.
Click to expand...
Thanks man. Glad you're diggin' this. Yes late September is THE time.
 
Day 4 (Thursday) we need to vacate the cabin. The plan is to pack up in the AM then go ride Mag7. After that we head to new digs in Fruita, CO.

Only one problem: it poured rain all night and is still raining in the AM. Mag7 is out. We pack up our stuff and head out. On the way, detour for a quick stop downtown to get some trinkets for the lil' diesels.

When I get back to the car my friends tell me that we are riding so off we go to Navajo Rocks.

image.jpeg
 
@JoeLee holy smokes gum walled velociraptors!

@Thin Diesel it will be so hard to get back on a plane to Jersey. Trust me. This is killing me.

It also reminds me to do a write up about @ktmrider s place and why peeps should be hitting up his place for Utah riding.
 
mattybfat said:
@JoeLee holy smokes gum walled velociraptors!

@Thin Diesel it will be so hard to get back on a plane to Jersey. Trust me. This is killing me.

It also reminds me to do a write up about @ktmrider s place and why peeps should be hitting up his place for Utah riding.
Click to expand...

Fail - IRC Mythos!

You're right about coming back to NJ though - so terrible. I drove out every year from 1993 to 2000 - sometimes more than once. We'd do Pedro's New England MTB festival, 24 Hours of Allamuchy and then go to Moab ...good times.
 
None of us has ever ridden the Navajo Rocks trails, though we got route Intel from a bike shop.

The trails were definitely easier than the past two days. Suitable for beginner-intermediate and higher. That's was fine with me. After yesterday's epic my legs were a bit weak.

The terrain is sort of desert-XC. Tight, flowy hard pack sand with vast sections of slick rock. Some of the ST is rocky but I wouldn't call this place technical. The trails are very well marked and there's lots of bikers out today. The rain made the sandy sections nice and tacky. The slickrock had incredible grip - the only wet sections were the divots that collected rain water.

We end up having a great ride. It was a perfect follow-up from yesterday. We hammered at times and took it easy other times. There was one trail called Coney Island which was like a roller coaster on 2 wheels. We all were blown away by how much fun it was. And of course, the scenery was incredible...

image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
image.jpeg
 
We got spared from rain at Navajo Rocks, though we could see storms in the distance. We did a counterclockwise loop: Big Mesa - Big Lonely - Coney Island - Rocky Tops -Ramblin'. It was 2+ hrs. 1800' 18 miles. Some trails were skipped, though we found some humor nonetheless:
image.jpeg

I would definite ride here again.

We hit several rain showers en route to Fruita. It's a cool town - heavy on bike culture and dinosaur history. This is evident nearly anywhere you look in town.

image.jpeg


Our new crib is pretty sweet. Very close to 18 Road trails. There are so many cool and creepy things about this place I could start another blog. Check it out: http://www.moonfarm.net

image.jpeg


Friday is basically my last day to ride. Big plans are afoot. Stay tuned...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom