Adventure Time Again?

It’s been over a year, and what a year it has been. We have struggled to find topics that don’t seem insensitive to what we have all gone through, and to how many have suffered more than we.

But we are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. At least we hope that’s what we’re seeing. Gail and I are both fully vaccinated. Numbers are falling in Utah, restrictions are loosening (for better or worse), and warm weather is in sight (notwithstanding the almost 30 inches of snow the Cottonwoods received last week!), which will allow us all to spend even more time outdoors, in what seems to be the safest environment of all.

So, while we don’t deserve much sympathy for our monastic lives over the past year (yesterday was day 102 on skis for me this season!), we are excited about the prospect of resuming our adventures, albeit with caution. So, we dug out our baby Airstream, Toto, de-winterized him, loaded up the truck and headed to the California desert last week for 6 days. We broke out the bikes and are watching for warm stretches to get back in the saddle.

And on May 6, seven buddies and I are starting a bike ride from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, UT, partly on dirt and partly on paved roads. Might as well start the season off with a bang!

The ride is part of the San Juan Hut system, a series of huts in southwest Colorado and southeast Utah. San Juan Huts offers self-guided trips for mountain and gravel riding, ski touring and hiking, depending on the season. Each hut is stocked with food, drink and other items to provide opportunities for low-impact, human powered and lightweight backcountry adventures. No need to carry camping or cooking gear or vast supplies of food or water. Just carry clothes, tools and repair equipment, and enough food and water to get from one hut to the next.

Our trip, the Gravel Grinder Tour of the Canyons, is a 3-day, 2-night tour, covering a bit over 165 miles and almost 9,700 feet of climbing. For those of us who live at elevation, the climbing should not be an issue. But we have one flatlander in our group, and it could be interesting for him!

There has been a lot documented about this ride, but two of my favorites are Touring the San Juan Huts Gravel Grinder, a ride report on Bikepacking.com, by Hunter Ellis, who did the ride last summer with some friends and family, including his 67 year old dad (which frankly gives us Senior Rippers some comfort!), and Biking Ryan Duzer, a popular YouTuber. They will each give you a good feel for what we can expect.

Needless to say, I am excited, and somewhat nervous, about the trip. It will be a first for me, and I look forward to sharing the experience with you on these pages.

We have a busy summer planned, with lots of travel and activities, but more about that later.

Maybe, just maybe, life will start to return to some degree of normalcy. Fingers are crossed, prayers are uttered, rabbits’ feet are kissed.

Keep moving, stay safe, have fun.