So long 105º – Hello frosty windshield!

We left Fruita before the sun came up and it was still 74ºF. Cruised along the motorway to the mountains east of Toponas CO where the high was 72ºF and thunder storms lit up the afternoon sky. The morning brought a frozen windshield! All hail the glorious rain and cold temps! We saw a yearling moose who was sniffing around the camper – very fun!

From our first mountain camp we headed to the mountains east of Laramie WY. We camped at 8100 feet so the days were a cool 70-something with 40-something at night. No need for the A/C, but we were running the furnace at night

Ride all the rides! We camped near some Mtn bike trails and managed to ride a few of them. It’s nice to have new trails and totally different riding conditions. My local friend and I put on about 50 miles of trail rides during the week. YaY!

The boiz got to go out and sniff the local sniffs, climb the local rocks, and chase after the local squirrels

We have been enjoying some fine cool temperatures and rain for the past week. That’s about to change! Dammit! The reason for going north was to escape the heat, I can check out but I can never leave. The hotness I planned to escape has moved to where I’m going. Dammit again!

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Since I rode about 4,000 miles in the desert last year there are not a lot of places left to explore around here. One of the last is the area between Arches N.P. and I-70 in Utah. There is an old mine out there named Yellow Cat and a highway off ramp by that name that leads to it. I always wondered …

I spent a day out there on some surprisingly smooth dirt roads. Thanks Grand County Utah! I don’t know what they were mining out here but if I was to guess I’d say uranium

Near the end of the day the clutch slave on the Huskie ADV 450 failed – AGAIN! This is the second time it failed and left me without a clutch. The original one lasted two years (40 miles!!); only got 18 months out of the second one. I ordered a rebuild kit this time and I think I figured out why the factory ones fail. Maybe I avoided that pit-fall when I rebuilt it

I rode the gas-line road out to the border of Arches N.P. There is a big parking spot out there and I suspect there are some kewl canyon hikes to be had from there. From the rim I could see tall trees in the canyons and a bunch of slick-rock

The mining roads out here predate the Park. The Park installed fencing to keep the wheels out, but feet and hooves are welcome

There a a ton of roads out here which are not on any maps I have. Most of them are gas-line roads and end at a well-head. One of the intersections had a sign that says “arch” and pointed toward this delightful place

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Climate Change is Real

The weather has gone to poop around here. High winds, fire watches, and freeze warnings – Oh My!

I rode the Western Rim last year on the Huskie Adventure 450 and I suspected it would be more fun on an ebike – I was right again!

There are a TON of people camped out in the desert now. I saw a cute little guard-bull on the Rabbit Valley road

Mel’s loop is a moto trail and I’ve ridden it a couple times on bicycles. The part of Utah it’s in is mostly deep sand. It’s less busy than Moab or Fruita, but there are still peeps camped out there

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~ Jef Mallett

I got my new bike a couple weeks ago. I’m liking the 27.5 x 2.8 tires on this bike. Rolls over a lot of things my 26 x 2.3’s can’t tackle. The motor makes it way more fun too!

The Easter Bunny was out hiding eggs on the trails and I found one! YaY!

Polly, Kai, and Mikel swung thru Fruita last weekend and we re-rode the Ribbon Trail. I remembered all the kewl parts and forgot all the parts where we had to hike-a-bike. Took the wrong steed, have to remember to take a 25-pound bike next time

Sometimes I see the strangest things in this park. Vent covers on backwards is a first though. Later the owner went up and changed them around so they didn’t get ripped off

I took a little drive up to Rangely on a rainy/ snowy day last week. Cute little town built around ranching and the oil patch. Seems the oil boom let go and then COVID kicked the legs off the stool. The True Value and the Family Dollar are still open. The Italian restaurant was busy at lunch-time, but a lot of main street is vacant store-front

Cats are weird

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We’ve turned the corner and the days are getting longer! It’s still winter everywhere north of here, but we’re getting antsy to hit the road

This little gem has been on my bucket list for about 20 years. I wanted to ride it on my XR650L but the fuel tank was too small. Now that I ride the All-new for 2017 Huskie Adventure-450 I had a chance at it

I met Stevan about 55-miles into my ride. He had come from the west and already done the hard 2/3-rds of the trail when his WR250 died. I towed him a couple miles to the Gooseberry campground where he was able to make cell phone calls. After I rode west Stevan said, “thanks for the tow Mike……..a good Samaritan couple found me at Gooseberry and hauled me out of canyonlands in the back of their van……8 hour ride sitting on a cooler holding up the WR”

While I was eating a snack at this cross-roads a guy walked down from Island in the Sky. He said it was very steep!

Back in the mining days there was an airport here. No plane on Sundays

The western section of White Rim Trail is a lot more challenging than the east parts. I really liked the section from Potato Bottom to Mineral Bottom/ Creek. Only one steep hill with shin deep poof-sand so I’m good

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I’ve been hearing fun things about the Western Rim Trail in Utah so I went and rode it

After I finished it I discovered I rode it in the hard direction. It’s easy if you start on the south west end and ride it toward Rabbit Valley. All the steep loose hills are descents instead of climbs. This would be more fun on a bike, and a lot more fun on an ebike. Now you know

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