Always Take Candy from Strangers

Wow! This past week or so has been quite an amazing experience, taking me through the most beautiful and unique country I've ever seen, predominantly along Scenic Byway 12. This route cuts across southern Utah, providing access to some of the most remote wild areas in the US, including the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and Dixie National Forest. I spent my first night on Route 12 at the Red Canyon red rock area on the route's eastern end. These bright red formations emerge from the landscape and act as a marker of your passage into a whole landscape of special natural wonders that lay ahead. The campground hosts here, Barb and Steve, were fellow east coasters from Boston who shared with me an array of their own interesting travel experiences over a hot breakfast (mmm!) before I set on towards Bryce Canyon National Park.

They informed me about a somewhat sneaky way of entering the park and getting a feeling for the canyon without actually going all the way in. About a quarter mile after the entrance sign (but before the fee station) there is an unmarked road bringing you to the "Fairyland" overlook and trail head. I opted to dart in and out of Bryce via this loophole, in part not feeling up to the long distances, crowded campgrounds (if there happen to be any spaces left), and heavily trafficked roads I've encountered in the National Parks this time of year (prime, it appears). The lookout I visited was pretty neat, giving me a sense of the "hoodoo" rock formations rising up out of the canyon like freestanding columns of various shape, size and coloring. Then I rejoined 12 and rode through some very grassy, pastoral country to the turnoff for the Kodachrome State Park. This park is named after my hometown Eastman Kodak company, in honor of the photograph worthy range of different colors afforded in the multiple layers of rock- a vertical show of times passing over hundreds of thousands of years. The park is also known for the petrified geyser formations unique to the area.

The next day I rode on to Escalante, enjoying an awesome downhill cost for about 18 miles leading me into the outskirts of the Grand Staircase Monument. I spent a night in the center of the small town and started the climb up onto some higher elevation. With views of the Staircase behind me, its scope and grandeur increasing with my vantage point as I climbed, I finally reached the summit of my climb. What I saw as I began the descent was the most incredible vista I've ever seen. Looking across over a hundred miles of the monument, with views stretching over slickrock, canyons, and mountains into New Mexico and Arizona. I guess I need to start abbreviating here, it's been such a neat week. I spent that night at the Calf Creek Recreation Area where I was able to hike to the vantage of some ancient pictographs. That night it rained, and rained, and thundered! I made friends with a great group of Latter Day Saints boy scouts out on a canyoneering trip. They shared their dinner, campfire, s'mores, and energetic senses of humor with me, which made the rain less potent. The next day I waited for clear skies, finally embracing the elements after an hour or so, and rode on up out of the canyon towards the famous "hog's back" section of the highway (cliff on either side of a narrow road). Instead of diminishing my experience of the landscape, being in the rain brought the desert to life in a way that helped me to really see it for the first time. The water brought tiny springs into existence in every crevasse and crack, painted every layer of rock a deeper, richer hue and filled the air with the smell of rainclouds and sagebrush. It was one of my most memorable mornings of riding--plodding along, as drenched as I was.

Things cleared up as I passed through the phenomenally beautiful village of Boulder, lush green valley surrounded by snow peaked mountains in the distance, but were quite unseasonable by the time I set up camp on Boulder Mountain (about 10,000 feet). It was one cold, wet night and the descent the following day made sure I was thoroughly soaked and hailed on before spewing me out into the quaint little town of Torrey where I finally had mercy on myself and dried out my gear and myself in a cheap motel for the night. The next day I Pressed on towards Hanksville, the end of Route 12, and stopped for lunch at the Mesa Farm Market-recommended to me for their fresh hearth baked bread and organic salads. After a visit to Capitol Reef National Park, and a near entire loaf of delicious bread I motioned to finish my day and move on, but a flat tire at the farm held me up. I'll have to write more about the following few days at my next opportunity, but I ended up staying on the farm and helping out-while learning an entire host of new things. It was one of the absolute highlights of my trip. From there I spent a night in Green River, UT, and arrived yesterday in Moab.

While debating where to camp, and finding only crowded RV lot style campgrounds nearby (I was pretty tired to go far) I met a great group of folks from Wisconsin who took me back to their site in Arches National Park for the evening. This was a great opportunity because these sites are booked months in advance and the bike ride up into the park alone would have taken me hours before setting foot on a trail towards an arch. For my benefit they stopped for a twilight hike up to "Double Arch"--a very special formation we were able to see silhouetted against the night sky just as Venus became visible through the farther arch. After a great night's rest, far from the traffic and noise of town, Neil, Tara and Bill treated me to a great  breakfast (ginger pancakes with Danish apple butter...mmm) before dropping me off in town again. I think I must be the luckiest gal around! So many kind people have shown me so much support and generosity, I can't wait to pass it along whenever I have the opportunity. Until next time!

Zion National Park and the Boiliong Point of Summer

Today is my main day of exploration around Zion National Park--the body of which is located along the bottom of Zion Canyon. I began the morning scouting out a new campsite for the day, because the one I (luckily) snagged yesterday before they filled up offered no shade under which to take refuge from the 105 degree day! Remember, this Alaska resident had to buy a pair of shorts to have some for this trip. Today it's only 104, and boy does it make a difference! (wink, wink). I've done a few easier, short hikes to some points of interest, but am not really equipped to make any of the more rewarding (and vertical, and hotter) hikes to upper vantage points. Next time! When I return with friends and a backpack and some hiking boots...in the autumn or winter : ) Tomorrow I will have to pack my wheels up early (I finally decided on a name for my bicycle, Ed. I named her after my latest companion and teacher through the desert, the late author Ed Abbey who writes about the richness of these vast and seemingly barren lands). Once packed, I have to retrace my path into the canyon and look really pathetic in order to catch a ride back up out of the canyon in the bed of a benevolent pickup truck. The construction that began on a certain segment of the road I need began today, closing the road from 9am until 4pm to all traffic, and to bicycles completely until the end of the project. Wish me luck!

From there I'll begin making my way up towards Escalante via Bryce Canyon along Route 12, where I am really looking forward to visiting the Petrified Forest State Park. All is well with me, and will soon be better when I head back to the campsite for an unsanctioned (but unhindered) swim in the river that carved this enormous canyon, and perhaps, a very conservative 4.0% alcohol Mormon brew. Thanks to everyone who is following along with me, and sending great energy my way--I am feeling the love, and credit it for helping me to have such a wonderful, safe and eye-opening time! Love, Aud

Utah!

I crossed the Utah state line yesterday afternoon, and am now resting for a day in the small desert town of Kanab. They have a library with internet access, a grassy, shady spot to camp, and a vegetarian restaurant, so I am very happy! I pushed myself pretty hard this last week, but was rewarded with some incredible natural beauty and the acquaintance of some wonderful people. In Prescott, AZ after my last blog update I met a great guy, Jesse, who is into cycling. He ended up finding me a place to stay in town and introducing me to some of his equally awesome friends. Two days after that I was on my way into Grand Canyon National Park where I became acquainted with a very neat couple, Bob and Laurel, both lifetime adventurers and experienced bicycle travelers. They live at the park in the summer, and helped me to get situated, offering lot's of great information on what to see in Utah over dinner in their home and lot's of great conversation. They were so warm and welcoming, and had such an inspiring wealth of experiences to share with me that I won't soon forget. Those are just two examples of so many lovely experiences I have had meeting new people from all different walks of life. That coupled with the amazing, dynamic and varied breadth of scenery offered from the Grand Canyon, Kaibab Plateau, Kaibab National Forest, Lee's Ferry in Glenn Canyon Recreation Area, the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, and now the inviting red rocks of Utah (beckoning for exploration of all it's great treasures) make the difficulties of the road seem trivial (once they're over!). However, for now I am thrilled to be resting. The day before yesterday I thought might do me in--climbing from around 2,400ft in elevation to 8,000 in the heat of about 95 degrees! I hope the really hot days keep at bay for just a few weeks more while I move around Utah--what I think will be the most beautiful and unique part of my journey yet.

LIfe is Grand

I'm at the Grand Canyon! I rolled in on Saturday and enjoyed a hike partway into the canyon as well as a bike ride along the South Rim--both affording some spectacular views! I'll post some pictures soon, hopefully. Lot's of love, and Happy Memorial Day.

One state Down and the Kindness of Strangers.

Just after I finished writing my last blog update, something really wonderful happened. I began chatting with the woman, Rosa who owned the internet cafe where I had used the computer. When I told her where I planned to camp she warned me about gang activity in the area, and after a few minutes invited me to stay at her home with her family. She told me stories of having taken in young travelers before and made me feel so welcome and at ease (and thrilled by the prospect of a shower!) that I accepted without hesitation. Rosa and  her whole family welcomed me into their home and made me very comfortable (even giving up a bedroom against my protestation, and cooking me a vegan breakfast!). I had a restful afternoon, a great sleep and a good start for my next ride which was going to be 84 miles--over two times what I had done at that point.

Much to my surprise, I made it just fine in plenty of time to find a campsite and eat before dark. It was a long ride through total desert--I even rode through the Imperial Sand Dunes where Star Wars was filmed (you can imagine what I heard in my head for that 15 miles!) The next day I pushed on from Palo Verde across the CA-AZ state line (!woo hoo! I am getting somwhere!) to Brenda, AZ. On the map this town is portrayed as a full-service stop of 400 residents with a store, motel and campgrounds available year-round. In reality, it was a near complete ghost town where only 2 or three buildings weren't on wheels or some-which way of the 'mobile' variety. To boot most of these were in fact deserted already for the summer--a symptom of the "snow bird" phenomenon that makes Brenda (and many other little spots I passed the next day) a place at all. So, super tired and unable to push on 15 miles to the next place (which I later found out would have brought me to a similarly abandoned transient oasis) I finally found a living soul who told me it shouldn't bother anyone if I just set up camp in the RV park someplace. I found a concrete slab near a picnic table and waited for one of two inevitable things to happen--I'd be kicked out by a hardcore 100 degree plus survivor with a suspicious attitude towards people dressed like aliens arriving on bicycles to the middle of absolutely nowhere; or the wind to just blow me entirely away (which I suspected may have relieved Brenda of some of it's alleged 400 member populous already). Thankfully, neither fate befell me, and I ended up meeting a really sweet woman who summers in Homer, AK  (in my neck of the woods : ) after a night dreaming of Alaska.

Yesterday was tough--flat, lackluster, hot, and desolate. I've been ready for a rest day for a couple of days now, which I'm happy to finally have here in Wickenburg, AZ. However, so far Arizona has offered some of the most incredible land and skyscapes I have ever seen; so vast and beautiful in their simplicity--sky, rock, and sand, that they arrest all of my faculties for moments at a time. The horizon is everywhere, sometimes in every direction, and at times you can see so far it looks as though you're seeing into the past--like starlight that travels so far it's sending it's image but, should you ever get there, it's source would be long gone. My other deepest impression from the last few days has to do with the repeated kindness I have received from complete strangers. I have met so many wonderfully helpful people that I can't help but wonder this: do we love to dwell on and re-tell stories of hardship, misfortune and failed trust in others not because of their actual frequency, but because remembering those risks somehow makes it OK for us not to go out and do new, challenging, things? Anyhow, I have so many thanks to everyone for their encouragement and good thoughts, and especially Rosa (as beautiful as she is kind), Kerry and their family. PS: Thanks for the pepper spray, too, Rosa : ) Tomorrow I'll be back on the road headed towards the Grand Canyon via Prescott! I really can't wait for those vistas!

Day 4: Resting (and roasting) in El Centro, CA.

Woah! THis is what I am talking about! Finally, a day more like what I envisioned: 41.5 miles by 2:00pm including a lunch break and a 9:45am departure time. I think I pedaled three or four times the entire way! Day two, by contrast brought me 20 miles of uphill, which took everything out of me in 7 hours. Literally, I think about 2.5 miles of that section were downhilll or flat...Yowza. Then yesterday was mostly more of the same, but brought me through the rest of the worst for quite a while. My delightful and unexpected prize was an un-advertized campsite at the "Jacumba Hot Springs Resort" in Jacumba, CA. I got to take a refreshing swim in their mineral spring water fed pool, do laundry and feast my eyes upon the skeletal "pop.400" remains of what was once apparently a booming tourist town of 5,000 in the 1930's. "Oh yes," I was told by the informative thrift/convenience store/game room counter attendant, (a little bit dreamy eyed) "Humphry Bogart used to come here..." Being 35 years old at most, I'm not quite sure to which time and place exactly the reverie brought her. But anyhow, a nice night. I also enjoyed a Dos XX Equis on draught in honor of the strange rusty wrought iron fence structure slicing through the nearby landscape reminding you that you are very close, but 'thank god' (?), not quite in Mexico. Being from so far away, I had the naivety to grow up thinking that border fences were an exaggeration of fact. You learn something new everyday...So far I am having a really wonderful time, meeting very kind people, and experiencing something new and very foreign to who I thought I was; small bouts of determination. Now in day 4 when I did encounter some daunting rise in elevation, just at the moments where I wanted to dismount and give in to fatigue, some other stronger urge took over instead and I suddenly wanted to instead pedal even harder to get to the top. I wanted to kick some ass, so to speak. If this continues, I just may well take over and become the most dangerous thing on the road! Look out, it could happen. (Maybe).

Thanks for all of the great encouragement!
Peace,
Love,

Audrey

If I can make it to Alpine, I may be able to make it anywhere...

Day one, after a spin around my sister Amber's city block with a loaded bike (the true extent of my training), I figured I was as ready as ever I would be. So I set out from an Ocean Beach, CA park with a cliff bar and enough ignorance of what 2000 feet worth of elevation really meant to start pedaling. The first two thirds of the route were confidence building teasers compared to the last third which had me wondering if I could be the first person to walk a loaded bicycle across the country--after a certain point I sure seemed to have more of a knack for that than pedaling.

Though it took quite some time, and left me in the dark for a while, I finally made it to my Dad's cousin Bea's--a wonderful promise of hospitality and respite that kept me going longer than that of a dark, hard to find campsite would have. Yesterday alone I met a few very nice people, mostly cyclists who shared their touring stories and didn't look at me like I was completely unprepared and out of shape, which was nice of them. Overall, I am very encouraged by day one. The next 30 miles of my route offers another 2000 ft climb, so I may break it up into two parts, especially if that's the key to keeping my spirits up. After that, it's literally downhill and then pretty flat all the way to Phoenix. Thanks so so much to Amber, Nathan and Bea for all the generous hospitality. Peace!