Day 60 – Shit Just Got Real… Hot

Natural Bridges National Monument to Hite, UT – 61 miles

Yesterday I woke up around 6 after snoozing my alarm for almost an hour.  Made some oatmeal and coffee, packed up, and then cycled the nine mile loop around Natural Bridges.  I went to the viewpoint of all three arches (Sipapu, Kachina, and Owachomo) as well as the Anasazi ruins and hiked down to the last bridge, Owachomo.  It was absolutely incredible.  The loop hike that goes by all three bridges would have been cool, but that would have required a full day at the park and I was looking to keep moving West.  By the time I was done cycling the loop it was 830 or 9 and I went to the Visitor’s Center to refill water.

I chilled out for awhile and eventually a large group showed up who had just got done rafting the San Juan River for 6 days.  That sounds like it would be pretty cool.  Perhaps when I get done with this bike trip I will do an extended float trip…

I considered staying at Natural Bridges until the hottest part of the day passed, but ultimately I decided to go for it at around 930.  The ride was hot from the beginning, or so I thought.  The plan was to ride to Hite in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.  It’s basically an old abandoned marina for Lake Powell from when the water use to be higher.

The ride was mostly downhill which was nice, but every foot I descended it got a little hotter.  The scenery was really fantastic, a lot of mesas, pillars, sheer cliffs, and canyons.  It continued to get more incredible around every corner.

About 35 miles outside of Hite the water had completely evaporated from my under armor and buff.  It was really hot and the first thing I came across was a closed down motel.  I found refuge in the little bit of shade that was available.  Ate some food, reapplied some sunscreen, and then I was back at it.  It was hottttttt.  I cannot even explain how hot it was, like nothing I had ever experienced.  No shade anywhere except what was available from overhanging rocks which was not much with the sun at its highest point in the day.  If you were caught outside in this heat without water or protection from the sun you would certainly not have much time before the situation became pretty serious.  The only way to stay some sort cool was to keep riding to have some sort of breeze.

Climbed a small hill and then descended an awesome one into Glen Canyon.  At the turn off for Hite I ran into Jerry.  He is leading a van supported Adventure Cycling group from West to East.  Where he was standing waiting for his group to catch up the thermostat on his bike computer read 125 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT!

Seems like a tough gig.  Each of the riders pay ~7 grand, so I’m sure they have high expectations for the trip.  He gets paid around 5 grand for the three months it takes to guide the group of strangers across the US.  They are doing the same route as I except in reverse.

I rode down to Hite, about a mile off of the Hwy.  I saw a cyclist by a building that turned out to be a closed down ranger station and parked my bike near him.  Across the street was a gas station / convenience store, so I went inside to soak up the A/C.

It was 2 or 3 and the store was open until 5, so I spent most of my time hanging out in the store.  There was no cell phone service or wifi, so you really had to find ways to entertain yourself.  I stitched the elastic back into my cycling shorts, because it was just barely hanging on at this point.

When the store closed I went back down to the ranger station.  The other cyclist wasn’t with the Adventure Cycling group.  He is riding the Western Express self-contained from West to East.  His name is Thierry Leroy and he’s from France.  Cool guy.  Kind of goofy.  He’s 50 years old, retired from the French army and now coaches table tennis.  Check out his blog here – http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/12078 (it’s in French).

We wasted time waiting for it to get dark enough and hopefully cooled off a little so we could get some sleep.  We shared advice with each other, what to expect on the route ahead, and places to stay.  I setup my hammock and he slept on the picnic table under the ranger station awning.  Some clouds rolled in and it looked like it was sure to rain, but it never did and the cloud cover made sure to lock in the heat, so it never really cooled off.  I must have drifted off in my hammock around 8 for a long night of tossing  and turning.