Cheers Martin, that pretty much takes care of my whole trip and will deffo take Exit 214 to kick off the trip in style.
Now I gotta pre face this with I actually enjoy camping but that will take extra planning and supplies etc so there will be none of that on this trip! We plan to stay in hotels/motels along the way and thats why I am trying to figure out some stuff so I can make a couple of reservations where needed then we can wing the rest, see Wayne, some adventure :o)
This trip is all about the scenery, oh and being a newbie rider, so far I have only racked up 2000 miles on a motorbike and the longest ride was just under 200 miles so I am gonna need a good nights sleep!
I have a stock Bonneville and only ever ridden on regular roads so I am not too sure about dirt roads. I just installed the triumph engine dresser bars so hopefully I can survive a couple of tip overs if it gets squirrelly but the roads sound like they are hard packed so shouldn't be an issue.
On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 6:58 AM, 'Martin Albright' via EMRAT <emrat@googlegroups.com> wrote:
David: I've spent a lot of time in that part of the US as well, although for the most part it was 4 wheeling and camping. Nevertheless I'll just throw in a few things:Remember that Monument Valley is on Navajo Tribal land (the biggest Indian reservation in the US.) Ditto for the area around Tuba City. My understanding is that camping opportunities are very limited on the Reservation, so keep that in mind.Another thing, if you go from Denver to Moab, do not follow the GPS that will tell you to go all the way to US-191 at Crescent Junction just East of Green River. If you do you will miss out on one of the most scenic roads in the country. Instead, take the Danish Flat road (Exit 214), then turn Left, under the highway, and turn right (the only way you can turn to keep you on pavement.) This will put you on a rough but paved road to a little Uranium mining town called Cisco. At Cisco, turn left and that road will cross a few miles of rolling desert before you get to the Colorado River, and at that point, the magic begins, as the road takes you through a deep, narrow red-rock canyon. It's really something that can't be described but you really should do it. It's about 30 miles or so from there to Moab.Most of the roads in Arches are paved. There are opportunities to hike to many of the arches. Canyonlands is amazing, if you go to Island in the Sky (the unit of Canyonlands that is closest to Moab) there is a nice network of paved roads. Also in between Canyonlands and Moab is Dead Horse Point State Park, another great view of the canyons of the Colorado and Green Rivers.Question: What is your attitude towards dirt? Will you be strictly pavement bound? The reason I ask is that there are a lot of well graded dirt roads that will take you to some amazing places. The set of twisty, spectacular curves that Jay mentioned is called Moki Dugway, and while it is dirt, it's a very flat, wide dirt road. I would not hesitate to take my BMW road bike on that road, and the dirt section is only about 3 miles long.Up at the top of Moki Dugway are some other graded dirt roads that will take you out to Muley Point and the Goosenecks Overlook. These also offer spectacular vistas. This is BLM land and there are lots of primitive, free campsites in the area.Valley of the Gods, which sits at the bottom of Moki Dugway near the town of Mexican Hat, is a sort of miniature Monument Valley, with red sandstone "monuments" rising all over the place. Like Muley Point, this is BLM land and you can camp at the base of most of the monuments. There are no facilities, but there's no charge, either. Just pack out your trash. Some of the parts of the road through VOG can have deep sand, so you just have to watch out for that but, again, I would probably be OK even on a street bike in this area.Capitol Reef is well worth seeing, and the Fruita Campground is one of the best ones in the NPS. The only downside of Fruita is that you can't make reservations and it's such a popular campsite that the only way to get a spot is to get there at 7 am and wait for someone to leave.Bryce Canyon is also gorgeous but IMO the best time to see it is sunrise or sunset (and it faces East so Sunrise is really best.)As for weather, April is really one of the best times to be in that part of UT. Yes, there is a chance that a storm can blow through and dump a little bit of snow but it's not that likely. Worst you will have is probably a few mornings where the temps drop below freezing overnight, but by mid-day it should be perfect.Really any exploration of Southern Utah is going to be limited only by your time and money.Martin--
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