Part 6: Miles 5000-6734. A Last Ride Home.
Sunday September 7, 2014
On the highway at 5am. So cold.
Push into Bozeman. Farewell
again. Back to Livingston and de-thaw. Pack up and head back down to Spuds and have
conversation. I decide to go south to
Gardiner for a few days. Pretty drive
down. Camp at National Forest campground
two miles from town, convenient. Awesome
evening run from camp dropping down a big canyon to Bear Creek and its
confluence with the Yellowstone inside the park. Beautiful.
Back to camp and off to the hot springs at The Boiling River just north of Mammoth. The Boiling River comes out of the ground
some 100 ft or so up from its confluence with the Gardiner River.
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| The Gardiner River. |
The two streams mix, creating spots of
perfect temperature.
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| The Boiling River. |
Really cool
spot. I’m actually surprised the
national park hasn’t shut it off to travelers yet. I guess give it a few more years. Indian food back at camp.
Monday September 8, 2014
Caught up on sleep. Day spent in town. Evening ride up to Jardine and Crevace and
back down crosscountry via the ridge.
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| Yellowstone. |
Share camp with a fellow rider from Vancouver. Entertaining evening ‘debate’ with the camp host over a $3 extra vehicle
fee. Its interesting that a full size
diesel truck can pull in with two ATVs in the back, pulling a 25’ trailer with
a dirt bike on its hitch, 8 kids can pour and they pay for 1, but two guys on
motorcycles in tents have to pay extra.
Pretty fun to watch them hash this out.
Rain all night. Snow
predicted?? I cant wait to see a cactus.
Tuesday September 9, 2014
I awake to find my fellow camper departed. The campground is lively social
activity. I meet Jim of Backcountry
Vehicles. On there own trip in custom
built expedition rigs. Extremely
talented and interesting guy, I’m pretty envious of his abilities. Go to town for a burger. Heavy rain turns to hail and I wait out the
storm and watch basketball. I return to
the Boiling River and await Nicks arrival in Gardiner.
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| The Boiling River. |
Beer and pizza at the K-Bar, a place a good
friends mother used to frequent in the seventies. Another hot springs dip, and back into town
and beer and chat with pretty Bulgarians..
Camp at the cabin on the lake.
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| Pretty cool campsite. |
Wednesday September 10, 2014
Arrive in Big Sky, Mt via West Yellowstone.
Pretty but cold day on Frank. I arrive
early and set up camp hidden in the trees and return to the resort. I head out for a couple hour run exploring
parts of the course for this weekends race.
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| Montana. |
I probably over did it.
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| Mountains. |
I explore
the area a bit more and meet Dan, a ski bum/employee of the resort who ends up
offering me a place to stay for the weekend.
I am only to obliged to accept. I
head back to camp in HEAVY snow. Slow,
cold and wet, I pack up camp and inch Frank down the mountain to Dan’s place
through a white out. Feels good to be
out of the elements.
Thursday September 11, 2014
Late start.
Head back up to the resort for another run.
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| A way up Lone Peak. |
I do the Vertical Kilometer route, up Bonecrusher
Ridge to the summit of Lone Peak.
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| The 'trail.' |
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| Bonecrusher Ridge to the Summit of Lone Peak. |
Awesome terrain. Down and back to
Dan’s. Freezing.
Friday September 12, 2014
Up to the resort and watch the start of the
VK race. I meet up with Jamil and
Catlow, other Az runners at The Rut.
Catlow and I do an easy hour on the end of the course while Jamil
races. We socialize with the scene for t
most of the day and I impose myself on the Run Steep Get High’s hotel
room. Hot tub, legs feeling awful,
hoping they shape up by morning.
Saturday September 13, 2014
Run the Rut 50k
Not much sleep the last few nights. I roll my legs out, hoping that they will
wake up a few miles in. Big Nutella
breakfast. Quick start. 3rd time up this climb this week,
it takes me way longer than either other time, legs dead, no energy, already
shot. I fumble into the 1st
aid station and debate the day. Two
weeks from the Mogollon Monster, I should have never started, but I had been
looking forward to the course, this race all year. I head out and make it about a minute. Legs wont propel. I head back and tell the aid volunteers I’m
out and sit. 5 minutes later I tell them
I’m back in and take off, my left quad seizes and cramps and falls off. I hitch a ride back to the start and
drop. 30 minutes in the hot tub before
my inner thigh stops pulsing. So bummed
I didn’t get to experience The Rut. Rest
of the day spent cheering on friends at the finish. Evening after party with the mechanical
bull. I lie low for awhile until the
whiskey gingers and a certain pork products mescal picks me up. Bacon, Beard, and Snacks have quite the
night.
Sunday September 14, 2014
Leave Big Sky and head in the general
direction of home. I skirt west of
Yellowstone and take a series of scenic byways southward. I take a wrong road east and end up at Cave
Falls in the southwest corner of Yellowstone.
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| Cave Falls. |
Frank throws his chain. Onwards
about 5 miles and I break Frank’s clutch cable.
Ended up feeding through bailing wire and tying off.
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| One of Franks new clutch cable. |
It gets me moving again and I camp near a
creek. Asleep by 7.
Monday September 15, 2014
29 years old today. One could dare say I’m almost 30. I head back out the way I came and find the
right road that cuts east through the narrow gap of land between the
Yellowstone/Teton parks. Flagg Ranch Rd
is spectacular.
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| A lake. |
My new clutch cable
breaks and I reefed another.
Continue. Good couple of days of
calm, slow and scenic riding on Frank. I
arrive back at the Tetons and camp again at Shadow Mountain. Climbing tomorrow.
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| Round 2. |
Tuesday September 16, 2014
I meet Nick the trail head and we hike into
Guides Wall via Cascade Canyon. Its been
some 7 years since I’ve been on this trail.
Easy approach for the Tetons (2 hours or so), strenuous anywhere
else. The climb is perfect.
 |
| Nick getting some exposure. |
Awesome day in the canyon. 800?ft, 6 pitches,
5.9 var.
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| Perfect fingers. |
So fun. We rap down in a brief shower before the sun
shows up. Back to camp. There are wolves howling outside my tent
right now. Feels like wilderness. It feels great.
Wednesday September 17, 2014
Leave the Tetons and continue south. Stop at the parts store to find a new clutch
cable. Apparently there are no Kawasaki
dealers around these parts. I buy a random
cable and make it fit. Fiasco sucks up
most of my day. The cable was about 4
inches too long for the housing.
Eventually got it to work by:
1.
Bore 1/8” holes through 2” hex
bolts.
2.
Hand slot and crimp over cable.
3.
Wrap with aluminum cut from a
diet Pepsi can.
4.
Duct tape the shit out of it.
5.
Add/remove locking washers as
needed for adjustment.
South through Snake River canyon. I have never been out east during the Fall to
see the leaves change, but I cant believe the colors in this canyon. The hottest reds, pinks, yellows and greens,
all tucked in this awesome river gorge.
The east has nothing on this place.
Unreal. I get to somewhere in
southern Wyoming.
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| Fall! |
Thursday September 18, 2014
Drive through Kemmerer, Wy home of the
first JC Penney store. Not very
impressive. The square area kind of
reminds me of a Wyoming version of Ajo, Az.
Stop at Fossil Butte National Park and get my geology on. Wild dirt road through the country and up at
Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
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| Upper Flaming Gorge. |
I have never
explored these upper parts of the Green River.
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| I missed Juniper. |
Scenic day riding and camp at Red Canyon.
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| Red Canyon. |
I run along the rim for 90 minutes or so,
enjoying once again canyon country.
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| A dinosaur. |
Friday September 19, 2014
Another spectacular morning cruising through Aspen growths and crossing south over
the Uintas, the only major east-west running mountain range in the
country.
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| Uintas. |
Get lost all day navigating
more dirt roads. This is oil country ,
where apparently through roads are a thing of the past.
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| Frank happy to be back in the desert. |
Eventually arrive at 9 Mile Canyon, once a
survey of John Wesley Powell and his team, now a more or less tourist byway for
sights of the ‘largest art gallery’ in the world.
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| Rock climbing pre-historics. |
Pretty amazing petroglyphs all along the
canyon, determined to outlast any of us.
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| Punk kids tagging in the canyon ca. 3000bc. |
I push for Green River, Ut, expecting something that wasn’t there.
I venture out to BLM land and camp in the
most isolated, barren terrain I’ve been on this trip. After a few weeks of running from old man
winter, I am finally warm again, and it feels great.
I strip down naked and lay in the dirt, and
let the warmth in.
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| Camp in the desert. |
Saturday September 20, 2014
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| Dinosaur bones! |
Sunday September 21, 2014
Explore and run in The Needles
district. Head through the park and I
take Frank on the ride of his life.
 |
| Somewhere. |
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| Landscape. |
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| The Green River (left) and the Colorado confluence. |
I
cant even begin to explain the route on what is apparently some of the most
technical 4x4 courses in Utah. I
eventually escape.
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| A 'ruined' home. |
Out of the desert and
up and over Bears Ears. Down to Natural
Bridges, through the Pinyon/Juniper forests until The Moki Dugway, a section of
road which itself merits the visit.
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| The Moki Dugway. |
Steep grades, out of this world switchbacks which descend off the
plateau to the desert lowlands, delivering its travelers to the Valley of the
Gods. There aren’t many roads left like
this in the US.
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| Valley of the Gods. |
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| Valley of the Gods. |
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| Gooseneck! |
I keep moving into the
night, I see a sign for Flagstaff less than 200 miles away. I think to myself there is no way.
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| Mexican Hat. |
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| The San Juan River from the brim of The Mexican Hat. |
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| A not so famous Az wave near Page. |
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| Slot canyon near Page, Az. |
Something compels me and I push late into the
night. Once back on the rez I decide
there is no stopping. No camping out
here, no with skinwalkers about.
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| I think I'll go home now. |
I push
through a completely insane/unsafe dust/lightning/hail storm near Kayenta till
Grey Mountain and come into Flagstaff, cold, soaked, dirty and exhausted. I cant believe I just did that.
Monday September 22, 2014
Good breakfast with familiar faces and run
up Elden with Jeff, a local who will be running the Sky Race here in Flagstaff
in a couple of weeks. Whiskey and
guitars occupy the evening.
Tuesday September 23, 2014
Stop to see Jake at his coffee shop Firecreek
then start for Prescott via Oak Creek Canyon.
I meet Tyler who will be crewing/pacing for me this weekend at the
Mogollon Monster at the casino in Camp Verde.
We quickly lose our free vouchers and eat Mexican food. We figure some logistics for the weekend and
I make for Prescott, knighting over at Aunt Jean and Uncle Dave’s.
Wednesday September 24, 2014
The last ride home. Arrival back at the land, and its good to be
home. This leg of my journey is
complete, 6,734 miles and 74 days later.
Time to settle in before leaving for the 107 mile Mogollon Monster which
awaits me. See you on down that trail,
pardner.
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| My 'Tiny Home' aka just being poor home. |
