Day 28 - Moab, UT

Friday, October 8^th, 2010

I had found a quiet, dark neighborhood street to park my car on and sleep for the night. Little did I know that there was a high school two blocks away and was awaken by its band practicing outside at 7am. In some parts of NJ, gunshots would’ve surely followed. Since I was now up with no chance of going back to sleep I decided to explore Moab.

Moab is another tourist driven town. When driving down its Main Street you quickly realize that the five main businesses are either gas stations, hotels, adventure tours (mtn biking, climbing, rafting, jeep tours, etc.), souvenirs (t-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers) and food and beverage, in no particular order. Trucks are big here; big tires, lift kits, skeletonized frames with extra gas containers strapped to the side. These big boy toys are almost more common than a regular truck in town. Off-roading is a popular thing to do here in Moab.

What Moab is really known for though, is its mountain biking. It’s a mountain biking destination known throughout the world. It would be a sin if I didn't do some riding before I left. After breakfast I saw some signs for the Slick Rock trail and followed a train of cars with mountain bikes strapped on top, on the back and even to the sides. The parking lot was almost full. There must have been some professional riders there because they had their own support trailers, complete with bike mechanics and portable bike shop. As I was getting ready I met three Moab locals, Tommy, Jen and Melinda. Tommy approached me after seeing my NJ license plates and asked if I had ever ridden Slickrock before. I told him that I just got into Moab last night and followed the first trail sign I saw. He told me that they had been training for the past two months to ride Slickrock. Apparently, on a difficulty scale of 1-5, Slickrock is rated at 5+. Had I known this before I was already straddling my bike, I may have searched for another trail. But I was already here, ready to ride and up for a challenge. I ended up riding with them for the entire day. I was, from that point on, referred to as “Jersey”.

Slickrock trail is only 12 miles long but it was like no other 12 miles I have ever ridden. First off, it’s all rock so you don’t want to crash too hard. It had everything you could ask for, bone rattling downhills, quad shredding uphills and everything in between. I watched plenty of advanced riders fly over their handlebars, followed by a quick glance-back to see how many people were watching and then a hand raise signaling no major injuries. Moab is a place where $5,000+ full suspension mountain bikes are the norm and I was riding an old school hard tail. Let’s just say that I got plenty of nods and respect for riding Slick Rock on what nowadays would be considered a kidney busting dinosaur.

The 12 miles took several hours to complete. We took breaks when we needed to, and we needed to take breaks. By the end of the ride we were all physically spent. Afterwards, they invited me to join them for “the best burger in town”. Moab is a small town so I was careful not to raise my expectations too high but after that ride, even a mediocre burger sounded great. We went to Milt’s Stop and Eat, a local joint packed with hungry mountain bikers. I ordered a mushroom and swiss buffalo burger, fries and a chocolate malt shake. I wouldn’t call it the best burger I’ve ever had, but surprisingly I would put it in the top five, or maybe I was just hungry? I had a great time both riding some fantastic trails and meeting some cool people that didn’t mind me tagging along for the day.

I left around 6pm and headed straight for Arches National Park and got there just as the sun was setting. I drove almost all of the way to the end of the park and was greeted by a sign that said “Campground Full, No Occupancy”. My karma must have been strong today because when I walked into the ranger’s office to ask if there were any other places to camp, an older lady came out and said she just had a cancellation a few minutes ago. I got the last spot in the park. I set up my tent in the dark and unzippered the top vent revealing a mesh screen to watch the stars. I was wiped out and ready for sleep at 8pm, but it was well worth it.

Day 27 – Gunnison, Co -> Tulluride, CO -> Moab, UT

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

After a semi comfortable, semi uncomfortable sleep in my car due to the thunderstorms that came through the night before, I woke up parked directly across the street from the Gunnison County Sherrif's house. The first thing I did was to check my front windshield for a ticket. Luckily there wasn’t one so I quickly repositioned everything in my car and hit the road.

Shortly after leaving Gunnison, the scenery changed from large mountains and tall trees to smaller hills and short, stubby trees, bushes and grasses. This region had a desert like feel to it. I drove along the Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado’s largest body of water and the largest Kokanee Salmon fishery in the United States. If I had known that at the time I might have stopped and dropped in a line?

From within about 2 hours from Telluride, I saw the outline of the San Juan mountain range. Beautiful, tall, jagged, snow covered peaks could be seen from the distance. I drove through the town of Montrose, still 1.5 hours from Telluride but it was the most populated (~15,000) town I’ve come across since leaving Colorado Springs and the Denver area. Montrose has very affordable housing, decent conveniences and from the look of it, an ok jobs outlook. But, it’s still 1.5 hours from Telluride.

The views of the San Juan Mountains just got better and better the closer I got to Telluride. There is not much around Telluride for miles and miles. From the moment I arrived, I knew this is the type of place that would be my ultimate destination. The quaint town of Telluride is nestled down in a valley with tall, nearly vertical mountains surrounding it. This is what I think of when I picture the perfect ski town in my head. I walked around town for a few hours to get a feel for the layout. Its Main Street was lined bars and restaurants, recreational outfitters, clothing stores and the typical resort souvenir shop. People were out and about even though there was a light drizzle from above. Although there was some snow on some of the peaks, there was no snow to report on the ski hills. The gondola was running in the background, likely taking bikers to the top for some downhill action. I would classify the entire town, a ski in/ski out town. Affordability in Telluride is another story. Intrigued at how one might manage to make a living in here, I stopped in to one of the mountaineering stores and started a conversation with a guy behind the counter. He said that it basically takes 3 jobs just to get by. Jobs are hard to find and it’s usually a hotel job or something in the food and beverage industry. However, even though you have to sacrifice the means needed to make a living; this would be living at its finest! If my bank account had an additional one or two zero’s tacked on at the end, I would have already started the process of changing my address. I would have stayed in town a little longer but there was another thunderstorm on its way so I grabbed two local newspapers and headed for my car.

I set the GPS for Moab, Utah and started driving. Most of the way there, the landscape was desolate but soon I was in the middle of some large canyons. I don’t think I saw more than 20 cars in the 3-4 hours that it took, and lucky for me, I had a full gas tank because there were no gas stations either. The drive was nice and I was treated to some very energetic lightning storms. I arrived in Moab, UT around 9:30pm. Immediately I was back in civilization and I liked it. It had started raining again, so I found a quiet, dark street, rearranged my car and went to sleep.