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Coming to you live from... Utah

heathpack

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We drove up to Utah today from SoCal. The main event of our trip is a week in Park City at Marriott Mountainside for mountain biking and whatever else we decide to do. We check in there in two days.

Tonight and tomorrow we are staying just outside Panguitch UT, which in turn is a little outside Bryce. I wanted to ride this red rock Bryce-like (or so I hear) trail called Thunder Mountain. That’s tomorrow’s agenda item.

Found a sweet little place called Cottonwood Meadows Lodge, we’re staying in a little cabin on the property. Just arrived a few hours ago: so peaceful. It’s about a 15 min drive from the trailhead.

After Mountainside, we have two nights at Bryce Canyon Lodge, inside the park. I’ll try to post some trip highlights as we go.

The cabin’s porch:

8Q8QA93.jpg
 

klpca

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Utah is so great. Have fun!
 

Passepartout

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Hmmm Butch Cassidy country. Have fun!
 

Greg G

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Boy, that looks nice.

Greg
 

DaveNV

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In Panguitch, if Buffalo Java is still there, it’s worth a stop. Great beverages, and excellent baked goods.

Enjoy your Utah visit!

Dave
 

mjm1

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Have a great time. We loved visiting Bryce and Zion. Utah has some amazing areas.

Best regards.

Mike
 

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Bryce and Zion are spectacular and your place looks cozy with lovely scenery too. Did you plan this or found it on your way?
 

heathpack

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In Panguitch, if Buffalo Java is still there, it’s worth a stop. Great beverages, and excellent baked goods.

Enjoy your Utah visit!

Dave

No longer around, according to the internet.
 

heathpack

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Bryce and Zion are spectacular and your place looks cozy with lovely scenery too. Did you plan this or found it on your way?

We found it through Trip Advisor. I considered all kinds of options: staying in a little hotel/motel in Panguitch, using hotel points and staying near the internet, staying in/near Bryce. Then I stumbled upon this place: Little cabin on a farm, five stars in trip advisor, great reviews. I booked it months ago. So far, it is just as advertised.
 

DaveNV

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No longer around, according to the internet.

That's too bad. It was a great place. Looking at street view on Google Maps, it looks like the entire building is gone. I wonder if they had a fire or something? It was a rather "antique" building.

Dave
 

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heathpack, you may want to consider a day trip to Sundance when you're at Park City too. You can grab a lunch at their nice outdoor patio at one of their restaurants down at the base of the lifts, and take your bike up a chairlift to cycle down the mountains. We hiked it, but there were a lot of mountain bikers doing this when we visited there. It's a spectacular setting too, with great views from up top.
 

heathpack

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heathpack, you may want to consider a day trip to Sundance when you're at Park City too. You can grab a lunch at their nice outdoor patio at one of their restaurants down at the base of the lifts, and take your bike up a chairlift to cycle down the mountains. We hiked it, but there were a lot of mountain bikers doing this when we visited there. It's a spectacular setting too, with great views from up top.

We’ll check out the possibility. I just googled it and it looks like it would be a 45 min drive. The problem is always that my husband doesn’t ride so what would he do? It works well when I can ride right from or to the condo, he can just hang out and chill.

But he loves movies. Maybe there is an art house theater in Sundance? I’ll see if I can figure it out.
 

heathpack

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Well today I got a ride up to the Thunder Mountain trailhead, which is about 10min from the condo. The plan was to ride 5 miles up the bike path through Red Canyon, then a couple of miles along a dirt road to the far end of the Thunder Mountain Trail and then take the trail 8.1 miles back to the start.

I will spare y’all the details of how this ride was something of a cluster at the beginning but in the end very very good.

The bike path is really awesome, I only saw three people total on it. What a shame. Easy enough for a casual cyclist to do and amazing red rock views.

The dirt road was just getting from point A to point B.

The trail was pretty darn cool. Mostly ok for an intermediate rider with some tough sections that I had to walk. A lot of steep switchbacks with loose dirt/silt/dust and rocks, not fun. It hit my bars on a branch and crashed over the front of the bike. Wasn’t hurt but I didn’t notice for 2 miles that my bike computer fell off the bike during the crash so I had to ride back to retrieve it.

BUT eventually I got to the hoodoo madness. Wow. Just trying not to stop every 3 seconds to take a pic, trying to keep my eyes on the trail. I kept thinking, “what a great country this is, that there’s trails like this and you can just go ride em for free”. I saw again a total of three other people on the trail- a dad and his two little sons, maybe 8 and 10 years old. Where’s everybody? Holiday week. Incredible trail. My mind is blown by this trail not being Grand Central Station. Did see a large group equestrians, maybe 15 of them. Lots of hoof prints and horse pucks on the trail.

Anyway, a great experience, worth crashing and being hot and having to walk lots of the trail.

Tomorrow we are heading to Park City and we’ve decided to take all day to do it by driving Scenic Highway 12. I’m debating getting up early to ride before we check out, I have to look at ride details to figure out logistics and if this even makes sense to attempt.

0TTChdc.jpg
 

heathpack

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Having trouble inserting pics for some reason. Here’s one from the trail.

9mRaEB2.jpg




Here’s me at the ride end, covered with dust from my fall and also from the bike kicking up dust. Excuse the hair, it always does that hideous scarecrow thing when a bike helmet gets on my head.
 

heathpack

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Again trouble posting, here’s the pic to go with the dusty trail comments above.

TXzCLlq.jpg
 

klpca

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How's the weather? Looks like it must not be too hot. Have fun riding!

And based upon your story, I think that we would probably enjoy hearing about the beginning cluster as well. :)
 

clifffaith

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Hmmm Butch Cassidy country. Have fun!

We took a trip on the Heber Valley Railroad last month while we were in Utah (about 25 minutes from Park City). They told the story of a widow in the area about to lose her land, and the banker was coming the next day to evict her if she didn't have money to pay off the mortgage. That night a stranger knocked on her door and asked if he could have a meal and bed down in the barn. Over dinner stranger says he notices the woman seems to be worrying about something. She tells him she is losing her home the next day since she did not have $2K to pay off the mortgage. Stranger reaches into his pack and hands her $2K. She of course demurs but he insists, tells her to make sure she gets a receipt signing over the house to her, and confirms what time the banker is due. Next morning when she wakes up, stranger is gone. Banker arrives at the appointed hour and she pays off her mortgage and gets a receipt. Of course the banker meets the stranger along the road on his way back to town, and Butch Cassidy relieves him of the $2K.
 

heathpack

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How's the weather? Looks like it must not be too hot. Have fun riding!

And based upon your story, I think that we would probably enjoy hearing about the beginning cluster as well. :)

Temps in the 80s and low 90s. Not too terrible. I should have started earlier though.

The cluster is not much of a story really. I didn’t feel like riding but had gone to great trouble to get here, so I was determined to ride. But I dithered away my morning, got a late start, then realized I forgot my helmet, husband went to get it, couldn’t find it, no cell reception, finally found it, even more of a delay to the start (this was relevant because of the rising temps).

Then my crash at the beginning of the trail, and losing my bike computer and needing to ride back to get it. Which I knew would delay me getting back to the trailhead when I said I would and then my husband would worry. So I was rushing along, not having fun, not sure I’d ever find cell reception.

Then once I got to hoodoo madness I had cell reception to get a text out to husband to change the pick up time, and the trail got so beautiful and it was more open with a nice breeze so I felt much cooler. Everything went from “this ride is a mistake” to “wow I’m so lucky to be here”. :)
 

klpca

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Temps in the 80s and low 90s. Not too terrible. I should have started earlier though.

The cluster is not much of a story really. I didn’t feel like riding but had gone to great trouble to get here, so I was determined to ride. But I dithered away my morning, got a late start, then realized I forgot my helmet, husband went to get it, couldn’t find it, no cell reception, finally found it, even more of a delay to the start (this was relevant because of the rising temps).

Then my crash at the beginning of the trail, and losing my bike computer and needing to ride back to get it. Which I knew would delay me getting back to the trailhead when I said I would and then my husband would worry. So I was rushing along, not having fun, not sure I’d ever find cell reception.

Then once I got to hoodoo madness I had cell reception to get a text out to husband to change the pick up time, and the trail got so beautiful and it was more open with a nice breeze so I felt much cooler. Everything went from “this ride is a mistake” to “wow I’m so lucky to be here”. :)
:) it's always something! I'm so glad that the hoodoos made up for the rest, especially having to double back for your computer. It sounds like it started off as "one of those days" but turned into one of the "best days ever"!
 

Greg G

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Well today I got a ride up to the Thunder Mountain trailhead, which is about 10min from the condo. The plan was to ride 5 miles up the bike path through Red Canyon, then a couple of miles along a dirt road to the far end of the Thunder Mountain Trail and then take the trail 8.1 miles back to the start.

I will spare y’all the details of how this ride was something of a cluster at the beginning but in the end very very good.

The bike path is really awesome, I only saw three people total on it. What a shame. Easy enough for a casual cyclist to do and amazing red rock views.

The dirt road was just getting from point A to point B.

The trail was pretty darn cool. Mostly ok for an intermediate rider with some tough sections that I had to walk. A lot of steep switchbacks with loose dirt/silt/dust and rocks, not fun. It hit my bars on a branch and crashed over the front of the bike. Wasn’t hurt but I didn’t notice for 2 miles that my bike computer fell off the bike during the crash so I had to ride back to retrieve it.

BUT eventually I got to the hoodoo madness. Wow. Just trying not to stop every 3 seconds to take a pic, trying to keep my eyes on the trail. I kept thinking, “what a great country this is, that there’s trails like this and you can just go ride em for free”. I saw again a total of three other people on the trail- a dad and his two little sons, maybe 8 and 10 years old. Where’s everybody? Holiday week. Incredible trail. My mind is blown by this trail not being Grand Central Station. Did see a large group equestrians, maybe 15 of them. Lots of hoof prints and horse pucks on the trail.

Anyway, a great experience, worth crashing and being hot and having to walk lots of the trail.

Tomorrow we are heading to Park City and we’ve decided to take all day to do it by driving Scenic Highway 12. I’m debating getting up early to ride before we check out, I have to look at ride details to figure out logistics and if this even makes sense to attempt.

0TTChdc.jpg

Wow, that is some scenery.

Greg
 

Passepartout

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Wow, that is some scenery.
As many here know, I have traversed the USA, on the ground for nearly 4 million miles over 30 years, and IMNSHO, Utah is the most scenic state in the Union. Others are welcome to their opinion, but that's mine.
 

vikingsholm

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We’ll check out the possibility. I just googled it and it looks like it would be a 45 min drive. The problem is always that my husband doesn’t ride so what would he do? It works well when I can ride right from or to the condo, he can just hang out and chill.

But he loves movies. Maybe there is an art house theater in Sundance? I’ll see if I can figure it out.
Not sure if they had a regular schedule of movies going on at the ski area - they have facilities for that in Park City though. We were too busy with outdoor activities to check. There was an outdoor concert starting the evening we left there however.

It is a splendid place - well worth the visit. It's got more spectacular rock ridged mountains than the more rounded ones around Park City itself. If he doesn't bike, you can both chairlift it up to the top where they have a little cafe with an outdoor patio and big views. Then he could chairlift it down while you ride.

Just another option, but one we try to take advantage of every time we go to Park City. The drive from PC to Sundance is pretty nice too.
 

DaveNV

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As many here know, I have traversed the USA, on the ground for nearly 4 million miles over 30 years, and IMNSHO, Utah is the most scenic state in the Union. Others are welcome to their opinion, but that's mine.


I agree. I’ve been to more than 45 states, and in the USA I think Utah (at least the southern half) is pretty darned dramatic scenery.

Dave
 

WinniWoman

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As many here know, I have traversed the USA, on the ground for nearly 4 million miles over 30 years, and IMNSHO, Utah is the most scenic state in the Union. Others are welcome to their opinion, but that's mine.

Haven’t been yet, but I am sure this is very debatable. So many states have really gorgeous scenery everywhere. Alaska comes to mind as one of many.
 

DaveNV

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Haven’t been yet, but I am sure this is very debatable. So many states have really gorgeous scenery everywhere. Alaska comes to mind as one of many.

It’s different from Alaska in a very dramatic and beautiful way. You need to visit. :)

Dave
 
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