The Grand Loop

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Kokopelli - Paradox - Tabegauche

I've attempted this route five times. And failed. This is one hard ass loop, bar none. You'll be pushing your bike on seemingly ride-able roads. You'll wonder why to hell you even have your bike at times. Bushwacking because there is no trail? Yep, that too. You'll be cursing out loud for something to end. Be it the climbing, pushing, scrambling, moo poo or the orb. Water? Yep, you'll think about that a lot too. And you'll also cover some of the most scenic desert and alpine backcountry the west has to offer, over some very demanding and technical terrain. All self supported. The simple life- eat, sleep, ride and grin. Follow your track, trust what you know, improvise what you don't. Just keep moving. And stop thinking about your car being there (or not), damn it! I'll skip plagiarizing the requisite lore for this monster, which you can read here: 'Mile for mile...'. I'm also intentionally leaving out details, for obvious reasons. Do yer homework, 'come to ride it and don't worry about how long it takes' - you won't be disappointed. The silly little slideshows below only betray a fraction of the landscape expanse.

Oooh... I'm gettin' giddy again just writing this.

Prologue -

After feeling like shit and rolling around with the cold sweats at Westwater last fall, but doing some (as I sit here now - crucial) scouting on the Uncompaghre Plateau, the plan was to make another fall attempt in '11. Breaking tradition with a Westwater start, this would put two/three possible supply points along the route - Bedrock, Nucla/Naturita and Grand Junction/Fruita - and split the usually brutally hot Kokopelli section in two. Not that it really mattered in the end anyway.

Breaking my finger and missing out on the AZT300 earlier this year, it was all antsy pants wanting to ride some trails and wander around in the wilderness for a spell. ADD fueled weather watching and NFS/BLM report reading seemed to point to a mid June start, so that became my target range. June 9th ended up being that day.


Day/Night 1 - Dewey Bridge to Hideout Canyon

As I rolled down Westwater Road towards the ranger station, it wasn't a mirage I was seeing, but a real stream running across the road along with 'Enter at your own risk' signs on the approach. Err... Welp, not to put the auto under unnecessary stress, I u-turned and drove out to Dewey Bridge.

Geared up, I was on the bike at 7:05 pm and headed up the shandys with the idea of making it to Hideout campground before deciding to sleep or not. Over hill and dale the shandys were, as usual, quite the slog. I reached the top about 10 and looked forward to Rose Garden Hill and some easy spinning through Fisher Valley. By midnight I was nearing Hideout and decided to call it a night, eat some dinner and roll out the bivy, knowing the next day would bring higher altitudes, cooler temps and shade.




Day 2 - Hideout Canyon to Spring Creek Mesa

Almost immediately after rolling from camp, on the little rise coming around Cowhead Hill, I spot the first (of five) bear. A small little chubby thing, it scurries off as soon as it spots me. Here in the desert? Strange. Good spinning today as the trail climbs to North Beaver Mesa and finally turning onto the Paradox trail. Skirting the La Sals and cruising Taylor Flat, I made my way to Buckeye Reservoir and filtered again before the drop into the heat of the Paradox Valley and the Bedrock store. The descent off Carpenter Ridge is steep and twisty, dropping ~2000' in ~3-1/3 miles. So you can imagine my ire when realizing my Spot has disappeared... And I blow at least an hour walking back up and down to retrieve it. Meh. As a consolation, nice tailwinds pushed me across the Paradox Valley and through the canyon carved out by the Delores and San Miguel rivers into Uravan. After the short climb up from the highway, I decided to bivy before it got dark as it was a pia to find some place besides the middle of the road that wasn't covered in either moo poo or cacti. I found a nice flat piece of rock.




Day 3 - Spring Creek Mesa to Naturita

After a good morning of climbing and dropping to Tabegauche Creek, the trail becomes a bit more challenging as it traverses Coal Canyon before allowing the option to go off course to Nucla and/or Naturita, if desired. And I did to both, hitting the grocer and a motel- for a shower and a nap. This section surely tested my mettle. The sun on the hike-a-bike sections was scorching and the shade hopping was on in earnest until the descent into town. I spent quite some time screwing around and eating in the shade on the sidewalk in Nucla as I waffled about going to Naturita or not. Absolutely worth the bonus of adding in the extra miles was the hot and ready food section at the Naturita grocer. Here I was able to net a rotisserie chicken, double cheese burger, two breakfast mc muffin style gut busters and a host of other goodies including more fresh fruit. And more butter. ;)




Day 4 - Naturita to the Uncompaghre Plateau

Today consisted of mainly a ~5600', 32 mile long climb from town to the top of the plateau followed by a route finding hike-a-bike in the woods through snow fields and fording cold high running creeks. Hello waterproof socks. And without my scouting track from last fall, today would have brought my ride to a halt. There was no way to get through the snowy Pool Creek section without it. More mettle mashing here. It was slow but sure as I could recall sections from my pre-ride. Especially while dragging my boat anchor, err... bike down and back up through a snow covered canyon. But before all that, I actually had to make it out of town. Thinking I had enough food already, the warm smells from the Nucla cafe had me sitting down to more coffee, a mega omelet and two double bacon cheeseburgers to go. Next time I'm getting four burgers, they hit the spot after hiking through the snow.




Day 5 - Pool Creek to Divide Road via the Roubideau Trail

I'll have to admit, I wasn't all that speedy in getting going in the mornings and today was no exception. Probably the coldest it got of the nights on the trail, in the low forties with a nice breeze come day break. That surely had me moving a bit more slowly. As did the impending continuation of walking through the snow fields and route finding. After slicing and dicing my track, the 7 miles of Pool Creek took me ~ 3-3/4 hours to get through. Hahaha. Though there is quite a bit of pushing on the Rooby, I was only too happy to return to the bombing downhills and pleasant flat riding between the drainages. The climb up and across Love Mesa to Divide Road put the cap on the day and I rolled out the bivy just off the side of the road on a little flat section. A few sprinkles this night as the moon peeked out of the holes in the clouds.




Day 6 - Divide Road to Grand Junction

A long day in the saddle traversing the last of the plateau, descending to Dominguez Canyon, a push of ~ 6 hours at the end to go 23 miles from 141 in Whitewater to the Lunch Loops trailhead to finish out the Tabegauche at 11:12 pm and finally roll into a motel in Grand Junction around midnight. Of course I had to hit the first gas station I came to for some quick food, as I was starved and on my last leg of edibles. After procuring the room, I hit the all night grocer across the street for some fried chicken, sushi, juice and loads more fruit. The Lunch Loop appetizer had to be my most excruciating time on the loop, the climbing/hiking was non-stop. Even after the sun went down the agony didn't lessen. I must have looked the part as well, since both the gas station attendant and the motel clerk remarked of my stature.




Day 7 - Grand Junction to Dewey Bridge

Latest morning getting rolling thus far, but I went to bed too late cleaning all my stuff and organizing. Plus, I was pretty tapped when I hit town. I felt awesome after the nap and solid food, ready to put in the final push no matter what time I got back to my car. I wanted to be done. Rode C-340 right into Fruita for a Wendy's grease blob (again, should have gotten two) and then to the bike shop for some chammy cream, as I'd used my allotment. 5 miles of nice tailwinds on the e-way and at 11:51 am I was rolling out of the pavilion towards Mary's Loop. Luckily the wind made the Salt and Bitter Creek climbs tolerable, albeit a bit heady on the flats of Rabbit Valley and Cisco. Made the trek off course to Westwater for a water fill since I was down to 1/2 of a bottle at that point. By the time I was making the turn to Fish Ford the come and go gusts were accompanied by slight showers and frequent lightening. McGraw bottom is actually the section that was on my mind the entire ride. I had recurring thoughts of the trail being washed out or under water, due to the late snowpack and how high the Colorado river was. Luckily, the trail was only muddy in a few sections and required easy scrambling/pushing around the sides of the goo. Yellowjacket went smoothly, I crossed the bridge and rolled up to my car at 1:19 am.

Done. And toast.




Epilogue -

Ok, so the speed (or lack there of) and motel stops (used inefficiently) surely indicates more of a 'touring' gist to this run. However, other than the Kokopelli, I wanted to ride all the sections in the daylight so I could see the sights and have my bearings for a faster time in the future. Probably when they fix the access issues in Spradlin Park. The first moto is always practice anyway.

Obsession tempered.

Random Notes-

- Saw 5 bears in 4 encounters. One just past Hideout, one climbing up Spring Creek Mesa, one near the 'Bear Pen Gulch' trail and two bathing in a pond on the Glencoe Bench. Also saw one cat (it bolted before I could tell what it was), numerous elk, deer and various other little critters. The chipmunks in the desert were interesting. The bear near Bear Pen was the largest I'd ever encountered, easily towering over me as it stood on it's hind legs in the middle of the trail before bolting off.

- Chased by one dog in Paradox Valley, luckily going downhill.

- Lots of deer and cat tracks in the snow.

- One jeep convoy (poker run) on my way to Tabegauche Creek.

- The Bedrock store is still closed.

- Only thing lost was my bear bell. Tether. Heh.

- It took me ~three days to traverse the Uncompaghre Plateau, from the low points of Naturita and Grand Junction. Crazy.

- Took an iPod but never used it. I was too worried about zoning out since I was alone and thought it wiser to keep my wits. Never chewed any of my gum either.


Stats - after cleaning out erroneous track points- changing batteries resulted in 'first points' being way off as the gps 'relocated', skewing the initial track and on screen numbers.

Also did the advised detour to avoid private property, adding ~5 miles and 200' of additional elevation. And unfortunately, probably subtracting some brutality.

Total Miles: 399.79
Total Elevation Gain: 50,291'
Total ITT Time (including prologue): 6 days, 6 hours and 14 mins
Total On Course Time (no prologue): 5 days, 17 hours and 34 mins


Course Profile (click/enlarge)










Course Landsat (click/enlarge)















Acknowledgments -

Where to begin... MikeC for dreaming and scheming this cocktail, all the bp.net folks who's trip reports yield valuable information (you know who you are :), Trails-Edge for keeping the wheels rolling, LW Coaching for their training plans, all people who make the gear that worked flawlessly (list pending) and last but not least, my family for putting up with the self-centered, sometimes over-lived well past the point of grumpiness and the hermitistic eccentricity of lifestyle that this biking stuff encroaches. Love you guys.

/* edit: and TopoFusion software, which I used to create my tracks from the map descriptions. */

Peace.

El Grande - The Short

Wow, what a blowout ride. I finally finished this beast. More to come once I decompress and drive home. The initial quick rundown over here.