Spring into Bikepacking: Grand Staircase-Escalante

A few months ago, we had decided we wanted to bikepack in Grand Staircase-Escalante. After many weeks of cold and clouds, our family was ready to head south to the desert for spring break. Neither Bryon nor myself, had heard of the national monument, until this past year. After spending 3 days riding close to 100 miles, in the monument, it will definitely not be our last visit to the region.

Our trip began in the town of Cannonville, Utah. The town is home to the Grand-Escalante BLM Visitor Center and the Grand Staircase Inn, which also served as the gas station and mini mart. We stayed at the Grand Staircase Inn the night before departing on our journey. I had called the Grand Staircase-Escalante Visitor Center in Cannonville, before we left home, and arranged for us to leave our car in their parking lot. 

Sunday morning we departed Cannonville, fat and loaded, ready to take on the trail ahead. For our trip, Bryon rode his Salsa Mukluk. He carried a 15L dry bag up front on a Salsa Anything Cradle, with a Revelate Design's front pocket, in front of that. Bryon's bike was equipped with 2 Revelate feed bags and a Salsa EXP fuel tank. On the frame, Bryon had one of his personal designs, a custom FBJ Creations frame bag. On his Salsa Anything Rack, he had his custom made FBJ Creations panniers and a second dry compression bag. FBJ Creations is a new business idea we are working on putting together.

I recently got a Salsa Blackborow. This bike will allow us to carry additional food and gear, on longer bikepacking trips. This was my first bikepacking excursion on the bike. Bomber Betty, was loaded with a 15L compression sack on the Salsa Anything Cradle, up front, 2 Revelate fuel tanks, a custom FBJ Creations framebag (made by my rad husband), Porcelain Rocket Micro Panniers, and a 14 L compression sack, at the rear. We both carried Therm-a-rest's Z Lite Sol sleeping pads on our racks, in addition to our panniers and compression sacks.

April rode along on this trip in her Burley Solo. We are fortune to have begun a relationship with Burley, as ambassadors, this winter. Burley provided us with a Solo trailer and a plus sized-wheel set this past winter. The Solo is the top of the line single child, Burley trailer. After using it in snow and on the back roads this winter, we felt it would also do well for bikepacking. April had adequate room for toys, clothes, and other gear in the Burley. Taking the Solo, cut ten pounds off of our trailer weight, from our past trips with the Cub.

Our first day of riding was a mix of pavement, dirt, and gravel. We rode from Cannonville to Grosvenor Arch. The first 7 miles of the road to the arch were pavement and went quite fast. We hit the dirt on Cottonwood Canyon road at mile 7, and from there the road was washboarded and rough in spots. We were fortunate to sight a giant golden eagle during this portion of our ride. The road to the arch climbed and descended steadily.

By lunch, we reached Grosvenor Arch. When I had originally planned the trip, using the route information provided by bikepacking.com, there was mention of a water tank at Grosvenor Arch. We were unable to find this tank. Fortunately, a couple of bikepackers from Steamboat Springs were returning to their vehicle, when we reached Grosvenor Arch, and offered us water. Water is scarce on the route. We initially planned on doing a larger circle through the area, but due to lack of water, modified our plans.

Grosvenor Arch was a popular junction on our route. After leaving the arch, we did not see any other vehicles, bikes, or people until we reached Escalante almost 48 hours later. 

When we left Grosvenor Arch, there was a sign saying that the road was impassable to traffic in 24 miles. We made it 18 additional miles after leaving Grosvenor Arch, our first day. From the arch our route climbed and there were a number of sections where we began to have to push. 

I took over trailer pulling the last couple of miles on our first day, as Bryon and I grew tired from riding.The first night of our journey we camped up along Death Ridge. The road had changed from sandy dirt to rocky stones, in the later part of day 1. 

On this trip, we finally got to use our new Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3 tent. We loved the Mountain Glo feature, which made it easy to light our tent, as we prepared for our nights rest. This was the first trip we have taken where April had her own sleeping bag and sleeping pad. Over the winter we had purchased a Big Agnes Little Red bag and paired it with the Big Agnes 20x48 Insulated Air Core Ultra sleeping pad. Before our trip, we had sent our Big Agnes Q Core sleeping pad in for repair, and for the first time all three of us slept on insulated pads, while bikepacking. Our comfort levels were high, although the temps dropped to the mid 20s overnight. Bryon and I added extra insulation to our sleeping situations by running Therm-a-rests, under our insulated air pads. 

Day 2 of our adventure proved to be the most challenging of days we have experienced bikepacking yet.  We started the day by using our new MSR Dragonfly stove to prepare a hot breakfast of burritos. A warm breakfast was just what we needed to get through the first part of our day. The first 5 hours of our day had us tackling steep up and downs for 6 miles. We spent the morning coasting down the downhills, before coming to washes where we had to come to a stop to maneuver our gear and bikes over them, and then pushing up the inclines, as the terrain proved steep and treacherous. 

This was the first time we have had to take April out of the Burley, disconnect it from the bike, and push bikes, Burley, and baby up hills independently. We were tuckered by the time we ate our hot lunch of potato soup and rested for awhile. By this point in our journey we were watching our water supply closely. At lunch we discussed changing our route and heading into the town of Escalante the next day, to fill our water bottles. After lunch our roads became easier to maneuver and we reached the summit on Death Ridge at 7500'. By night fall we made our way to Smokey Mountain Road and headed toward Escalante. 

 

We set up camp a few miles out of Escalante, we had enough water to prepare our freeze dried meals and get through the night. We did come across water just outside of Escalante. The water was ridden with cow poop, though and we decided it was in our best interest to wait until we arrived in Escalante to fill our water bottles.

The last morning of our trip through Grand Staircase led us to Escalante, where we fueled our bodies with bagels and cinnamon rolls and enjoyed warm drinks at the local cafe. We filled our water after our meal and hit the road. Escalante is 37 miles from Cannonville. Although we were on pavement during this section the views were still astounding. We climbed for 18 miles before reaching an overlook that looked into a large canyon. We stopped and cooked mac n' cheese and enjoyed the view before we started our long decent into Henrieville, the small town a few miles before Cannonville. 

We returned to our car by 4 pm, and packed up and drove to Beaver, Utah for a night of pizza and rest.

We were tested physically and mentally on our trip through Grand-Staircase-Escalante. We had to adapt to the situations at hand, and make changes to our initial plans. We have grown to be flexible and patient, in our bikepacking adventures. We were able to test out our new set up for camping and cooking. We are excited to use these new set ups in our future endeavors.

I found that Bomber Betty, my new Salsa Blackborow was more comfortable and controllable for bikepacking, than bikes I have ridden on previous trips. We found the Burley Solo, worked well as a bikepacking trailer for April. It was lighter for Bryon to tow, yet still provided April with plenty of space for stretching out and storing her books, toys, diapers, and clothes. 

We were also very happy with the custom frame bags and panniers, that Bryon had crafted in the weeks leading up to our trip. Overall our spring bikepacking adventure was a success.

We would like to thank Burley Design for providing us with our Burley Solo and the opportunity to capture footage of our trip, Fitzgerald's Bicycles for tuning our bikes for adventures like these, Honey Stinger for keeping us fueled on our rides, and Big Agnes for their support towards our desire to sleep in the dirt! 

This trip was just the start to our bikepacking season of 2018. We are headed out to complete the Idaho Hot Springs tour at the end of June and we recently booked flights to Alaska, for a three week trip, though the last frontier, in August.

Mom's First Fat Bike Race: The Bear 50

Last weekend, just outside of Steamboat Springs, CO, the Bear, a 105 and 50 mile fat bike race, took place. The race was put on by Jon Kowlasky, of Steamboat Springs. The race was sponsored by numerous local businesses from the area, including Big Agnes, Honey Stinger, and Moots. The race started and finished at Hahn’s Peak Roadhouse, about 20 miles from Steamboat Springs. The race offered two distances, a 105 mile and a 50 mile. 12 people started in the 105 mile race and 31 started the 50 mile race. The 105 mile course had over 10,000 feet of elevation gain and the 50 mile course had just under 5,000 feet of climbing.

Photo by David Dietrich

I competed in the 50 mile event. This was my first ever fat bike race. I am a mom and an elementary school teacher and fat biking is fairly new to me. I was a runner, competing in half marathons, before I met my husband. Bryon, my husband, bought me my first fat bike last winter, after I had our daughter, April. I have enjoyed fat biking with our little family on weekends and after work. My husband competed in the Fat Pursuits, put on by Jay P this winter, but because we have a young daughter, I was unable to compete with him. For this event, Bryon agreed to watch April, so that I could race.

The race began at 7 am, outside Hahn’s Peak Roadhouse at just over 8,000 feet of elevation. The course wound up the road, from the roadhouse, to the village of Hahn’s Peak, before hitting snowmobile trails. There was a layer of new snow covering the groomed snowmobile trail that led out of Hahn’s Peak, from the previous night. The wind was blowing and the temperature was in the mid 20’s when we took off. The course climbed almost immediately after reaching the snowmobile trails. The racers began to spread out at this point. Some racers took to pushing their bikes up the first long climb, others adjusted air pressure and pedaled. By the time I reached the first hill, the leaders had set a decent wide groove with their tires. I was able to pedal up most of the climb during this first section, on my Salsa Beargrease.

The first 20 miles were rideable and fast. The course climbed steeply the first 5 miles, but then was followed by long steady climbs and descents from mile 5 to 20. When I reached the first aid station, at mile 20, about three hours had passed. The first aid station offered water, soup, and a variety of snacks. I grabbed a piece of warm bacon to put on my turkey sandwich, some water, and a couple of vanilla cookies before heading on my way. At this point in the course the 105 mile racers headed one direction, into Wyoming and the 50 mile racers headed another direction, to complete a lollipop.

Photo by David Dietrich

After leaving the aid station the course became more difficult, as myself and the other riders reached the steepest sections of the course. The course climbed to 9,800 feet during this portion of the race. Tall trees were on either side of the trail and the wind was whipping, causing drifts across the trail at times. The grades on the hills were steep. Multiple times I looked down at my Garmin, as a pushed my bike up the steep ascents and saw the grade of the hill was between 15-20%. At this point of the race, hike-a-biking was the only option. The snow was soft and although I adjusted my air pressure more than once, I could not ride through this section of the course. This was the first time I have really had to hike my bike for any real distance. I found it very difficult and because there was no one else around me, I struggled through this portion of the race. The hike-bike-section went on for about 2 miles and then there was finally a down hill. The hills rolled in a sense through the next section, but they were still steep enough walking was necessary at times on the uphills.

After coming out of the forest off the steep section of the course, the trail opened up into what I assume is a meadow in the spring. The wind was whipping at this time and I was pretty tuckered, so I stopped to eat some chocolate and drink my hydration mix. At this point a few riders caught and passed me.

I continued pedaling through the open area and then back into the woods those last 10 or so miles. The course hit a road just over 5 miles from the finish that passed the Columbine Cabins, where the second and final aid station was on the 50 mile course. I chose to check in at the aid station, but not stop, as I was only a few miles from the finish. The course turned from the road, back to the snowmobile trails until the course reached the village of Hahn’s Peak again. I could see the few racers ahead of me, turn into the town. I was happy that I was almost to the finish. I was so happy to see my husband and daughter at the finish. They are my number one training buddies. I had primarily trained for the event towing my daughter in her Burley trailer. This was the longest ride I had completed on snow or without Bryon and April.  My first fat bike experience proved to be challenging, but fun at the same time.

Overall, I learned a lot from my first fat bike race. I learned that hike-a-biking is something I need to work to be stronger at. My time slowed a lot during that time the course was not rideable. I need to look into vapor barriers for my feet. My socks were soaked from sweat by the finish. I found that the other clothes I had brought along and worn were perfect for the mild temperatures, the day of the race. I need to practice going down hills. I lost time to others around me on the down hills. One thing is for sure though, I am hooked on fat biking after this experience and can’t wait to get out there again. The Togwotee Winter Classic is next month, hopefully I can use what I learned from the Bear to do my best there.

Photo by David Dietrich

Happy New Year! A New Year's Eve Ride

Photo by Gary Chrisman

We wrapped up 2017 with a day of family fat bike training, around the south Teton Valley groomed fat bike trail system. Thanks to the volunteers of Teton Valley Trails and Pathways and Fitzgerald's Bicycles, we have an awesome network of groomed single track specifically for fat bikes just minutes from our home in Victor, Idaho.

April tagged along in her Burley Solo for our outing. We ran the 16+ wheel set for the adventure, switching to the ski set, when we hit Sherman Park, less than a mile from the house. From Sherman Park there is over 10 miles of groomed fat bike single track to ride. The trail network winds through Sherman Park, Teton Springs Golf Course, and then through the forest to Mike Harris Campground. 

Bryon is currently wrapping up his training for his first winter ultra, JayP's 200k Fat Pursuit, next weekend in Island Park, ID. Becky is in training for her first fat bike races, a night race at Grand Targhee, at the end of January and The Bear, a 45 mile fat bike race near Steamboat Springs in February.

April is training for long hours in the Burley this spring and summer. If the weather and trails are adequate, April will tag along on her first fat bike race at Togwotee in March.

We began our ride with a loop through Sherman Park. Sherman Park, has just over 1.5 miles of groomed trail that leads out of the park, under the highway and then a mile up the road to Teton Springs.

Teton Springs has a 4.3 mile loop of groomed single track. We met up with our friend Gary, who will also be competing at the Fat Pursuit, with Bryon, next weekend. He joined us for the loop through Teton Springs and what followed.

After looping through Teton Springs we headed out on the powerline trail up to Nemo's, a popular mountain bike trail in the summer months, that recently was approved for winter grooming. This section was another 3.5+ miles of groomed trail. 

After a steep climb that involved teamwork to get Bryon's bike with the Burley and April in tow up the hill, we descended through the forest. The trail then led to the parking lot of Mike Harris Campground, which is near the base of the Teton Pass. This is where we swapped April's skis for wheels and took the road home.

We were happy to wrap up 2017, with a wonderful winter ride.

We have several bikepacking aspirations for the 2018 year. We will be completing a 160 mile ride through Grand Staircase-Escalante, this March. We have plans to ride the Idaho Hot Springs Tour this June, and in August we intend to complete a 1000+ mile trip following the Fitzbarn course and a Tour Divide segment from Butte to Lima. 2018 will help us to build our fitness base, as we ultimately would like to complete the Tour Divide in 2019. 

Of course, we will also be completing a number of fat bike and gravel races in between our bikepacking adventures. 

We look forward to 2018 and all the adventures to come! 

Self-Supported: Our Trip around the White Rim Trail

The White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park, just outside of Moab, was a challenge we decided we wanted to take on a few months back. We had read about the trail on bikepacking.com and we have several friends that have completed the route. The route seemed possible, even with April in tow. We just had to figure out the logistics. 

The White Rim Trail is a jeep road, with campsites every 10-15 miles. The campsites provide pit toilets. There is no water source on route until you reach the Green River, near Potato Bottom at mile 65 or so of the route. The Green River is quite silty, so we did not want to have to filter water from it, unless it was an emergency situation. Based on what I had read on bikepacking.com, we were able to plan out two water caches. This would allow us to do our trip in 3 days and 2 nights. We wanted to complete the trip without a support vehicle. 

In order to cache water, we had to hike in from Gooseberry Trail, in Canyonlands National Park. The hike is labeled "Steep and Strenuous" by the park service. It is a 5.4 mile hike round trip with 1400 feet of ascent on the way out. The hike took us just under 4 hours. We each carried in 2 gallon jugs of water and I carried April, using our Ergobaby backpack. Bryon carried 3 gallons of water on the route down in the steepest sections, so that I could have an extra hand to balance. The Gooseberry Trail leads right up to the White Rim, just before reaching the Gooseberry Campsites. We had our permits to camp at those sites on our first night out on the trail. Bryon cached our water in some rocks and we marked the spot with rock towers along the trail, so we would be able to find our cache the next day. 

The hike out was just as tough as the hike in, as we had to ascend 1400 feet. The path led us up a steep rock cliff. I positioned April at my front for the hike up, so that I could balance better on the steep climb.  After we returned to our car, we drove down to Mineral Bottom, where the White Rim Trail leaves the park, and cached two additional gallons of water, for the final day of riding. We cached and carried a lot of water on the trip. We had excess by the third day, but I think we cached an amount that allowed us to be prepared if we had been out there an extra day, for any reason, or had we needed to bath April, had their been a mess of some sort. The park service does require you to sign a contract stating you have permission to cache water and will dispose of your containers properly. There is no trash sites on the White Rim Trail. It is pack it in, pack it out. 

After hiking in and driving in our water caches, we returned to our camping spot on Mineral Bottom Road. We camped on Mineral Bottom the two nights we were in the area, before we took off on our ride. 

We parked in the Shafer Trail Overlook Parking Lot, the morning our ride began. In the parking lot, we spread out and packed our gear and cooked up some steak and egg burritos. April played in the car and in the pack and play, while we got ready. Both Bryon and I rode our Salsa Mukluks on this trip. We both had racks on our bikes. Bryon used his custom made panniers from Annica Bags and I had borrowed Porcelain Rocket Micro Panniers, from our friend Gary. We both had dry compression sacks on our Salsa Anything Cradles and Salsa Anything Racks. We both had Revelate Designs frame bags and feedbags, as well. Each of us carried a 2 liter bottle of water under our bikes using Salsa Anything Cages, 2-1 liter bottles on our forks, and a 1 liter bottle of water in one of our feedbags. I also carried 2 liters of water in an Osprey hydration backpack. We carried freeze dried meals for lunches and dinners, in addition to formula and squeeze packs of food for April. We had to carry diapers for April too, in and out. Puff and Mango were fat and loaded when we departed the lookout and hit the trail. 

Our first day of riding was from the Shafer Trail Overlook to Gooseberry Campground. We covered just under 30 miles on day one. April was a little testy because she had a couple new teeth coming in. We took it nice and easy over the rough spots, so that she was a comfortable as could be in her  Burley Cub with plus tires.

We were in awe at the scenery of the White Rim, on our first day. It was truly full of amazing sights. We reached our water cache at near the Gooseberry Campground just as the sun was setting, and then headed to our campsite. 

We had put glowing lights on spokes before we took off from home. We found them a useful light source, as we pulled out gear, set up camp, and cooked our dinner each night. 

The Gooseberry Campground site that we stayed at was right on some red sand that led to the vast canyon below. It was spectacular. I definitely would sleep there again if I ever have the chance. 

Our second day of riding, was from Gooseberry to Potato Bottom Campground. It was just about 36 miles between the two sites. As we were taking off to ride that second day, we heard some bikers come up behind us. We actually knew them! Nan and Mike, are a couple that we know from the biking community back home and they were biking the White Rim, as well. They were taking it on as a day mission though. We stopped to chat with them before they continued on there way. 

Day two took us into some challenging segments. The climb up to Murphy Hogback, was steep and required a team effort. Starting on the second day, we found the some of the trail required both of us to push Bryon's bike and April's trailer or for me to push behind him as he pedaled, for us to continue on. We found these hike-a-bike sections challenging, but not impossible. 

The 36 miles, on our second day, took us past sunset to reach camp. We stopped and cooked soup for lunch on top of Murphy Hogback, and then rode on, until April needed another break. I think we all enjoyed stopping for hot lunches each day!

We reached Potato Bottom Campground a couple of hours after sunset. We were close to the water of the Green River, at this site. It was quite a bit colder sleeping down by the river, than up at our previous site. If we were to do the trip again, we would camp at one of the higher elevation sites, before we got to Potato Bottom, if permits were available. 

Our third and final day on the White Rim took us 36 miles between Potato Bottom, up Mineral Bottom Road, and then along the 313 back to Canyonlands National Park, where we had parked our car. The last day consisted of steep segments, similar to those on day two, sandy sections, switchbacks, a gravel highway, and then pavement. On our way out of Potato Bottom we came across a family of 6 that had done an out and back with their 4 kids in tow. It was neat to compare set ups and see others out on the trail with kids. 

We collected our second water cache at the bottom of Mineral Bottom Road, before climbing for most of the afternoon to get back to our car. Overall, we had a wonderful trip around the White Rim. We hope to go back next Thanksgiving and do it in the opposite direction. April Jean was an amazing participant in this family excursion and we are already discussing what adventure we'd like to take on next. 

Seasons are shifting...September Gravel Grinders

After an awesome summer of traveling and biking, we finally got to September. With September came the time for me to return to work, as a teacher, and summer's end. We finished off our summer with Rebecca's Private Idaho Small Fry and began our fall with JayP's 60 mile Gravel Pursuit. 

Rebecca's Private Idaho was a huge event in comparison to the Dead Swede 40, that we completed back in June. The race took place in Sun Valley and had just over 800 participants between the Big Potato and Small Fry. 

Bryon pulled April in the Burley behind his Salsa Mukluk and I rode my Salsa Fargo. The first 12 or so miles of the route climbed. We found that even though we had started at the very back of the pack we were able to pass people during the long climb. 

The aid stations were well stocked with Red Bull and GU products and the overall event was fantastic. We finished in just under 5 hours with a time of 4:55:29. April did well in the burley as always and was all smiles when we stopped at aid stations and at the finish. 

JayP's Gravel Pursuit

To wrap up September we completed JayP's 60 mile Gravel Pursuit. Last year when this event took place I was 8 1/2 months pregnant and drove up the day of the event to see Bryon finish. This year I was participating! The Gravel Pursuit is based in Island Park, ID at the Pond's Lodge. We camped at the Buffalo Campground in the Alaskan the night before the event. 

We chose to ride our Salsa Mukluks for the Gravel Pursuit. We had gone up to Island Park a few times before the actual event to ride segments of the course and found that fat tires were necessary, for towing the burley on the course. Bryon towed April the first 42 miles and I towed her the last 21 miles. The weather turned about 6 hours into our almost 8 hour ride. We were prepared for the rain and cold though. I had put a fleece bunting bag in April's Burley, so she stayed plenty warm. We had brought rain gear to ride in for Bryon and myself. 

The route was challenging, but we completed the course. Our summer riding and training had paid off. I was thrilled to cross the finish and head into the nearby Pond's Lodge, for salads and pizza.

I am sure we will return to the Gravel Pursuit next year. It really is a wonderful local event, that Jay and Tracy put on.

We are thankful for all the support we have received from Derrick & Liz Nobman and the entire staff at Fitzgerald's Bicycles in Victor, ID, to help us with all of our bicycle needs. We are proud to be shop ambassadors. Our September was pretty spectacular and I can't wait for our upcoming fall and winter adventures!