Bike Ride to Zion National Park

Fredonia to Zion National Park: 51.6 miles

Total mileage: 2918 miles

This morning we were not only heading into Utah, but we would finally be arriving at Zion National Park, a place I had never herd of before this trip.

We were making our way down the cue sheet when Marcus discovered had a flat tire. Behind the shoulder was a small cliff that we decided to scramble up. Once i had gotten to the top Jay and Nate followed. The view did not dissapoint as you can see from the picture below.

 

From there it was onto lunch and things have started to get a little desperate. As you can see from here Marcus has fashioned a sandwich out of PB&J and apple sauce. It is actually not all the bad and definitely not the strangest thing the has been thrown together. One of the great things about thislunchspot was that it was next to a community golf course so we were able to munch in the shade of a tree and on the first grass we had seen in weeks. While we were at lunch we also learned that two of the riders had missed their turn and were almost all therapy to Bryce Canyon, about 30 miles off track.

 

The ride into Zion was uphill after lunch. Nate and I employed the slow and steady method and joked about having to climb the mountain in the distance. The joke was on us however as we ended up going up it later on during the ride.

 

When we were about five miles outside the park's gate we saw a sign for buffalo. One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was see on in person, but unfortunately we were not going to be biking around any othe reserves. We stopped into the store and I made jay tak a picture of me and a stuffed buffalo in case we would not beanie to find one on the range.

Marcus found a mintre horse

Jay and I went on a carriage ride

Thankfully as we were heading down the road the heard had come in which meant pictures and a dance video.

 

After seeing the buffalo we headed down the hill a few miles and were greater by the park entrance. Of course we all had to pose for a picture and I was shocked to see that the NPS has a buffalo on their badge

The ride into the park was beautiful. The afternoon of climbing paid off as we enters the park because it was a mostly downhill slope down into the valley. As we came around the curves each vista was more beautiful than the next; the five of us were in total awe as we went through the park. Thankfully Marcus had set up his video camera which means the whole thing was caught - SCORE!

 

Bikes are allowed through the first tunnel, burnout through the second so we would be responsible for hitching a ride if the van was busy shuttling other people. Jay and I set to work trying to hitch rise and after a few minutes Bri and I had a ride through. The gentlemen were very chivalrous and let uptake the ride. Unfortunately it backfired on them because no one was willing to take three bearded men throu to the other side.

 

When we met up on the other side of the tunnel, a bus of French tourists had also let out to take pictures at one of the cutouts. Now we looked pretty legit in our kits while we were putting the wheels back on our bikes. The group somehow put together that we were professional riders after we explained what we were doing and of course we did not try to change their minds. From there they counted us down and we took off to hit some great downhill switchbacks at 35 mph.

There were several hours of daylight left so groups broke up and hit up some different trails. After a couple of days of riding my legs were tired so Jack, Marcus and I decided to hop on the shuttle they run and take a ride of the park. When we got to the top we decided to hop out and take the trail up to the Narrows, a river you can hike/wade through for several miles; some of the other groups who arrived much earlier in the afternoon had ahead start on the trail.

From there I met up with another group and went to check out the Lower Emerald Pool which was great.

It was off to bed early because we were camping and it was raining. There would also be time to hike inthemorningbefore we biked out because the ride was short and mostly going to be downhill.

 

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