July 16-18 - Hanksville, UT to Oak Creek Campground, UT to Escalante, UT to Red Canyon Campground, UT

Mileage: 67 miles, 46 miles, 56 miles
Terrains: Very Gradual Climbs
Temperature: 85 ish degrees, 90ish degrees, 85ish degrees
Woke up in Hanksville at the motel. Got on the road and the scenery had quickly began to change. Things were turning a lot more beige rather than red. Still tall canyons and rocks. The ride began with an ever so slight uphill and then a very gradual downhill. We were informed that about 20 or so miles out that there was a place that you could pick fruit. We saw this and were informed that apricots were in season however never ended up stopping to get any. I think that we thought there would be more ahead, however, there were not. Also along the route there were petro glyphs. So we stopped to take pictures of these as well. It was rather hot throughout the day so we decided to take advantage of our squirt guns and spray each other while riding. These were a great investment and provide us with a lot of entertainment. We usually are armed with our squirt guns most of the time throughout the day. We decided to go 1 mile off of route about 40 miles out to a town called Torrey in order to get some food to eat and ice cream. I however didn’t get any ice cream as my stomach was feeling rather upset and I knew that we had only 20 miles left however, it was all uphill. There were even two parts with 10% grades up. We knew this because once we made it up them we would turn around and there would be a downhill truck sign facing the other direction. This ended up being quite the climb!! We also had a very strong headwind going up this hill. I know it seems weird to have a head wind when you are climbing a hill because you would think that the hill would be blocking the wind however this was not the case. The wind was blowing us all over the road. However, once we got to camp there was a beautiful campsite with trees everywhere. There was even a fire pit which was exciting to have a campfire which we haven’t had but 1 or 2. We sat around the campfire and then also watched the dance video that we made in Colorado. It is on youtube.com. Search Dance Video Colorado by Biketheusforms. It is a great video!! So we were also informed that at this campsite there was the possibility of bears and not to spill any food etc. I accidentally poured my water from my easy mac made with a camp stove on the ground. I was worried it would attract bears however no bears showed up to our knowledge. I don’t think I was the only one that did this. Unfortunately the only bad thing about this campsite was there were no showers and only a pit toilet. So I used wipes and cleaned up.
Woke up to the sound of the stream and the birds chirping. Knew that we had a short day of only 46 miles. We had lots of climbing up and then great descents down. On one of the descents I even hit 46.7 mph. I think that this was a 14% grade going down. It was a blast. We stopped at a great restaurant about 20 miles down the road had a great breakfast and a wonderful chocolate chip oatmeal cookie and then moved on. We kept riding and rode Hells Backbone. It was a section of road that was up high and there was a cliff on each side of the road. It was amazing riding it being able to look down at the canyons on both sides of the road!! Rode on and came across Kiva Koffehouse out in the middle of nowhere. Had a frappe and sat and looked around and relaxed for awhile and then decided to move on. Had some climbing and then rode into Escalante where we stayed at a campground that was next to a reservoir. We decided to swim/wade in the reservoir and then hung out at camp. We as in Brittany, Shannon and myself decided to have our own dance party in the trailer as it started to rain briefly. We choreographed a dance that we are going to attempt to do on our bikes and have them video. It should be interesting. We all danced by the trailer as the trailer has a radio and sound system. We chilled out and met another cycling group that is riding cross country for cancer. Same type of thing however, still very different from our trip. Well by the time I got a shower it was about 9:00 pm and Shannon still hadn’t put up her tent and wasn’t really feeling like it so we decided to share a tent as I had already put mine up and it is a two person tent.
Woke up this morning and knew that it was going to be a fun day. We started riding and it was up and down hill a lot. We stopped at the first water stop and then moved on as we knew the next water stop was going to be at Bryce Canyon. So we rode on. We were getting hungry so stopped in a small town and got lunch and then rode about 5 more miles up the road to Bryce Canyon. Changed into tennis shoes and started hiking the trail about a half mile to see part of the canyon. It was gorgeous. There was a stream all along the trail that we decided we needed to take a dip in. It was rather cold. So we first sat in it and then got all the way in it. It was very shallow about a foot deep and deeper in some places but had a strong current. It was crystal clean and clear as well. There was a waterfall so we hiked down to the bottom and stood under it and played in the water. The water fall was supper strong!! I felt like I was being beaten standing under it and couldn’t even stand under the strongest part as it would have pushed me down. Rode on and the cool water on our cycling clothes kept us cool until we got to camp. There was a really nice bike path and a rock you could drive through on the last leg of the ride. Beautiful scenery. Got to the campground at Red Rock Canyon which is really nice got a really nice shower which I had to pay $2 for and then set up my tent. Was informed that rattle snakes are present here and that the park ranger got about 5 in the last few days. So we were told where to not camp and also that in the morning we are supposed to look outside of our tent to make sure that they aren’t outside of it as they like to go where warmth is. I cannot believe that there is only 2 weeks left. I hope that I have many more adventure to write about and that I can enjoy every minute of it!!