October 24, 2015
Desert View -> a few miles past Gap: 68 miles
This morning we had a GREAT 30 mile long down hill. And it was finally sunny with clear skies! That definitely warmed us up :) Just a few miles after camp we passed the park exit and realized that we had camped where we weren't supposed to. Oops!
We entered an Indian reservation just a few miles after the park exit and rode in it all day. There were lots of little markets with handmade jewelry and lots of Navajo Indian stuff. Other than that, it was just beautiful pink & red cliffs and the road we were biking on. Keep in mind were still following the edge of the Grand Canyon, so we can see it every once in a while.
At one point we pulled up to this small scenic overlook that you wouldn't expect to pay money for. You basically just pull off on the side of the road and it's right there. It was $10 to go in 20ft to see but the lady at the fee booth (before we said anything) said "you guys can go, I know bikers don't have money." Hahah - umm ok! It was a beautiful view though! Huge red cliffs that dropped down ~1,000ft to the Colorado river.
After more pedaling we made it to Gap. I guess it's a town - it just has a gas station and a grocery store. Our plan for the day was to make it to Gap then find a place to camp along the side of the road. The barb wired fence on both sides of the road made this quite difficult. However, we ended up finding a great spot where the fence was pushed back 50ft. Our tent is surrounded by trees and cacti! :P
scenic pull off
October 25, 2015
Gap, AZ -> the side of the road again: 61 miles
Considering we have been sleeping in the woods for the past 2 days I would really like a shower!! Not being at a campground is nice sometimes, but having a shower is key! Our destination is Jacob Lake & there IS a campground there. We went through some cool little places today like Marble Canyon and crossed what we thought was the only bridge that went across the Grand Canyon. Turns out it crossed a different canyon BUT it does cross the Colorado River that goes through the Grand Canyon. We also went through Cliff Dwellers and it had some cool rock houses. We ended up not making it to Jacob Lake...of course no shower once again! I know...gross. Luckily its been cold so we haven't been sweating our butts off, but still...we need to shower. We decided to stop at the bottom of the mountain and make the climb in the morning. There was no place to put up a tent except for on the side of the road. We don't really like the idea of having our tent next to a road where cars are driving really fast. There were a couple RV's pulled off on the side of the road so we decided to talk to them and see if we can hide our tent behind one of their RV's. They were really cool and thats where we stayed for the night!
Considering we have been sleeping in the woods for the past 2 days I would really like a shower!! Not being at a campground is nice sometimes, but having a shower is key! Our destination is Jacob Lake & there IS a campground there. We went through some cool little places today like Marble Canyon and crossed what we thought was the only bridge that went across the Grand Canyon. Turns out it crossed a different canyon BUT it does cross the Colorado River that goes through the Grand Canyon. We also went through Cliff Dwellers and it had some cool rock houses. We ended up not making it to Jacob Lake...of course no shower once again! I know...gross. Luckily its been cold so we haven't been sweating our butts off, but still...we need to shower. We decided to stop at the bottom of the mountain and make the climb in the morning. There was no place to put up a tent except for on the side of the road. We don't really like the idea of having our tent next to a road where cars are driving really fast. There were a couple RV's pulled off on the side of the road so we decided to talk to them and see if we can hide our tent behind one of their RV's. They were really cool and thats where we stayed for the night!
bridge that crosses the Colorado River
Cliff Dwellings
camping next to the RV's
October 26, 2015
the side of the road, AZ -> Kanab, UTAH: 51 miles
Well we woke up and started our day with a climb! 2700ft in 13 miles, but it wasn't so bad. At the top, ice cream cookies and hot coffee waiting for us :) and boy was that DELICIOUS!
Not to mention we had a great downhill afterwards! Since it was still pretty cold I bundled up for the downhill. We have great elevation charts as you can see:
BUT they aren't super accurate. The charts don't show small climbs, just the overall view. There ended up being about 5 steep uphills after I bundled up...it felt like I was in a sauna! I didn't want to take any jackets off, because I knew there would be a good downhill eventually. Anyways we did have a great long downhill and it was so beautiful! We coasted all the way into Fredonia where we had lunch. We were going to have lunch in the next town, Kanab, but we knew we had to have a quick lunch if we were going to make it to Mt. Caramel Junction so we decided to eat quickly in Fredonia. Just before Kanab, we crossed the border of Utah!! Whoo! & Kanab ended up being such a cool place that we decided to stay for the night :) Tomorrow we get to Zion National Park YAY. Sadly, I won't have my nice camera to take pictures...but we have our phones
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