The day after Christmas the family and I left cold and dark Fairbanks to spend some time in the greater Moab area with my brother Dwight’s family.
Several days were spent with lots of Cables having fun in the warm for us +50f sun..
Silliness abounded..
And rock spires were eaten.
Everyone had a wonderful time exploring a new world of sand, rock, and in the twins’ case, the novelty of a sun beaming down actual warmth.
.. and dino prints!
Arches National Park was explored and enjoyed.
We spent some time in Canyonlands, though without the assistance of Dwight’s clan as they had to head back home for school. They were missed..
I was able to get out for one seven hour ride on Moab’s “Brand” trails, which were in a word – amazing. I had the place to myself, on a sunny windless day. The trails were dry and snow free.
Moab also has the nicest bike path I have ever seen, complete with warning signs for hills, and posted speed limits.
I got several hours of playing on slickrock, which was interesting and fairly rewarding.
The “XC” five inch travel full suspension bikes we rented (almost) cured me of any interest buying a similar bike – way too much bounce. At times it was like riding a pogo stick. I say almost as I might have been able to fix the bounce with adjustments to the pressure and damping, but not having access to a shock pump made this impossible. I was pretty impressed by how much the suspension could soak up though.. only for all the riding I did on it, it was much too much bike. We had tagalongs (thanks Kristin!) and tried to get some biking in each day. Generally the day would start with driving to the general area, then biking to various trailheads with the twins in tow, and then hiking.
The roads outside of Moab, Arches, and Canyonlands are great for biking. We didn’t see very many bikers but it seemed like it would be wonderful off season road biking, with minimal traffic, fantastically smooth asphalt, and wonderful views.
On the way back to Alaska we spent two days in Seattle taking in the sights with Steve and Manish.
(Click the Vimeo button for the full awesome effect)
Now its back to the snow bike, getting in the miles/hours in preparation to the upcoming madness in 6 weeks.
A big thanks to the Cable family of Utah, and Steve and Manish for inviting us to visit, chaos and all.
Love this post! The kids on tagalongs, is my favorite.
(My family attaches one to a tandem for kicking it around town in Moab.)
Thanks for visiting us from Alaska.