The shuttle arrives, and we soon realize I am the only one on this shuttle. As a result, the driver tells me he is cancelling the run! He says that he is taking some of his buddies up in the shuttle free of charge (his buddies appear a short time later), and that unless they want to pay to offset the cost of me traveling alone, he is going to charge me $80 to get a lift! Are you fucking kidding me?? So of course, he asks his friends, and do you really think those cheap pricks are going to pay $20 when they can go for free?? Ha ha ha...very funny. They of course refuse, and he takes them up the hill for free. So, Porcupine Shuttle can kiss my ass.
I decide to strike out on my own and ride Amasa Back, which is outside of town off Kane Creek Rd. A few locals told me it's an awesome ride, and that it is easily accessible from Main St.
So I strike out and ride the 4.5 miles from town and up to a dirt/gravel road that winds uphill to the trailhead. About .8 of a mile up the dirt road, I reach the trailhead.
Primarily used as an ATV route, Cliffhanger is the portion of the trail that hooks up to Amasa Back. Amasa Back is actually a large gooseneck plateau that is surrounded by the Colorado River. There are many other trails that spur off Amasa Back.
I start a BRUTAL ascent from the trailhead. This ascent is 1400 feet, damn near vertical. I hiked a bike for a good portion of it, since my cardio and skill level was not good enough to tackle some of the obstacles. We're talking large boulders and rocks in the path with absolutely no track around them- short of diving off the side of a cliff. The rocks all had scrape marks from skidplates of ATV's and also skid marks from mountain bikers on their way down the hill. This ride is an out-and-back, meaning I would be descending this hill on the way back...it is going to be insane, for sure! About 2-3 miles into the ascent, the trail levels out, and then starts a series of small drops. Only thing is, these drops also consist of the trail after the drop skirting alongside a cliff edge- many with sheer drops to the valley floor thousands of feet below!! Looks can be deceiving here, since looking straight out over the ledge, it seems not that far down...once you realize the small dots below you are cars moving along a roadway!!!!
I reached a section of the trail that, AGAIN, was poorly marked, and the map I had was useless. I ended up mistakenly taking a trail to POTHOLE ARCH, which descends rapidly down a slickrock face and into a small valley. Once I got to a sign, I realized the error of my ways- I was now way off course, to the tune of about 1.5-2 miles. DOH! Sipping on my Camelback, I gritted my teeth and turned around. Pushing my bike up the slickrock I just came down. Ugh. I finally reach the fork in the road where I should have gone left instead of right earlier. A few guys on bikes pull up, and I verify that the other route takes me to Amasa Back. They concur, and we all head up the hill. This was the ascent from hell- up fissured slickrock. Picture an upheavaled rock sticking out of the plateau at almost a 45 degree angle- that's what this basically was. I reached the top finally- and WHAT A VIEW..
I sat on the edge of the cliff for about half an hour, resting my burning muscles (to quote Edward Norton in Fight Club "my veins pumped battery acid"). The peace and quiet were just what the doc ordered. You can see the Colorado on the right side of the picture above. After some vertigo from looking down, I decided it was time to take the fast route down!
A technical descent it was...I was dodging boulders and rocks, hopping off steps, and walking down some of the crazy boulders. At one point, I stopped short on a step and my front tire planted and would not give- I endo'ed over the handlebars and put my hands out in front of my to take the impact- this was gonna hurt- there were rocks on my landing point...I absorbed the impact with my shoulders and elbows, kinda like I was bench pressing the ground...and amazingly, I emerged unscathed!! I have some goot helmet cam footage of the crash, which I'll be uploading when I get home. I brought my work laptop, so they blocked out Youtube...bastards!
I reached the bottom within a short time compared to my ascent, with my shoulders and neck hurting from straining over the bars while negotiating the rocky course. But I felt a sense of accomplishment despite being completely drained..and I still had to ride back to camp 4.5 miles!!
To make matters worse, I sucked on my Camelback and found it-BONE DRY. Fuck. I pedaled slowly back into town, and rolled into camp wanting to die. I drank 2 bottles of water and a diet Coke, and settled back in my chair. A warm shower was in order...GPS read: 30 miles. Holy crap....sooo...minus the 11 miles round trip from camp to the trailhead, I rode a solid 19 miles on dirt and rock today. FUN STUFF!!!
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