May 15th:
My sleep was fitful-the damn air mattress deflated halfway through the night, and it was COLD. The temp (I found out later) plummeted to below freezing last night, and I was still chilled to the bone. Nothing like a good ride to warm up my bones. I headed to the Red Canyon area, which is outside the gates of Bryce Canyon, and down Utah 12, just before the junction on US89. I checked in at the information center first, got a trail map, then headed up to the Coyote Hollow trailhead. I heard from Don Rissling, a friend who had ridden this trail and recommended it highly, that it was best to start the trail from this end, rather than at the bottom of Red Canyon at the Thunder Mountain trailhead itself. I would soon find out why this was the case.
The trail in the beginning was very much what I expected: some brief climbs, followed by downhills with a hairpin at the end. Typical and fun, but nothing spectacular yet. The trail was a nice flowing singletrack, and weaved through pines and low-lying scrub. The elevation gains you made were immediately cancelled out by some nice downhills. I only ran into one other person at the Coyote Hollow trailhead, a female who I later identified as Lynne. Lynne started out on the trail way ahead of me, and managed to stay out ahead until I met up with her in the Red Canyon portion- the most scenic areas. Here, the trail begins to wind through red sand with cliffs and “hoodoos” all around...”hoodoos” are the bizarre totemistic rock formations made through millions of years of erosion of salt and sandstone that originally formed them. Some parts of the trails meandered along steep cliffs and “spines”, with dropoffs on both sides. All with fantastic views of the canyon and beyond. I met up with Lynne at the top of one of the hills and engaged in friendly banter with her. Come to find out she was from West Palm Beach!! Of all the places-talk about a small world. After discussions of various riding locations near and far, and events she participated in, we decided to begin the final descent into Red Canyon and the ending point. The trail became intense- steep and technical drops with rock gardens, hairpins and switchbacks. I lost Lynne somewhere, and kept going...man, what a fun ride. I finally reached a marker advising the trailhead was 1.3 miles ahead. At first, the trail began a gradual slope, and I picked up speed. The slope continued, and pretty soon I was tearing through some of the sweetest singletrack I had ever been on- no effort required, and all DOWNHILL. Wow. I finished up and I had a huge smile on my face. That alone, was worth the price of admission. I sat at the base of the trail, and heard Lynne coming down. She too, exclaimed how enjoyable that run was, and then discussed the fact that I now had a 4.5 mile ride UPHILL back to where my truck was parked at the top of the hill. Lynne came through on the shuttle when the bozos at Porcupine Shuttle didn't- she gave me a ride to my truck in her Honda Pilot. What an awesome person. We discussed meeting up for a buffet lunch at Ruby's Inn, which we did, and I basically got an $11 shuttle ride from Lynne once I paid for her lunch. Thanks Lynne!!
I will be back tomorrow- this was a truly incredible ride that lived up to the hype. I didn't feel the pedal bite on the back of my leg until later...but now I was headed back to camp to pack up- I booked a hotel in Panguitch, Utah for the next couple nights to keep warm and get some needed rest!
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