For my 2018 Adventure I decided to take my motorcycle instead of the RZR quad. The RV resort I was scheduled to stay at during my Habitat for Humanity Build (Bayfield, Co) was located 43 miles away. Pedaling my recumbent bike was out of the question.
Marysvale, Utah was my location of choice to do some off-road riding, so I had planned to rent a quad. My thinking was I had the best of both worlds (Motorcycle & Quad).
I departed Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island, Washington on June 12th. My tentative itinerary was:
1) Spend time camping at Priest Gulch, CO with my friends Joe and Paula at their family reunion.
1) Spend time camping at Priest Gulch, CO with my friends Joe and Paula at their family reunion.
2) Participate in a Habitat for Humanity Build in Bayfield, CO.
3) Spend 25 days riding the Paiute Trail system with my friends the South Forty Gang in Marysvale, UT
3) Spend 25 days riding the Paiute Trail system with my friends the South Forty Gang in Marysvale, UT
4)Tour various locations on my motorcycle.
The route from Oak Harbor, WA to Priest Gulch is mostly Hwy driving (Hwy 90,82,84 and 15) with plenty of elevation changes (up and down). The drive goes something like this:
a) I live at sea level.
b) Snoqualmie Pass (WA) elevation (3,022).
c) Pendleton, OR (1,200).
d) Deadman Pass, OR (5,108).
e) La Grande, OR (2,785).
f) Salt Lake City, UT (4,226).
f) Salt Lake City, UT (4,226).
f) Soldier Summit, UT (7,477)
h) Priest Gulch, CO (8,108).
It takes me a couple of days to get acclimated to the change in elevation.
Driving through Snoqualmie Pass (WA) is never boring, amazing scenery.
After climbing to almost 7,500 elevation, time to give the old motorhome a break at Soldier Summit, Utah.
Relaxing at Priest Gulch RV Resort, CO with my friends from Tucson, Az at their annual family reunion.
Since the San Juan National Forest was closed because of the 416 fire that started June 1, we spent most of our time relaxing at the camp site and doing some touring and fishing on the McPhee Reservoir. Somehow I was elected to Captain the watercraft. My boating experience at the Navy marina was put to good use.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/sanjuan/recarea/?recid=43054
Joe and Paula
McPhee Reservoir Dolores, Colorado
Took a nice scenic motorcycle ride to Tellurite, CO. (San Bernardo and Sunshine Mountain)
North of the 416 fire. Total area was closed because of high risk of fire.
Telluride Station and Mountain Village sky area
June 23rd 2018: departed Priest Gulch headed for Durango, Co to stay at the Alpine Rose Rv Resort while participating in a 2-week Habitat for Humanity build in Bayfield, Co. By the time I got to Durango, the 416 fire was down the valley just 4 miles north of where I was scheduled to stay. The smoke was horrible, I decided to stay because I was scheduled to start my Habitat build on Tuesday June 26th. During the weekend, I attempted to find another Rv park to stay at, was unsuccessful.
June 26th 2018: went to Bayfield to start my Habitat build, immediately discovered a problem, they had just fired the program manager. There were 10 AmeriCorps students and 6 Care-a-Vanners ready to work with nobody in charge.
June 26th 2018: spent the evening looking for a new location to park my RV. It ended up that within my 15 day stay, I would have had to move 3 times and I had 3 days where I didn’t have a place to stay so the Walmart parking lot was the best option. I decided that is was not meant to be, so I made arrangements to depart Durango early and head to Marysvale, UT away from the smoke. My friends Greg & Etta were scheduled to meet me there on July 9th. I called them up and they joined me a 10 days early.
During the 416 fire of June 2018 (8 days)
Just could not escape the smoke, Made it impossible to be outside and sleeping was out of the question, My yes were always watering and breathing was near impossible.
June 27th 2018: departed Alpine Rose Rv Park, headed to Marysvale, Utah. Finally got out of the smoke 100 miles northwest at Monticello, Utah, just south of Moab, Utah.
Finally hit clean air while passing through Moab, UT
View from the South Forty RV Park.
Below 2 maps show where I did the majority of my trail riding. We would ride 3 to 4 days a week (weather permitting) averaging 75 to 90 miles pre day. My friends had room for me to ride with them, so I didn't have to rent a quad. .
June 28th through July 8th 2018, Time to hit the trails.
Manning Meadows Reservoir.
June 29th 2018: Todays destination : Circleville, Utah. population 483.
Butch Cassidy's childhood home
Flags are ready to celebrate the 4th of July
Headed to Beaver, Utah for lunch
July 3rd 2018: Heading out to Big John Flats
July 9th 2018: Took a side trip to lake Powell, AZ. To relax and enjoy the scenery with Greg & Etta. Had a great time.
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Gas delivery to gas docks, 40 miles up the canyon
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Greg and Etta, my good friends from Casa Granda, AZ. We have been vacationing together since 2014.
Etta
Back to Marysvale, Ut to ride the Paiute Trail system until July 21st.
July 16th 2018: Thunder storm hit Marysvale, UT. Pretty much everything flooded, Check-in Office, the total 10 acres of the RV park was like a river and business down town covered with mud. Most of the trails were gutted. Once rain stopped, we decided to venture out to the trails to see the damage. Was not a total waste, made riding a real challenging.
July 19th 2018: When Greg and Etta returned from Lake Powell, we decided to take a few days off from riding the trails. Spent days relaxing playing card games and a more challenging game Molkky, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mölkky , a Finnish lawn throwing game.
July 20th 2018: On our last day of riding before we head home, we ventured off towards Forshea Mountain Overlook and Pole Canyon.
Pole Canyon
July 22th 2018: Time to head back to the Martin Homestead. Drive home was uneventful, great scenery. Takes 3 days to finally get to Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island , Washington.
Good to be back on the Martin Homestead.
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