The sun continued to shine on us here in the desert, so we packed up camp and headed for the KlonZo trailhead. Located just east of the Sovereign Trail, this network of trails was created in 2012 and is just for mountain bikers.
Michael has ridden KlonZo before but this was a new trail for me. There’s a pretty good map at the BLM website. Super fun! And considering as how it was my first mountain bike ride of 2016, I was super proud of myself.
Michael went back out for Round 2 (there are north and south loops at KlonZo), and I hung out with the dogs at the trailhead. That’s about the time when I realized that I’d left Elvis’s medication at home. Dammit. It’s arthritis medication, so it’s not life threatening, but still. He needs it. Especially since he was about to be super-active for the next 8 days.
So when we headed into Moab, while looking over the cool stuff at Poison Spider Bicycles, I looked up all the veterinarians in Moab. There are exactly two. One said they couldn’t prescribe medication without actually seeing the animal. But the other was game, so Michael called up our vet and had them fax over Elvis’s prescription.
One more adventure with dogs. Luckily this one did not involve poop.
Eventually we started our drive south towards towards the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. I haven’t been in this area since 1999. In fact, I thought I’d never get back.
Our plan was to head down a BLM road that was on my map, and find a place to camp. We found the road with no problem. The first site we passed looked cool, but didn’t have a fire ring, so we kept going. As we passed this little two-track Michael said, “I bet there’s something cool down there,” and pulled in.
We drove down this little road for about a 1/2 mile. At some point (maybe about 100 feet?) we crossed private property, before getting back on to BLM land. And then – there was something cool down there, all right:
An established fire ring, a bundle of firewood, and this view across the valley:
I mean, damn. Never in a million years did I think we’d score such a beautiful campsite, completely free. Thank you BLM!
In the morning I took even more pictures:
And we had it all to ourselves.
I was sad to pack up and leave, but it was time to go to Canyonlands!
Here’s my view on the RTT so far: it’s awesome, but not perfect. I love how roomy it is, how comfortable it is, and we can have it set up in 10 minutes. Breakdown takes a little longer right now. (I’m sure we’ll get faster.) But here’s the thing: once the tent is set up, we’re can’t move the truck… without breaking down the tent first. So the RTT decreases our mobility slightly. It’s not a dealbreaker or anything, just something to get used to.
Next post: set your eyes to stun, because the Needles District is heavenly.