Utah & Colorado MTB Trip
Introduction

The best traveling companions a guy could have.

In late summer of 1996, I enjoyed an epic mountain biking adventure with my friends in the beautiful canyon country near Moab Utah and the Uncompaghre Plateau in Colorado. Now, I want to share this fantastic experience with you. So, go to the 'fridge and get yourself a cold one. Then, sit back and enjoy the story. On my links page you'll find handy links and other resources for planning a similar trip.

Perhaps, I should begin with some background on my friends. Pictured from left to right:

• Lorraine Stewart lives in Worcester, MA and is a credit and collections manager at Charles P. Lauman Company in Westboro, MA.
• Steve Blum is a lives in Westboro, MA and practices dentistry in Framingham, MA.
• Javi Sanchez, lives in Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife (one of the Canary Islands), off the coast of Morocco), Spain. Javi helps manage Lancer Textiles, his family's textile import business. Javi doesn't mountain bike. He wanted to see Utah. Since his brother was going, he joined us on the trip.
• Ricardo Sanchez is Javi's younger brother. Ricardo also helps manage the family's business.
• Dave Baumgartner lives in Douglas, MA and manages Trek Stop, a bicycle shop in South Grafton, MA. Dave's mechanical talents were invaluable on this trip. We don't leave home without him!
• My name is Tom Swenson. I live in Boylston, MA at the time I was working as a Sales Representative for Corning OCA Corporation.

A picture of Tom standing at an overlook high above the Colorado River.

This region, known as the Colorado Plateau, was once a vast inland sea. Dinosaurs roamed the shores leaving footprints we can see today. The sea advanced and retreated many times depositing layers of sand, salt and other sediments. About 10 million years ago tectonic plates in the Earth's crust collided and pushed the land up to its present elevation. This altered the climate to its present arid condition. The climate change in turn resulted in fewer plants to slow erosion.

The Colorado River and its tributaries carved deep river canyons exposing many layers of colorful sediments laid down hundreds of millions of years before. Often, softer sediments eroded out from under harder sediments creating dramatic cliffs, mesas, buttes, fins, arches and other interesting geological formations.

The first stop in our journey was the mountain biking Mecca of Moab, Utah. Native Americans lived here and drew pictures (petroglyphs) on the Red canyon walls. Mormons settled here in the mid 1800's. In the early 1950's a Texan named Charley Steen discovered one of the World's largest concentrations of uranium ore near Moab. Steen became an instant millionaire and set off a modern day mining boom. Uranium fueled Moab's economy until the end of the Cold War in the mid 1980's. The uranium miners left behind a network of jeep roads and trails through this vast desert wilderness. As a result, Moab is a paradise for Jeepers, hikers, mountain bikers and other backcountry travelers.

The second part of our trip brought us to the posh ski town of Telluride, Colorado for a six day guided mountain biking and camping trip back to Moab. We bicycled up Last Dollar Pass (10,400 feet). We spent four days biking and camping along the Uncompaghre Plateau. On day five we enjoyed a screaming descent off the plateau to the small town of Gateway, Colorado. We experienced the nature's power as a flash flood roared through John Brown Canyon at the foot of the LaSal Mountains. On Day six, we descended Sand Flats Road back to Moab.

We spent our final day hiking in Arches National Park, ending our trip at Delicate Arch.

We shipped our bikes ahead to Western Spirit Cycling. Dave, Steve, Javi Ricardo and myself flew into Grand Junction, CO on Wednesday, August 28. Lorraine arrived on Saturday the 30th due to work commitments. We rented a huge van (almost a bus) and drove it 120 miles to Moab, UT. We arrived in Moab at around 9 PM and checked in at Pioneer Spring B&B.

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Continue to Day 1

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Introduction
Day 1 Porcupine Rim
Day 2 Slick Rock Trail, Gemini Bridges and Dead Horse Point S.P.
Day 3 Colorado National Monument
Day 4 Jughandle Loop
Day 5 Telluride Colorado to Last Dollar Pass
Day 6 Uncompaghre Plateau
Day 7 Uncompaghre Plateau
Day 8 Uncompaghre Plateau
Day 9 Gateway Colorado and John Brown Canyon
Day 10 Sand Flats Road to Moab
Day 11 Arches National Park