A Utah Runcation

When we plan trips, we like to plan them around an event we want to do or find an event near a location that we want to visit.  This year we knew we were planning on going to Colorado to mountain bike so I searched Ultra Sign Up for an event within 200 miles of the area we were looking to visit for the 2 weeks we planned to be on the road.  I found an inaugural trail run that was going to be in Monticello, Utah on June 27th.  It was the Bears Ears Ultra and offered distances of 30k, 50k, and 50 miles.  I researched the company, Mad Moose Events, that was putting on the race and found they had great reviews and a large selection of events throughout the year. https://www.madmooseevents.com We discussed trip logistics and decided to sign up for the race and then plan out the timing for the remainder of the trip around the race.  We both registered on February 22nd for the 30k distance.  Mike had offered to run with me because this would be my longest trail distance to date and to me a mile on the trail equals 5 road miles so I would definitely need someone to encourage me.  

A little over 3 weeks later,  Covid-19 seemed to shut down the United States. Races began to be cancelled more and more frequently and travel became uncertain due to the severity of cases in different areas.  I had put off detailed travel planning until I knew for certain we would be able to travel.  I had planned a big family trip to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas for March and ended up having to cancel all of those reservations two days before we were supposed to leave due to the virus and I didn't want to have to go through that again, if at all possible.

Slowly the world began to reopen but with restrictions.  On May 25th, we received the good news that the trail run would be held.  This meant I had less than 5 weeks to get our two week trip planned.  I began to follow the states that we would be traveling through on social media so we would be aware of their virus protocol.  Thankfully, none of the states we were traveling through required a 14 day quarantine upon arrival.  It also helped that we had recently purchased a tear drop camper and would be staying in campgrounds and not hotels.

We made reservations at Westerner RV Park in Monticello. https://westernerrvpark.com/index.html  It had great reviews and was only 20 minutes from the start of the race.  I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling through that area.  We were able to pick our own site so we chose a shady one across from the bathhouse and laundry area.  There were only 2 bathrooms but both were spacious and clean and we never had to wait to use one.  Our site was close to the road but the noise was not noticeable and the view was great.

After getting things set up, we began researching lunch places that would allow dine-in.  We decided on The Granary Bar and Grill which was less than a mile from the campground.  http://granarybargrill.com  I had a build-your-own panini with steak & blue cheese and Mike had a turkey, bacon, & guac wrap, both came with a side of red fries.  The food was delicious and the portions large.  

After lunch we still had a few hours before packet pick-up so we drove out to where the race would begin.  This helped ease any concerns we had on finding it race morning and to confirm the amount of time that it would actually take to get there from the campground, which allows me to sleep as late as possible.

We returned to the campground and walked to packet pick-up.  This gave us a good two miles, round trip,  to stretch our legs.  Our packet was in a draw string bag with the Mad Moose logo and included a t-shirt, Bears Ears trucker hat (which I love),  event stickers, and our personalized bib.  Now that we had our packet, we began to get all of our gear and nutrition ready so that we would not have to worry about that in the morning.   I was ready to relax and try not to think about tomorrow because I was beginning to get anxious.

Thankfully, we both slept well and after our breakfast of a Boost and English muffin with jelly, we were headed to the race.  Because of coronavirus, social distancing rules were in place so that the race directors were able to host the event.  The 50 mile portion had been cancelled and only the 30k & 50k distances were being run. The 50k racers started at 6 a.m. with five racers starting every minute and then 30k racers at 7 a.m. following the same guideline. There were protocols set up for the porta-potties and aid stations as well using orange cones spaced every 6 feet so runners could keep the appropriate distance.  

The first five-ish miles were on dirt and paved roads.  The trail portion of the course began after the first aid station.  The trail portions included the Robertson Pasture and Spring Creek Trail. https://www.trailrunproject.com/trail/7021933/robertson-pasture-trail-20  https://www.trailrunproject.com/trail/7021934/spring-creek-trail-159  We saw some of the most amazing views along this trail, including views of Canyonlands National Park.  Not only that, the trail itself was like a magical scene from a Disney movie.  There were large areas of wildflowers,  tall Aspen trees, deer, and every color butterfly you could imagine.  The pictures do not do it justice.

 I think this is about the part of the run that I began to think I was never going to reach the top of this 6 mile climb so I was considering jumping off and  just rolling back down to where I started.  This Alabama girl had experienced all the elevation she needed for one day.  This is where Mike came to my rescue.  All along the course he would say "You're doing great" and "You got this" but at this point I was feeling hangry and tired and words were not working for me but he never quit encouraging me and was patient beyond measure because I was not being nice in return.  We FINALLY reached the second aid station which signaled to me that I would survive the rest of the course.  I drank some ginger ale and grabbed a bag of chips and felt revived.  I was able to go back to running more than walking and when we reached the paved and dirt trail portion at the end we ran almost all of that to the finish.  We were handed our finishers medal, still in the wrapper, and Mike grabbed a chocolate milk and I chose ginger ale again and we headed towards the truck.  Races aren't near as exciting at the finish when social distancing is being enforced but it was worth it to get to do the event.

When we returned to the campground, we went ahead and hooked up the camper because we were heading out early the next morning for Sedona.  We got cleaned up, put on a load of laundry, and began deciding what we wanted for dinner.  There were two pizza places only a few blocks from the campground but Wagon Wheel had the best reviews. https://www.yelp.com/biz/wagon-wheel-pizza-monticello We phoned in our order for a medium 'the works' minus onions and walked to pick it up and bring it back to the campground.  The walk was not as bad as I was expecting after all the earlier miles but, of course, I was wearing my comfortable Oofos at this point.  https://www.oofos.com  The pizza hit the spot, especially since that was the only real food we had eaten for the day, and we really liked the crispiness of the crust.

All in all, the runcation part of our vacation went well.  I survived my first ultra trail run, thanks to Mike, and we were pleased with the event, the campground, and our choice of restaurants.

Fruita, Colorado: The Perfect Vacation Town for a Road or Mountain Biker

While researching mountain biking destinations in Colorado I discovered information on the town of Fruita.  It sounded like the perfect stop for our second mountain biking adventure of this road trip.  It was less than a 2 hour drive from Ridgway, which was our first stop in Colorado and would not require a long day of driving.  We chose to camp in the Fruita section of James M. Robb Colorado River State Park because of its proximity to the trails.  We picked site 32 because it was shady and a short walk to the restrooms, showers, & laundry; the facilities were very clean and the showers were no longer pay showers as the website had described but they were on a timer.  The temps were around 100 degrees all 3 days we were there so we were very thankful we found a spot with shade because some spots had no shade at all.  Originally, this was going to be a truck camping trip which would have been miserable because we would have only had a fan at night and it NEVER cooled down at night.  Thankfully Mike got the tiny camper bug just in time for us to find the perfect camper for us or we would have been looking for a cool hotel room! https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/JamesMRobbColoradoRiver/Pages/FruitaCamping.aspx

Downtown Fruita was only 5 minutes from the campground and we could have easily biked it with all the trails they have available but we weren't sure about bike accommodations or what would actually be open due to the virus.  We had lunch at Suds Brothers Brewery because they were allowing dine-in.  We both had the BBQ sandwich which did not disappoint. http://www.sudsbrothers2fruita.com

While in downtown we shopped at Over the Edge Sports  https://otesports.com/locations/fruita/ which had a hand washing station set up outside the store for you to use before entering and they were also limiting the number of people inside the store. They had a great selection of mountain biking apparel but I chose to go with a Fruita trucker hat which I love.  We also shopped at Happy Trails where I bought a really colorful tech Fruita mountain biker shirt. https://happytrailscolorado.com  The downtown area was very neat and everyone we encountered was very friendly.  We also got to see the statue of the legendary Mike the Headless Chicken. https://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/mike/page/history

After we returned to the campground we decided to get on the bikes to ride and see how the riverfront trail in the campground connected to the trail that we would be taking in the morning towards the mountain bike trails.  We knew we would have to head out super early in the morning to finish our ride before the hottest part of the day.  The riverfront trail is a wide paved path that runs along the Colorado River.  There was artwork under the overpasses and a fun directional sign at the intersection toward the Kokopelli Trail.  According to their Ride 2020 magazine, the total one way distance of the trail is 27.8 miles, 23.9 miles of which is on paved bike path.  https://www.traillink.com/trail/colorado-riverfront-trail/

We hit the bike trail at 6:30 am after a hearty bowl of Apple Jacks.  Mike had researched some of the Kokopelli trails and decided that Rustler's Loop would be one we could both ride.  The 5 mile ride to the trail head was flat until we reached the exit toward the trail and then it was uphill for a small distance of the paved trail & a little over half a mile on a gravel road.  The first part of Rustler's Loop is a climb but once I survived that, the trail was very flowy with beautiful views of the Colorado River.  There were signs posted all along the trail with tips for riding which was very cool, especially as most of them were tips on how to ride an upcoming section.  I wish I would have taken the time to stop and read each sign as I need all the helpful info I can get.  The downhill back to the trailhead was a fun ride.  I really like that the trail was one directional so you could enjoy the ride without worrying about someone riding toward you.  After we got back to the trailhead, we took a break & ate our pb&j sandwiches.  Before heading back to the campground we tried out a section of Mary's & Wrangler's.  Both were out of my comfort zone.  By the time we got back to the campground we had over 16 miles. 

https://www.blm.gov/visit/kokopellis-trail

After returning to the campground & getting cleaned up, we drove to downtown to order a pizza from Hot Tomato.  This was the ONE restaurant I had really wanted to eat in Fruita because they had great reviews & a really cool sounding outdoor sitting area but they were doing take out only because of the coronavirus.  https://www.hottomatopizza.com  We ordered an appetizer of chips & queso at Suds Brothers while we were waiting for our pizza because our Apple Jacks & pb&j had worn off long ago.  We picked up our pizza & took it back to the campground.  We ordered The Bob Steve and it was soooooooo good!  Even though I was disappointed we could not dine-in at Hot Tomato, I was grateful we were able to try their pizza. 

After stuffing ourselves on half of the pizza, we retreated to the nice air conditioning of the camper to watch Netflix until the hottest part of the day passed.

Thursday morning we decided to drive to Colorado National Monument and hike some of the trails.  The monument was only a short drive from the campground.  There were two tunnels you drove through on the road into the park.  We parked at the Visitor Center and walked to the Book Cliffs area, which was about two miles round trip.  After going in the visitor center we hiked part of the Black Ridge trail so that we could see our campground from the monument.  It was interesting to see the view from the opposite side as we could see the monument from the campground. I was hoping to see a big horned sheep but we only saw their tracks; we did however see several colorful lizards along the trail.  https://www.nps.gov/colm/index.htm

The day ended with Fruita getting strong winds from a nearby storm so we had to take down our awning, canopy & changing tent earlier than planned.  It actually worked to our advantage because we were heading out in the morning for Monticello, Utah and it allowed us to have a much more leisurely morning by having almost everything packed up.

If you are ever in the area of Fruita, I would highly recommend spending a few days there. They have a welcome center in town that can help you with any information you need to get the most of your visit.  https://www.codot.gov/travel/state-highway-rest-areas/map-of-rest-areas/fruita-welcome-center  I hope to go back and ride some of their other trail systems when I get a few more mountain bike skills under my belt.

Ridgway, Colorado: A Gorgeous State Park and Awesome Mountain Bike Trails

We knew when planning for our road trip this year that we wanted it to involve mountain biking in Colorado. We had bought mountain bikes at the end of July last year because mountain bike trails were built in our neighborhood and since they were so close we figured why not try something new.  Mike is a little (ok a lot) more adventurous than I am and is always up to try new trails where as I am happy to ride trails on which I know what to expect at each turn. When researching mountain bike trails in Colorado I came across info on the RAT, Ridgway Area Trails, system in Ridgway. The trail system seemed to have a good selection of trails with varying degrees of difficulty. The trails were located close to Ridgway State Park so that is where we chose to camp.  https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/Ridgway

We arrived in Ridgway on Sunday, June 21st,  just in time for check-in which was 1pm.  Ridgway State Park was beautiful.  The park had three sections of campgrounds and after reading about all of them, we had  decided to make reservations for site 108 of the Elk Ridge Loop in the Dutch Charlie section.  We decided on this particular site because it had a little shade and was across from the restrooms, bathhouse, & laundry. Due to Covid-19 the showers & laundry had been closed but thankfully reopened two days before we arrived. The showers were no longer pay showers as described in the park info but were on a 4 minute timer that you could reset if needed.  The laundry area was very nice and clean and we did take advantage of it the afternoon before we left. The campground hosts were very friendly and even brought us hammock stands to use for our hammocks as there weren't many trees in the area.  

We had planned to eat either lunch or dinner out at a local restaurant each day to help support local businesses.  Unfortunately, with Covid-19 being what it was at the time, finding somewhere to eat was not as easy as we'd hoped.  Using Trip Advisor and Yelp I had narrowed down our top choices but the best places in Ridgway were showing carry-out only and after traveling for two and a half days and eating in the truck or out of the camper galley we were ready for a sit down meal.  I expanded my search and found Ouray Brewery allowing dine-in in Ouray, which was only about 20 minutes from Ridgway.  https://www.ouraybrewery.com

The town of Ouray was described as a little Switzerland and upon seeing it understood why.  It is a beautiful small town with amazing mountain views.  The Ouray Brewery was in the middle of downtown and very easy to find.  The host of the restaurant was set up outside the entrance and she explained the new 'rules' for dining in which included wearing your mask into the restaurant and any time you were not seated at your table and using hand sanitizer they provided before entering.  They were also limiting the number of patrons that could be inside at one time but this did not make our wait for a table very long.  We both had the classic brewery burger and fries and it was well worth the 20 minute drive to be able to sit inside a restaurant and eat.

Around midnight I had to go to the bathroom.  When I opened the door of the camper and saw the sky I squealed at how beautiful it was and about scared Mike to death.  It was the first time I had seen the Milky Way so clearly.  It was the most incredible sky I had ever seen thanks to the new moon and a clear sky.  I wish I could have taken a picture but it would never have done it justice. It was amazing and I will never forget it!

The following day we headed out to the RAT mountain bike trails after a 3 mile trail run in the park. We knew we had to do everything early as the temps were pretty hot after lunch.  The trails were appropriately named as we took The Big Cheese trail to the top of 4 Corners and then Ratical, Speedy Gonzales, & Big Cheese back to the trail head.  The trail was very dry so I had to push a lot of the switchbacks.  The first couple of miles were uphill so I did a lot of pushing anyway.  I still had not acclimated to the higher altitude but it never seemed to bother Mike.  There were a lot of really nice views along this trail system and the ride down was well worth the climb. https://www.ridgwayareatrails.com

After our ride, we drove in to downtown Ridgway to pick up some lunch to take back to the campground. I was planning to call our order in at True Grit Cafe but I took a chance and asked if they were allowing inside dining and they were.  We were seated outside on a balcony overlooking the town which was nice not only for the views but also because we were dirty and sweaty from riding.  We both had buffalo burgers with fries and they were perfect. https://truegritcafe.com

Tuesday morning we did the 3 mile trail run in reverse of the day before and I found it much easier.  Afterwards, it was time to shower and pack up for our next Colorado destination.  Ridgway was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone looking to mountain bike or just enjoy some time outdoors.  There were a lot of things to do that we were not able to take advantage of due to our short time there.