9/30/09, Day 3. Escalante to Page

Day 3.

Smokey Mountain trail, lake powell overlook, big water descent, page.

Very early in the morning, we heard a loud crash of thunder.. it was about 5 & woke everyone up. It started raining, & i began considering alternate routes to page. I got up & retrieved some of our laundry we had hung on the bikes. The rain was just starting. By dawn it had stopped. The roads were a little damp, but there was not enough to make mud. But Corky was getting a little tired, & decided to take pavement all the way to page. We got some breakfast at the motel, gassed up, & hit the trail.

The smokey mountain trail is a pretty cool trail with a lot of variety. The sand & mud washes you cross early on were dry, even with the rain we got. The only downside to this day was a fierce wind. It was blowing dust & us all over. We didn't stop for breaks much, as the wind was too unpleasant & blew dirt in our faces.. we might as well ride.



Kim & Tom on the smokey mountain trail.



Here's an early section of the smokey mtn trail:


The first part was fairly flat, with a lot of wash crossings. This day they were all pretty dry. Sometimes they are running & can be pretty muddy. We would have only 2 crossings with water.. the one right before the climb, & the big one at bigwater. They were both ahead.


We stopped a couple of times to check out some scenic canyon overlooks.

The middle section had a lot of winding, rocky roads, with lots of ups & downs.







Tom has been trying to decide which 250 to get. He's read the specs, the user reviews, & has ridden the bikes. He had it narrowed down to the klx, then thought about the wr, so we swapped bikes for a bit to help Tom decide.


Here's Tom coming up a rocky climb on the shiny new wrx.

Now you see me sitting on a bright red honda, trying in vain to catch Kim flying through the trail on a yamaha, who can't come close to catching Tom tearing it up on the kawasaki.


Fortunately, there was a steep sandy hill to slow Tom down.. We might not have seen him again. Kim thought that was enough bike swapping for now.

We got back on our own bikes, & this is where the road got rough.. it was steep, rocky, stepped, & curved around a lot. It was the big climb up.







Once on top, the road flatted out more & became sandy.


We followed it a few miles until we came to the big view.






The wind made it kind of hazy, but it was still spectacular, seeing lake powell & the grand canyon in the distance.




Now we were ready for the descent. We winded & curved our way along sheer cliffs, narrow,loose gravel roads, & endless views.






The big wash at bigwater.. it was almost 3" deep & a foot across!! Kim & Tom were so disappointed.



We got back on the pavement at bigwater, crossed the dam & went into page.


Tom & Kim crossing the dam.

Corky beat us back.. the wind blew him around some, but at least he didn't have to brave the bigwater crossing!


We put our toys away, & walked down the road for a mexican fast food dinner.

This was the short day.. we were in page by 2pm. We barely went 100 miles. But they were interesting miles. This was our last night.. we'd be heading home back through the navajo reservation.

end of day 3