Category: trip reports

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bikes general trip reports

Moab 2: Gear Shakedown on Moab Brand trails

The first day we arrived in Moab, overnight temperatures were forecast to reach a low of minus 5oC or something silly like that. For some entirely unrelated reason we decided not to camp on the first night, and instead spent the evening huddling in a cabin in Moab itself. Well actually, I went out for a run, exploring some of the local single track, while the menfolk unpacked the car, cleaned and overhauled the bikes, and cooked dinner.

The following morning we packed everything up again, and drove our little car convoy out to the Moab Brand trails. Just north of town, they were the perfect place for a gear shakedown, and nice and friendly to test out the new Tout Singletrailer we had acquired (courtesy of Finn’s Zaida).

For the record, the Tout could easily handle the Lazy-EZ trails, as well as Bar M and Rockin’ A. Probably a few of the others would have been fine too, we didn’t explore the entire trail system.

Most of the Tout towing on the trip was done by Alex. Well over 95 percent of it. It’s much lighter and more maneuverable than the Chariot, but has a completely different feel to the towing – unsurprisingly given that it attaches to the seat post rather than the rear wheel spindle. It’s also much more stable – the Chariot isn’t very hard to tip.

There were a few things that could either be improved on, or that just have to be taken into account. It could be narrower; although it’s narrower than your handlebars, the width is low to the ground, meaning it occasionally has issues with rocks and features that the bike can just roll past. It’s also inclined to cut corners, so that has to be taken into account when you’re making turns.

All in all though, it’s a fantastic little single track machine. The rear shock seems to work reasonably well, and the Moosling was pretty happy to chill out on his bench seat – oh, another added bonus is that you can put the harness on after the helmet is already attached to the toddler (not the case with the Chariot).

Above you can see Brendan displaying the typical “Moab grin”. This is the facial expression common to mountain bikers riding in the Moab area, however scientists are yet to explain this puzzling phenomenon. It is suspected they may be thinking something along the lines of “I can’t believe I’m riding my bike in Moab, this is fantastic!”, although conflicting studies have suggested it’s merely an allergic reaction to the red sand.

After our little trail adventure we headed up into the Sand Flats Recreation Area to the east of town, and had our pick of the campsites. Our first choice somehow ended up being the best one available (following comprehensive surveys of other available campsites performed shortly after arrival). We had a juniper tree, a nice large camping area, and a small mountain for the Moosling to climb. And so Alex and Brendan headed off into town to ride some more single track, while the Moosling and I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area and playing in the sand.

Distance biked: 18.5 km
Elevation gain: 185 m

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bikes canada general trip reports

The beginnings of the Moab adventure

In the beginning there were some bikes. And then there was an idea. “We should ride these bikes!” we said. “We should ride them somewhere warm, with awesome trails and spectacular scenery.” And so we drove south to Moab, Utah. And we rode the bikes in and around Moab. But first, we had to get there…

We drove down via Fernie, where the two Australian-Canadian boys got to hang out together, and discuss the issues they’ve had deciding between cricket and hockey as the most appropriate sport to follow.

The road trip continued on through Montana, to the hippy town of Missoula. There we stayed a night in an enormous bohemian bike-loving share house, where jazz concerts regularly occur, and where musical instruments, artwork, old computers and bicycles were likewise strewn about the place. Missoula itself was a wonderful hippy town, and I went for a run up to a letter M on a hillside – the letters on hillsides were quite a common theme throughout the states we travelled through.

After Missoula we travelled on through Butte, to Bozeman, and had a lovely stay in nearby Belgrade.

The following morning it was on to Jackson, Wyoming, skirting the edge of Yellowstone National Park rather than driving through (as the roads had not been ploughed for opening yet). We were snowed on in Wyoming and Idaho when we weren’t being rained on, but the scenery we could see peeking out from the clouds seemed nice enough.

And then it was onwards to Salt Lake City, Utah, where we rendezvoused with Brendan, and spent a night in the basement of the lovely Jeremy and Pam, where the Moosling had a good time playing with their Star Wars Potato-Head figurines. The next day we were to drive to Moab.

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bikes canada general moosling snow trip reports

Goat Creek (Spoiler: There were no goats in the creek)

There was movement at the bike shop, for the decision had been made
That we would bike the Goat Creek trail today,
And all the way to old Banff town — and maybe back again,
so we needed one more snow bike for the ride.
All the gear was gathered from the cupboards high and low
And piled in heaps upon the hallway floor,
For we’d learned to love hard riding through the snow and mountain air,
And the toddler in his carriage cried for more.

The bikes were fully loaded, so we set off up to Whiteman’s Gap,
The old pass that takes forever just to reach;
But from the top the views around could not be beat —
On a day with such a blue and cloudless sky.
As we reached the trailhead we switched the Chariot to skis,
The better then to glide over the snow;
For things were getting tougher as we pedalled down the trail,
Could be we’d bitten off more than we could chew.

The snowy path we pedalled — staying out of skiers tracks
So the going was as hard as it could be,
For we rode on deep fresh snow, completely uncompressed
A straight line was hard to keep, and so we tired.
Then we halted for a moment, for a snack and sip of tea,
And for the wee young toddler to run about,
Before long we returned sore rears to seats and then were off,
Churning through the snow with heavy legs.

And down by Banff Springs Hotel, where the tourists flock about
The mountains rise majestic up on high,
Where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze
At midnight in the cold and frosty sky,
And where around the ski trails the pine trees sweep and sway
To the breezes, and their icy beauty cannot be denied,
The snow bikes are still looked at with amazement and dismay,
And the people tell the story of their ride.

 
 

(My apologies to Banjo Paterson, I have no idea what possessed me.)
(Distance covered: 30km, Elevation gain: 750m, we didn’t bike back to Canmore as we ran out of time, and weren’t feeling that masochistic anyway)

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canada general moosling snow trip reports

Brewster Creek Trail

Along Brewster Creek Trail we skied, from the parking lot at the base of the Sunshine Village access road, and up to Banff Sundance Lodge. The trail was groomed all the way to the lodge, and we climbed and climbed. Finn skied for a while, and then ran for a bit, and then fell asleep in the Chariot.

After lunch on the verandah of the lodge, we headed back downhill, zoom zoom. The day never quite manage to be properly sunny with blue skies, but the overcast weather that threatened never really settled in either. A fun day out, that tempted us with ideas of connecting through to Fatigue Creek Trail, Citadel Pass and Sunshine Meadows for a long summer run.

Distance: 21km return
Elevation gain: 521m

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bikes canada general hiking moosling trip reports

Pigeon Mountain (lacking in pigeons since 1858)

Pigeon Mountain has been hovering on our radar for a long time – it sits just next to Skogan Pass, so we’ve travelled past it plenty of times, but have never quite made the turn up towards the summit. It was a warm day for November, and without too much snow on the ground, we thought we may as well use this trip as a good shoulder season excursion.

After cheating and driving to the trailhead, we unloaded the bikes and Chariot, and started the slog up alongside the power-lines. There were a couple of other random hikers about, but the carpark had been overwhelmingly full of hunters. We passed a few on the trail; bow hunters who had bagged a bighorn sheep.

We managed to cover 3.5 km or so before the snow on the trail started to make traction impossible, so gave in and stashed the wheels in the trees.

Above the treeline and trudging uphill, with an old-school toddler carrying device – shoving them in the space between your back and the backpack

Another kilometre or so and we reached the turnoff, taking us up single trail, climbing a spur until we were spat out above the treeline and into the wind. From there on the trail wasn’t so well defined. There was a fantastic choose-your-own-adventure set of trails to follow through the snow though…

Follow the sheep trail. Turn to page 63. You have fallen into a wind drift and can’t get out. You starve to death before summer comes.
Follow the lower human trail. Turn to page 48. The trail disappears over the edge of a cliff. You fall to your death.
Set your own tracks across wind slab. Turn to page 38. The wind slab holds for the first twenty metres, but suddenly gives way, and you are trapped in postholing hell.

Lunch!

We managed to make our way through the perilous choose-your-own-adventure section, and reached the ridge, where the wind had kept the snow pretty thin on the ground. Surprisingly, the wind swept ridge was also rather windy.

Onwards and upwards

We were not alone – hoards of bighorn sheep around. The whole area will be under seasonal closure from December 1st, as it’s a breeding ground for the bighorn sheep.

It was easy walking to the summit and after snacks and photos at the summit cairn, we shook our fist at the sun, which had just disappeared behind a bank of clouds that had been hugging the mountains to the west of us, and then we scarpered back down the mountain.

Thanks to the bike-stashing effort, we made it back to the car a full five minutes before sunset (with the added benefit that we weren’t driven insane by having to walk down a road next to a power-line for a full five kilometres).

Oh, and as an added bonus, here is a link to the song we both had stuck in our head all day long.

Distance: 16.5km
Elevation gain: 960m
Summit altitude: 2394m