Utah Rocks! May-June, 2008

In late May, six of us left from Bend, Oregon and flew east in four small planes. We made our way through interesting weather to Wells, Nevada to refuel before continuing on to our initial destination of Mineral Canyon, Utah, plopping down on a tiny dirt strip on the side of the Green River. Based there for three nights, we made daily flights to various remote airstrips, exploring the canyons by air and by ground, using the mountain bikes we brought in the planes. Camp was moved to Up The Creek Campground in Moab for a couple of nights so we could ride the nearby Purcupine Rim and Slickrock trails. On our day to start homeward, the weather changed from classic Summer conditions to pre-frontal, with strong gusty winds and areas of ominous clouds. The route west around the worst weather took us right over Zion National Park. We were happy to take refuge in Hawthorne, Nevada for a night before continuing on to Bend in better weather the next day. We cruised along the shore of beautiful Pyramid Lake, made stops near Gerlach and Fly Geyser, at Bog hot springs (a hot river!) near Denio, at the Alvord Desert and at Burns on the way back to Bend. It was an absolutely perfect trip, very dreamlike, especially the mountains, clouds, canyons, many landings and in general, Rick's awesome flying. It was nonstop fantasy!

Here are links to two fun videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3txbPaoVG8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZY-teffi7s