Palisades Creek Trail, Swan Valley, ID

Palisades Creek Trail, Swan Valley, ID (April 18, 2016)

Selfie at the bridge near the trail head.

Palisades Creek Trail is one of my all time favorite hikes. It truly is a hidden gem. A beautiful year round creek runs down this gorgeous canyon framed by towering cliffs and snow covered peaks. Wildlife sightings are almost a guarantee. Deer, moose, elk, big horn sheep, mountain goat, bear, everything is in this canyon! I have always loved destination hiking. I'm a little mission oriented that way. So, trails with some cool or interesting location that you are hiking towards appeal to me. This trail has a small lake and awesome campsite near the 4 mile mark then another much large lake and camping area at the 7 mile mark. Both lakes have repeatedly been awesome fishing for me and one can almost count on a fresh trout dinner if they chose to.

One of the joys of the outdoors is sharing it with your family. My youngest, Alice, loves to be outside. Her vocabulary is still growing so she just calls it, "side" but often enough you can hear her little feet patting around the house and a tiny voice saying, "side..side..side?" She loves to collect dandelions, sticks, and rocks than throw them in the creek or the house...

Like a BOSS! Alice is cruising up the trail with grandma.

My mom is one of the best hikers I know. She on numerous occasions has on a whim drug the rest of us out on 10+ mile hikes and then power shopped at Walmart immediately afterwards as though her feet were impervious to pain and blisters. It really is quite amazing. Growing up we backpacked a lot and we would frequently cross paths with guided adventure groups out on multi day backpacking trips. It was always (and still is) comical for me to watch the expressions on young athletic 20 somethings faces when my mom cruises past them on the trail, normally with several small kids, and acts like its totally no big deal to walk a 4 mile/hour pace with a 35 lbs pack over rugged terrain for hours. I guess sometimes college kids need a pride check! 

A little rest and a baba after an intense one mile sprint!

Now I'm the parent and I'm dragging little ones out into the woods to do the same things my parents taught me as a kid. It pretty cool really! And my mom still kicks butt on the trail! She cruised with me and Alice on this little hike up Palisades Creek Trail. Love you Mom! Life is good!

-Adventure on!

Moab, Utah

Moab, UT (April 15-17, 2016)

Left to right- Brad, Chris, Tyler at the Mag 7 trail head.

“May your trails be crooked, winding, dangerous, and lead to the most amazing views. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds” –Edward Abbey. As the prodigal son returned to his home and family after wasting his time and money on other things I too have returned to mountain biking! And what better way to return to the fold then to make a pilgrimage to Moab, UT with some old friends and adventure on the mind.

Trail map of the Mag 7 area.

Left to right- Tyler, Tyler, Brad, Michaelen, and Nicolette.

Panoramic shot on Bull Run.

Tyler and I at the the trail head.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time wandering and exploring in the wilderness of Utah but somehow up to this point in my life I haven’t ever made the drive to Moab. I’ve read many articles about the area and heard the stories of friends and family after they returned from a memorable trip to Arches or Canyonlands. The draw of the unusual red rock and the access to thousands of trails and climbing spots seems as though it should have been irresistible but the powers to be had yet granted me access to this temple of adventure.

Taking a break and goofing around.

Tyler checking out a bolted climbing spot we found.

Tyler photo bombing my selfie.

Sitting on top of Gemini Bridges.

Tyler on top of Gemini Bridges.

One of my favorite travel partner’s, my very own brother, Tyler managed to pull away from his busy life for a weekend so that we could meet a group of friends for mountain biking, exploring, and rock climbing. After a long day at work I was happy to collapse in the passenger seat of Tyler’s Civic and munch on granola bars and Mountain Dew while he drove us South. Tyler and I were operating on about a $150 budget for the whole trip so we were pretty much in dirt-bag mode (the act of traveling whilst spending little to no money on food or amenities such as a hotel room). I had a cooler full of old backpacking food which I had robbed from my dad’s camping stash. Tyler had stuffed a bunch of Dew’s and granola bars from his house into the car. So, we pretty much thought we could tackle any trip.

A view of Gemini Bridges from the opposite direction.

A panoramic shot of the Moab area.

Action shot of Tyler riding down the trail.

An excellent mountain biker and close friend, also named Tyler, had rallied to bring a group of us together for this trip. He had suggested a camping location to me near Moab which he had thankfully also sent GPS coordinates to. Close to the one o’clock hour…am we pulled into the Moab area drove down a red sandy road called Mill Canyon and found an empty camp site to set up our tent. We were so tired that I don’t think it mattered much but I remember thinking the soft red soil made an excellent tent platform before I fell asleep.

Me at the entrance to Arches.

Tyler at the visitors center.

The following morning we arose, earlier than either of us wanted to but still excited for a day of mountain biking. I was borrowing Porter’s, my other brother, Cannondale mountain bike and I had mistakenly purchased 26 inch spare tubes before the trip not knowing that Porter’s bike had 29 inch rims. So, we had to make a quick stop at a bike shop in town before we hit the trail. This is when it first hit me that I had truly been missing out. Moab is an awesome town! If you follow my blog at all or if you know me then you probably know that I like outdoor gear… a lot. If one is good two is better and when it comes to my diverse interest in adventure sports there is always a new life changing gadget that can be added to your kit. Well, Moab is like a mecca of outdoorsy shops and gear. Every street corner has a rental equipment shop or gear store all packed with cool new toys and interesting people getting ready for their next adventure. I was immediately enamored and simultaneously ruined that I made it through 31 years 6 months and 9 days of my life without visiting such a cool place and at this point I hadn’t even hit the trail on a bike yet!

Tunnel Arch.

Like a kid in a candy shop I was a little overwhelmed and Tyler had to remind me that we didn’t have time to visit every shop that morning. We finally decided to try a particularly cool looking shop named the Moab Cyclery. I totally recommend this spot to anybody in the area who needs to pick up some last minute items. The staff was super friendly and they had some awesome gear inside. We found a good tube of the correct size and were soon back on the road.

Landscape view near Pine Tree Arch.

Tyler at Pine Tree Arch.

After a quick phone conference with the rest of the group and some dollar menu McDonalds items we were headed out of town to a trail system called Mag 7. Mag 7 sits to the East of Utah Hwy 313 about 15 miles northwest of Moab. Traditionally, Mag 7 is a combination of 7 smaller trails linked together to make one long system. The area has continued to develop and now a number of alternate options exist to change up the original route. Our intent was to ride down Bull Run to Great Escape then up Lower Goldbar to Goldbar Rim Rd/Goldbar Rim St then out Spider Rd to Utah Hwy 279 where we would be picked up by our shuttle car.

Tyler in front of Skyline Arch.

Me pointing at Skyline Arch.

This route allowed us to mostly have a downhill ride. I would rate the trail at intermediate difficulty. There was a fair number of obstacles in the 6-12 inch range that had to be navigated over or around and the trail continually goes up or down steep drops frequently 12-18 inches in height. I’m certainly not an expert mountain biker and there was only a few times I had to get off my bike to push around a tricky obstacle. All in all it was giggle worthy (meaning I was having such a good time that I involuntarily would burst into giggles while ripping down the trail over small jumps and obstacles).

Tyler in a narrow slot canyon hiking to Sand Dune Arch.

Tyler posing under Sand Dune Arch.

Bull Run, is an approximately 5.1 mile stretch of trail that has it all, slick-rock, corners, downhill, obstacles, scenery it was a great stretch of trail. Near the end of Bull Run we stopped at a short side trail that lead the group to Gemini Bridges a huge natural arch that has split into two different bridges crossing a deep canyon. This was a gorgeous site and well worth the short hike in bike shoes. We had a quick lunch here and took a ton of pictures.

Landscape shot near Sand Dune Arch.

Great Escape is another 3.3 mile stretch of similar trail with some packed sand areas that you can really open it up on. Near the end of Great Escape one member of our group, Nicolette, had a pedal break on her bike which made it difficult to continue on the single track trail. At that point we split the group into two parties and half of us continued on up Lower Goldbar while the rest took a sandy walk down Gemini Bridges Rd. Lower Goldbar is a 2.1 mile stretch with lots of slick-rock and a decent uphill portion.

Landscape shot of the Fiery Furnace area.

After 10.5 miles of aggressive trail riding and numerous crashes (due to our own rusty skills and pushing it a little harder then we probably should have) we decided as group that we would have to finish Mag 7 another time and we turned around to catch the rest of our group on the Gemini Bridges Rd. FYI for those who decide to do this same path Gemini Bridges Rd is a sandy mess in the bottom of the canyon where it meets Great Escape and then it climbs about 800-1000 feet in less than a mile before the road drops down to Hwy 191. It is a road suitable for 4x4’s but in retrospect I would have just finished out the single track trail on Spider Rd.

Tyler at the Fiery Furnace.

Tyler on the Balanced Rock trail.

Jumping into a 15+ mile bike ride on aggressive single track trail basically cold turkey is probably not the best way to get back into a sport and we paid the price with a fair amount of bumps bruises and soreness but I don’t regret it for a second! It was an absolute blast and I can’t wait to hit the trail again. In attempt to recover we opted to pay for dinner at The Atomic a local bar/grill with burgers and other American eats. It felt a little nice for post mountain biking while I sat there in my sweat stained shirt with bruises and scrapes all over but the food was excellent and the service was acceptable (I don’t want to be to judgey it may have just been an off night and I may have been a little impatient after killing it on the trail).

Me at the base of Balanced Rock.

Awesome shot of Balanced Rock.

After dinner we followed the rest of our group back to the hotel they were staying at and enjoyed an amazing soak in the hot tub (highly recommend). Now, as you can imagine after a hard ride, food, and a soak in the tub the idea of driving 30 minutes out of town and setting up a tent was a little hard to wrap my mind around so when Tyler and Brad, the friends we were riding with, suggested we just stay on the pull out bed in there hotel rooms we didn’t argue!

Tyler standing near a pool at the base of Middle Earth Waterfall.

The Base of MiddleEarth Waterfall.

After a great sleep Tyler and I got up and set out to explore Moab. I know I already said this but it’s a cool town! I can’t wait to come back. After checking out several stores we decided to cruise just outside the city limits to Arches National Park. The National Park system just happen to be celebrating its 100 year anniversary that week and admission to the park was free! Super bonus! We didn’t have a lot of time and we still wanted to get some rock climbing in before we went home so we did a rapid tour of the park by driving straight to the East side and stopping at all the major sites and arches to take pictures on the way back out. Arches is a beautiful place and after getting a little taste of what’s there I’m definitely going to be returning to more thoroughly explore the park.

Hoping to get at least one sport route checked off the list just so that we could kick off our 2016 season we raced out of Arches and up Potash Road to a popular climbing area called Wall Street. It was amazing to see how many people were out climbing and enjoying the area when we first got there. Wall Street has to have close to a hundred different routes and most had somebody set up on them. A quick search on one of my new favorite apps, Mountain Project, gave us just enough BETA to pick an available route in our ability range. We set up on a little 5.7 single pitch sport climb call Slab Route. Truth be told this was to be my very first lead climb on a sport route!  The slick rock was grippe and the route had chalk marks at the normally used holds so it was easy to follow the route up. I would’ve loved to stay all day and climb or try every route there but alas adulthood and responsibility called me home! It was a brief and low key intro to climbing in the Moab area but it was just enough to give me the climbing bug and start off my 2016 season with some motivation to do more!

Tyler climbing at Slab Route.

Tyler on belay!

Me on Slab Route.

I had a phenomenal time in Moab and I’m already planning my next trip! Big thanks to Tyler Jacobson for organizing the trip and to his family for helping with bike shuttles and offering a bed at the hotel! Also, to Brad Jacobson you’re always a pleasure to go riding with and your family was crucial for the shuttles. Nicolette and Michaelen Jacobson also rode with the group and it was awesome to see you guys out there killing it on the trail! And of course my brother, T-man, Tyler Rix, you’re an awesome adventure buddy and I can’t wait till next time!

-Adventure on!