Was out on the road just as dawn was breaking. I left at 5.45am. Another nice cool morning. I was stealing myself for a 120 mile hike to Vernal in Utah as I'd been told there were no motels 90 miles down the road at Dinosaur.
On a ridge overlooking the town I stopped for a shot of the rising sun. As I got my shot I could a snorting sound. I turned and saw an antelope watching me, obviously annoyed that I'd stopped in his patch.
The road pushed away from Craig and entered a region of scrubland. Barren, dry, sandy-looking ground held together by tufts of wispy grass and scattered shrubs. I was entering the cold desert of the Colorado Plateau which stretched all the way into Utah. The road was easy. I flew the first 31 miles to Maybell, a small village which, surprisingly had a motel. From here it was 57 miles to Dinosaur and then another 33 miles to Vernal.
A couple of miles outside Maybell I passed a guy hiking on the road. He had 2 walking sticks, a large backpack a banner and a pink wig! I stopped and said hello. Turned out the guy was from Delaware. His name is Ron Kessler. He was walking coast to coast in aid of a charity for breast cancer research. He's been on the road for the past 10 months and expects to get to San Francisco in another 2 months. A remarkable person. He's already cycled coast-to-coast twice in the past. His website is www.trailjournals.com/roadtothecure. He told me there was a motel in Dinosaur. I felt relieved. I forgot to get a photo of him and was annoyed with myself afterwards as he was a real character. That happens a lot when I'm around people.
The next 10-15 miles brought some big hills but then the road levelled out again. The countryside is really beginning to feel like a desert region. The air has a warm, earthy smell. While there is a lot of scrub the ground looks parched. The hills show shades of light brown and pink. Theyre flat-topped, steep sided, wind blown and eroded.
At a hamlet called Massadona I stopped at a tavern fro a bite to eat. It was like a little oasis as it was so unexpected. Massadona basically consists of the tavern. Refreshed, I did the last 20 miles to Dinosaur with relative ease. When I got a room there I found out there is nothing available at Vernal. There's an oil boom over there and all prices have doubled with all the contracters in town.
Dinosaur was originally called Artesia but its name was changed in 1965 in honour of Dinosaur National Park just north of here. Two streets in the town are called Tyranosauraus trail and Brontosaurus Boulevard. The national park is full of dinosaur fossils, rock art and eveidence of human habitation going back 12,000 yrs. There are many sacred indian sites in the park aswel. This region being the territory of the Ute tribe in times passed. Their territory spread across western colorado, Eastern Utah and Southern Wyoming. Butch Cassidy and The Wild Bunch also roamed these lands.
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1 comment:
well done Fran on the cycling and the written account. The value and the beauty of your experience will be even more appreciated at a later date as you reread and relive this amazing journey. Also at a later date that you will appreciate the effort and struggle that is keeping you on this journey. Take it easy and keep an eye on the diet, make sure you put enough food in the tank to keep up the effort, also keep the bike serviced as prevention is better than cure
all the best Thomas
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