A Desert Loop — Multisport Vacation

Gateway Canyons resort in south western Colorado. The place is already somewhat of a legend. Built by Discovery Channel founder and multi gizzilionair John Hendricks, Gateway Canyons was plopped smack dab in the middle of a depressed ex uranium mining region that had seen better days. Needless to say, the place has caused a bit of a local stir. I liked the concept and the execution. A network of BLM desert trails in the area provide everything from beautiful hikes and single track mountain biking (first real test of my new Trek EX7), to backcountry 4x4 driving nearly on par with Moab. And the resort is full service, replete with everything from a gas station to a grocery store. The big swimming pool can even be pressed into service for lap swimming, and the fitness center is world class. We got out on a beautiful evening hike behind the resort, then did an excellent mountain bike ride the next morning.

View of Gateway resort from trails west of the facility. The design does a nice job of blending in with a sort of faux Spanish adobe motif. It's a bit over the top, but seems to work.

The truly odd but somehow excellent feature of Gateway Resort is the world-class antique automobile museum. Yeah, I know you guys were wondering when I'd work petrochemical entertainment into this desert fun blog post, so here you go. But laugh all you want. Go visit this thing and you'll be blown away if you have any art appreciation cells left in your brain. Pictured here is one of dozens of restored antique automobiles known worldwide as some of the best. In this case, a 1947 Chrysler Town & Country convertable (same year as our Willys Jeep).

Chrysler Town & Country wood bodywork. With our son majoring in industrial design and doing the requisite wood working, I thought he'd appreciate seeing these.

I don't know about you, but I saw something sexy in this hood design on the Chrysler. Perhaps because we were on our 15th honeymoon? I should mention that also displayed in the museum is the famed 1954 Olds F-88 concept car that's said to be the best example of automotive art to ever come out of North America (as well as the most expensive antique car ever auctioned, at $3.24 millon.) I got some good photos of the 88, but I'll leave that to your imagination to perhaps inspire you to visit. Take my word for it: Worth the drive. Ride some of the trails while you're at it, or do some rock climbing in nearby Unaweep Canyon.

After a couple nights at Gateway, it was time to move on. To keep it interesting, we took the adventure drive (2-wheel-drive dirt) up through John Brown Canyon, across the state line, then over the LaSal Mountains and down via Castle Valley (near Moab) into the Colorado River valley. This is simply one of the most sublime drives I've done in a long time. Varied terrain, incredible views, little traffic. Nice 'backdoor' to the Moab area.

When you crest the La Sals you'll see an obvious parking area for an un-improved overlook and hiking trail. Stroll out there, and you get this view of the amazing Taylor Ranch in the Onion Creek Valley. Talk about 'big sky country,' well you don't have to go north to find it! And don't worry about this area getting too crowded.

Next stop, Fisher Towers trail on Hwy 28 east of Moab. They've improved this trail quite a bit, it's even got some steel that reminded me of something in Europe. True to form, someone was even talking German in the vicinity! I guess it's 'build the ferratta' and they will come, or something like that anyway. Due to limited sky views this was a good hike for testing my latest attempt at liking a GPS, this time the Garmin 60CSx. It worked flawlessly.

I did a couple of big wall climbs here in the 1970s and early 1980s, including getting in on the first ascent of the Titan's west face, marked in the photo. This 1,200 foot high beast was originally called the 'Monster Tower' by climbers in the 1950s and 1960s, until it was tamed in 1962 by Layton Kor (along with George Hurley & Huntley Ingalls) who did the first ascent via the Fickle Finger of Fate route, designated by the telltale finger visible to left in the photo. Even that route is a chore -- but the big wall routes on this formation will wring you out and discard you like a dried out dishrag. They include little amusements such as mud curtains you have to hack through to reach solid rock, and 'cone bugs' that suck your blood during bivouacs unless you fight them off. Highly recommended.

I'd like to say this trip was 100% underwritten by La Sportiva, dream, but they did support us with a nice pair of Halite GTX light hikers for Lisa. These are the right weight and beef for desert hiking, but the Gore Tex layer is probably overkill and makes them a bit hot. On the other hand, they're the perfect light hiker for more alpine environments where you might be tromping through wet or snow. In other words, some high lakes fishing trips for next year?

Next stop, Fruita, Colorado. This is the town that mountain biking (and a natural gas boom) saved from oblivion. The town was bankrupt in 1989 after a refinery closed. Around that time a group of visionary locals started promoting a variety of nearby cycling trails. The system evolved and is arguably some of the best single track riding in the world. Such attracts enough people to support three bicycle stores, lots of local services, and a town that looked like a busy place despite our slow national economy. We did a ride on the trails north of town. Amazing. Our ride found me rocketing down a sluice, turning my bike by angulating at the hips just like I was riding tight turns in the powder forest on Marble Peak last winter. Challenging as well, even if it was just a grade 2 out of 5...

Nothing like a few days in the desert to bring a couple together. And check out the hat hair!

Fruita single track - a metaphor for a life of WildSnow? Or just, singletrack? I have to go back there and figure it out.