Carly was off doing her own thing so I decided to do a moto/climb weekend. Andreas and Kasi were headed to the City of Rocks so I decided to meet them up there, but go on a circuitous route to get there. There’s a route I’ve wanted to do that goes west to Wendover and then North through Grouse Creek to get to the City of Rocks. The route would have taken a little more time than I felt like, not to mention that the slog on I-80 isn’t the most exciting or pleasant. Andreas suggested another, more direct route, that went passed the Golden Spike Monument north of the Great Salt Lake. From there I’d follow an old section of the original Transcontinental Railroad. Then onto Rt. 30 for a little way before getting back on dirt for the remainder of the ride to the City.
I got a good day to do the ride, not too hot since the day was partly cloudy. I only stopped briefly at the Golden Spike Monument and didn’t go into the visitor center before heading west. Most of the roads were pretty cruiser dirt roads without deep gravel. I saw zero other vehicles on the roads, though I did see a few parked at “Lone Rock” on the former shore of the lake.
I got to the City and found the campsite that Andreas and Kasi were at. I could see and hear some rain coming so I set up my tent and stashed my stuff inside and went to look for them. They were just starting to come down from climbing a pitch at the Breadloaves feature. At that point the skies opened up and I took refuge in their Eurovan. One nice aspect of the City is that the rock typically dries out quickly so we were able to do some climbing for a few hours before we heard another storm coming in. We packed up and head to the campsite to take refuge and have a beer.
After that storm passed we still had enough time that we walked over to Elephant Rock to do a few more pitches. There’s a new 5.9 sport route between Pigmies Got Stoned and Beware of Flying Egos which is really nice. We did that and a TR lap on Egos.
In the AM we got a few more pitches on the backside of Parking Lot Rock before I decided to pack up and head home. I was really lucky in my timing. Just as I started rolling out of the City I could see and hear another storm coming in. I decided to head back the normal route from the City to avoid the rain. For the most part the roads headed east away from the storm, but one section runs south. As I was going along this section I got sprinkled on and hoped that I’d be able to outrun the storm after I turn east again, which I was able to.
Fun times on a dual sport weekend!
