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Posts from the ‘States’ Category

Titus Canyon

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I’ve never been the off-roadding truck/Jeep type.  Rather, I’ve always viewed my truck strictly as a ultitlity – something that carries me and my belongings safely from somewhere to somewhere else.  Definately not a vehicle for pleasure.

This view of mine changed somewhat the other day when my buddy Gus convinced a few of us to go explore Death Valley’s Titus Canyon with him.   It turns out, driving the trail was was pretty fun and I can see how people get hooked driving and exploring deep into a canyon.  The canyon is absolutely stunning and my stock truck did just fine on the trails.

Kelly had a miserable time – way too much bouncing around he her.

The entire time I kept thinking to myself I would have much rather experienced the canyon from my mountain bike – doing so would have really been fun.

And, while the above photos Gus took are great, just image how cool they could have been had he captured me on my bike.

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Star Wars Canyon

 

Anyone visiting Death Valley can expect to see military jets training overhead.

Those willing to hike to the top of Star Wars Canyon will be rewarded with the incredible vantage of viewing the planes from above as they descend into the canyon, rolling and twisting as they pass.

My friends and I sat at this point for hours watching.

Travel Day

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Today Kelly and I are traveling with two other couples to Death Valley.

But first, we stopped at a Las Vegas BassProShop parking lot (next to a casino obviously) to regroup while Kelly visits a nearby hair salon and our buddy awaits his wife to fly into town.

Tonight, we sleep in the desert.

 

Riding the McDowell Mountains

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I really need to be more consistent in reading the trail descriptions before pointing my bike towards the mountains on trails I’ve never ridden.

The final “big” climb I loaded onto my Garmin was essentially unridable, resulting in a miserable two mile hike-a-bike slog 1,300ft to the summit pass.

Fortunately, the back side of the mountain rewarded me with an ear-to-ear grin-inducing 1,700ft descent back to camp.

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