Mountain Bike cartoon

Day 6: Gateway Hut to La Sal Hut


I felt very anxious about the big climb awaiting us this day, and apparently my worries were more than noticed by everyone else as I busily prepared sandwiches etc. before going to bed so as to be up and ready early in morning.
Penny up on the plateau, after the big morning climb, with the La Sal mountains ahead in the distance.
Tension was in the air! Anyway, Rob and I did indeed leave earlier than the others at 8 am in order to get a head start. The immediate climb was up John Brown Canyon, seven miles of uphill onto a magnificent plateau where the Colorado/Utah State line is crossed.

I cycled for about three miles and then as the canyon became steeper, I got off my bike and we both walked the second half, which was not unpleasant if a little slow. We reached the magnificent plateau of grasslands and ranches and wildflowers and stopped for our first lunch at the State line. There was more climbing after lunch, first on hard packed sand through herds of cattle, which was easy riding, then on soft sand which made riding almost impossible for the likes of me. A few miles more climbing and walking and we hit stony gravel, which was also challenging on the uphills.

By now we had entered la Sal State Forest that we were to weave in and out of several times in the next two days. After our one short descent of the day, which wasn't even fun because of the nasty stony surface,
The final hut, La Sal, in a meadow under a blue sky.
we climbed yet again and stopped by a corral and a stream to eat our second lunch of the day. The others still had not caught up with us, which surprised us, as we knew that they were faster. It turned out that they had left an hour and a half later and had been beset by minor mechanical problems and a need to pump water, which had lost them time. In fact they arrived at the hut two hours after us just as we were discussing the possibility of sleeping under the hut in all our clothes - Mike guarded the only key fiercely and so we could not have entered the hut without him.

Finally, after 6 1/2 hours of almost exclusive uphill and lots of pushing of my bike, we arrived at the delightful la Sal Hut hidden in a meadow strewn with wild iris and sunflowers.
Penny and Mike (and Mike's superb bike)by the La Sal hut, timeless.
It was a heavenly spot. We changed our clothes and washed sparingly with the water provided in the jerry cans and then went for a walk in the woods, hand in hand like a pair of young lovers.

The others arrived two hours later, hot and tired having peddled far more than we had that day. This hut was definitely the prettiest, the most charming, light and airy with large windows. We were back at over 8,000 feet by now and it became very cold as soon as the sun dipped behind the mountain. The chefs warmed us up with an encore of enchiladas stuffed with turkey, spinach (ahh, something green even if it was from a can) onions, and the usual mushrooms in huge quantities. We all slept like logs that night.