Burrow to Town, or The Whole Enchilada as it's known by most folks, is a kick butt, wheel warping downhill of a good time. It's 35 miles and 7000 ft of elevation loss back to Moab, with what seems like thousands of feet of climbing thrown in there too. Much of its length is on the edge of a 1500 ft cliff! It's one of the all time greatest rides in the world. Sooo, we thought we'd see if it was better.... at NIGHT!
Mary dropped us off at 7PM. The temps in Moab down below had been around 115 degrees in the direct sunlight. It was awesome to be transported within an hour's drive to the cool of 10,000 ft of elevation. And the light was beginning its march toward "gold."
We earned our way upward toward's Burrow Pass, walking some, riding some.
We finally made the pass in a swarm of mosquito's. We quickly ate some food while jogging back and forth to avoid the biting little buggers. With a 7000 ft descent waiting, and the sun quickly dropping we dove downward. For sure it was my best run down Burrow ever. It was surreal to be up that high at a time when most folks are getting ready for bed.
As we passed Warner Lake, I snagged a last pic of the sun's light on the higher peaks reflecting in the water.
We then headed back upward toward Hazard County.
The orange light just kept getting more intense, allowing us to ride all of Hazard County without lights...not safely mind you, but without lights. Andy only cartwheeled once, so it was pretty much without incident.
More food was consumed and we dropped toward the La Sal Loop Road and the "end" of the Kokopelli Trail.
We installed lights and headed onward. The Kokopelli section of the ride was probably the hardest. There is a window of time at dusk where lights don't seem to work, and yet it's too dark to ride without them. As we turned on to the Upper Porky Singletrack it was finally dark enough to completely trust the beam of light from our helmets...which was good, as we were now descending along the aforementioned 1500 ft cliff edge. We would round corners and see nothing but a black yawning nothingness, the edge of the earth itself.
The descent wound further downward. The rocks and boulder madness of Porcupine Rim itself were nothing but a blur in the narrow beams of light. It seemed that we were going faster down Porky than ever before. Could that be?
At the start of the Porky single track we loaded our stomachs one more time in hopes of giving our brains a little boost before dropping toward the river below. It was nearing midnight and fatigue was setting in for all of us. I was concerned any one of us could fall into the trap that so many riders fall for on this section of trail; that is thinking the ride is almost over and that you can relax. Relaxing at this point is the worst possible thing you can do.
This was the last picture we took. I love how it makes the trail look easy. But that single ball of light above my two streaks of light is Keith, on the ledge above. The dip in my two streaks is from the abrupt landing of the drop. If you've ridden this trail you know its like that all the way down. My "wheels fell off the bus" not long after this photo. I crashed on the "up and over" rock move and the rest of the descent was a blur. The trip back into town was even worse. The bike path was flooded and we rode in dank, dark water up to our knees. Thank goodness it was at that point Sunday morning, as we all needed a hard earned day of rest. So as for being faster at night? 5.5 hours! For sure NOT faster at night, but it sure was fun!!!
