The travels of the Rambling Roses: Utah 279 ----canyon road to boat launch July 7

38.5 in 3hrs--July 7. I hopped on the bike and headed out a different canyon than I did the other day, just for a conditioning ride. I followed the Colorado River downstream, past some cliffs where there is wall climbing of the most serious nature, some very well preserved petroglyphs, a movie production crew camp, a potash production plant, the Jug Handle Arch, and ending at the launch ramp for a scenic river cruise with no rapids that some companies did. There was very little elevation change, even though I was going downstream, and the river was very wide and slow moving as I followed it. The trip back upstream took almost exactly as long as the downstream part. It was a nice, uneventful, traffic free workout, with great scenery, and not a whole lot of effort spent.

There was also a movie set with all the trailers out along the road.

This was not a wreck, it was one of the cars being used in the movie

Big trailers at movie set

While I was gone, Buddy was plotting the Jeep trail that we were going to do, and he picked a good one. If you u-tube Fins and Things, you will see some good footage of other people's adventures, but we got some great footage and pictures of our own. It was a very challenging nine mile trail that went through sand, over slick rock, and gave our Jeep about as much as it could handle. The vehicles that run these trails have all sorts of special features that our little old Jeep doesn't have, and we met our match on several occasions, and had to go around some real tough spots. On the other hand, we did some great four wheeling and did things that neither Buddy or I thought we could do before we started. Buddy did the driving, and I hopped out in many places to record video of the challenging areas. We were at a place called Sand Flats Recreation Area, where there are many world famous Jeep trails, and the Slick Rock mountain bike trail (which I have no desire to ride!) It was a once in a lifetime experience for me, but Buddy says he wants to come back some day. Pam stayed home and prayed for the Jeep's safety. HA HA!

In the evening, we all walked down to the Colorado River, then Bud and I played a game of chess on an outdoor chess board at the campground. The pieces were 2-3 feet tall, and the board was painted on the ground. We played to a stalemate, which I considered as good as a win for me.