TR: A (Near) Vegas Vacation

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Wanted to get something up in time to be with the rest of the loads gunning for the inaugural BettyDee Trip Report Of The Month contest (don't worry, I'm ineligible) and something up to celebrate Gnar Whale's bday (and hopefully successful surgery!), so I was sure to bring my spacephone and fisheye lens for the DSLR on my Turkey vacation to Zion National Park, which it turns out is awfully close to Las Vegas. If it weren't for this damn salaried day job I probably would have fooled my navigationally-deficient girlfriend into driving down there and wasting all our money, but after buying a Mach 6 there wasn't much left over for hookers, blow, and gambling.

But first thing's first: sell the first bike! Thanks for a badass summer, Ms. Slayer 50. Sorry I ended our relationship at a Maverik's gas station in Salt Lake, but ours was a temporary affair :


Then it was on to Zion! After giving ourselves a generous hangover upon meeting our friends from LA, we did a mellow Thanksgiving "hike" that barely qualified as such. Flooded with kids and people taking their first steps that were not between their car and a McDonalds, it was a little unsettling. but there was some cool shit to see:


There was much SPLEND-OR of nature to behold!!










Then it was time for Thanksgiving, which was to be cooked on an open flame in the traditions of yore and to which I would add nothing. Our friend Blake, however, would contribute greatly with his cosmopolitan cooking skills by delivering duck breasts and wings that had been stored, and then cooked, in duck fat:


This camp/kitchen accessory lightly chars the edges of your subjected meal, and fucking A if that wasn't the best bird I had on any Thanksgiving ever. Moar duck fat, please!!


The next day, and with a much smaller hangover, it was time to endure a slightly longer, 10 mile roundtrip hike to Observation Point to take in nature's SPLEND-OR from the top of the mesa, which was great because I was getting claustrophobic:


...and there was much SPLEND-OR yet to be beholden still:








Once summited, it was time for more feasting, proper plates, and a "superfood" lunch. Don't know what that means, but I was hungry:


#lunchwithaview:

[WaistDeepGroomers]

soon enough it was neigh time to descend to the valley, and only then did I realize how precarious this little trail was, how much of an absolute pain in the ass it must've been to build it, and how remarkable it was that the kind of people who were hiking this were actually doing it:


Namely in sections like these:


Alas, even with fear of heights among members of our party, we descended safely, although I was admonished whenever I dared move from direct contact with the wall.




Then, after hiking in the SPEND-OR of nature, we had to take a goddamn Manhattan subway back to the campground, which had to be one of the weirder/more unsettling experiences I've had in a national park. Out in nature to packed in like sardines. Me not likey as much:


But whatever, after another night of drinking, it was time to go biking on my new (used) expensive thing I bought the week before. So I slammed the gas and did the circuitous route to Gooseberry Mesa, since my VW has shit clearance and wasn't going to make the Jeep road short cut a reality...


I just started pedaling around and trying to find the first trailhead. Flippin' A, this is the fastest I've gone on a dirt road with the least amount of effort since I've ever been on a bike. Score! Bill at Zion Cycles just told me to look for fun stuff to ride and ride it, and not just follow the white dots everywhere, so I did a little warm-up skatepark'y berm maneuver on this rock wave a few times:


In complete contrast to high-speed Jackson trail rippin', it seemed that the idea here was to stop wherever you thought you saw something cool and session it like you would skateboarding. So I obliged, and found some cool lines in and around this thing, lots of fun steep rolls and managed to find a line that rolled like a *GASP* pump track for a hundred feet or so:


This was another fun wave/pool/halfpipey feature:


Was loving the roll-ins too, this was steeper than it looked (like every photo) and fun to ride with the sandpaper traction found on the rocks here:


But at this point, I was getting kind of tired of the short vert, up-down-up-down-up-down riding and the Mach 6 was begging to be put to test on something fast. I was also feeling a little indica'd out at this point and longing for shade, water, and beer, so I went back to the car after doing a short run around Hidden Canyon and Fracture/Practice Loop. After fueling up, I booked it back around the mesa to Grafton, the ghost town with the cool downhill trail that used to be a surely terrifying wagon trail.

I showed up at the base, asked a group there finishing up their ride which direction to start pedaling in, and they started giving me weird looks. Like, "that's far, dude." But Bill told me I could lap it in an hour and a half, and I had no friends and no shuttle, so it was off to the single loser sufferfest. Miles and miles later, after clawing up a loose dirt road for what felt like forever and two hike-a-bikes while getting blasted with dust from passing Polaris RZRs filled with tourons, I spotted the high mesa point I was told led to the promised land, summited the hike a bike, and made the Mach pose for a second in victory:


Views were cool, but I was running out of daylight, and it was time to move on.


This cool wallride thing was pretty early on, terrible photo of it:


Happened upon the top of the Grafton DH after a little bit, and found a gnarly roll-in like that crux section on Lithium off Teton Pass, which led to a much steeper and much more boulder-filled drop to rider's right. I was cool with walking that bit...


It got pretty damn chunky in bits, although the Pivot was absolutely loving it, especially anytime I could man up and lay off the brakes. She loved that shit. But I definitely walked this section after dabbing, or at least something similar:


More chunk with a nice cliff drop off the side, although mostly I was too focused on avoiding disaster to think about it:


It eventually smoothed out into some faster bits, at which point the Pivot immediately accelerated. Shit feels like having an engine!


There were some fun mini freeride sections towards the bottom, this one was fun with a little roll into a mini drop:


Session the hip to top it off...


And bike season was over! Damn it!


On the return journey we looked forward to exploring the much-touted Meadow Hot Springs. We walked with fierce anticipation...


Shit, this looks awesome! Plus, girlfriend photo you bastards all want...


But, turns out it was lukewarm at best. Shit. Well, might as well dive in without checking the temperature and get the #selfie:


That's it. On to ski season now... heal up Gnar Whale!!!

[LeeLau]

Nice start! Good command of the lens

[SB]

Sweetness, thx4sharin.

[kidwoo]

CONTENT!


Looks like a fun trip. Smokan was right. Angel's landing ain't got nuthin on observation point. Looks like a good lunch up there.

[smmokan]

I love that part of the country... need to go back soon.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

CONTENT!


Looks like a fun trip. Smokan was right. Angel's landing ain't got nuthin on observation point. Looks like a good lunch up there.

the kidwoo bump! thanks be praised!

[chatton18]

Good stuff. The end of the season is always a let down.

Then, after hiking in the SPEND-OR of nature, we had to take a goddamn Manhattan subway back to the campground, which had to be one of the weirder/more unsettling experiences I've had in a national park. Out in nature to packed in like sardines. Me not likey as much:

How is this any different than taking a tram? I don't know of anyone taking the aiguille du midi up and saying oh, this totally ruins the experience.

[Coño Frío]

That's about as close to Vegas as I like to get. At least you got a pic of "the strip". +1 for that.

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Good stuff. The end of the season is always a let down.



How is this any different than taking a tram? I don't know of anyone taking the aiguille du midi up and saying oh, this totally ruins the experience.

Fair enough, but I feel like we're pretty conditioned to waiting in lines and packing into tight spaces to go skiing. But this was the first time I ever had to wait in line to go hiking...

[jm2e]

Sweet trip.
So how's the Mach 6 compare with the Slayer?

[WaistDeepGroomers]

Sweet trip.
So how's the Mach 6 compare with the Slayer?

Less rugged feeling at slow speeds but unreal with some speed under her. Acceleration and climbing are probably the biggest difference. Less of a tank both by weight and feel and a bit more nimble. Better at pumping terrain. Overall the feeling is that she just wants to pick up speed as quickly as possible and repeat that again and again. Love the feeling! Absolutely cannot wait to ride blacks off Teton pass next summer...