Hite Marina to Hanksville, UT 7/23/2015

     Bryan, Dustin, and Kory all left Hite Landing early.  I had to wait for the store to open at 8:00 am to get some provisions.

Trees grow where water flows

Bridge over the Colorado River.  Nice setting for a bridge.

Looking down the Colorado River.

Tan, Red, and gray rocks against a blue sky.  Looking downstream from the bridge.

Looking up from the bridge.

Everywhere you look there are beautiful rock formations.

Hite Marina not so international airport.

A periscope out of the earth?

A pool of green in this land of colored rock.

A nearby donor to Lake Powell.

Dirty Devil River.

Looking up

The narrow road fits nicely thru this man-made cut.

Calm river here in a vast land of beauty.

Step by step up this steep grade.

The north end of Lake Powell.

Another mile of uphill climb I just ascended.

Aaahhh, a little downhill relief.

The road follows this tributary that nourishes these trees.

Water stained cliffs.

My drinking water was hot and this nice lady, Heidi Mosher, turned around, came back to me and gave me two bottles of ice cold water and two bottles of gatorade.  I drank them all in about 10 minutes.  This was just a few miles before Hanksville.  She was from Dillon, MT and knew the Cleverly's who had given me lodging when I was in Dillon on my Canada to Mexico ride two years ago.  She was on her way to take her kids camping.

I was relieved when I pulled into this motel and there was not a car parked in its lot.  I asked the manager for a room and she told me not unless I had a reservation, said she was all booked up.  Then she said here they come now. and 30 to 40 motorcycles came into the motel.  They were a motorcycling group from Norway.  They flew here, rented motorcycles, and are touring the western United States.  

This man looked to me to be the patriarch of the group.

Extra motorcycles in the trailer in case one breaks down.  Fortunately there was another motel about two blocks away.  Bryan, Dustin, and Kory were already checked in there.

Blanding to Hite Marina, Utah, where the Colorado River flows into Lake Powell Wed 7/22/2015

     One of my new biking friends I met on this section referred to this stretch of the ride as "god forsaken desert".  I think it's beautiful, awesome, and breathtaking.

Left Blanding before sunup this morning and as the sun is peeking over the horizon I'm having to push my bike and trailer up this steep grade.

Got a downhill run here for a ways.

Rocks stacked up leaning against the sky.

They had to move a lot of rock to make this cut.

You can see the drill holes for the dynamite.

The landscape gets bigger.

The shadows make for cool riding.

Rough crossing this arroyo without a highway.

Do you suppose this rock formation counts the vehicles passing by?

It took a long time for this sculpture to be carved.

Ripples of sandstone.

My great granddaughter says this looks like sand dune rocks.

Scenes like this are just around every turn in the road.

Shade under a juniper tree is a nice place to have lunch.

More scenery.

Still more scenery.

A glimpse of the ruggedness of this land.

A zoomed in shot of the above canyon.

Looks like a giant hogan

Somewhere down there is my destination for today.

Wind at work

Jacob's chair.

Zoomed in shot of Jacob's chair.

The scorpion is ready to strike.

The sun is in the right place for this picture.

This one, too.

Another water carved canyon .

I was wondering what percent grade this was that I was pushing my bicycle up.  Then when I got to the top I found out.

Bryan setting up his sleeping quarters.

Dustin relaxing.  Bryan, Dustin, Kory, and I slept under the porch of the visitors center at Hite Landing where the Colorado River enters Lake Powell.