Moab: Day 3

Dave says: On day 3 in Moab, we did all the legendary stuff and it proved to be a legendary day. We spent the day in the Sand Flats recreation area up above the town where the slickrock is everywhere. First, we tackled the Slickrock Trail on our mountain bikes. Hardly anyone was on the trail and it only took Alisha a few miles to realize that slickrock has better traction than asphalt and riding many of the obstacles is a lot like taking a road bike up a 40% grade. The thing about slickrock is that you will run out of power before you run out of grip. I managed to make it through all the obstacles on the trail including the infamous "Cogs to Spare" that I tipped over and bounced down during my first visit to Moab (while my friends Alex and Clay took a picture of me laying in a heap).

Adventure #2 was the atv trail Fins N Things which is a short but sweet trail along some of the huge slickrock fins that undulate up and down. A doubletrack of black tire wear marked the route (note: the darker the black, the worse the obstacle) along with white painted dinosaurs on the slickrock. The south section of the trail is apparently "not recommended" for atvs due to a couple of large drops (see one pictured below). The rock is near-vertical but the roll out is so good that I just hit the gas rather than the brake and cruised right down it without feeling tippy.

 

 

The final adventure of the day was the trail Hell's Revenge (also apparently not recommended for atvs according to my guidebook, but online is ranked as the best atv trail in all of Moab). This trail was absolutely unbelievable. Top atv trail I have ever ridden hands down! Sometimes you are about to pee your pants with excitement, other times with nervousness (and sometimes these moments are only seconds apart). This trail pushed my limits to the maximum climbing and descending massive slickrock fins that were far steeper than anything I had ever driven. As you approach these obstacles, some are incredibly scary to look at. Yet, when you're on them the atv just sticks to the rock and soon you have cleared the obstacle and are laughing a bit to yourself that you made it. No close calls today though, I stop to look at the tough stuff and plan the route carefully. I can't wait to come back and do this one again (preferably with someone who has never done it before and will be scared out of their mind). 

 

Moab: Day 2

Dave says: Hike, atv, bike, sleep. Here are the highlights from an amazing day 2 in Moab. We started the day with a hike out to Corona Arch. The weather was amazing and so was the scenery.

 

 

 

 

From the hike, we went directly to the trailhead of the famous Poison Spider Trail. This trail climbs up into the slickrock mesas with some tough obstacles and some incredible views. 

 

This trail ended at an overlook with a great view of Moab. We stopped here for some PB & J for lunch.

 

 

The Poison Spider trail often joins the Golden Spike trail and we headed off on this trail for a bit of a detour. Here's an amazing rock that we climbed up. It wasn't overly steep and so I turned around at the top, came back down to pick Alisha up, and then drove back to the top with her. The other side had a descent that was much steeper. On the way back, I hit it going up rather than down.

 

 

On the way back, we went down a few tough obstacles. They were actually all easier on going down than going up though. I had one on the "Waterfall" that I had to take two shots at going up and it took a bit of speed and spinning all four wheels to make it up. No close calls though. There are some obstacles that we just don't have a long enough wheelbase for and I leave those to the modified Jeeps.

 

 

Finally, we made it back in time to go on a sunset bike ride. Right across the street from our hotel is a paved trail that leads out towards Arches and Canyon Lands. Our easy ride took us up just past the turnoff to Arches and we made it back right as it was getting dark.

Moab: Day 1

Dave says: We left for Moab on Friday afternoon and drove halfway to Holbrook.  On Saturday morning, we did the second leg of the trip and made it to the south side of town by the early afternoon with plenty of daylight left for a big adventure. On this trip, we loaded mountain bikes inside the Mazda5 with our hiking gear and pulled the atv behind us. The plan was to do multiple adventures of different types every day of the trip.

 

 

Our first adventure was out of the Hook and Ladder OHV area. There was incredible scenery and some great slickrock. On the slickrock, they paint the  The trail ultimately led out to an overlook of Wilso arch but one of the best parts was El Diablo, a major slickrock climb that was crazy-steep. I have never gone up anything this steep on an atv before but the traction on sandstone is incredible. Alisha hopped off and pulled out her phone to snap some photos here:

On the way back, we took a really amazing trail that followed some 100+ foot tall sandstone cliffs and was like a roller coaster of sand and rock. We finished just after 5 pm right as it was getting dark. When we got to our deluxe accomodations (Motel 6), we made an equally deluxe dinner in the room (canned soup) and planned out our adventures for the next day.

Trip to Phoenix

 

 

Dave says: We took a trip up to Phoenix for baby Charles' blessing (Christine's 4th). However, we decided to head up a bit early and see Wayne and Debbie in Superior. We brought the atv and did a trail called Walnut Canyon on the way. When we arrived, Debbie made us a deluxe dinner and we spent the night with them in their new trailer.

On Saturday, we took the atv up a trail called Montana Mountain which is between Superior and Phoenix and is a nice long loop up out of the desert to some higher altitude. We arrived at my parents' house on Saturday afternoon and had dinner with the whole family. On Sunday morning, the blessing was a nice occasion with a lot of people in town for the occasion. Congrats to Christine and Parker.

Early Thanksgiving

Alisha says: The Bezanson's gathered for an early Thanksgiving this past weekend. My dad had to work on actual Thanksgiving and this weekend worked for everyone so we all met up in Cedar for the traditional feast. Well, everyone except Dave because of school. It was a bit crazy when all of the little ones would get wild but I think everyone had a good time. Well, except for those who had the stomach flu. Okay, so it wasn't perfect but how much fun would that be?

Devin brought his smoker and smoked the turkey, which was delicious. There was a snow storm that came through and trapped everyone inside for a while. Finally we just had to get outside so we all bundled up and went for a walk and then let the kids roll around in the snow until they were frozen. I know that Tucson has spoiled me with it always being nice weather and the snow storm only confirmed that fact that I no longer like snow, or being cold.

It was so great to get to see everyone!

Devin smoking the turkey 

 Kid's table - this is probably where I should have ate since I most fit in with this group :)

 

Mt. Wrightson

 Alisha says: Mt. Wrightson is the highest point around Tucson at 9,453 ft. with a great 360 degree view at the top so of course it was on our list of things to do. Dave, Katheryn and I made the 11 mile round trip trek up the Old Baldy Trail to the top on a beautiful day! The trail is a steady climb of over 4,000 ft. all the way to the exposed peak. The views at the top were awesome and the part that made me sore for a few days was the descent back to the parking lot. 

Halfway there!

 Chilling at the top

 Katheryn checking out the green ammo box that contained a registry

Wild Wild West

Alisha says: In an effort to get the most out of any place we live we try to be tourists and explore our surroundings at any chance we get. This last weekend was no exception, we had a marathon of fun while never being more than 2 1/2 hours from our house. Our first stop was Chiricahua National Monument. I was a little nervous driving there because well, there really isn't much to see but once  we arrived I realized that the Chiricahua's are a gem. We set up at the campground and set out on our mtn bikes for a little ride. The next morning we boarded the hikers shuttle that took us up the mountain where we hiked about 10 miles back down the canyon through really cool rock formations. Unfortunately a there are a lot of burned areas from a fire last year but it was still pretty.

The next day we did a long mountain bike ride. We rode up to Onion Saddle which turned out to be quite the uphill grind. We came across a very cross rattlesnake who coiled right up and rattled to let us know that he was not happy. This was actually a good thing because Dave might have ran him over if he hadn't rattled. We waited for him to move so we could get by and then when we went by he coiled up again.

We then went to Bisbee, an old mining town that is only about 5 miles from the Mexican border. The town is very interesting. Everything is built terraced on the hillsides basically on top of each other. We walked around exploring the town with its' many staircase alleys that randomly go places. We spent the night at the School House Inn which was a school house built in 1918 that has been remodeled into a cute bed and breakfast (a deal I scored on groupon). We stayed in the Library room.

On our return to Tucson we stopped in Tombstone, the town to tough to die. This is where stories and legends of the wild west come from. We visited the Courthouse museum to learn about the town's history. Tombstone is the site of the famous gun fight at the O.K. Corral between Wyatt Erp and Doc Holliday with the outlaw brothers gang of Clanton's and McLaury's that left three dead. We stopped at Boothill Graveyard (which refers to the number of men who died with their boots on) where many the towns outlaws and a few others are buried. Several of the markers include a little humor including the one for Lester Moore. A customer was unhappy when a mail package he received was damaged. He argued with Lester and then shot him four times, hence his famous tombstone epitaph that reads, HERE LIES LESTER MOORE, FOUR SLUGS FROM A 44, NO LES NO MORE.

Our last stop was at Kartchner Caverns. The cave is very impressive and has a lot of great cave formations. The cave is warm and has about 99% humidity which is very interesting for it being located in the very dry Arizona desert.