So... Day nine...
Monday, August 21st.
The first half of the day was awesome. We ran up Hwy 150 through the mountains to Evanston, WY. The run over the mountains was nice, cool, and sometimes damp. Everyone really enjoyed the nice twisties and scenery. We stopped to check out Provo River Falls not far from the summit. The hike to the falls was very short and not difficult, except for that whole breathing thing
We were around 9400 feet or so. I had to walk a bit, rest, rinse, repeat... We stopped to take pics at the state line of Wyoming and Utah. I'd swear the moment we crossed into Wyoming the winds started howling at a sustained 30-40mph crosswind!! It was kind of crazy. The kids handled it well. My neck was getting sore from the constant buffeting. We stopped for gas and lunch in Evanston, WY. Out of Evanston we headed up WY 89 to UT 16. A bit South of UT 30, we tried to cut the corner West on a dirt road, It started out nice, wide, and smooth. Sarah really liked this one. Then we came up on some workers that we grading the road surface. We got passed them without any issues and continued, but it was not long before we reached a locked gate because I had missed a turn. We back tracked a quarter mile or so to find the actual "road" and that quickly became a hard, "NO!" So we ran back to the highway just as it started to rain. We zipped up and continued West on UT 30, which is actually a scenic byway. It was really nice. At Garden City on Bear Lake, we stopped for gas and then headed West on US 89. This was pretty nice as well. US 89 Runs over the mountains generally to the West and then makes a bend SW to Logan, UT. Right about where that bend is, you will find Franklin Basin Rd., just before the Logan River. The plan was to run this NW to ID 36. Yeah, me and my plans...
We turned off the highway onto a very nice and well maintained gravel road that wandered off into the woods. There were camping sites all along the road, many full of nice RVs. This was clearly a popular spot! The road generally followed the Logan River back up into the mountains, gently climbing and twisting through the woods. Somewhere alone the way we crossed into Idaho. Not all the maps show the same name for the road. It might be Franklin Basin Rd., Hillyard Canyon Rd., or even Cub Basin Rd. Essentially, it is the only road running North and South that crosses the state lines and connects US 80 to ID 36 and is about midway between US 89 and US 91 on the state line. The camping areas started thinning out, or at least there were fewer RVs the further North we went, but there were still some. The valley opened up and became wider and flatter. I think we were just over 8000 feet. The road was lined with Aspen trees and big white rocks. Not ALL of the white rocks were rocks! There were a LOT of sheep in the area and one had to pay attention to see if the rocks moved or not! Somewhere in the valley we crested a summit of sorts and the road started gently descending. The whole time we were riding I was constantly praying for the road to stay like this and to go all the way through.
Daniel was leading with Sarah in the middle and me bringing up the rear. We came around a corner and Daniel had stopped. There was a good sized erosion crack running with the road on one side and he asked if we wanted to continue. It looked like it went away not far down the road and the right side of the road looked fine, so we pressed on, but I changed places with Sarah. Daniel took off and got out front pretty quickly because I was trying to keep a slower pace to allow Sarah to stick close to me and so I could talk her through what I was hoping would be a short slightly technical section. Everything was going pretty good except that Daniel was already out of sight and the trees were causing his communicator to drop in and out. I could tell he was trying to say something, but couldn't make it out. Meanwhile I was trying to keep Sarah calm and moving. We were just picking our lines and focusing on being smooth, letting the bike roll to maintain balance. There was a typical erosion rut down the center of the road that wasn't deep, but was a bit rough because of the occasional big rock. Embedded in the road on each side in the tracks were also the occasional large rocks that gave us a good jolt if we hit them head on. I heard Daniel trying to say something again as I was coming around a corner, but then ALL of my attention was immediately focused on the road in front of us...
The road suddenly got very steep, much looser, and much rougher with many large rocks. Now I was concerned! I wasn't able to stop my bike. Sarah was close enough behind me that by the time I tried to get her to stop, she was already descending behind me. I was still hearing Daniel's communicator crackling and I could only get the occasional words, "STAND UP! STAY LOOSE! KEEP YOUR EYES UP! YOU'VE GOT THIS!" and then silence. I was still trying to calmly talk Sarah through the same lines I was running, keeping my speed in check, and picking my way through the biggest rocks... and then I heard the unmistakable sounds of her going down!! It was hard not to panic because the worse case always seems to pop into my mind! Is she hurt. Will she be able to continue? Will the bike be able to continue? Where the heck has Daniel got to and is he okay? How on Earth am I going to get this bike stopped!? I somehow managed to slow the bike just enough that I was able to stop in a VERY precarious position, with my right tip toe just touching a big rock and barely keeping my balance with my left foot unable to reach the ground at all. I was also pointed toward the edge of the road and a creek below. I was unable to raise Sarah on the communicator to see if she was okay. Now both kids had gone silent and I was stuck. I could see in my mirror that back up the hill Sarah was up and moving around but the bike was sideways on the ground. Fortunately, she had gone down near the top. I was several hundred feet further down at least. Daniel was gone.
I sat there for a minute trying to catch my breath. We were still right at 8000 feet. I was thinking that perhaps I might be able to move the bike just enough to at least get to where I could hold it up more securely. The thought had barely formed in my mind when the bike just started going over to the right and there was nothing I could do but EJECT EJECT EJECT! IF you ride the big bikes long enough, you learn that there comes a time when you simply have to let it go and get clear as best you can. I wasn't able to get totally clear and the momentum of the bike still tossed me to the ground, but I wasn't under it. I sort of rolled to the side and came back up my fee pretty quick. The bike was laying down hill with the wheels off the ground. I wasn't going to be getting this upright without help from Daniel. About the time I got back on my feet I heard the communicator crackle back to life, "Are you okay!?" It was Daniel. I could just see him down the mountain a ways, standing in the road. Where was his bike!? He was huffing and puffing HARD! He must have left his bike wherever it came to rest and run back up to check on us. I was fine. As far as I could tell, Sarah was fine. Daniel said he was fine. I took off my helmet, surveyed the scene and realized we were going to be there a while...
It was a beautiful spot. It was a rugged spot. There was no cell service. We had seen several RVs with vehicles nearby, so worst case scenario, we were in for some walking to go get help. Daniel said he had reached a spot where it looked like most of the Jeeps or other vehicles just turned around because it got rougher. That spot was maybe another 1/4 mile down the mountain. Sarah came down and joined us at my bike. I pointed out some nice flowers and we stopped for a nature appreciation moment, which always helps the adrenaline come back down to reasonable levels. I made sure they knew we were in a potentially serious situation, but if we kept our heads about us we should be fine. I didn't want them to panic, but I didn't want them goofing around and being silly either. I needed them to listen to me and stay focused. I removed the large duffel bag on the back seat of my bike and then we managed to get it upright and pointed back up the hill. There was no immediately obvious damage other than some dings in my right side engine guard. With my bike secured, ee walked up to check on Sarah's bike. She was annoyed, but not as upset as I would have expected in light of her recent get offs. We got her bike upright and looked it over. Guess what was messed up... Go ahead. I'll wait...
The BRAND NEW rear brake lever had hit this one perfectly placed rock on the side of the road and the end of it had snapped clean off without even bending the lever at all!! :headbang It had barely lasted 24 hours!! There was no bending this so she could use it. It was simply gone. Her right hand guard was toast and the right blinker had broken where it mounts to the dash. We zip tied the blinker into place and left the guard where it was for now. The clouds had grown darker during all of this and there was a sudden bright flash followed quickly by deep booming thunder rolling through the mountains... and then the rain started. Why not? The rain was coming down pretty good and the road was getting quite wet. It would not be long before we would be fighting mud, not just slick rocks! We decided to turn back. There was no argument from Daniel. His bike was fine, but parked way down the road below and he said it was even rougher down there! We had to get the bikes moving soon if we were going to have a fair chance of getting back to the top of the mountain and back to the highway.
Sarah walked down to Daniel's bike to help him get the luggage off of it so he could more easily ride it up to where we were. That was a LONG walk! They were taking a long time so I started walking down as well. I got about half way when I heard the bike coming. He did a really good job of getting back up to where I was parked. I walked further down to join Sarah and help carry his luggage back up. It took a while for us to make the walk up to join him. Once we got back up to my bike, we decided I would try to ride mine back up to where Sarah's bike was parked. I was still high centered slightly and holding the bike upright when the rear tire tried to slide out from under me when I fed it power was difficult. Daniel was holding the back of the bike to stabilize me while trying to avoid being pelted by the rocks being spit at him! The rear of the bike flopped back and forth several times before the rear finally hooked up enough for me to get up on the pegs and get the some momentum. I then bounced and banged my way back up through the rocks, hoping the tires would grip in the loose wet conditions, until I reached Sarah's bike and managed to come to a stop without falling over. I was quite relieved! However, I was still in a bad spot where I was unable to get off the bike to do anything else. Sarah's bike was on the good line and getting around it would be tough. I finally decided to duck walk my bike around hers and try to make it all the way back to the top and then walk back down to help with the other bikes. No sooner than I got around her bike, my front tire came to rest up against a big rock. I needed help because the back tire just spun if I tried to push on over the rock. Daniel arrived and gave me a good shove. That allowed me to get back up on the pegs and on the gas. At that point, I just never let off. The bike bucked around and slid here and there, but it kept going up. I was trying to stay on the gas without spinning up the rear tire. The rain was really coming down and water was running down the center of the road in that rut. I tried to stay in the tire tracks as much as possible. They were slick and occasionally I simply had to cross from one side to the other to get the better line. It was a great relief when I crested the top to find myself back on mostly level ground!
I quickly parked the bike and started the walk back down to the kids. I had not gone very far when I heard the sounds of one of the bikes coming up the hill. The engine was revving and I could hear the bike smacking rocks and getting kicked around. I stepped out of the road just in time to see Daniel coming up the road on the gas, sliding around, and using his youthful reflexes to keep the bike moving. It was fun to watch and he did great! He parked near my bike and then walked down to join me. Another flash and more thunder and the rain started coming down even harder. We walked about two thirds of the way back down to Daniel's bike and found Sarah walking up to meet us. Daniel continued down to get his bike and we waited for him to come by us to make sure he didn't have any issues. The road was really getting nasty now. As he was passing us he went off line into the center rut and bottomed out his suspension pretty hard on a big rock. It made the back end hop pretty good, but he stayed on the gas and made it to the top. We continued walking and he eventually came down to find us sitting on a big rock taking a break. Then we all walked up together. It was a great relief to have all the bikes back at the top and everyone unhurt. We still had to get to the highway and weren't sure what the road would be like between here and there given the rain, but at least it wasn't steep and rough! Sarah's handle bar had twisted in the mounts again so we had to bust out the tools to fix that, but otherwise we were good to go! The kids celebrated by eating their left over pizza from lunch and I walked around taking pictures of flowers.
The ride out to the highway wasn't too bad. I had a few moments where my back tire tried to go sideways and I still don't know how I saved it each time. I was up on the pegs with my weight forward, so I guess the rear had enough weight from the luggage to eventually hook back up and get in line. The closer we got to the highway the better the road surface was, more gravel and less mud. The rain had stopped and the sun was poking through here and there. It was still pretty cold and we were all quite wet at this point. I spotted a home made RV project in one place and had to check that out. The kids kept going and I later caught up to them at the highway. We stopped to add a few dry layers under the jackets to make sure we did get to chilled riding down out of the mountains. I had decided that we would drop down into Logan, UT., and get a hotel for the night where we could dry out our gear, get warm showers, and grab a nice dinner. Then we'd have to see what we might be able to do about Sarah's bike... Sarah actually said she had fun the last few hours. She said it was all going great until the front wheel tried to ride up the side of the mountain at the edge of the road, causing the bike to just slide out from under her as she stepped off. It was just freak luck that the rock took the brake lever apart
She was in good spirits and we all enjoyed the nice twisty run down through Logan Canyon into town.
Logan was a very nice town. It is obvious that it has grown a LOT in recent years because of the prevalence of newly constructed shopping centers, hotels, office buildings, and more. We stopped in a Burger King parking lot so the kids could run inside to use the restrooms while I looked for a hotel. I found a nice Best Western just back up the road for less than $150/night with taxes! The room was very nice. AND!!! The hot tub worked!! We got there, unloaded, cleaned up a bit, and then decided to get dinner. We were exhausted. I ordered an Uber can and we had dinner at a Texas Roadhouse, always a favorite! Once back at the hotel Sarah got her ice bags on her shoulder, Daniel started editing and uploading videos, and I did my daily review. I figured I'd get up in the morning and Daniel and I would take her bike to see what we could do with it and let Sarah sleep in. I also needed to come up with a plan for where to go from here. That was becoming a daily thing since so few of our days were going according to plan!
We were beat. Getting back up the hill took a LOT of energy! But, in the end, we all agreed it had been a good day. Sarah's bike was taking a beating and we would have to figure out what to do about the brake lever as there were none to be had! We planned to look for some hand guards with the metal bars, which I had considered doing before the trip but was trying to stop spending money like a drunken sailor prepping for the trip! Other than her brake lever, the bike was good. We decided to spend an extra day in Logan, an unplanned rest day, but probably needed. More tomorrow...
First planned dirt road of the day, a bust. It ran up into a VERY pricey neighborhood and dead ended. So we just took the paved road.
The camping spots along UT 150 are endless and nice. This was a cool overlook along the way. It also had nice vault toilets in the parking lot, something we've all come to appreciate!
The water fall near the summit, Provo River Falls at 9350 feet
Looking down stream of the falls
The stepping layers of the rocks were really cool. I guess I am just a nerd
We passed the Wyoming sign and had to turn around. We missed the Utah sign the first day, so we killed two birds with one stop
We saw a LOT of this! This is Bear Lake on Idaho 30 South of Garden City.
Bear Lake is HUGE and pretty. The properties around it are $$$$!
What most of Franklin Basin Road looked like on the Utah side of the border and just after the Idaho border...
Had to watch for these critters on both sides of the roads, Laying down, they just look like the white rocks that are scattered everywhere.
The views opened up as we climbed into a wide high valley near the summit.
Ominous clouds in every direction, but no rain so far...
And then things went a bit sideways... or down hill... We should have stopped, but it looked like just a short bad spot. Once we were past it, we rounded a corner and then we were rolling whether we wanted to be or not. There was no where to stop and it was steep. Daniel was leading. I was second. Sarah was following.
Here is the footage from Daniel's GoPro
Cameras lie. It is very hard to get them to show just how steep a road is. This looks flat. It was NOT... and my front tire was pointing at those rocks lower left! My GPS tracks shows this "flat" part of the road as being anywhere from a 13-16% grade. I was worried, for all of us!
The dark spot in the road in the back ground is Sarah's bike. This was a stand still tip over.
Here is a crop of the above shot that shows better how rough the road was between Sarah and where my bike ended up on its side. Those rocks are bigger than they look in the full size photo that makes the road look nice and smooth. On a dirt bike, or even an unloaded adventure bike, probably not an issue. On heavily loaded adventure bikes... Yeah, not a lot of fun!
No matter how bad things get, never forget to see the beauty around you. Important life lesson for the kids
Daniel helped me lift it after we removed some luggage
The view looking down from Sarah's bike
Given how far she made it, she was feeling pretty good about her performance.
Yeah... So about that new brake lever
There was this ONE rock, perfectly placed
I think the entire foot peg assembly is pushed back a degree or two... Something is out of whack, just not sure how/where...?
This kind of shows the steepness. It started leveling out a bit past her bike up to that next corner and then started climbing again.
There were some serious rocks in the road! I've learned from experience that sometimes big rocks can be your best friend because they can be used as braking surfaces to help slow you down if you time your braking right!
These were everywhere!
Daniel and Sarah trekking down to his bike, somewhere way on down below. She went to "Share the load" by carrying his tail bag so he would have a better chance of making it back up to where our bikes were.
It would take a bit of maneuvering to get the bike rolling from that position! Note the big rock under the side stand...
They were gone a while and I was getting worried. Eventually I heard the sounds of him revving out the 390!
After Daniel got up to my bike, he helped me stay steady until I could get my bike moving and I rode up to Sarah's bike.
I made it to the top, followed by Daniel on Sarah's bike, and eventually Daniel riding up his own bike
The point where we should have just turned around to begin with, but it was short and did not look to bad beyond it... It was also dry at that time. The rain started after we were way down the hill wondering how we were going to get out.
All safe and sound back at the top, I just can't help myself
Still having fun despite the unexpected!
I had to stop when I saw this beastie! Unfortunately, the owners were not present so I could not talk to them.
Looking pretty good despite the rough day, rain, and mud.
Little oil seepage under the bar. I'll have to keep an eye on that!
Didn't last one ride
Someone had the time of his life despite the circumstances!
It got a little messy
Can you spot the missing pieces?
Yeah, we have to do something about this...
and this...