A 280 mile bicycle trail is no small task. Can you imagine, the red tape alone just boggles the mind. In the case of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (BST) project it is certainly no exception. The BST runs along what used to be an ancient lake shoreline that backed up against the Wasatch mountain range. Today the lake is a series of valleys where modern day civilization has settled. The trail runs along the foot of the mountain range where steep mountains have stopped the expansion of home building and so the trail will consequently be a barrier between civilization and the Utah wilderness. The setting is perfect for mule deer sightings and beautiful western sky sunset back drops; A photographers dream.
Photo from www.mtbproject.com
Presently the project is spotty with only about 100 miles of trail ready for riding. Many cyclists enjoy these small sections and sometimes have different names associated with the terrain. The picture above is a section of trail called "The Bobsled" and is popular with Salt Lake City riders and other enthusiasts.
Some of the difficulties regarding the project include private land blocks and federal land blocks. There are even some trails that go through these areas do to lack of knowledge and or regulation. In many cases it is a no harm no foul situation. Always respect the trail and private land.
The grand project will offer spectacular valley views of multiple landmarks including LDS temples, the great Salt Lake, Antelope Island, Utah Lake, The Krishna Temple and a list that could continue until my fingers are aching and my keyboard is worn out.
The non-official section in the Spanish Fork area passing right next to the Relief Mine (Dream Mine).
The rescue of baby Lilly is making international news these days. Her Mom dead from the car wreck Lilly hangs upside down in her car seat for 14 hours just above the frigged water of the Spanish Fork river. Today she is alive and well thanks to emergency responders, hospital staff, and a mysterious voice calling for help.
Where this mysterious voice came from is still the question. The first to respond were police officers who are trained that when you give a report you stick to the facts. In this case it is highly collaborated that a distinct voice was heard calling for help.
The exact point of this accident is the entrance to the bicycle trail in Spanish fork. It is a peaceful ride away from city noise and is full of beautiful scenery. Now I cannot enter the trail without thinking of a mother reaching out beyond a thin veil to rescue her daughter.
I love gardening, so this year to make it even more interesting. I have decided to grow some veggies for dehydrated food packs to take on biking/camping trips. If you are the kind of person who hates tomatoes it could be because you mostly eat store bought tomatoes. I find those tomatoes to be comparable to saw dust in flavor. I don't know what they do to make them that way it is a mystery to be solved for sure. However, a tomato picked ripe from the garden is bursting with flavorful deliciousness in the most satisfying way. A few years ago I had so many tomatoes in my garden I didn't know what to do with them. I invited neighbors to come get some and they did. They would take bundles of them for canning and in a few days the next overwhelming batch was ripe to pick again. So Cari, my wife and gardening partner, decided that we would dehydrate and store them. We already had a dehydrator. However, we had so many tomatoes that we purchased another dehydrator to try to keep up. Today I am still eating those dehydrated tomatoes from two years ago and they are still delicious. I often sneak down in the basement and munch away for a healthy and delicious snack.
It is time to take it to another level. If you have ever purchased dehydrated backpacking food for your bicycle tour you will know how expensive it can be. However you did it anyway because it is easy, light weight, and packs small. How would that be if you could make your own. You could control what you would make, Improve on the quality, and save some money for more excursions or maybe some of that needed gear on your wish list.
My wife Cari makes an amazing tomato/ham mac and cheese that I love. If I could just figure out a great dehydrated version I would be in bicycle camping heaven. The other recipe I believe I will shoot for is a dehydrated chili of some kind. The possibilities are endless.
With spring around the corner this is a great week to till up the garden and start preparing a list of ingredient.
Good instructional video from MaddyTheGoose
meat?
Happiest trails to ya!
Here are some shared recipes from Trailcooking.com:
There is still a little snow on the shady parts of the mountain. However if you keep your ride at a lower altitude the trails look good. Today I took a ride on the Spanish Fork bike trail starting in the city and then working my way into farm land and then up into the foot of the mountains where the snow is mostly melted and the beasties are everywhere. I was able to try out some new gear that I believe am really going to like.
The Spanish Fork Bike Trail has some changes to it. A new diversion dam near the golf coarse area of the trail. This will change some of the fish habitat in that section and will give better water control for the small farms that use that water for irrigation. There is a section of that trail that has been in negotiation between the private land owner and the city for years now. Base on what I saw today it looks like they may have worked it out. I actually rode that section today for the first time. I approached it from the west where I entered pass the gate. For the first time there was not a "No Tress Passing" sign there. It looks like the city is doing a lot of work on the trail in that section. I did discover what looked like an old pioneer cabin. Someone had it up on a trailer as if they were getting ready to move it. I hope they will keep it in some place where it can be taken care of. It reminds me of the Jacob G. Bigler cabin in pioneer village in the Lagoon theme park. Jacob is my wife's ancestor and he was the personal friend of both Brigham Young and Joseph Smith. In Utah he was also the founder of the city of Nephi. I am sure there is a great legacy that goes with this cabin.
Getting off the Spanish Fork Bike Trail and on to the road that leads to a trail with lots of loose rock and a major incline gave me a chance to really test out the new gear I put on my bike: A new seat bag and some "anything cages". I have to say that it really balanced out the climb. It is hard to believe but I think it made the climb easier than having no baggage at all. The extra weight on the front forks kept the front down a little better when the back tire was really torquing. I was worried about the cages turning on the rougher trail but I had no problems. I have them fastened with zip ties (lots). I am very happy with the set up and I am looking forward to some great single track trips this summer.
For hill climbing I will take the seat bag and anything cages every time. Winner winner chicken dinner.
After getting up to the main trail the first thing you notice is the thousands of animal tracks. Mostly mule deer and raccoon. Just as I was looking down at them to see the diversity a pheasant rooster spooks up with a blasting take off and crowing as it flies away. Talk about a heart attack. If you have ever had that happen to you then you know what I am talking about. After my heart settled down I thought to myself "I will be seeing a lot of deer today" and I was right.
This blog is to honor the greatest American bicycle racer of all time Greg LeMond. Now settle down all you non American bikers. This is not meant to take away from the long time dominance of the sport by the Italians and the French. It is just that this is personal. Greg LeMond was born in 1961 and a decade Later Lance Armstrong was born in 1971. I was born in 1964 so based on age I am in a unique position to see the merits of both riders. As a young triathlete I had by chance raced against Lance Armstrong in a USTS triathlon in Miami on one occasion. I believe he was just 18 years old at the time. It was a bad day for me. A flat tire killed my position and performance enhancing drugs began to come onto the scene.Although I was willing to do the hard work the drugs were the one thing I was not willing to do. So much more than my tire was deflated that day. Athletes of all kinds were jumping on board to the performance enhancement drug scene. The reasoning? "to perform on that level you have to". Wrong! The answer is: if that is what you have to do to perform on that level than do something else. In life we experience pain and struggle, defeat and frustration. With this we build our character and our endurance, it develops who we are. The performance enhancing drugs take away from this struggle, and although there is an appearance of victory and greatness with the use of these drugs the truth is a different picture.
Hats off to Greg LeMond for his struggles in life and his accomplishments in bicycle racing. He is presently struggling with lead poisoning due to a hunting accident earlier in his life. I wish him and his family well.
Hats off to Lance Armstrong for defeating testicular cancer.
There are certain advantages to a loop when talking about a short tour. If you live in a place like I do you can do your tours leaving right from your home. How simple is that? After experiencing all the adventure your trek has to offer your final destination is your home. In the words of T. S. Eliot "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time". Another advantage of a loop tour is that you can meet up with other tourists at any section of the loop and share the tour for a wile. They could be doing the same loop that you are and you can tell them what to expect up ahead and they can tell you the same. Strangely enough you are doing the same loop. However your adventure will be a different experience except for the part you are sharing. One of my favorite things about a loop tour is the cost. If you leave from your home there is no cost for public transportation to and from your destination. You have left from your front door and are ending with the same door. Your have your gear so grab some food, plan out your water and don't forget the key to your front door. Strawberry Loop Tour Named after Strawberry Reservoir which is a huge body of water that you would pass by on this loop. If you leave from Spanish Fork, Utah the reservoir is geographically the half way point of the loop. A more common way to tackle this loop is to take the Front Runner (public train) to it's end point at the Provo, Utah depot. From there you can maneuver your way to the Provo River trail. I recommend a circumnavigation around the Provo Airport to get to the trail so you can experience the beauty of the marshlands right next to Utah Lake.
You can enter the Provo River Trail at it's end point passing the entrance to the Utah Lake State Park/Marina. Riding on the Provo River Trail through the city of Provo is deceiving. It is easy to forget you are even in the city. The river cools the trail down a few degrees on hot days which makes for great riding conditions in the summer heat. If you have a navigator of some kind you can easily find places to eat close by the trail. If you do not you may have to plan ahead to find a place to eat close the trail. The trail passes by some parks if you want to eat some of the food you are carrying. The trail appears to end by a small waterfall near the LDS motion picture studios. Just head east (toward the mountain) a few blocks and the trail picks up again on University blvd/Canyon rd. Just stay on the west side of the road and the trail will pick up again. This paved bike trail will eventually take you up the Provo canyon all the way to Vivian park where you will have to continue up the canyon on the highway. Vivian Park is the last place to get potable water until you get to Heber. I recommend carrying a water filter on this trip although I have done it without one. Water can get a little tight by the time you get to the Hot Springs (no clean water there). The longest section without potable water is from Daniel's summit general store to some pavilion/camps about 15 miles past the hot springs. There is a ranger station at Strawberry Reservoir if it is open.
Before getting to the Dam you will have to make a right onto a very weathered road that is used by the rafters and kayakers. This road will take you underneath/accross the highway and past a swing gate that will lead you to the Provo Jordan rivertrail project.
The rest of this tour is covered in the Strawberry Loop blog. This is about a 100 to 120 mile loop with mixed terrain including: Paved road. paved bicycle trail, dirt road and single track. Expect heavy elevation climbs especially on the first half of the trip. This is a good three to four day trip for a novice rider. No skinny tires.
Diamond Loop
The Diamond Loop is named after the first turn off of highway 6 into a place called Diamond Fork. Don't expect to find Diamonds there because I believe it is named after the Diamond back rattle snake. Don't worry your little heart because after years and years of hiking, biking and fishing up there I have only ever seen one diamond back rattler in that area. However, I have been stalked by a cougar twice, both times were near Monks Hallow. Before turning left onto diamond fork road there is a little campground called Spanish Fork River Campground. They have primitive camping there for $2.00 a night. There are pretty nice bathrooms in the main camping area and potable water. It is likely that you will be woken up by a train at least one time during the night. Prepare yourself for the best is yet to come because often in the evening and in the morning you can hear the bugling elk herds passing just south of the campground. They are usually very close and can be seen nicely with some small binoculars. As you enter Diamond fork there will be plenty of mule deer and wild turkeys to satisfy your wild animal sightings. Take time to sample the free campgrounds and tie up any food at night for bears. I have never had a bear problems but one time I experience a full skunk invasion because I neglected to tie up some bread. One skunk was even in my pannier and he just looked at me without any fear as I shined the light at him.
In the early spring there are lots of beaver in the area past Diamond Fork. And after a grueling climb to the apex of the trek there is a very long and beautiful downhill as your reward. If you like fishing and wildlife then this 50 miler in three days is an awesome loop.
Loop touring is an amazing way to discover what is close by in your area. You might be surprised at how wonderful the place you live really is. Happy touring and be safe!
