An Epic Journey (Part 2)
We got up extra early that morning to beat the heat and get a head start up John Brown Canyon. Luckily, the canyon was oriented so that the sun did not penetrate until mid-morning, so shade was the rule as we climbed. The canyon reminded me of the old Roadrunner cartoons, with impossible rock outcroppings and precipices. I tried to occupy my mind with the scenery, since the climb was quite steep with no breaks. Once cresting the canyon, we could see, more closely than before, the La Salle Mountains and cooler, greener country. Even after "getting on top" the trend was up up up all day long. When we finally made it to the La Salle Hut, we were a bit disappointed to find it was out in the hot sun with no shade nearby. We had read about some riders continuing on to Moab without staying at this hut, and we were beginning to see just why. After some deliberation, we decided to stay, and thankfully clouds had formed over the mountain making us much more comfortable. We took a walk out to an overlook where we could see Castle Valley and the Colorado River below.
Our final day on the trail should have been all downhill, but it wasn't. After about 2000 feet of elevation loss on a paved road, we climbed 2000 feet back up to Porcupine Ridge, and then followed Sand Flats Road towards Moab. We looked for a way to join the Porcupine Rim Trail on top. We ran into a guy and gal who were essentially lost. They weren't much help and actually gave us a bum steer, so we ended up, after a brisk road descent, having to climb back up the trail for four grueling miles. By now it was hot and my neck and shoulder were acting up pretty badly, so I split with the guys and took the easy way down to Moab. Jim and Joey arrived an hour later, dusty, hot and dehydrated.
But we made it! We toasted the trip at Eddie McStiff's Restaurant that evening before hitting the sack for a 5:30 am departure. The next morning we made it out to Moab Airport to fuel up and load up. There was a film crew there getting ready to film something for a TV program, but they were pretty hush hush about it. We were slow to get off the ground with all that fuel and cargo, but we climbed up to 10,500 to buck the headwinds home. At 10,500 feet, we were not high enough to clear all the mountain ranges we would encounter, but with the headwinds, I wasn't inclined to go any higher. We played some "dodge" with the biggest peaks, which made at least one of my collegues a bit nervous. As we crested the Sierra Nevada, looking west at the Sacramento Valley, the world ended in a sea of brown. We could see smoke rising from several places along the foothills, and it was not a pretty sight. The visibility was about a mile as we made our approach to home.