Two of the most magic places in the world for me are the Redwood Forests of Northern California (where I’m from) and the Grand Canyon of Arizona, which I’ve visited numerous times over the years.
Last week I joined some buddies for a 5 day bike trek along the Grand Canyon’s fabled North Rim, which rises 9,000 feet above sea level at the center of the Kaibab Plateau in Northern Arizona. The North Rim is over a thousand feet higher than the South Rim, and much less traversed. Only one in ten Grand Canyon visitors travels to the more remote, North Rim.
We rode the Sunset Trail which skirts the edge of the North Rim and winds for miles overlooking the vast depths of the canyon, extending to places with names like Parisswampitts. We also rode the even less traveled Eastern Rim overlook. The treks follow winding single tracks that ascend and descend the canyon profile, linking scores of peninsulas that jut out into overlooks and sheer drops. At times you are riding in forests, at times in open grassy meadows with wild flowers and ultimately, right on the edge of the canyon with views that stretch for miles and miles into the depths some 5,000 feet below and out across the canyon plateaus with mountainous outcroppings in the distance. At night, after the camp fires are out and the guitars are put away, the sky lights up with a bazillion stars and the Milky Way has no end. There is no light pollution in that corner of the world.
You need your wits about you on the single track drops. We had three amazing guides from Magpie Cycling of Moab, Utah, including Maggie who owns the company. We’ve ridden with them before and they deliver an absolute stunning trip, from technical cycling capability, to knowledge of the region’s natural history and indigenous past, plus amazing meals of fresh foods, prepared from their motorized kitchen and supply truck that meets us along the trail heads at planned stops.
The trip wasn’t without its spills as the uneven surface and rock strewn trails pitched a couple of our riders off their bikes, but we survived the week in good spirits and health. The rides in the desert have also started to spawn a few new songs. We played guitars around the camp fire at night with songs like Islands in The Sky; one of my creations from our previous trek in Canyonlands National Park. And … I Am Bull Snake; another rider buddy who is a musician coined this one after we had a two meter long bull snake come through our camp on day one! A solo rider from Michigan who we met in the canyon joined us on the ride. He was an opera singer and at night around the fires just stunned us belting our Italian arias at the fireside, under the moon. Even the coyotes listened in awe.
After five days trekking the North Rim we descended the Kaibob Plateau to St. George, Utah – near Zion National Park – where it was 111 degrees. Forty-eight hours later I was standing a thousand miles to the northwest in Redwoods National Park to join some friends who’d decided to get married among the 2000 year old giants, along the Eel River of Northern California. It’s an amazing world when you can transition from the edge of the Grand Canyon, through Las Vegas and San Francisco and into the depths of the ancient redwood forest in a matter of hours, almost surreal. I joined my friends near a massive stand of redwoods towering over 100 meters above the still preserved prehistoric habitat. The only thing missing were the dinosaurs.
