North Rim Capes of the Canyon - Day 2 - Buckskin Mountains along Winter Road
Date: 5/26/2024
50.72 Miles
3,907 Feet of Gain
Stateline Campground to Fredonia, AZ
Sleep can be such a harbinger of peace. I awoke in the early dawn of summer to cool conditions in the shaded valley of Coyote Canyon. It was 5:30 am, and I had slept hard all night. But I knew today was forecast to be in the upper 90s again and I wanted to get going before the scorch line of light lit up the place. I packed quietly enough, but Roland awoke as soon as he heard me head down to the pit toilets. He was out with his camera by the time I got back. I ate breakfast at the picnic table with him, quietly talking about the surroundings, and then looking out at the beauty. The sun breached rock walls - it was time to go. I walked my bike down to the Arizona National Scenic Trail sign where Roland and I took a series of portraits. They featured both him and myself standing with the bike. He gave me his card with personal contact information and asked me to reach out when I was done with the trip. I expressed my gratitude in return.
I said my goodbyes as he went back to light up his stove for morning coffee. I turned towards the AZT terminus obelisk, read the poem emblazed on it that I always read, and started to bike out to House Rock Road. A left carried me into the leeward shade of butte faces adorning the entrance to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Utah. Shortly thereafter I passed Wire Pass Trailhead (with no one there at the early hour) before cruising through pinyon-juniper shrublands and sage-frosted pockets. The cockscomb of red stones stumbled down narrow chutes around the road before opening to a valley near Buckskin Gulch. I swung a left on FR 720 and started up the rocky steep ascent into the Buckskin Mountains. This section often requires some hike-a-bike and today was no exception. I got off and pushed up the grassy slopes. Looking back gave glimpses of the swirled tops of the Coyotes Buttes' sandstone spires on top of the Paria Plateau. I turned and pressed forward knowing any elevation gained today would lessen the heat.
About thirty minutes later, I popped out on top in a thicket of pinyon-juniper woodlands. This far north and this high, my gaze swiveled out into Utah and the stratified stepwise hunks of the Grand Staircase that were gorgeously in view. White cliffs, pink cliffs, chocolate cliffs, and vermilion at my feet. The lofty pinnacles of Bryce Canyon were just in view among the distant treed tops of the viewscape. I pedaled along doubletrack oscillating between rough and smooth as trees faded way to grasslands and sage only to plunge back into woodland ahead. But most notable was the cream-yellow blooms of cliffrose petals everywhere. The plant was at the height of summer flowering and the pastel flowers made me pull over again and again to smell and view them.
After riding for some time, I arrived back at the Arizona/Utah stateline heading south along doubletrack that continued to open up to expansive views of the Staircase. The grasses along the route were notable for their shades of green that also spanned mauve and tan. The day was getting hot, even at this elevation of 6500 feet. I headed down some old roads towards Dead Man Canyon where a wildlife tank was reliably found. It was my first water source since yesterday, and I excitedly swiveled the manhole off a buried metal storage tank to dip my bottles in the deep and cold water. Rewatered, I was ready to continue on and pedaled down to the intersection with Winter Road. Here, I turned north on the well-maintained dirt road that cut towards Fredonia off the ridgeline of the Kaibab Mountains. The trees grew thick around me, and I took a long siesta in the shade before riding down what I knew was going to be a hot and exposed high desert section ahead.
I continued into the sun and around a corner the drop-off from the mountains came into view as Winter Road lit out as a white line piercing the green forest in a series of switchbacks before bisecting a desertscape into the horizon. Honestly, it was my favorite view yet of the entire Grand Staircase so I stopped to stare for a good chunk of time. I started down the switchbacks which began smooth but then became chunky and uneven from the forces of erosion and deposition. Hopping off the bike to hike-a-bike down was my preferred motion; once at the bottom, the road smoothed up, and I rode on across the sagelands of the Great Basin Desert. Thick jumbles of invasive tumbleweed grew in large swaths that had desiccated and browned under the pre-monsoon sun of summer. It was high 80s on this side of the range - hot but manageable. Personally, I find the stretch of sage across a basin desert entirely beautiful. I stopped frequently to take in the views and take photos. But these breaks were short-lived with the summer sun coming straight down, generating high solar intensity that encouraged riding to town and to shade.
An hour or two of pedaling brought me to paved 89A where a few more miles of shoulder riding carried me into Fredonia, AZ by 4 pm. I immediately bee-lined it to the Family Dollar in town for a resupply. The craving for ice cold electrolytes and an ice cream sandwich puckered my hunger into a boil - all I wanted was a cone to eat in the shade of the building out front. I grabbed some cold treats and then went out front to guzzle two Gatorlytes while stretched out on the shaded sidewalk - angled just right from the sun. The sun had been driving down with UV levels at 13 all day leaving my legs red and sunburned no matter how much sun screen I coated them in. The chance to duck into shadow could not be passed up. With snacks consumed and drinks finished, I rode the short way over to Country Rose RV Park. This campground turned out to be a great place to camp in town: it was clean with relatively private sites, each camp spot had its own water spigot, the campground was owned by a friendly guy who talked to me for a while about my biking, there were picnic tables, a shade tree at my site, and super clean restrooms/showers. I took an ice cold shower that washed the salt down the drain that I had sweated out all day from the heat of foresummer. I also drenched my clothes, wrung them clean, and line dried them on a fence. I sat on the picnic table in the shade while I called Janna for a check-in on the ride. Evening came on and the sun finally dipped below the western horizon cloaking everything in that sienna-blue fade of mid-summer. I finally climbed into the X-Mid as heat settled into the light cool of night.
