Good-bye Colorado

The great experiment: mountains v. ocean. For me, the ocean wins out. Of course that wasn’t my only reason for coming here, and it’s not my only reason for leaving either. But it was a great curiosity of mine after college, and I never would’ve known had I not come to the mountains.

While the mountains are more than amazing in the summer, the warm weather is brief, and winter is quite the buzz-kill. Bike trails are only ride-able for three to five months depending on elevation and snowfall. That’s not going to do it for me. I’ve also discovered that snow sports really aren’t my thing. It seems that skiing is largely just a status symbol, like owning a house here. Hopefully I’m wrong about that, but the cost to fun ratio seems way off. I like the challenge of going uphill and the freedom to go just about anywhere that biking gives me. If I intended to stay here longer, I’d look into fat bikes and/or cross country skiing. Still, riding dirt seems more fun, hence my recent trips to Moab and Fruita.

My other big reasons for leaving are education and a career. I’ve realized that a “fun” job just isn’t enough; besides, the right coworkers can make just about any job fun…or not. I need to reach my intellectual potential, and I certainly can’t do that shoveling snow or in the parks and rec field for that matter. Although I could get in-state tuition in Colorado now, I miss home too much to stay here that long. I’m planning to return to Ole Miss for a degree in science/technology, though I’m not sure what type of job I’ll be looking for just yet.

There were things I needed to do, that couldn’t be done back home. It’s hard to put them into words, but I think I’ve done those things. I might could say I needed to “find myself”, though I still don’t know what that really means. But, I’ve got a better idea of what I want in life, and I’ve gained a new perspective of what home is. I think I’ll like travelling more as a hobby than a lifestyle. I’ll try to remember to post here when I do travel. It seems that everywhere will have problems whether they’re social, political, geographical, or climatical, most likely some combination of the above. I’d just rather deal with the problems of the South and enjoy the positive aspects.

Cutting it Close: Fruita, CO

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. A lot’s been going on, just nothing post worthy. Recently my weekends in Colorado became numbered (I’ll explain in another post), so I decided to head up to Fruita for some mountain biking. I meant to take some pictures, but it’s difficult to adequately capture the beauty of the desert with a camera. My desert pictures always seem dull. Fruita is only a few hours from Moab, but the trails are quite different and more varied. In general, Fruita trails are less technical, which means more riding and less walking. I like that.

My first stop was the Kokopelli Trail System. These trails have some pretty technical spots, especially when you ride them in the wrong direction like Lucy and I did right off the bat. After a good look at a map, we found a much easier trail. By the time we finished, we’d been riding for nearly three hours, and Lucy was getting pretty tired. I dropped her off at the truck, grabbed a snack, and headed back out for what was supposed to be a relatively easy fifteen mile loop: Mary’s Trail to Troy Built to the frontage road back to the trailhead.

Somewhere around mile eight I came to a fork in the trail and a sign with words too faded to read. There are many trails cutting off to the right from Mary’s Trail, so I went straight thinking Troy Built was a few miles further. After three or four miles, I hit a dead end in a cattle range. By this time, there was just over an hour till sunset. I hightailed it back to the fork, and upon closer inspection of the sign, I could just barely infer that the direction I had gone was private land. I’m not sure why the sign had an arrow pointing that direction, since no one should be going that way. I continued on in the other direction, eventually reaching a sign that only had arrows for Lion’s Loop and Mack Ridge written in permanent marker with no reference to Mary’s Trail or Troy Built. I remembered Mack Ridge from the map and knew it went in the direction I wanted to go but was more difficult and might take a while. I decided to go for it anyways to avoid getting lost again.

Mack Ridge ended up being my favorite trail in that system. It was technical but fairly fast. I got back to the frontage road just after sunset and back to my truck with about six hours of riding for the day. That’s a lot of riding even when you’re pacing for it, which I was not. I usually carry a light if my chosen route is long or not yet determined, but that day I didn’t since fifteen miles on a heavily used trail system shouldn’t be that difficult. I think I’ll start carrying one anytime I’m somewhere new, regardless of route difficulty.

As is now customary, I went to the local brewery, Suds Bros., for a killer hamburger and some craft beer. I slept for nearly twelve hours at my campsite just out of town. The next I day I hit the North Fruita Desert for some smooth flow trails that were much better marked. I rode there for another five hours before heading back home, exhausted.