August 4 - Capitol Reef National Park

Lodging: Torrey, UT

Today was a blast! I felt like a pioneer exploring new land. Left Cortez for Four Corners. The monument itself was closed but it was fun to stand there anyway. Then travelled over 200 miles on largely unpopulated backroads to Torrey Utah. The ride was not for the faint of heart - there were essentially no towns or services for most of the ride through brutal heat. For some reason no one else seemed to want to travel this way as I only passed a few cars going the other direction and none going my way (except a parked bike which I will describe below). It was strangely serene. I was very happy to have plenty of water and my cooler vest. Given there were no signs of population most of the way (no farms, houses, irrigated fields, gas, restaurants, etc) it was easy to imagine being there hundreds of years ago and trying to survive in the land. I think my favorite part was when I got to drive through a crevice carved in the rock (see awesome picture of bike with red background) and just view the desolate and colorful landscape (see another photo of bike- selfie stick didn’t work in the middle of nowhere). Also explored Natural Bridges National Monument (the visitor center was closed). Zoom in to the left of my face to see the arch. Ended up at Capitol Reef Park (a hundred mile wrinkle in the earth) - see cool photo with colorful mountains and the sky. I did face an interesting dilemma when I passed a motorcycle that was parked on the side of the road with a helmet on the ground behind it. I recently learned this was the international symbol for biker in distress. The bike was parked in a gravel lot with no person in sight and no pull out. I was worried it could be a trap but at the same time didn’t want to abandon someone if they were truly in need. So I turned around in the middle of the road, parked in the road, and located the biker. He said he was just resting in the shade so I kept going. What a day. I am so grateful for this opportunity.