After the snowstorm passed, we left Jackson WY on a sunny but cold afternoon. We pushed untill after sunset, and found ourselves on a high plateau, the Green River Basin, the sagebrush covered in a thick blanket of snow.
The temperature overnight dropped to 15 F (-10 C), too cold to stay outside and cook dinner. Ali scraped snow of the table to boil for a quick soup. Luckily our sleeping gear really showed it's value, and we were warm inside. The next morning we lingered inside untill the first rays of sun hit the tent, warming our bodies and souls. Outside a quiet world of white, with footprints of coyote and Pronghorn antelope that had roamed nearby at night.
Just off this plateau starts the Green River. The Green River flows through the Flaming gorge in southern Wyoming, and streams into the Colorado River in Utah, and we followed the general route of this waterway.
The Flaming Gorge has some side roads, and we cycled up the Sheep Creek Canyon, an amazing geologist mecca. Millions of years ago the crust of the earth was moved upwards to form a mountain range called the Uinta's. The sides of this range sort of cracked and the layers of earth that were once horizontal are now vertical. In the canyon you can see these different layers side by side. High pilars of sandstone, footprints of dinosaurs, fossillized sanddunes, petrified trees, remains of worlds ancient from our time, but also from one another, here visible close together.
At the bottom of the gorge the elk and deer hunting season has begun. Hunters have parked their SUV's and trailers right next to the road, and we see them walk trough the bushes, guns at their side, bright orange caps and jackets over their camouflage gear, so they won't accidentally shoot oneanother. It makes us feel sick to see the bloody heads and antlers dangling over the back of their cars. The thought that they will be stuffed and hung on the wall of someones house or a restaurant, like empty shells of a once beautiful animal, makes us angry, and we detest this useless destruction. The presense of hunters makes the roads feel far less safe than we are used to.
One night two of these hunters are driving their ATV's on trails close to our tent. I am scared they might hit us, but it turns out they are more scared of us.... We hear the them talking: "I don't know man, but that sure looks like a UFO to me!"and they take off. Since we have our torches on, the tent looks greenishly illuminated from outside!
It's an interesting time to be in the USA, the elections now only two weeks away. We are in republican country, and see McCain/ Palin boards in gardens, on cars, even at campgrounds.
We hit the western side of Colorado, and ride over Douglas Pass, one of the hardest of the trip so far, 40 miles uphill, the last 3 miles take an hour. Then down to Fruita, MTB sister city of Melrose, SA.
In Fruita we are welcomed by the friendly staff of Over the Edge Sports, and rent two mountainbikes for a day on singletrack. The day puts a grin on our face from one ear to the other; fast flowing trails in the desert foothills, redrock in the backdrop, cactus lining narrow ridges. It's almost too hard to describe this day with words, the pictures will tell more.
From Fruita it is a short two days to Moab. The landscape changes from open desert to a deep canyon, the Colorado river at our side. Eroded rock has created pilars and formations to the eye almost beyond the logic of gravity.
Moab is the (debated) worlds MTB capital, and we are staying with some friends for a few days to try the famous Slickrock trail, and check out some National Parks nearby.
