Brine Shrimp?

On the Border:

Great Salt Lake Shrimp?

Yeah, shrimp, but they're krill-size, so only a whale could eat 'em. Great Salt Lake is full of brine shirmp. So many, that when the wind blows north to south, they get piled up onto the swimming areas along the southern portion of the lake. Result? What should be blue water looks sort of brownish. Remember all of those pics of people bobbing almost completely out of the water due to the high salt content? In order to simply get to water deep enough to float, you'd have to walk out a mile, the lake is that shallow, and...brown.. ugh.

They must be Rentals!

Yeah. After seeing cars with 2,3,4 & even a half foot of baked-on salt hanging from running boards, you can only imagine what they look like on the bottom, and you were worried about driving in snow when the road was salted down? Running west and away from salt lake city, the baked, dry, & brown desert gradually gives way to this huge salt flat. At night, it looks like snow. Don't think salt as in a shaker, this stuff is thick, and sticky. Get some on your boots, it takes a brush & a gallon of water to wash it off. ABM's trip to Death Valley, and the sordid salt flat at Badwater Basin taught me to stay outta the salt. Nasty, sticky crap. It only looks like snow! The little town of Wendover supports the Bonneville Speedway. A few miles on down I-80, you'll cross over into Nevada. Soon as you don the mandatory skid lid, you'll see casinos, that means you're in West Wendover, glitzy, new, buildings. Lots of casinos with cheap(er) rooms than what's on the speedway side. Think they have a way to make back the difference? Yeah. Nevada. Legalized prostitution, but they make bikers wear a helmet...things that make ya go hmmmm... Nevada 93-south is fairly unremarkable as scenery goes. Found myself wishing we'd backtracked I-80 to Salt Lake, but did get to see a ghost town on the loop back into central Utah. "Old Frisco", a mining town, shut down operations around 1900, and by 1920, the last resident either left, or died. What's there now is leftovers of a smelting operation, with giant "beehives", where they'd cook up ore for smelting on a side hill. Picked up a couple pcs of iron ore, so heavy, it felt like hefting a chuck of a meteor. Pretty cool. No park rangers, it's just on the side of Utah route 21, just west of the little town of Milford. The road is good enough to ride in. We left it just like we found it, except for that hunk of ore.

Hurricane, Utah. Thrills in the Hills!

Yes, Hurricane. Pull out a map of extreme southwest Utah, and look for Saint George. Go east 10 miles on route 9, and you're in Hurricane, Utah. Ten miles off I-15, you'll find decent motels, for 49 bucks, out the door, tax, tag, title. Why Hurricane? Because this little town is only a dozen miles from one of the best rides we've ever taken! Get up early in the morning, grab ya some eggs & coffee, and get to the park early. If you're on a bike (and I know you are!), the charge is 12 bucks a head. What a great deal. You hit 6-9 percent grades, twisties, canyons, jagged peaks, not unlike the swiss alps. If the temp in St. George is 105, up in Zion, it'll be 75, if it's even that warm. How's this sound? A ONE MILE LONG TUNNEL! Be sure to remove your tinted shield or dark goggles before you enter, because it's freakin' BLACK inside. No lites, except for you, and it's loud-loud-LOUD! Again, my description of Zion National Park pales in comparison to the actual experience of this beautiful chunk of the old west--you punch out the other side, but it's not over yet!

Dixie Forest:

Take 89 north to 14 west, and go back over the mountain again, this time from the other side. We thought the scenery was almost as nice as the park side, lots of streams, including a roadside "grotto", spewing thousands of gallons of artesian well water out and onto a lake teeming with rainbow trout! Several people were fishing, a few more hearty souls were diving into the liquid-crystal-blue grotto, and gasping for air as the 50-60 degree underground water goose-bumped their skin. This stretch has many places where you can rent four and two wheelers, places to camp, and even a little cabin or two, but be advised, if you're staying for a few days, you'd better pack in some serious supplies, 'cause the nearest grocery store is 50 miles away. The black bike was running crappy, which bothers me to no end! That's when we reached the summit; Almost 10,000 feet! Dude, nothing runs right at 10k feet, including me. The air is so thin, I was high as a kite. Better be careful goin' back down! We were freezin' cold, the descent began, and at the bottom, my up front dual discs were squeaking like a rabid mouse. Finally Cedar City, and I-15. Going back to Hurricane, where a shower & a sink full of Coronas awaited, but remember the temp's. Back at 10,000 feet, it was 70. At I-15, bottom of the mountain, temp had climbed to 105! And you want to know why everyone out here wants to build in the hills? So there it is. I'd love to tell you exactly how many miles this loop is, but the chop hasn't had a working speedo since '06. Let me give it an educated guess: 175 hard miles, because most are up, down, or twisty. Hey, isn't that what we crave?
ABM rating of Zion National Park Loop? ...#3 of all time!
(#1 Death Valley, #2 Joshua Tree Forest-Northern Arizona.)

Next Blog: Californiacation of American Biker Minute.

Put this thing on my head each time we ride? that SUCKS!