National Park trip

[charlie b]

My brother and I took a trip this weekend. He has a new BMW F650GS (twin) and wanted to do a trip on it. He has extensive experience with bicycles, having planned and participated in two Ride Across America events. He lives in Socal so we met at my Mom's in Phoenix.

Route was US60 to Wickenburg, then to Prescott, Sedona, Flagstaff on US89/89A. Up to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Then to Zion and Bryce Canyons. Across the Escalante, then down to Mexican Hat at the upper end of Lake Powell. Then down to Monument Valley. We split at Kayenta with me heading hom through the four corners area and him going back to Phx and then home.

We only got 300-400mi a day due to all our stops along the way. We stayed overnight at the North Rim, Bryce Canyon City, and Kayenta.

Great time.

trip start, me on the left, brother on the right.

 

[charlie b]

Yarnell hill going into Prescott. Really nice ride But, almost had a close encounter with a deer too.

Stopped in Flagstaff for lunch.

Part of the painted desert

 

[charlie b]

North Rim of the Grand Canyon. This is the view from the lodge. You can sit on the veranda and have a drink. The hotel restaurant has the same view out the window. The 'rooms' are two room cabins built back in the early part of the 1900's.

Entering Zion Nat Park. Great rock formations. If you haven't been there in a while (has been over 20 yrs for me) they now run a shuttle up the river canyon to each of the 'good' spots and to the lodge. We had lunch at the lodge then went up to Weeping Rock.

Then rode over to Bryce Canyon. Great views at sunset.

 

[charlie b]

After overnight at Bryce we went through the Escallante. This area spans a huge area in southern Utah and is such a big mix of terrain it is hard to describe. This is just a part of it.

The ride from Bryce to Monument Valley was the most interesting of the trip. Rarely a straight road and most was either on top of ridge lines (like the above photo) or was through river canyons with stunning views of various sandstone formations. End up in one canyon that feeds into Lake Powell. Cross over the upper end of Lake Powell near Mexican Hat.

We picked a little side route into Mexican Hat that was shown on the map as a shorter route. The beginning of the road had big warning signs, 'Dirt road and steep grades with switchbacks'. Well, we figured since it showed as a paved road on the map we'd be OK. NOT!!!!!

Got near the end of it and saw huge warning signs, 'END OF PAVED ROAD'. They were right. Go over the edge and it is about a 1000ft drop. Dirt road about 1 1/2 lanes wide, no guard rail. Thankfully not much traffic. Speed limit was 15mph but I think I rarely went over 10mph. All I could think on the way down was, "DON'T TOUCH THE FRONT BRAKE!" It was bad enough I didn't even take a picture of it!

 

[charlie b]

Here are some other shots at stops we made.

In Northern AZ a nice little gas station. Yes, they had guns and ammo for sale. Actually some nice old pieces in there including a Model 12 shotgun and nice sporter Enfield.

This was at the Escalante visitor center. That's my brother.

This was at a gas station in the Escalante. It is a prime spot for mountain bicycle folks. It was also Elk season and we ran into one group that had just got a really nice bull. That's me in this pic.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Charlie, What a great ride. I have not ridden the Moki Dugway (UT-261), your little .... descent .... down toward Mexican Hat. It's on the cover of my Rand McNally Road Atlas, and is one of those things I want to do one of these days. I particularly love the stretch of the Escalante between Bryce Canyon and Torrey.

What did you think of your brother's BMW? Is it chain or belt drive? If they were a bit shorter, I'd have been interested in them, but then I would have (hopefully) come to my senses and realized that I don't have any business riding very far off pavement.

Thanks for the pictures!

 

[charlie b]

It was a great trip and I recommend the area to anyone who wants some really interesting roads.

A lot of tour groups, mostly from Europe and Japan. If you plan on staying near any of the parks plan on quite a bit for rooms. The cheapest was at Kayenta (Monument Valley) at $140.

Also, weather was great. We just missed a big front that went through so had no rain at all. Mornings were cold, high 30's and low 40's. Afternoon in the desert was in the 80's. At Zion it was just over 90 in a couple of places. Packing was complicated with the cold weather stuff that we would shed as the day wore on.

The NT was great. Yes, it could still use another 20hp and a 6th gear But, it had enough power to cruise at 80 and to pass whenever I wanted to. So, I never felt like it was underpowered. Yeah, that's kind of a contradiction, but, was how I felt about it. Handling was good, but, I never pushed it hard either. I don't mind pushing on 'flat' roads, but, most of these had pretty severe drops, so any unexpected sand or traffic or animals would have meant a serious off road excursion.

 

[charlie b]

My brother loves his beemer. He's got a couple inches extra leg length on me so can easily flat foot it. It is about an inch higher than the NT with the Russell seat. Also has 10 more hp and 6 gears

When going up Yarnell hill I was pushing in a few corners and wondered how he would do. When we got to the top I asked him how he was doing. He said he went down that hill faster on a bicycle than we did going up on the motorcycles. I didn't worry about him after that

 

[Phil Tarman]

He said he went down that hill faster on a bicycle than we did going up on the motorcycles. I didn't worry about him after that

LOL! Some folks can really go downhill on bicycles. I loved that and rode with a couple of guys who would nearly burn out their brakes trying to keep their speeds under 30-35. I always believed that if I could have done some of my favorite downhills on my tandem with my son as stoker, I could have gotten over 60mph. As it was there were about 8-10 descents here in Colorado and Utah that I regularly hit 57mph on my road bike. But that was apparently my terminal velocity.

 

[karl]

Nice pictures thanks for sharing

 

[charlie b]

Thanks.

Phil, yeah, he has been riding bicycles for over 30 years. He also runs. His Iron Man and marathon days are over so he has taken on the motorcycle. Forgot, the beemer is a chain. Like me he originally wanted an F800ST because of the belt drive. But he could not even get on it in the showroom His goal is the big GS bike and a trip to the northern end of Alaska. This was his first multi-day trip on the beemer and he did really well, even with the stock seat. His comment was that it was a lot more comfortable than a bike seat

 

[charlie b]

Moki Dugway. So that's what it was. Should be like Devil's Whip or something like that. If I had some tires more suited to it I would not have been as nervous, but, the Avon Storm's were not the right tires! Even the beemer's tires were more street type so it was just as squirrelly as the NT.

What made me more nervous was I had gone partway down a nice gravel dirt road earlier. It was covered in pea gravel and felt like I was on marbles! Horrible. So, seeing that thing and the drop on the edge really got the juices flowing. After the first couple of turns I relaxed a little, kept it in 2nd gear, fingers off the brake lever and foot on the brake pedal. At least now I know I can do it.

For anyone contemplating a trip like this I'd recommend doing it in reverse. Start at monument valley, then Natural Bridges, then the Escalante, Bryce, Zion, North Rim, South Rim. If you've seen the Grand Canyon already it won't matter which order

Also watch for altitude sickness. My brother lives at sea level and Phx is at 1000ft. We rode from there to the North Rim which is around 9000ft. He got a bad case of the sickness and had a bad morning. Almost stopped in at the EMT office. This was not new for him so he was aware of what it was and how to deal with it. Something to be aware of out here where you can change altitude several thousand feet in a short period of time. I live at 7000ft and I could still feel it, just not as bad.

 

[Phil Tarman]

His comment was that it was a lot more comfortable than a bike seat

Boy, that's the truth!

 

[charlie b]

Yeah, the comparison is interesting. It was kinda nice having about the same power since I knew that when one of us passed a car the other one could keep up.

And yes, looking at the back of one of these type bikes makes me think of the line, "Honey, do these make my butt look big?"

OTOH, I will put the large lids on my wish list for the NT. And I will get a JC Whitney trunk like my brother did for the Beemer. It was surprisingly well made, like others in here have said. I was always worried that the cargo net on mine would let the bag shift too much.

Don't know about the alloy wheels.

The difference that sticks out to me? Him getting out the lube for the chain

 

[Phil Tarman]

I think the the alloy wheels are stock on the F650GS (the twin that's really an 800) and spoked are stock on the F800GS.

 

[charlie b]

Yes, beemer has had a couple of years of flux in this mid-size bike.

Now they have the F650GS, F800GS and G650GS (the F is for twin uprights, R is for twin boxer, K is for inline 4, and G is for single). I figure in a year or so they will drop the F650GS and just have the F800GS.

I'd consider a 'real' off road bike to have tubes for ease of changing out in the boonies. Punctures you could deal with on a tubeless configuration, but, not where a rock punches a 'large' hole.

Most people do not take these bikes to real off road locations anyway. Maybe forest roads at worst.

And you can always fit tubes to a wheel. But, breaking the bead in an out of the way location is not easy. Better than having to push it tho.

 

[ken45]

Moki Dugway

There are some videos on Utube of Moki Dugway, including some from people doing it on motorcycles. Quite the scenery!

Ken

 

[charlie b]

I watched a couple. It does get the sense of being there, just not the butt clenching the seat tight enough to become one

I felt a bit justified as I watched the Beemer GS going up around the corners slower than I was riding down them.

The truck video as it goes over the top brought back some fairly vivid memories. That first turn was almost enough to make me turn around and go back....if there had been enough room to turn around