The winds howled at the North Rim all night long, shaking my tent. It was pretty cold but I had enough clothes. I slept in my bag wearing pants and thermals and a fleece and down vest and wool hat. Still pretty hard to sleep with all that noise and flapping.
In the morning I cruised back to the lodge and mailed home my shoes, which I only needed for the Grand Canyon hike. Then I hit the road, pedaling towards Jacob Lake, 41 miles distant.
The winds were luckily going in my favor today, and I made the distance more quickly than I thought. It was only 1pm when I got to Jacobs Lake, so i figured I'd push it further. I got a room reservation at a motel in Marble Canyon, another 40 miles off. But it was about 4000 feet lower, so I thought it would be doable.
Down I went out of the pine forests onto the red rock desert. Occasionally I could see the Canyon far away, as a shadowy cleft in the desert floor. The road had no shoulder but there wasn't much traffic. Eventually I turned away from the gusts and sailed into Marble Canyon, hardly pedaling.
At one point i had to make a choice between roads. One lead me north into the Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument. But I wanted to get to a town to get supplies before heading into Escalante. I headed towards Page, about two days distant.
The following day, the winds were howling again. It helped me the day before but I had to go straight into it for a time today. It was only 9 miles but it took much of the day. There was no shoulder at all, and I could barely pedal into it. Side gusts would force me to swerve into the lane. Lots of old people and Asian tourists driving rented RVs had me scared. Then I saw a vague trail over toward the mountains that roughly paralleled the road. I decided to take it.
I found a place where the barbed wire could be pulled aside, and started on this trail. It wasn't much of anything, and was mostly sand and rubble. I was pushing my bike and could only pedal it occasionally. It wasn't much fun but was better than getting run over.
Eventually the 'trail' started going up into the mountains. I pushed my bike up brutal hills and the wind was blowing sand in my face. After another hour, I started to get worried about where I was going so I decided to abort and make my way back to the road. I went overland through cactus and a wash and finally got to where there was a barbed wire fence. It was pretty tall so I managed to throw my bike over it and then crawl over myself.
Back on the road, I was only a couple miles from the junction where the road turned away from the wind. I powered through it but it was a bear. I leaned my bike against a sign which was shaking from the wind and refilled my water bladder.
I did the next 20 miles into Page with no problems because the wind was now behind me. But I needed somewhere to stay. Hotels were really expensive. There was a campground and I went to it, pedaling through a foul-smelling windswept industrial area. Page has lovely scenery, but it smells like sewage and asphalt and exhaust. No shoulders on any of the roads. After awhile. I got to the campground and it looked terrible. RVs smashed together in a gravel lot with a couple of rough-looking people around the office. I went in and asked about a site and they were full. Maybe a blessing.
It was getting late and the sun was going down. I was exhausted. Apparently you can camp on the lake shore for cheap, but it was an hour ride north. I set my GPS for that and started pedaling as the sun was going down. The winds kicked up and blew debris into my face and I swerved off the road into a driveway. I got on Hotwire and the cheapest hotel in town (Saturday night) was $330. Kicking myself, I took it.
After checking into the Best Western, I ordered a pizza which came pretty quickly. I wanted something to drink but the coke machine ate my money. At the desk, the girl was annoyed when I asked for my dollar and made a big show of filling out lots of paperwork in order to refund me a dollar. After an eternity, I got my dollar and returned to my room to eat cold pizza with tap water.
I also stayed in in a motel last night and emerged with at least a dozen itchy bumps on my hands and neck and arms and legs and stomach. So I have been applying anti itch cream all day but it's still uncomfortably itchy.
I just urinated for the first time in 12 hours. I drank more than 4 liters of water without producing anything. That's how dry it is.
*next day*
I woke up in Page with even more itchy lesions. I headed to the clinic, where the doctor told me it was most likely folliculitis caused by blocked pores and sweat and sunblock. He advised cortisone cream. I bought some and it sort of works. Sort of. I also got some antibiotics from the pharmacy in case I get an infection.
My main reason for coming to Page was to get camp food and some trip planning advice. I went to "Stix Hunting/Fishing Supplies and Liquor", which was apparently the headquarters for such things. They didn't have any camp food. I knew the Wal Mart had it, and figured I'd have ride back there. It was on the other side of town and up a pretty big hill. A customer overheard my conversation with the proprietor and offered to take me to Wal Mart. He had an old pickup that I could throw my bike into.
Timothy was very drunk, I soon learned. He lit a smoke and the rolled up the windows because he had the air conditioning on. He told me sad stories as we drove across town in his truck. He said he had just done a lot of work on it. When I asked what kind of work he did to the pickup, he said he just rebuilt the 454 engine. Then he floored it for about half a mile until we were going at a pretty good velocity. Then he slammed the brakes, bringing us back to the speed limit. At least the brakes worked, I thought. We pulled into Wal Mart drove slowly through the parking lot. He showed me a tattoo on his arm that he apparently was unsatisfied with, saying it made him "look like the lead singer of Journey". Jumping out to grab my bike, I said "Later, Steve Perry!" He yelled back "I ain't no Steve Perry!"
The Wal Mart had everything I was looking for and I managed to cram 5 days of food into my backpack. Pedaling out of town with my heavy load, I passed the Glen Canyon Dam. It is a magnificent structure from an engineering standpoint, but something of a travesty in its effect. It flooded many miles of Glen Canyon, which was filled with stunning natural beauty and archaeology. In exchange for this, the cities of Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Las Vegas could flourish. However, a 15-year drought has reduced the lake to only half full. A massive amount of water is lost to evaporation and seepage. So, the dam isn't really even helping to do the job it was meant to do.
Plus, it is the only reason for the existence of Page, AZ, which is truly an awful town.
Getting on highway 89, I headed toward the Monument. The Monument is as large as the state of Delaware and has few roads and fewer services. I desperately needed information before I was to venture inside. I was hoping to make it to the BLM station before it closed, but I was about 15 minutes late. Their water faucet was outside, so I filled up my bladders and got back out on the road.
Pedaling away from the BLM station, I was entering a huge plain with mountains in the distance. I knew that a campground (with water) and a scenic road lay that way, so I started pedaling into the headwind. A little later I noticed that the sun was on its way down and I was headed into the unknown. It wasn't very reassuring so I called the number of a little motel I had passed 5 miles back. The lady said they had a room so I turned around. It's nice to shower. Plus my dermatitis needs a night to relax. The BLM office is about a mile away and they will be open in the morning.
I ate an envelope of camp food in my room because there wasn't anything else, and maybe my pack will get a little lighter!
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