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DAY 1, SPRINGDALE TO HATCH - 61 MILES

We started our ride in the town of Springdale at the western entrance to Zion Canyon. At around 4000 feet this was the lowest elevation along the route. A nice little bike path runs a few miles into the park and then you begin climbing out of the canyon on a road with a half-dozen switchbacks (Utah Route 9) that gains about 1500 to 2000 feet in elevation. The views into the canyon soon become impressive.

At the end of the switchbacks is a tunnel through the rocks that was built in the 1930s. It's quite narrow and unlit so bicycles are not allowed to ride through. Larger trucks and RVs require the oncoming traffic to stop so they can go through single-file down the center of the two-lane road where clearance is maximum. The procedure for cyclists is to wait at the little ranger kiosk for a pickup truck to come by and hitch a ride through the mile-and-a-half tunnel. We waited about 20 minutes for our ride.

Zion National Park

Waiting for a ride through the tunnel...

After the tunnel the road continues to climb gently past the amazing massive rock cliffs that are Zion's claim to fame. A geologist's paradise. Then at the eastern entrance to the park the road winds down about a 1000 feet to Mount Carmel Junction where we turned north onto Highway 89. This was probably the most major road we'd ride on but traffic was very light. It wasn't long, though, before we realized we were heading into a rather strong headwind and it was going to be uphill for most of the 35 miles we had left to go before we reached our first motel in the town of Hatch. On top of that it was unseasonably cold, maybe the low 40's, and we were plodding along at a mere 6 or 7 miles per hour. It would take us over 9 hours to cover 61 miles, cursing the wind the whole way.

After 25 windy, uphill miles on Highway 89 we reached the summit at 7900 feet. But the tenacious headwinds made the last 10 downhill miles into Hatch no better than the climb. Finally, after 9+ hours on the bikes, we rolled into Hatch and Miss Lori's Bryce-Zion Midway Resort. Exhausted, we showered, ate dinner to the strains of Miss Lori's country guitar and vocals, and collapsed into our beds to watch the evening's basketball playoff game. Tomorrow had to be better! Next
Miss Lori's Motel, Hatch