Strollin Southern Utah 2up on the 950

I have read tons of ride reports but never posted one so here goes my first contrabution. wife and i decided to ride 5 days in southern utah for our 21st aniverssery, cool things is this was her idea. not bad huh i guees i better keep her.

So the trips starts in Layton Utah with the bike overloaded with clothes and riding gear for 2 and camp gear for a few days of backountry.

just before Moab we had our first flat, total of 2 we would have on this trip.


the wife was a good sport, i had her trained at the end of this ride, she would pull my side cowling and grab the spare tubes while i was pulling the wheel. she would have it all buttoned up by the time i had the wheel on, new tube installed and the compressor topping off the tire. we were like a nascar team

first nights stop Bluff Utah and for her a required motel stop after our 300 plus that day.


next morning starts a little rough as we have a hard time finding Butler wash road, our first dirt road. For those who have rode it try not to laugh i now know its only 3 miles outside of town ha-ha.

Butler Wash Road


about 30 miles down the road i wreck in the only real section of sand on Butler, with the Katoom loaded up with gear and 2 people she really HATES the sand. only wreck of the trip so im happy and so is the wife



after the wife landed in the only sticker patch on the trail she decided to walk the short section of sand till i got the overburdened pig to hard pack. heres the walk of shame.

more pics of Butler, the whole time your paralleing a small stream with white rock cliffs in the distance to the left and sanstone red rock to your right. pretty cool way to start the ride and hey with the wreck out of the way i was feeling pretty good.


on a side note i highly recommend wrecking on the first day of the ride, it can only get better from there ha-ha





after being on Butler for awhile we come out onto I95 and turn west, 95 is open range so becareful :eek1



on 95 there was 3 stops we wer planning,

1st stop Butler Wash indian ruins, damn cool and a short hike from the parking lot.





2nd stop: Mule Canyon Ruins...pretty cool cause there right off the road and you can get right up to them.



3rd stop: Natural Bridges state park

plenty of scenic pullouts and for the adventurous you can hike down in the wash bottms for 8 miles. I wasnt feeling the hike in the moto boots.





yup more ruins, but there down in the wash and only accessed by an 8 mile hike.

if you look you can see the natural bridge




back on 95 we head west to catch out turn south on 276 to halls crossing.

while on 276 its starts out pretty desolate but later drops you into a little canyon. while on 276 the wife slaps me in the head and yells STOP! shit i thought something was wrong, she says i think i seen inrian ruins turn around. so like the obediant husband i am i turn around and we find this little Gem. i think it often gets overlooked over as trees hide it from plain sight.

After our Ruins we get back on 276 heading for Halls Crossing. Halls Crossing is basicly the marina area and has the ferry that takes you accross Lake Powell and continues you on 276 on the other side of the lake. Bikes are $15 bucks and cars are $25. Also check the ferry schedule. Day we got there (at 2:30pm) the last ferry was at 3pm.



waitng for departure





coming into Bullfrog our continuation of hwy 276, i made a huge mistake. We went outside the toll booths and i turned around to come back into Bullfrog to topoff on gas before turning off onto Burr Trail. Damn ranger charged me another $7 to come back into Bullfrog when he watched me go out and turn around right in front of his toll booth That turned out to be an expensive gas stop so learn from my mistake... get gas in Bullfrog before you continue.

shortly outside of bullfrog on 276 we turn for Burr Trail




Burr Trails starts as a paved road, becareful as there is a wash you have drop into for a breif moment while at the begining of the road. the pavment drops 10 feet into sand and brings you up to pavment all within 40 feet. this is where i got the 2nd flat of the trip, to me it looks like there use to be a bridge but the water washed it away years ago and the just paved down the wash and concreted the bottom. i hit it at speed and the tube suffred a pinch flat.

Ok maybe its not that bad but I did bottom the suspension out in the bottom of the wash, I was doing a good 35-40 mph because there was sand in the bottom and I wanted to cruise on thru. it was 1000 feet after this i got the second flat.



Burr trail has to be one of the most scenic roads i have ever been on. i think its a total of 65 miles and drops you into boulder. beginging and end are paved with the middle being easily travled dirt with the infamous burr trail switchbacks (in captial reef state park) in the middle taking you to the mesa top. awsome stuff





on Burr Trail and inside edge of Capitol Reef state park





Burr Trail Switch backs

at the end Burr Trail we camped at Deer Creek Campground. Awesome little spot but bring the bug spray as the Mosquitos were killer. (sorry no pics)

In the morning we roll into Boulder and catch breakfast at the Burr Trail resturant, You cant miss it. A bit pricey but the food was good. From there we hit Hells Backbone road, an early road from Boulder to Escalante











top of Hells Backbone



on Hells Backbone we stop at Posey Lake, old stomping grounds for the wife.




after the cold night in the sleeping bags at Deer Creek the wife decided we needed a motel so we rolled into Escalante and stayed at the Prospector inn, it was a nice place and had a mini fridge and Microwave for $66 a night plus tax. This became home base for the next few nights while we explored the region. The hotel had a resturant behind it with massive portions of biscuts n Gravy .....mmmmm.

Escalante is a cool hip little town with several places to eat and everything other than the well stocked gas station closes around 8pm so eat early or its corndogs in the microwave.

While we were getting gas and food at the gas station a guy rolled up on an old Harley. He called himself the Desert Doctor, he runs a small bike shop in Escalante and stocks tires for big duallies and cruisers. nice guy.

Next morning headed to Calf Creek to hike to the Lower water falls.
Its a round trip 5.5 mile hike from the parking lot but its worth it. How many times have you seen and impressive waterfall in the desert?

road to the falls





Lower Calf Creek Falls

after our Hike at Calf creek we were wiped out, yeah i know 6 miles isnt all that far but in the heat and walking in the sand we were spent. we rode back into Escalante and had Pizza at Escalante outfitters, a little shop that will sell you a camelback and dinner all in one spot. good food and great service. the cashier has intimate knoledge of the area and can help you plan some cool outings.

after some well deserved sleep the next mornings ride was just outside of escalante.

5 miles outside of Escalent is Hole in the rock road, 120 miles round trip of washboard dirt road. On this road we stopped at Devils Garden. tons of cool rock formations













after checking out devils garden we get back on hole n the rock road and cruise another 25 miles to off Dry fork road where we hiked a couple of slot canyons, damn cool stuff.

Bottom of the canyon yeilds access to 3 slot canyons


Hiking in the sand sucks but its worth it when we get to the slots.





Entrance to Spooky Slot

After the crazy cool hike in the slot canyons we jump back on Hole n the rock road and head towards....you guessed it hole n the rock. this is where early pioneers blasted a cut in the rock to lower there covered wagons down to the then coloradro river which is now coverd by lake powell. once you get there your flat out amazed they could ever get anything down this let alone a wagon. its a hell of a climb/hike just by yourself. you definalty walk out of there with much respect the the big kahunas the pioneers had to pull this massive feat off.

the last few miles of hole in the rock can be a challenge 2 up. theres tons of sand and lots of washboards.

picks of the blasted pass at Hole in the rock





the hole in the rock has 120miles of wasboards and is a true test of the suspension 2up. make sure you locktite EVERYTHING i lost a main nut for the handelbar mounts and a radiator bolt. did i say loctite eveyting?

when i rolled back into Escalante i couldnt even touch the shock the washboards got her hotter than hell. im suprised the seal head didnt fail ha-ha. a testimant to ktm quality...well maybe for the suspension but i did suffer a major setback the next day.

Another night in Escalante finds us making traks for home. We get an early start as were going to pass through Bryce canyon and want to get some hiking in and still make it home 340 miles from Bryce before bed time.

We have a brisk morning ride to Bryce Canyon Park.

While sitting at this scenic view spot I notice something...damn I have an oil leak. If you look closely you can see the start of it on the rotor cover.


The oil leak reared its ugly head as soon as we payed our entrance into Bryce canyon, while i dont have a picture of the leak trust me she was pretty bad. I took the tanks off in the parking lot of Rubys inn gas station. I was bummed, I couldnt find the exact source of the oil leak, it looked like it was coming from the head gasket on the front cyclinder but there was so much I couldnt be sure.

Well not to put a damper on an awsome trip I called my son and had him bring the trailer down, so unfortunatly she had a shamful ride home behind the wifes SUV. I figured id get it home and asses the situation instead of limp it home and possibly do some damage.

while we waited 5 hours for him to show up we took advantage of the park fee we paid and did some great hikes













so all in all despite an oil leak and a trailer ride it was a great trip and opened my wifes eyes to so doing more extended bike rides. shes allready planning the next rides and discusses it with me everyday so i'm of course pumped.

heres a link to more ride photos and videos of the slot canyons on photobucket http://s1193.photobucket.com/albums... Anniversary 5 day Bike Ride/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ16 .



until next time...ride safe guys

Nice!

Great report. I enjoyed the Burr info. Looks like the two of you had a great ride-excluding the leak. Hope that works out ok. You'll have to update us on that one.

Kudo's to your better half for toughin' it out. My Mrs., while many paved miles-never any dirty miles. Nice job to your kid for bailing you out also.

So, no more excuses. Time to capture some more of UT for the rest of us!

I really enjoyed the post. Thanks for sharing.

Hello Samthg, Thanks for the kind words.

shes a good passanger and takes things in stride like me dumping it .

were allready planning new routes.

Way to get your wife hooked to mc travel. It don't get better than Southern Utah. Hope you sorted out the oil leak. Thanks for sharing.

BTW, I always liked the color scheme of your KTM, but ended up settling for and orange one.

great route -- certainly some tough stuff 2 up (she must be a trooper)

2 flats AND oil :huh (Pinch flats?)

Awesome report and beautiful photos!! We have found that 2up in the sand is truly more difficult, balance is way off because the slower we go, the more we are thrown off course-so now we go faster. We see sand, I say "Oh no", I have done my fair share of the walking. A plus with the KTM950 is the pillion seat, quite comfortable I must say, and the handles are nice for crazier terrain. It looks like you guys had a wonderful time. Happy Anniversary! Thanks for sharing.

Cool, nice ride report! Gotta get my wife out for a few days.

You Matt, lets get the shiny BMW dirty and do a ride.

ok so the oil leak turned out to be the oil pressure sending unit thats on the front cylinder just under the carbs. looks like the wire lead that goes to it vibrated to much and broke the plastic out of the metal housing causing the leak.

its only a $7 part but keeping the wire from bouncing around im sure would have prevented it.

when i put the new part in i zip tyed the wire down so it couldnt bounce around to much.

did i mention hole in the rock is 120 miles of pretty good washboards

2nd stop: Mule Canyon Ruins...pretty cool cause there right off the road and you can get right up to them.




Hey Warp9man -- Really like this pic of the Indian Ruins, nice and accessible. Good motivation to get out and ride. Thanks!!!

Great RR !

My wife and I did a lot of the same ride you did and also hiked to Calf Creek Falls. We loved that trip and look forward to going back. Nice report and thanks for posting.

Nice report. I love southern Utah!