Trip report from a weekend desert bikepack

[greenwater]

For the second year in a row I set out on a short Fall bikepack trip in the John's Canyon area outside of Mexican Hat, Utah. The trip began when we left Durango after work on Friday and camped out on Comb Ridge. We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, made coffee and headed for the start of the ride.



Most of the riding consists of a dirt road that has the canyons of the San Juan river on one side and the cliffs of the Cedar Mesa on the other.



Along the way there are several petroglyph panels with rock art from the Anasazi people that lived in the area until around 800 years ago.



We crossed John's Canyon and then headed up canyon on the other side of the stream bed. We found a spring, filled our water bladders and then set up a camp in the cottonwoods. For the rest of the afternoon we wandered around exploring old mining sites, remnants of old homesteads and other cool stuff.



Yours truly enjoying my one smuggled PBR. Which in this case stands for "precious beer resource."



I'm normally not a big fan of electronics in the but this little speaker is kind of nice every once in a while.



I added linelocs to the circus tent based on Dave Chenault's blog here. He is right, they should be standard equipment.




Sunset



The night was chilly and in the morning we climbed high up the slope across from camp to get to the first rays of the sun. Only when camp was out of the shade did we venture back down for coffee.



Time to head home.



Its amazing how much fun you can have in 48 hours.

[atergo76]

Looks like an awesome trip thanks for making me lust for a similar trip.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Great report and awesomes views, thanks for posting!

[Lone Desert Walker]

Looks like a blast, thanks for the report.

[wavejim]

All the fun you could have on the weekends. Thanks for the fix!

[rodar y rodar]

Looks like a fun trip and props for the awesome pictures! Who were the "we" on the ride? Looks like you and your GF/wife? My first overnight bike camp was with my wife, but I`d hesitate to call it "bikepacking". More like pedal powered Winnebago-ing

[Turbopit]

Great photos! Looks like a really goosd weekend.

Looks like a fun trip and props for the awesome pictures! Who were the "we" on the ride? Looks like you and your GF/wife? My first overnight bike camp was with my wife, but I`d hesitate to call it "bikepacking". More like pedal powered Winnebago-ing

I've been trying to figure out how to get my GF to bring less when we are car camping. I'm hoping a few backpacking camp trips will help and then start on the bikepacking trips.

Right now I think part of it is "Well, if there is room in the car, we might as well bring more". I knew I should have talked her into a small vehicle than her Mountaineer which isn't really all that big but does hold a lot of stuff if it's just us two that has to ride in it.

[Funrover]

Awesome!

[bsgerig]

Where was the trailhead you began this adventure from? I have done numerous San Juan river trips and would like to strike out from the Mexican Hat area for a bike overnight.

[greenwater]

bsgerig,
Mexican Hat would be a great place to start this trip. You would have a few highway miles to the goosenecks turnoff and a couple more after that but nothing too major. We parked our truck near goosenecks overlook and left from there. I heard that the road was recently graded and as a result much slower. I've had first hand experience with freshly graded Utah roads and it can be nearly as difficult as riding in sand. If there has been some traffic on the road it might be packed down enough.

Good luck!

[bsgerig]

Thanks for the info! what was your mileage?

[greenwater]

The mileage is variable but generally not very far. From the beginning of the dirt road (off the goosenecks overlook road) to the John's Canyon crossing it is around 14 miles. There is almost always good water there. You may need to go up canyon a mile or so for fresher pools if the cattle have moved in. There are several small, spring fed pools in the area.

At this point you can continue on the dirt road around John's toward Slickhorn canyon. Another 10 miles or so. There is a landslide that has shut down the road for vehicles shortly after John's but you can easily hike-a-bike past it. The going is much slower after the slide though because the soil swells and with no traffic becomes kind of "fluffy." Still fine riding but more difficult than just cruising on a dirt road.

[Insainio]

Not a bad way to spend the weekend.

Been wanting to check out that area for awhile now, thanks for the info.