Day 14: Provo to Price

Today’s Highlights:
We had a chilly 46 degree start this morning with the sun still behind the Wasatch Mountains, only streaming sunbeams through the canyons. Once it was high enough to shine on us, it warmed us up a bit. The coolness was refreshing though, as we had a lot of early climbing to do. The first several miles of our route took us passed some farms in Springville, south of Provo. A little further, in Spanish Fork, we came upon a windmill farm. It was appropriately located there, as a very strong headwind gave us a good workout for several miles until we were high enough in the canyon where the wind was milder.

Our route was very scenic today, up a canyon where the Spanish Fork River flows. A rail line parallels the river. There were only a couple small towns and several ranches along the way. It was nice to see so much green after our journey through the desert. Trees are still rather small in this ecosystem, but more of the terrain is covered with grasses and wildflowers, and rarely were there barren spots. It is also refreshing to be in the mountains rather than viewing them from afar. While most of the mountainsides were rich in vegetation, there were also areas where the red and yellow sandstone came to the surface. There were some steep cliff areas and even some very interesting hoodoos. Sheep ranching is common in this area, although I only saw one herd. I saw a pen with six large llamas who intently watched Dave and I ride by. You would think they never saw a cyclist before.

We climbed for the first 45 miles of our route, reaching an elevation of 7434 feet at Solider Summit, with roughly 3500 feet of total climbing for the day. Our one rest stop was at mile 36. The climb was mostly gradual since it is at highway grade, but of course that is still a long distance to climb. The scenery made it enjoyable. The last thirty miles of our 75-mile ride was mostly downhill. However, we got cheated on the descent by a headwind much of the way. Sometimes it was so strong that I think my bike would have stopped right on the hill if I wasn’t pedaling so hard. For several miles the single downhill lane was narrow, just wide enough for a tractor trailer, and the shoulder was only one or two feet including the rumble strip. We had no choice but to go slow and negotiate the poor, narrow shoulder in order not to get hit by a truck.

The east side of the Wasatch Range was just as nice as the west side. At higher elevations, there were gentle foothills with plenty of grazing areas, and we passed several ranches again. The White River flows through the valley on this side. I spotted a deer in the river, which was a treat to see since there is so little wildlife visible. Other than that, there were a few cattle and horses along the way. Lower in our descent, we entered another canyon area with amazing cliffs and rock formations. There is coal mining in this area, near Helper Utah, and we saw one active mine. Once into the town of Price, the landscape was more arid. The valley floor is dotted with sagebrush and low-growing bushes, while very weathered, figured cliff surround it.

It was a rather long day with all the climbing and then the unexpected slow descent into the wind. I arrived at the hotel around 2pm. It was another great day on the bike seeing the beautiful countryside!

Pictures Of The Day:

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