Without A Map: Like Rain In The Desert

The Old Quonset Hut Ain't What It Used To Be: We hit Pasta Jay's last night for dinner, then went to find the old dive we discovered last time, a scary bar in an old Quonset hut. We found it, but things had changed... it was now a "private club" *(I signed up for a three week membership --$4.00) and the beers were a bit better this time, but it was still good. Cheap too.

Hurrah Pass: It poured last night, and it was still a bit drizzly this morning. We were doing a pretty long ride (Hurrah Pass, Jackson Hole, up Jacob's Ladder and down Amasa Back Trail), and there was some spirited debate on whether we should abort, wait, or start the ride in the rain anyway. We started anyway.

Things went smoothly, even without a map, until we got to the top of Hurrah Pass, where we saw storms bearing down on us. We put on our extra clothes, hunkered down under a ledge and ate lunch while the storm blew through. After that the day was beautiful, and we were back to smooth sailing. Until...

We were going through Jackson Hole, and it was all sand. Somehow we missed our turn, but Brian realized we could take the next right. More sand, but we eventually got to the bottom Jacob's Ladder, a hiking trail up the cliff. Forty minutes of carrying our bikes brought us to the top, maybe 200 feet almost straight up. From there it was mostly downhill, down Amasa Back Trail. Plenty of rock, drop-offs and high speed fun, and then (too soon) it was over.

Membership Has Its Privileges: That private club had some awesome food at ridiculously low prices, so that's where we went after the ride. We just came from there, after ribeye sandwiches and hefeweizens, and now we're just hanging out at home.

Tomorrow is Fruita, Colorado.