OK, my last two posts were about "In a Day" efforts. Obviously, I haven't gotten them out of my system. So off I went with Courtney Phillips to do another lap on the White Rim Trail. As fast as we could in a day. This is my sixth WRIAD and I have always gone counterclockwise, thinking that the last 30 miles and the brutal slickrock you encounter would somehow get easier over the years. Well, it hasn't, so we decided on another strategy...
We started at 0600 at the bottom of the MIneral Bottom hill. We climbed that hill and the 10 miles to the highway by headlamp in 30-ish degree weather. A perfect warmup for what was coming.
Full of beans at 0730 at the top of Shafer
The famous Shafer switchbacks
Monument Basin
Big Scenery
White Crack. Finally. The last 10 miles had not been kind to me.
Twisting jeepies!
Feeling good at the top of Murphy's. It's 1300 and we're full of...
CHIPS!
After rounding the corner and seeing the Green River we knew we had it in the bag
The Green River from the top of Hardscrabble
The last mile. You can barely see the car in the distance.
Yeah, mon. 9 hours 45 minutes. Not bad for an old fart.
Of course, Courtney could do that time on Schwinn Stingray, but that's another story.
All in all, it was an incredible day. Perfect 60 degree temps, blue sky, no wind and a great companion made it memorable. God only blesses us with a few days like this...so I try to make the most of them!!!!
