Biking Nevada's Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail

Boulder City, about 30 miles from Las Vegas, sports the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail, the route of the train that hauled supplies for the construction of Hoover Dam (then called Boulder Dam.)  Railroad operations ceased in 1935, the tracks were finally removed in 1962, and in 1995 the trail opened.

I began at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area parking lot off Highway 93 (Great Basin Highway) -- turn onto Riverside Road and then right to the visitor center, and this lot also serves the River Mountains Loop Trail, a 35 mile paved trail. The parking area has several sign kiosks with interesting info for you.  Bike a bit up the hill on the paved trail and you'll quickly see the gravel trail going off to the left.

I biked toward the dam first, about 4 miles to trail's end, which provides views such as this as you travel several hundred feet above Lake Mead. The trail is wide with no guard rails and also is a bit rough with loose gravel and dirt for a couple miles. Road bikes would not be appropriate here, but the Loop Trail mentioned above would be perfect for them.

You'll soon approach the first of the five tunnels blasted through the mountains.  They are very wide, 25 feet to be exact, in order to accommodate the huge equipment that was being brought to the dam construction areas.  You'll also note some foot trails on the hillsides, used before the tunnels were built.

Nice views of the marina are also apparent as you pedal...

After the fifth tunnel, you leave Lake Mead Recreation Area property and enter Bureau of Reclamation property.  You are now in the security zone for the dam, and the gate is closed and locked after dark.  Briefly the trail is paved since it is also a service road.  Then you hit an open area with good views of the new bypass Highway 93 and the parking area for the pedestrian bridge.  The trail then turns right and heads down some loose gravel to a road under the power towers where it ends at the hiker drop-off lot.  The gate was closed going from here to the dam (washed out by flood) and is marked for pedestrians only when it is open.

Lehman Cave in Great Basin National park (NV)

Great Basin National Park in Nevada was established in 1986 and encompasses 77,000+ acres.  It began in 1922 as Lehman Caves National Monument to protect the caves discovered by Absolum Lehman.  It derives its name from the Great Basin, a dry and mountainous region between the Sierra Nevada Range and the Wasatch Mountains and is located roughly between Las Vegas, Nevada, and Salt Lake City, Utah.  In addition to the caves, the park is notable for Wheeler Peak (13,063 feet in altitude) and for its groves of ancient bristlecone pines, the oldest known non-clonal organisms. Here's more info on my time in the park.

Here's a photo on the road up to the trailhead to Wheeler Peak...

Absolom Lehman discovered the caves on his 600 acres of property in the early 1880s, and after the death of his wife, he began leading tours in 1885. Here are sone photos from the cave...

Biking Utah's Provo River Trail

This 15 mile paved trail wends through numerous parks as well as some residential, commercial, and college sections (BYU.) I began just off I-15 at Center Street (Hwy 114) and headed west, turning north at Geneva (S 2050W) and parking at Fort Utah Park. Alternately, you could drive a few hundred feet farther, cross the creek bridge, and there is a lot on your left for trail users.

Pedaling west takes you along the Provo River to the trail's terminus at Utah Lake State Park Be aware that you will come to some unmarked intersections with either access trails or in one place a trail that looped around and back to the main trail.  Some directional signs would be helpful, but the detours are not lengthy. Even more confusing, one trail turned I thought was an access trail because it came to a parking lot, turned out to be the main trail, and you have to bike through the parking lot to get to the continuation of the trail.

Heading east from where I parked takes you along the river, briefly on a very narrow and poorly paved path with chain link fencing on both sides, with campground on one side and trailer park on the other.

At 2230 North Street, turn left and go a block or so to University Avenue and then go north several miles on the sidewalk/trail to the mouth of Provo Canyon.  The trail is mostly flat and about eight feet wide to the mouth of Provo Canyon where it widens to 16 feet and rises more steeply. There are some surface street crossings and some narrow underpasses. Water, restrooms, parking, and picnic facilities are available in most of the parks along the route.

While underpasses greatly facilitate negotiating streets, several on the trail are so narrow it is one bike at a time and some might even feel safer walking their bike.  The up and down-ramps can also be quite steep at these underpasses and the often tight turns make for blind turns, so be careful!

The western end of the trail runs close to the creek and offers many views of it and is nicely treed along the route for scenic beauty and shade from the hot sun.  Here's the namesake Provo River from one of the bridges over it...

The trail ends at Vivian Park in Provo Canyon. At its northern end, the trail passes the base of Bridal Veil Falls for a spectacular view. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to bike this eastern segment to get photos of the trail and falls.

You Know You Are Living in 2012 When...

1.. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave. 

2.. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years. 

3.. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4.. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5.. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses. 

6.. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7.. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen 

8.. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : ) 

12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

Kayaking, Hiking, and Houseboating on Lake Powell

Lake Powell was created by Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona, and straddles the Arizona/Utah border with most of it being in Utah. It is the second largest man-made reservoir in maximum water capacity in the United States behind the nearby Lake Mead which is formed by Hoover Dam and is part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service. The lake is named for the famed one-armed explorer John Wesley Powell who in 1869 courageously explored the Green and Colorado Rivers in wooden boats, including his daring adventure through the Grand Canyon and its 160+ rapids. Lake Powell extends 186 miles and boasts over 2000 miles of shoreline to be explored, more than the entire west coast of our country. Our group of nine spent seven days on a houseboat out of Bullfrog Marina in central Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.  Below is our boat anchored under an alcove in 50 Mile Creek Canyon, a canyon off the Escalante River Arm (click to enlarge)...

Lake Powell is a reservoir designed to store water in the wet years and gradually release it during the dry years, thus steadily generating electric power and maintaining consistent water flow down the Colorado River, and it does its job admirably during even occasional lengthy periods of below average moisture. Since the water level can vary from year-to-year depending on rainfall/snowfall upriver, side canyons can sometimes by paddled and other times hiked as seen in the next two photos below.

As I paddled the scenic canyons, I tried to imagine this area without the dam, realizing that what I was paddling would have been near the mountaintop and the canyon I was in would probably be so high as to be inaccessible to people.  On the one hand, I was torn by a desire to have seen what had once been the wondrous Glen Canyon and to longing to have been able to hike and explore and enjoy its scenic beauty-- but I was also aware of the good the dam has accomplished, generating electric power, providing consistent water supply for many desert regions in the Southwest, as well as offering waterborne recreational opportunities such as this trip I was on.  At least the side-canyon hikes fulfilled some of my passion.

The still, clear water beautifully reflects the colorful canyon walls as we kayak up a canyon. Being the off season, there were only a few times when personal water craft intruded on our quiet and calm, but when they did, we experienced noise and waves bouncing off the narrow canyon walls and were glad when they departed. The colors of the walls changed as the light angle changed, presenting a kaleidoscope of colors throughout the day, and our seven days of nearly ideal weather added to the perfection of the trip.

To gain perspective of the cliff height in the photo below, the white rock near the bottom has calcium carbonate deposit because that area has been under water for most of its six decades, but a drought had the reservoir level about 40 feet below "full pool" depth resulting in the white "bathtub ring" you see.

Here are our stalwart adventurers:

Sitting (l to r):  Ann, Jim, Carolyn, Ned, and Julie

Standing: Ann, Greg, Chuck, and Pete

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Here's a video of our week on Lake Powell

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 This adventure is one of many offered by Adventures in Florida.

Ned Johnson, one of our participants, operates PaddleBoard Orlando, and can be seen two photos above on a board.

Additional photos of this trip are available here.

Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park is known as the hottest, driest, and lowest place in North America.  Annual precipitation is below 2 inches and some years have recorded no rainfall,  but annual evaporation rate is 150 inches per year!  In 2001, there were 154 consecutive days above 100 degrees.

The depth and shape of Death Valley influence its summer temperatures. The valley is a long, narrow basin 282 feet below sea level, yet is walled by high, steep mountain ranges. The clear, dry air and sparse plant cover allow sunlight to heat the desert surface. Heat radiates back from the rocks and soil, then becomes trapped in the valley's depths. Summer nights provide little relief as overnight lows may only dip into the 85°F to 95°F range.

Here's a photo of one of the famous 20 mule team rigs used to haul borax, a salt mineral, to market...

I hiked up Golden Canyon, where the reason for its name quickly became apparent...

Artist Drive was a lengthy one-way road with scenes like this...

Water is rare and precious in death Valley, so when a surveyor couldn't get his mule to drink from this rare pool of water, he named it "Badwater Basin."  The water isn't really bad, just very salty.  This is the lowest place on our continent at  282 feet below sea level. 

A boardwalk keeps you from the pool of water, but you can walk the salt flats as seen here...

These barren salt flats represent the hottest, driest, and lowest elevation salt flats in North America, and served as a location for the filming of "Star Wars."

Mining companies have long ago departed this area, but a new wealth has replaced it: Tourism. People from around the world visit this well-known national park, the 50th I've visited of our 58 national parks.

Biking The Jordan River Trail in the Salt Lake City Area

The Jordan River Parkway follows the namesake river starting at the north end of Utah lake, and when completed will travel 40 miles through Salt Lake County to Davis County. There are over 20 trailheads for access, many with restrooms and water and some with playgrounds and picnic facilities.

There are many turnoffs for access from neighborhoods.  Many have vertical posts with info etched in, but many of these are nearly unreadable now. Some segments have painted yellow center lines at all intersections indicating where the main trail goes. It would help if they used this system uniformly on the entire trail, but since numerous municipalities are involved, this may not occur.

An equestrian trail travels alongside the paved trail for one segment. But Salt Lake City trails can have goatheads that puncture your tires (one got me) so I wouldn't try biking the gravel horse trail in late summer or fall season.

The trail takes you past many parks, some wood lots, water detention areas, a large community garden, electric sub-station, much preserve area (perhaps flood-plain areas,) a few housing areas, golf course, industrial buildings, and even some sections with lighting.

Most road crossings are via under- and over-passes.  Occasional gang graffiti is evident.  You often get views of the Jordan River as seen here...

The trail is mostly in good condition, with some root heaves.  A sensitive area south of Murray-Taylorsville Road (perhaps prone to flooding) has this extensive boardwalk to raise the trail above the land.

Infrequent signs provide history of the area and are interesting to stop to read.

Official website with downloadable maps.

Trailhead parking can be found here:

Hwy. 171 at South 1000 West at James Madison Park

1585 West (Lester Street) and 3100 South Street

Redwood Park -- State Route 201 west of I-15

Across from 7 Peaks Water Park on West 1700 South

Murray-Taylorsville Road just west of Murray Blvd. at the Jordan River

Germainia Park  has 2 lots at 5400 South and 1070 West Street

Cottonwood Grove and Walden Park on either side of 5800 South west of Murray Blvd. Parkway
North of 3700 South Street on 700 West, i block and turn west on Carlisle Park Lane (aka 3800 South) to get to Holm Park trailhead (where the street dead-ends.)

Hoover Dam

I've been to Hoover Dam four times, but not for about 10 years. After 9/11, the government realized the vulnerability of the dam to a terrorist attack since a major US highway traveled over it, including trucks, RVs, and cars, so planning began for a bridge downstream to take traffic off the dam (ala Glen Canyon Dam and bridge.) The old highway had also slowed through-traffic by 30 minutes or more and created huge congestion problems over the dam.

Here's a photo of the finished project. A major reroute of highway 93 (Great Basin Highway) was also required.  

Planners included a pedestrian walkway on the dam side of the bridge, accessed by a switchbacking ramp or optional stairs to get visitors from the parking lot (located on the old road which takes visitors to the dam, now called Hwy. 172 or Hoover Dam Access Road) to the bridge level. The bridge has been named to honor a former governor (Mike O'Callaghan) and former football star turned Army Ranger, Pat Tillman.)  Several dozen interesting displays explain the design and construction of the bridge and give info on the two honored men, both of whom died in 2004.  The bridge and bypass highway were opened in 2010.

The pedestrian walkway affords visitors with an ideal viewing platform from which to observe the dam as seen below.  Click to enlarge photo and you'll see the new five story parking garage on the far left of photo. They had to blast out more mountain to build it and re-route thad to re-route the old highway a bit, now seen as a bridge between the garage and cliff edge.  A gift shop and restaurant are also available now.

Last time I was here I had an even better view.  I was on an Elderhostel four day kayaking program and we used a dam service road to reach the river and our put-in right at the bottom of the dam, from where we paddled 40 miles through Black Canyon, camping three night and taking hikes up side canyons. Here are photos of that trip.

Here's a view of Lake Mead and the marina...

There have been a number of changes since my last trip here. First, the five story parking garage has been constructed which helps alleviate parking concerns. Of course, they charge you to use it ($7.)  Then you have a serious security check to get into the new and improved Visitor Center, much like at an airport.  Unfortunately, they also charge for entrance to the Visitor Center, another $8 -- guess they have to pay it off, too.  Then, the once free and later quite inexpensive dam tours are now $35.

Biking the Tetons: Road Scholar Program

This Fall, a new offering in the Road Scholar catalog was "Biking the Tetons," and the week it was offered perfectly fit into the time I was to be in the vicinity, so I enrolled and thoroughly enjoyed the week. 

The first ride was a 20-miler called the "Teton View Tour" and followed the gravel boundary road between Grand Teton National Park and Teton-Bridger National Forest, with the former on your right and the latter on the left.  Though much of the ride at the start was through a sagebrush plain, the unobstructed views of the Teton Range were marvelous as evidenced here (the haze is from a large wildfire being fought south of Jackson)...

We then took a paved road down to the valley floor to see Mormon Row where 11 families settled in the early 1900s to farm and raise cattle.  A ride through another sagebrush prairie (where we observed four pronghorn antelope loping) took us to our lunch spot at Kelly Warm Springs where we observed anther pronghorn antelope.

On day two, we biked 16 miles in Buffalo Valley from Highway 287/26 on another gravel road, mostly downhill, past Turpin Meadow campground.  The road then became a lightly traveled paved road along Buffalo Fork River back to highway 287/26.

Ride three was 24 miles on pavement in Teton National Park, starting on highway 191, turning onto and following Teton Park Road from Jackson Lake Junction and then on the very scenic one-way Jenny Lake Road to South Jenny Lake area, where we had lunch.  We then rode the new Teton Multi-use Pathway, all the time in sight of views as seen below (which is Mt.Moran)...

The photo below is on the one-way road...

We finished the ride with time to see the exhibits at the new visitor center at Moose, from which this photo was taken...

Day 4 was high-country mountain biking 19 miles on the Flagstaff Creek forest service road, a very hilly, up and down, loose gravel road, that ultimately lost 1400 feet in altitude, finishing at the Hatchet Motel. The fall colors were just beginning as seen here...

A single track option was offered to us partway down the road, and five of us availed ourselves of the opportunity, covering several miles through woods, along willow wetlands, and across lovely high mountain meadows...

Here's the entire stalwart crew of mountain bikers...

Kneeling (l to r): Don, Neil, Jan, Sarah, Ann, and Dave

Standing: Don, Joan, Dick, Karen, Rob, Pam, Martha, Cindy (our program coordinator), 

Chuck, and Tom


Here's a video of our adventures during the week...

62 downloadable photos are available here. (Click photo you want and choose download)

Our coordinator, Cindy, gave informative and interesting powerpoint lectures on Teton habitats, geology, fall flowers and berries and animal adaptations to weather changes, and finally on the management of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. She also showed two outstanding videos, one detailing the work of local activist Mardy Murie (often called "grandmother of the conservation movement" by the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society) and the other on the creation of the national park.

Lodging was at Togwotee Mountain Lodge in Moran, WY, and buffet breakfast and each evening's supper were provided by he lodge (and all were excellent!)  Delicious and filling box lunches were provided during each bike ride.

The bikes and guides were provided by Teton Mountain Bike Tours out of Jackson, Wyoming.

Wildlife of Yellowstone National Park

(click to enlarge photos)

"Bison Jam" on Grand Loop Road

(only a 10 minute delay -- I've been in 30 minute delays on other visits)

Elk herd at West Thumb River (bull elk on right and his harem on left)

Hare

Another bull elk bulging 

Bison

This bull elk is on the campsite adjacent to mine.  He sat there over 30 minutes chewing some bark from a tree on the other side of my campsite, just sitting there and watching me (and other campers who came to take his photo.) He has 7 points on one antler and 8 on the other if you are trying to count.

Young elk just starting antler growth.