Thursday January 26, 2023
Well it’s definitely cold out! Waking up inside the Palo Duro Canyon my water bottle is frozen and the inside of the tent walls have what looks like frost all over them. This ain't the Florida Panhandle that's for sure!
It’s about 7am and the sun is not yet over the canyon wall. Down in this crevice it's a while before the sun peaks over the edge. And balmy it ain't. No way I'm gettin' outta this cocoon quite yet..I think I’ll hunker down for another half hour in the sleeping bag and let it warm up a bit lol. Nineteen degrees it dropped too and feels like minus two lol.
After getting out I looked over the trail map to look at any points of interest and how far away they are etc. . As I'm scanning the map, right at the furthest point away in the park from me is...can you believe...a place called...Duck Pond?
Say what!?
Guess I know where I'm headed! Kinda hard to believe there would be ducks in this canyon land…or a pond for that matter. I only stopped in Amarillo because it was halfway between Dallas and my daughter Arianna in Colorado...maybe the other ducks do the same as they head south? Stop in for a brew at the local pond?
So my plan is to hit the Lower Comanche Trail and bang a left onto one called Rock Garden which then has spurs (or offshoots) into other areas including the trail that leads to Duck Pond. Hard to discern but maybe 8-10 miles out and then I will return on the other side of the canyon home. No idea if this trail ascends the canyon wall or stays down low like yesterdays...
But I’m definitely going to wait for the sun to get a little higher and warm things up a touch…it's still only 21degrees here. I’ll spend some time studying the NASM material and check out my solar charger. The laptop is down around 35% and the sun is strong as it peaks over the canyon wall so I'll give it a shot
I spent an hour and a half studying and the laptop hit 100%! Amazing to see this work. Just boggles my mind actually…the sun being converted to electricity and charging a laptop. So good!
I cleaned up th campdsite a bit and hit the road around 11:15. Turns out one of the trails runs right behind my camp site…so good.
I climbed and twisted and descended and stopped to catch my breath over and over the next couple of hours. Literally going from the bottom of the canyon to the top over several miles of tortuous yet for sure skill building riding that always left a smile on my face. Dropping now off two foot rocks into loose stone and narrow crevices or even climbing up huge stepping stones was getting easier. And just super cool. The Salsa's 29" wheels just ate up those rocks as soon as I had the confidence to chew down on them. Even using the drop seat post feature came in handy barreling down 30% grades...with white knuckles hovering on the disc brakes. Just thrilling. A shift in the hips while braking would carve a sliding turn throwing stones aside and as soon as I released the calipers the tires would claw into the dirt and propel forward.
So good.
Near the top of the canyon wall, in search for the Duckpond spur, I got turned around for a bit. There were no signages on the trails here and I almost caved on finding it. I actually headed back down disappointed when I had a realization. Even thought there were no signs on the trails I could use landmarks to correlate. I pulled out the map one more time and noticed a fence line I had seen about a mile back. Perfect. I knew exactly where I had been. I had to use the "superior trail map navigating skills" I had been acquiring over the last few weeks to decipher which trail to choose. OK probably closer to dumb luck but let's go with superior trail map navigation skills for blogging purposes ok? It'll keep my sponsorship up. Ha!
I double-backed and flew thru an area with four foot high grasses that looked like the perfect mountain lion attack launching spot so this duck paddled really fast, or pedaled I mean.
I crested a turn and there was the pond! OK maybe 500 feet straight down below me but there it was! Almost a sheer descent. Thought twice about going down to it only because I knew I would have to climb back out of this hole lol. But! For the sake of my name I went on down and had lunch at a picnic table alone there No ducks, other than this one…but that’s fine. No Mountain lions either so thats a win.
I started to worry a bit about the sunlight factor and peeled out for the trails back to camp. No tarantulas, no rattlesnakes, no mountain lions, but I did see some "Aoudad's" that apparently were imported from North Africa in 1957. The locals call them sheep but they look just like mountain goats.They seemed harmless enough. I had interrupted their meal and after looking at me like a duck dressed in spandex they took off (Wow that's a visual huh?). Can't say that I blame 'em actually!
I ended up getting cell reception somewhere near the top of the canyon and shot a couple of texts out…and I think Strava actually worked…no idea how that happens. I’ll see when I get out of here and maybe send some pics to it also.
I think I did near 20 miles and God knows how much elevation. Literally had to dismount many times cuz of the sheer ascents and descents…like nothing I’ve ever seen before…30? 40% maybe? With rocks, red clay and some times no wider than eighteen inches with a six inch rain gutter rut in it. I did notice that (wow!) my downhill confidence and skill really catapulted. Being challenged for five hours with this sort of stuff really upped my game. So cool to learn a new skill…Who said you can't teach an old duck new tricks?
From here on out I’m not sure what to write actually…I mean, I stopped so many times to just take a deep breath and inhale the view. Stunning.
The trails I rode are filled with harrowing hair pin switchbacks, some covered with loose rock, others in pure wet, red clay/mud. Some had steep descents with drops just off the side of the trail that had my knees shaking a couple of times. The surrounding beauty combined with the adrenaline rush of pushing myself and the bike to the edge of our abilities was better than any two-margarita high!! Although I think my dancing would be better with the two margaritas. Well that's still not pretty either. But still better. I mean better than zero ability is like a one. So that's an improvement. But don't get your hopes up. Or down. There won't be any pictures of Duck Dancing Gone Wild videos ok? Well not at least til' I get to California then all bets are off. Who knows what they put in the water out there. Or the cookies. Wait geez what happened? I was writing so good and then this gibberish. I went totally off the cliff there. Ha! That's the way to bring it back Ducky!
But you get the picture. I’m going to load a ton of pictures below, hopefully you can get just a little taste of the rawness of the land here. So different than anything back home.
I got back to camp, just as the sun fell behind the canyon wall. I showered, ate and hit the sack.
Wasted.
Inside and Outside
When I was down below and looking up at a red canyon wall it seemed unfathomable that I was so small in comparison. Not an unimportant small, but just tiny compared to what the ego mind usually tells ourselves. Small in the sense the world doesn't revolve around me. Unfathomable that I was this far down alongside the walls majestic presence that stood towering above and yet somehow it was partnering alongside me.
Or when I was on top having this panoramic view that would clear the mind of any thought, immediately bringing the present moment to the forefront in inebriating beauty. That view would incur this deep breath of gratitude and awe as I would try to take the vastness of it in. Now, I stood towering above the canyon, yet not superior to it. More included in its ever present perfect existence.
Me.
The sky.
The canyon.
My inside.
My outside.
All one.
No I hadn't eaten any cookies.
Upside
Coming out of this experience unharmed! Super grateful for no harrowing animal encounters and no injuries through all of this is a total upside. I can be an adrenaline junkie at times and if there was a skill most honed during these two plus days it was good judgement. Using some sound discernment on when to head back to camp or when to dismount a descent and not risk injury or worse...
Grateful for life.
downside
Not having cell reception/wifi cuz now I'm typing up like three days worth of blogs lol...
Every which way but east!
Well tomorrow checkout time of this Five star air conditioned resort is high noon so I figure I have time for one more ride. I'm going to head to this canyons signature "Lighthouse Trail" in the morning and then pack up and head north to Fountain Colorado to visit with my Precious daughter Arianna!
A frosty testimony to the cold morning! Both the jeep and the ducks were like holy cat!
Charging up the laptop!
Hackberry Camp and Duck Pond Lower Right!
How do these rocks stay on there?
Most trails well marked!
Yes that's the trail directly below
Turned left onto Lower Comanche from Rock Garden Trail
Yes that's the trail with a slide off to the left...
The drop here is steeper than it looks lol
Same....so easy to pick up speed bouncing over rocks...
Yes that is also the trail...bends right into a rock filled rain gutter-wash and then hairpins left and continues a rapid descent...
Yup. That's pretty steep right there!
Beautiful view off to the left AND I began to love the little jumps or in this case that two-step rock climb that is about 3-4 feet high on the trail as it bends right here. So fun!
Does OSHA know about this trail!!?
Hard banging descent to the left with nothing off to the right lol...
Trails with a view...just stunning!
A 'rim' trail on the right there...and pure vastness off to the left
I was just at the bottom of this 90 minutes ago...
Just wow.
The last marker before heading to the Duck Pond area. Everything after here was unmarked and not well traveled. Overgrown and made me doubt where I was...
There are about four 'S' turns on the trail right here...might have to zoom in to see them. All over a 20% grade easy...gorgeously challenging.
I placed the phone in a bush that had these huge thorns. Apparently the bush photobombed it too. We had a talk and the second one he laid low lol.
Like what? Huge doesn't capture this...
Rugged. Not me silly, the landscape.
Yes that's a trail also.
Sun and temperature starting to dip....
These were my return trails...much flatter and a great exhausted return path home...
This was the descent (and ascent) into and out of the Duck Pond area. Way steeper than it looks.
Duck Pond! Didn't see any of my peeps.
This kind of says it all....
A Kreb Cycle shop shoutout!
A panorama view with a steep switchback at the bottom of the photo...
Trail up the right...the rest of the world to the left...
A dried up creek bed
Where's Waldo!? Look close to see the Aoudad's. They're there! (Tan mountain goats with horns)
The Salsa Rangefinder felt at home in this landscape...
Gotta little mud on the tires....
Home safe just in time for sunset.
Awesome photos! Nothin' like the west for mountain biking! Enjoy.