Autumn is over. Wasn't it just a month ago that I happily announced that summer was over? Winter seems to hit Utah in late October every year. But it was a good autumn despite being too short, so I have no complaints.
I was camped at the foot of the city of "Stratos" (recall the old Star Trek episode) where I camped last week and posted about. While the Little Cute One and I mountain biked into canyon country, it was possible to look up at Stratos and remember it. For some reason this had a surprisingly strong effect on me.
This year I skipped visiting the main canyon -- it has gotten too crowded and touristy. So I followed the advice of an old RV friend (at wandrinlloyd.blogspot.com .) He was a Denver hiker and RVer who found a good way to work around the crowded hiking trails on Colorado "Fourteeners:" he only went up mountains that were 13,950 feet high. Doing so resulted in him having the mountain to himself.
I have used his advice so many times, including today, when we rode along side-canyons of the main canyon. At the beginning the side-canyon was so humble that a non-climber could imagine climbing down its walls to see if any water was flowing in its bottom.
It seemed like only minutes before the side-canyon became dramatic, especially at the confluence of two side-canyons:
Just a few minutes of riding was enough to put you in a new and dangerous world. If you fell off the side of the canyon now, it would be fatal. It was pleasing to feel the fluidic pedaling while visualizing water flowing through the canyon. The impossibly long geological ages seemed to flow by quickly in a type of time-lapse photography.
This ride had started so humbly, yet it turned into my favorite kind of outdoor experience, where you forget about yourself entirely and just melt into the landscape. Maybe imagining being below "Stratos" and camping in Star Trek's city of "Stratos" the previous week had gotten the ball rolling by forcing the mind into being in two places at once.
And thank you, Lloyd.
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