Some of my favorite rides and bikepacking trips have been happy accidents. I start out reviewing old FA Barnes books or Todd Campbell’s Above and Beyond Slickrock. Pour over old maps and then figure out a route. Then a few things happen, I can’t even find the starting point as roads have disappeared or been renamed, maybe I make a wrong turn, or something catches my eye. I haven’t regretted this yet.
Case in point, this past weekend I spied a route and the whole area of the desert has changed. So I think I rode part of it, I think, and saw even more. As I was driving I spied a beautiful canyon and the Desolation Towers. Why not ride it? I ended up doing what I think is the Monitor and Merimac mountain bike trail (not the one described in the above book) and then riding most of it again to get to the Desolation Towers. I had water, my Spot GPS tracker, extra layers and a great audiobook. What could go wrong? Well lots, but nothing did and that made for a great day in the desert. Don’t overthink the adventure, part of the fun of exploring in Moab is having to discover and find the right path. It may take a few visits and that is awesome.
