Crossing borders is always a fun time. Even though not much really changes, it feels rewarding.
The start of the ride up the Kaibab Plateau. It was about 4,000ft of climbing in 30 miles so it was tough but a good challenge.
The last part of the climb was on some nice gravel up to the ridge line. There was a short section that I ended up hiking since it was so steep.
I made it to Jacob Lake after the long climb and treated myself to a burger at the restaurant. The area was all national forest so I camped a mile or so from the town so I could refill water before heading out in the morning.
The stars are usually beautiful where I camp. You can see the Milky Way here.
The next day started with a 40 mile decent to the Colorado River. The road in the image that crosses left to right was my route.
Got to ride next to some beautiful cliffs.
This road has one of the wonderful slight descents that made riding fast and lasts a while.
I really like framing my bike in front of the beautiful places it takes me. I’ve grown very attached to my bike and feel incomplete without it.
The Colorado River at Marble Canyon! This is the river that goes through the Grand Canyon. Here at the pedestrian bridge crossing I met a wonderful couple Pete and Terry from Florida. We chatted for a while and took some pictures together before I continued my ride.
The long decent was over and now was the slow climb back out. This side of the river had some more jagged cliffs that were really cool.
I made it to the town of Gap where the gas station attendants told me I could camp out at the Navajo Chapter Building parking lot down the road.
The next day I had a short ride to the next town because I needed to edit photos and write the blog post for Utah. I decided to do this from a Burger King where I would end up spending way too much time!
Right about after I finished my work and my second Burger King meal I met another cyclist, Tom. I quickly figured out this guy was an incredible athlete after hearing this was his first bike trip and he was biking from Mexico to Canada on the Great Divide and then biking back down to Mexico on the Western Wildlands. These are two very tough routes and he was doing it very fast.
After talking for a while with him I also learned he was a double triple crowner. Which means he has hiked the AT, PCT, and CDT twice! He has hiked over 25,000 miles which is absolutely incredible. This dude was a beast.
We would end up hanging out at the Burger King until it closed, each eating another two meals (their deals are really good on the app, it was pretty cheap). We camped out right behind the Burger King also. We kept sharing stories from our tents for a while. In the morning we had some more Burger King before he headed out and I finished up my Utah blog post.
Starting the climb up to the Grand Canyon. I was ready to get back up in elevation because it’s much much cooler temps up there. I was also very excited to see the Grand Canyon.
A viewpoint off the road for the Little Colorado River. These canyons are so beautiful.
A neat railroad bridge on the ride. I enjoy symmetry in photos when I see it.
The canyons look wild from this perspective. Like big cracks in the earth.
I had caught up to Tom, also! He was having some tire issues due to goat heads. It was great catching up and riding with him for a bit.
I really enjoyed getting to hear Toms story. I find him very inspiring. Doing stuff like this is actually his job, also. If you want to see more about him he is on Instagram @therealhikingviking.
Made it to the Grand Canyon!!! It would be another short day for me as I really wanted to enjoy the canyons and walk around a bit.
My first views of the canyon. Photos will never fully convey the feeling of seeing the canyon in person. It’s truly overwhelming seeing such a massive expanse of canyons. It felt like they went on forever and it gave me goosebumps.
There were a lot of people but it’s pretty easy to get some peace and quiet. There are loads of little trails that get better viewpoints. I spent some time at these and sat there appreciating the canyons.
When I came back up I noticed another cyclist. I sat down with him and we talked for a while. His name was Simon and he was about my age and from Britain. He was biking from the east coast to the west coast. We chatted over a beer for a while before he headed off to the main village.
Road past this little tarantula on the road. I have never seen a wild one before so this was pretty cool. I have always not liked spiders but I’ve been working to overcome that fear. They usually mean no harm to people and hunt loads of annoying bugs.
While at a park shop I met a really cool worker. She told me about this secret worker campsite way past the employee housing. I followed her directions and found the spot. I thought this was super cool as I was getting to wild camp in a National Park and it was right on the rim.
Watching the sunset while I eat my rice and beans.
The next day I was riding to the main village of the park. I stopped at most viewpoints because each one was different and equally beautiful.
At one of the viewpoints I met an amazing Dutch couple, David and Eileen. They met when they were 17 and are now in their 70s. They have biked around Europe together and traveled all over. They currently live in the Caribbean and sail frequently.
They are now traveling in their extremely unique Land Rover conversion. There are only about 100 Land Rovers built like this. They have taken it around Africa and are now driving down to South America. There’s a chance our paths will cross again as I will be down there around the same time.
The elk here are very used to people, it’s surreal. They will walk around campgrounds just feet away from people. I had a massive buck run a foot away from me in my hammock while reading and it spooked me!
That evening I road my bike from the village campground to catch the sunset. It was beautiful seeing the sun fade away on the canyons.
My trusty steed.
I would take the next day off and mostly hang in my hammock reading. I enjoyed this park a lot. I wouldn’t take any photos as I most relaxed around the campground. I also met a lot of really nice Arizona Trail Hikers.
Leaving the Grand Canyon the next day. I took a nice gravel section after some highway riding.
I would be staying with WarmShowers hosts in Williams, AZ, Greg and Ann. They were nothing short of incredible! They fed me lasagna with some wine (I love Italian food and wine, so I was very happy). Greg and Ann were avid cyclists and have hosted many other riders.
The next day had some awful weather rolling in and they kindly offered to let me stay another night so I did. During my day off, Greg took me to Bearizona, a North America zoo / wildlife refuge where Ann works. A lot of the animals were rescued so it was a really cool experience. I got to see some grizzlies, black bears, wolves, bobcats, and some other cool animals.
Simon from a few days ago was riding into town that night and Greg and Ann offered to make us both dinner! Ann made some amazing steaks and potatoes, another delicious meal.
The next day I continued riding and the weather was perfect. I didn’t realize it until I got to Williams but I was now on Route 66. A classic American route. The first part of the day involved some of my first interstate riding but it was downhill and fast.
Cats are always so elegant.
Route 66 is interesting nowadays. A lot of rundown towns and buildings. The only surviving establishments pretty much rely on Route 66 traffic.
Simon and I met up at a campground that evening. The next day we rode together for a bit before splitting up as he was headed to Vegas and I to California.
I was riding toward Kingman and had called a KOA to see if I could camp there. I could, but they charge $35 to tent camp which is just too much to me. I’ve been averaging about $25 a day (mostly food) so it was too much to pay just to sleep in my tent.
I rolled into a trailer park outside of town and asked the first guy I saw about camping there. His name was Zig and he helped run the park. He was awesome and let me pitch my tent in the corner for free.
After setting up my tent, Zig invited me in for a beer. That beer turned into many more and we hung out the rest of the evening. He cooked me up some dinner also! We shared stories all night and it was touching to hear his story. He has been through a lot of hard times but is still a great man.
Zigs buddy in prison drew this with pencil. I find it very beautiful and Zig does too.
I’ve seen loads of trains on my Route 66 riding as the train runs parallel with it. Sometimes I race them as they only go about 25mph. The conductors are amazing and usually will honk their horns as they pass or as I try to race them.
Zig had offered to drive me to Oatman that morning. It’s an old mining town on 66 that he used to go to a lot but hadn’t been in a while. I couldn’t refuse a little head start to the day and it would be great to have Zig show me around.
It also got me up a small climb so my riding that day would be all downhill to California.
View from the other side of the pass.
A cool old mine off the road.
Oatman! It was a cool historic town with lots of little shops and stuff to learn about.
It also had a lot of donkeys! The miners left them behind when they left the area so long ago. This donkey looks like he is very happy.
The town had some really cool peaks in the backdrop. Zig and I walked around town and had lunch together before I continued my ride.
Another donkey on the way out of town. I was swarmed with about 5 donkeys as they smelled the food on my bike and tried to get into it.
Definitely glad I went with tubeless tires this tour. I’ve gotten so many goat heads that would have required tube patching otherwise. You can see two fresh ones here.
These mountains were really cool. Really dark rock and very jagged. After this it was a quick decent into Needles, CA where my last section of the US part of my trip begins.
Thank you again for following along on my trip. I really love sharing my photos with people like this. I love taking photos of things I think look beautiful and I’m glad others think the same. I’ve never been the best writer so I thank you all for bearing with my bad writing with many spelling and grammatical errors. I’m doing what I can to work on it.
I’ve gotten to meet so many amazing people so far on this trip and if you reading this are one of those people I wanted to thank you also. The motivational support is extremely helpful in keeping me going.
Peace and love.