Quick trip to southern Utah

For me this is as good as it gets on a mountain bike!

Singletrack through an aspen forest at 9000 feet?  Yes, please!

This part of Utah is known as Color Country.

"Rocks are sharp and jagged."  Can't argue with that... 

By some miracle we didn't get rained on or struck by lightning.

"Look, I'm in a cave!"  This is part of the Mammoth Caves, which has over 2000 feet of basalt lava tunnels and is habitat for four different species of bats.  We saw one small group of bats but LeAnna didn't want to stick around and figure out which species they were.

LeAnna's not afraid of sharp or jagged rocks.

Truth in advertising.  LeAnna refueling after the ride.

LeAnna getting her Macro on.

Bird of prey.  Red tail hawk I guess...  Bird nerds care to weigh in???

Our sweet campsite.  The only bad part was that it was bowhunting season and literally every ten minutes a pickup, 4 wheeler or Razor would drive by with a bunch of hunters looking for hapless deer to slay.  No wonder deer hunting's so popular.  I'm pretty sure golf would be better workout.

The view from our campsite.

Along our drive home, near Zion.  Utah doing its best impression of heaven.

Strawberry Point along the Navajo Rim.

"Cheese!" at Strawberry Point.

Sun setting through the storm clouds.

Looking east toward Zion.

Wildflowers and burned manzanita.

Evening light on some impressive sandstone formations near Kolob Canyon.

At Lava Point, a nice spot overlooking Zion.

On Sunday and Monday this past week, LeAnna and I decided to get out of the heat for a bit and headed up to southwest Utah for some mountain biking, camping, and exploring.  It turned out to be a great little trip and I can't wait to come back when we have a little more time to hang out.  We felt we could easily spend a week up on the plateau riding, camping and reading books under the aspen trees.  Maybe sometime you guys can come join us!