Turd on the Run

[dbarkdoll_imp]

Woke up the next morning and walked maybe 1/8 of a mile to the rim of the canyon to behold this:



Average height of the canyon is 1,600 feet, Painted Wall which is visible in the photo is 2,250 feet, making it the tallest sheer cliff in Colorado.

Then met a fellow rider in the campground who was doing a bit of touring himself although in much different style.





That's an EBR (Eric Buell Racing) 1190. One of the most exotic bikes I've seen and heard in person. That big ol' chunk of frame you see acts as the fuel tank as well. So many little details on this bike that scream performance. Couldn't believe he was road tripping on it but hey, it's the rider not the bike, right??

We ended up riding the North Rim Road together which was really cool and yielded some incredible views:





After he departed I fancied a little hike to get a bit more up close and personal with the canyon. Boy did I get what I asked for. A duo of climbers camped next to me suggested a "trail" that led down into the canyon all the way to the Gunnison. Sounded cool, why not. Filled my Camelbak up and was on my way. Quickly found out this trail was much more of a scramble down a very steep gully where the path of least resistance was not so much a footpath but more like a natural rock slide avenue. Nonetheless I descended down.



Only passed one person on my way down, they were coming up and seemed to be in fairly good spirits which was encouraging. They told me to just keep plugging away and enjoy the hike. After a very steep and hot two hours, I finally made it 1600 feet down to the bottom in about a 1 1/4 mile of distance.



The river was raging, the canyon walls were staggeringly high, the water was cold and crystal clear, and I had it all to myself. A very invigorating and liberating experience for sure that I reveled in for some time before making the dreaded climb back out. Only one way back to camp though which was up, so better get to it.

I quickly realized climbing out was going to be much more taxing than stumbling down. I made a big mistake by attempting this hike during midday, temp was prob somewhere in the 90s and shade was few and far between. I would climb from shady spot to shady spot basically, stopping at each point for a while to catch my breathe and try to keep cool. The "trail" as I mentioned was very hard to keep track of and at some point about halfway up I lost it. Didn't realize this until it was too late to go back down and try to pick it back up so I kept forging ahead, knowing that my water supply was getting low and that I did not want to spend the night in this godforsaken canyon.

The going got tougher and tougher the higher I got to where I was bushwhacking through all sorts of crap, getting scratched up and knocked down, grasping for anything to pull me up the loose steep gully. I was starting to get a bit frantic. I had been in the canyon for close to 5 hours now and was starting to feel the heat really get to me. Kept climbing my way up and out through the underbrush until finally I reached the rim and things flattened out. Still no trace of any sort of trail but I picked a direction I thought the road was in and bushwhacked towards it. Finally caught sight of the ranger station which gave me my bearings, found the trail soon after and I was home clear. I had ran out of water not long before so my timing was a bit close for comfort. Made it back to the campground and was absolutely beat. Started to feel real bad so lied down in my tent for a bit just trying to recuperate, but was roused out by a uncontrollable need to be sick in the bushes. Threw up I'd say a couple liters of water and a bunch of bile, lied back down and felt pretty awful the rest of the night. A very humbling experience to say the least and not one that I will soon forget.