FRUITA!!!!!

One day earlier this week when Natalie and I were riding in the car I suggested we take an end of the season camping trip down I-70 to Fruita, CO. She was all about it, so Friday night I loaded up the car while we waited for Trick-or-Treaters (we had 0 :( We had gotten a camp and trail map and suggestions from James, one of the teachers at work. Fruita is really known as a high desert Mt. Biking paradise! It's known for how smooth it's trails are. We had Saturday school on Saturday morning from 7-10 and then headed down. It's about 2 hours west toward Utah, only about 20 miles from the Utah border.

The camping is free and we were able to get a great site. We were in the North Fruita Desert area, a.k.a 18 road Book Cliffs recreation area. The site is down over a ledge off the road and set back among the juniper trees. You can't see, but right behind the tent is about a 20 foot drop down into a gulley. After we arrived we got the tent and camp set up and went for a ride. When we returned I found creative ways to hang the bikes...
These are pictures of Natalie and I at the bottom of Prime Cut. We rode up Kesslers Run and down Prime Cut for about 7 miles of riding on sweet smooth singletrack that was rated Blue and Green. You shoulda seen Natalie, she was rippin it up. She was really doing good and it was fun being able to ride with her for a bit. As you can see the terrain is rather dry and barren, yet it was still very beautiful!

Thanks to Chef Natalie we had two amazing meals, pork chops and potatoes with red peppers and Coors Light for dinner, and hash browns and egg and sausage links for breakfast! Here is the Chef herself slaving away over the fire that I had built. I also did the dishes after dinner, although she did them after breakfast so I could go for a ride.
After breakfast we were talking about going for another ride, but unfortunately Natalie had an extremely swollen toe and her back was a little sore (due to the sleeping on rocks...), so she said she would stay with the dogs and clean up camp so that I could still go for a ride and hit some of the more difficult terrain. I ended up getting about 10 miles and rode some black diamond and double black trails. The picture above is on Joe's ridge, taken by Natalie down at camp about 1/4 mile away. This morning was an amazing ride! I did Joe's Ridge down to V7 road and over to Western Zippety. I took this trail up and then took a connector over to Zippety Do Dah and from there had an about 3 mile downhill/rolling section down Zippety Do Dah! These two ride were all along the top of spines and had some good steep drops, some rocks and jumps, and a few breathtaking climbs.

Will we go back? You betcha, next spring I think we will head back. There was good riding for the both of us and the camping was excellent! It was a great short trip with Natalie and the dogs.