Nephi - Payson, UT - Big Mountains, Small Towns.

July 15, 2022

Nephi - Payson, UT

Jacinto's climbing route. He strongly recommends it!

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Keith AdamsYeahhhhhhh, NO. :)
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1 year ago

My easy, cruising route.

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I'm getting used to this easy life - sleeping in, and riding short miles through a mostly flat valley. Today is our last day of the cruising life. Oren and I are taking full advantage. We did not accept Jacinto's invitation to join him on Ben's big climbing route through Payson Canyon.

Jacinto and I went late to breakfast. It was a typical motel breakfast except for the Mormon funeral potatoes. I kid you not, that is the name. There are many recipes on line. I've asked my aunt if she would share her recipe. If she does, I'll insert it here.

We didn't leave until 9 AM. There wasn't much urgency. It was cool and overcast, and somewhat threatening rain. Jacinto had sent his rain coat with my aunt. I gave him mine. He was going to be above 9,000 feet. If I got wet, I would be warmer, at a lower elevation.

I had been warned about the recommended ridewithgps route, as Wayne Estes just took that route during his Promised Land Tour. Instead, we added six miles to the day, and took Goshen Canyon Road. I didn't expect to see a canyon, as we had very little elevation gain all day. I was pleasantly surprised to find out we did go through a short canyon. We saw two bicyclists in the area. One was a man on a go fast bike, who was looking behind him. I thought he was looking to see if there were any cars so he could cross over and talk. Instead, I think he was looking for his wife, who came along later on an E bike.

We had several turns, but very little traffic, and nice pavement, until we got to the last three miles into Payson. It seemed as if everyone wanted to be right where we were. Of course, this is the part that had no shoulder. It was a three mile adjustment ride into suburban life. We've been out in the country for the entire trip, basically. This is the most traffic we've seen in weeks. We also had the most turns in a day's route.

I'm not looking forward to our next riding day. We ride to Heber City. It's almost exclusively a city route. Wayne also rode that direction, he made me as painless of a route as possible. It added five miles over ridewithgps's suggestion, but I'm going with the voice of experience. I still expect it to be a drudge of a day.

Oren and I stopped, once again, at Subway. This is three days in a row. Enough already! We killed time until 1 PM, and went next door to the motel. I got right into my room, Oren waited about 15 minutes.

Jacinto arrived right after I got out of the shower! Can you believe he rode 5,000 feet of climbing and was only an hour behind us? He was very happy with his ride. He said riding 'naked' is lots easier than riding as the sherpa, fully loaded. Jacinto has a Rohloff hub with 14 gears. He said on Cottonwood Pass, he used all of the gears. On Slumgullion Pass, he had three gears left. Today he had four gears left, but, also only one pannier. Jacinto said if he'd had to ride it fully loaded, the ride would have tough. Coming from this direction, it's the hard side, with some 15% stuff, according to the map. Jacinto said it was perhaps the prettiest pass of the trip, and I would have liked it. Oren and I are teasing him that he might ride back up this side tomorrow, just for an activity. He isn't saying yes, but he isn't saying no either!

Jacinto is plotting his route for today. Over 5,000 feet of climbing through Payson Canyon!

We are departing at the same time, but not going the same direction.

It took me a couple of blocks to figure out that people are reserving their spots for the big parade on Saturday. There’s a rodeo all weekend.

The condition of this newspaper building reflects the state of print newspapers in the US.

I hope there is sponsorship money involved.

Perhaps this person had their mailbox mashed in one time too many!

If you have a chance to look up handcart history, it is interesting.

Jacinto is up there behind Mt Nebo. He did not get wet.

There are three fancy weathervanes on this barn.

These are cow skulls, but I still wasn’t tempted to trespass!

This is a wheat field. My aunt says they get one cuttings. A machine comes by and takes the tassels off, then bales the straw. We saw one field with bales, and several that haven’t been cut yet.

Oren and I rode through Goshen Canyon. It was a nice surprise. We thought we were going to be in farmland all day.

This is a smelter that was never used. The movie Bats with Lou Diamond Phillips was filmed there.

Would you like to take this bike for a spin?

All of the following photos are Jacinto’s, from the Payson Canyon ride.

He said there were more Aspen on the Payson side.

He thought this was about the prettiest ride of the trip. He said there were far more cows than cars and he had to be careful where he cycled.

Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 1,582 miles (2,546 km)

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