Gooseberry Mesa is a picturesque mesa range popular with mountain bikers. Our plan was to spend our first 'camping' dual over nighter...staying a full day/2 nights. What a relief! As seen from past post, we found an all-time beautiful spot and settled in. The next morning, (our full rest day morning), I hit the trails while Dyan set up to get in a full day's work. My adventure took me along massive bluff, almost always 6-10feet from a sheer cliff. An amazing ride but impossible not to stop every 10 minutes to take pictures, look at cool rocks/plants, and soak in the views.
Returned to Van, ate lunch, and set off for a second round of riding up near van. I met Chris and Beth who were locals and they generously let me tag along. We did South Rim which is a flat, rolling technical trail with lots of punchy ups and downs. Having guides who knew the trails made this especially awesome as they keyed my in on the fun lines and I didn't have to constantly look at map software to guide my way. It was a spectacular ride with great company.
That evening, we had a nice fire and I played the piano and guitar for a bit. It was a very special day. I did a short ride in the AM and found a couple Geo-Caches...one with a chicken. We headed out with a plan to drive till we didn't want to anymore. There wasn't much to get excited about in terms of where to land. Just outside Barstow, Dyan pointed out a sign for Ghost Town with camping. We B-lined it and were excited to find a nice quiet and safe van camping spot with bathroom/showers. We toured the ghost town the next morning which was fun (Calico Silver Mines). Off we went to visit friends in Napomo, CA. Very pretty drive when we got to the hills...saw a rainbow cloud (er, rainbow Chem-trail).
