Grand Staircase Ride Utah

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New video

On our last day in Utah and having ridden a tremendous amount of slab to get to Miller Motorsports Park the day before, we were treated to possible the best road in Utah and even one of the best roads in America for that matter. Highway 12 in southern Utah starts out tame at the southern tip, taking you into Byce Canyon and it gives you a hint of whats to come when entering Red Rock Canyon. We decided to take a few hours and visit Bryce Canyon, riding all the way to the end in quick fashion when there were no park patrols and stopping for picutures on the way back. It was very scenic, but really we were itching to ride the Grand Staircase.

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Yovimpa Point

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Farview Point

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Paria View

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Bryce Point

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Inspiration Point

THE MAP

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The Map

There were a couple of good turns on the way to Escalante but it was full of greasy slippery tar snakes and I had the rear wheel step out a bit on me in one tight section heading up a hill. It was actually starting to get late in the day by the time we made Escalante, we decided to cool down with a drink and an ice cream and talked with a father son team riding together from Coloado, they told us about all the great spots ahead and we listened intently.

Then a fella on a well worn harley with custom diamond cut air cooling fins who goes by "The Desert Doctor" stopped and talked a while with us afterward, he told us that the Buel commercial was filmed on the streatch of road ahead and that we will enjoy it, perhaps not at 80mph but at any speed, then he looked at our bikes and said "OK maybe 80mph!" which I thought was funny - if you ever need your bike towed out of the Escalante area call the "Desert Doctor"

The Desert Doctor
HD and Bike repair, welding, towing, machining
120 s center street
Escante UTAH 84726
(435) 826-4951

he is a great guy from what I gathered from our conversation with him, we took his advice and went 80mph!! LOL




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Grand Staircase

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overlook

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hwy 12

The road is really interesting and it goes from desert floor to alpine mountian riding at the end, then it descends into Torry, we were hauling through most of it when it was just fun sweepers, and slowing for the scenic parts, and dodging cattle ranged on the side of the road, watch out for deer and cattle its free range mostly!

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Torry in the distance Single Tree campground, you can see smoke from the fire in Sadona.

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Capital Reef Off in the distance

The Video
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video preview

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Escalante Grand Staircase

10 min, 768kb/s, music PMG, wmv format enjoy!!

attached are the mapsource and streets&trips files

Hwy 12, Utah, could well be the most stunning road I have ever been on. I found the knife edge ridge top curves to be very disconcerting the first time I ever found myself on that road by accident.

Another thing I love is go'n from the stunning red rock stuff on the south end, climbing to over 10,000 ft go'n through the Aspen groves, then come'n out to one of the most desolate moonscape type stretches through Hanksville, all on the same ride....... beer.gif

Thanks for the pics

I found the most stunning road to be "Going to the sun road" but this one is really beautiful, combined with Capital Reef the combo is unbeatable, I have video of Capital Reef and a Twilight Ride into Canyonlands coming next.

HispanicSlammer, Jun 27 2006, 05:19 PMI found the most stunning road to be "Going to the sun road" but this one is really beautiful, combined with Capital Reef the combo is unbeatable, I have video of Capital Reef and a Twilight Ride into Canyonlands coming next.

I did enjoy the going to the Sun Road, but I guess I have been very lucky and have seen lots of spectucular mountains in my travels and of course the traffic each time I have been on it did not help. Another thing that had a big impact on the experience, I rode a couple thousand miles to do the Sun road; but, I found Hwy 12 by accident beer.gif Both are must see roads for the M/C types.

Wow, great pictures. I just had the pleasure of riding these same roads twice in a week as I went to Las Vegas from Minneapolis and then back again.

I'm glad to know that the Tar snakes bothered you as well. The first time through it was mid-90's and they were really making the tires move around and me worrying. Return trip was high 70's and while still greasy, definitely felt better.

I have to say that overall the roads in Southern Utah really surprised me with their beauty and great riding (and lack of LEO's). The views from canyon to alpine were amazing.

Also, Honda hardbags are now successfully tested to an indicated 140 with no issues!

That looks like a great part of the country,& you made the most of your trip.
Maybe one day(when l get my social security no;,& then my Yank 'bike license,& then l can get insurance)l'll be able to meet up with you guys sometime if that's OK.
l'm now living in 'Vegas,& would appreciate it if you'd talk me out of buying a Harley,but as the roads around here are so feckin' straight,l don't know any other option!
PS,l had a VFR(interceptor)800 fix back in England,& l was REAL sorry to see it go!

Mick

Here's some of my pics !


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I just did that ride myself, and I'll add that it was beautiful.
Utah really blew me away. I lost count of the millions of curves I rode in the last week starting from St. George Utah, to Buena Vista Co, and back.

I click on the link for the video and I'm taken to the main page of VFRD. Does the linkie no workie or am I not holding my mouse right?

Half-life of Absolution, eh? Refined taste in music, indeed.

- Soon to be owner of a Red 2001 VFR.