Since we were just going to stay home this Independence Day weekend, I took Saturday to ride up along the Skyline drive between Farmington and Bountiful. Total mileage: 60.
Even though the weather was threatening to rain/storm, I still decided to head out. I never ride without my rain poncho and wet weather gear, so wasn't too worried.
The staging location (just to the right of the "B") has recently been covered in asphalt, making parking a bit better (no dust/pot holes, etc). If you've never been up here, you can park and stage in this area: N 40 53 45.12 W 111 50 43.44.
For the most part, the riding was quite enjoyable. Up top, temperatures easily dropped to ~50F, while down below it was approaching ~90F. The wind howled, but the rains never started up top, but could be seen hammering the valley far below.
Looking to the West, toward the Great Salt Lake:
Above photo is hiding my latest geocache placement (the Skyline Cairn).
A brief video on the ride up to the FAA/Radar Station:
Once I finished riding around up top, I decided to get back down and prepare Prime Rib for the family. As a final distraction, I took a side trail (marked as the USFS 288). Going down wasn't too bad, but the trail then looped back upward and that's when I discovered this trail was a vehicle grave yard. Climbing back up was tough. More winch work than I can recall.
Downhill, the 288 was smooth riding (until the creek):
The trail was picturesque:
The vehicle graveyard:
Steep and off-camber trail sections:
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