Friday, September 12, 2014

Day 9 - Vernal Utah to Rangely Colorado 54 miles

Today was a much needed short day after yesterday, the longest day of the trip. Although we only rode 54 miles, the scenery was beautiful and we again had great weather. We rode for many miles along the Dinosaur National Monunent, which featured beautiful rock formations and colors.

The route was mostly rolling hills with no major climbs. As we approached Rangely, we rode down through some small canyons that were beautiful. We also passed under the Deseret Western railroad, which is an electrified railroad used to haul coal from a mine to a power plant. It is unusual in that it is self contained with no connection to the outside railroad world, meaning that all locomotives and other equipment have to be trucked in as opposed to being interchanged from another railroad. The chances of seeing a train on this line are not good as they do not run many trains but it was fun to see the rails and the overhead electric lines to power the locomotives.

Tomorrow we ride to Grand Junction. The plan is to ride over the Grand Mesa through Colorado National Monument, which is a beautiful place. I hope to take lots of pictures for you to enjoy.

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