Salt Lake City to Payson, Utah

October 12 - 18, 2015

Garmin Info with Maps

Salt Lake City to Draper

Draper to Utah Lake State Park

Utah Lake State Park to Payson

I was too nervous to try camping with my broken tent poles and I rode into Salt Lake City a day earlier than planned. After consulting my hotel, I had Big Agnes ship a replacement set. Big Agnes was great about it too. Luckily, they didn't ask how the poles broke and sent out new ones for the cost of shipping. They are located in Colorado so the shipment shouldn't take too long. 

SLC street art.

Bike share SLC.

Before arriving in Salt Lake City, I had made arrangements to stay with Warm Shower hosts in downtown. I spent one night in the hotel and asked if I could store Myrtle and most of my gear I wouldn't need for the next night. This way I wouldn't have to cart so much stuff to my Warm Shower's home. David and Maun live close enough that I walked to their place. They welcomed me warmly with big hugs. David and Maun have done lots of touring and we had a lot to talk about. They live in a high rise building right in downtown SLC. It's a beautiful, modern building and their apartment has a stunning view of the city with surrounding majestic mountains. I put my small overnight bag in the very comfortable guest room. They had tickets to a chamber music concert on the Utah State campus. When they heard I also enjoy classical music, they invited me to come as well. Fun! The Czech based Pavel Haas quartet played works by Prokofiev, Beethoven and Bartok. Wow were they good. This was a fabulous evening and a real treat for me.  I very much enjoyed my stay with this fascinating couple.

David and Maun 
outside SLC city hall

In the morning, after a terrific breakfast, David and Maun showed me how to take the train to the airport. Maryann was flying in from Seattle with her trike, Larry, to start touring with me. She wants to ride all the way to Florida. David and Maun said it was easy to roll the trike right onto the commuter train into downtown SLC. They were right too.

I took the train to meet Maryann. Her flight was uneventful and she had no problem getting her trike, unboxed, loaded on board. Once Maryann collected all her gear from baggage claim,  we rolled the trike right out of the airport. The train departs from just outside Terminal 1.  It was so nice to see areas for bikes on a train. We hit the button to lower the handicap ramp and rolled the trike right on. It was only a 15 minute ride to our stop and then only 2 blocks to the hotel. The whole thing was very easy and I think Maryann was relieved to be settled in the hotel.

Maryann getting her bags and trike from baggage claim

Maryann with her trike, Larry, on the train into downtown SLC.

Larry and Myrtle lounging by the pool.

Young missionary in
Temple Square

Our hotel was also only 2 blocks from Temple Square and the next morning we walked over to check it out. As is typical, 2 young Mormon missionary gals took us on a short tour of the grounds. The tour came with some proselytizing too. They let us know about an organ concert at noon and we decided to stay and have a listen.  The organ has over 11,000 pipes and the guy playing, Richard Elliott, is the principal organist for the Mormon Tabernacle choir which seemed like a big deal. The concert was about 40 minutes and very enjoyable.  After the concert, I got a call from David and Maun and we met them for lunch. I really wanted Maryann to meet them and we all had a nice time.  Later in the day there was a rehearsal for the Tabernacle Choir and we went to that too. The rehearsal was scheduled for 2 hours and I think we lasted for 90 minutes. 

Organ recital

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Rehearsal

My new tent poles arrived at the hotel and we started talking about pushing off from Salt Lake City on Friday, a day earlier than planned. The only problem was I had made previous arrangements to stay with Warm Shower hosts on Saturday and needed to ask Matt and Luann if they could host us on Friday instead. No problem. They just wouldn't be home until after 6 pm. This gave us all day to putz around and find our way. Checkout from the hotel is at 11 and I think we started riding at 10:45. Maun had given us directions to the Jordan River Trail and warned us that the trial isn't well marked. Boy, she wasn't kidding either. I'm not sure we could have found our way without the GPS. Even still, we had to back track a couple of times. There are other paved trails and hiking paths that come off of the Jordan River trail and sometimes it wasn't obvious which way we should be going. The path is lovely though and, mostly, follows the Jordan River. We stopped at numerous beautiful parks along the way. The weather was sensational with bright sunshine and no wind.  We took the trail all the way to Sandy and than stopped at an REI. I wanted to see about getting a different pair of off-trike shoes but all the summer shoes were gone. I also packed a jersey that really is too old and has seen better days. The thing is very faded and has a small hole. I wanted to get a replacement but they didn't have one that I liked. Maybe for the first time ever, I walked out of an REI without buying anything. We met lots of people interested in our trip and then sat outside on the grass to eat lunch.

Pushing off from our hotel in SLC.

Maryann says 'Where are we!?"

From REI, we took streets up to Matt and Luann's house. The ride until now had been mostly flat and we slogged away the last few miles. Matt had the garage door open which made it obvious which house was theirs and where to park. He welcomed us with an ice cold beer. Then made us a wonderful meal. Matt and Luann are Jewish which must be odd in Utah (and could be an idea for a reality show). Once they heard I was also Jewish they brought out the Shabbat candles which was very special. Maryann and I shared a room downstairs with it's own bath and slept very comfortably. 

With Matt and Luann in Draper

In the morning, Matt made us a delicious, hearty breakfast and then escorted us 11 miles to the start of another bike path, the Murdock Canal Trail. It was, yet another, beautiful day and this trail is terrific. Wide and smooth and long. We stopped at a huge Smith's market to make lunch and then Maryann got her first flat of the trip. She is using Marathon Racer tires which may not be the best choice for riding in goat head country. This tire was really hard to get off the rim and Maryann broke a tire lever but, eventually, got the flat repaired. The shopping center had a nice bike shop and we went in to use their pump and get new tire levers. I also found a nice jersey. It had only one zippered pocket - on the side. 

From there it was a very wet ride to Utah Lake State Park. There was a surprising amount of climbing too. Once we got to Provo, the Murdock Canal Trail ended and we picked up the Provo River Parkway which took us all the way to the campground. This trail is very old with lots of bumps from tree roots. It reminded me of riding at Ft. Stevens campground in Oregon where the Recumbent Retreat is held every year. Some of the path went steeply down under roads and then went back up just as steeply. This section was actually treacherous. The paths are so narrow the trikes fit with not much room to spare. I would ring my bell wildly to let anyone know I was coming through. Going back up one steep section I was in my middle chain ring and should have been in my granny. Maryann was right behind me when I had to put on my brakes to keep from going backward. Luckily, I was able to wench my way to the top. Pphheewww!

Provo River Parkway Trail had very narrow and steep sections.

The rains stopped just before we arrived at the campground which is in a beautiful setting right on Utah Lakes. We got set up and cooked up a wonderful healthy dinner. This was excellent timing because the weather quickly turned ugly. I walked to the bathroom and noticed the winds picking up. When I got out of the bathroom 5 minutes later, I walked back to the tent in a full on squall. Boy was it dramatic. The wind was really strong and very loud. I ran to my tent for cover. It was hard to believe the thin tent fly could ward off all this water but I was totally dry. The storm lasted about 90 minutes and then it was quiet and I could sleep.

Camping at Utah Lake State Park on the morning after the big storm.

Big horned cows

Of course, in the morning, the tents were soaking wet. We didn't have far to go today and waited for the sun to rise and dry some of our stuff. Everything got dry except the fly. There aren't any campgrounds in Payson and so we had a good excuse to get a hotel room.  This way, we could get everything dry too. We started out back on the Provo River trail into Provo and Maryann got another flat. 2 flats in 3 rides. This time it was a goat head. She's thinking about changing out the tires for Marathon Plus. We stopped in Provo at another Smith's to pick up food for lunch. Then Google maps plotted us a course through Spanish Forks into Payson. Being Sunday, and a mostly Mormon area, the roads were very quiet. We went passed lots of farms with lambs, cows and horses. One farm had really cool looking cows with long thick horns. We stopped and all the cows walked toward us. They were neat.

Big horned cows of Payson video

Maryann fixing a flat on the Provo River Parkway trail.

The rest of the way was uneventful and we arrived at the Quality Inn before the next storm came through. We checked in behind a very large family with 14 kids and 3 wives. The motel had a laundry room and I took everything in to be washed. I love having clean clothes!

The main reason we are in Payson is to visit Utah Trikes. They are probably the biggest trike dealer in the country and I originally bought my trike from them. All they sell are trikes. I called Dylan, the service manager, a few days ago and made an appointment to get a new chain and cassette. Maryann also wanted to get new tires.

A tour of Utah trikes showroom

Utah Trikes showroom

Dylan, the service manager, talking Maryann through options

HP has switched to SRAM from Shimano cassettes since I originally bought my trike and Utah Trikes doesn't stock the Shimano 9-speed anymore. So, I upgraded to a 10 speed which is something I've been thinking about doing anyway. The gears are now 11-36 instead of 11-34. The shifting is also much tighter than my old 9 speed. The one drawback is the gear shifter only works as indexed and can't be changed to friction. Hopefully, this won't be an issue as the new cable stretches. Maryann switched out her tires to Marathon Plus and also had some other work done. They even cleaned our trikes.

Now that our trikes have had a relaxing spa day, we will start riding south again tomorrow. Checking Google maps, there really aren't many route options that include places to stay within a reasonable distance. We will start south to Nephi and then take Hwy 132 to Hwy 89 riding to Bryce Canyon National Park. There's about 6600 feet of climbing but we will be taking it so slowly that this will be very manageable.