Moab
Say the name and depending on who you are talking to one of several different images of one adventure sport or another pop into mind. For most of the people I know the name is synonymous with Mountain Biking, and rightly so. It is probably one of the top ten mountain biking destinations in the world. However there are many more aspects to this small desert community than just ripping singletrack and slickrock on two wheels.
I was fortunate to spend a few weeks there in early April of this year and was able to do something most visitors never get a chance to; slow down, relax and actually enjoy the place for the small town it is. Actually to the point I was almost getting bored.
I spent several days volunteering with the trail maintenance crews and in turn got to ride some brand new trails. But just getting to know the locals in the shops on my daily rounds was probably one of the best things about hanging out there. From laughing with the ladies at Chili Peppers Bike Shop to eventually getting the locals discount at Wake and Bake Coffee I slowly got the feeling this is a place I could actually fit in if I was to stay put somewhere someday.
The timing wasn’t exactly perfect for my visit, it was still fairly cold and the weather was borderline grey/rainy for a lot of it.
Staying at Sand Flats meant fairly primitive camping right on the edge of town, which is a strange combination, but then this is Moab, stranger things have happened. I roamed around with the camera quite often but looking through the photos now I don’t think I was able to capture what Moab is, or means. I seem to still have the ’tourists eye’, oh well, I may just have to go back and keep trying (oh darn). Some of these photos need no explanation, some wont make any sense unless you’ve been there-