Life on the Lee-Side: San Juan Hut Trip

Despite the heat I slept great at Wedding Bell hut. A few rain showers sprinkled the desert during the night, that combined with an aggressive mouse drove Jean-Paul inside from the porch. We got an early start again to beat the heat, but stratus clouds kept our route shaded for most of the morning. We had a hard climb up to the top of Mono Mesa, then it was all down hill to the Paradox Valley. Paradox was the highlight of the trip for me (see Travel Day post). Even with its colors muted by gray clouds the long narrow valley was stunning when it came into view. It's called Paradox because the Dolores River cuts the valley in half rather than run through it.

From Mono Mesa we descended on fire roads to a hike-a-bike section on David's Mesa. It started with a nice piece of singletrack, but like all of the other trail on the trip it turned out to be nothing but a teaser. It soon became too sketch to ride. If we weren't days away from vehicles or hospitals and I wasn't on a carbon race bike I would have tried to ride it, but common sense prevailed and I hiked.

The first stop in Paradox Valley was the Bedrock Store. Just like Basin, the town of Bedrock consisted of just a few buildings plus the store. It was a quaint, rustic building made of aged dark wood that was covered with billboards and a tin roof. It had a full length front porch, the kind you could sit on of hours soaking in the view without a care in the world. There was a matching outhouse complete with a moon shaped hole cut in the door, flowers inside, and a paddled toilet seat. The inside of the store was equally rustic and filled with character. The tidy shelves were stocked with random products from the past and present. The store clerk was a beautiful native woman with tan skin and long gray hair. I could have spent all day there photographing the place. Instead I settled for an icy cold orange soda, an ice cream bar, and beef jerky. The last item may seem out of place, but without eggs in the last two huts we were all starting to feel protein deficient. It was 100 degrees in the valley, but cold sodas and the shade of the porch was an oasis from the heat. I could have sat there all day.

After several failed attempts we motivated ourselves to ride over to the Dolores River Boat Ramp. The plan was to spend the hot afternoon chilling by the river and finish the ride to the hut in the evening. The murky green water of the Dolores might not normally be that appealing, but the oppressive heat made it as refreshing as a mountain spring. We all scrubbed ourselves and our clothes with Doctor Brawner’s eco-friendly soap to cleanse ourselves of two days worth of sweaty funk. Mystery fish (I think they were suckers) would graze our feet periodically and send us running to dry land, but the heat always brought us back in.

After a lazy afternoon cooling off in the water we mounted up and headed to the hut. At the store we stocked up on a few supplies for the road. The scene had changed somewhat as a flood of seedy locals were stocking up on beer and liquor for the weekend. Andrew described it perfectly by saying "These people make West Virginians look like Los Angelinos!" As we rode up the center of the valley to hut we were surrounded by the red rock walls to the valley.

The Paradox Hut was nestled on a small hill south of the town of Paradox overlooking a freshly plowed wheat field. When we got there I rode into town to retrieve the Honda so Andrew could leave first thing the next morning. It was safe and sound where we left it. A few isolated thunderstorms rolled through the valley at dusk. As the sun set behind the clouds its rays lit up the wheat field through holes in the clouds. It was a fitting conclusion to a spectacular day. Here are my notes from the day: