I headed south into Arizona and headed for the edge of the Grand Canyon.
I decided to go to a place called Toroweep which is apparently a quite spectacular view into the canyon. The only problem is that it is along a 60 mile dirt road - actually there is another way into that spot but that dirt road is even longer!
So I headed off in that direction and when I got to the turn off, as usual, the wind had really picked up and again as usual, was coming from the side. So I gritted my teeth and headed off down toward the canyon. The road was not real 4WD but it did have big stretches of loose sand and also lots of lanes of deep loose gravel. For those of you who don´t know about bike riding in these conditions then suffice to say, its a bit of a ¨living hell¨- quite like mountain biking in deep sand but because you have a big engine the struggle is control, not forward motion. Again, I found myself tensed and braced to the maximum for about two and a half hours while I fought the combination of treacherous road surface, low sun directly in front, and very strong gusty wind from the side - Just loving it I can tell you.
You know things are bad when you are absolutely praying for corrugations in the road because at least then you will have a solid surface to be able to control the bike!
As it was, I made it out there in relatively good time and the last 10 Miles of the road did become real 4WD. I managed not to fall off (quite a miracle in its self) and made it out there to watch the sun set. The camp site was also really nice and the view is quite spectacular. It was however very hazy so I´m not sure my pictures will end up doing it justice - Again I thoroughly recommend this destination to people in the area with the time and a car that can deal with it (2WD will make it with some belly dragging, but only just).
I camped there over night and again sat on the canyon edge for sunrise - great!
Then I drove back out the same way but the sun was at a better angle and the wind was down, so I had a bit less trouble - Still a treacherous surface for the bike and very tiring but again I made it intact.
