One initial comment -- the entire trail is much less flat and fast than I remember it during the daylight. Not sure how much of this was due to darkness and how much was due to riding up from 191 vs. down from Canyonlands as I did after a shuttle the last time. In either case my recollection of the ride cost me some credibility points with Steve and Terry, heh. We rode out of the parking lot (one other car there) around 4;30 p.m. and started the slightly winding climb into the shadows. The road was bumpy and became snow-packed and icy for much of the climb.In addition to working hard to climb it, we all worried about the total darkness descent we'd have to negotiate on our return.

We crested the climb and...it was awesome. The road descended into a basin with jagged slickrock to the left, a powder blue sky with thin, pink and orange-tinged clouds ahead and sheer slickrock walls to the right. The sun had just dropped below the rock ahead. Behind us the drainage dropped over the edge and headed for 191. We rolled easily across the floor and then saw a lone rider descending an uninviting climb ahead of us. This gal was the only other biker we saw our entire trip. We grunted our way up the loose, double-track climb and paused to suck some air at the top. We decided to approach the bridges from below and still had some failing light available as we took the leftward turn and headed for Bull Canyon.