Introduction Thread

[prkoski]

Greetings, i suppose it's time I introduce myself. I first meet Scott Morris more than a few years ago at my home in Nucla of all places. He was looking for some practical supply routes for the Grand Loop Race which he was about to embark on so he and i hopped on our bikes and rode out into the backcountry which makes up most of the West End and the Paradox Trail. That was my introduction to Scott and this great website which I try to keep an eye on with the occasional visit and contribution, mostly concerning West End trail conditions.  My current project (besides the long standing Paradox Trail Reroute) is to write about a cross country bike packing trip I took with my brother years ago in the summer of 1966. I was 15 and he was 17.  It was a journey, which has influenced me to advocate for bicycles and trails ever since. Anyway, when it's done I will post it here as historic trivia just to remind us all of the exuberance and idealism of youth.

[aaron w]

Hi, I am attempting the grand loop starting tuesday night or wed morning.  Although I've ridden Kokopelli a few times both paradox and tab are completely new to me.  I'm planning on starting the loop up out of Montrose where the tab and paradox intersect and heading towards GJ.  Hopefully things will be somewhat dried out by then??  (We are wet and muddy here in Salida right now).  One of my big unknowns is water resupply.  I've studied the route but I have no idea which streams/drainages actually have water in them.  Are there any particularly dry sections on paradox and tab that I should be aware of?   

When I get back over to your neck of the woods I am planning on not dropping into bedrock but instead staying up high.  Dropping down red canyon, cross the delores, up mesa creek, and then blue basin, bull draw, little and big johnson, atkinson creek....  That part is the (your) Koski traverse, right?  After I get through that and cross tab creek not sure if I'll stay high and cross pinto mesa or instead come through Nucla.  Will depend if I need more food or not. 

Any advice or thoughts are greatly appreciated...  I'm really excited about seeing some new terrain.