well, i supposed that’d be the Grand View Trail mtb tour that Amanda and I attempted on our Coconino’s last Memorial Day weekend.
actually, we started at the Thunder Mountain trail and descended the 11-ish mile singletrack through some rad hoo-doos and crazy switchbacks to the western end of the GVT. from there it’s ~70 miles of supposedly nonmotorized trail that tours the Sunset Cliffs, wraps around the Paunsaugunt Plateau, skirting along it’s base on some pretty damn remote trail, climbing to the the crest of the plateau on gravel roads, dropping crazy fast on sandy trails probably once used by stockmen and hunters, and terminates at the Sheep Ck TH east of the “fish hook” of Bryce C. National Park.
it wasn’t all fun and games though. a fair bit of the trail gets very little use and is just plain hard to find. trail crews hadn’t been through in ages, so rock slides and down trees were a constant presence. 
obtaining drinking water was also a reality of the trip, since it was generally only present in major drainages. that kinda limited where we camped and how much riding we’d committ to in a day. 
after the 3+ days of riding, slogging, and carrying our loaded touring bikes we took a “bail out” UP Mill Ck to the rim of the plateau, then rode 30 miles of gravel roads back to our vehicle at the Thunder Mtn TH.
it was a bit of a shock emerging from one of the gnarliest and remote trail bike tours i’d tried to a beautiful plateau, completely infested with RV’s parked all over meadows (probably 60 different trailers or vehicles along 20 miles of dirt road), OHV galore (the only person we saw on foot was one fella fishing) and dusty roads. oh well, next time, we’ll make sure we finish at a trailhead.
the Grand View Trail is completely open to nonmotorized travel and is an EPIC of a trail bike tour. go light, allow 4 days to ride the trail and arrange a car shuttle or a day to ride the roads back and spread the word. this route is awesome and entirely underused - by nonmoto folks. anyone game for another attempt next spring? contact the USFS and search out some info if you like, but here’s the beta i travelled with… water and trailheads are indicated.
special thanks got to Greg G. for motivating me to explore this route, and apologies for not actually riding it with him. i’d like to make another attempt this spring and would welcome anyone that want’s to go on a vision quest. any takers out there???
Archive for December, 2006
Best of 2006
So the trend is to do a best of list. Everyone is doing it, though they usually involve music and books and other stuff. We’re going a different route. I’m doing a personal best of on i am indisposed, but this is the place to post your bacon strip related best of’s!
Best Pancakes:
It was May 19th of 2006. Olaf was in my driveway @ 5 or 5:30 or some insane hour as planned. We loaded up to the towers in his truck and met The Grissly One. Waited a few minutes for J.R. but proceeded as it wasn’t totally clear he was comming.
It was dark for the first few miles. McD cought up to us pre Poeville, just in time to see me faceplant into a ditch. Too early for bunnyhopping. We proceeded up the road past the pond and to the intersection with the main road.
Near the top of peavine we cought the waft of coffee and maple syrup. We were met by Matt and Mike from Patagonia who proceeded to grill us some killer cakes. Those guys rode up the night before and camped out. That’s love.
We never managed to get another PancakeRide on, but I feel it coming in 2007!
-M
Is Santa a Pagan?
This is all stuff I found on the web a few years ago when I was wonerdering what putting a pine tree in the living room had to do with Christianity….long live the Pagans….and the capitalists.
Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?
What the Encyclopedias are saying:
The word “Christmas” is derived from “Mass of Christ” or “Christ-Mass”. The Christmas festival came to the Protestants and the secular world from the Roman Catholic church. However, the Roman Catholic church did NOT get Christmas from the original Apostles. It’s not even in the Bible!!!
Now just in case you may think I just have something personally against Christmas, or as the psychologists saying, I just had a bad childhood so I feel bad about Christmas, or worse, I belong to a religious cult!!…. let us see what the Catholic and secular Encyclopedias themselves are saying about Christmas!!
“Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church…the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt.”
“Pagan customs centering around the January calends gravitated to Christmas.”
“…In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his [Jesus] birthday. It is only sinners who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world”Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 Edition,published by the Roman Catholic Church
“…Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church….”Encyclopedia Britannica, 1946 edition
“Christmas… It was, according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of remarkable persons [eg Communion - death of Christ] rather than their birth…”"…A feast was established in memory of this event [the birth of Jesus] in the fourth century. In the fifth century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever ON THE DAY OF THE OLD ROMAN FEAST OF THE BIRTH OF SOL [SUN], as no certain knowledge of the day of Christ’s birth existed.” EMPHASIS MINEEncyclopedia Americana, 1944 Edition
Christmas was not celebrated by the Church UNTIL the FOURTH CENTURY. Christians did NOT celebrate Christmas for the first 300 years - longer than the entire history of the United States of America!!
Jesus was not born on December 25th
Christmas Day - December 25th - is near to the middle of winter in the Northerm Hemisphere - including the Palestine region or Judaea.Was Jesus born during the winter? Let’s see what the Scriptures has to say…
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.”LUKE 2:8
The shepherds did NOT keep their sheep in the fields during December! The sheep were brought in under cover before mid-October to protect them from the cold rainy season that would follow.
The “ninth month” corresponds roughly to December today. You see this time of year was characterised by winter rains in Judaea. The sheep were not in the fields at that time!!Here’s what the Adam Clarke Commentary (Vol 5, page 370, New York ed) has to say about the date of Christ’s birth….
“It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement of the first rain,…”"During the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As…the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole summer. And, as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have even been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground, the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact…”
The exact date of Jesus’ birth is entirely unknown, though evidently He was born sometime during September which is six months after the Passover. If God had intended for us to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, why then didn’t God reveal the exact date to us in the Scriptures???
The true origins of Christmas
So where did it all begin??The concept of Christmas originated in ancient Egypt in the days of King Osiris and Queen Isis around about 3000 B.C. - long before the Christian faith was even thought of!! After the untimely death of King Osiris, his wife, Isis, propogated the demonic doctrine of the survival of Osiris as a spirit. She claimed a full grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead stump, symbolising the new life of the Osiris spirit from his death. On each anniversary of Osiris birth, which was the date we now know as December 25th, Isis would leave gifts around this tree. Isis became the “Queen of Heaven”, and Osiris became the reborn “divine son of heaven”. Osiris later became, through the later Phoenicans, Baal the Sun-god. The “mother and child” became chief objects of worship by the Babylonians, from which it spread over the world under various names, such as, Cybel & Deoius in Asia, Fortuna & Jupiter in pagan Rome. Then during the fourth and fifth century, the Romans under the new popular “Christianity” popularised the “mother and child” concept especially around Christmas time - from which we have many of the Christmas carols such as “Silent Night Holy Night” with it’s familiar “mother and child” theme.
The Pagan Origin of The Christmas Tree
The concept of the Christmas Tree originated around 3000 B.C. in ancient Egypt with King Osiris and Queen Isis. After the untimely death of King Osiris, his wife, Isis, propogated the demonic doctrine of the survival of Osiris as a spirit. She claimed a full grown evergreen tree sprang overnight from a dead stump, symbolising the new life of the Osiris spirit from his death. On each anniversary of Osiris birth, which was the date we now know as December 25th, Isis would leave gifts around this tree. During the Middle Ages, the Germans believed the evergreen trees were especially imbued with life since they remained green throughout all of winter. Greenery was prominent in pagan winter celebrations in honour of the tree spirit or spirit of fertility. The Romans trimmed the trees with trinkets and toys at that time of year. The Druids tied gilded apples to tree branches. For many, a tree decorated with orbs and fruit-like object symbolised the tree of life in the garden of Eden.
The Pagan Origin of The Holly WreathMistletoe and Yule Log
The mistletoe were used at the festival of the winter solstice by ancient pagans because it was considered sacred to the sun. The mistletoe supposedly had miraculous healing powers, probably due to the fact that not only the plant remained green throughout winter but it actually bore fruit during this time, a type for fertility spirits!! This led to the tradition of “kissing under the mistletoe” - occuring early in the night of revelry and drunken debauchery, celebrating the death of the “old sun” and birth of the “new sun” at the solstice. Holly berries were also considered sacred to the sun-god. Holly was revered along with the mistletoe, with decorations in those greeneries prominent in buildings and places of worship during the winter festival - leading to the holly wreath that we have today. The burning of the Yule Log originated with the Druids and their ritual burning of a carefully chosen log during the winter. The word “yule” is derived from the old Anglo-Saxon word “hweol” which means “wheel” - a pagan symbol of the sun. Indeed the “Yule Log” is in fact the “Sun Log”!!
The Pagan Origin of Exchanging Gifts at Christmas
The wonderful tradition of exchanging gifts during Christmas. That excitement of looking forward to seeing what your loved one buys for you for Christmas. Oh of course, it is “Christian” to be giving gifts to one another…. but is it?? Let us see what the Bibliotheca Sacra (vol 12 pp 153-155) says about the exchanging of gifts at Christmas…
“The interchange of presents between friends is alike characteristic of Christmas and the Saturnalia, and MUST HAVE BEEN ADOPTED BY CHRISTIANS FROM THE PAGANS, as the admonition of Tertullian plainly shows.” Emphasis mine
The exchanging of gifts does not honour Christ at all. Suppose it is YOUR birthday and yet at your party, your friends and relatives exchange gifts among themselves and almost completely ignore you!! This is exactly what happens at Christmas - we exchange gifts among ourselves, but usually don’t have enough money left over to continue our giving to our churches!! Just ask any pastor!! The giving to the church usually doesn’t get back to normal until March next year!! In any case it’s not Jesus’ birthday anyway!! - His birthday is in September most probably and the exact date is not known.
The wise men gave Jesus gifts because He was a KING of the Jews - it was not because it was His birthday. It was customary to give gifts to someone who is a King, just as it is so in many cultures today. In any case, the wise men didn’t give any gifts to Jesus until long after His birthday.
“Verse 11 (They presented unto him gifts) The people of the east never approached the presence of kings and great personages, without a present in their hands. The custom is often noticed in the Old Testament, and still prevails in the east, and in some of the newly discovered South Sea Islands.”Adam Clarke Commentary, vol 5, page 46
The exchanging of gifts among friends and relatives at Christmas is not found in the Scriptures, it is derived from paganism.
-Restlessape
bienvenidos, Nooner
The Bacon Strip grows thanks to our recent draft. Skid marks now stretch from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Crest with the addition of Nuninator, aka Nooner, or getoverheregoddamnit as our Pyramid Lake headwaters correspondent. Wildland fire fighter by profession, sawyer and trail builder by training, telenator and bikinator by day. Drinkinator by happy hour… bienvenidos. cuidado, piedra mojada, me gusto cerveza. Say, where’s the pic of indian blanket wearing Tecate toting apres ski Nooner? Rock the house, my friend.
Japhy rider
Nefarious J
Dear Baconstrippers,
You may have noticed the new additions to our Team. Sphincterboy is our corespondent from the Rockies, chairman of the committee of redundancy committee, burner of the sacred relics, and fashion critic. His purpose is to goad us from afar and remind us of MontyPython lines we’d forgotten. Last words I heard from him were, “neck deep powder…” I’ll let J.R. introducs the Nooninator.
-M
If there are others who should be added to the team forward them on to me. (remember that our co-mission of providing dsigusting/funny content along with urban/dirtbag/hipster/pseudo-adventure)
Letter to the editor
RGJ,
In your cover article today on the traffic problems on Pyramid Hwy you focused on ways to make the road accomodate increasing numbers of vehicles. Why were there no discussions of ways to decrease the numbers of vehicles on the road? If the stores are in a compact area why is it necessary to have everyone in their own vehicle?
Adding better opportunities for public transportation and non-motorized transportation is a much cheeper option that is better for the community. Focusing on them first will create incentive to utilize them rather than advocating construction projects that come at a great cost to our community and environment. What’s that? you say you can’t go shopping on a bicycle? www.xtracycle.com/, bakfietscargo.blogspot.com/, better put out the cigarette(in an ashtray) and guess again!
-M
This guy appears to have a twisted mission of skinning & skiing 10,000 ft/day. The thing that really gets me is that he has a new kid! I better change my ways…pronto!
More discussion here…
Keyesville
I’m going to make my de-butt into endurance racing @ the Keyesville Classic this year. Smella has agreed to crew for me, JR and GBG have shown interest. Anyone else want to share camp, kitchen, and cooler? Forward on to extended family who may be interested and let’s have a ball.
Keyesville Classic
Retro Race
MTBR Photos
Lots of other stuff to do in the area including, riding, climbing and hott tubbing.
-M
play it as it lies
um, a few years ago, the Garros, B. Siebert (spelling?), and I were trail riding near Flagstaff when low & behold, a big dead tree was found to have layed itself across the trail. it was pretty freshly fallen with no easy ride around - the best line was right over the ~30″ high log with the help of a rock or 2…
word on the street is that when a trail crew came through, rather than clear the rocks and cut the log, they bucked a section of log next to the rocks so you could roll up and over or ride right on by. perhaps they just didn’t want to bother with moving those things out of the way!
stuff like this is a far cry from boardwalks and teeter totters that the FS is lashing out against, more like keeping things as primitive as possible. yet kinda spicy…
She found it.
-M
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