Day 12 of the trip was breaking camp down on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and moving to Navajo Lake not far from Brianhead Utah. While it is only about a three to four hour drive normally getting there while towing a trail was a bit slower. There was also a bit of tank maintenance to take of as well so the bulk of the day was done by the camp was setup near Navajo Lake.

We were rolling at a descent time the following morning heading out towards Bryce Canyon to hit up the iconic Thunder Mountain trail. When we arrived the weather looked ominous. After looking closely at the weather forecast and assessing things with our own eyeballs we decided to pull the plug. We quickly formulated a Plan B. Plan B being the segment of the Virgin River Rim Trail between Strawberry Peak and Cascade Falls. From there we would ride a couple of forest roads back to camp where our other vehicle was already at so it was an unplanned point-to-point ride.

Boy what a really amazing bit of trail. While this is very much a cross-country trail this maybe one of the tougher 10-mile bits of singletrack  I have done in a long time. It was not particularly technical, but the combination of grade, terrain and an elevation that floated between 8,300 and 9,300 feet all conspired to drain your energy more than senses say it should.  The views were simply amazing. Note: I have rolled the maps and resources for this ride into the other section of the VRRT that I did later in this trip.

Later on that evening after taking care of the truck logistics, dinner and general chilling out those ominous clouds that called for rewickering of our plans for Thunder Mountian made there way to us and all hell broke. The rain was pounding pounding and the wind was insane. We were both pretty stoked to be in the tiny house on wheels and not tent camping. Mulitple times that evening the emergency alerts on phones lit off for flash flooding alerts and warnings to say off the roads.

Oh may was it cold when we got up! 38 degrees in August! From what we could gather the area was pounded last night and multiple roads road were dealing with landslides and debris in the roads. The Brianhead resort was shutdown and after conferring with a bikeshop down in Cedar City we had chock up the day as a rainout. The area recovers quickly but today stuff would just be a mess. We decided to a do a bit of recon for future adventures, layout plans for world singletrack domination and drink some tasty beverages.