The Fruita of our Labor

Our protagonists find themselves in Fruita, Colorado at noon on a Friday. Fruita, a small town at the base of the Colorado Plateau, is renowned for mountain biking. Curious events transpire...

We don't have many rules when it comes to traveling, but we have begun to develop a set of guidelines to make our lives easier. One of those guidelines is: DON'T TRAVEL ON A WEEKEND! Our arrival in Fruita was a bit of a gamble. When you're not familiar with the place you're in you need to figure out where you're going to stay, what you are going to eat, and what other supplies you might need. These complications can be compounded when in the desert as you need to figure out how much water to take while camping. On a Friday at noon, you need to figure these things out in a hurry before the weekenders beat you to it.

To get a grasp on our new surroundings, and to do it quickly, we did the most sensible thing we could think of in a bike town: stop at the bike shop. Over the Edge Sports is where it all began in Fruita... literally. The founder of this little bike shop in the heart of downtown invested a great deal of his youthful energies into constructing the trails and the atmosphere that made Fruita synonymous with mountain biking. Hundreds of miles of trails cover the spectrum from yawn to terrifying.

"18 Road is the place to be," we were told, "but you better hurry- it's Friday and the camp sites fill up quick. " There's nothing like a sense of urgency while traveling to make you act rashly. We left the bike shop and headed due north out of town, grossly ill-equipped with consumable goods, and made the 15 mile trip to the North Fruita Desert with promises of free camping and excitement on 2-wheels.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for the upkeep of the North Fruita Desert including the 18 road campground. For those who don't know, the BLM was originally formed during World War I as a special opts agency whose mission was to destroy battlefront roads in hopes of impeding enemy tank progress. Apparently, their approach to road maintenance hasn't change much. If Dwight Eisenhower had contracted with the BLM to construct the national interstate system, your daily commute to work might share certain similarities with an X-Games motocross competition. While the facts stated above are all fictitious, the point made is not exaggerated: BLM-managed roads are generally in terrible shape and should be driven on very slowly and with extreme caution unless you feel like being particularly charitable to the local car mechanics. A mountain bike trail of similar technical magnitude would certainly have the posted disclaimer, "Experts Only" superimposed on the image of a skull and crossbones.

As I said before, rash actions often transpire from a sense of urgency- and so we drove, FAST! White-knuckled and speaking in not-so-elegant tongues we put our poor little truck through abuse that a thousand oil changes and an equal number of car washes may never make up for. When the dust had settled (literally), we desperately attempted to win back the truck's trust and affection and, like a parent pulling the "Disneyland Card" as the ultimate restitution, we even made promises of premium gasoline. Our truck developed a small squeak behind the passenger-side door that crescendos when driving over bumps- a nagging reminder that we messed up and owe it big time.

But we did get a campsite and stayed for five days and it was absolutely gorgeous. The campsite itself is located at the base of the Bookcliffs, a vertical rock formation reaching hundreds of feet into the air and stretching for miles and miles in either direction. From the base of the Bookcliffs the landscape slopes slowly downhill for 15 miles until the city of Fruita is reached. At night, the sprawling lights of the city in the distance reminded us of a luminescent Canal Park from the viewpoint of Central Hillside in Duluth. For the record, the campsite never filled up during the weekend.

Any details I could write about mountain biking at 18 road would only paint a partial picture of the experience, because it is just that, an experience. The biking is fantastic, but the area offers something for all of the senses that can't be captured in words. It's about feeling solitude in the context of a small camp-based community, about being isolated in the backyard of a small unspoiled town, about being able to bike from your campsite to one of many trails that can revitalize the youthful spirit. It's a little like being a kid and coming across the largest most intricate playground you've ever seen while knowing that you never have to go home- the biggest problem is figuring out where to start.

The best part about Fruita is that there is no limit to what can be done and the town is still unspoiled. When I say unspoiled, I am referring to the absence of certain characteristics often shared by recreation-based towns caused by overcrowding. Overcrowding brings camping fees, international chain stores, and a sense of competition (rather than cohesion) for camping space. Juliet and I have noticed that humans shed trash like dogs shed hair- it's a simple function of our socio-physiology. Humans have been largely unconnected with the natural environment and so are unfamiliar with, and unaffected by, the consequences of our presence in natural places. It's one thing to make a mess of a man-made environment like your kitchen, but a broom and a bottle of windex can't clean up the desert.  Fruita is unspoiled in this regard- the local shops still rule, camping is abundant, and the types of people attracted to this destination generally understand the delicacy of this seemingly tough ecosystem. 

Juliet and I made a side-trip to Rabbit Valley, 17 miles west of Fruita. Rabbit Valley still sports some famous mountain bike routes including some slick rock riding on canyon rims. Dispersed camping throughout this area gives a true sense of isolation and made for a very enjoyable two days. Juliet and I had ridden bike for 6 consecutive days finishing with the Western Rim trail, a twenty mile loop touring the top of a canyon. By mile 15, it was clear that we needed a break from biking. We finished up our ride for the day with a plan to head back into town and search for some climbing in the area.

Note: the term "mountain biking" has been used vaguely for the purposes of this post. "Mountain biking" may denote one or more of the following activities: changing a flat tire, replacing brake and gear cables, repairing broken bike chain, replacing brake levers and gear shifters, tuning derailleurs, banging on various bike parts in hopes that mechanic failures will be resolved, resiting ritual bike chants in not-so-elegant tongues, and/or walking a bike up a hill with a near vertical grade.

Beyond the biking that is well-documented in the Fruita area is a canyon called "Unaweep." Unaweep canyon hosts a barely-known series of granite walls among a sandstone majority. It was only by chance that we stumbled upon the Unaweep canyon on mountainproject.com which stated, that while the area has been developed over the past 40 years as a climbing destination, the number of climbs offered by the area far outnumber the climbers who venture there. In fact, mountainproject estimated that for every developed climb in the area there exist 10 more undeveloped. A drive down Hwy 141 through the heart of the canyon will resolve any doubts of this claim. There is tall granite everywhere offering both trad and sport climbing in a variety of pitches from grades 5.6 to 5.12. The BLM owns an abundance of land in this area and so free and dispersed camping is easy to find. We stayed at a brand new trail head in the Dominguez Recreation area and never had neighbors. The recreation area itself can be explored by foot, bike, or canoe.

With the Fruita area offering opportunities for nearly every recreational activity imaginable, I find it hard to believe that it isn't more popular of a destination for young adventurers or college spring breakers. I fear that might change in the future, but until then, the area is one that could be explored for a lifetime without instilling boredom and without the pitfalls of the Southwest's more popular tourist-towns such as Moab. Again, as we began to get comfortable in Fruita we decided that it was time to leave. Next stop, Moab of course!

"Mountain Biking" in 18 Road

Lunch at Dominguez Campground

Sunday Wall in Unaweep Canyon

Climbing "Don Juan"

Coming down from "Banditos"

Cactacular Spectacular

Commercial spot for mountainproject.com

Pitch 1 on "Pantheon"

Just made it up "Pantheon" before dark... now for the decent

Our cozy little trail head spot for 4 nights.

Onward to Moab.