This one has been on the hit list for me ever since Dan and I had our epic hike-a-bike-fest on Stansbury about a year ago. I love riding out there - so desolate and vast with the inland sea below stretching to the snow capped mountains in the distance.

I convinced Evan to bring his single speed since I wanted to ride mine. We set off from the north west end of the island, originally planning to ride counter clockwise around, but quickly changing the plan when the route over a saddle on the north bench beckoned us. We were able to ride up the double track most of the way to the ridge, only needing to push for the last bit. It was a perfect day, blue blue sky and no wind an just warm enough to ride in short sleeves.

The views were fantastic once we neared the ridge, stretching back to the west behind us and, once we gained the ridge, plunging down the steeper east side into a valley and the bigger open section of the lake below. I was happy to have the 29er's big wheels riding down the steep rocky road.

Once at the bottom I thought we were set to ride the "road" I'd scouted using Google Earth before we left. It is an awesome tool for figuring out these rides that don't appear in any guide books, but there is always something unexpected. Like you can't really tell from G.E. that the road you thought you were going to ride is actually made of 4" of loose sand. Uh oh. Well so we quickly abandoned that plan and stared riding a cow trail that paralleled the road, but it, as cow trails tend to do, only lasted for a while, before going into a a rocky bog.

And then the bugs! Things were not looking good at all. I was getting worried and was just barely holding onto my cool as the bugs swarmed my head. Evan must have been wondering what he had gotten himself into as I took off, pushing my bike, just trying to get away from the buzzing sand flies.

I think Evan and I had the idea at the same moment. "What about the flat dry lake bed?" We both made for it praying that it wasn't soft and muddy. I figured there was some hope since there were cows wandering around out about 50 yards from the shore. Sure enough it was dry and reasonably hard. We mounted up and started riding, happy to be away from the bugs and moving south.

We rode out on the salt flat that stretched 300 yrds out from the east side of Stansbury for the whole length of the route down to where we could catch the "Independence Trail". Long sections were hard as a sidewalk and made for easy riding, but there were also stretches that were soft.

The salt company must own the pumping station on the south east end of the island. There was a long canal and these big industrial pumps pushing water into a canal. Note to anyone crazy enough to attempt this -- make sure you get on the west side of the canal before you ride down the road, attempt to fork back to the west and find a canal between you and your destination. After our minor backtrack we were again climbing up one of may impossibly steep double tracks that go straight up the side canyons of the island. In this case climbing meant pushing our bikes -- it was way too steep for single speed peddling, but I suspect it would have been the same story on a geared bike.

Again we found ourselves on the Bonneville Shoreline bench after a long hike a bike, but it put us at the end of the Independence trail. Off we went and had a super fun ride in the late afternoon light - long shadows and great views -- all the way back to the trailhead on the south west side.

Then it was onto the road that runs along the west side. At some point I got bored riding on the road and jumped onto the cow trail running just off, but parallel to the road. Evan was right behind me and then he was gone. I stopped for a minute and then saw him coming along behind me. I figured he just stopped to pee or something but when he caught up to me a couple of miles down the road he had a big cut on his chin. I guess one of the nasty, spiky trees that lined the cow trail reached out and grabbed his handlebar, sending him of the trail and his bike and face first into another spiky bush. Ouch! What's an adventure ride without a little blood?

Back at the car, the two beers Evan brought were still cold. We watched the sun set and the great light on the lake and then headed home.