Sunday evening September 13 I stayed at Kim and Rhonda Petersen's home. Kim is my wife Kathleen's nephew and I have known him for 42 years. He has always been a good kid. They live in Lyman Wyoming and have raised their family there. It was really fun stay at their home, visit and catch up. They also fix great meals.

I thought the rest of the trip was going to be a straight downhill shot from the high plains of Wyoming into the valley of the Great Salt Lake. It is approximately 110 miles from Lyman to Salt Lake City. I thought that would be two easy days or one long day - doable because it is downhill. I did not do my homework. It actually took me three days.

The 37 miles from Lyman to Evanston includes a steep long downhill and then a very long steep uphill that even causes semi-trucks problems. Monday September 14 I only rode to Evanston. I ran into a major storm with headwinds so stiff that they stopped me even while riding downhill and rain so intense that I was soaked in minutes. I estimate the wind gusts at over 40 MPH.

Tuesday September 15 I rode from Evanston to 3 miles past Henefer Utah before the storm hit again. I only got 44 miles on tuesday.

That left me with about 35 miles to Salt Lake City on Wednesday September 16. I rode up over Hogsback Summit and down to East Canyon Reservoir. There is a really neat resort named "East Canyon Resort". It is right on the Mormon Trail and has Condos, RV sites, camping, a fine restaurant, store and recreational facilities like tennis courts, etc. It was a welcome resupply point just at the right time. It is at the base of a long climb to the summit of "Big Mountain". The resort owns 10,000 acres that can be used for hiking in the summer and cross country skiing or snowmobiling in the winter. It is managed by a friendly, dynamic guy named Rod Myers.

This picture was taken at the summit of Big Mountain by a friendly biker. There is a lot of serious biker traffic between Salt Lake City and the summit of Big Mountain but not a lot of traffic down the other side to East Canyon Reservoir. From Salt Lake it is a 17 mile climb that gains 3200 feet elevation. There is also a smaller mountain on the route called "Little Mountain" by the pioneers. Both mountains were a challenge for a tired old biker looking forward to seeing his family at "This is the Place Monument".