By Solana Kline, honorary four-legger
“Yaoooooooooo!” I howl as we pick up speed.
My tires echo a low warble off the red cliff walls. Faster and faster we roll, the 90 pounds of pup in the trailer behind my bike giving us extra momentum. We follow the curves of the canyon, ducking into the shadows’ cool March air, and boomeranging back out into the high-altitude sun blasts that immediately make you sweat.
I look back over my shoulder. Betty’s nose thrust forward as far as she can get it ahead of the bike trailer, the wind pushing her long terrier ears and hair back into their full aerodynamic rocket-dog state. Mickey’s smile couldn’t get any wider, wrapped around his big pitty face, floppy boxer lips rippling in the wind as we descend into Red Canyon.
I tuck in to be more aerodynamic, eyes up, chin down, pressing down into the pedals as we all lean into the turns, grinning ear to ear and yowling some more, “Yewwwwwhewwwww!”.
I have been watching the weather in Bryce Canyon, Utah, since November, waiting for a window to come pedal the Red Canyon Bicycle Trail with the pups. At 8,000 feet, the colds are cold and the hots are hot, especially for the pups.
The Bryce Canyon Trail is nearly 20 miles of paved bicycle and pedestrian path rolling 13 miles from Red Canyon to Bryce Canyon City. Just outside of Bryce Canyon City, the paved trail becomes the Bryce Canyon Multi-Use Bike Path and continues up into Bryce Canyon National Park for another 5 miles.
This gives us 18 miles to explore the coral-goblin-canyonlands of the Bryce Canyon area on the bicycle and trailer with no cars, no roads, and all the smiles and sniffers we can handle!
Over the past couple years since our motorcycle trip, me and the hounds have been practicing miles and adventures with the bike trailer, a trailer designed for humanoid children, converted for canine comfort: plush down blankets lining the bottom, front and rear that can be either fully open for lounging and sniffing, screened in, or fully enclosed in clear waterproof material. This means that we get to explore in any weather and any season, yippee!
Betts (aka Senorita Snuggess) and Micks (aka Mister Mingleberries) took to the trailer immediately. When we first got it, we would go about two miles from home to the single-track trailhead for their walkies beasting in the forest.
After our walk, we would ride another mile to the local shop for a delish breakie-burrito. The pups would sit attentive in the bike trailer knowing a piping hot bacon burrito was about to be delivered! And, of course, looking that adorable; they received many pets and coos from passing aunties and uncles while I was in the store.
The pack pedaling started as a hairbrained scheme to use less gas in our adventuring. We all had such a blast on the motorcycle sidecar together, why couldn’t we do that same thing human-powered, earning our turns?
And earn them we do. It ain‘t no joke hauling nearly 100 extra pounds on a bicycle without a motor! After experimenting with different types of roads and surfaces we have finally honed in on the sweet spot in pack pedaling: rails-to-trails paved and graveled bike paths! There are no cars, no roads, just the doggos delighting in the ride-by squirrel sightings and endless sniffers along the routes.
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy specializes in building and advocating for the rails-to-trails and they created this awesome website mapping all of the rails-to-trails across the U.S.: traillink.com. The rails-to-trails are relatively flat and accessible for all ages and abilities.
Since we got the bike and trailer, we have seen some of the most beautiful terrain across the West, getting to roll through nature instead of driving on a freeway.
The pack favorites so far have been the Mineral Belt Trail in Leadville, Colorado touring through the old mining haunts Northeast of Leadville, 18 miles at 10,000 feet elevation (mineralbelttrail.com); the Rio Grande Trail which runs 42 miles from Carbondale to Aspen, Colorado featuring protected wetland habitats and community chalkboards to write the wildlife you’ve seen (rfta.com/trail-information); and, of course, the Iron King Trail right in Prescott that is 4.5 miles of flat packed gravel and tours through the lesser-known side of the Granite Dells with its wonderful wildlife and single-track trails (traillink.com/trail/iron-king-trail).
But today we are in Bryce Canyon, about to reach our turn-around destination for the day: the Bryce Canyon National Park sign. This will be our longest adventure with the bike trailer so far—20 miles!
“C’mon out everybody, let’s get some sniffers!”
Betts and Micks happily oblige, waiting for me to angle the bike so the back tire is out of their exit path before they hop out into the Ponderosa Forest. They begrudgingly pause for a family photograph in front of the national park sign—their first national park visit!
We sit and enjoy a mid-adventure snackie, and the afternoon suns keep us warm while we beast around in the lingering spring snowpile. I watch Betts and Micks wrestle in and out of the wet corn snow and can’t imagine a time I’ve been so happy.
We get to move through the landscape at a slower speed than a car or motorcycle. We get to socialize with humans and animals along the journey. These weird adventures together are just pure joy, my two favorites in the world: bicycles and my dogpack! And here we are, together on a bicycle out exploring the world.
I smile the entire time we are on the bike, in awe of the pups and wondering what they are thinking. It never gets old looking over my shoulder at them in the trailer, usually Betts on full alert, nose-forward, and Micks cozily napping facing out the back window, drowsily picking up the passing olfactory gems.
We are home now, and I am mentally mapping our future biking adventures… plotting the pedals and foibles of overnight pack bike-packing… stay tuned!
Until next time, Happy Tails and Happy Trails!
~ Solana, Betty, and Mickey ~
