The ambar at Sinan Değirmeni

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Bryan Keith

A few days ago when heading up to go skiing at Saklıkent, Seb decided to take the road via Sinan Değirmeni. Down at the creek we turned left instead of right, and I mentioned I had never been on that road before. “Wow,” he asked surprised, “you’ve never seen the ambar at Sinan Değirmeni?” Indeed, my one time in that area before, I had turned right and headed toward Güzle not knowing that there were a bunch of old wooden grain storage buildings (ambar) just a couple hundred meters above the road junction.

IMG_20210128_105808 by bryandkeith on flickr
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The pools at Tastaratacağı

Posted on January 24, 2021 by Bryan Keith

which may be called Çimelik:

Caner took this photo on a nice sunny day a week after we went by bryandkeith on flickr

In Yılmaz Sevgül’s Antalya trad climbing book

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Bicycle touring the Colorado Plateau, part four: the Abajos, Needles, and Lockhart Basin

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Bryan Keith

Continuing (north) from my hiking adventures in Cedar Mesa, this is the last installment about my month-long bicycle tour from the Chama River to Moab in Apr-May 2009:

Farther north I hiked in Hammond Canyon from a trailhead in the Abajos and then in upper Salt Creek Canyon from the Cathedral Butte trailhead. I admired a ~20 room Anasazi site in Upper Salt Creek, but I didn’t make it down all the way to the famous pictograph, All American Man. This whole area is so spectacular. I could explore it for months.

Hammond Canyon, Abajo Mountains, UT by bryandkeith on flickr
Hammond Canyon, Abajo Mountains, Utah
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Bicycle touring the Colorado Plateau, part three: Cedar Mesa

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Bryan Keith

Continuing my route out of the wilds of the Carrizo Mountains, I reached pavement again at Beclabito, New Mexico. This post has little text and is, I suppose, more about hiking in Cedar Mesa than bicycle touring. Here goes:

It felt good to hit some pavement for the short ride in and out Teec Nos Pos, but then I headed straight north to Aneth. I crossed the mighty San Juan River on a wobbly footbridge which seemed so much more appropriate to my journey than a highway bridge. Aneth, Montezuma Creek, Bluff, it was one town after another for a stretch. I left Bluff with 10 kg of food and 10 kg of water and hauled this load through Valley of the Gods, up the Moqui Dugway, and out to Muley Point. The food lasted, as it turned out, 9 days to the Needles Outpost. During that time I took 7 hikes and visited at least a dozen Anasazi sites.

Aneth, UT by bryandkeith on flickr
Aneth, Utah
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Bicycle touring the Colorado Plateau, part two: The Navajo Nation

Posted on December 25, 2020 by Bryan Keith

… continued from part one.

If the first photo in this post looks familiar, maybe it’s ’cause you’ve read Gwen Maka’s bicycle touring book, Riding with Ghosts.

Ok, here’s the original text (from April 2009):

From Chaco Canyon I took a direct route west to Canyon de Chelley. Many tourists visit Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelley on the same trip, but few take a direct route between these sites, opting instead for paved roads and “services”. Sandy stretches east of Lake Valley would thwart most cars, and the snow drifts across the high roads in the Chuska Mountains are another barrier. I was amazed at the desolate desert between highways 371 and 666. On my version of AAA’s “Indian Country” map there’s so much of nothing out there that that’s where the cartographers decided to place the large north arrow. The strong headwind and blowing sand added to the challenge of this section.

White Rock Road between highways 371 and 666, Navajo Nation, NM by bryandkeith on flickr
White Rock Road between highways 371 and 666, Navajo Nation, New Mexico
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