Slowing Down at North Klondike Bluffs

Instep Trail

Sometimes you just need to get away.

But most of the time, what you need to get away from varies dramatically from person to person. For me recently, the thing I needed to get away from wasn't the city, and it wasn't a boring life—because life was anything BUT boring! If anything, I needed to get away from the craziness of life and a schedule that was just going way too fucking fast.

We found ourselves constantly hopping from one place to the next to the next, moving way too fast—our calendars entirely too full. Sure, there was a reason behind every single stop, and every single move was logical and necessary. But still: the logical and necessary stops, chores, and to-do items continued to pile one on top of the other. Work, traveling for work, picking up gear from the storage unit, dentist appointments, social engagements, van repairs, hitting a deer and then scheduling even more van repairs... all of the things were good and necessary, but they all added up to overwhelm.

So even if you do live in a van, sometimes you still need to get away.

This “Alaska” trail was very different than the ones I rode this summer!

As van dwellers, we find that the ultimate getaway, the ultimate luxury, is what we call (for lack of a better term) "don't move the van days."

When you have two people living in one vehicle and no other mode of transportation save for bicycles and your own two feet, starting the engine and driving the van is usually a multiple-times-per-day necessity. On the one hand, it's convenient to haul all of your gear with you, having everything immediately at hand that you need to survive: from clothes to food, water, and a bed for an impromptu nap. On the other hand, having to tear down the kitchen, put all the gear away, and prepare your home to rocket down a twisty mountain road at 60 miles per hour adds complexity to every single turn of the key in the ignition.

North Klondike Bluffs: The Perfect Getaway

Nome Trail

Recently, we managed the perfect mini-getaway at the Klondike Bluffs Trail System in Moab. This isolated trail network receives a fraction of the traffic of the more famous Moab trails, despite having some fantastic singletrack and slabby rock riding gems. But one of the most advantageous features is the proximity of the North Klondike campground to the northern trailheads. From this campground, you can easily pedal straight from camp and into this complex trail system. You can easily access over 50 miles of interconnected singletrack without having to fire up the engine.

There really aren't that many places where you can access so much riding so conveniently from your camp. Yeah, a few other Moab campgrounds, like Horsethief and Sand Flats, also offer some great from-camp riding, but as a general continent-wide analysis, getting to pedal from camp for multiple days in a row is a rare treat.

Alaska Trail

Thanks to this incredible trail access, we enjoyed not just one, but two full days/three nights in a row without having to even start the van's engine. When you remove the commuting, the shopping, and the daily chores, life gets so simple, so raw and visceral. Wake up, cook breakfast, journal, read, hop on the bike and go explore for the warmest hours of the day. Pedal back home, stretch, foam roll, meditate, crack a beer, and enjoy the final rays of sunlight. Cook dinner, drink more beer, read, relax, and off to bed... ready to do it all over again the next morning.

It still requires intention.

While part of this getaway was enabled by living in a van, we've found over the past year and a half of full of full-time van life that creating these moments of slowness, which allow us to more fully savor the passing of time, still requires incredible intention and planning. It doesn't happen by accident—we still have to plan for it, work for it, and protect that time of slowness and solitude.

But the intention, planning, and effort are always worth it.