I sweated for hours during the night before sinking hard into a sleep that washed the heat away in a chill of autumn.  By the time morning rolled around, I was just laying in my quilt waiting for sunlight to finally hit the horizon.  And when it did, I got out and started stretching and eating breakfast on the cusp of day while relaying some satellite texts to Janna.  I wanted to get going early because I needed to cover about 50 miles today, avoid the heat, and drive back to the South Rim to do some school work.  I jumped on the bike and headed down doubletrack to Bedrock Point.  It's an unbelievable location with doubletrack that careens down into a shelf of rock hanging out below the upper rim of Marble Canyon.  Today was no different, and I had the place entirely to myself.  Backlit dawn made the rust and yellows of tumbling rock gush and split into a jumble of colorful views as Bedrock Canyon meandered in multiple directions from the viewpoint.

Biking House Rock Valley has become a multi-year love of mine.  It all started back in 2017 when Darren and I were driving to the North Rim to stay at Big Springs and we eyed the straight arrow path of Buffalo Ranch Road cutting across the high grasslands out to places unknown to us.  It struck us, stayed with us, and became a conversation topic we returned to over and over: what it would be like to ride out there?  It took moving to the Canyon for me to begin really biking there starting in 2020.  When winter set in high up on the rims, I began looking for relatively close desert treks to go ride in: House Rock Valley fit the intent.  Ever since, I spend a good chunk of weekends in the area riding down old doubletrack and across sandy washes enjoying the grasslands, desert scrub, and spectacular scenery along Marble Canyon.