Just checked that runway and terrain out. Holy crap!!
From my 2004 ride
I allow myself the luxury of a lie in and am on the road at about 8.30am ready to explore the Zion area. The first place I head to is the cluster of buildings I had seen on Day 1 precariously perched at the edge of a mesa. The road north out of Virgin is a pretty well made blacktop with telegraph poles running alongside. A small water tower becomes visible as I ride up the edge of the mesa. All of the buildings seem to be in good repair including the precipitously placed mobile home. Hurricane Mesa tops out at about 1,500 feet above the small town of Virgin below. The single-track road scraped out the side of the rock face is in fairly good condition and there are a couple of pullouts, which I use to take in the view below. The mesa is part of a half amphitheatre of rock stretching around to my left as I face the valley below. Once I reach the top of the mesa I’m running alongside a barbed wire topped, chain link fence and then a red and white sign proclaiming “GOODRICH / HURRICANE MESA SITE. NO ENTRANCE TO UNAUTHORISED PERSONNEL” is posted to the side of the road.
2 new patches in the blacktop each side of the single-track road lend to the idea that there are pressure plates embedded. I toy with the idea of riding between the patches but decide any hassle isn’t worth it.
I decide that I’ll return later that night to the top pull out which will be light pollution free so I can view the stars again.
Later the same dayT return to the Bit N’ Spur
http://www.bitandspur.com/ for dinner and falling into conversation with a local I am told that Hurricane Mesa is known as Monkey Mesa due to the ejection seat tests carried out in the 50’s and 60’s.
http://michael1111.blogspot.com/2007/10/hurricane-mesa-supersonic-test-track.html http://www.airfields-freeman.com/UT/Airfields_UT_SW.htmHowever the current activities aren’t known and the security fence I saw looked recently installed. I know this will sound strange but whilst parked on one of the pullouts on the road to the top of Hurricane Mesa I will swear that I saw in 2 separate incidents small black objects, about a foot in diameter, fly over the edge of the mesa and disappear into the valley below me. No not birds. Both times the objects are near enough for me to see that they are not birds.
Dinner at the Bit N’ Spur was a culinary treat. A good-sized portion of Wahoo wrapped in proscuittio served over a bed of linguine with scallops, calamari and baby octopi. Who would of thought once of the best sea food meals I’ve had in months would be in arid south Utah!
My second to final ride of the day was to be as the sun disappeared behind the Zion Canyon walls. Riding into the park again the stark outlines of the canyons crags are in sharp relief against the dark blue of the twilight sky. The days heat is being released by the road blacktop and hundreds of insects are captured in the Goldwings lights. Along with the insects are dozens of bats. There are 18 known species in Zion of which the Myotis are the most common. These bats are zipping in and out of the lights harvesting an early dinner. Suddenly in a flutter of wings and hearts an owl appears in the headlights. The owl’s wings are beating crazily as he stabilizes himself and as suddenly as its appearance it’s gone.
I mount the bike once more and head back to “Monkey Mesa”. Half way through Springdale the brights on the Goldwing illuminate a big stag standing on the side of the road. A quick hard squeeze on the brakes brings me to a standstill and for a split second we are both frozen in indecision. The deer makes the first move, wheels around and bounds away into the dark.
The rest of my ride to the mesa is slower than it might have been.
At the pullout leading up to “Monkey Mesa” I am once again engulfed by silence. A silence more total than that of Zion. Here there is no evidence of the wildlife that disturbed the night only 12 miles away. A few cars pass by in the valley below but the muted sound of their engines is not loud enough to be a nuisance. The stars on this clear night are so clear I feel I could pick them from the black velvet in which they nestle.
As my night vision improves I can see distant galaxies twinkling and highflying jet planes passing overhead. I’m not a fanciful person. My friends will tell you I’m a skeptic of the highest order. Some of the stars appear to be “moving” in an unorthodox way. I know that at night stars can “appear” and “disappear” dependent upon atmospheric conditions. These “stars” are in constant vision and I’m reminded of the 2 objects I saw earlier appearing over the edge of the mesa.
The bats, the owl, the stag & the lights. Too much for this city boy, so I head back to the motel.
