This adventure in Utah’s White Rim was supposed to be simple. And dry…

WORDS ŁUKASZ PIATEK

PHOTOGRAPHY ADAM KLIMEK

Sharp sunlight burns our motivation to pedal. We’re resting on the edge of the canyon. It’s a September afternoon and the Garmin on my handlebars shows 45°C.

A sudden blast of air turns our heads. An impressive storm front emerges from behind the towering massif of Island in the Sky. The wind gets stronger and pushes the dark clouds, illuminated by lightning, towards us. We look, hypnotised at this spectacle, when an unexpected gust catches our bikes and sweeps them towards the cliff edge. At the last moment, we catch them, just at the first ominous, heavy drops of rain start to hit the ground. With no decent shelter for miles, we hide under an overhanging ledge and observe the power of the raging storm. Within minutes the jeep track we’ve been riding becomes a gushing stream that threatens our tiny refuge. The downpour becomes hail as the temperature drops by 30 degrees within minutes. We lie in the mud while dirty red water floods our refuge under the ledge that barely covers our heads.

While I’m silently considering the darkest scenarios for the rest of the day, Klimek seems to be absorbed in his view of the lightning. Happy as a child, he’s photographing the scene when bean-sized hail hits everything, including his precious lens, which he is pointing directly into this awesome show.

An hour later, the storm finally abates and the weather front moves along. We crawl out like lizards from under a stone, chilled and soaked. The majestic landscape comes to life before us: the washed-out green of the scarce vegetation becomes vibrant, the pale ground is now an intense red. Under a wide rainbow, an incredible panorama of the Canyonlands National Park unfolds.

A desert full of hail wasn’t the plan.

At least the kettle’s on.

Over underprepared.

The rented minivan is packed to its limit with people, bikes and gear. Two passengers find relief in sipping craft beer from small bottles. The driver’s only entertainment is the anticipation of the very centre of Canyonlands in Utah – the Island in the Sky.

For anyone keen on hearing just the plain, unexaggerated description, Island in the Sky is simply an island of sand, rocks and stones in a sea of sand, rocks and stones. However, even such a fairy-tale name doesn’t fully explain the beauty of this place. Everywhere you look, there’s a once-in-a-lifetime view to see.

There’s more to it, of course. Island in the Sky is aThattopped mesa that sits a thousand feet above the river-eroded landscape below. The views from it are spectacular, but it was the tiny trail way below that held our interests and ambitions. For people who like to get closer to the scenery, feel the red dirt in their teeth, and become part of this landscape, a 100- mile wild trip through the Canyonlands National Park awaits. First though, they must first take a wild trip though the Park’s bureaucracy.