Day 5: Route 89 (Idaho to the Grand Canyon) Temple Tour

Today I rode from Springville to Mt. Pleasant, Utah.  I achieved 50 miles riding today.

I only have 5 biking days left on our tour.

As my trip started I looked in the distance to the Spanish Fork canyon, my route via Hwy 89.
You see the canyon in this picture.

Now getting closer.

My route from the hotel took me along US 6 at first.

Which had two great railroad tracks following it.

Finally 89 merged with 6 and continued up the canyon and I followed.

This sign shows you could go back to Spanish Fork or go forward on Hwy 6 that goes on to Price Utah.

Going deeper into the canyon, it was steep and a tremendous head wind was encountered.

 At on point the railroad and river continued on a lower level but Hwy 6/89 went up the mountain
side, as I did with great effort, my legs burned.  If you look close you will notice that the railroad tracks enter two tunnels, but the river seems to hit a dead end.  Where is the water coming from.  It turns out that in 1983 a huge mud slide which you can see on the far right of the end of the tracks completely blocked the canyon and a 6 mile river formed upstream from her.  The slow moving mud side was fought valiantly but inevitably the mud slide won and the Utah town of Thistle, upstream, was flooded and a total lose.  Eventually a tunnel was dug to drain that lake and the river flow out of that mountain. Mud side story

Finally 6 and 89 go their separate ways, I turned right onto Hwy 89.

This is my route.

I am in was was a 6 mile long lake due to the mudslide, that is now drained.

An interesting historical plaque along the road.

Now entering Sanpete county.

Distance left to go, 18 miles.  Interestingly a town called Fairview is 5 miles before Mt. Pleasant.

I was real happy to hit this summit, as most of the rest was down hill, but the head wind did not let up and I still had to peddle.

My biking garmin was very close to this elevation, the number on the lower right.

Finally into Fairview, only 5 miles and done.

Here is a link to my ride tomorrow, but I have decided to attend the Manti temple with Luetta and will start my ride from there.

My ride for thursday, however I will start at Manti.