Red Rock Rendezvous, (or East of Ely)

The Utah BMW club – the Beehive Beemers, MOA #169 – holds an annual rally in the town of Panguich in southern Utah.  Panguich is located right in the middle of Red Rock Canyon country, containing some of the most fantastic scenery in the country.  There are four national parks and two national monuments all within a day’s ride from Panguich.  Fellow NorCal BMW club members Gene Austin, Nick Brown and I made plans to attend the Red Rock Rendezvous.



It’s about a 16 hour ride from Placerville CA to Panguich UT.  That’s two easy days.  We left early Wednesday, and had breakfast in South Lake Tahoe at "Heidi’s" – Nick’s favorite - and took US 50, then NV722 across Nevada, and lunched in Austin at the old “International Cafe” – my favorite.  There we met a couple from Colorado on GSes and told them about the NV722 route that parallels US50 from Austin to Eastgate NV – the highlight of any US50 trip.



We planned to make it to Ely with plenty of daylight left to set up camp at Cave Lake state park or at the KOA just east of town – weather permitting.

As it turned out, the weather didn’t permit, so with threatening skies, and dropping temperatures, we took Tom Bodette’s advice, saw the light, and got some rooms at the local Motel 6.  The next morning broke with sunny skies and crisp temperatures.  We left Ely and headed south on US93 in the shadow of Wheeler Peak to breakfast in Pioche Nevada.



The little mining town of Pioche NV is becoming one of our favorite stops.  Breakfast at the Silver Café right in town gives riders a chance to meet the friendly local townsfolk.  We struck up a conversation with a couple of retired miners who had worked the mines all over Nevada and Utah, and rode Harley’s “back in the day”.  One of these fellows offered to give us a tour of the old “cathouse” across the street, which is now restored and serves as a beautiful hotel and saloon called the “Overland”.  All the upstairs rooms were actually suites decorated 19^th century style, and looked quite comfortable.



Well, we could have stayed in Pioche listening to Harley Davidson stories until lunchtime or beyond, but we got itchy for the road to Panguich – which took us through beautiful Cedar City, UT, and included a fantastic canyon ride up UT14 to Cedar Breaks national monument at over 10,000 ft. elevation before dropping back down to 6,500 ft. into Panquich.



Rally Campsite at Lion's Park



We reached the rally location at the Lions Club Park and were met by the smell of green grass in the campsites, and brats on the grill in the beer garden.  By the time we checked in, unloaded our motorcycles, pitched our tents, and sampled the local microbrews in the beer garden, any plans we had to ride that day disappeared with those brats smothered with onions.  That’s ok.  The next day promised to be one of the most fantastic rides on state highways I have ever seen.

It’s a good thing the human brain doesn’t have a “sensory overload” alarm or “visual capacity exceeded” warning, because riding out “Scenic route” UT12 from Panguich would have the alarm bells ringing, and the warning buzzers buzzing.

Just east of Panguich is Red Canyon, a stunning array of wind carved and water sculpted rock – all in that signature bright red-orange color.  A side trip through Bryce Canyon national park then opens up into the vast Grand Staircase – Escalante national monument.  

In the town of Escalante is the turnoff to Hell’s Backbone.  This is a dirt road, and a GS rider’s dream.  The road circles around the top of Box Death Hollow Wilderness, and culminates at Hell’s Backbone, where the road narrows to cross over a natural arch over a deep narrow canyon.  Photos can’t do justice to these vistas.  You have to see it to believe it.  The road reconnects with UT12 near the town of Boulder.



Escalante Canyon



If a rider chooses not to do Hell’s Backbone it’s ok, because he will be treated to the most breathtaking section of state highway imaginable – along the top of surreal Escalante canyon on the narrowest strip of highway with sheer drop-offs on both sides and no guardrails.  I wondered, is this SAFE?!

No matter.  We caught our breath, and had some lunch in Torrey.  The best riding road of this day-trip was still ahead.  We left Torrey and headed west.  Just past the town of Fremont is the turnoff to Fish Lake.  The road starts gaining altitude immediately.  The pavement is flat and clean.  The curves are tight and constant.  Nothing obstructs the view of the snow-capped peaks ahead.  There is no traffic.  This is our road.  This is our day.

The road tops out at over 9,000 ft elevation and skirts around Johnson Valley reservoir and Fish Lake surrounded on three sides by mountains.  We continued our loop ride back to Panguich, and arrived tired and hungry.  We satisfied the hungry part at the Cowboy Smokehouse restaurant – a favorite among rally-goers.



Nick hamming it up in Kanab

We covered over 300 miles this day, but saved many of the stopovers along UT12 for future visits: Kodachrome Basin, Petrified Forest, Anasazi Museum, and the Natural Bridge near Fruita.


Saturday we got out late and took a leisurely trip down to Kanab and did tourist things in this tourist town – tourists by the busloads!  Lots of western movies and TV serials were filmed in and around Kanab, and the European tourists soaked it up.

The Bar-B-Que pit

Saturday night was the bar-b-que dinner.   The previous day, what looked like an entire cow was chopped up, seasoned, wrapped in foil and wet burlap bags, and thrown in to a huge brick-lined pit where logs and wood had burned all day, and been reduced to hot coals, then covered with metal sheets.  The beef was tossed in, and then covered with a huge metal sheet at ground level - forming a three foot air gap over the beef - then covered with dirt.  The result was absolutely the best bar-b-que beef I ever tasted.

We had met up with Walt Farnlacher at the rally, and decided to ride back to California together.  The return trip took us back through Nevada on NV375 – the “Extraterrestrial Highway” – and the little town of Rachel.  There’s no passing this way without a visit to the “Little Ale’Inn” in Rachel.  They serve a decent lunch, and always have interesting local characters hanging around.



Walt & Nick at Tioga Pass



And what better way to return to California than Hwy 120 through Benton Hot Springs, and over Tioga Pass through Yosemite.

The Red Rock Rendezvous in Panguich, Utah is small but unique.  There is a big bonfire every night at the beer gardens, and they cook their own bratwurst and sauerkraut lunches and bar-b-que dinner – with the help of the local fire dept.  The rally site is right on the edge of town, and there are numerous motels and restaurants within walking distance, and permanent showers at the adjacent fairgrounds.

This article combines my past two year’s experience at the Red Rock Rendezvous.  Many thanks to Bill Kessinger and his friend Mary for the day-ride recommendations on UT12, to Hell’s Backbone and the Fish Lake loop.  For more information about the BMW Motorcycle Club of Northern California, visit: http://www.bmwnorcal.org/.

Tom “Tuco” Harris

(June 23, 2010)