BURR TRAIL: THE BEST motorcycle adventure in UTAH. BOULDER to BULLFROG to CAPITOL REEF & GLEN CANYON

This is the most godforsaken and wild-looking country that was ever traveled, stated Josephine Catherine Chatterley Wood in 1882 about the Bird Trail. Roughly 140 years later, I was about to follow her footsteps. Part asphalt, part dirt, the Bird Trail extends from Boulder in Utah to Bullfrog on Lake Powell. Meet the new friends I met on the way and travel through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Capitol Reef National Park, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area with me. After a great ride through the Escalante staircase, we are heading now to a town that's called Boulder again. This time it's Boulder in Utah and not Boulder in Nevada. And it's as well much smaller than the first Boulder we visited. At that point of the day, we didn't have a room booked yet for the night and all mortals who drove by and everything we found online was completely booked. But then we stumbled over a very special bed and breakfast just outside of Boulder in the middle of amazing nature. The bed and breakfast we found is called Annie's Place, even though Annie is not present. Instead, Jared will be your host. And while we ate our dinner that we picked up in a restaurant in Boulder, he answered finally the questions that we were asking ourselves all day. Do you say Escalante or what do you say? Escalante. Tomato, tomato. Even locals, even people who were born and raised there, it depends on what mood they're in. Really? Yeah, it's a Spanish name. Say it with some gusto, Escalante. Escalante. Yeah, say it with some gusto, Escalante. Yeah, say it with a twang. I used my chance and asked Jared to give some more insight about the town Boulder. So Boulder, it was the last place in the continent of the US to get mailed by donkey. Pretty remote. We didn't get our highway paved until the mid-seventies. And yeah, we didn't get running water or electricity until around World War II, it was pretty remote. And now it's a heaven for outdoor tourism. Yeah, now it's a hub for the Escalante group in space. After dinner, Jared wanted to introduce us to one of his friends. What's his name again? Buddy Leroy. He was five days old when I rescued him. And his litter mates have all gone to slaughter. So he's the last one left. Oh God, you're so cute. And Buddy Leroy was as hungry as we after a day of riding and enjoyed his back scratch during his dinner. He's spoiled. Good morning from beautiful Annie's Place. We are riding from Boulder to Bullfrog today on the so-called Burr Trail. Even though it was only 6 a.m. in the morning, Jared not only fed us with the best homemade breakfast I had so far this year, but also in his always encouraging manner with some juicy details about the Burr Trail that we were about to hit after breakfast. So. It's named after John Atlantic Burr and it's named after him. He died of appendicitis on that trail and I believe he took a rusty wire and I tried to perform surgery on himself. But he still died. Yeah, he didn't make it. Oh no. Hope he will make it. And off we were, having our fingers crossed for a smooth ride. Getting gas before the big unknown. Hey. Burr Trail, here we come. You just take this small road here from Boulder downtown and we are told that from here you basically can't go wrong anymore. And look at the sign. It says that the ferry at Lake Powell that we want to take is 72 miles away. I think that's roughly 115 kilometers of adventure ahead of us. This first part of the Burr Trail is still paved, but then we are supposed to hit some dirt roads at one point. We were about to enter two gorges, the Gulch and Long Canyon. Wow, these rocks here next to the road just tower up super high over our heads. It nearly feels like they are falling on you. So this is a super stunning morning ride. Long Canyon is enclosed by sheer walls of Wingate sandstone, which tower hundreds of feet above the road. Fracturing and eroding cause the sandstone to form alcoves. A riding experience of 11 kilometers that will blow your mind. About 18 kilometers from Boulder, there's the first site you should make sure to stop for, the Singing Canyon. You will see a small unmarked paved pullout on the left side of the road. The trail into the canyon is just a short walk. We are on the Burr Trail now, and the first attraction that there is is called the Singing Canyon. And we will visit it now and maybe sing. I don't know who of us will do that. The Singing Canyon is a slot canyon with incredible acoustics and red, colorful walls that rise 25 meters above your head. Now you sing. ♪ Country roads ♪ ♪ Take me home to the place ♪ ♪ Where I belong, West Virginia ♪ ♪ Mountain love, take me home, country roads ♪ I promise, I will not bother you with any more of my singing. But luckily, one member of our three people travel group is an amazing singer. ♪ Country roads, take me home to the place I belong ♪ ♪ West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home, country roads ♪ We left the canyon behind us, and the special thing about the Burr Trail is that it goes from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument through Capitol Reef National Park, and then to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. And as soon as we reach Capitol Reef National Park, the paved road will end. So here Capitol Reef National Park starts, and it's actually the first longer gravel road that we're doing on this trip. After this morning, you might think it can't get any better, but now we are approaching one of the highlights of the Burr Trail. And to be honest, this is the reason why we are here today. I once saw pictures of these hairpins that are about to come, and since then I wanted to visit. So I'm super excited. In the 19th century, the Burr Trail was a route used by cattlemen to move cattle back and forth between winter and summer ranges. Today, the entire road from Bullfrog to Boulder is known as the Burr Trail, but originally only these switchbacks were called like that. The road descends 1,000 feet or 300 meters in less than a mile. This is definitely a pretty awesome little road. So here, after the switchbacks, you have to turn right to continue on the Burr Trail and reach the town Bullfrog on Lake Powell. For the remaining distance to Bullfrog, the trail follows the bottom of the so-called Water Pocket Fold, a 100-mile or 161-kilometer-long bend in the earth crust. At about the time that the Rocky Mountains were being uplifted, 60 to 70 million years ago, the layers of sedimentary rock here were warped and bent into a spine of rock several kilometers wide. This part of the road here somehow is still gravel, but it feels nearly like a paved road because it's so good and the views are still stunning. There is the first glimpse of Lake Powell. In the far distance, you can see the surreal blue color. And I'm actually now starting to worry a little bit because there's supposed to be this ferry that goes over the lake, but we were told it's not always running. And depending how deep the lake is, if it's not deep enough, it can't go. And nobody could tell us if the ferry is working at the moment or not. So fingers crossed. But seriously, I can't get enough of these views here. Soon we were back on an asphalt road, but there was still one obstacle left before arriving in Bullfrog. This in front of me is the Bullfrog Creek Crossing. And it looks like we are very lucky because when Lake Powell is full, the water can come here and block the road and actually as well make it impassable. So now that's Lake Powell. Bullfrog is ahead. And now literally fingers crossed for this ferry. We as well heard that it only goes once or twice a day, but we have no clue when it goes. So if we can't get it, we will turn around and drive a completely different route, but it will be a terrible big detour. Oh my God, can you see what I see? There on the left is a boat coming that pretty much looks like a ferry. Lake Powell has a unique zigzag shape and a shoreline of nearly 3,000 kilometers. It is located in Northern Arizona, stretches up into Southern Utah, and is part of the Colorado River and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. ♪ Rise above the mountains over the seas of tears ♪ But surprise, Lake Powell isn't really a lake. Actually, it's a reservoir, with Lake Mead the largest in the USA. Lake Powell was just Glen Canyon until the Colorado River was dammed in the 1960s, flooding 160,000 acres of the region's sandstone gorges. This is where Lake Powell got its interesting shape from. And we were about to cross one of its branches with this little ferry. ♪ Night's falling too fast, I know if I'm ready ♪ ♪ For a gleam is all I've got, so rise over my path ♪ ♪ Over my story ♪ What a day so far. We are back on a super good asphalt road now, but pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It's about 150 kilometers from here to the next town, and in between, there's absolutely nothing. The United States of America, so crazy wide, but as well, so crazy beautiful. Thanks for joining our little adventure on the Bird Trail. If you enjoyed the outer-worldly beauty of Utah as much as I did, leave me a comment and a thumbs up, and tune in next Thursday. I will take you to some more of Utah's most scenic and iconic roads, to the switchbacks of Mokhi Dugway and the majestic Valley of the Gods. See you on the road.