Escalante, UT to Bryce Canyon National Park, UT — 47.9 mi, 3961 ft
The name Escalante sounds a lot like escalator, fitting for the name of the town closest to the Grand Staircase National Monument. Pastor Richards, our host, treated us to a wonderful protein-dense breakfast this morning. The breakfast casserole with eggs and sausage was very tasty and very filling.
Today is my driver day. I usually hate driver days- I came here to bike- but today felt oddly refreshing.
Before leaving, we took a picture with Pastor Richard’s dogs.
Nunu was feeling sick, so my first task as driver was to buy medicine. I delivered to her on the side of the road.
The first leg consisted of an 18 mile stretch with a massive climb. I drove to the top marvelling at how combustion engines make life so effortless. However, after setting up a picnic blanket with snacks in the shade, I quickly got bored and decided to bike down and do the climb myself.
Apparently, escalante roughly means “climbing”… checks out.
The tasty protein dense breakfast we had this morning made us forget to eat the carbs we need to bike. In response to seeing nate extremely exhausted at the top of the climb, I decided to use my bike to shuttle food to the Spokies who were still pedaling. Tatiana seemed particularly hungry as she gobbled down a Nature Valley strawberry wafer bar like Oddysseus’s soldiers in Circe’s house.
The rest of the day proceed normally– a descent, a climb, 2 more rest stops, same ol same ol…. The last rest stop was at a coffee shop next door to a convenience store that sells cheeseburgers. You can guess where I ended up. (For my next blog, I will be ranking all of the burgers I’ve eaten on this trip.) While I waiting for my burger, the one and only, Claudia Mustafa, mother of Nate Mustafa, found me in the gas station. I turned around and saw the faces of the rest of the Mustafas as well. I spoke to them briefly and pointed them in the direction of Nate, who was busy dealing with the final climb of the day.
Long story short: This gas station bacon cheeseburger was one of the best $7 I’ve ever spent- I’ll go into more depth in my upcoming cheeseburger blog.
We finished the day at the AirBnB generously provided to us by Nate’s family. Nate’s dad made us dinner with some of the best meat ever shoved into a tortilla. The view of the sheared mountains in the distance complimented the meal perfectly as the sun set on the horizon.
It’s dark outside now? You know what that means! The Drew blog is over. As the sleepiest Spokes member, I typically have no knowledge of anything that happens after dark. Maybe tomorrows blogger will fill you in…
– Drew
MIT Spokes 2026 
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