KAWASAKIS IN UTAH
P78
Feature
a constant state of evolution. Searing hot lava
carved its way through the sand and rock to
create the basalt salt deposits that dot the land-
scape, the valleys and, much later, the roads
we're now able to ride through.
Located in the 62,000-acre Red Cliffs
Desert Reserve, Snow Canyon State Park was
created in 1959, although human interaction
with the landscape runs much further than that.
The Anasazi Indians were the first to call this
place home, ruling the land from 200 A.D. to
1250, while in slightly more modern times, the
canyon was home to the Paiute Indians from
A.D. 1200 to the mid-1800s. Between that time
and now hardly anything has changed. There's
roads and walking and mountain bike trails,
but essentially what is laid out in front of me is
what's been here all along.
The riding through Sand Canyon State Park
is short and sweet, taking about 10 minutes to
get through from one end to the other, but the
photography opportunities are the stuff lens-
men (and women) dream of.
We head northwest and begin climbing eleva-
tion, through the fall-encrusted colors of Pine
Valley and into our lunch stop of Cedar City,
where we pit for lunch at a Centro Woodfired
Pizza. That might not sound like much but aside
from having seriously, seriously good, authentic
Italian pizza, Centro is right next door to The
French Spot, a tiny hole-in-the-wall café owned
by Frenchman Michel Attali, a Michelin Star chef
who makes the single best coffee I've had out of
Italy.
Following our longer-than-usual lunch feast,
I walk out to see my Versys 1000 has been
swapped for a bike nearly three-quarters smaller.
The Versys X-300 is a fantastic little bike, and
even though I peg it to near max revs after about
three minutes on board and keep it there for the
rest of the freeways we encounter, the X never
Swapping the
1000 for the
little X-300 was
a revelation. A
bike with less
than half the
horsepower
absolutely does
not mean half
the fun.
