Are We Having fun yet?

Canyonland

I insisted that we leave Ken’s Lake in Moab very very early to get to Canyonlands since we wanted to stay in the park and we were shut out of Arches.  So, much to David’s dismay, we were on the road by 7:30 am and got to the almost empty Canyonland’s campgrounds by 10 am. 

Canyonlands is unique among all the Utah national parks in that it is quite rough.  Most of the roads are unpaved; all the toilets are pits; and there is no water anywhere, even in the visitors’ centers.  The park has three non-contiguous areas, the most visited of which is Island in the Sky where we started out. After setting up our dry camp (once more no showers…9 days and counting) we did our typical drive through the park and see the sights trip.

HOWEVER…this was the drive to end all drives.  The White Rim Road, attained through the Shafer Trail is the 2 day trip around the canyons.  We thought we would just do a little bit and be back happily for dinner.  The Shafer Trail is a cow path going at least 1000 feet down the mountain into the canyon below.  We were on hairpin turns that looked like Z’s with high cliffs on one side, sheer drops on the other, and gravel, dirt and big boulders beneath our tires.  I had a death grip on the handle of the door, and later David told me that his hands were clamped to the steering wheel.  Even he, who loves rough and tumble rides, thought this was a bit too much.  I think we could have died!  Once we got to the bottom of the Trail onto the White Rim Road, even though the dirt, gravel and boulders were still there, the cliffs had flattened out.

We went to Musselman’s Arch which was a lovely surprise because we (that is David) could walk right across the top of it.  Then, rather than risk the Z turns and cliffs going back up the mountain, we took the safer, but longer dirt, gravel and boulder road BACK to Moab where we started out so early that morning.

Along the way we saw signs for Dinosaur Footprint.  Of course we had to stop and read the sign.  We were directed to go back onto the road to the “viewing tube” which would help us spot the footprint.  We follow directions and went back to the road, driving back and forth several times, until our eagle eyes saw, way in the weeds, a little pipe on a stand.  Over the rocks and weeds we went; eyes to the tube…and by God, there on the cliff above us, on a fallen rock were two, three-toed footprints.  Looked dinosaur like to us!

Then, quite unexpectedly, we came upon panel after panel of petroglyphs lining the side of the road on one side and the Colorado River on the other.  Quite cool.

Back in Moab we filled our water bottles and then headed back to Canyonlands. Having had our fill of sitting in the car we took a hike to Uplift Dome which, depending on the theory, was either the site of a meteor hit or a salt dome that had pushed up the rock above it.  Either way, it was a huge crater filled with jagged, green-gray rock.  Quite eerie.

We were both quite happy to get back to our campsite, even though by that time our car was unrecognizable in its new red coating of sand and dust.

Originally we had decided to stay two days, but heard about great petroglyphys far into the park in the most remote section of the most remote section.  Canyonlands is divided into three sections and the Maze is the most remote and primitive and the petroglphys are in an even remot-er section.  Since this is the desert and the walk was about 6.5 miles round trip, we decided to get to the trailhead the night before, hike early the next morning, stay overnight and leave the following morning.

Once again we were on dirt, gravel and boulder filled roads, this time forcing poor Celeste to follow along.  She was a bit shaken up and so was I since the ride lasted for three hours (37 miles), ending at our camping spot…a parking lot with a pit toilet at the edge of a canyon. The view from the site was magnificent, even if it was just a parking lot.

BATHROOM ADVENTURE #2

Since we were the only folks at this luxury site, we felt safe in peeing in the open.  For the last pee of the night, I stepped outside and looked into the sky…to see cloud formations that looked like the Dementors in Harry Potter.  Who could pee looking at that?  Not me…so I popped back inside and waited for David to tell me when they had gone.  Then I boldly stepped outside, armed only with a flashlight and pulled down my pants. Oh my lord.  Four bright green eyes were staring at me!  I shined the flashlight on them, thinking to scare them off, and they bounced closer.  Pants still around my ankles I flew into the trailer.  Grabbing David, I went back out, put my back to Celeste’s wheel and tried again.  Out came the green eyes once more, but at that point even they could not hold me back.  The next day we found out that what we had seen were kit fox pups and we ended up looking forward to seeing them again.

THE HIKE FROM HELL

Early the next morning, armed with food, hats, bug spray, 6 litres of water, flashlight, matches and aspirin we were off.  Down slick rocks and sand for 700 feet, then through a sand bottomed canyon for a couple of miles to 4 widely spaced panels of incredible petroglyphs, some as old as 8000 years.  This being a primitive trail, we were following widely spaced rock cairns, as well as the canyon bottom.

All seemed quite exciting and fine until the ascent.  The switch backs over the sand in 95 degrees heat was bad enough.  But then, when we entered the rock area, David looked at me and said, “That wasn’t too bad.”  What was terrible was that we still had 30 minutes to go up another 400 feet over rock.  At one point, David found a tiny, tiny pathetic shrub with tiny leaves that we dove under and hunched up eking out the “shade” for a few minutes.  By that time our water, even though still plentiful, was about 85 degrees and more suitable for washing than drinking.

However, we did manage to return to Celeste and passed out for hours.  When we woke, our sheets were brown with the accumulated sand and our only goal was to reach a campground the next day with SHOWERS!

A Disclaimer

Based o several emails we have recently received, we want to clear up a possible misconception.  Although the blogs faithfullyr ecreate the order in which we visit all the sites, it does not reflect the DATE on which we visit them.

Due to travel in remote areas; difficulties finding hotspots; vagaries of connections; lack of time; impatience of either David or me to wait for the other to finish internetting...we tend to be far behind in our postings. 

It is now July 19.  We are in Landers, Wyoming, but have just posted Moab, Utah and am working on Canyonlands. 

Sorry if you are not traveling with us as the exact moments we are.  However, we love all your comments and hope that you keep them coming.

Moab, Moab and More Moab, but no Water

Moab

We planned to stay in Moab a good long time and ended up staying 5 full days.  Our stay was made most pleasant because Dylan’s friends the Moreau’s lived there and made our lives very easy.  The National Park campground was filled so we stayed in Ken’s Lake, a dry, non-electric campground with a great lake nearby  and a waterfalls in hiking distance.  All that water was good, because Moab was 104 degrees by 9:30 am every day and didn’t cool down until after dark.  That, combined with no water, which meant no showers, made the lake and waterfalls a necessity. The campsite was great because for most of our stay, we were the only folks there which made camping a very quiet time.  And David was able to see two of Jupiter’s moons each night through our binoculars.

That afternoon we took a drive around the park, stopping at various overlooks such as Balanced Rock which was quite a balancing act. And that evening, we prepared for our first campsite dinner party since we had invited the Moreau’s to our camp for dinner on Tuesday.

Our first full day in Arches was full of hikes.  We got up very early for a longish hike to Delicate Arch.  This was the only park where we were constantly reminded of the dangers of the heat, and indeed, were told that a woman had died on the hike a few days before.  And on our afternoon hike, a woman was taken out on a stretcher.  And then while we were in Canyonlands the ranger heard on his walkie-talkie that a woman in Arches had had heat stroke.  So, we took the warnings very seriously and had purchased an extra large bottle for water in addition to our other two.  The walk was wonderful over “slick rock” which are massive flat boulders of rock which you can walk on because they are made of sandstone which holds your feet. And on the way back we saw more petroglyphs.

That afternoon we took an easy hike, in the heat of the day, to Landscape Arch which was breathtaking. And then we went back to Ken’s Lake for a lovely dip.  Then we hiked up to the waterfalls for an even colder dip; then back to Ken’s Lake to meet the Moreau’s for yet another swim, and then our campsite dinner party, complete with music from my Ipod.

Wednesday was errand day, including haircuts for both David and me, new tires for Celeste and odd and assorted other menial tasks.  At 4 pm we met a ranger for a guided hike (mandatory) through the Fiery Furnace which was not hot, but red in color.  The guide was necessary since there were no trails and we hiked through fins, squeaking through little spaces and hopping from rock to rock.  We came to Surprise Arch which David renamed Holy Cow Arch because it was so beautiful and totally unexpected.  We found out that poison ivy grows here as a shrub, not  vine.

Thursday we had our all day rafting trip on the Colorado River.  David and I had a ducky, an inflatable two person kayak for most of the trip.  Just the two of us surviving in a double kayak, was, in itself noteworthy.  I must say we were both quite proud that we did not battle for control of the “ship at sea” and managed very nicely.  The funniest part of the “double experience” came when we were going through the heaviest and fastest rapid.  I, as usual,  was laughing and smiling, so that when we dipped down and a wave crashed over us, I came up with a mouthful of water and started to choke.  David, who was responsible for steering, and was relying on me for directions, heard my noises in the front of the boat and kept yelling, “What.  What are you saying”.  When we came through the rapids, he said, “Next time please yell directions. louder  I had no idea if you were saying left of right.”  I had to explain that I was saying neither, but merely coughing my brains out.  The trip was more a sightseeing float than a technical one so we had lots of time to see the cliffs and splash around in the water.  Go to :http://www.moabactionshots.com/find_photo2.php?cat=R&src=&lce=341&month=07&day=10&year=2008&pm=&roll=&start_pic=37 to see our photos. Our river guide told us that Castle Valley, where we were floating was the scene for a lot of John Wayne movies, and Fisher Tower is where they put the cars and beautiful chicks for the great, desolate car ad shots. Great fun.  However, when we got back, dog tired to the campground, it was the usual 103 degrees in Celeste at 5 pm and we had nowhere to lie down.  Quite uncomfortable.

Friday we decided to have a completely different view of Moab and took a long, long drive up into the LaSal Mountains over scary, bumpy switchbacks into the SNOW where it was a lovely 65 degrees and sunny and full of green trees, the first forests we had seen in a long time. We climbed to 10600 feet.  We had lunch at Oowah Lake and had a beautiful hike around the lake, enjoying the cool weather.  Then back onto the long and bumpy road back to Moab. 

Back at the campground for a quick wash-up. I have perfected the sponge bath and head in the pot hair washing techniques.  As I am writing this it is July 13 and we have not had a shower since July 4.  Yuck!

Later on our last evening, we were planning to have dinner at our campsite with the Moreau’s but rain threatened (never happened) so we went to their home.  During our pizza dinner, we mentioned to Tom that we quite enjoyed all the petroglyphs we had been seeing.  Up he jumped, and we all raced out the door in the waning light to go about 10 minutes from his house into the cliffs behind it…to his own personal petroglyph panel that he actually had listed on the Register of Historic places.  How cool!

We regretfull are leaving Moab after five full days and are making our way to Canyonlands.  Moab was great, but very, very hot, hot, hot.  And we are missing any sort of shower!!!

 

The Mystery Park: Capitol Reef

We left Bryce on July 5 and headed for Capitol Reef National Park, the one park that we knew very little about.  When I asked David why he had it starred as a place to visit he said, “Because it is a national park.”

 It turns out that it is quite interesting, although not full of noteworthy photographic moments like the other parks.  We found that it was named Capitol because the settlers thought that some of the white formations looked like our nation's capitol dome and reef because the settlers used nautical references and some of the formations looked like barrier reefs.

First of all, it is the site of a historic Mormon settlement, Fruita, a village of never more than 10 families, founded in the mid 1800’s, where they raised…you guessed it…fruit.  And we actually camped in one of the orchards and in season, all the fruit, in all the surrounding orchards, are free to pick.  Nothing was in season while we were there, but we bought some local jam from the museum there and took a photo of the one room schoolhouse. In the campsite next to ours was a man who made banjos and he showed us one whose back he had crafted from a tree in his yard. Here is a photo of our campsite.

Our first full day we had our first experience with RAIN.  This was the first time we had seen rain since we left Schwenksville, and it wasn’t very intrusive.  We took a wonderful walk along a boardwalk and saw some great petroglyphs, with a terrible ranger talk.

Then we drove to the defining geological feature of the park, the Waterpocket Fold which is a flat valley surrounded by two upheaval cliffs.  It was a wonderful, long visual treat, but a little bit tense since we had to drive down the mountain over dirt roads and switchbacks. Here is a photo of the terrain we drove through. I thought it was pretty bad but little did I know what was to come in Canyonland.

The next day we walked through a canyon bottom, much like the Zion narrows walk, but without the water.  It was there that we saw some great 1800’s graffiti.  

We also walked to some tanks (depressions in the rocks) with water in them, and then saw a great arch.  We could actually walk up to and under this arch.  It was our first arch, but did, in no way prepare us for Arches national park.

Capitol Reef was a restful park and gave us the strength to do Moab.

Bryce Canyon or Bathroom Misdaventures

Bryce

Having been to the Grand Canyon and Zion, I thought there was not much more we could see that would be different and amazing.  How wrong I was.  Each of the three great parks was as different from one another as could be.  Yet, the same stone and the same colors were in all three, making the difference al l the more startling.

Bryce Canyon is the one that looks like sand castle drippings.  Each dripped pillar is called a hoodoo and there are thousands.  The first day, after setting up camp we drove the scenic route to the end and back, stopping at lookouts along the way, but not engaging in any strenuous hike.

Our first full day at Bryce we chose a somewhat strenuous hike that took several hours.  Unlike the Grand Canyon, at both Zion and Bryce we were able to walk among the stones, pillars, arches and hoodoos.  The hoodoos and canyons we found out, were caused, not by running water, but by erosion and the freeze and thaw cycle that little drops of water go through during the winter and spring.  Indeed, one of the signs at a lookout point said that the spot on which we were standing would, in our lifetime, fall into the canyon because after every rain, little pieces of it were being washed away.  And, in about another million years, Bryce Canyon would have eroded all the way back to the nearest river and become flooded.  No more hoodoos.

We were lucky, on our walk to meet another Ellen and her husband.  We made plans to join them later that evening for a rodeo and fireworks.  What a great time we had.  The Ellens had a lot in common; the rodeo was  quaint and the fireworks very good.  We weren’t too  happy with one event during the rodeo, in which all the kids under 5 lined up and upon a signal ran after about 5 little bunnies.  The winners got to keep the bunny they caught.  Looked a lot like bunny cruelty and we thought it was pretty weird that these kids were allowed to march into the stands clutching their bunnies, until they had the same contests with a greased piglet and the winner kept it too!

I won a neckerchief and a coupon for a 7 inch pizza by answering the question, “How do you get down off an elephant?”  For those of you who say that I can never remember a punch line, now I have a red hanky to prove you wrong.

 

TALES OF WOE…or How Not to Pee in the Woods (adult content below)

David has gotten into the habit of waking me in the middle of the night when he goes outside to pee so that I can avoid the rush to the bathroom in the morning because many times we have camped quite far away from the public bathrooms.  And it is quite acceptable to go outside half dressed under the cover of darkness.  All worked well until Bryce.  Our campsite was on a slope bordering a hill.  Do you anticipate impending doom?  During the midnight pit stop while looking for just the right spot,  I fell once flat on my behind, and then fell forward and started to slip down the hill.  All was not well/  The second night, David stopped at the bathroom on the way back from the rodeo, gave me a flashlight and told me he would meet me at the campsite.  Again, disaster.  I left the bathroom…and the flashlight died.  I got so disoriented that I started wandering around, fell once, went back to the bathroom to start in a different direction and got lost again.  Things were looking grim.  Then I remembered who I am married to and knew that if I went back to the bathroom and just waited, David would come to the rescue.  So back I went, and just as I was starting to cry, David’s flashlight came bob, bob bobbing along.  He said that he knew he had made a mistake telling me to get to the campsite on my own and had come for me as soon as he parked the car.  What a guy!  And I knew he would!

From Neon Canyons to Zion Canyon

Wow!  I didn't know how happy we were to leave Las Vegas until we started touring around Zion.  What a place and what vistas.  We were quite lucky to get a great campsite with easy access to the vistor's center and the mandatory shuttle bus service that is provided.  Cars are not allowed in the p[ark and the park service runs a shuttle from 5:45 am to 11 pm every night. 

Since we arrived at Zion later than we had planned, we set up camp and took the shuttle all around the park for about 90 minutes.  Sort of a sight seeing preview.  Since the bus had skylights as well as windows, we were able to great great views of the tallest sandstone cliffs in the world.  We saw a big horned sheep on the side of the road, which, according to the shuttle driver, was the first time he had ever seen one that low down.

  Please read this slowly since it took us three shuttle rides of listening to the recording to udnerstand:  Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce are what is called the grand stircase.  The lowest level of Bryce is the highest level of Zion and the lowest level of Zion is the highest level of the Grand Canyon.  So, Bryce is the highest in elevation and Grand Canyon the lowest.

We got up reasonably early the next day to take the hike that many folks had recommended; the River Walk and the narrows.  How cool!  95 degrees air temperature while we walked on the river walk that ends in the narrowest part of the canyon...and then its river walking all the way as far as you want.  What a treat!  The Virgin River is mostly shallow, fast running, rocky and cool, cool, cool. 

   



 

We were surprised to learn that in 1998  a landslide occured in the night that blocked the river, and overnight it undercut the bordeing road and wiped it out.  In 1 night.  And that was the little river we were hiking. 

That was by far one of the best hikes we have ever been on. Towering cliffs on both sides, sun shining down, cool water tickling our feet, knees, waists.  What was not to like?

Back at the campground we found out that the adjoining campground contained one of the three apricot trees in the park...and they were all ripe.  Yummy.  Here is the view from the campground.

As usual, David did all the driving. And i did all the sleeping.

Sin City

Wow!  God must look out for stupid people.  As much as David and i knew that las Vegas was a desert, we still planned to camp for two days and then treat ourselves to a day or so at a hotel.  Sounded like a good plan until we got closer to Las Vegas and heard the weather report..110; 115; 112, and then stopped for lunch and found that it got down to a whopping 85 at night.  How foolish we are!  I immediately got on the interent and booked a $35.00 a night motel right on the strip where all the Elvis weddings are!  What a hoot and what a motel.  We had to move to a different room on the third day because our toilet backed up.  But it had air conditioning, and showers and toilets right in the room as well as a wonderful pool.

Our first night we went to Freemont Street, home of older casinos, $.99 margaritas and a roof over the street that hourly puts on a great light show.  Won $4.00 at the penny slots but lost it all!



 

Our first full day we fled the city and went through Valley of Fire State Park

which was a display of red sandstone formations rising out of gray rocks.  Here I am trying to avoid the heat in a little overhang. Enough to knock your socks off.  However, that would be dangerous because it was 115 degrees!  Next we jumped at the chance to swim in Lake Mead (made by the damned up Colorodo River) and cool off.  Quite nice and a break from the heat.

Then it was on to Hoover Dam which was a bit disappointing because he couldn't even stop to see it without paying.  however, we did get to drive across it and since we had been to Glen Canyon Dam and had a great tour inside the dam, we didn't feel too disappointed.

That night was our big show!  We went to the Rio Casino to see Penn and Teller.  We had gone earlier in the day to the ticket window that had reduced price tickets for that night's performance and were able to get great seats and saw a great show.

The next day, Monday, was errands day.  We had to take the car to the Toyota dealer, do some practical stuff and hang out at the pool for a bit to prepare for our big night on the las VEgas strip.

Again, what we did not know could have filled a book.  i thought that we would walk from casino (building) to building, visiting the strips of stores in their lobbies.  Little did I realize that each casino is the size of a small city with enough stores to fill a mall.  And what stores. I spotted a Mikimodo store and quicker than David could turn around I was being helped by a saleswoman who put a strand of south sea's golden pearls around my neck,  12 mm to 16 mm with a golden clasp.  I was walking around the store admiring myself in them as David followed me muttering, "take them off.  Take them off now." I can understand his angts.  They cost $64,000.00 (All my zeros are in the right place.)  Then we went to Bauman's Rare Books (quite a surprise) and saw a photo of Darwin with his handwrittne comments about how much he liked the picture underneath.  Wow!  As David and the salesman started talking about what an investment the photo could be, I had to quietly remind David that we had no home to display it.

We walked and walked and walked and walked.  We really did think that the casinos were next to each other, but we were wrong and it was hot.  And, on the way back to our car, we got so lost in Caesar's casino that David, the surveyor, talked about the experience for hours afterwards.

The Belagio's dancing fountains were our favorite, and the Veneitian Casino, with Mikimodo and canals with gondolas, blue cloud filled ceilings in some parts, and coffered, painted ceilings in others, was also a highlight.  However, after 5 hours we were truding and quite ready to go back to our little motel.

All in all, we were glad to go to las Vegas and quite glad to leave.  An un-real interlude in our journey.