I am home, a few days early as we ‘ran the intinerary. Here are the last days of my trip log. Perhaps I may do one more posting if I get the pictures downloaded.
Tom
Day 24 Tuesday
We took the excursion train from Durango to Silverton today. We expected it to be a lot cooler than it turned out to be, so we ‘shed’ layers as the trip progressed. Wilma made the arrangements and made some good choices. We were in a roofed car with open sides. While that meant that we caught some smoke and soot from the steam engine, we were able to see a lot better and did not have to deal with the reflection of window glass for the many photos taken. The train was made up of nine antique cars, steam engine, and tender. The railroad line has narrow gauge tracks that run the 45 miles between the two towns following the Animas River. The line climbs several thousand feet through some very rugged and beautiful country. I thought it was interesting that the train had to stop twice along the route to take on water and it holds 4,000 gallons. I understood that steam engines used more water than coal and this confirmed it. For most of the way, we were right on the edge of the river which was flat and calm at the lower levels and absolutely raging at the higher levels. At one point, the river was 250 feet below in the narrow canyon. We saw some beautiful vistas. It is nice to be in granite mountains that are covered with green trees. After several weeks of sandstone mountains and cliffs nearly void of vegetation, this was a breath of life. I don’t know if I can ever become a fan of the desert.
We took the coach back from Silverton so that we could pick-up the animals up from the ‘doggie day care’ center before closing. The trip up on the train took 3.5 hours and the ride back in the bus took 1.5 hours. That too was a good call on Wilma’s part. As I am sitting here writing this, the return train we were on passed through the campground.
On Memorial Day weekend, they will have what they call the ‘Iron Horse Race’. That is where bicyclists race the train from Durango to Silverton. They expect 2500 cyclists to participate. Along the route returning on the bus, we saw numerous cyclists training. What started in the ‘70’s as a contest between a conductor on the train and his cyclist brother has become a big event (the cyclist won).
Tomorrow morning we are driving to Silverton to spend the day and one night. Silverton is an 1860’s mining town. We plan to take in the sights we were unable to see on our short two hour visit today.
Day 25 Wednesday
We spent the day nosing around Silverton. We visited a local shrine to those who lost their lives in mining disasters and a local cemetery. There was supposed to be a section of the cemetery devoted to the ‘soiled doves’, which is the euphemism for prostitute; but we could not find the area. As this was a mining town for a hundred years and there were a lot of lonely single men, so prostitution was a booming business during the mining days. I found a couple of grave markers that were of wood dating to the period of the 1918 flu epidemic and I could still read the information carved into the wood. Amazing! We took a one hour guided tour through a gold mine which operated until the 1970’s. It is classified as a hard rock mine which means they were tunneling into granite to extract the quartz vein that contained the valuable metals (gold, silver, lead, and tin). They took us a third of a mile into Galena Mountain to view the vestiges of the mining operation. They demonstrated drilling and operated some of the machines used to muck-out and transport the ore. It was very interesting. The remainder of the afternoon, we looked around a number of the shops in the town.
Day 26 Thursday
We woke up to below freezing temperatures. Wilma had a slow drip at her hose connection on her RV which created an ice stalagmite on the ground. While we only had an 85 mile run today, we got an early start because we wanted to get to the National Park campground early to claim a camp site. The drive was fantastic. We rose from 9,500 feet at Silverton to about 11,500 feet. This portion of Rte 550 is just fantastic covering some of the most dramatic mountain scenery of the trip. The road was literally carved into the side of the granite cliffs. In some places the road narrowed and there was no shoulder or guard rail, just a 1,000 drop from the white line delineating the edge of the pavement. It was a little unnerving as we were on the outside for most of the trip. I am thankful that there was not much traffic as I often drove down the middle of the road except at the hair pin curves. I cannot imagine driving this road in the winter or at night! We got to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park late morning and had the pick of camp sites. I am glad that this is the day before the Memorial Day weekend as all of the sites are reserved starting tomorrow.
We spent the day driving along the south rim road stopping at all of the view points. The canyon is amazing. It is deep, narrow, and the river is about 2,000 feet below the rim. This canyon is so different from others we have seen during this trip because the stone is granite rather than sandstone. The granite is much harder resulting in a steeper canyon wall. Our second drive was on the East Portal Road. This drive took us to the floor of the canyon. The road is only open in the summer because it is so steep. It drops the 2,000 feet to the canyon floor in only three miles of switchbacks. They limit the size of vehicles allowed on the road. It was perfect for my X-90. They post that that the grade is 16%. I kept it in low gear all the way down and barely needed to use the brakes. I was able to go up in second gear.
At the bottom are a dam and the east portal of a six mile diversion tunnel that was dug in the early 1900’s to divert water from the Gunnison River to the arid valley around Montrose to the west. They dug through the granite mountain from both ends. It took five years to dig. The tunnel is eight feet wide and ten feet high. You can only see a portion of the mouth of the tunnel as most of it is now under water from the small lake created by the dam. More than a hundred years later the tunnel continues to provide water for agricultural irrigation and human consumption.
This is our last day of touring and sightseeing. Tomorrow we head home.
Day 27 Friday
Today was a travel day. We backtracked to Montrose in order to pick-Up US 50 which is a four lane divided highway that took us to Grand Junction near the Utah border. There we picked up I70 to head back to Denver. We had something of a tail wind today which really helped on the inclines to Vail Pass and the Eisenhower Tunnel at Loveland. We got to the same RV we stayed at on the way out nearly a month ago. Wilma and I said our goodbyes as she is staying on in the area to visit with here college roommate for a few days. It is really warm here, close to 90 degrees. I plan to ‘hit the hay’ early and get an early start in the morning. This is the start of the Memorial Day weekend and I expect a lot of traffic. I am going to try to get home in two days rather than the three it took to get to Denver. I do not want to be on the road on Memorial Day if I can help it. The nice thing about an RV is that if you get tired, you can stop and take a nap for a couple of hours to ‘catch your breath’.
Day 28 Saturday
I did not get as early a start as I had hoped, but was on the road for day of travel. I drove for thirteen hours and made it to Des Moines, IA, to the Wal-Mart where we stayed on the way west. I think I will sleep well tonight.
Day 29 Sunday
This was the last leg of a long trip. I pulled in shortly after noon after 3600 miles. The trip was successful in that I arrived safely, there were no mishaps, and I had a lot of fun. The trip lasted a month during which I visited seven national parks, saw some amazing scenery, had some first time experiences, and generally had a blast. It is nice to be home. Now all I have to do is unpack the rig and do mounds of laundry. Cassie is already reacquainted with her home ‘not on wheels’. Her next adventure will be to get oriented to the cottage in a couple of weeks.
Day 17 Tuesday
We drove from Bryce to Zion. While only 120 miles, it involved a lot of up and down travel. One segment of the trip took us on route 14 through another section of Dixie National Forrest. This again was a steep and winding road. Starting at about 6,000, we climbed to more than 10,000. At that altitude, the temperature was just below freezing, the pine trees covered with fresh snow, and the meadows fully covered with a thick blanket of snow. Our campground near Zion is at 3550, so dropped nearly 7,000 feet from the summit. We are camping at a town named Virgin adjacent to the Virgin River which runs through the national park. The campground is about 15 miles from the park and is one of the nicest (and priciest) RV parks I have ever booked. It is nicely groomed, has a pool, hot tub, and lightening fast WiFi. This puts K.O.A. to shame! It is much warmer here than at Bryce. Altitude does make a difference!! We had a little rain in the pre-dawn hours at Bryce and just had a sprinkle here. But, right now it is warm and sunny. In the afternoon, we took a run into Springdale very near the park entrance and picked up some supplies. Afterward, we entered the park and went to the visitor center and tried to sign-up for a morning Ranger guided shuttle tour. We are on ‘stand-by, but close enough to the top that it is a possible for tomorrow.
Day 18 Wednesday
Today was a Zion orientation day. We were able to join, from the stand-by list; a ranger led interpretive shuttle tour. We stopped at major points along the regular shuttle route. The ranger reviewed the geological and cultural history of the valley. The Virgin River Valley gets narrower as you move up stream. Near the base of the valley the mountains on either side are far from the river, not very steep, and somewhat eroded. As you move up the valley, it gets narrower, the mountains get higher, and the canyon walls become near vertical rock faces. At the end of the road, we left the tour and took an easy one mile trail to what is called the narrows. At the base of the narrows, the trail moves from being adjacent to the river into the river bed which totally encompasses the canyon floor. It is reported that at one point the floor of the canyon is only 20 yards wide. At this time of the year, the Narrows Trail is closed because of the volume of water flowing. That volume is estimated to be 650 cubic feet of water per second. They open the trail when the flow is down to less than 100 cf/s. After our hike, we took the regular shuttle to the museum to view a video and take in the exhibits. Shuttle buses are the only option in much of Zion. Private vehicles are not allowed in the upper portion of the valley. It is really a great system. Shuttle run about every 10 minutes and stop at all of the interesting places. Our last stop was back at the visitor center where ate our picnic lunch. Back at the campground we vegged for a couple of hours and then went into town to wash our cars. They got trashed during the trip to Zion because of the rain/snow and road grime. Zion is rather dramatic in its own right just like the other parks we have visited. Each one is unique and it is hard to compare them. This one is pretty impressive too.
Day 19 Thursday
The weather forecast promised temperatures in the high eighties, so we got an early start to the day as we are devoting it to hiking in some of the areas that we scoped out yesterday. On the shuttle bus up the canyon, we learned a little more about the geology of the park. Like all of the parks we have visited, the mountains are layers of mostly sandstone deposited millions of years ago and uplifted to form the Colorado Plateau. Mixed in the layers are some limestone layers, shale, and even some volcanic deposits. An interesting fact reveled on the shuttle bus is that the top layer of sandstone at Zion is the bottom layer at Bryce and the bottom layer at Zion is the top layer at the Grand Canyon. Zion is the western most point of our trip.
We took three hikes today. The first was a half mile hike to an area called Weeping Rock. This slightly concave cliff face has water constantly dripping from overhead. Rain water seeps through the thousand foot porous layer of sandstone until it encounters an impervious layer at which point it starts moving horizontal until it finds an exit point. Because of the moist atmosphere, many plants grow in the rock face forming something of a hanging garden. They reported that studies have shown that water dripping out today fell as rain 1200 years ago. I wonder how they determined that. There were a lot of ferns and blooming wild flowers. Our second hike was a mile long trail following the Virgin River. Both of those hikes were classified as easy. Our final hike was a mile and half long and of a moderate level that took us up to the Lower and Middle Emerald Pools. The climb was a killer. I think we only climbed about 200 feet, but it was over a relatively short distance. We were both ‘bushed’ when we got back to the campground and took advantage of the pool and spa. This evening, the park hosted a wine and cheese gathering where we met a number of nice people.
Day 20 Friday
We left Zion using the east entrance. This involved climbing a steep road with a lot of tight switchbacks. At the summit, we passed through a toll tunnel ($15). The road and tunnel were a CCC project during the great depression in the in 30’s. The tunnel is a mile long and took three years to complete. It was built to standards of the day and does not easily accommodate RVs. So, during the tourist season it becomes a one way tunnel and RVs drive down the center. Waiting for our turn, I had a chance to talk with the ranger. He confirmed that the number of tourists in May of this year is higher than normal. The parks we visited were certainly more crowded than we expected. He commented that winter is really a nice time to visit as they do not get a lot of snow and the temperatures are too cold. He noted that when they get two inches of snow at Zion that Bryce gets two feet. We are spending the night at the Glen Canyon Recreational area near the Glen Canyon Dam and the town of Page. We tried to take a tour of the dam, but it was canceled because of high winds. I guess they don’t want any one blown off the top of the dam. It is really windy here today with temperatures in the 80’s. While we have actually been in the desert for most of our park visits, this really feels like the desert. It is hot and the wind is blowing a lot of grit. Because we are ‘dry camping’, we have no electricity. Cassie is panting. I may have to start the generator and run the air just for her sake.
Day 21 Saturday
Today was a travel day. The goal for the day was Cortez, CO. The wind that started yesterday afternoon continued through the night and picked-up in the morning. I estimate that it was sustained at 20-30 mph with gusts up to 50. For the first 65 miles it was a significant hassle necessitating reduced speed. The wind was out of the west and we were heading south, so the gusts affected the steering of the RV. Those miles were through a mostly unpopulated desert. There were not even any electrical lines paralleling the highway. I have to assume that the very few occupied houses either had no electricity or used a generator as I saw no solar collectors. Once we linked up with US 160, (which is the southern most point of our trip) we were generally heading northeast, so we now had something of a tail wind which helps with the fuel consumption and control of the vehicle. We stopped at Four Corners. We had heard that it was closed because it had been determined that it was located about three miles from the actual geographic location of the four state corners. The monument appears to be an Indian tourist attraction. There are about twenty Indian artisans selling their wares from a string of booths. Some of the wares are clearly hand crafted and genuine hand made articles. Others, you can tell, are mass produced somewhere else (India, China, etc?). Ninety percent of the handicrafts are jewelry which is to me is of little interest. I asked one of the vendors about the location of the monument and he confirmed that the accurate location is elsewhere, but that enough people (tribesmen?) decided that they would keep the monument at this location. They are in the process of rebuilding the monument itself, but the crafters remain during construction. Once in Cortez, we went shopping at City Market. We shopped at one of this chain in Moab and really like the store. They have it all and at chain store prices which are a far cry from the prices at the stores associated with the campgrounds. It is interesting that the part of Arizona we traveled through is in the Pacific Time zone while neighboring Utah and Colorado are on Mountain time. Wilma, who lives in Michigan, has been in all four time zones this trip. The wind is still blowing strong. I hope it drops during the night as we will be visiting the ruins at Mesa Verde tomorrow.
Day 22 Sunday
Today we toured Mesa Verde National Park. It is a much larger park that I anticipated. Once through the gate, the visitor center is 20 plus miles on a twisting and winding road with a lot of switchbacks and sharp curves. We went from about 3,600 feet of altitude at our campground to about 8,000 feet. At the visitor center we booked a ranger guided two hour tour of the Cliff Palace ruins. This is the largest, most famous, and certainly most photographed ruins in the park. The ruins are nearly six hundred yeas old and constructed high on a cliff under the protection of an overhanging rock ledge. Access to the ruins is via a trail carved by the CCC. Some steps were cut directly into the sandstone to create the quarter mile trail. The ruins themselves are most impressive with beautiful stonework, multi-story towers, and numerous kivas (kivas are pit like rooms used for ceremony as well as day-to-day activities). There are approximately 150 rooms. The roofs have mostly collapsed. The mortar used to set the building stones is a mixture of water, clay, and wood ash. It worked well in that dry climate and the added protection of the overhanging rock ledge had to have helped as well. The ‘climb’ out was more interesting than getting in to the ruins. Again we followed a trail built by the CCC that included a series of ladders. I must admit that I was winded once back up on the mesa. I would like to think that the altitude had some impact. At that point, were at 7,000 feet.
The Puebloans lived in the cliff dwellings and dry farmed corn, beans, and squash. These people came to the area about 600 A.D. and adopted an agrarian life style following a nomadic hunter/gather way of life. During that period, their architecture developed into what we see at Cliff Palace which was constructed between 1250 and 1300. They must have been doing something right to have maintained a society for 600 years. We took a tour of the mesa top with stops along the way to look at some of the earlier pit houses. The Puebloans disappeared from the area about 1300 for unknown reasons. Our day ended with a tour of the museum.
Day 23 Monday
We made the short run from Cortez to Durango. I think we are now off the Colorado Plateau on back in the Rockies. The short 50 mile run took us into the Rockies where we again saw snow on the mountain tops. It is a lot cooler today, but the wind has died down some. The temperature here is in the 50’s, but it was 35 when were higher while in route. It is supposed to freeze tonight. We are at a campground that is right on the rail line, so we should see an excursion train pass this evening. We are scheduled to take the train tomorrow. I will have to dig out my warm clothes as we are scheduled into an open car. We will be putting the dogs into a ‘day care’ facility.
Day 16 Monday
We reserved a spot on the Bryce morning bus excursion. Like the regular shuttle, this is free and stops at many of the more interesting sites. This specific excursion is a half day ride into the southern section of the park. The ride took us to an elevation of over 9,000 feet and number of view points where we could see for more than a hundred miles. We were able to see the area of the north rim of the Grand Canyon (not into the canyon) and as far south and east as Lake Powell. During the trip we saw antelope and a prairie chicken which is much larger than I had imagined. In the afternoon, we just ‘vegged’. We both needed a little ‘down time’.
Day 17 Tuesday
We drove from Bryce to Zion. While only 120 miles, it involved a lot of up and down travel. One segment of the trip took us on route 14 through another section of Dixie National Forrest. This again was a steep and winding road. Starting at about 6,000, we climbed to more than 10,000. At that altitude, the temperature was just below freezing, the pine trees covered with fresh snow, and the meadows fully covered with a thick blanket of snow. Our campground near Zion is at 3550, so dropped nearly 7,000 feet from the summit. We are camping at a town named Virgin adjacent to the Virgin River which runs through the national park. The campground is about 15 miles from the park and is one of the nicest (and priciest) RV parks I have ever booked. It is nicely groomed, has a pool, hot tub, and lightening fast WiFi. This puts K.O.A. to shame! It is much warmer here than at Bryce. Altitude does make a difference!! We had a little rain in the pre-dawn hours at Bryce and just had a sprinkle here. But, right now it is warm and sunny. In the afternoon, we took a run into Springdale very near the park entrance and picked up some supplies. Afterward, we entered the park and went to the visitor center and tried to sign-up for a morning Ranger guided shuttle tour. We are on ‘stand-by, but close enough to the top that it is a possible for tomorrow.
Day 18 Wednesday
Today was a Zion orientation day. We were able to join, from the stand-by list; a ranger led interpretive shuttle tour. We stopped at major points along the regular shuttle route. The ranger reviewed the geological and cultural history of the valley. The Virgin River Valley gets narrower as you move up stream. Near the base of the valley the mountains on either side are far from the river, not very steep, and somewhat eroded. As you move up the valley, it gets narrower, the mountains get higher, and the canyon walls become near vertical rock faces. At the end of the road, we left the tour and took an easy one mile trail to what is called the narrows. At the base of the narrows, the trail moves from being adjacent to the river into the river bed which totally encompasses the canyon floor. It is reported that at one point the floor of the canyon is only 20 yards wide. At this time of the year, the Narrows Trail is closed because of the volume of water flowing. That volume is estimated to be 650 cubic feet of water per second. They open the trail when the flow is down to less than 100 cf/s. After our hike, we took the regular shuttle to the museum to view a video and take in the exhibits. Shuttle buses are the only option in much of Zion. Private vehicles are not allowed in the upper portion of the valley. It is really a great system. Shuttle run about every 10 minutes and stop at all of the interesting places. Our last stop was back at the visitor center where ate our picnic lunch. Back at the campground we vegged for a couple of hours and then went into town to wash our cars. They got trashed during the trip to Zion because of the rain/snow and road grime. Zion is rather dramatic in its own right just like the other parks we have visited. Each one is unique and it is hard to compare them. This one is pretty impressive too.
Day 19 Thursday
The weather forecast promised temperatures in the high eighties, so we got an early start to the day as we are devoting it to hiking in some of the areas that we scoped out yesterday. On the shuttle bus up the canyon, we learned a little more about the geology of the park. Like all of the parks we have visited, the mountains are layers of mostly sandstone deposited millions of years ago and uplifted to form the Colorado Plateau. Mixed in the layers are some limestone layers, shale, and even some volcanic deposits. An interesting fact reveled on the shuttle bus is that the top layer of sandstone at Zion is the bottom layer at Bryce and the bottom layer at Zion is the top layer at the Grand Canyon.
We took three hikes today. The first was a half mile hike to an area called Weeping Rock. This slightly concave cliff face has water constantly dripping from overhead. Rain water seeps through the thousand foot porous layer of sandstone until it encounters an impervious layer at which point it starts moving horizontal until it finds an exit point. Because of the moist atmosphere, many plants grow in the rock face forming something of a hanging garden. They reported that studies have shown that water dripping out today fell as rain 1200 years ago. I wonder how they determined that. There were a lot of ferns and blooming wild flowers. Our second hike was a mile long trail following the Virgin River. Both of those hikes were classified as easy. Our final hike was a mile and half long and of a moderate level that took us up to the Lower and Middle Emerald Pools. The climb was a killer. I think we only climbed about 200 feet, but it was over a relatively short distance. We were both ‘bushed’ when we got back to the campground and took advantage of the pool and spa. This evening, the park hosted a wine and cheese gathering where we met a number of nice people.
2010 Utah Trip
Daily Log
Day 1 May 2
We left Lowell about 7:30 a.m. The weather was clear. We drove across country to link up with I80 at Morris IL. I am having some trouble with the refrigerator. It does not want to operate on gas. If I light the flame, it works fine. It works fine on ‘shore power’ and with the generator. I am beginning to suspect either a weak battery or the switch that charges the ‘house battery’ when traveling down the road. I will have to have it looked at when we get to Denver. We called it a day about 4:30 arriving at DesMoines, IA, at a Wal-Mart. This is the same Wal-Mart parking lot we stayed at on our trip in 2008. We did a little shopping and just ‘hung out’ for the evening while I messed with the refrigerator trying to figure out what is wrong.
Day 2 Monday
I woke up about 4:00 a.m. I think this refrigerator/electrical problem is on my mind. I am running the generator trying to charge the ‘house batter’. The refrigerator is working on ‘gas’ only just fine which tells me the battery and not the refrigerator is the problem. I still don’t know if it is the battery or the vehicle switch that is the problem. I hope that if charging the battery with the generator works it will tell me that it is the vehicle switch. I took the RV to Sam’s Club Tire and Battery center when they opened at 7:00 a.m. The tech checked it out and the battery is fine. I am now suspecting the vehicle switch. I have had to replace it once before.
We had a slow start in the morning. We made a number of stops before really hitting it strong. The topography in western Iowa was a lot more hilly than I recalled and we were bucking a heavy head wind all day. I am not getting good gas mileage. At times, it was so strong that the RV down shifted on the flat. As we approached the Missouri River, the terrain flattened out. I thought the hills would re-appear on the other side of the river, but they did not. We stopped at the Welcome Center in Nebraska after getting through Omaha and talked to a really helpful guy. He recommended we try to spend some time in North Platte and recommended a State campground. We ran into a late afternoon thunder shower and accompanying cold front. I think the temperature dropped 20 degrees in ten minutes.
North Platte is bigger than I expected. There is a lot of history here and we plan to spend some time tomorrow morning looking around the place. The campground is rather Spartan. It only has electricity which is nice after having nothing the night before, but I need a shower!
Day 3 Tuesday
We spent the morning touring North Platte. First, we toured the county museum where they had a lot of locally donated items of historical significance. Like so many local museums, there was a lot of junk, but they did a reasonable job of grouping them into interesting displays. The display I was most interested in was the one featuring the WWII North Platte Canteen. I just get ‘chocked-up’ every time I think of the fantastic volunteer effort these citizens expended to support the war effort. The museum also featured a lot about the Union Pacific railroad which has played such an important role in the development of North Platte. There are also a number of historical buildings on the grounds. Our second stop of the morning was to Cody Park where there are two trains. One is a steam engine and the other diesel. It was cool to be able to sit in the engineer’s seat and see all of the controls. The amazing thing about the steam engines is that the engineer could only see the tracks about 100 yards in front of the train. All I can say about both is huge! Our third stop was to an observation tower adjacent to the Union Pacific Bailey Yard. The Bailey Yard is the largest train yard in the world (2500 acres). The yard is seven miles long. It can store 15K freight cars. Daily, they make up 150 trains. They also have a large maintenance facility. Most impressive!
We hit the road about noon to make out way to Denver. We bucked a strong head wind on I80 for a hundred miles. When we jumped on I76, it was coming from the side which did not impact fuel consumption as much, but made steering more difficult. Just as we were leaving Nebraska, the topography became rolling. Colorado is very dry. It is only with irrigation that they grow any grain. The wind blew a lot of tumble weeds across the highway. We are staying in a suburban Denver campground right in a commercial area. It is all gravel and Cassie is finding it difficult to find a place to pee. The people washroom facilities are very nice.
This evening we went to the home of one of Wilma’s college friends. Dotty and Bruce have a nice home and treated us to a lovely meal. I think it is going to be cool this evening, so I have set up the electric heater.
Day 4 Wednesday
This is mostly a lay-back recuperating day. In the morning, we went to Campland. Wilma broke the bottom shelf in her refrigerator door. It took some wheeling and dealing, but they let her take one from a demo unit and they will order out a replacement. We followed with a trip to Wal-Mart. The remainder of the morning and early afternoon we ‘vegged’. Dotty picked us up and we did a tour of Golden where the mining college is located. It is a really cool town with a white water kayaking stream running through it. In the evening, we were back with Dotty and Bruce for another dinner. We have booked a night at this campground for our return leg. Tomorrow we hope to get an early start for to continue our trip west. It will be mostly mountains. I hope it does not snow as they frequently close I70 after a snow.
Day 5 Thursday
We got a bit of a late start today. While Wilma was at the dump station, her dog stepped on the ‘lock’ button of the driver door. Of course, her keys were in the ignition. I was at a nearby truck stop fueling and awaiting her arrival or call. She could not call because her phone was in the car, so she had to walk the half mile to the station to let me know what happened. We called AAA and they sent out a lock smith who got into the vehicle with a ‘Slim-Jim’ in about thirty seconds. I think we were on the road about an hour and half later than planned. I70 takes us west out of Denver toward the continental divide and the Eisenhower Tunnel. We climbed from 5,000 feet to nearly 12,000 feet in less than 50 miles. Needless to say, I sucked up a lot of fuel. The descent from there was a lot gentler and passed through some of the most amazing country I have ever seen. We went through the Glenwood Canyon which is a drive that, while very different, rivals the beauty of the Lola Pass. While the temperature was in the 40’s for much of the mountain run, at the highest passes, it dropped into the 30’s and we experienced snow flurries and some snow rain mix for short while. The canyon in spots was very narrow and the walls were near vertical and so high that is difficult to see the top. The road was constructed in such a way that in places the east and west roads were on top of one another. We passed through some of the famous ski areas like Vail and Loveland. We made a short top in Eagle to tour the town which is small, but nicely restored to its mining era. Our descent took us to about 4,000 feet. As we left the really tall mountains, the wind picked up again and we were once again bucking a strong head wind. We are at Robb State Park for the night. It is very nice with concrete pads and a lot of room between camp sites.
Day 6 Friday
Unbeknownst to me, I had dropped my cell phone on the campsite some time in the morning. The crew cleaning the site found it after I left and took it to the office. The clerk called the last number I had called and Wilma answered. Luckily, we were still at a gas station less than a mile from the park. How lucky can you be?
We made the100 mile run into Moab in the morning. The route took us on Route 128 which follows the Colorado River through the Westwater Canyon. This is the same section of the river we will traverse on our white water rafting excursion next week. The canyon is both deep and rugged with ragged red walls. Most impressive! I think it rivals the Grand Canyon, only smaller. When we got to Moab we went to the visitor center to learn about the camping options. After making a few calls, it became clear that this is a high traffic time period for tourists like us. All of the BLM camping sites one the river were reserved. We are staying the week in a private campground which is not our first choice.
Day 7 Saturday
We went to Arches National Park today. We saw a number of the more famous structures plus a myriad of others. Some of the more famous include: Balanced Rock, Courthouse Towers, and Double Arch. At one point, we saw some guys climbing a rock shaft. The shaft was about 50-70 feet tall. We got to see one of them rappel from top to bottom. We made several stops along the way as Wilma is interested in wild flowers and there are many in bloom at this time of the year. It is interesting to hear so many different languages being spoken by the other tourists. We herd a lot of German, plus French, Spanish, Japanese, and some unrecognized Eastern European language. We took a strenuous mile and half hike to Delicate Arc. The distance was not so great, but the trail was rough and rose 480 feet from the trail head. It took us about two hours to get there and hour to get back to the car. One segment was particularly difficult as it had us climb about half of the elevation in only a half mile distance up a huge rock face. Descending was actually harder on my knees. We were both pretty ‘wiped’ afterward and headed back to the campground. I took a long nap
Day 8 Sunday
We went back to Arches National Park today. The only thing we did is to hike to Landscape Arch. The hike this time was only .8 miles each way and was classified as ‘easy’. There were still some inclines, but nothing like yesterday. Up and back only took an hour with stops for picture taking. This park is really big. I checked the mileage and it is seventeen miles from Landscape Arch to the park entrance. There are many areas beyond the paved roads. After Arches, we then took route *** which is something of an extension of the route we traveled coming into Moab. It too follows the Colorado River through a canyon. At one point along the road, there were rock climbers climbing up and rappelling back down. At another point along the road we saw Indian pietragraphs on the cliff wall. We followed the paved road past a potash plant at which point it turned to gravel. After about five miles, it turned to ‘dirt’. We continued on that for a while until we came upon an incredibly steep slope at which point we turned back. On the return trip, we stopped a boat landing on the Colorado. A group of young folk were getting ready to cast off for a week long float down river to Lake Powell. Two of the boat were of wood and made by the owners. I was intrigued by the one and learned that a young lady had made it of her own design. It was a Dory style craft about 16-18 feet long and had very wide beam. The bottom had no keel, but was curved both fore and aft and abeam. It was made of plywood. The owner, Laurie, told me that the maiden voyage of the craft was down the Colorado through Grand Canyon. I told her I thought it took a decade to get a permit. She told me that she applied on her 18th birthday, began the boat, and received her permit three years later.
Day 9 Monday
We spent the day in Canyonlands National Park. The entrance to the park is very close to our campgrounds, but it is still a fifteen mile drive to the Visitor Center. This park is very close to Arches National Park, but very different. At Arches, you are generally low and looking up at the features. In Canyonlands, you are high and looking down on the features which are mostly canyons. The park is divided into three sections. The section we visited today is called the Island in the Sky and is probably considered a mesa. From the mesa which is generally at the 6,000 foot level, one can view the canyons from a number of overlooks. You are looking into canyons formed by the Green and Colorado rivers, but the rivers are in such deep narrow canyons with such steep walls, that you cannot actually see the water except in a very few locations. We say the end of the road from the Potash Plant that we started to traverse yesterday. I am now thankful that we turned back when we did. It is much too steep. It would be a ‘hoot’ to have access to a four wheel drive vehicle in the Moab area. It would give you access to an entire new experience.
Day 10 Tuesday
We took a ride today up the Castle Canyon road. It was forty mile loop from Route 128 on the Colorado up into a valley and on the La Sal Mountain. The road was paved except for a section. It took us into the National Forest and to high enough elevation that there were some patches of snow along the side of the road. I was a little nervous only because I was not driving and was on the ‘downhill’ edge of the road looking into the abyss below on each curve. Wilma is a good driver; it was just my type ‘A’ personality and not being in control. We saw several deer along the route. The loop ended on Route 191 just south of Moab. We made a planned stop at a laundromat and a thrift store where I purchased a number of books to add to the weight in the camper. It rained in the afternoon providing a nice opportunity to do some reading. The temperature dropped from 60 to 40 as the front moved through. It is supposed to be cool again yesterday, but it looks like fair weather for Thursday when we go on our Colorado River excursion
Day 6 Friday
Unbeknownst to me, I had dropped my cell phone on the campsite some time in the morning. The crew cleaning the site found it after I left and took it to the office. The clerk called the last number I had called and Wilma answered. Luckily, we were still at a gas station less than a mile from the park. How lucky can you be?
We made the100 mile run into Moab in the morning. The route took us on Route 128 which follows the Colorado River through the Westwater Canyon. This is the same section of the river we will traverse on our white water rafting excursion next week. The canyon is both deep and rugged with ragged red walls. Most impressive! I think it rivals the Grand Canyon, only smaller. When we got to Moab we went to the visitor center to learn about the camping options. After making a few calls, it became clear that this is a high traffic time period for tourists like us. All of the BLM camping sites one the river were reserved. We are staying the week in a private campground which is not our first choice.
Day 7 Saturday
We went to Arches National Park today. We saw a number of the more famous structures plus a myriad of others. Some of the more famous include: Balanced Rock, Courthouse Towers, and Double Arch. At one point, we saw some guys climbing a rock shaft. The shaft was about 50-70 feet tall. We got to see one of them rappel from top to bottom. We made several stops along the way as Wilma is interested in wild flowers and there are many in bloom at this time of the year. It is interesting to hear so many different languages being spoken by the other tourists. We herd a lot of German, plus French, Spanish, Japanese, and some unrecognized Eastern European language. We took a strenuous mile and half hike to Delicate Arc. The distance was not so great, but the trail was rough and rose 480 feet from the trail head. It took us about two hours to get there and hour to get back to the car. One segment was particularly difficult as it had us climb about half of the elevation in only a half mile distance up a huge rock face. Descending was actually harder on my knees. We were both pretty ‘wiped’ afterward and headed back to the campground. I took a long nap
Day 8 Sunday
We went back to Arches National Park today. The only thing we did is to hike to Landscape Arch. The hike this time was only .8 miles each way and was classified as ‘easy’. There were still some inclines, but nothing like yesterday. Up and back only took an hour with stops for picture taking. This park is really big. I checked the mileage and it is seventeen miles from Landscape Arch to the park entrance. There are many areas beyond the paved roads. After Arches, we then took route *** which is something of an extension of the route we traveled coming into Moab. It too follows the Colorado River through a canyon. At one point along the road, there were rock climbers climbing up and rappelling back down. At another point along the road we saw Indian pietragraphs on the cliff wall. We followed the paved road past a potash plant at which point it turned to gravel. After about five miles, it turned to ‘dirt’. We continued on that for a while until we came upon an incredibly steep slope at which point we turned back. On the return trip, we stopped a boat landing on the Colorado. A group of young folk were getting ready to cast off for a week long float down river to Lake Powell. Two of the boat were of wood and made by the owners. I was intrigued by the one and learned that a young lady had made it of her own design. It was a Dory style craft about 16-18 feet long and had very wide beam. The bottom had no keel, but was curved both fore and aft and abeam. It was made of plywood. The owner, Laurie, told me that the maiden voyage of the craft was down the Colorado through Grand Canyon. I told her I thought it took a decade to get a permit. She told me that she applied on her 18th birthday, began the boat, and received her permit three years later.
Day 9 Monday
We spent the day in Canyonlands National Park. The entrance to the park is very close to our campgrounds, but it is still a fifteen mile drive to the Visitor Center. This park is very close to Arches National Park, but very different. At Arches, you are generally low and looking up at the features. In Canyonlands, you are high and looking down on the features which are mostly canyons. The park is divided into three sections. The section we visited today is called the Island in the Sky and is probably considered a mesa. From the mesa which is generally at the 6,000 foot level, one can view the canyons from a number of overlooks. You are looking into canyons formed by the Green and Colorado rivers, but the rivers are in such deep narrow canyons with such steep walls, that you cannot actually see the water except in a very few locations. We say the end of the road from the Potash Plant that we started to traverse yesterday. I am now thankful that we turned back when we did. It is much too steep. It would be a ‘hoot’ to have access to a four wheel drive vehicle in the Moab area. It would give you access to an entire new experience.
Day 10 Tuesday
We took a ride today up the Castle Canyon road. It was forty mile loop from Route 128 on the Colorado up into a valley and on the La Sal Mountain. The road was paved except for a section. It took us into the National Forest and to high enough elevation that there were some patches of snow along the side of the road. I was a little nervous only because I was not driving and was on the ‘downhill’ edge of the road looking into the abyss below on each curve. Wilma is a good driver; it was just my type ‘A’ personality and not being in control. We saw several deer along the route. The loop ended on Route 191 just south of Moab. We made a planned stop at a laundromat and a thrift store where I purchased a number of books to add to the weight in the camper. It rained in the afternoon providing a nice opportunity to do some reading. The temperature dropped from 60 to 40 as the front moved through. It is supposed to be cool again yesterday, but it looks like fair weather for Thursday when we go on our Colorado River excursion
Day 11 Wednesday
We visited the Needles Area of Canyonlands National Park today. While we are only a few miles from the northern end of the park, we had to travel seventy-five miles to access the southeast section called Needles. It was pretty spectacular as have been all of the areas we have visited. I was most impressed with the visitor center for this section of the park. It fits so seamlessly into the landscape that it would be easy to miss. Frank Lloyd Wright would have approved. The southwest section of the park is called ‘The Maze’ and we will not visit that section. There are no paved roads into that section and the four wheel drive roads are limited. Most of it can only be accessed on foot. It is no wonder that outlaws of the 1800’s used it as a hide-out (Jessie James & the Hole in the Wall gang for one). On the way back, we dropped the dogs off at a kennel as we will be gone all day tomorrow on our river excursion.
Day 12 Thursday
We had a great day on our river excursion. We had a nearly two hour drive to the landing. There were twenty four in the group in four boats. We had couples from Houston and Chicago with us. The first segment of the trip had some small rapids which was nice to get us oriented. After a shore lunch, we headed into the fast part of the river. The rapids exceeded my expectations. The total run was fourteen miles with seven miles of rapids. What a hoot! We all got totally soaked. No one got thrown out of the rafts although it is not uncommon. Our oarsman was a college junior who has three years experience working for this company. She was very skillful!! I think she only was about 125 pounds, but one strong young lady. If I ever get out this way again I think I am going to try the two day Cataract Canyon excursion which is just below the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers. It is supposed to be the ultimate trip in this area. The trip we took today included class III and IV rapids. Cataract Canyon has some level V rapids. I am hooked!!
Day 13 Friday
Today was a travel day from Moab to Torrey which is just outside Capitol Reef National Park. The trip was only 144 miles so it was not a great effort. We had a leisurely breakfast and were on the road by 10:00. The country between the two towns can only be described as desolate until we got into the park. We drove north to pick-up I70 which we took west for about thirty miles. At one point, a sign indicated that there were no services (food, gas, or lodging) for 106 miles. Wouldn’t that be a great place to break down? Our route took us through Capitol Reef, so we got to see some of it. We stopped at the Visitor Center, picked up literature so we could plan our outing tomorrow. Our goal this evening is to fine tune our ‘calendar’ and make some reservations for the next few stops. I am still surprised by the number of other tourists doing the same national park circuit that we are. We ran into a group from Normandy, France, during our lunch stop in Hanksville. They were on motor cycles and doing the ‘loop’ starting and ending in Los Angeles on rented bikes. While filling up with gas in Torrey, I briefly talked to a group from the Netherlands doing the exact same thing. I asked if they were in some way connected to the other group and they indicated not. I think another factor for the number of ‘folk’ on the road at this time is that there are more and more people retiring and doing the travel that they have promised themselves for so many years. I suspect that as the ‘baby boomers’ continue to join the ranks of retirees, the national parks will become jammed with ‘blue haired and balds’.
Day 14 Saturday
We got up to freezing temperatures this morning. It is amazing in this area that it gets so cold at night and warms up to much during the day. We spent the day touring Capitol Reef. We started by touring an 1850 historical homestead. They were selling home baked good which is my downfall. Needless to say, I walked out with some goodies. The Fremont River flows through this valley and became the foundation for a Mormon settlement named Fruita which was composed of about ten families. There are a number of orchards and farm fields all adjacent to the river. They have done a nice job restoring the remaining houses and farm buildings. We continued up the sixteen mile scenic drive that follows the river valley into the higher country where the geological formations are located. Very impressive! At the end of the paved road there is a good dirt road that leads to the base of Capitol Gorge. From there, it is a 1.5 mile hike up the gorge following a dry creek bed. The gorge is most impressive. In most places, it is about 20 yards wide at the base with near vertical rock cliffs towering several hundred feet. At the end of the flat trail is a .2 mile trail lead up (very steep climb) to what is called the tanks. These tanks are really just basins in floor of a solid rock stream bed. They are about 10-20 yards wide and about ten feet deep. They are formed by the sandstone cement being dissolved by the water. After hiking out, we had our picnic lunch back at the historical homestead where I dug into the blackberry pie purchased earlier in the day. We visited an historical school building and another settler’s cabin made of stone. Mud was used for mortar and is still in place after a hundred years. The sloped roof is covered with mud as well. Amazing what one can ‘get away with in a dry climate.
When went back to the campground to water the dogs and then headed north on Route 12 into the Dixie National Forest. The road took us to an elevation were there was still a lot of snow. At the summit, there is a nice overlook where you can see the tops of mountains that are a hundred miles away. The air here is so clear that visibility is almost unlimited. I ran into another Hoosier and during conversation figured out that we knew one another. I believe his first name is Jeff and he is the son of John Nolton who was a friend of Dad. He even looks a lot like John. He remembers Susan from Valpo High School. It just goes to show you that you have to behave yourself even when out-of-town as you never know who you might meet.
Day 15 Sunday
We took Rte 12 from Torrey to Bryce Canyon National Park. While it was only 110 miles, it was most memorial drive. The road was steep, winding, steep, a little scary at points. I think we started at about 6,000 feet and went to 9,600. It was up and down all the way with a lot of sharp curves. It was slow going to say the least. It was, however, a beautiful drive. At times were here high in the mountains surrounded by Ponderosa Pine and other times in the high dessert surrounded by Pinion Pine and low vegetation. Throughout, the vistas were breathtaking. At one point, the road followed the crest of a ridge with no shoulders or guard rails and 1,000 foot drops both ways. That was a period of slow speeds and close concentration.
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