The king of slickrock surveys his domain.

Arches, arches, everywhere

We were in Arches NP all day. We took the longest trail with the most access to the most arches in the park. It was a long day. We weren't alone on the trail. Most of our fellow hikers were what we South Carolinians call "furners". I'd say 90%. We're both sorta worn out so we might do something easier tomorrow.

Moab Utah

We had a short drive, (1 hour) to get to Moab. The MP and the car were due oil changes so that was the first thing we did when we arrived. We are staying at a hoity toity RV resort just North of town. To stay here your RV must be less than 5 years old, it must be a class A or a super C. I don't know what that is, either. In preparation for our attempt to check in, Jenny put on make-up and I shaved and put on a collared shirt. Bingo baby, we're in. We have the smallest rig by far. We visited the Arches NP visitor center to plan our hike tomorrow. After that, I did an 18 mile bike ride. Moab is the mountain biking capital of the known universe. I'm hoping to sample some of the trails in the next few days. We will be here for maybe a week. This pic is Park Service humor.

Green River Utah

We're headed for Moab. The drive from Great Basin was a little longer than I care to do in one stretch so we stopped at Green River St. Park. We've tent camped here before so we kinda knew it. There are some lonely roads in this part of the country. I took this pic while driving on Hwy 50, west of Delta Ut.

Bristlecone grove hike

You have to drive to the end
Of the road up an 8% grade for 12 miles to get to the trailhead at 10500 feet for the Bristlecone trail. We were out of breath walking to the outhouse. The grove we hiked to was in a very rocky area just below the tree line. There were as many dead ones as live ones. The wood is so dense that a dead tree can remain standing for 2500 years. I'm not making this up. Tomorrow we begin our course reversal--eastward Ho.

Great Basin National Park Nevada

We are here because I want to visit one of the Bristlecone pine groves in the park. They grow between 9000 & 11000 feet and are the oldest living things on earth. They cut one down in the 60s and it had 4900 growth rings. We are camped at 7000 and we did a pretty vigorous hike yesterday above 8000. We will probably only stay 2 nights.

Antique car caravan visits Zion

Zion backpack day 3

Today was our last day. The day started clear. It was a scorcher for an hour then it clouded up and started raining. We put on our rain gear so it stopped. The sun came out again and this time there was a Steamy humidity, sweet! 5 hours and a 1500 foot climb had us back at the car. Tomorrow Jenny thinks we should try to wash our camping clothes. I think we should just chuck 'um. We are still planning on continuing in a westward direction but we're close to our direction reversal. Tomorrow we'll decide where to next.

Zion backpack day 2

We are base camping (not moving camp) so all I had to do this morning was fix breakfast. Spam & grits. It's kinda like shrimp & grits only with Spam. I did my hike today. I was gone for nearly 6 hours and didn't get to the lake I was trying to  find. The GPS had me .47 miles away but I had already been out 2 1/2 hours and that last bit was going to be a bushwacking extravaganza. Oh well. It was one of those "it's better to have tried and failed" things. Don't know yet if the creek will 'flash' again. There are some thunderstorms around but they are far off. Tomorrow we backtrack the 8 miles back to our car. We'll stay 2 more nights in Virgin. We need to come up with a plan for the next few weeks. We've been out over 2 months.

Zion backpack day 1

It's 8PM, I'm laying on my sleeping bag listening to the thunder echo off the canyon walls. We had rain earlier and the creek flash flooded. A flash flood is really an amazing thing to witness. You hear it before you see it. The clear, tranquil creek becomes a raging torrent, pushing debris in front of a wall of water the color of chocolate milk. We are in the monsoon here so thunderstormy afternoons are normal. The hike in, covered 8 miles and took nearly 5 hours. I've got a small lake I'd like to find tomorrow. It's a difficult bushwack that might be impossible so Jenny isn't going. I'll give it a try and see how it goes.

In the saddle

We drove to the visitors center early in order to get our back country permit for our backpack tomorrow. We then rode our bikes to the lodge and ate breakfast. After that we continued up the canyon until the road dead ends. We then returned to the car. The whole deal took 4 hours. One of the following pics shows Jenny looking up at where we were yesterday. There will be no posts for at least 3 days. We are backpacking in La Verkin creek. Camped at site 12.

Zion Canyon bike ride

Pretty hairy hike.

We got going pretty early so we could nab a parking spot at the visitor's center. We still had to ride the park shuttle a couple of stops to get to the trail head. It's only 2 1/2 miles to the top but its 1500 feet of elevation gain, so It's real steep. The last 1/2 mile is a scrambling climb. The park service has provided chain guardrails in places but there were many scary unprotected sections. The round trip took us 4 hours. The views from the top of Angels Landing were really indescribable. A camera can't really capture the scenery. Here are a few pics anyway. Tomorrow I think we'll bike ride.

On the summit

1400 foot exposure on both sides

Near the top

Angel landing trail

In Virgin

The town was named for The Virgin River, that flows through it. I've got no idea how the river got its name. We drove over 2 mountain passes today, both around 8000 feet. The MP struggled some. At one point I was going 35 mph under the speed limit. We have become what used to be a source of dread (the RV up ahead towing a car driven by some old guy) At least we were moving. Tomorrow we do a hike I've always wanted to do in Zion named Angels Landing. I want to do a backpack in a few days. We went to the back country desk and the ranger told us we would have to come in early on Monday to try & get a permit. Say what? This pic was taken behind the RV park in Virgin. The river is the towns namesake.

Rest stop I 15, headed for Virgin Ut.

Last day at Capital Reef

We hit the trail again this morning. The Chimney Rock Trail. I wonder how many Chimney Rocks there are in this country? Seems like they're everywhere. We walked through a sedimentary layer that had a lot of petrified wood in it. Petrified wood can be caused by taking 2 viagaras instead of 1. There are other causes but that's the most common. We head toward Zion, tomorrow.

Sulphur Creek

Today's big adventure was a 5 mile hike down sulphur creek. So named because of the abundance of yellow rock. The ranger advised against the hike because of flash flood danger. Yeah right! We left the bikes at the visitors center and drove to the trailhead. The hike was pretty cool. There were 4 pour offs (waterfalls) we had to find a way around. We survived those and made it out before the flash flood. Thank god! We got the bikes, rode back to the MP and rested for a while and then I rode my bike back to the car. We are supposed to leave tomorrow but we will probably stay an extra day. We are sitting in a parking lot of a business that provides free wifi. Sweet. Tonight is a restaurant night. Gotta go.

Feet wet

Moved to NP campground

We didn't do much today. The drive was only 12 miles. We have nothing in the way of amenities in this campground. The campground is pretty. Big trees, green grass, and a river. We had to drive back into town to do this and to check messages. Tomorrow we will hike in a stream bed for 5 miles. I'll have to retrieve the car using my bike. There is one 8 foot waterfall that is supposed to be an interesting problem. More tomorrow, maybe.

Cottonwoodus giganticus

NP exploritorium

Confidence is the feeling you get before you fully realize the situation 
I saw that on a T-shirt and thought it applied to me. We drove around the park today. That's Capital Reef National Park. The park protects the Water Pocket Fold. It's a fault in the earths crust that has pushed up a 100 mile long ridge, exposing hundreds of millions of years of sedimentary rock. The capital reef name, comes from an exposed rock that sorta looks like the capital dome. You can see it in one of the pictures in this post. Tomorrow we will move into the park campground. They have no cell phone and no WiFi. We will probably drive into Torrey every afternoon to check messages.

Torrey Utah

We started our drive out of Bluff, disconnected. There are a couple of really long, really steep, hills that would have slowed us to a crawl if I was towing the car. Jenny & I kept in touch with walkie-talkies. During the hour we were separated the 'low tire pressure' light came on in the car. The driver side front tire was leaking air. That added to the fun. We got it fixed today. Torrey doesn't have anything approaching a garage but it does have a guy that can do anything. His name is Biggi. 20 bucks. Today we did a 4 hour drive on Hwy 12. It was very cool. We topped out over 9000 feet and 56 degrees. We ate lunch in Boulder Ut. At a resort restaurant that some guy named Zagat liked a lot. Tomorrow we'll go into Capital Reef and spend the day exploring. There appears to be several days worth of new and exciting things to do around here. We might move the MP to a different location or we might not. So many critical decisions to make!

Singletree creek waterfall

Utah Hwy 12 scenic drive

Headed for Torrey Ut.

Should have little or no WiFi in Torrey. It's a small town near Capital Reef NP. We will try to stay in touch. Jenny always seems to find a way.

H2O-NO

They say an adventure begins when the planning falls apart-----we made it through the hike to the bottom  with some difficulty. This is a designated wilderness, so there is no trail maintence or signage. There are boulder fields and pour offs to navigate but we made it to the bottom in 6 hours. The adventure began when I made a navigation error and turned us away from the possible water source that we were hoping to find. We were now 1 & 1/2 hours from that questionable water source. We were tired so we made camp and assessed our situation. We maybe had enough water to get back to the car if we were careful. We couldn't cook so we ate dried fruit and some John Begnaud, San Angelo pecans for dinner. Thanks again John. We got an early start and headed back up. It was all uphill, we were not well rested, not well fed and rationing our water. I was able to filter some water out of a couple of fetid puddles we hiked near so water turned out not to be a big problem. 7 hours had us back at the car. One more hour and we were at the MP. We ate dinner at one of the 3 restaurants in Bluff. I lost 6 lbs. in 2 days so I stuffed myself. Today is laundry and planning our next move.

Finally out

Grand Gulch dry camp

Half a tank

Yes It's true. We drove around for nearly 6 hours exploring some back roads. We were on dirt for 4 of the 6. Tomorrow we start a little backpack in the Grand Gulch. Just in case anybody asks, here's the plan. Bullet canyon trailhead, 2 nights in Sheiks canyon then return to Bluff on 13 July. The controlling agency is the BLM office in Monticello Ut. The Grand Gulch ranger station has been closed for over a month so we couldn't get any current information. Water is our concern. I've been in Sheiks canyon 4 times in the last 20 years and it has always had a flowing spring. If things go as planned we will be completely out of touch until late Saturday, the 13th.

Valley of the gods

Moki Dugway

Bluff Utah

I have been here many times. Jenny and I have been here alot. We are in the heart of the 4 corners. The San Juan river flows through town. The Morman prophet, Brigham Young, wanted to spread Mormonism south of Salt Lake and he is responsible for the settlement of Bluff. The story of the pioneers journey here is epic. We are in a commercial campground.

Last day at Bandelier

I did a little off trail exploring this morning and came upon a unexcavated ruin on the mesa top. There were quite a few relics laying around. Here are a couple of pottery shards I found. I left them where I found them. We should be in Bluff Utah tomorrow. It will be a base for one of our backpacking trips.

It wasn't too boring

That was Jenny's description of the hike.... A gazillion years ago a super volcano called Valles Caldera erupted twice and deposited 1000 feet of ash on the surrounding area. It took awhile but a little creek cut a canyon 1000 feet deep in the ash. Our hike today took us up that canyon. It wasn't boring because there were a bunch of creek crossings. It wasn't boring because when we found the trail to take us up and out of the canyon the sign made no sense. Every sign we saw added to our confusion. Some more excitment was caused by a huge thunderstorm that came out of nowhere and followed us to our car. 13 miles in 7 hours. Tomorrow might be our last day here, don't know yet.

Bandelier NM

We are up around 6000 feet. The wind is blowing through the Ponderosa pines and there is a thunderstorm around here somewhere. Pretty neat. We got in reasonably early, visited the visitors center and then did a loop hike to see a few of the pueblo ruins. The campground is mostly for tents but there are a few sites that were suitable for the MP. We had a fairly informative discussion with a volunteer ranger and have decided on a few hikes. We're here for at least 3 days. We might stay longer. Jenny considers 'roughing it' to be, no internet. Her standards have changed apparently.

Tak'n care of business

We needed a day in civilization to do a few things. I got a haircut, we ate Mexican food, went shopping at 'Camping World', Bought groceries and did laundry. We also needed a destination for tomorrow. We decided on Banderlier National Monument. It's northwest of Santa Fe near Los Alamos. I've known about it for many years but have never been there. There are Indian ruins and good hiking. There are no hookups so we will have to be self contained. I filled up the fresh water and will drain the dirty water tomorrow. Cell coverage is non-existent apparently so this might be it for awhile. I'll send a spot if I think about it.

Out of Texas

It took us 33 days but we are now out of Texas. We stayed in 7 different state parks. We are trying to figure out where to go next. Don't know yet. Here are a couple of pics taken during a backstage tour of the outdoor musical "Texas" that we did yesterday.

Trail Ride

Palo Duro is supposed to have the best mountain biking in Texas. I can't argue that. I have had many good bike rides on this trip but todays was really fine. I was only scared S%&#less a couple of times and I broke no bones. The outdoor musical we saw last night was very well done. Quite a production. Tomorrow we move to Albuquerque.

Light House

Our big event this morning was a 8 mile hike to a rock formation called 'the light house'. It's the most identifiable feature in the park and consequently the trail is the busiest. The trail was primarily packed dirt and is open to mountain bikes. The park has many long bikeable trails. Tomorrow I'll ride some of them. Probably the biggest attraction in Palo Duro Canyon is an outdoor play entitled "Texas". There is an enormous amphitheatre in the canyon with a spectacular backdrop where the presentation takes place. We are going to see it tonight. We are eligable for the senior citizens discount. Don't know if we should be happy or sad.

Palo Duro Canyon

We drove through a bunch of Texas towns that I have never heard of. My favorite was, Turkey Texas. The canyon sort of sneaks up on you. I guess that's what canyons do. The weather cooled off quite a bit. I guess we won't be frying eggs on the aluminium picnic table. Absolutely no cell service in the canyon. We had to drive up to the top and use our 'Wilson Sleek signal booster'. It still might not work. If this goes out I suppose it did.