Zion day 2

We did a couple of hikes today. Our most significant hike was the approach trail to the Narrows of the Virgin River. The Virgin River Narrows hike is the most hiked route in the park. At the end of the one mile trail that we hiked the trail ends and in order to continue you have to walk upstream in the river. The river was clogged with people. We were not going to hike in the river anyway but seeing the mob wading upstream convinced us that we didn't want to be part of that group. I threw our names into a lottery for a chance to hike to Angels Landing tomorrow and bizarrely we won. The Angels Landing hike is one of the most iconic hikes in the country. John and I will get an early start tomorrow. I should have a few pics taken from the top in tomorrow's post. Tomorrow is the last full day of this 10 day adventure with John & Jeanne. It's been an action packed trip with good fellowship. More tomorrow.

Zion National Park

The drive was embarrassingly short to get here. We arrived something like 4 hours before check in. I've never stayed in the lodge here. There is a gate with a code that lets us into a part of the park where riff raff urchins aren't allowed. I had last years code. That was a source of some excitement. A shuttle bus driver, with a full passenger load behind us, was not impressed. We eventually got through the gate and had a good lunch in the lodge. To kill some time we booked a narrated 1 hour trolley tour up the canyon road. We eventually both got checked into our cozy cabins and are now waiting for our dinner reservation time to arrive. It was hot in the valley this afternoon but the cabins are air conditioned. Whoppee! More tomorrow.

Bryce day 3

Today we had a small dilemma. We have accumulated a weeks with of laundry but we  wanted to do some more exploring. Our solution was to split up. John and I did a 6 mile hike on the fairyland trail. (Jenny drove us to the trailhead and we hiked to the lodge) Jenny and Jeanne did a shorter hike to Mossy Cave and were able to find a laundromat outside the park. That plan was executed perfectly and we all met back here at 2:00. We are thinking pizza and beer this afternoon. It's Zion for 3 days starting tomorrow. Not sure what we'll do there. We tried and failed to get a slot for the Angels Landing hike and we absolutely won't do The Virgin River Narrows again. Twice is plenty. More tomorrow.

Bryce day 2

This is becoming a habit. It 10:30 and our day has just ended. Jenny, John & I did one of the classic Bryce Canyon hikes this morning. Jeanne is not comfortable with the 9000 foot elevation so she bowed out of the morning hike. We did a few things outside the park in the early afternoon and then drove 18 miles to the upper end of the park to see the small grove of Bristle Cone Pine trees that the park has. There was a nice hike to see those trees. We had just enough time to stop at the favorite place for viewing the sunset. Of course we are approaching the longest day of the year so sunset was close to 9:00. Socializing ensued and here we are 10:30. We are here one more day. More tomorrow.

Bryce Canyon

During the drive here we took a detour on a 30 mile dirt road to visit "Hells Backbone". It's kinda hard to explain so I won't do it but I have included some pictures. We are here for 3 nights and will begin our exploration tomorrow. We are at close to 9000 feet. There is no AC in any of the buildings but the typical high is in the 80s and the average low is in the 50s. More tomorrow.

Torrey day 4

Today's adventure was a long hike on the frying pan trail. The scenery was spectacular but the trail was brutal. We did it one way leaving one car at the take out and driving the other to the trailhead. We were on the trail for nearly 6 hours and saw no one else. Either everyone else knew something we didn't or we didn't know something we should of. Even though the hike was difficult, and we were happy when it ended, the experience will not be forgotten any time soon. It was an A+.

Torrey day 3

We did a long scenic drive today after a visit to the visitor center and some fruit harvesting from the extensive orchards in the park. We decided that we should probably take a day off from hiking. We hit the trails again tomorrow. 

Torrey Utah day 2

I probably should have mentioned yesterday that we are in Torrey to visit Capital Reef NP. We did a long hike today down Sulfur Creek. It was supposed to be 5 miles but Apple, and Garmin begged to disagree. There were 4 waterfalls that required some scrambling to get around. It was an adventure that shall not be forgotten very soon. We are here until Thursday.

Torrey Utah

John and Jeanne arrived a few hours after we did after 2 long days of driving. We did a couple of short hikes to get their legs working. We will do some serious exploring starting tomorrow. Yesterday's ORV tour was a 90 minute rollercoaster ride. It was called a Sunset Tour and that it was. We didn't get back to the MP until 9:30. The weather has been cooperating for the most part. Highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s. More tomorrow.

Kanab day 3

We have booked a 2 and a half hour sunset tour through parts of Coral Pink Sand dunes SP on ORVs. We are riding, not driving. We most likely won't get back to the MP until pretty late so I probably won't post anything about that until tomorrow. We put the Old Girl in storage tomorrow and drive to Torrey Utah to meet up with John and Jeanne. I did a pleasant bike ride this morning around a lake that is not far from here. See pic.

Kanab day 2

Today we did "The belly of the dragon". Apparently, years ago, a tunnel was dug through a hillside to facilitate the efficient movement of flood waters under a highway. Through the years, after many floods, that tunnel has grown and been reshaped. It's now a tourist attraction. We walked through the tunnel and continued up the canyon for about a mile before turning around. The next part of this trip will be visits, with John & Jeanne Begnaud, to Capital Reef, Bryce and Zion. 10 days total. We have booked a storage facility for the RV here in Kanab. We visited that place this morning and we think there's a good chance it will work out. There was some confusion about the site we had been assigned and the availability of electricity at the site. Please cross your fingers. Not sure what we will do tomorrow. We will need to give some thought to what we will need to take with us on our National Park tour. More tomorrow.

Dark Sky RV campground

We are in Kanab Utah. On the way here we drove through Page Az and drove around lake Powell just to have a look. It's still a lake, just very much diminished. This campground serves a free meal for all the campers every Thursday. That's today. Lasagna and complementary beer and wine. There is also a star gazing deal with telescopes at 9:45. Hopefully we can stay up after eating lasagna and drinking wine.

Flagstaff day 2

I've been thinking pretty deeply today about Flagstaff. A flagstaff is a stick with a flag on it. I'm just wondering. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight without thinking about it. Anyway, Flagstaff's elevation is 7200 feet. There is effectively 23% less O2 at this altitude. I mention that because I rode a few of the Forest Service trails behind the KOA this morning. During the short ride to the trailhead my heart rate was above 150. This is not a good sign. During the ride I encountered a young lady who was out for a hike. She passed me. Kinda embarrassing. Anyway, I exhausted myself but recovered enough to take Jenny on a hike on some of the trails that I rode. So, we both got some much needed exercise. We move tomorrow to Kanab Utah.

Flagstaff KOA

Today's drive was a windy challenge. The Sprinter has a feature called "crosswind assist" when it senses that the van is about to get blown over the upwind brakes apply themselves for a brief moment. The first time it happened it scared the shit out of me. It happened maybe a dozen times today. The wind was really bad. We are in camp under the ponderosa pines and it's still really bad. It is a cool wind however. We might need the heater later. This KOA backs up to a national forest with trails. I will try to ride a few of them tomorrow. We stopped a few times on the way here. We weren't in a hurry. I tried to capture the blowing dust a a gas stop along the way. We are here for 2 nights.

American RV resort

We made it to Albuquerque unscathed. The last time we stayed here was probably 5 years ago. This place has deteriorated quite a bit or my memory of it has deteriorated. Anyway something has deteriorated. We probably won't stay here again. There was a pretty strong thunderstorm that blew through here after we arrived. It was preceded by a wall of dust. RVing has many different experiences. We head to Flagstaff tomorrow. It took us 17 days for us to get out of Texas. I took no pics on the drive. I'll see if I can find something in the archives.

Palo Duro day 3

It was 56° this morning and 98° this afternoon. The park rangers opened the trails one at a time as they dried out. We had a couple of good hikes on freshly opened trails. One of the trails we hiked had a sunscreen dispenser at the trailhead. That was a first for us. We have seen large numbers of roadrunners everywhere we have been. It's hard to take their picture (beep-beep). That colorful lizard picture is unedited. We get on I 40 tomorrow and should end up in Albuquerque for a one nighter. Hopefully nothing blog worthy will happen tomorrow. Here's hopeing.

Palo day 2

It started raining this morning and hasn't stopped. The soil in the canyon is not sandy, it's just dirt. The trails are now just mud. The park trails have all been closed due to that sad fact. No significant, or for that matter, insignificant outside activity occurred today. I will give you some Palo Duro Canyon info: "Palo Duro" is Spanish for "hard wood" in reference to the Rocky Mountain Juniper tree that is common in the Canyon. The "Red River War's" final battle was fought here in 1874. That was the end of the Southern Plains Indian rebellion and opened up the area for settlement. Of course it was previously settled by the Indians but that's another story. Charles Goodnight moved in and started raising Longhorns. His ranch reached its peak in 1885 at 1,325,000 acres and 100,000 head of cattle. The canyon is 120 miles long and 700 feet deep. It's the 2nd largest canyon in the country. One of the branches of the Red River  started carving it right after Trump was born. Maybe before that, it's hard to tell. Hopefully things will dry up soon and we'll be able to get out. More tomorrow. PS-the burger was pretty good.

Palo Duro Canyon SP

This is the second time we have visited this Park. I think we are here for 3 days. I'll have to check. The campgrounds are in the bottom of canyon with no cell service and no wifi. The world could end and we wouldn't know it. I guess we'd find out eventually. We will be hiking and I will be biking starting tomorrow. I will keep you informed as best as I can.

Big Spring Texas

There is, what used to be, a big spring here. The natural spring dried up in the 1920s. The city of Big Spring has replaced the original natural spring with a reasonable facsimile and built a park around it. There were numerous informative plaques to read covering the history of the spring near the viewing platform. At least 12,000 years of historical evidence has been discovered. The Spaniards first noted it's existence in the early 1500s. It was being used forever and then we showed up. Are we good or what? There was a disc golf course in the park and I couldn't resist playing a few holes. This is a one night stand. We are in Palo Duro SP tomorrow.

More Cattle Rustling

We spent some time this morning trying to check on (find) some cows scattered across a couple of hundred acres of thick central Texas woodlands. We had only limited success. John and I spent the afternoon bobbin, which in local parlance is floating on something in the lake and drinking beer. This is explained as "we be bobbin!" Our stay here is almost over. We head north tomorrow. It has been a great get together with good friends and exceptional hosts.

Pushing Doggies

We had to rustle some Angus Bulls today and transport them to San Saba for an upcoming cattle auction. John is estimating $2700 per cow. I have decided the profession of cowboy might not be as exciting and exotic as depicted on TV. Trust me on this. Those signs were posted on the walls of the intake shack. We are eating and drinking to much. We might recover over time.