After spending 3 nights and two days camping near Moab, some good riding and awesome hiking, it was time to head home. The Colorado Plateau is one of my favorite places in our beautiful country. When climbing the western slope of the Rocky Mountains my eye is in the mirror and my mind is on the things I have seen and things I have just experienced.
Crossing under the continental divide through the eastbound lane of the longest tunnel on the US interstate system the weather changed. Warm and sunny turned into a chill and a few sprinkles. About 25 miles before the tunnel a car was passing to my left and kicked up a piece of tire tread and it hit the fender of the camper and almost tore it off. Not a huge deal, could have been worse. After stopping and looking at it I knew it would not fall off but I didn't like seeing it flopping against the trailer. Went to Fort Myer that night. I bought some RTD adhesive and glued the fender to the body of the camper, problem solved.
The rest of the trip home was uneventful, which can be a good thing. Returning home after a 2 week vacation in pretty much the same condition as when you left is the first goal of any trip.
I can't wait to start planning the next adventure
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A Walk In The Park
We spent 2 days hiking in Arches. On the second day it was a 5 hour hike. 93 degrees, some wispy clouds and really hot. Beautiful, I don't have the words to describe it so here are a few pictures
Linda's favorite rock formation
Linda's favorite rock formation
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Utah Route 12
http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/2020/
This road runs from Red Canyon at the junction with US Route 89 East to Torrey Utah at the intersection with UT 24. When the guys at the DNR decided to designate America's most scenic roads, this was the first one they chose. Probably unanimous, with gusto and a few hell yes's. 124 miles of beautiful changing scenery and sweepers with plenty of mountain twisties thrown in. At the western end there is Red Canyon, 
which is made of silly sand, and it has a couple of tunnels. Bryce Canyon is right next to this end of the road also. We took a short hike to Mossy Cave.
Then it runs the northern edge of Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument. We stayed in Escalante, a nice tiny town with some good restaurants and hiked some of the area. A little past there it has some good switchbacks going into 
the Escalante River Canyon – up over Hogs Back, a stretch of road that has 500 foot cliffs straight 
down on 
either side of the roadbed.
which is made of silly sand, and it has a couple of tunnels. Bryce Canyon is right next to this end of the road also. We took a short hike to Mossy Cave.Then it runs the northern edge of Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument. We stayed in Escalante, a nice tiny town with some good restaurants and hiked some of the area. A little past there it has some good switchbacks going into 
the Escalante River Canyon – up over Hogs Back, a stretch of road that has 500 foot cliffs straight 
down on 
either side of the roadbed.After this amazing part you pass the town of Boulder, then climb over a 9,500 foot mountain pass with tall trees and chilly mountain air. After winding down the other side of the pass don't blink, you will miss the town of Grover, then ease in to Torrey going through desert and sandstone cliffs.
The best part of this road? No billboards, no fast food joints and plenty of pullouts to stop and enjoy the scenery!
One thing I need to warn you about. THIS ROAD IS HAUNTED. Several times I felt this strange pounding sensation about my head and shoulders and screaming coming from the back of my head. It sounded like S-S-SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA D-D-DOAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I think Linda heard it too, when I looked at her in the mirror her face was as white as a ghost and her eyes were all bugged out.
The best part of this road? No billboards, no fast food joints and plenty of pullouts to stop and enjoy the scenery!
One thing I need to warn you about. THIS ROAD IS HAUNTED. Several times I felt this strange pounding sensation about my head and shoulders and screaming coming from the back of my head. It sounded like S-S-SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA D-D-DOAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I think Linda heard it too, when I looked at her in the mirror her face was as white as a ghost and her eyes were all bugged out.
Plans Don't Change, Plans Evolve. Sometimes In A Circular Fashion.
When We left Escalante I wanted to go a few miles, drop the trailer and set up camp. Then run back a ways and ride the Burr Trail Road, it's supposed to be a great motorcycle road. We stopped for breakfast at the Burr Trail Grill in Boulder. Looked at the menu, no bacon, no sausage, organic eggs, $10.00 French Toast $3.50 for a cup of coffee. Must be some place better down the road, right? Yup, far down the road. In Torrey. So I put Burr Trail Road off until the next time I'm here. I wanted to camp in Goblin Valley, a Utah state park. Stopped in Hanksville and got gas and groceries. Turned down the road to Goblin Valley and right away there is some road construction going on. Talked to the flagman about the conditions, he said no problem, just stay in the traveled part of the road. Went ahead and the front wheel started floating around, in and out of the ruts. Then the rear wheel started fishtailing at the same time. I stopped before I dumped it, when I tried to get going again the rear wheel sunk in the sand. So we unhooked the trailer Linda pushed the bike and we got unstuck then turned everything around and got out of the construction zone. It turned out that they just tore the road out that morning and watered the sand down. Good thing they didn't do that when we were in the park. So Goblin Valley will have to wait for next time also. By then we were close to Interstate 70, No problem, we'll just camp at Arches, my favorite National park. We came to the park gate and Linda saw a sign that said “Campground Full”. Now were are camping on Utah Route 128, the great road with all the campgrounds along it, right beside the Colorado River. 1.5 miles from Moab 
and very close to Arches.
and very close to Arches. Circle completed. All is good.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Right now I'm sitting on the porch at a motel in Escalante in Southern Utah watching the sun go down. Today we rode 8 miles down Hole in the Rock road. It's a dirt/rock washboard road that we took to Zebra Slot Canyon.
The trail from the road is around 3 miles through the desert, it was only about 88 degrees today on the hike, very nice.
As you can see the trail to the canyon is well used, but we only saw 1 other couple all day.
It rained yesterday and there were some mud holes in the dry washes. This is a mouse type of critter that got stuck in the mud, in a bunch of millions of years he will be a fossil.
Me having fun
The trail from the road is around 3 miles through the desert, it was only about 88 degrees today on the hike, very nice.
As you can see the trail to the canyon is well used, but we only saw 1 other couple all day.
It rained yesterday and there were some mud holes in the dry washes. This is a mouse type of critter that got stuck in the mud, in a bunch of millions of years he will be a fossil.
The beginning of Zebra Slot
Here is Linda getting really adventurous
Me having fun
Then it gets even more beautiful
I have lots more pictures that I'll share when we get home.
It was another great day.
I have lots more pictures that I'll share when we get home.
It was another great day.
Looking forward to another one tomorrow!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
North Rim, Zion, Bryce
We are at Bryce now, so time for a little catchup. The north rim stay was nice, the cabin was a little small and no cooking in it, but we weren't planning on spending a lot of time there anyway. Being close to the lodge was convenient for ranger presentations,visitors center and trail heads. Also the restaurant, where I had prime rib,
Linda had salmon, with a view of the sun setting over one of the most beautiful scenes in the world. 
Prices were a little high for Iowa standards, but not as much as you might expect. The talks the rangers gave were very interesting, the first was about Torowep, a long back country hike where you can sit on a cliff 2000 feet high and look straight down on the Colorado river. It is in the volcanic region of the canyon many miles past the end of a 4 wheel drive road. The second was about Geology of the canyon and Thunder River, a place I hiked to when I was on a raft trip through the Grand Canyon many years ago. Cape Royal drive and hike was a nice part of the day there. If I would do the north rim again I think I would camp there, the trail to the lodge is only 1.5 miles.
The road into Zion is Awesome!
Meandering through high weathered sandstone cliffs, through narrow tunnels chiseled into the mountains during the 1920's. 
The weather was warm for me, hot for Linda until it got windy and rained a little. Then it was time to put on another layer of clothes. Cars are limited to those staying at the lodge because at one point there were up to 5000 cars driving through this narrow canyon looking for one of 200 parking spots. Camping there was at Watchman campground right next to the Virgin River. When we pumped up the air mattress it didn't stay pumped up, so we didn't sleep the best that night. The next morning we found a thin foam mattress pad, better than nothing.
We arrived in
Bryce Canyon 2:00 on Friday and set up camp in the rain. It cleared up and clouded up and threatened rain several times. Went on a nice walk into the canyon at sunset with lightning in the distance. Woke up to sprinkling rain and a chill. There is blue sky making it's way towards us so there will be some good hiking today. Wrote that this morning, we went on a 4 mile hike into the canyon today, cool place! Lots of strange and beautiful formations to walk in. 
Going to break camp in the morning and 
head to Escalante and hopefully hike to some slot canyons. The hurricane coming from Baja California is sending some rain up here so have to watch for flash floods. might not get to go there but we will find something else to do.
Linda had salmon, with a view of the sun setting over one of the most beautiful scenes in the world. 
Prices were a little high for Iowa standards, but not as much as you might expect. The talks the rangers gave were very interesting, the first was about Torowep, a long back country hike where you can sit on a cliff 2000 feet high and look straight down on the Colorado river. It is in the volcanic region of the canyon many miles past the end of a 4 wheel drive road. The second was about Geology of the canyon and Thunder River, a place I hiked to when I was on a raft trip through the Grand Canyon many years ago. Cape Royal drive and hike was a nice part of the day there. If I would do the north rim again I think I would camp there, the trail to the lodge is only 1.5 miles.The road into Zion is Awesome!
Meandering through high weathered sandstone cliffs, through narrow tunnels chiseled into the mountains during the 1920's. 
The weather was warm for me, hot for Linda until it got windy and rained a little. Then it was time to put on another layer of clothes. Cars are limited to those staying at the lodge because at one point there were up to 5000 cars driving through this narrow canyon looking for one of 200 parking spots. Camping there was at Watchman campground right next to the Virgin River. When we pumped up the air mattress it didn't stay pumped up, so we didn't sleep the best that night. The next morning we found a thin foam mattress pad, better than nothing.We arrived in
Bryce Canyon 2:00 on Friday and set up camp in the rain. It cleared up and clouded up and threatened rain several times. Went on a nice walk into the canyon at sunset with lightning in the distance. Woke up to sprinkling rain and a chill. There is blue sky making it's way towards us so there will be some good hiking today. Wrote that this morning, we went on a 4 mile hike into the canyon today, cool place! Lots of strange and beautiful formations to walk in. 
Going to break camp in the morning and 
head to Escalante and hopefully hike to some slot canyons. The hurricane coming from Baja California is sending some rain up here so have to watch for flash floods. might not get to go there but we will find something else to do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
