Capitol Reef, Escalante and Zion!

Zion National Park, Watchman Campground, Utah

Today was a lot of driving, but broken up by passing thru 2 different National Parks and a National Monument. (What's the difference between a Park and a Monument? Answer: A Park is proclaimed by congress and a monument is proclaimed by a president).

Driving thru Capitol Reef National Park.

 

 

Capitol Reef National Park is unique because it's really about two things: the scenery and the pioneers who settled there. The rock colors and formation are amazing.

Capitol Reef got its name because the initial Mormon settlers thought one of the rock formations reminded them of the Capitol Building. The Reef name because the rocks form a waterpocket fold which is reminiscent of a barrier reef in an ocean.

 

Within the park is one of the original Morman settlements. The park is still maintaining the fruit orchards that the settlers planted here in the 1880's.

Today we were able to pick our own apricots off the trees. (Free if you just eat them right there, $2 a pound to carry them out). We opted to just eat them off the tree.

This park also sells little pies made from the fruit trees. Yum!! Canyonland has better scenery, but Capitol Reef has pie...so I call it a tie.

The bottom picture is a Mormon family cabin. They lived here with 13 children!! Only made it a year before moving on. Gee, I wonder why? (Seriously, how do you fit 15 people in this space?). Everyone...turn!

 

 

Driving thru Grand Staircase-Esclante National Monument is surreal. It feels like you are on the Thunder Mountain ride in Disneyland for a good hour. Up and down, snaking back and forth, while surrounded by colorful rock formations. It's the quintessential scenery from the Westerns we watched as kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We pulled into Zion about 5. We usually enter Zion from the Western side. Today, we entered from Checkerboard Mountain on the Eastern Side. As luck would have it we were greeted by a herd of big horn sheep grazing. Loved the babies on the rocks! These guys are so sure footed on these slippery sandstone rocks.

We have a sweet little camp spot in the park. Our plan is to chill out for a couple of days and enjoy the park.

 

 

We rode our bikes into town in search of something for dinner. On our way back we woefully tried to take selfies while riding. It was a pitiful attempt, maybe something to do with the Polygamy Porter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Peaks and Valleys, Telluride and Canyonlands National Park

Green River State Park, Utah

 

 

 

Heading once more into the high Rockies for Telluride. Gorgeous day for taking in the views.

 

 

 

First thing we did in Telluride was hop on the Gondola and head up to the Mountain Village. I think we had as much fun riding the Gondola as our great-nephews, the Duni boys. We've heard a lot about it from them so we wanted to experience it for ourselves. Thanks boys, good tip - great fun!

 

 

 

Love the waterfall at the end of the canyon overlooking Telluride. We were last here 7 years ago and gosh how things have changed. The town seems to have grown and is even more upscale than we remembered.

We spent the late morning and early afternoon hanging around town, browsing in the shops and having lunch.

Bye Telluride. Hope it's not another 7 years before we see you again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The transition from the Rockies to the sandstone red cliffs was pretty dramatic. Here's some pics along the way.

 

 

 

 

Next destination, Canyonland National Park. After much discussion of whether we hit the southern Needles area or the northern Island in the Sky, we finally opted for the latter. Good thing. Our A/C went out just as we were coming into Moab. After talking to a couple of auto repair shops we found someone who will hook us up with a freon charge at 5 pm. (Back of the napkin math...45 min. to Canyonland, 30 min. to look around, 45 min. back. We got this).

Mmm...didn't factor in that things could heat up. Windows down, hair blowing, the chase is on.

 

 

 

 

NASCAR Eurovan driver Mr. Ned with wheels smoking breaks google driving estimate by 4 minutes.

 

 

 

Canyonland, Island in the Sky, or as we like to call it "Deadlline in the Sky".

We drove to a couple of the overlook viewpoints and dang...just jaw dropping stunning!

No...I'm not getting any closer to the edge. You'll have to take my picture here.

(For the record this is our 37th National Park out of the 59. Wonder if we'll ever make it to American Samoa or the Virgin Islands National Parks?!).

 

 

The Green River Overlook.

 

 

Winnie was all charged up and ready to go. By the time we pulled out of town at 6ish, the temperature outside read 116 degrees! We were going to drive back to Canyonland and camp in one of the primitive campgrounds. We thought it would be fun to get up super early and take some sunrise shots of these incredible views, but I called "uncle." I'm just too dang hot to go without a shower. After a quick perusal of nearby state parks, we found Green River about an hour away. We stayed here about 7 years ago and know it well. Nothing much more than an overnight wayside stop, but it does have showers! It's also the watermelon capitol of the world - who could turn that down? Shower and Ned set up his homemade mosquito netting under the awning. We're golden for tonight.

 

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Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Ridgway State Park, Ridgway, CO

 

We spent most of the morning driving next to the Arkansas River in a gorgeous valley. The Rockies were always in view which just made it ridiculously picturesque. Mid-morning we stopped in the little hipster town of Buena Vista for some coffee. Ironically, we ran into the same group of twenty-somethings from the day before in Leadville. The town this time of year was all about biking, rafting and kayaking.

Further down the road we made a right turn at Salida and drove over the southern Rockies climbing once again to 12,000 feet. Much to our amazement we kept passing cyclists taking on these mountains.

We passed an abandoned mining operation and kept stopping to look out at incredible views.

We spent most of the day at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We've been trying to get here for about 3 years and have always been foiled by inclement weather. Not today, it was in the 90's.

The Gunnison River created this canyon. Most of the canyon is 2000 ft. deep, but reaches close to 3000 ft. in some places. It took a l-o-n-g time to make this canyon, at a rate of 1 inch a century! The Black Canyon got its name because some places at the base only see daylight for 33 minutes a day.

 

 

We took the rim trail and were able to walk out to different lookouts along the canyon.

 

 

It's hard to get a photo perspective on just how far and straight down it is. You can still hear the river roaring from the rim.

 

 

 

Hard to believe but on the other side of the rim is a former akaline desert. In the early 1900's they blasted thru 6 miles of the solid rock and diverted the Gunnison River thru a tunnel into the desert valley.

In the bottom picture you can see the Rockies, the badlands and the now fertile valley, watered by the Gunnison River. Quite an engineering feat.

We watched a movie at the Visitor's Center about early explorers venturing into the canyon. It was originally declared to be "impenetrable". It would make a great Indiana Jones type movie re-enacting the early explorers trying to navigate thru the canyon. My fave, repelling the walls with nitro-glycerin in their backpacks. Yikes!

 

We pulled into Ridgway State Park at about 4:00 and 97 degrees. Before we even set up camp we just drove right to the lake and dove in.

Ahoy Debi....is that you floating way out there? You betcha!

Tonight we are camped on a hill overlooking the reservoir. It feels soooo good to be back to hot weather.

Things I've learned this trip. Rethink our roadtrip to Alaska...cruise?? I am definitely a hot weather camper. Of course, Ned likes the cold nights cuz I snuggle closer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rocky Mountain High

Molly Brown Campground, USFS, Leadville, CO.

 

 

Bucolic meadow view this morning from our campsite. We didn't see any wildlife, but sure enjoyed the sound of the birds and pine scented air.

What a joy to be in a campground where everyone was outside enjoying nature as opposed to so many campgrounds we visit where everyone is inside their RV's.

 

Our morning was spent driving over the Rockies. So interesting to get a different perspective along the varied elevations. When we hit 12,000 ft. I was definitely feeling the altitude.

The highlights were the Ute trail, going over the Continental Divide at the top of the Rockies, and being at the headwaters of the Colorado River.

We so appreciated the great weather and being able to see forever...well at least to Wyoming.

p.s. Things we do not take for granted on road trips: good weather, hot showers, cell service and being such great traveling companions. So much fun to travel with someone who enjoys the unknown and adventures as much as me.

 

On the western side of the Rockies we stopped by Grand Lake Lodge. The best part of the lodge is its location looking down on Grand and Granby Lakes. The inside is pretty and has a gigantic circular fireplace in the middle of the room, but the majestic lodges of the Northwest are more dramatic and grandiose.

 

 

We were going to do a side trip to Vail, but a crash closed the pass. Rather than sit in traffic we decided to head for Leadville. I was really looking forward to exploring this town. Several years ago I read the book, Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. Among other places the book takes place in Grass Valley and Leadville.

Loved, loved Leadville. A hippie, outdoors kinda town. Reminded me a lot of Nevada City. My favorite place was the Beer and Oxygen Bar. At 10,200 feet this is the only place that an Oxygen bar actually makes sense!

We opted for a late lunch/early dinner at a food truck. OMG - delish! I had a melted pepper jack/pulled pork/Ortega chilies on sourdough and Ned had a pulled pork sandwich. Yes, I have food porn pics.

 

Every town I fall in love with while on the road, I imagine what it would be like to live there. Sometimes I even glance at the real estate listings...causing poor Ned a bit of distress. As I was talking about how cool this place was and how fun it would be to live here, Ned reminded me of the high elevation and that they probably only get 6 weeks of summer a year.

There were several town murals. I saw us in the top mural, Ned saw us in the bottom mural. He also pointed out that no one was smiling in the bottom mural. Haha...point taken. Nevada City we'll stay.

 

 

The western side of the rockies is much different than the eastern side, but still beautiful.

Crossing over the Colorado River, while it still has water in it. Hard to believe this modest river will be supplying 40 million people with water downstream.

This is copper mining territory. The picture in the bottom right looked like something on mars.

 

 

We're camped in a USFS campground tonight right on Turquoise Lake. We are still at a really high elevation, over 10,000 feet. Good news is we have great weather (albeit a bit windy and knowing it's going to drop into the 40's tonight) and cell service! Bad news, no showers or flush toilets. Day two of no showers available. If I was a really good traveling companion I'd take a dip in the lake. I think for tonight I'll settle for being a mediocre one.

 

 

One more thing...Ned measured the water temperature with his infrared thermometer. It read 53 degrees.

Ned said he's onboard with also being a mediocre traveling companion. Great minds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Rockies!

Moraine Campground, Rocky Mountain National Park

 

It rained like crazy last night and a cold, wet morning greeted us. Burrrr. We decided to head out as soon as we took hot showers. Was it really only a few days ago it was well into the 100's?

Driving thru Loveland, Ned spotted a sculpture park and wanted to take a look. His sister, Nancy, is friends with a sculptor (Jan Rossetta?) in this area. He was hoping we'd see some of her work. No such luck, but we did take an amazing bike ride thru a park featuring African stonework.

The sculptures were set up beautifully among ponds and in a wooded setting. They reminded us of the African sculptures we saw earlier in the trip at the Dallas Botanical Gardens. We would have ridden longer, but it was still freezing cold.

 

As we're headed to the Rockies, we passed by a cherry shop. A few days ago we bought some delicious cherries from a roadside vendor. He said they were from Colorado. When we saw this shop we had to go in with the hopes of scoring another pound or two of those yummy cherries.

Turns out they don't have fresh cherries! Only cider, jellies, jams, pies, etc. Needless to say, we left empty handed. Once you have fresh cherries there ain't no going back.

 

 

 

The drive up the canyon to the Rockies was gorgeous. Better yet, the clouds were clearing and there was blue skies. Hurrah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great shot of Winnie with the Rockies in the background. She's been a trooper this trip! 9th time across the U.S. and she just plugs along. (Okay, a couple of hiccups here and there, but she has over 176k miles on her). Just love the places she has taken us.

 

 

 

 

 

After a short stop in Estes Park we made it to our campground by noon. The pine smell and granite boulders reminds us of home. Darn you Rocky Mountains, you're starting to make me homesick. We had a quick lunch, looked over some maps, and planned our strategy for exploring the park.

 

 

We decided to take advantage of the in-park shuttle service and headed for Alberta Falls. From that hike we picked up another trail, up to Bear Lake, and then took the shuttle back to the campground.

It was really warm and the falls were amazing! I was struggling a bit with the elevation tho. We were at about 9,500 feet and I was definitely moving slow. By the time we got back to the campsite it was close to 6 and the temperature had dropped...a lot!

Our plan was to walk to the ampitheatre this evening and take in a Ranger show on the Black Bear. Fuhgetaboutit...We're beat and the idea of bundling up in our jackets, with blankets, as we sat there for 45 min. was a hard sell. Looks like a quiet evening at home, asleep by 9 is my guess.

No cell in park so will have to post this with tomorrow's blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chill Camping Day

Jackson Lake State Park, Colorado

Dang, was it hot last night. It didn't cool off until well after midnight. By cool off I mean dip into the 90's. We had an incentive this morning to head on out and head for cooler weather.

Before we left the campground we took some time to watch the prairie dogs. Interesting to watch this vulture. He wasn't intimidating the prairie dogs, but he was putting on quite a show.

Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado pretty much the same except the humidity has seemed to have left us. Unfortunately, I think the fireflies have too. Not going to miss the humidity, but am going to miss the fireflies. I just love lying in bed every night and watching them magically flicker in the dark. We pulled into Jackson Lake around noonish and got a "lakeside" campsite. It can be accessed by some concrete steps. Before we even set up camp Ned went and checked it out. Ha! The wind was up and the lake was super choppy and cold.

 

We toyed with the idea of getting slammed against the rocks in our floaties, but then settled for Moscow Mules on the rocks instead.

Our big activity for the day was moving our chairs to take advantage of the wind. Dang, 90 degrees sure feels different without humidity! It was incredibly windy which felt great.

 

 

We had a super chill day mainly just hanging out and watching the pelicans dive for fish, the cormorants flying about and even the clueless turkeys. I've never seen so many pelicans in one place.

We're also reading some pretty good books. Me, reading about Alexander Hamilton and Ned reading about the 1950's, specifically Harry Truman and Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War. We have fun reading each other dramatic parts of our books. Kinda fun hopping back and forth between centuries.

 

 

 

BTW - shout out to my fam; either Gary or Marc, but someone stocked our pantry with buns and other good eats. Alas, tonight's dinner was brats, corn and kale salad. (Okay, the buns were a little smashed, but hey it's camping!)

Ned grilled, I waited ever so patiently...

 

 

 

After dinner we decided to take a bike ride on some country roads and explore the Jackson Lake area. The prairie, birds and ponds were so beautiful in the changing light.

 

 

 

 

Spectacular evening sky!

 

 

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Roadside Attractions

Prairie Dog State Park, Norton, Kansas

 

Today was all about the kitschy roadside attractions. What else is there to do in Western Kansas?

First stop, Cawker City for the world's largest ball of twine. This is just about the only thing in this ghost town. Most of the downtown is empty. I did enjoy the mannequin demonstration in one of the windows. Cawker City got its name when 4 men played poker. Whoever won got the city named after them.

Kudos to the nostalgic gas station in town too.

 

 

We also had to make a stop at the Geographic Center of the Continental US.

 

 

 

There's also a picnic area, tiny chapel (seats 6) and some displays. Inside the chapel is where the guest registry is.

Ned waxing eloquent about a woman who lives very close to this point. She used to get harassed daily by ambulances, fire trucks and other assorted emergency vehicles. Turns out some techie years ago made her address the default location for 911 calls where the address is unassigned. She finally got that figured out and they don't come calling anymore. Pretty good story considering there is not much around here! Thanks Preacher Ned for always keeping me entertained.

 

 

As we drove thru Western Kansas it seems like every farmer was harvesting wheat today. Do they get a memo? How does that work out? I mean seriously, for 200 miles they were all harvesting wheat! Our guesses were - storm is on the way (mmm, 100 degrees and no clouds in sky), longest day of the year or something to do with the moisture content. Anybody want to enlighten us?

 

 

We pulled into Prairie Dog State Park about 4. The temperature reading was 107 in the shade! We couldn't wait to jump in the lake and just float until the sun went down.

Uh-oh. Beach closed. Blue-green algae bloom. Supposedly every lake in Kansas has it this time of year. Good thing we survived yesterday. We looked over our maps, google, etc. and there is nothing within 2 hours of here. Guess this is it for the night! There is not a soul in sight. Everyone is inside their air-conditioned 5th wheels and big RV's. Guess we'll just settle for hosing each other down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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