TravelStream™ news feed for member 78ers on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/78ers en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:22:32 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1236385440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1236385440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1236385440/tpod.html Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:22:32 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Missoula, Montana, United States

We're back in Missoula and have been recieving some semi-threatening e-mails from certain subscribers (you know who you are- Sarah) to update our travel blog, so here it is....
Everything went well down in Monticello. We spent Monday looking for a house and exploring the town a little. We knew that our options were pretty limited as far as housing went, but once we got there we realized just how few places were available. We basically had 2 options, and we ended up going with a small 2 bedroom house right in the middle of town. The only problem with the place is that they don't allow pets- we REALLY want to get a dog, so we were both disappointed about that, but at least we'll have a place to live when we get down there. On the other hand, one of the really nice things about the house is that rent is only $300/mo!!! Unheard of in Missoula!
On Tuesday Silas went in to the BLM and met his new co-workers which seemed to have gone well. After that we met with the landlord to sign the rental agreement and went into the house again and took some measurements. The kitchen is really small and has next to no counter space, so we were thinking that we might look for some things on craig's list and so I wanted to get measurements of everything. And I guess I should mention it now, because I'm sure Silas will say something if I don't- he seems to think I have some kind of an 'addiction' to craig's list. I don't. I could stop looking at it at any time. Just kidding, but I don't- I've bought one thing off there and it was a really good deal- it was an oak table for $35. And now I've found a microwave cabinet that fits PERFECTLY into one of the spaces in our new kitchen that I measured, so I'm planning on buying that too. But I think Silas is getting into craig's list too because I caught him on there about 30 minutes ago looking at furniture!
The last thing we did before we left town on Tuesday was to go to the Post Office and get a PO box, so now we have our official address down there!
We decided to spend the night in Moab because as many times as we've driven through there, we've never done much more than go to the brewery. We checked in at our motel and then we headed back to Arches for another short hike- I still wasn't really feeling very good, so I didn't really feel up to doing anything major. After our hike we headed back to town and then to dinner at Eddie McStiff's Brewery. Yes, we branched out and finally tried a new restaurant- still a brewery though! It was a pretty good dinner and they had some live music- I think we'll be eating there again.
In the morning we had our sights (and our stomachs!) set on the Jailhouse cafe- we'd read in several different places that they had the best breakfast in Moab. Unfortunatley they were closed. I think we were there just ahead of the start of tourist season, so lots of places were closed. We looked around and went to some gift shops on our way back to the motel and we stopped for coffee to go at the Eklecticafe. We were both wishing that we had went there for breakfast, so that's another place to add to our list of where we want to eat on our next trip though there.
We drove to Pocatello that night and hung out in our hotel room eating pizza and watching TV. I woke up at about 5AM and felt AWFUL. I couldn't get back to sleep, my whole body hurt, and I felt completely sick to my stomach. It took all of my energy to just get dressed and make it down to the car and poor Silas had to drive the whole way back to Missoula. But we made it! And I didn't throw up.
Allison
Aside from the house hunting we did get out and do a little exploring around the area. On Monday, we drove south to Blanding to check it out. We were considering living there and commuting since it is a bigger town, and we weren't sure if we would find a place in Monticello. I'm glad we did find a place because I did not like Blanding nearly as much as Monticello. And the road would not be a friendly one to drive everyday. On Tuesday, we drove east of town to the Colorado border. Every direction you go it is a completely different scene. There are a lot of farms and farmland to the east. And of course, right at the Colorado border is a bar and liquor store. I told my coworkers that Allison and I would probably do some hiking before leaving town and they highly recommended a place called Indian Creek, which the BLM oversees. But Allison was not feeling well so we decided to head down to Moab and lose some elevation, since we still thought it might be the high elevation that was making her sick (when we got back to Missoula we found out she had the flu). We did go on an awesome short hike in Arches called Park Avenue. We only saw two other people on the trail. This is the definitely the time of year to visit the park. My favorite part of the drive home was as soon as we were leaving Moab. It was really windy and tumbleweeds were blowing across the road all over the place. I felt like I was playing a video game trying to avoid the onslaught of tumbleweeds. Allison and I stopped in Drummond, MT on the way home to check out this art gallery/museum I have been looking at online. The museum is at an old farmhouse outside of town, where the artist lives. The sign from the road said, "usually open," so we pulled into the yard. It turned out to be closed. But as we were looking around at the life-size bronze statues of mammoths and bears and other assorted creatures in the yard, an old man with a cane came out of the house and opened the gallery for us. It was the artist himself. He is in his eighties or nineties and has been a farmer and rancher his entire life. He only started painting 11 years ago. His artwork is amazing and his ideas are so creative. It's hard to believe it is the work of an elderly rancher who started painting so late in life. His art seems very genuine. You can tell he is painting just to express his ideas, not to make a buck or impress the art community. Many of his paintings seem to be about the destruction of the environment, but some are completely beyond me. Allison and I ended up buying a print of one of the paintings we really liked. I recommend checking out the website if you have time: http://www.ohrmannmuseum.com/
Silas
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1251686920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1251686920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1251686920/tpod.html Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:25:22 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Silverton, Colorado, United States

This weekend Allison and I hiked to Ice Lake near Silverton, Colorado, for her birthday weekend extravaganza. I had read about the hike to Ice Lake a while back, and then I heard some co-workers raving about it this week. So at the last minute, we decided to go. We left for Durango early Saturday morning, and after a quick stop at the Durango Farmers Market for some coffee and snacks, we secured a campsite at our favorite campground, Junction Creek. It's so amazing that a campground in such a prime location (about 4 miles out of Durango) is always half-empty. After setting up our tent and eating and drinking our spoils from the farmers market, we drove into the mountains to Silverton and the trailhead. A few times during the morning, Allison reminded me that it was her birthday weekend, usually in order to get her way. I asked her if she was gonna be a Birthday-zilla all weekend. And she was. But it was all in good fun! The hike up to the lake was STEEP and strenuous, and there wasn't a lot of oxygen at 12,000 feet, but it was worth the pain. The upper and lower Ice Lake basins were incredible! There were so many vivid colors... rolling hills carpeted in green, red, and yellow... lichen covered boulders... silver creeks... jagged gray peaks... and the bluest lake I have ever seen! The whole scene was so colorful and perfect it almost didn't seem real. It was the same feeling I had at Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon. It was like we were in a painting or something. Because of the color of the lake, and the fact that there were no trees around, I was reminded of pictures I've seen of Iceland (a place I have always wanted to visit). I have to say this hike is definitely one of my new favorites. I can't wait to return! There is another lake a little way above Ice Lake called Island Lake, and it looks just as cool. By the time we got off the trail and returned to Durango it was dark. We ate dinner at Carvers Brewery, walked around downtown a little bit, and then returned to our camp where we fell asleep immediately. The next morning we ran a couple errands in Durango and made our obligatory stop at Serious Texas BBQ before heading home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1249924857/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1249924857/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1249924857/tpod.html Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:41:56 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Durango, Colorado, United States

We had really been looking forward to spending the weekend in Durango. We loved it the first time we were there and were really excited to go back. And the fact that we were going for a demolition derby made it even better! We decided to go over on Friday night after Silas got off work. The biggest reason for this was because we didn't have tickets to the demo derby yet, and I had seen online that all the advance tickets were sold out and that the remaining 800 were going on sale when the gates opened at 10am. The fact that they even sold advance tickets (not to mention that they were sold out!) made us kind of think that it sounded like a popular event there. So we thought that it would be best if we were able to get there early to get in line for the tickets.
We left town just after 5pm and got to the campground in Durango by 7pm. Just like last time, the campground was nowhere near full. Don't get me wrong, we're always happy that there are campsites available, but it also surprises us that a campground that's so close to town always seems to have spots available. It's a nice campground too! But anyway, we set up the tent and ate dinner and roasted some marshmallows and stuff before heading to bed.
The next morning we got up early and were downtown at the farmers market by about 8:30. We had decided to go to the farmers market and get coffee before going to get in line for our demo derby tickets. I think we got to the fair grounds at about 9:00 and the line was already really long. I wasn't THAT worried until the line didn't seem to be getting much longer- it was getting wider. Tons of people were still walking up after we got there, but they all seemed to be joining people who were already in line.
Anyway, we waited and waited and once it turned 10:00 and the gates opened the line started moving...slowly. We didn't end up getting to the box office- they sold out before we got there, but even before they sold out, people were already walking up and down the line trying to scalp their tickets. Once we saw that they had sold out we asked a couple people how much they were selling their tickets for and they were all around $30-35! (the actual price was $15) Then we saw a guy who was selling them at cost- he said that he had bought a few extra by accident. I thought that was so nice of him, but onfortunately he only had 1 left. So we bought that one and kept walking around looking for more people selling theirs. We found a guy who was selling them for $20, but since we didn't have any cash we asked if he'd take a check for $25 and he said yes! We were so happy to have gotten tickets!! I think we got lucky, next year we'll know that we have to get them in advance or atleast get in line much earlier.
So the demo derby didn't start until noon and it was only about 10:30 at that time, but the stands were already packed. We finally found two seats and took turns going to buy food and drinks and stuff while the other person saved our seats. I was also meeting up with the guy I was buying my bike from (I found it on craigslist) and coincidentally he was also going to the demo derby, so he just brought it with him and we met in the parking lot before the demo derby. (And by the way, I'm LOVING my bike!!! Silas and I have been going on rides every night since I got it!)
When I got back from getting the bike Silas told me that he had heard that there were 45 cars in the derby. I think the most we've ever seen in a demo derby is in Missoula- maybe about 20-25 cars. Sure enough, when things got started they announced that there were 45 cars and that there were going to be 5 first round heats, 3 consolation heats, and then the final round. It was AWESOME!! We had frito pie and hot dogs, drank beer, got splattered with mud from the cars, watched the guy with the mullet sitting in front of us almost get in a fight and then get talked to by the security several times and then the police. It was the best demo derby ever!! We were SO happy that it had all worked out and we had been able to get tickets.
After the demo derby we walked around and looked at the animals and stuff, then we headed downtown. I had found a place online that I wanted to eat at- Gazpacho's- a New Mexican restaurant. We went there and it wasn't that great- nowhere near as good as the restaurants we had gone to the first time we had been in Durango. After that we were so tired we pretty much just headed back to the campground and sat around the fire. Oh yeah, and I took my bike for a test ride around the campground. This is the first time in about 15-16 years that I've had a bike!!
The next morning we went to the Brickhouse Cafe for coffee and then we went for a hike in the Durango Mountain Park area. It was pretty nice- there were some nice views of town up there, but it was HOT! (well, hotter than we were expecting anyway) So we went back down into town and walked along the river trail for a while. I love Durango- it just seems like the perfect town. Not too big, a nice river running right through it, bike trails along the river all through town-I love it!
We were trying to get home at a decent time that day so after our walk we went and did all out stuff we had to do- haircut for Silas, a little shopping for me, and then grocery shopping- yuck! After we finished all our chores we hit Serious Texas BBQ and got some stuff to go, took it home, and ate BBQ and watched the Bills pre-season game against...someone...I don't remember who. Oh yeah, the Titans...I think.
Allison

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1249413655/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1249413655/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1249413655/tpod.html Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:59:10 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Telluride, Colorado, United States

Within a couple weeks of moving to Monticello, we had already located a couple demolition derbies that were going to be held at fairs near here. The first one was in Cortez at the Montezuma County fair and last weekend was FINALLY the time! Since it didn't start until the evening and we were planning on hiking near Telluride on Sunday, we decided that we were going to camp near Dolores that night to save about 2 hours of driving. So we took it easy on Saturday morning and even walked over to the Peace Tree and got coffee and sat on the deck for a while. After lunch we packed up and headed to Dolores to get a camp site so we could set up the tent and stuff before the Demo derby.
We stopped at the visitor center in Dolores to get some info on campgrounds in the area and found one only about 5 miles out of town- McPhee Reservoir Campground- picked a site, set up our tent, and we were off to Cortez!
We had allowed ourselves some time to check out the fair before the gates for the demo derby opened, but we soon realized that we were there WAY early. Every time Silas and I have gone to a fair together (Western Montana fair in Missoula, Marias fair in Shelby, MT, and this fair- the Montezuma County fair) I have been very disappointed with the animal barns and the midways. I always end up saying something to the effect of, 'At the Douglas County fair the pig barn is HUGE! And each FFA chapter has it's own area.' or 'At the Douglas County fair the midway is paved' or 'At the Douglas County fair the exhibit buildings are huge!' Silas seems to think that I'm just remembering it as being huge since it was the fair we went to when I was growing up. But the 2 years that I raised pigs for FFA I stayed at the fair the whole week and the last time I was there I think I was 16 almost 17, so I think I remember it pretty well. Melissa or Sarah, please back me up on this. I don't know how many other fairs you guys have been to, but the Douglas County is big for a county fair, isn't it? Please tell Silas!
Anyway, we walked through all the animal barns. My favorite is the pig barn and Silas likes the rabbits. (oops, was I not supposed to tell that?!) It didn't take us too long to go through all the barns and walk around the midway area so we ended up getting to the demolition derby really early. But it ended up working out good because once the line started forming, it just continued to get longer and longer and they even held off on starting for about 25 minutes until they were able to get most of the people through the line.
It was a pretty good demolition derby- I think there were 15 cars, so they did two main heats, then a heat for anyone whose car had died during the first two heats but was able to get it going again, then the final heat. The announcer kept saying that they were going to do a 'calcutta' on the final heat and had tried to explain it once, but seemed confused about what exactly it was. Turns out it's a way of betting where they auction off each car and people bid for the one that they think is going to win. The cars all went for between $80- $160 and all the money goes into a pot and the person who bet on the car that wins gets half the pot. A couple of differences we noticed from other demolition derbies we've been to are that, 1. There was no beer garden!! A demo derby with no beer?! And 2. The crowds in Montana are ROWDY! (Of course the presence/absence of beer probably plays a role in the rowdiness of the crowd)
One last thing that happened at the demo derby that I thought was hysterical was that a kid 'petted' Silas' leg...twice!! Silas went down to get food or something, and when he came back he told me that a kid sitting a couple rows in front of us had reached out and 'petted' his leg when he walked past him, then again when he came back up. I was begging Silas to walk past him again so I could see, but he wouldn't.
We camped that night and got up early the next morning and left the campground before 8am, we made a stop in Dolores for coffee and gas and then we were on our way to Telluride for breakfast at Baked in Telluride. The plan was to get breakfast and then I wanted to go to a shop that we had gone to the last time we were there and get a T-shirt. Well, to make a long story short, we ended up going to about 6-7 shops and I couldn't find anything that I liked, so I didn't end up getting anything.
So after that we were planning on hiking to Navajo Lake in the Lizard Head Wilderness. Right as we got to the trailhead it started raining, luckily it didn't last long. It was actually kind of nice because it cooled it off a little. The hike to the lake was beautiful- it reminded me so much of hiking in Glacier. Navajo Lake is at 11, 154 ft, and I think there's about 2,000ft elevation gain on the 4 mile hike, but I swear that half the elevation gain is in about 3/4 mile! That part of the hike was switchbacks, and at that elevation I was SO out of breath! I was breathing so hard I had to wait a while to even take a drink of water when we stopped. It's the most out of breath I can remember being since running lines in volleyball practice in high school!! But it was worth it- when we got to the lake we sat on the shore and had lunch and enjoyed the view.
On our way back out to the main road, we drove on a little half gravel/half paved road through a really beautiful area. The road passes the town of Dunton- apparently it's actually a privately owned ghost town, so I don't think you can walk around it or anything. But the whole stretch of road was really nice, Silas and I were sort of hating the people who live there! (Okay, I'll admit it- we were jealous of them!) But we saw a couple campgrounds and several hiking trails, so I'm sure we're going to be going back there soon.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1248119370/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1248119370/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1248119370/tpod.html Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:37:48 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Beef Basin, Utah, United States

Up until Silas came home for lunch on Friday we had been planning on floating another part of the Colorado near Moab on Saturday and hiking in the La Sal Mts on Sunday. But then Silas was asked if he wanted to help haul some stuff out to one of the BLM cabins in Beef Basin over the weekend and I'm signed up as a volunteer, so I got to go too!
The plan was to meet the other two people who were going (I'll call them T and R) at the BLM at 8am, load up the trailer, drive 4 hours out to the Beef Basin cabin, (where Silas and I were going to be staying) unload the trailer, then T & R would drive to the Sweet Alice cabin and stay there for the night and we'd meet up again in the morning to drive out.
Well, that was SUPPOSED to be the plan, but when T arrived at the BLM she told us that she had had to jump her truck because the battery was dead when she got in it that morning. There was a little bit of concern about what was going on with the battery, so as we were loading everything up on the trailer we also grabbed some jumper cables and brought them with us just in case the battery acted up again.
It took about 4 hours to get out to the Beef Basin cabin. Maybe Silas will say something about the actual mileage- I have no idea what it was- I just know that these were the worst roads I've ever seen in my entire life! Up until now I think I've kind of been a wuss when it comes to gravel roads, wait, let me correct something- these were not 'gravel' roads. I don't know that I could even call them dirt roads. At times there was dirt, sometimes sand, lots of it was loose rocks mixed with bumpy slickrock. It definitely seemed like the kind of driving where you really have to concentrate the entire time and look for the best route around every rock and hole. I was SO happy I didn't have to drive, but I also felt really bad for Silas. But after driving on these roads I will NEVER complain about regular gravel roads again!!
On the drive out there, since we'd never been out there and there were very few signs, T would stop at every junction so we could catch up with her and know where to go. At one point we were on a part of the road with a semi steep drop-off on one side and as we came around a corner we saw that T & R had stopped even though there was no junction or anything, so we stopped behind them and got out to see what was going on. Apparently they had been driving along and all of a sudden T caught a glimpse of something in her side mirror and realized that it was the spare tire for the trailer rolling along down the road! She stopped and was then passed by the tire, which rolled off the side of the road, hit a tree and came to a stop about 30 feet down from the road. So Silas climbed down, got the tire, and we were on the road again.
When we got to Beef Basin cabin T showed us where everything was located and how to turn the gas on and off and all that. We also decided that we would wait to unload the trailer until they came back the next day since the only place to put everything was right in the middle of the cabin. AND before they left we made a plan for them to get ahold of us in the morning to let us know if their truck would start. The plan was that they were going to call my cell phone (somehow I was still getting service out there) from a satellite phone at 7AM, and if their truck started they'd meet us at our cabin at noon. If their truck DIDN'T start, we would have to drive 2 hours to their cabin to jump them, then we'd all have to drive back to our cabin to unload all the boards and cement and stuff.
So after giving Silas some rough directions, T & R took off towards their cabin and we went into ours to try to get out of the heat. After we ate lunch and played a couple games of Scrabble Slam, Silas set out to do some work (hanging signs, putting up barbed wire, etc...) I stayed inside and read a little and then got dinner going. (chicken & bean burritos) After eating dinner we headed out to try to see some of the sights around the cabin. The first was to an old trading post- I don't know how old it was or anything about it, but it was in the middle of nowhere, that's for sure! Beef Basin is an area that's located between the Abajo Mountains and Canyonlands National Park. I know that there used to be lots of cowboy camps in that area, so I'm assuming that that was part of the reason there was a trading post way out there.
After that we were looking for some ruins that we had been given rough directions to. I really had a hard time figuring out where we were on the map. Silas seemed to know where we were, but I really didn't. I'll just get right to the point- we found where we thought the trailhead to the ruins was, we parked, got out, and walked, and walked, and walked. And the whole time it was getting darker and darker and I was really starting to get scared/worried/stressed about how long we were going to keep going not even really knowing where the ruins were! Finally I had had enough- it was already almost dark and I knew that even if we turned around right then it would still be totally dark long before we got back to the truck. Silas wasn't happy about it, and I felt bad, but I just couldn't keep going! If we had known for sure where it was and how much farther we had to go, it might have been different, but I just couldn't keep going like that.
So after that I was REALLY hoping that we wouldn't have to go jump the other truck in the morning so we would have time to try to find the ruins again. But wouldn't you know, at 7:00 the next morning they called and said that the truck was dead. We had got up just before 6:00 so that we'd be pretty much ready if we had to go jump their truck, and if we didn't have to go, we'd be ready to go out and do a little more exploring before we were supposed to meet up the them. So we finished cleaning up and putting everything away and headed out to try to find the Sweet Alice cabin.
Oh, I should probably mention that we didn't actually get to talk to them on the phone. We had turned the phone on and had it sitting out on the back of the truck where there was service and it got to be about 7:15 and we hadn't heard from them, so Silas was walking around trying to see if we could get more bars and the phone beeped that there was a message. So I was in the middle of listening to the message when they called again. I could hear them pretty well, but they were only barely able to hear me, but they started giving the directions anyway just in case I could hear them. I missed a couple things because I was trying to signal Silas to come over and listen and it cut out when I turned my head. After they gave us directions I tried to give Silas the phone, but we were disconnected. So really, they had no idea if I had heard them or not.
So once we got everything put away, turned off, and locked up we set out for their cabin. I really don't know how Silas found it- it wasn't even on the map. The only new information I had heard on the phone was 'Sweet Alice Springs' and that they were going to go out and put up some flagging ribbon where we should turn. So, SOMEHOW Silas got us there, but there were 3 possible places to turn and no flagging ribbon, so we just tried the one that pointed to Sweet Alice Springs since the sign said that it was less than a mile. We got to the end of the road and no cabin, so we turned around and were on our way back to the main road when Silas noticed a kind of overgrown road that we hadn't noticed on the way in. While we were sitting there in the truck trying to see if it looked like it had been driven on recently, we noticed something shiny up on a hill off of the side of the road. I got out and walked up the road a little way to see if I could see anything and it was their truck! I was so excited! By the time we made it out to the main road and turned onto theirs, T & R had also made it out to the main road- they had heard our truck and started walking out to meet us. They had thought that it was going to take us a lot longer to get there, so they hadn't made it out to hang up the flagging ribbon yet- no wonder we hadn't seen it!
The rest of the day was LOTS of driving- I don't think I need to say anything about that- but finding their cabin was definitely the high point of the day for me! I never would have been able to find it with the directions Silas had been given. If I'm ever lost somewhere I hope it's either with Silas, or that he's the one looking for me!
Allison

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1246893567/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1246893567/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1246893567/tpod.html Thu, 09 Jul 2009 22:58:47 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Telluride, Colorado, United States

  What a weekend!  It's amazing how much you can do with 3 days instead of just 2!  On Friday we met up with one of Silas' coworkers and his family to go kayaking on the Colorado just outside of Moab.  It was a beautiful day and already about 75 degrees by the time we met them at about 9:30- you could tell it was going to be a hot one! 
  We were on the river by about 10:30 and it started out as a nice calm float, but at the first rapids we could tell that there was some serious water in this river! (of course there is- it's the Colorado!)  The rapids themselves weren't bad- there was so much water that there really weren't any rocks to have to manuver around (that's what I don't like) but the waves were HUGE!!  The distance between the crests of the waves (What's that called?  Wave length?) was huge!  I don't think we'd ever been on water quite like that- it was really fun!
I think we were on the water until about 4 or so, and then we all headed back to Silas' coworker's house for a BBQ. 
  On Saturday we were heading to Telluride for their 4th of July festivities- I thought I had seen somewhere in my research that the parade started at 10am, so we left here at about 6:30 with hopes of getting a campsite in town before the parade started.  We made really good time over there and were at the Town Park campground before 9.  After a quick drive through it, we saw that it was packed.  I stopped by the office anyway just to check if anyone might be leaving that day- the man working there told me that there was one of the primitive sites (the only real difference at these sites was that you can't drive your car right to them, but there was a place for people camping at those sites to park that was really close by) that was supposed to be opening up, but that he couldn't give it to me until the people were actually gone.  Check-out time was at 11:00 and even though they normally don't take 'reservations' he told me that if I came back at about 11:10 and the people were gone he would save it for me.  Anyway, instead of going on and on about this, I'll just say that the people decided to stay for another night so we didn't get the spot.  Boo!
  But we tried not to worry about it and set out to enjoy our day in Telluride.  Our first stop was Baked in Telluride-  Silas had been saying for at least a week that he wanted that to be our first stop once we got to town.  It seems that lots of people had the same idea because it was also packed.  We both got breakfast bagel sandwiches to go and went to the main street to find a place to watch the parade from.  The whole main street was lined with chairs, but they were mostly empty- I guess people set them up early and then went back home or out to eat or something.  As it got closer and closer to 10 we noticed that most of the chairs were still empty, so we decided to ask some people what time the parade started.  Turns out it wasn't until 11.  Oops, I don't know where I got 10:00 from. 
  Anyway, the parade started and at first it was really slow- I was starting to think that maybe it wasn't going to be that great, but then it picked up and it ended up being a really fun parade, especially for a town of that size. 
  When it was over everyone seemed to head to the park at the end of town- that's where the volunteer firemen had their BBQ set up.  We didn't go there right away- instead we thought that it might be a good time to go to some of the shops.  After we did a little bit of shopping we made our way down to the park and immediately saw a HUGE line for food.  We really didn't want to wait in line and Silas had been wanting to go to one of his old favorite restaurants in town anyway- Shanghai Palace- so we decided to go there.  
  After lunch we went for a little hike up to a waterfall near town. (I don't know the name of it- maybe Silas does)  On the way there Silas wanted to show me the spot that he was thinking we could watch the fireworks from.  We knew that most people watched from the baseball field at the park, so we just wanted to make sure we could see just above there where they were setting them off from, and we could, so we decided that we'd come back later to watch the show.  One funny thing that we saw when we were hiking up to the waterfall- a guy that we passed on the trail that was hiking with a cat draped around his neck!  I thought it was really funny, but then we passed him again on the way down and the cat was now walking along with him on a leash!  So funny!
  After our hike we wanted to try to get our camping situation taken care of so that we'd be back in town with time to ride the gondola and get dinner before the fireworks.  When we went through Telluride at the beginning of our road trip in 2007 Getting Lost in the American West in a '78 Volkswagen Kombi!  we had stayed in a campground just outside of town, so we decided to go there to see if we might be able to get a spot.  Well, we didn't end up finding it... maybe it was further out of town than we remembered.  We found a day use area near town and considered staying there anyway, but we finally decided that it might be easier to just park in the parking lot that Silas had 'lived' in in his bus while he was working at the mountain, and just sleep in the car.  I think this turned out to be a good idea because when the fireworks got over traffic in town was COMPLETELY backed up.  
  After we found a parking place (NOT as easy as you might think) we rode the gondola up to Mountain Village.  Last time we were in Telluride it was cloudy and rainy so you really couldn't see too much from the gondola, but it was a clear day and the view was beautiful. 
  After we rode the gondola we decided to get dinner at another of Silas' favorite restaurants- the burrito bus!  (I guess, technically, it's not a restaurant)  After dinner we decided that it was probably about time to head up to our spot that we were going to watch the fireworks from.  We made it up there and noticed some threatening clouds moving towards us.  Then it started sprinkling...then it started pouring!  We really had no choice but to sit there and wait.  Luckily, since we had been checking the weather forcast for a week leading up to our trip, we knew that there was a 40-50% chance of rain while we were there so at least we had our rain jackets with us.  We just sat there and watched the clouds move and were very happy to see that it seemed to be passing.  We were way up on the side of a mountain on one end of town, and the park where most everyone watches from was on the other end, but we could hear cheers when the rain finally stopped.  And then the fireworks started.  I had read that it was one of the largest firework displays in the western part of the US and was a little bit skeptical.  Ever since I first saw fireworks in Japan I've kind of felt like I'm ruined for any fireworks I might see in the US.  Fireworks in Japan are AMAZING!  Before I watch fireworks in the US I always try to remind myself that THIS IS NOT JAPAN! and that they probably won't be as good.  But from the very beginning of the show in Telluride I had a feeling that it was going to be awesome, and it was!   Not only were the fireworks themselves amazing, but there was a nearly full moon right above the mountains behind the fireworks, and the echos of the explsions off the mountains was SO loud!  It really was amazing.
  After the fireworks it started raining again!  We went back to the car and tried to get in as fast as possible without being spotted.  It was pretty miserable at first- we were all wet and cold and trying to lay out our sleeping bags in the back of the car.  I felt bad for Silas- I'm fine in the back- I can lay out straight, but he can't.  I guess it's not made for people that tall.  Neither of us slept very good that night, but I think poor Silas had it much worse than me.  In the morning we drove to the picnic area of the campground in town and made our oatmeal and coffee and got on the road as early as we could. 
   Oh- I almost forgot- I think we wrote about this in our other travel blog- there's a 'Free Box' in Telluride where people can leave stuff that they want to get rid of, and anyone can take whatever they want from it.  I think we went to it about 3-4 times while we were there.  (okay, I guess I should say that I DRUG Silas there 3-4 times while we were in town)  So we made one last stop there on our way out of town.  Silas kept saying, 'Do you really think that there's anything new in there from the last time you looked?' And I kept saying, 'YES!' and there really was!  I got a swimsuit top on one visit, and then a shirt on another visit.  It was pretty slim pickings, but I love the idea of a free box!!
  On our way out of town I was driving along and then all of a sudden I saw that there was a police car coming towards me and he turned on his lights and started making gestures at me, but I wasn't sure if I was being pulled over or not.  Something similar to this happened to me when I first got my license when I was living in Yakutat- a little town in SE Alaska.  Now, I have to explain for anyone who isn't familiar with it- EVRYONE WAVES IN YAKUTAT!!  So I was driving down the road and I passed one of the few police in town.  I waved and he did something which I figured was a wave and I kept on driving.  And then just a few seconds later I noticed that he was right behind me with his lights on, so I pulled over.  When he got up to my window he said, 'Didn't you see that I was signaling you to pull over?' and I said, 'Oh, I thought you were waving.' True story.  
  Anyway, when I saw the signaling (he definitely WASN'T waving!) I just pulled over right away and sat there waiting for him to turn around and come back.  I waited...and waited...and Silas kept saying that he thought the police was just trying to get me to slow down and that he didn't think he was coming back.  I have such bad luck with police, I'm really careful about my speed and stuff, but during the 7 years I lived in Missoula I think I got 2 or 3 tickets for having a headlight out.  Everyone else who I know who has been stopped for that always says that they got off with just a warning, but not me.  So I just knew that the police was going to turn around and come back and give me a ticket.  But he didn't and I was shocked.  And happy!
  On the way to Ouray a marmot ran out in the road in front of me and I slammed on the breaks.  It just froze right there in the middle of my lane.  We got so close to it that we couldn't see it anymore by the time we came to a stop and I was just cringing waiting to see if it was okay.  Then all of a sudden it ran out from in front of us and off the road.  Whew!  Doesn't get much closer than that!
  We got to Ouray and walked around town a little before hiking up to Box Canyon Falls.  You have to pay to hike up to the falls and to a little bridge above the falls, but it was worth it!  The falls and the view were really amazing.  The bridge up above the falls was really cool, but kind of scary if you looked down since you were standing directly above the falls.  
  The road to Silverton was SCARY!  It winded up the side of the mountain with almost no guard rails anywhere and sometimes I swear there was not more than an inch from the egde of the white line to a complete drop off!  Poor Silas was on driving duty at this point...I felt bad for him.
  Right away when we pulled into Silverton I felt like we were back in the old wild west.  It was definitely a tourist town- the buildings and stores were all really old looking and there were people walking all over the place.  As we were pulling into town we saw that the train (the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad) from Durango was coming, so we went over to see it.  Tons of people were getting off and it really felt like you were back in the wild west!
  We walked around and looked at all the shops and restaurants.  We saw that there was a BLM/Forest Service office right there in town right next to a Bigfoot Museum!  We really had to use our willpower to resist trying one of the restaurants in town.  There were several that looked good, but we had made sandwiches and were trying to be good since we wanted to stop at Serious Texas BBQ in Durango on the way home.  So we ate our sandwiches and then got some ice cream, and then we walked around a little more before leaving for Durango. 
  The drive to Durango was similar to the drive between Ouray and Silverton- beautiful, but no guard rails!   No marmots this time though.  In Durango we got pulled pork, Texas sausage, and cheesy potatoes to go from Serious Texas BBQ and took it home to eat and relax after a weekend of adventure!
Allison

  Kayaking on the Colorado River was great! The 13 mile stretch we did is called the "Moab Daily". I must admit, I was a little nervous before we went. One of the river rangers I work with was telling me about a huge boat-swallowing hole in White's Rapid. We learned we could just stay way left in the rapid and miss it. We ended up going so far left we got stuck on some rocks. Better than the boat-swallowing hole, I say! Next time we know we can go straight down the middle and be fine.  I've never floated down a river with so much water. The waves were huge... but in a fun, non-threatening kind of way. They were so smooth we just rolled right over them. No drops, holes, or rocks to dodge... Well, except for the rock we got stuck on.
Telluride was a lot of fun too! If there is one place that feels like home to me outside of Montana, it's Telluride. It was good to be back. It felt like old times... being sneaky... sleeping in a car in the parking lot at the bottom of the mountain... brushing my teeth at the unlocked bathroom near the grocery store... cooking breakfast in the park. It was nice to share the experience with Allison this time around. It was also nice that it wasn't freezing and snowing this time around, either. The fireworks show was really cool. The silhouette of the surrounding mountains and the nearly-full moon created a nice backdrop. Some of the fireworks were so loud they were setting off car alarms. The only disappointing part about the weekend is that we didn't run into my good friends Thomas and Katherine (you know, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes). I was hoping to introduce Allison and tell them the big news.     
Silas

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1246328695/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1246328695/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1246328695/tpod.html Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:33:11 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

White Mesa, Utah, United States

Allison I decided to take it easy this weekend and just do some short hikes to some Anasazi ruins on Cedar Mesa. Now that we have a truck we can access a lot more places, so we took a rough dirt road that is supposed to lead passed a lot of ruins. All of them are only about a one mile hike from the road. We thought we would hike to two or three, but we didn't count on the heat. I think we both learned that there is a reason people don't hike here in the summer. The Cedar Mesa Ranger Station even shuts down in the summer because of a lack of visitors. Foolish Montanans! It must have been in the mid-90's. We only ended up hiking to the first major ruin, Fish Mouth Cave. We both realized how hard it was going to be to hike in the heat right away. The desert seemed extra fragrant with sage and juniper. I think it was because everything was slowly cooking. We hiked up a small wash and found two separate alcoves with ruins in them. It was such a relief to get to each one, because it was so much cooler in the shady alcoves. It was a hands-on demonstration of why they built their houses where they did. These ruins seemed to be pretty well-intact compared to others we've seen. There were a lot more pottery fragments of all different designs, strange colored rocks and flakes, grinding stones... you could see hand prints in the clay masonry from when they were building the walls... From the wash where the ruins were up to the actual Fish Mouth Cave was a steep climb up bare rock and then boulders and scree. This was the hottest and hardest part of the journey. When we got to the cave I was amazed how big it was. It was huge. But I was also surprised to see that there were only a couple small walls of dwellings still standing off to the side. The ground seemed really unstable and it looked as though parts of the ceiling had collapsed, So I assume that mother nature has pretty much destroyed whatever was there. There were still lots of signs that it had been inhabited though. There were some pictographs on the wall, big boulders with areas that had been used for grinding corn, lots of old corn cobs, pieces of pottery... There was also more recent signs of activity. There were many names written on the walls of the cave, dating all the way back to 1895. One person wrote, "Party on, dudes." My expert archaeological dating analysis tells me it was written in the early 90's. By the time Allison and I made it back to the truck, we both decided we had enough for the day. The truck doesn't have air conditioning either, so it was a long hot drive back home. I think we'll move on to hiking in the mountains of Colorado until September, when things start to cool down again.

Silas

Yes, as Silas said, Sunday was HOT! But before I write about Sunday, I'm going to mention a couple things we did on Saturday. On Saturday we slept in (I think it's only the second time we've slept in on a weekend since we've been here! Whew! No wonder we were so tired!) We had decided to take our time getting ready before heading to Cortez, CO for grocery shopping and possibly hitting the farmer's market if we made it there in time.
Well, we ended up just missing the farmer's market but that was okay...I'm sure we'll make it there one of these days. So we parked downtown and walked to Spruce Tree Coffeehouse- a coffee shop I've been wanting to go to since we moved here. It's in a building that used to be a house right on the main strip through downtown- it was very cute inside. It still had the feel of an actual house with several different rooms with tables and chairs and lots of books- it was very homey. We were headed to the back patio area, but then we passed a little room just big enough for two chairs with a beaded curtain in the doorway so we decided to sit in there- very cozy!
After that we finished up all our 'chores' and headed home. On the way home I wanted to try to take what I thought was going to be a shortcut back to 491 (the road back to Monticello) I wish I had a map of the town to put up here so that this would make more sense...but I've looked at a map since then and, needless to say, I was a little off on my geography of the area. Anyway, it turned out to be kind of a nice drive through the country- that's where the picture of all the weird pipe people came from- it was just in front of someone's house out there- very weird!
Our last stop on our way out of town is always at Mac's Liquor- a liquor store that's about 10 miles out of Cortez (we have to stock up on 'normal' beer before going back to Utah!) So as we were driving on all these backroads I kept saying, 'As long as we don't come out past Mac's, I'm fine with this drive' As we came to what looked like the main road, I couldn't belive it when I saw that we were coming out right at Mac's! It's hard to convey here what my level of excitement was, but I was VERY excited!
Okay, so on to Sunday- like Silas said, we decided to go on a hike at Fish Mouth Cave- as we pulled up at the trailhead we realized how hot it was! It was only 1 mile to the cave, but the trail was pretty overgrown so it took much longer than a mile would normally take. Luckily there were two ruins along the way, so we could get out of the sun for a few minutes at each of them. I was really surprised that the ruins were so intact- but I guess 10 miles of really rough road leading up to it probably helps to keep a lot of people away. As we were leaving one of the ruins I found a pot shard on the ground that's the most detailed piece I've found so far- very exciting! (Of course I left it there- you can only imagine how many pots and artifacts you'd still be able to see today if EVERYONE left things like they're supposed to)
The cave itself was really big- but there was very little left of whatever had once been there. We stayed in the cave for quite a while reading all the names on the walls and resting. I was dreading the hike back, but it turned out to not be nearly as bad as the hike in- but still hot! When we got back to the truck we decided that we would wait until it cools off to do any of the other hikes in the area.
We continued down the road which comes out just south of Bluff and went to Sand Island (the put-in for the San Juan River) to eat our lunch. After resting in the shade for a while we headed to Bluff with hopes of making it to the coffee shop before it closed for a smoothie...no such luck- it was already closed. So we settled for an ice cream sandwich at the store and sat there enjoying the air condiditoning for a while before continuing on. One last stop at a gas station just outside of Blanding brought an unexpected sight- two OLD Model T Fords! All of a sudden one drove around the corner and pulled up to the pump...and then another! I watched the couple who were in the first one get out, then lift up the seat and put the gas nozzle right down into there to fill it up. I went and grabbed my camera then asked the man if it was okay if I took a picture, he said yes and was very nice to answer all my questions.

Me: 'What kind of car is this?'
Man: 'It's a 1917 Model T Ford'
Me: 'So you have to take the seat out to put gas in?'
Man: 'Yep, and to start it you have to crank the handle in the front'
Me: 'Wow! Where are you guys from?'
Man: 'Kansas'
Me: 'Whoa, you guys drove all the way here?'
Man: 'Yep'

I think that was about how the conversation went. We sat and watched as EVERY other person who came up to the gas station did a double take at the cars, then went up to the two couples and asked a series of similar questions. They must be used to that. We were ready to leave, but I really wanted to stay and watch when the man started the car- I'd never seen anyone start a car like that before. The man put the seat back in, the woman got in, and then he walked to the front of the car and gave it a crank and it started right up. Cool! We caught up with them down the road a ways and I took another picture- It really amazed me not just that these cars were almost 100 years old, but that they would drive them so far! Amazing!
Allison

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1243300651/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1243300651/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1243300651/tpod.html Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:27:28 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Arches National Park, Utah, United States

Finally! We had our first visitor since moving to Monticello!! Over Memorial Day weekend Madeline (a girl who I met while I was teaching English in Japan- she was also doing the JET program and lived in a town near me) decided to make the LONG drive over from Reno to visit.
She got here Friday evening and was pretty tired from the drive (I think it was 13-14 hours) so we pretty much just decided where we were going to go the next day, and then headed to bed. The next morning we all slept in a little then, when we were all ready, headed to Canyonlands for a hike. We decided to hike to Chesler Park- I think it was a 6-7 mile hike.
Oh yeah, the weather. The weather had been SO nice for SO long...until about 2 days before Madeline got here, then it started raining at least a little bit every day and there was thunder and lightning and stuff. On the day we went to Canyonlands I think there was a 60% chance of rain, but we decided to take our chances and go anyway- you kind of have to when you have someone visiting who only has a few days to see as much as possible. The weather ended up cooperating as much as we could have hoped- it sprinkled a few times, but it never really rained on us. I think it was raining when we were in the car on the way there and on the way home, but not too bad when we were hiking. Madeline and I were totally obsessed with taking pictures of cactus flowers, and Silas was a very good sport about it. I couldn't even tell you how many pictures of flowers I ended up with!
That evening we barbequed- pesto burgers for Silas and I, and Boca burgers for Madeline. And I have to add something about the Boca burgers here... I am always teasing Silas about his aversion to foods that are advertised as being, 'healthy, vegetarian, and organic'. I can understand why he feels the way he does- I guess his dad was vegetarian when he was a kid and I think he had a lot of bad experiences with vegetarian food, but I really think it's probably come a long way in 20 years! After Madeline left I was eating one of the Boca burgers and I kept telling Silas how good it was and that I didn't even think he would be able to tell that it wasn't meat. I think it was when I said that it tasted like a fast food burger that he finally broke down and tried it...and he liked it!! He was really surprised! He said that veggie burgers have definitely improved in the 10+ years since he had one. So lately when we've barbequed I've been having a Boca burger and Silas has been having Hot dogs AND Boca burgers. Ha! I knew he'd like it!! So now, along with the organic coffee that he LOVES, he's eating veggie burgers! But this DOES NOT mean that either of us is giving up meat- that will never happen!!
Okay, back to Memorial weekend.... The next day we headed to Arches- we knew it was going to be really crowded there since it was a holiday weekend, so our plan was to do the Delicate Arch hike, stop at a couple of near-the-road sights, then get out before the crowds made us crazy! The parking lot at Delicate Arch was already packed when we got there, but somehow we lucked out and a car was pulling out right as we pulled in to the parking lot. One funny thing that we saw at the trailhead was a sign that said, 'Don't be an arch hog!' Apparently there's a name for the people who had pissed us off so much on our last visit to Arches- the people who we saw sitting in the arches eating their lunches and changing their baby's diapers and completely ruining everyone's shot. I was happy to see that at least the Park Service is TRYING to make people aware of the fact that they should be courteous of everyone else, but I'm sad to say that it doesn't seem to be working. There were still A LOT of arch hogs!
Our hikes were good, and it ended up being a pretty hot day, so by the time we left and headed to Moab for dinner, we were all feeling kind of drained. Madeline treated us to dinner at Eddie McStiff's- a brewery in Moab. And, I should also mention that she had brought two 6-packs of out of state beer (regular beer!) for us!!
The last day of her visit we headed to Cedar Mesa to do one of the Mule Canyon hikes. We decided that we were going to take it easy that day and just do part of the hike. We had been telling her how much she'd appreciate this place after spending the day before with the crowds in Arches, but when we got to the trailhead there were about 8-9 cars there!! If that had been in a park it wouldn't have been bad, but I was only expecting there to be MAYBE 3-4 cars, tops. I guess it's crowded everywhere during Memorial weekend.
It was a nice hike...we only got rained on a little and made it back to the car just in time before it started pouring! We decided to go to Bluff for dinner and there was about a 2 mile stretch before we got there that it was POURING- I have never been in rain like that- even during typhoons in Japan. I was driving and I could not see a thing- I didn't want to pull over though, because I was thinking that the car behind me was probably just following my tail lights and I could see them not realizing that I was trying to pull over and rear-ending me. But it passed pretty quickly. Wow- what a storm!!
We had dinner at the Twin Rocks Cafe in Bluff- veggie Navajo taco for Madeline, regular Navajo taco for Silas, and veggie Navajo pizza for me. Yum!
Allison
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1245701314/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1245701314/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1245701314/tpod.html Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:43:55 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Canyonlands National Park, Utah, United States

What a weekend! Towards the end of last week Silas and I had been trying to decide what we were going to do on the weekend. Originally we were thinking about camping in Indian Creek, but then the weather wasn't looking so great, so we decided we were just going to drive down there and hike in the Needles part of Canyonlands for the day. BUT then on Friday we decided that we were going to go up to the Island in the Sky part of Canyonlands near Moab instead, and it wasn't until about 7pm that we decided that we were going to camp after all. So then we spent the next hour or so trying to get everything together. We ended up forgetting several things (spatula...cheese for our burgers...bacon for Silas' burger...) but this ended up working out in Silas' favor. I'm actually starting to suspect that maybe it was intentional...more on this later.
So we left here at about 8:00 on Saturday morning and we got to Moab just after 9:00- we made a couple quick stops for gas and to drop off our recycling (although it's a pain to have to try to remember to bring our recycling when we go to Moab or Cortez, they both take glass- which is awesome since they didn't in Missoula)
We got to Canyonlands at about 10:00 and found out that it was free this weekend! (for Father's Day) We actually have an annual pass so we don't have to pay anyway. Well, I guess we DID pay- it's about $80 for an annual pass- but then it's good for a year for unlimited visits to any national park or monument. I'm trying to count... I think so far since we got it in March we've used it 9 times to get into national parks and 6 times at national monuments, so it's definitely paid for itself already. But anyway, we thought that was pretty cool that they had free entry for the weekend.
We made a quick stop at the visitor center...and and even quicker exit. Sorry to say, but we voted it the most disappointing national park visitor center that we've been too thus far. This brought up the topic of BEST national park visitor center- I think the Prarie Creek Visitor Center in Redwood National Park was the winner with Crater Lake coming in a close second.
We had decided to do an 8 mile loop hike at* Upheaval Dome. Notice the asterisk...I really had to think about how to word that. Let me tell you what I was EXPECTING from the descriptions of the hike that I read in multiple books.
I was expecting the trail to go around the dome/crater.
I was expecting views into the dome/crater from the trail.
I was expecting (as described in hiking guide #1) 'One of the most popular trails in Canyonlands'
I was expecting (as described in hiking guide #2) 'the closest thing to a moonscape on earth that you may ever see.'
Now let me tell you what I saw. Nothing. Well, not NOTHING, but not the crater. There was not a single view into the crater from any point on the hike. 8 miles and NOT ONE view into the crater. AND we even did the 1.5 mile (3 miles roundtrip!!!) hike into the crater once we were at the bottom of the canyon and I still didn't feel like I was seeing anything that matched the descriptions I had read. Oh yeah, and we didn't see a single person- usually we like that, but to not see anyone on 'one of the most popular trails in Canyonlands' on a weekend with free entry? Very weird.
So our hike ended up being 11 miles total- it rained off and on most of the hike, we got ATTACKED by mosquitos. (I counted 12-13 bites on ONE of Silas' calves!!) We (mostly Silas since he was in the lead) also got buzzed by countless cicadas- yuck! I'm not positive that they were cicadas- I don't know if they have them around here, but they were very similar to the cicadas in Japan- loud and gross! It wasn't TOTALLY miserable, but based on the descriptions I had read, I was disappointed with the hike. There, I said it- I'm not saying anything else about the hike!
By the time we finished our hike we were exhausted and STARVING! We were wishing that we had already got our camp site and set everything up so that we could just go back to it and crash, but that would have required us thinking ahead, so we were out of luck. BUT we were happy to see that there were open sites at the campground, so we set up the tent and got food going in record time. As I mentioned earlier, we had forgotten several things- and at that point we were so hungry that instead of just having plain burgers, we took the cheese off our sandwiches for the next day to put on our burgers and we also used the bacon that was supposed to be for breakfast and I'm glad we did- we were starving!
After dinner Silas suggested we drive out to some of the viewpoints to watch the sunset. From about the last mile or two of our hike up until then it had totally cleared up and was hot and sunny, but as we were on our way to the viewpoints some clouds started rolling in from the west. Between the sunset and the coulds, the lighting was completely changing by the second...and then all of a sudden there was a rainbow...and then the lighning started. I insisted that we sit in the car to watch it, but there were quite a few people standing out at the viewpoints watching. I have never seen lightning like that- a few times it was like the lighning was coming up from the ground and then branching out across the sky. It was so beautiful...but a little scary since we were up so high.
The next morning we got up and had our usual breakfast (minus the bacon) and coffee, then we went BACK to Upheaval Dome. I wanted to give it one last chance to redeam itself, so we were going to walk out to the overlook and see if maybe we'd actually be able to see something that we hadn't been able to see during out 11 mile hike. Yep, the viewpoint was MUCH better. Anyone who might be going there- skip the hike, just go to the overlook, it's much more scenic.
After FINALLY seeing Upheaval Dome we headed back to Moab for a short hike up Mill Creek Canyon. One of Silas' co-workers who lives in Moab had told him that it's kind of the local swimming hole. It was a short hike up to a small waterfall with a swimming hole underneath it. There were several people there, but they were all up on top so we went down to the bottom and took a nice cool dip. It wasn't until we were on our way back to the car that we saw that there were crawdads in the water! Yuck! I'm so glad I hadn't seen them before we swam- I hate crawdads!
After our swim it was time for lunch. This is what I was saying that I'm starting to get suspicious about. Silas and I both LOVE eating out at restaurants, but we've really been trying to cut back lately. So we packed sandwiches for lunch to save money, but then after we took the cheese out of them for our burgers they were kind of a sad looking lunch... SO... Silas suggested we eat out. Hmmm.... was this all part of his plan to get to eat at a restaurant? Maybe. But either way we decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants in Moab- Pasta Jay's. This place smells so good!! We have a theory that they cook garlic in the back and pump the smell out onto the street- we can't resist the smell of that place!! We had a delicious lunch (and leftovers for dinner) and then headed back home. As much fun as we have on weekends, it's always so nice to come home!
Allison
PS...the sandwiches weren't wasted...we ate them for lunch today...

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1245267049/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1245267049/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/78ers/2/1245267049/tpod.html Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:40:02 -0400 Weekends on the Colorado Plateau

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Bluff, Utah, United States

Okay, so we didn't get this up Monday or Tuesday as promised, but Wednesday isn't too bad considering we were over a month behind a couple weeks ago!
We had a great time on our river trip! And right off I'd like to say that there were NO injuries!! Yep, I made it through will all my toenails intact! I thought it was kind of funny- right at the put-in there's a sign (I don't think it was there before) that warns you that the boat ramp drops off abruptly and has rough edges- I can definitely vouch for that!
Silas was able to get off at lunch, so we left here just before 1pm and after we did our shuttling we got to Sand Island at about 2:30pm. We were surprised that there were two groups there getting ready to put it- one group of 2 people left right after we got there, and we were able to get the boat ready in record time and get on the river before the other group.
Not too long after we got on the water we came across several large groups of rafters and kayakers- I think at least one of them was a commercial group, but we couldn't believe how many people there were! On our other two trips down the river we had seen so few people- I think on the first trip we had gone days without seeing anyone else, so we were hoping that it wasn't going to be like that the whole time. (Luckily it wasn't- we didn't end up seeing anyone else until right before we got to Mexican Hat.)
It was a really nice afternoon on the water- it was very relaxing and the weather turned out to be really nice. The water was much higher and faster than it had been the other times we've been there, so we made it to the beach we were going to camp at pretty early. We unloaded the boat and set up the tent and then Silas wanted to go exploring- I really didn't think the slope he wanted to climb looked very 'friendly' so I stayed back at camp and while he climbed.
When he got back we played some Scrabble (I won!) and then cooked our dinners. Silas has come to love dehydrated meals- I really like them too, some of them really are good. Not just good for dehydrated food, but actually really good. I think we had Spaghetti and Jamacian Chicken & Rice- both very good. After dinner Silas built us a campfire and we just sat and listened to the river and watched the fire until bed time.
I slept horrible that night! I just couldn't get comfortable- I felt like I was awake as much as I was asleep, so unlike most days- I was glad to get up. We had oatmeal, dried fruit, and coffee for breakfast, packed up our camp and got on the water. It was another beautiful day and we just floated and relaxed...until the rapids. I'm kind of joking, but I have to say that ever since Silas and I flipped the kayak last summer on a day trip- I've been really nervous about rapids. It might sound stupid, but I really never thought about the possibility of us flipping before that happened. Actually, I might have thought about it, but it wasn't until it actually happened that I realized how FAST it could happen, I think that's what scared me. But everything was fine- no flipping.
After we had lunch (Chicken Teriyaki- our all time favorite!) we got back on the water and the wind had really picked up. It was so windy it would just push us to the bank and no matter how hard we paddled, we couldn't get back to the middle of the river. We finally just pulled over and got out of the boat and waited it out and when it finally died down a little we were able to get back on the water and made it to our next camp.
We had both really been hoping that we would be able to camp at the place that we had camped when we had gone down the river in 2006. We got there and it was empty- yay! We set up our camp and played some more Scrabble (Silas won this time) then made dinner (Lasagna and Beef Stew) then Silas made another campfire and we sat and watched all the wildlife around our camp. There were tons of bats flying around, and we also saw a deer swimming across the river just down stream from us, and we saw either a couple different beavers or one very busy beaver on the shore across from us and swimming around slapping it's tail.
We went to bed and we both slept much better that night. When we woke up the sun was shining right into our tent and it was already getting HOT! We got up and made breakfast (oatmeal and coffee again) and kind of took our time packing everything up. We were only about 5-6 miles from where we were stopping (in Mexican Hat) so I think the fact that it would be over soon was making us not feel very motivated to get on the water. But of course we couldn't stay there all day, so we finally got going and floated the last few miles to Mexican Hat.
We went to the San Juan River Kitchen in Bluff for lunch- we've been wanting to go there for a while, but it's been closed the last couple times we've been through there. It was open and we weren't disappointed- we both had burritos- I ordered pork and Silas ordered beef and they were both good. After that we made one more quick stop at Comb Ridge Coffee- another place that I've been wanting to go to- we got an iced coffee to go and split it since we were driving in seperate cars. We were both saying how we weren't looking forward to the drive home, but then we realized that this is the shortest drive home we've ever had from the San Juan- it's a lot shorter than driving to Missoula, so we decided that we shouldn't be complaining!
It was such a nice relaxing weekend- I know we both wished we could have done the whole river, but we can only fit about 2 days worth of food/water on the kayak, plus Silas had to get back to work anyway. I guess now that we're down here we'll have a lot more chances to get on the river than when we were living in Montana!
Allison
Silas' entry will be coming soon...he says tomorrow...we'll see...

]]>