Zion Canyon National Park - Sept 29 - Oct 2

Zion National Park was amazing driving in from the east. The rocks were different. The Desert Long Horned Sheep were on this side and the mile long tunnel leading into the canyon was something else. Coming from the Grand Canyon, my thought was to hold back on the “rock” pictures because there would be many more opportunities. I didn’t realize the vast difference from one side of the tunnel to the other. The good thing was that we would be traveling back the way we came giving a second chance for great photos.

Coming in with no reservations for the first day, we arrived at 9:30 and were able to find a nice shaded campsite in the South CG (first come, first serve). The next couple days, we had reserved sites at different locations in the Watchman CG. This became a learning curve because changing campsites meant waiting for checkout time. We quickly learned that with the heating (and elevation) of the surrounding cliffs, the temperature went into the mid 90s middle day. As the cliffs cooled, a breeze came up which cooled everything down into the 60s in the late evening/early morning. Check in, check out clearly interfered with early morning hiking which was best for leaving Nina behind (dogs are not allowed on most trails here and most NPs). We solved this by moving back to the South CG for several more days.

Second learning curve was the goat head thorns. On our first full day, we planned to hop on the shuttle w/bikes out to the end of the canyon and poke back.  Shortly after heading out, Harry realized he had a flat! Further examination revealed a tiny thorn as the culprit! While regrouping, I noticed our neighbor had a bicycle shop/repair logo on his truck. He told us about the thorn and after checking all our tires, we collectively found about 20+ more. A tire repair kit and tubes were another one of those things that was off our radar when packing. Although our neighbor offered us a spare tube, we were not much more than a mile from a bicycle repair shop so off we went. Here we learned about “green slim” that is squeezed into the inner tube and self repairs leaks. We did all four tires and the next day, I noticed a thorn, pulled it out, heard the hiss of air and then saw the green goop come out plugging the hole. I’ve been riding since w/80 lbs. of pressure with no problem.  I’m a believer! Nina also got several thorns in her paw along with one prickly pear thorn in her nose! Poor girl but she was very good about coming for help.

We got our bike ride downhill from Temple of Sinawave looking for the Condors at Big Ben, hiked in about 1.5 hours into the Narrows (really cool) and the next day, I hike the Emerald Pools. Laundry, showers and new hiking boots for Harry set us up for continuing onto Bryce.

On our way out, we got a chance to slow down and enjoy the east side. We saw a couple herds of the Desert Longhorn Sheep. I think I’ve said this before but if you stop trying hard to see something, it might come to you! Heading out, there was a large bird in the middle of the road. I started yelling at Harry that it was a Condor and he had to stop. At the same time, I was fumbling with my camera. Pulling over just short of the bird, it was a Condor feeding on road kill. ‘Course we spooked him up with his meal. A mate flew in from the side trying to get the food. It was really cool because we were so close we could see the numbers tagged on the wings and all the markings. Unfortunately my camera skills were lacking and only got one long distance clumsy shot. Still counts as a CA Condor “check” on the life list!

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Moquith Mountain Wilderness Study Area - Sept 27 - 28

We were ultimately headed for Zion Canyon National Park but because the campground was first come, first served, we didn’t want to arrive late in the day so stopped at the Ponderosa Grove Campground which is a BLM CG. These campgrounds are maintained, have toilets and in this case, grills so there was a minimal charge of $5/night (or $2.50 w/the Golden Pass!) .

Across the street from the campground is the same coral pink sand dunes as the state park down the road. The difference is that this area is designated the Moquith Mountain Wildernes Study Area which doesn’t allow all terrain vehicles. There is a lot of vegetation and there is no one around. Really pretty!

It was a good thing our dinner that night happen to  be vegetarian because a cow, #40, came to visit and checked out our picnic table. I actually think she was more interested in Nina and seemed lonely. When I walked Nina later in the evening, she came through the woods, intercepted and followed us!

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Paria River, Kanab, UT - Sept 26 - 27

After reluctantly leaving the North Rim, we headed off to Kanab, UT. Steve and Ellen had told us this was a good provisioning town because there was a pretty good grocery store, combination hiking gear/bookstore/coffee shop and the only place you can buy wine within about 60 miles because UT completely controls the sale of wine and liquor through either state liquor stores or contracted agents. OK, there was one more reason I picked the Kanab which was the hope of being able to get a permit to hike The Wave! 

The Wave is located on the CO Plateau near the UT/AZ border with a borrowed description of “a gallery of gruesomely twisted sandstone, resembling deformed pillars, cones, mushrooms and other odd creations . . . . . creating a dramatic rainbow of pastel yellows, pinks and reds.” The challenge was that only 20 hikers are allowed per day. 10 are selected through an online lottery and the remaining 10 through a walk-in lottery the day before. Harry wasn’t really onboard with this because the walk is 6+ miles in desert sand with no shade but I decided to give it one try and see what happens.

We decided on a private campground close by which was the only redeeming quality. At 8 the next morning, off I headed on my bike to the Visitor Center along with about 36 other people who all collectively filled out permits for 88 people. Of course, I didn’t win or maybe “we” did because in hindsight neither Harry nor Nina could have completed the hike. It was still fun and a good opportunity to speak to locals, guides, rangers and others familiar with the area for sights and hikes.

We explored the Paria River area and ended up “disperse camping”* on Bureau of Land Management  (BLM) land at the trailhead of Buckskin Gulch. In the morning, we hiked into the gulch, shopped and headed off towards the Pink Sand Dunes. Along the way, we made a pass up to Angel Canyon where the Best Friends organization is located. This is a large scale, impressive, well run and seemingly well funded no kill shelter that takes in dogs and cats, of course, along with horses, pigs, goats, parrots and more. On several occasions, people asked us if we got Nina there because she had a green collar. We weren’t able to get on a tour but apparently all their dogs have color coded collars. Green is for the well adapted, ready to go, good dogs. There is another color for dogs that are being worked with and Red is for the “lifer dogs” that are really not adoptable. Sorry Maggie! You will have to change your color!

*Dispersed camping is camping overnight off a dirt road in a previously disturbed spot, in this case on BLM land. We saw that this was also allowed in Kaibab National Forest. There is no charge but you are dry camping using facilities in your own vehicle.

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Grand Canyon North Rim - Sept 23 - 24

Beautiful ride over to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We passed over the Colorado River at the Navajo Bridge, drove along the Vermillion Cliffs and driving up to the park, we went through the Kaibab National Forest on the Kaibab Plateau. The landscape changed so quickly from sandstone cliffs to quaking aspens, meadows and ponderosa pines.

The north side is more wilderness and quiet. Harry took a hike with me down the N. Kaibab Trail to the Conopina Outlook. We went to a lecture on condors at the Grand Lodge and stayed for a wonderful dinner.

As much as possible, I try to get Nina out each morning for run with my bike. On one of these trips, she became obsessed with the Kaibab squirrel. These guys only live on the North Rim and have a black body with a white tail. Somehow they know Nina is on a leash because they dash all around tormenting her! 

Campsites on this side were also fairly booked up so we were only able to get the two nights switching sites each day. The day we left, we decided to take the time to drive the scenic loops to Point Imperial and Cape Royal.  

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Grand Canyon South Rim - Sept 18 - 22

One of the problems of waiting so long before writing is that the days start to blur and rest will have to wait now that we had joined up with Steve and Ellen. Campsites at the Grand Canyon are very popular this time of year, particularly with foreigners, so Steve had reserved two sites so that we would be together. They arrived a day earlier and had discovered that the campground was loaded with Pinyon trees and it was pine nut season! We were hardly settled before the foraging began! This whole process reminded me somewhat of gathering black walnuts several years ago. Swap out black walnut stained hands for pine pitch and driving over a bag of walnuts in a car to crack the shells with using pliers to carefully crack the husks around the pine nuts once carefully extracted from the cone! It's a lot of work for a couple handfuls of nuts but they are really good so hard to stop!

A couple days back, I realized that I had forgotten my day pack. It was one of those things that wasn't on the clothes, food or electronic list so we headed off to the camp store and then walked some of the Rim Trail around the canyon. Pretty amazing place. The following day, we biked further up along the rim but didn't make it past Hopi Point because of multiple stops including more pine nuts and searching for the elusive CA Condors, the largest raptor in the US with a wingspan of 9.5 feet. They have been reintroduced into the area about 14 years ago and now there are about 230 of them.

The following day, Steve, Ellen and I hiked down the S. Kaibab Trail to Cedar Ridge. It's only about 1.5 miles down but with an elevation drop of 1140' with lots of switchbacks, the climb back up for me was exhausting but well worth the effort.

One more stab at getting to Hermit's Rest at the end of the Rim Trail, Harry and I packed our bikes on the shuttle bus while S & E biked the distance and we all rode downhill back to camp. Still no condors but we saw the nest. Many elk around the campsite and mule deer along the rim. It was rutting season for the elks and I don't know if "bugling" is a part of it but we were hearing them constantly and it was an eery sound. The bugle is very high pitched and sounds much like the squealing of truck brakes! Even when close enough to see the elk's mouth move, the bugle doesn’t sound like it should be coming from such a big animal! It was a great visit with friends and after 5 nights we headed to the North Rim while S & E headed to Chaco Canyon and home. 

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Navajo National Monument - Sept 17

This was an overnight stop to break up the trip from Mesa Verde to the Grand Canyon. The 500 mile days were getting to us! 'Course, I had to stop through the Four Corners National Monument along the way just to see the spot where the four states come together. Harry humored me with a pose for a picture! The Navajo National Monument turned out to be a special place for the night. We found a campsite on the upper campground, Canyon View CG, along with 3 other campers so it was quiet, a pretty spot for the night and free as well which was a surprise. We took a short 1.3 mile round trip hike the next day out to the Betatakin Overlook where we could see the cave dwelling. This is one of the best preserved cave dwellings of the Ancestral Peubloans who lived there from about 1250 to 1300.

Continuing on along Rte. 160, we had hoped to see something of Monument Valley from a distance but it was from the wrong side so this will have to wait until we swing back south after UT. On to the Grand Canyon to meet our friends and hopefully rest for a while . . . . 

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Mesa Verde National Park, CO - Sept. 15 - 16

Our 5th day brought us into CO heading west on Rte. 50 over to Rte. 160. We crossed over the Rockies through Wolf Creek Pass, lunched in the National Forest and continued on to Durango for an overdue oil change before continuing on to Mesa Verde National Park and the Morefield Campground. The plan was to meet up with friends, Steve and Ellen at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon who were winding their travels down and heading back east so we were not yet in "relax mode". 

We stayed 2 nights at Mesa Verde which gave us a full day to tour the Cliff Palace, the Balcony House, Spruce Tree House, the museum, scenic loop and I had to hike the Knife Edge Trail in search of the Peregrine falcon. The cliff dwelling tours were really incredible climbing ladders 32-60' tall to enter and exit as well as a 12' x 18" tunnel. Remembering stories told by Ellen, we were careful and quick to get to the front of the line entering the tunnel for fear of following a large person!

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On the Trail again to the Southwest - Sept 11 - 14, 2012

What better picture to start our journey SW to the Four Corners area. Our first couple nights were at a Cracker Barrels in Carlisle, PA and then in Greenfield, IN. After endless cornfields continuing along Rte. 70, we stopped at North Riverfront Park on the Mississippi River just below where the river joins with the Missouri for a lunch. The river looked pretty strange because it was 20' lower due to a drought. We finally crashed at Blue Springs Campground in Fleming Park, Lees Summit, MO.

Averaging 500+ per day and getting across IN, MO and finally KS (what a long state!), we made it to Hasty, CO staying at the John Martin Reservoir State Park. In fact, somewhere along the way, Harry realized that driving 55 mph was not going to get us across the country very fast so we picked it up to the speed limit (that is up to 65 mph)! We did actually cross the Chisholm Trail on Hwy. 56 north of Wichita, KS and had to circle back to get this picture!

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