Over the Mountains and Through the Plains

We left Canyonlands National Park as the sun was rising over the LaSal Mountains on Sunday morning.

As we connected Roger (our toad, not our friend) to The Wanderer the temperature was 40º with winds that felt like 80 mph (was probably more like 25 mph.) Anyway, it made leaving much more appealing. With a prediction of heavy snow in the Rockies, we decided to drive south about 50 miles, crossing only one mountain pass instead of the three on I-70. (Hearing parts of I-70 were closed on Sunday that was probably a good idea.)

Sunday’s drive was pretty much uneventful until we approached Monarch Pass on Hwy. 50. Slowly The Wanderer pulled Roger (our toad, not our friend) to the summit

and creeped down the other side.

We pulled into the Walmart parking lot in Salida saying “That was not as bad as we had envisioned and the worst is behind us.” But nooo......., said Mother Nature, it’s not over.”  The first 50 miles on Monday Captain drove 25-35 mph over the icy road through a canyon.

ABN said it was like driving through a Christmas card but all Captain saw

was the icy road (and a few deer.)

Here are the views that Captain missed.

By mid-day we hit dry roads and boring views.

Fortunately, Captain’s cousin, Joy and husband Shannon, live just a ways off I-70 in Lindsborg, KS (aka Little Sweeden USA,) so we got a bit of respite from the miles and miles of windmills and farmland. We parked The Wanderer in their drive while they took us on an art tour. Swedish artist, Birger Sandzèn,  immigrated to Lindsborg in 1894 and taught art at Bethany College. After he retired from the college in 1946, he continued to live there and create art until his death in 1954. We visited the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery and saw only a small portion of his amazing paintings.

Hour of Splendor
Bryce Canyon, Utah

Joy and Shannon introduced us to the works of local artist, Lester Raymer.  What an eclectic, talented man! The Red Barn Studio Museum houses his woodwork, toy-making, stitchery, ceramics, painting, and more. Recycled materials shows up in a lot of his art.

Noah's Ark
Ark and animals carved by Lester Raymer

We had such a fun time catching up, remembering days past, and discussing our travels over wine and dinner. (BTW, Tipsy Tuesday friends, you will most likely get a sample of our version of Joy’s yummy ham balls.)

We are now home and looking forward to catching up on our hometown happenings. But first we must give Roger (our toad, not our friend) and The Wanderer baths.

"Roger"

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Hiking Utah…..Part 5

All good things must come to an end (or so they say) including our hiking adventures in Utah. The past few days we have wandered along the canyon rims

and over rocks

in Canyonlands National Park.

Each of the five national parks are unique; as the name indicates, Canyonlands National Park is all about canyons.

That is the Colorado River

(Sorry we got carried away with posting photos, but we couldn’t decide which ones best described our hiking experiences here. And, yes, they were as strenuous as they look.)

Hiking over 40 miles the past 3 weeks (with no falls!!!) and the fact Roger has a birthday on Monday; a celebration with pizza and beer was in order.

The celebration continued back at the camp site.

Roger was not the only one celebrating a birthday this week, Max turned 4 on Friday.

He has been such a good camping companion, only whining when he thought he was going to be left behind. Well, there was that one time he growled at the deer in the campground; but in his defense, he was protecting his people.

While in the Moab area, we caught up with Captain’s high school friend, Clarke, whom he had not seen in over 40 years.

We spent a most delightful evening with her and her husband, Tom, at their lovely home.

There is snow on the mountains

which means it is time for us to head home. What a fantastic trip it has been! Thanks for following along with us.

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Hiking Utah…..Part 4

This is how we saw Arches National Park on Sunday and Monday.

We drove through the park, stopping at various viewpoints. If it wasn’t raining too hard, we Captain got out to take photos.

Balanced Rock

Sometimes he took them from the car.

We were all happy to see the sun on Tuesday and headed to Devil’s Garden Trail, just outside the campground.

Pine Tree Arch

Landscape Arch

That was so much fun, we decided to hike the Broken Arch Trail from our campground. Now this is what you call an adventure hike!

Sometimes you had to climb,

Sometimes you had to slide,

Sometimes you had to crawl,

Sometimes you had to rest,

Sometimes all you could do is just say "Wow!"

Tapestry Arch

We were camped at Devils Garden Campground; if you look closely you can see The Wanderer.

There were no amenities like water, electricity or sewer but we did have a pretty decent cell phone signal. With solar and generator power we were able to watch the Aggies hand Kentucky their first defeat of the season on Saturday (now we are ready to talk football again.)

There are over 2000 arches in the park; of course we didn’t see them all. We are sharing only a few from our two hikes; here is a link if you want to see more. 

Today we are moving over to Dead Horse Point State Park, near Canyonlands National Park where we will conclude our hiking adventures in Utah.

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Hiking Utah….Part 3

Greetings from Capitol Reef National Park!

After a somewhat scary drive from Bryce Canyon via The Scenic Byway (aka Hwy 12) over mountain passes, through open range (and not just a few cattle, more like a pasture,) 

in the rain and fog,

The Wanderer parked in an apple orchard with a herd of mule deer and within walking distance of Gifford House (where we bought fresh fruit pie and ice cream.)  Fruita Campground is in the Fruita Historic District, which was homesteaded by the Mormon’s in the 1880s. The park continues to maintain the fruit trees that were planted during that time. Visitors are welcome to pick the fruit that is in season; so we picked apples.

It is hard to say how many deer were in and around the campground; we stopped counting at 15 one day, knowing there were a lot more.

They were quite tame.

We were without cell phone service and internet in the campground, but found we could get a signal at one of the overlooks, so we drove up daily to check for messages.

Across the road from the campground was the Cohab Trail (originally it was known as the Polygamy Trail but was changed because Cohab sounded a bit better.) The day we hiked it we happened upon a ranger led hike so we joined them.

It was most interesting to hear the history and how the canyon came to be. On the return we did a bit of exploring on our own.

Captain in a slot canyon

One morning, after a rainy night, we did a bit of 4-wheeling in Roger’s jeep.

That was fun!

Convinced the rain was over for the day, Captain and Roger checked out the Hickman Bridge Trail

where they found some petroglyphs.

Whoops!

(This is what happens when ABN is not along.)

So, the next day, ABN led the hike on the Chimney Rock Trail.

Chimney Rock from the bottom

from above

and along the way.

Capitol Reef National Park is not as large or as busy as Zion and Bryce Canyon, but we found it to be just as interesting and we are already talking about the next time…. but for now we are meandering our way through canyons and desert 

over to Arches National Park near Moab. Once again we will be camping in the park and doubt very much that we will have cell phone service or internet (and that is okay with us.) We will drive to a service area to check for messages.

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