Drop-Off

This is just a quick update without photos.

After leaving Monument Valley, we needed to make a half-circle back to Las Vegas to get Julia to her flight home. We stopped overnight at Pipe Springs National Monument and the RV park nearby, so that Julia could hear the story herself of the history of the spring.

Yesterday, we drove to Vegas where Julia had found the Las Vegas RV Resort, which was an easy drive to the airport early this morning.With moving from Mountain Time to Pacific Time, plus the Dayight Savings time shift, we woke up quite early to get her to the airport for an early morning flight home.

I will be meandering south and east today to start my way home. Thanksgiving isn’t far away, and I won’t be able to stop for lengthy stays anywhere at this point. There are a few places I want to see, so I’m estimating a two-week drive back home.

Night and Day

Julia is reading “The End of Night” by Paul Bogard, which is described as a hymn to vanished darkness. Between the full moon at Bryce, light pollution at rv parks, and cloudy nights, she hasn’t had much success in viewing the Milky Way.After leaving Moab, we went to Dead Horse State Park, which is about 45 minutes west of Moab and next to Canyonlands National Park.

This area is supposed to be a great spot for looking at darkness.  Unfortunately, even though it was clear for most of the day, clouds moved in at sunset, leaving no stars to be seen.  Then when Julia got up before sunrise, the half-moon spoiled the view.

Fortunately, the trails and daytime sights at Dead Horse State Park made up for the lack of true darkness. We hiked the East and West Rim Trails, along with a few shorter side trails.

This morning, we were off to points south.  My plan was to take Julia to Navajo National Monument, but she opted for someplace new.  We ended up at Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation.  We were going to stay at the View Campground, but no dogs were allowed.  Instead, we went to Goulding’s Campground.  Julia appreciated the hot showers and electrical hookups.  It’s been getting colder, and my $15 ceramic heater has been keeping us toasty when we have electric.  Solar doesn’t work for producing heat–at least not my 100 watt suitcase solar kit.

I had low expectations for Monument Valley, especially after the $20 entrance fee, but it was a very beautiful place.  We drove part of the gravel loop road before deciding that was enough potholes for one day.  Then we hiked the Wildcat Trail (about 4 miles looping around West Mitten). Despite the crowded parking lot and visitors’ center, we saw only a couple of hikers past the first mile.  It turned into a great afternoon.

Julia has one more chance for dark skies before we return to Vegas for her very early morning flight on Sunday.  We have no reservations but will making our way west.

Arches National Park

After Zion, Julia decided that she wanted to see Arches National Park.  We did the tow/drive in one day, and it was a very long day, pulling into Moab Valley RV Park($42/night) just north of Moab on Sunday night.  The RV park is well-run with nice showers, swimming pool, hookups, dump station, and conveniently located.

The entrance to Arches is only five miles from the rv park, but the drive through Arches to get to the trails that we wanted to hike was about 40 minutes.  We rose early Monday morning and were at Devil’s Garden Trail by 8:30 a.m.

I’ve given Julia the new trail name “See it All” because she is dragging me to every arch she can find in the park.

Devil’s Garden was an 8.3 mile hike after taking into account all of the side trails to named arches and completing the entire primitive trail loop, which had some really ice arches, including my favorite “Private Arch.”
On Tuesday, we hiked a series of smaller hikes including the Delicate Arch trail, the Park Avenue trail, the Windows trail, and assorted viewpoints.

Tuesday afternoon, Julia went shopping in Moab, while I attended to a few things in the Brew Hut and took Elvis for a walk.  Tonight, we’re going out to dinner, and then we’ll be offline for a bit, heading to Dead Horse State Park and points south.

Zion National Park

On Thursday morning, we hitched up at Bryce National Park and drove to Zion National Park.  After camping in the cold without hookups at Bryce, Julia figured that we deserved three days of full hook-ups at Zion Canyon Campground a private RV park within walking distance of the visitors’ center inside Zion.  I’m not crazy about spending $54/night for camping but it was really convenient; the sites had great views of the canyon; and it was a really well-run RV park.

We didn’t get into our site until early afternoon, so we spent the rest of the day walking up and down the streets of Springdale, eating pizza at Zion Pizza and Noodle Company, and having a bonfire at the campsite  We turned in early because a big hike was planned for the next day.

We rose at 5:30 a.m., took care of the dog (I walked him down to the visitor’s center and back), and walked down to the visitor’s center (again) to board the Zion Park shuttle bus at 7:45 a.m.  We made it to the Angels’ Landing Trailhead by about 8:15 a.m., well ahead of the rush that would occur throughout the day.  Julia called Angels’ Landing her death march, but the first half of the hike was just a cardiovascular exercise of switchbacks on mostly paved trail.  At that point, the pavement ended, and about a third of the people either returned to the trailhead and waited for family and friends to make the final ascent.

At that point, the pavement ended, and it became a rock scramble ascending a knife-edge and hanging on to dear life to the guide chains that led the way to the top.

A 1200 foot drop awaited anyone who wandered too far from either side on the narrow trail up.

We made it to the top and also back down.  To celebrate, I bought a t-shirt and coffee mug commemorating the hike.   Julia celebrated by taking us out to dinner at Meme’s Cafe where we ate burgers, fries (for me), salad (for Julia), and strong beers for both (double IPA and double bock).

On the next morning, we repeated our early shuttle ride to the end of the line at the Narrows.  The water was frigid, and I vetoed a nine mile hike up the river.  Still, Julia took off her shoes and managed to taste the experience for awhile going upstream.

Later, we hiked the Watchman Trail, which delivers views of the Canyon below and Springdale.

On Sunday morning, we hitched up and made the long drive to Moab.  We are headed to Arches National Park.

A Bryce Canyon Adventure

When we left Valley of Fire, I had a pretty good idea that our weather would be changing because Bryce is at 8000 feet of elevation.  The weather forecast was for lows in the mid-40’s.  We could deal with that.

In St. George, Utah, we stopped at an information center, and the nice lady at the desk suggested that we take a scenic route to Bryce by taking Hwy 14 out of Cedar City and then getting on Hwy 148 to Cedar Breaks National Monument and then Hwy 143 to Panguitch Lake and eventually connecting up with Hwy 89 and then Hwy 9 into Bryce Canyon National Park.

She promised that it would be scenic, and she knew that we were towing a trailer.  I didn’t think to ask her about elevation or snow, but it turned out to be quite relevant.  We climbed all the way up to 10,500 feet in elevation on our route, and we saw snow along the road and in the parking lots and occasional ice on the road. Julia says that the route was quite scenic.

I’m pretty sure that my steering wheel has permanent marks from my fingers holding on for dear life.  The road was basically empty for the entire route until Hwy 89.  We didn’t see another vehicle towing a travel trailer.  I was very glad to make it to Hwy 89.  I just noticed on google maps that part of the road is closed from November until spring.

We drove the rest of the way without event and then easily found a campsite at Sunset Campground within the park.  From our campsite we could walk to the canyon rim and the Sunset Point viewing area.  From there, we could walk hike along the rim or down into the canyon.

On the first day, we took long walks along the rim with Elvis (hiking with dogs is permitted between Sunrise Point and Sunset Point.  That night we built a fire, but retreated to the Brew Hut when temperatures began dropping rapidly.  We were prepared with a heavy zero bag and a comforter, but it got cold that night.  With the body heat from the humans and dog, the BrewHut only dropped to 34 degrees, but a hard frost was occurring outside.  I was glad that we didn’t freeze our water or waste tanks.

On our second day, we hiked down into the canyon in the morning via the Navajo Loop Trail and then back up via the Queen’s Garden Trail. On that afternoon, we entered the lottery for the Full Moon hike.  Over 100 people were in the room, and only 35 were selected.  With Julia’s good luck, there was no doubt we were going to be winners.  The moonlight hike was interesting, but I probably wouldn’t do it again.  The ranger-led tour provided lots of information about the formation of the moon(s), the interdependence between the moon and the earth, the protection that the moon has provided over the years to the earth in absorbing asteroids and planetary debris, and much, much more.

But the bottom line is that we were hiking in the dark most of the time, even though the full moon provided light in places.  The trail was challenging especially going down, and we were both glad after we made it to the top after the 2-plus hour hike. The highlight of the hike was at the beginning when we watched the moon rise.  Although the low lighting prevented decent photos from our limited cameras, it was spectacular!

On the second night, the temperatures only dipped to about 40 degrees inside the Brew Hut.  We were much more comfortable.  After a tortilla omelette, we hurried to catch the sunrise at Sunrise Point on the rim.

Then we hitched up and headed for Zion National Park.

Together Again

I picked Julia up at the Las Vegas airport on Sunday afternoon, and we drove back to Valley of the Gods to spend a couple of days enjoying the state park, along with some together time.

  On Sunday, we hiked the Mouse’s Tank and Fire Wave Trails.

I spoiled Julia on Sunday night with my leftover Thai Curry Chicken with Coconut Milk over rice.

Sunday night,  Valley of Fire enjoyed a second night of severe thunderstorms and downpours.  On our early morning walk, we stopped and talked to a ranger who told us that the higher elevations in Utah were experiencing significant snowfall.  After a breakfast of apple and banana pancakes (Julia’s favorite), we hiked the White Domes Trail.  I had hiked this trail several times in the past and really enjoyed the slot canyon, although it was a dry and dusty hike.  Not that day after the heavy rains.

We then hiked the Elephant Rock Trail.  In the afternoon, we hung out, read books, and cleaned up at the Atlatl Campground’s showers.  Then we went out for Mexican food in Overton.

Early Tuesday morning, we checked the weather forecast for Bryce Canyon and decided to risk the trip.  The predicted highs were in the 60’s, and the predicted lows were in the 40’s. Seemed like a window of opportunity.