Family Fun Day

 With Family

Spent the first 10 days still with Amy and family using most of the time to make doctor appointments for January. Mostly just the routine stuff, eye, dentist, and general doctor stuff. The exception is Ty does need to have carpal tunnel surgery which will keep us in Colorado at least for the month of January. For myself, my knee/hip is bothering me so I have a couple of appointments with specialist to see what is going on there.

For the most part pretty routine at Amy’s but we were kicked out as Kody, Scotty’s niece was coming in to spend time with them and ours was the only available bed. Actually, we were anxious to get on the road again and to get out of all the smoke.

Meet the Broomes

Margie Paul Broome Centennial Trail

First stop was in a very rustic, small camp in New Castle Co where we met newly acquired friends, Margie and Paul Broome. These really nice people are the parents of Sara Broome, who is “besties” with Amy. For years the girls have been trying to get us together and finally we did. Turns out the Broomes are nearly retired, sold their home in Basalt and plan on hitting the RV trail in the spring – so we had a lot in common. Wish them well

A great hike, Centennial Trail, while in New Castle, enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

Monticello

Old West RV

Several times we’ve been to Moab, Arches, Needles and Canyonlands and decided to stay out of the most tourist populated areas especially Moab since there was a bike rally taking place. Found a real mom and pop RV park Old West RV Park in Monticello to get oriented and the check out the BLM camping. Monticello is small and hit hard by the Covid. Most places are closed, only open is 1 gas station, post office, bank, 1 Chinese restaurant, 1 campground, small food store and a hardware. It is sad really. Old West is a fun park – owner, Jimmy, puts on a “shootin’ show” to entertain his customers in the evening. Uses a 45 Colt, John Wayne edition. Ty looks good huh?

Dry Camping Canyonlands

Made a solar upgrade to Wanda and we were anxious to try it out. BLM (Bureau of Land Management) camp spots were calling to us, but after checking a few out, we decided we were too big to take Wanda down these well-traveled not maintained which equals BUMPY rock-strewn roads. So we settle for a National Forest Campground, Sugarbowl, and got the most primo spot! See pics. Secluded, huge, and cheap for seniors – $7.50 a night!

 

Camp Views

The night sky is just unbelievable, and we hit it during a no moon phase for 3 nights. The Milky Way is incredible and spreads from horizon to horizon. Shooting stars galore however only a few satellites. Did I mention how dark it was? And for the first time not one camper had a light on all night. Thank you campers who know how to camp in the dark 🙂

Hiking Canyonlands

Canyon Riverbed Cairns point the way First Day Hike Map of hikes 3rd Day View 3rd Day View Top of Slickrock Climb Up

Really can’t put into words the great views we had on our hikes. Nature at its finest!

We hike all 3 days we were there, weather was perfect, in the 70’s. First day did a couple of short hikes for 2.5 miles, 2^nd day was the bike hard hike up and over slickrock down into river bed then up and over again, 7.5 miles – 5 hours and last day was a short scenic hike mostly on top of slickrock for the most spectacular views – 2.4 miles.

Ty Chimes in about Canyonlands

Canyonlands is by far my favorite National Park.  Many of you are probably familiar with it but for those of you who are not…the park is divided into 3 sections.  The Maze accessible only by a high clearance Jeep often described as one of the most inhospitable places in North America.  Island in the Sky locate near Moab, Utah has wonderful rock formations and a series of roads leading to an overlook thousands of feet above the convergence of the Green and Colorado Rivers.  Finally, the Needles section about 65 miles south of Moab.  The Needles is the opposite of Island in the Sky where you may spend time hiking into deep canyons looking up at the rock formations.  The Needles is where I like to hike.  All three of these sections are located in a desert environment with few basic services like gas and food.  The Needles and Island have visitor centers where you can refill your water and maybe pick up some weak WIFI.  Hiking is done on slick rock, very smooth rock that is extremely stable when dry but apparently slick when wet.  Because the trail is on rock, they use cairns, small piles of rocks, to mark the trails.  When the trail gets steep, we tell ourselves to “trust your boots”.  Anyway, it is a unique environment and a unique way to hike.

A couple of years ago I camped in the Needles section by myself, I told Jane and Amy that there would be no cell service so don’t expect to hear from me for a few days.  So, what happens, a few days later a ranger finds me in a remote campground to tell me my family is worried about me…he says this happens often and we both had a chuckle from it.  I traveled to the visit center later that day to make a call and alleviate their concern.  Jane disputes this version of my story but I am sticking to it.

Whether you are interested in a hike or just a drive it’s a great park to visit.  Ty

Gooseneck Point        State Park

Gooseneck Point SP Gooseneck Point

We went to this park mainly to try out the solar dry camping which turns out that although it is labeled a State Park it has no facilities. Little did we expect that we would be camping on the rim of the Gooseneck canyon! Few other campers around, it was really hot on top of the world, and at night it was so dark you could not see 3 feet from the campfire.

Our campfire was about 5 feet away from the edge and I kiddingly told Ty that I was going to chain him to the bed at night because he does sleepwalk! Actually, Ty has come down with vertigo, which if you are familiar with this strange phenomenon, it comes and goes. One minute he is fine, then wham is really dizzy; of course, while camping here at night he stands up and wobbles like a webble. In a way, I wasn’t kidding about the chains.

We didn’t hike much because Ty (always Ty have you noticed?) got a bad blister on his foot from new boots when we hiked in the Canyonlands. We spent the 2 days here driving around the area and I took short hikes (while Ty waited in car) up to Pueblo ruins. Went to the San Juan river to look at the beautiful fall colors for a lunchbreak then toured Fort Bluff that has a outdoor replica of how the fort looked when first settled. Only one building is original however the rest were put back to their original states for the purpose of the museum.

San Juan River

History: Hole in the Rock

Hole in the Rock

I always related this phrase to cowboy outlaws but in Bluff UT it refers to 258 crazy Mormons whom traveled 250 miles from Escalante UT to Bluff to help with the Indian relations (that is how it is described at Fort Bluff – think it means convert?). There was not a road to Bluff which means they had to navigate their own way.

They come to the canyons formed by the San Juan river and it is a 2,000-foot descent. What do they do? Build a road on the shelf of the rock face and ride down a sheer 45-degree drop. With the back wheels chained so they only slid, men and women hanging onto ropes down they go. Story has it that the horses balked at the trip until one of the team has a pair of horses that are blind so they can’t see. These horses went down first, the others reluctantly followed. Took them 14 days to get 258 people, 83 wagons, 2000 other animals down this treacherous “road”. The shelf had enough room for the wheels on one side of the wagon but not the other. These pioneers drill holes into the rock face, then inserted logs which created the other side of the road. And that’s what they went down. Yippee!

Petrified Forest Natural Park Arizona

PetrifriedForest Painted Desert

Off we went to Holbrook for couple of nights at the OK RV Park – it’s ok. More importantly we went to Petrified Forest Natural Park and it was a delightful surprise. Reviews said if you’ve seen one petrified log you’ve seen them all. Must be a “young ‘um” who wrote that review as it is much more than petrified logs. Turns out this National Park reside in the Painted Desert which is indescribable. Park which was designated as a NP in 1906 thanks to John Muir and good ole Teddy Roosevelt!

The petrification happens this way: tree dies, eventually falls into water (river), absorbs a lot of water until it eventually becomes covered in silt. There is remains for thousands of years all the while the inners are turning into rock. Then an upheaval happens and the logs rise up out of the ground (did you know rocks float? And now this tree IS a rock) and in the process they crack and break. And these cracks look just like someone has taken a chain saw and cut them up. One of my favorite pictures look just like this.

Not all of the trees become crystals, some become jasper and therefore look just like wood. But some are beautiful crystals. The Pueblo’s used these crystals to make arrow head points. Wonder what they thought about all these logs turned to stone. I could not help but think of Lots wife turned into a pillar of salt. I know, where do I come up with this stuff?

Ya gotta love REI!

Ty bought some new boots before we left CO but the hike in the Canyonlands proved these boots and his feet were not compatible. The nearest town that has a REI was Flagstaff so we traveled there and stayed at just ok RV camp, Greers. Staff was friendly enough and it was a good place to hunker down while in a horrific wind storm (gust up to 50mph) and temps dropped down to the 30’s and it even snowed! Went to REI to get him some new boots, actually exchange them even though they have been worn. That’s why REI is so great. Too bad we are not doing bars, restaurants or museums as Flagstaff looked like the cutest town as we drove around.

Tuscon

Did you know that Tuscon is home to the graveyard of old planes? Thousands of them! The road that borders the graveyard is called Airplane Boneyard…so fitting.

Also, when a wind storm kicks up IT IS DUSTY!! I should say SANDY.

But when the moon rises over the mountains all is forgotten.

Saguaro National Park

tall cactus more cactus Javalina tall cactus

…is actually a forest of cactus! It is through the foresight of the citizens of the area to recognize that with the overgrazing of cattle who trampled the cactus would result in the Saguaro Cactus to become extinct. In 1913 the petitioning to make this area a National Park began, which finally happened in 1994, although it was a National Monument before that. Saguaro Cactus are only found predominately in Southwest Arizona. Average life span of these beauties is 150-200 years and they don’t start to grow their arms until after 20 years. We took a 4 mile, very hot no shade, cactus loop hike marveling at all of the cactus in this forest: Saguaro, Chain Fruit, Barrel. Hedgehog, Prickly Pears, Teddybear. We tried to find them all.

Fort Huachuca

Memory lane time for Ty as he was stationed at Huachuca for basic training. Base is still active, covers 70,000 acres. He didn’t want to tour the base, so we drove by and he told stories of his days here. We decided to take a hike at Kitchener State Park as they have a cave there and we were going to risk it and take a tour. Unfortunately, the tour was full so we just had to hike. Another hot one here but worth the time as again all the cactus and wildlife we saw. Grouse, a Roadrunner, and Javelina (there were 2).

OOPSIES of October

• Ty hit his head for I think the 4^th time on the hitch. Nice cut but no stitches needed
• I made reservations for Dead Horse State Park – when we arrived, I failed to notice that it was for the Dead Horse in Utah (we are in Arizona). Fortunately, they had a spot for one night which we grabbed.
• For the second time this month, I opened the refrigerator after traveling and the carton of eggs came spilling out. This time I scooped them up and we had scrambled eggs every morning.
• Coming back to our camp from Fort Huachuca we were listening to a book on tape (Poachers Son – highly recommend) and didn’t notice that we missed our turn AND we were ignoring google maps because we just couldn’t understand why it wanted us to go down these dirt roads. Okay, we see a sign “Nogales 3 miles”. Nogales!!! THAT IS RIGHT ON THE BORDER OF MEXICO. Oh boy – we are way out of our way.

Happy Halloween

As I close this it is 31^st of October – one of my favorite holidays and sad that I am missing all the activities that will take place today/night. Haven’t missed a Halloween with the family in 14 years!!! Amy has stringed bags of candy on lights in front of house for the treaters, kids set up a photo booth in the garage to take pics. So instead of dressing up Ty and I are going to take the trash to the dumpster after dark and look for rattlesnakes. Oh fun!