Day 57-62 – Arches and Canyonlands National Park – April 19th – 24th, 2011

Jeep Odometer:  287800km

Arches NP

So we arrived at Arches late in the afternoon to find out that the campsite was full.  Luckily just a couple miles down the road along the Colorado river there was a series of BLM campsites along the Colorado river.  We managed to find a great site about 7 miles from the park along the river.  We quickly setup camp and headed into the park to catch the sunset at delicate arch.  The next day we spent the whole day visiting Arches National Park, hiking several trails and taking in most of the sites.  That evening we made dinner, had a nice fire and went to bed.  About 2AM in the morning we woke up to heavy winds and some rain.  The wind got so bad that Rose and I had to evacuate the small backpacking 3 season tent we were in and take it down.  I was afraid that it was going to be broken if we did not.  We retreated to Lisa’s tent, a 3 man 4 season mountaineering tent that is designed to stand up to the strong winds.  After a couple of hours the winds calmed and we managed to get some sleep.  The next morning we had to dust everything off, fine sand had been blown into the tents and on everything we had in them.  My phone is still a bit crunchy.

Dead Horse Point State Park

After cleaning up we headed to Dead Horse State Park.  We wanted to check out the views and grab a quick shower.  Unfortunately we found out there are no showers in this park, so we still did a nice hike and took in the views, and then headed down to the Needles district of Canyonlands NP.  We arrived just in time to find out the campground was full, but managed to book back country camping for the next 2 nights.  We also found a nearby private campground, the Needles Outpost.  We prepared for our first backcountry adventure, and managed to get a shower. 

Canyonlands NP

We spent the next 3 days and 2 nights backpacking through the needles area of Canyonlands.  We also took a nice 4 wheel drive track (almost to the end) to an overlook of the Colorado river.  The 11 year old Jeep performed admirably, considering it was loaded down with gear and people (no offence ladies).  The views were amazing, and the terrain was like nothing else I have ever seen.  The first day we hike about 4 miles to camp, setup and relaxed.  The next day we hiked to Druid Arch, and the only spring in the area to fill up our water bottles.  Unfortunately my filter worked for only the first 2L of water then it became plugged and I could not get it apart to clean it out.   Luckily I always carry water purification tablets as a backup.  We filled up our bottles  and headed on to complete a loop, where we walked through 2.5 foot wide slots that were 60-80 ft deep.  Very cool.  By the end of the day we had hiked about 9 miles total, maybe more.  We returned to camp, made dinner and headed to bed early.  We woke up to a very rainy morning.  Luckily we got a long enough break in the weather to quickly pack up camp and get on the trail just before the rain started again, a well coordinated effort to do things so quickly by all 3 of us!  We headed back to the car, and then headed for Monticello, UT.  We found and internet café and spent a couple hours catching up on emails, blogging etc.

FTF Day 57-62

Day 55-56 – Salt Lake City Utah – April 17th – 18th, 2011

We arrived in SLC around lunch time on a Sunday afternoon.  Since we had several hours to kill before our couch-surfing host would be home we decided to check out the state Capitol building and some of the LDS (Later Day Saints) sites.  Next we headed over to the library which is awesome, great views from the roof top patio, and plenty of windows.  We spent a couple of hours there blogging and what not.  Then hit a couple bars, dinner at a brewpub and finally onto our CS hosts.  We couch surfed with 4 easterners that all relocated to Salt Lake City for school and stayed for the snowboarding.  We stayed up late, playing video games, foosball and drinking.

The next day I took the time to replace my subwoofer, repack the car and finish uploading some photos. That evening I met with another couch surfer for dinner and then headed to the airport to big up my friend Lisa form the airport.  Lisa is a friend that I originally met at Oktoberfest in Munich in 2008, we have kept in touch and met up a various times over the last couple years. Most recently she’s been living in Vancouver, BC.  She decided to join us for part of our trip, and will be working on the farm with us as well.

The next day we packed up and headed for Arches National Park.

Day 54-56

Day 54 – Yuba State Park - April 16th, 2011

Jeep Odometer:  277 137km

Trip Odometer:  7074miles

From Capitol Reef National Park we made our way to Yuba State Park.  Yuba is located on a reservoir, with the Manti-La Sal mountains as a backdrop.   The weather was beautiful, we managed to get a campsite on the water.  We spent the afternoon showering and catching up on business.  That evening we had a relaxing night and slept well.  The next day we headed for Salt Lake City.

FTF Day 54-56

Day 52-53 – Goblin Valley State Park and Capitol Reef National Park – April 14-15th, 2011

Today was a busy day, we broke camp early and headed for Goblin Valley State park.   Although we had to pay an entrance fee, it was well worth it for two reasons:  hiking in the valley and showers.  The goblins were a lot of fun, we climbed, crawled all around them and took tons of photos.  We spent an hour or so walking around the area.  We then headed back to the car and headed for the showers.  It had been 48 hours since had showered, so it was nice to get a shave an d shower in.  You see very few of the national parks and national monuments have showers, but many of the state parks do.  After getting cleaned up we drove to  Torrey for groceries and internet and then went to Capitol Reef National Park for a couple nights of camping, scenic drives and hiking.  Late in the afternoon, we did a 25 mile scenic drive, and then a 4 mile hike to see the Golden Throne.  Later we drove up to sunset point for sunset, and then returned to camp for a late dinner.  I have visited this park once before but previously I only spent a few hours here doing a short hike.  I'm glad I was able to return for a much longer period and able to properly explore the park in its entirety.

The next day we set out on a 130 mile loop that would take us on a series of paved and dirt roads.  First we stopped to hike the Lower Muley Twist Canyon, which is an stream bed that is dried up this time of year.  Then we headed to the upper Muley Trail driving 3 miles up a very bumpy road and an then hiked to an overlook where we were able to see most of the park and the waterfold (a geological feature that is what the park is known for).  Later we drove out of the park and then up to 9500 ft.  That morning we were in a desert environment, now we were surrounded by alpine forest and snow.  We decided to make the most of the situation and filled our coolers up with snow to keep the beers cold.  We finished the drive and headed back to camp for dinner.

FTF Day 53

Day 51 – Natural Bridges National Monument– April 13th, 2011

From Monument Valley, we took the scenic drive up past Glen Canyon to Natural Bridges National Monument.  Along the way we had to climb 1500 feet up a switch backed gravel road with huge cliff drops, no room for error on this road!  Natural Bridges is a small park with 3 natural bridges, two of these bridges are the largest in the world.  The best way to see them all is by taking a 9 mile hike through a dried out stream bed.  This was our single longest hike yet, but was relatively easy because there was very little elevation gain.  We learned that a bridge is different from arch because of the way it is made; a bridge is made from water passing underneath, while an arch is created solely from the wind and rain.  AT the conclusion of the hike I was feeling pretty good so we drove North for 2 1/2 hours to Goblin Valley state park.  We arrived late and unfortunately the campsite was full!  This was our first time that we had run into this problem, but we know it will not be the last.  Unfortunately many parks fill up in the summer and weekends, but we did not think that would be the case in April midweek.  Luckily we were advised that all of the land around the park is BLM land.  BLM (Bureau of Land Management) is public land, so you literally camp anywhere you find a spot to pitch a tent.  We drove a few miles from the park and found a road leading into a small gulley, where we found a flat spot for our tent and setup camp for the night.   We would have to wait another day for a shower (the state parks in Utah have showers).

Photo Album:  FTF Day 51-52

Day 49-50 –Mesa Verde National Park – April 11th -12th, 2011

We headed to Cortez, CO and couch surfed there for a couple nights.  Our primary reason for visiting was to spend the day at Mesa Verde National Park.  Luckily the Cliff Palace had just opened up a couple days earlier so we were able to tour it.  We then hit a number of other sites, hiked out to Petroglyph point, visited the museum and learned about the Ancestral Peubloan people that used to live in the area.  The cliff dwellings were discovered in 1888 by some cattle ranchers in the area. 

                                                    

After Cortez, we headed to the 4 corners of the USA, where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah all meet.  Ironically the actual 4 corners sport is about 1/2 mile further east that where the marker has been placed.  The Navajo Indians have cashed in on it as well, since the marker is on Navajo Reservation land.  There are plenty of hand crafted novelties on hand for purchase and some food as well.  After the customary quick photos with each hand and foot in a different state (I know uber cheesy), we headed through northern Arizona to the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.  This was the back drop for many western movies including Stagecoach staring John Wayne.    We had time to do a 3 mile hike around one of the buttes, and the 17 mile dirt road scenic drive around the valley, before catching the sunset, which was breath taking.  Don't worry we took plenty of photos to make you all jealous.  We camped within site of the buttes, and woke up in time to see the sun rising behind them.

Luckily the weather in Utah has improved from what we experienced in Colorado.  We are no longer camping in the snow or near freezing temps at night.  During the day temps are in the upper 60s, and low 40s at night.  This has been great weather for hiking during the day and nice and cool for sleeping.  This is good news because other than a short stay in Salt Lake City we have no plans to couch surf for about 2-3 weeks.  It will be camping only until we get to the farm in Monticello, UT April 24th.

FTF Day 49-50

Day 47-48 – Black Canyon National Park, Orvis Hot Springs, Telluride, Ouray and more – April 9th - April 10th, 2011

So we arrived late at the park and setup Camp, weather was not too bad and we cooked salmon and veggies on the open fire.  The next day we woke up, and I made pancakes!  We then headed out for a series of hikes along the canyon rim.  We were thinking of hiking the 2300ft down into the canyon that afternoon, but instead we were greeted with a huge snowfall!  We decided that camping for 2^nd night would not be much fun so we packed up and headed down.  We made our way to the Orvis hot springs.  We had heard the camping and the springs were pretty good, a bit more expensive than the National Parks, but we had a kitchen and full bathrooms to use, and of course the hot springs.

The Hot springs were warm, and instead of the usual sulphur smell, these were mostly lithium and so there was no smell.  It was clothing optional, and it was surprisingly a good mix of young and older people, 90% were in the nude, so we joined them!  It was nice chilling in the water at 105F while the snow is falling on your head.  We camped that night and then got up and headed for Cortez, CO.  On the way we stopped and Ouray, and Telluride, however both towns were pretty quiet since it’s in between winter ski season and the summer hiking and biking seasons.

FTF Day 47-48 Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

Day 45-46 – Glenwood Springs and Carbondale, CO – April 7th - April 8th, 2011

Jeep Odometer:  274900 km

Trip Odometer:  5690 miles

So after only 1 day of rest we were eager to get on the road again.  We headed for Carbondale, CO stopping in Glenwood Springs so Rose could check out the Vapour Caves.  Basically it’s like a natural sauna, I opted out as I had to keep my ear dry.  That afternoon we went to our Couchsurfing hostess’s place on the edge of Carbondale.  Jackie was a great hostess, she’s travelled a lot and we shared stories of travel , skiing and the outdoors.  We were hoping to see the Maroon Bells, but unfortunately we found out that the road was closed.  So we opted for another hike near Glenwood Springs, to hanging lake.  On the way there we were driving down a county round rounding a corner around 50 mph, when I see out of the corner of my eye a large black torpedo shoot off the top of my car and hit the guard railing.  I think to myself: “hmm I don’t remember arming the photon torpedos?”.  It was the new roof box that I just bought for this trip!  I quickly pulled over and then dragged it back over to the car.  Upon inspection, we could see that the cheap clamping mechanism failed, probably something to do with the fact that I had twice the rated load in the box, not much of a safety factor on that.  So we emptied it out, and managed to bend the clamps back so that we could clamp it to the car.  We headed into town where I bought some U-Bolts, duct tape, and epoxy.  I had to fix a few cracks in the top of the box, and I used the U-Bolts to properly secure the box, so we would not have a repeat of this ‘incident’.  I am hopeful that the box will last the duration of the trip. 

We eventually did get to our hike and then went out for beers with Jackie that evening to soak up some local flavour.  Carbondale is about a 30 min drive from Aspen so it’s primarily made up of people that work in Aspen but can’t afford to live there (who can).  We left the next morning and headed for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  On the way we got side tracked and hung with another Couch Surfer, Dan, he took us to the Pennies hot springs in Cold Creek just outside Carbondale.  It was a natural hot spring right on the side of the road for free!  These are the kinds of things you would never find with a guide book. 

FTF Day 45-46 Carbondale

Day 43-44 – Ear Surgery in Englewood, CO – April 5th - April 6th, 2011

I was scheduled for surgery early on the morning of April 5^th.  So I made arrangements to stay with a couch surfer that lived nearby the clinic where I would be getting the surgery.  Our hostess Heather was very nice and lived in a nice little house with two dogs and a cat, all very friendly animals, she took us to a great Indian restaurant, nearby, and we shared stories of European travel.

The surgery was to remove a cyst that had formed on the end of my mastoid bone and was protruding into my ear canal and blocking it.  For 3 months I had tried using anti-biotics, draining it, and finally had to resort to surgery.  My ear doctor in Greenville gave me a referral to an ear doctor in Denver so the surgery would have minimal impact my trip.  The surgery went as planned and Rose picked me up and took me home by 11AM, where I just slept the rest for the day and night.  The next day we packed up and headed for the mountains to the town of Carbondale near Aspen.  Unfortunately there will be no skiing for me, since I cannot ski, run, or lift more than 10lbs. for the first 3 weeks.  The incision that they put in the back of my ear could easily tear if strained too much.  This will be the first time in over 10 years that I have to take that much time off running.  Rose is definitely up for a challenge as some of you know I am hooked on endorphins and get moody when I don’t get my daily fix.  We still plan on camping and hiking though, just nothing too intense.   We will be working our way through the interior of Colorado, stopping in Carbondale, Telluride, Black Canyon NP, Mesa Verde National Park, the four Corners then to Utah and our Woof (volunteer farm work) near Monticello.

Day 37-39 – Rocky Mountain National Park Camping trip – March 30th – April 1st, 2011

Rose and I headed into Rocky Mountain National park for a couple nights of camping, snowshoeing and hiking.  We knew it being week in March there would be very few visitors, so finding a camping spot was no problem, actually we there was only one other family camping in the same campground.  The first night we arrived just in time to setup camp, it was very windy and the stove kept getting blowing out but we eventually managed to make dinner and get the tent up.

The next day we did several snowshoe treks starting from Bear Lake, Sprague Lake and Glacier Basin trail heads.  Unfortunately the trails were all poorly marked, so we were limited to following the tracks from other skiers and snowshoes.  Most of these tracks veered off the trails and then turned around so it was very difficult to do a lengthy hike.  We managed to put enough of them together to make the day enjoyable.  That evening we struggled to make dinner as it was even windier than the day before.  Afterwards we were just sitting in the car reading, when I noticed out of the car something moving.  I looked up and walking no further than 10 ft form the car was a Wolf!  Then he just wandered off into the adjacent field, about 10 mins later another one came by!  Very cool.  We then headed over in the same direction to find a herd of about 5 elk, probably what they were checking out.

Friday we woke up, paked up camp and headed for Deer Mountain.  Deer Mountain’s summit stands at only 10013 ft, small in comparison to the 14,000 and 13,000 ft mountains that surrounded us, but Rose and I were looking for a quick hike we could finish before lunch.  Everything started off alright, and we covered the first 2 miles to the summit in just 90 minutes.  However the last mile took us another hour or more to complete.  The top of the mountain was covered in a thin snow.  Since we neglected to bring out snowshoes we kept post holing through and we had to crawl and semi-walk our way up.  A couple of times I gave rose the option to turn back, but to my surprise she was determined to summit.  We finally did and were rewarded with some amazing views of the surrounding mountains under relatively clear skies.  We headed back down the mountain worn but happy.  We stopped at Nepal's Cafe, for lunch in Estes Park on our way to Fort Collins.

Photo Album:  FTF day 37-39 Rocky Mountain National Park

Day 37-39 – Rocky Mountain National Park Camping trip – March 30^th – April 1^st, 2011

Rose and I headed into Rocky Mountain National park for a couple nights of camping, snowshoeing and hiking.  We knew it being week in March there would be very few visitors, so finding a camping spot was no problem, actually we there was only one other family camping in the same campground.  The first night we arrived just in time to setup camp, it was very windy and the stove kept getting blowing out but we eventually managed to make dinner and get the tent up.

The next day we did several snowshoe treks starting from Bear Lake, Sprague Lake and Glacier Basin trail heads.  Unfortunately the trails were all poorly marked, so we were limited to following the tracks from other skiers and snowshoes.  Most of these tracks veered off the trails and then turned around so it was very difficult to do a lengthy hike.  We managed to put enough of them together to make the day enjoyable.  That evening we struggled to make dinner as it was even windier than the day before.  Afterwards we were just sitting in the car reading, when I noticed out of the car something moving.  I looked up and walking no further than 10 ft form the car was a Wolf!  Then he just wandered off into the adjacent field, about 10 mins later another one came by!  Very cool.  We then headed over t=in the direction they did to find a herd of about 5 elk, probably what they were checking out.

Friday we woke up, paked up camp and headed for Deer Mountain.  Deer Mountain’s summit stands at only 10013 ft, small in comparison to the 14,000 and 13,000 ft mountains that surrounded us, but Rose and I were looking for a quick hike we could finish before lunch.  Everything started off alright, and we covered the first 2 miles to the summit in just 90 minutes.  However the last mile took us another hour or more to complete.  The top of the mountain was covered in a thin snow.  Since we neglected to bring out snowshoes we kept post holing through and we had to crawl and semi-walk our way up.  A couple of times I gave rose the option to turn back, but to my surprise she was determined to summit.  We finally did and were rewarded with some amazing views of the surrounding mountains under relatively clear skies.  We headed back down the mountain worn but happy.  We stopped at Nepals in Estes Park on our way to Fort Collins.

Day 40-42 – Good times in Fort Collins, CO – April 2nd – April 4th, 2011

Rose has a good friend Kelley that was born and raised in Fort Collins Colorado, so we headed there to check out the town and visit with her.  Fort Collins is known to have one of the highest microbrews / capita in the country, so it’s no coincidence that Kelley works for O’Dells brewery the 2^nd largest in town (after New Belgium).  We headed straight to Odell’s to meet up with Kelley before she was done work.  We both had a sampler tray of their beers, we were then treated to a personal tour of the brewery.  One of the most impressive features is how they are very environmentally conscious and involved in the community.  Each month the proceeds raised from the tasting room go to a different local charity.  We even met the brew master, Joe, who was busy at work late on a Friday night.  He was excited about our trip and was enthusiastic when we told him we were interested in moving to Colorado one day.  We spent the evening hitting up some of Ft. Collin’s finest dive bars including the Tap Room, and Trail Head, with $5 pitchers of PBR.  Saturday the weather was beautiful, high of 78F, so I headed out for a run and ended going 16 miles along the Poudre River trail, I ran until I ran out of trail and then found a gas station for a drink and ran back.  It was great, scenery was beautiful, tons of people were out.  That afternoon we visited the famous New Belgium Brewery best known for Fat Tire, Arrowhead, and Mighty Arrow Beers.  Saturday night after filling ourselves at the Big City Burrito we headed down to Denver for a birthday celebration at a bar followed up by Salsa dancing,  Sunday was much more relaxed, but we did manage to visit the Swetsville Zoo, an odd collection of dinosaurs and other creatures fabricated from old car parts and other junk. 

Fort Collins is  great town, with everyone riding bikes around, and a very walkable city, definitely one of my favourites in Colorado.  The only downside is that it’s relatively far from most of the mountains and ski resorts, but it’s close to Rocky Mountain National park.

Photo album:  FTF Day 40-42 - Fort Collins, CO