Hiking Capitol Reef (09/25/21)

 We spent a week in Capitol Reef National Park years ago, but our game plan this time around included one thing, and one thing only…hiking.

Looking at the trail map, I had to go back in my blog and try and determine which hikes we have already done. There are enough trails here that we didn’t need to repeat any unless we wanted to.

We started with Golden Throne. The trail head is all the way down the scenic drive, at the end of a dirt road (we were glad we chose this hike first- it rained the next day and the road was washed out for several days).

 

The trail is 4.5 miles with 1200 ft of gain, and we felt every foot of it. The trail followed along an edge of the “mountain” as it climbed higher, to the peak.

To give you and idea of the scale, the arrow points to several people on the trail.

The “throne” itself wasn’t particularly exciting, but the trail was good and it was worth it, although by the time we made it back to the truck, I wasn’t really sure. I knew the hike took a lot out of us, and it turns out it was mostly due to the heat- it was 104* when we finished the hike.

The next day was much cooler, and our hike was a 3.7 mile loop called Chimney Rock. We both enjoyed this hike, stopping often to admire the views.

The following day, Sunday, we had a plan, but when we got to the trailhead, it was overrun with people and there was no where to park so we went to Plan B.  Along the way we stopped to pick some fruit in the orchards that are still in the park.  We had never done that before- we ended up using the apples to make apple crisp.

Anyway, as we drove to our Plan B, it became apparent that the road we needed to access was closed due to flooding. Thwarted again, we had no Plan C, so we gave up and went home.

Monday was what we call a twofer.  We hiked two trails.  This time we got up and out the door early and managed to get a parking spot at Hickman Bridge Trail. 

Its also the parking lot for Cohab Canyon trail, but we knew Hickman Bridge would be the crowded one so we headed there first. The trail heads up first, and then over to a natural bridge. There were actually two smaller bridges along the way that were really neat too. Its hard to get a decent picture of a bridge or arch.

After two miles and 350 feet of gain, we finished that trail.  As a side rant, we had 2-3 groups ask us if they were “almost” to the bridge. They  were less than 1/4 of the way there, they were all wearing inappropriate footwear, already hot, and not ONE of them had any water.  I literally told all of them they would never make it without water- so they turned around.

Having finished that hike, we walked across the street and headed up Cohab Canyon trail. We never planned on hiking the whole trail, we just wanted to get as far as the scenic overlooks. It turned out to be 2.5 miles and 500 ft of gain.  The views of Fruita were worth it, for sure.

Our final hike before leaving Capitol Reef was longish, at 5 miles, but had very little elevation gain so we got to give our legs a rest.

We hiked through Grand Wash- it wasn’t the most picturesque trail but we still enjoyed it.  Although, looking at the pictures again, it wasn't too bad.

On the Move (09-12-21)

 

Rather than stressing over finding reservations for Labor Day weekend, we decided to head to our friends Tom and Dianne’s house. We were soon joined by our friends Liz and Randy and the 6 of us had a fun filled weekend. Fun for the guys is having projects to work on, so they spent time moving wood and trimming trees, while we girls chatted, and cooked.

Tom and Dianne came off the road of fulltiming to return to homesteading, and their yard is full of fresh vegetables and egg laying chickens.  The dinner that Dianne cooked for us was amazingly tasty and fresh.

Of course, when it was our turn to cook we made our traditional Mexican meal.  It’s always a great time at their place, although we did decide that our day focuses an awful lot on food!

Moving on from TD Homestead, we stopped briefly in Green River Utah, before heading to Capitol Reef National Park. Our main purpose in Green River was to catch up with our friends Dave and Nancy, who are staying in nearby Helper UT.

Green River is known for their watermelons and Nancy asked us to bring her one. At the farm stand, they ask you when you want it to be ripe, and they pick one for you accordingly. When we opened it later, we discovered it looked and tasted more like a honeydew melon.

The town of Helper is one of those interesting old towns that works to keep their history alive, including some of their old buildings, which are still in use today. 

We strolled down Main St. looking at buildings and reading historic plaques. After a while we were approached by a woman who said that she could see we are obviously tourists, and she gave us a couple of brochures about the town. We asked how she knew we were tourists and she said “I’ve been following you down the street”.  In a big city that would be creepy, in a small town, it was awesome.

Helper actually got its name from a train engine. Back in the day, when trains came through town, they needed to add extra engines in order to make it over nearby Soldier Summit- and this is where those engines, called helpers, were attached.

After lunch we took a drive out to some mining ruins (always a fun time for Paul) where we enjoyed speculating about what each building was used for.

 

Paul and I have been to Green River twice, but for the life of us we couldn’t remember if we had ever been to the small museum in town.  I had to read through my blog to discover that in fact, we had not.

The museum was small but interesting, detailing not only John Powell and his expeditions on the Colorado River, but also others who came after him and made their living running  and exploring all of the nearby rivers.

Leaving Green River, we headed towards Capitol Reef National Park. Our path took us through the San Rafael Reef, created by a volcanic bubble which caused an uplift.

In the 1970s, it took 4.2 million dollars to create 8 miles of highway.

Within 30 minutes the scenery completely changed and we were now driving through green rolling hills. I really enjoy driving through Utah- the state is gorgeous, and its difficult to get bored.

Glenwood Springs CO (09-05-21)

 

SILT

Well, first of all, we didn’t actually stay in Glenwood Springs, we stayed in  Silt, about 25 minutes away. Had we realized how far it was, we might have looked for something closer.  Oh well, our first adventure was to explore the tiny town of Silt (1.4 square miles). There was supposed to be a farm to market store, so we headed there first to get some goodies, but it was closed. We did notice that down the street there is a Historical Park, so that was our next stop.

There are about 10 or so old buildings on the property, which were interesting to meander through. We were hoping to learn about the town history, but there wasn’t much information about the town. Judging from all the farming equipment, we assumed it was a farming community, and later found out that in fact, they used to grow sugar beets.  I have heard of sugar beets but don’t know much about them. Turns out 30% of the worlds sugar production is from sugar beets.

Paul is always fascinated by antique gadgets and equipment, and was happy to explain to me what this gadget is. It’s a smudge pot, which would be loaded with diesel and used on a highway as a flare. As an added footnote, I absolutely remember having baskets like the one in this picture.

I like looking at the day to day items of yesteryear…such as this iron. To my way of thinking, the old saying “too many irons in the fire” should mean that someone was heating too many irons at once and couldn’t iron their clothes fast enough to use them all. In reality of course, it refers to a blacksmith and how many irons he has in the fire.  Apparently a good blacksmith will have Just The Right Amount.  Anyway, I doubt either of my kids has ever even used an iron.

Aspen

 

Our intent on our second day was to hike Grizzly Creek- an 8 mile hike with lots of elevation gain. We weren't sure we’d make it the whole 8 miles, but I was game to try.  It didn’t happen though. Many people may have heard that Rte 70 headed to Denver, was closed for quite a while due to a mud slide. Although it is now open, the parking lots for the hiking trails are not. We took a drive through the beautiful canyon before heading up to Aspen for the afternoon.

John Denver was one of my favorite musical artists when I was growing up, and I was happy to hear there is a John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen.

 There are all kinds of pathways in the park, and a rock garden that features boulders with the lyrics to his songs etched into them.

Flat Tops Scenic  Drive

This scenic drive took us through the White River National forest, which is actually the second national forest to ever be created (the first was Shoshone). The road loosely follows the White River. Years ago this area was home to the Ute Indian Nation, until an unfortunate misunderstanding resulted in their removal to a reservation. 

 

It is still home to one of the largest Elk herds in the country. We were therefore expecting to see some elk- but we only saw one.  Had we been camping up here at 10,000 ft. we could have done some hiking, but today we didn’t have time.

Doc Holliday

When you do a search for the town of Glenwood Springs, three things pop up : Hanging Lake Trail (closed due to mudslide), the Hot Springs Pool, and Doc Holliday’s grave.

One of our few hikes was a short one to his grave. All I know about Doc Holliday is that he was at the shootout at the OK Corral, in Arizona.  Turns out, he spent his last few years in Glenwood Springs, suffering from late stage Tuberculosis.  He died destitute, and was buried here, and since  no one knows exactly where his grave is, a memorial was put in place overlooking the town.

 

I was interested to learn that Kid Curry is also buried here. In 1904, after robbing a train, he was so severely injured by the posse that chased him, that he took his own life. I will admit, most of my "knowledge” about Kid Curry comes from the TV show Alias Smith and Jones.

 Rifle Falls

There are 3 state parks near us, and one day we drove out to check them out. The most interesting one is Rifle Falls State Park.  

There is a short hike that circles the falls. Taking our time, we walked the trail and enjoyed the falls.

Glenwood Springs Hot Springs Pool

 

Our last day in Glenwood, we finally made it to the hot springs pool.  This thing is enormous!   Built in 1888, it is the largest mineral hot springs pool in the world.  “The small” pool is 40’ wide and 100’ long. It’s kept at 104*, a little too hot for me. 

 

The regular pool is 100’ wide and 405’ long.  There are swim lanes for lap swimming, and a diving board at one end.  It is kept at about 93*, much better for us. After about 2 hours we were waterlogged and made our way back home.

Exploring Once More (08-28-21)

 

With "only" a month or so to explore before we head back to Arizona, we got out a map and looked to see where we could go that we had never been, but wouldn't be too far away. Glenwood Springs, CO fit the bill, so that’s where we headed.

In order to avoid the huge mountains, we took the long way there, which took us through Albuquerque NM, and Cortez CO. It seems like there is always something to look at while driving around in the southwest. Maybe because there are so few trees, we can see for miles and miles.

It always amazes me to see these kinds of things- it looks as if the sand is being worn away, revealing the monolith enclosed within it.

We had been through here before when we visited Mesa Verde National Park, but there was still plenty we hadn't seen, so we booked two nights in Cortez.

The lady at the Visitor Center was very helpful and mapped out a full day of exploring for us.

We packed a lunch and headed towards Canyon of the Ancients National Monument....with our first stop being Hovenweep.

Hovenweep was designated a National Monument in 1923, with the purpose of preserving some of the best ancient puebloan masonry in existence today.

The settlement we explored involved a two mile hike along a ridge, with remnants of ancient dwellings sitting both atop the ridge, and down below in the canyon.

 

Ancestral Puebloans moved to this area around the year 700, and moved on to new places in about the year 1230. No one knows exactly why they left, although there are several theories.

While here, they farmed, using a terrace method, planting crops down the sides of the canyon.

It was already getting warm when we started our two mile hike, so we were happy when the sky started dripping. The flashes of lightning and crackle of thunder didn't thrill us, but we survived it.

Looking across the canyon it was amazing to see just how many buildings there were in this small area.

These Twin Towers, although they maybe don't look like much, have a total of 16 interior rooms.

We were hoping to visit the Holly Tower area as well, but the ranger warned us that the road resembled a swimming pool after the recent rains. We went as far as we could, although one of us was convinced we could make it through to the other side with no problem.

Back on the paved road we made our way to Lowry Pueblo, where we had a picnic lunch before exploring the kivas. Kivas are special buildings that were used for ceremonies and community activities.

Lowry is known for the murals that were painted on the interior walls, which had 15 coats of plaster. Unfortunately, all attempts to preserve the murals failed.

Continuing on the loop road, our last stop of the day was the Anasazi Heritage Center. When nearby McPhee reservoir was created, artifacts were removed before it was filled with water, and they are housed at the heritage center.

I have been interested in dendrochronology since i was in 5th grade and at environmental science camp. While there, we drilled into a tree, and counted the rings to find out how old it was.

When comparing the rings of an older tree and a younger tree, the ring patterns for the overlapping years are the same on both trees, allowing scientists to establish a timeline.

Several wood beams from this area were sent off to the dendrochronology lab in Tucson where they have a master chart of tree rings, with known dates. Pretty cool.