Granite Mountain Basin (04-13-15)

Paul and I don’t have to be back in Havasu for a while so we were on the look out for some hiking to do- preferably at a higher elevation, where it’s cooler.  We’ve decided to head towards Sedona where we will kill two birds with one stone.  We’ll have some great hiking, and also get to hang out with our friends Mike and Julie. 

Our first stop along the way was Prescott, where I had found a trail we were interested in hiking- and where our friends Dave and Nancy happen to be staying.



Granite Mountain Basin is part of the Prescott National Forest.  The trail we hiked was Granite Mountain Trail #261.  It was an ambitious undertaking at 9 miles round trip, and 1600 feet of elevation gain.  We were in the mood to push ourselves, and boy did we.  We were pretty darn tired when we were done.

We knew from the reviews of the trail that there had been a fire here about 2 years ago, but it wasn’t until we met another couple along the trail that we learned how devastating that fire was.

In June of 2013 a fire, known now as the Yarnell Hill Fire, broke out in the small, nearby town of Yarnell.  In the midst of a severe drought, and with winds whipping, the fire grew out of control.










For weeks the fire raged, and more and more firefighters were brought in to try and contain it.  Eventually the services of more than 600 firefighters were utilized, including the 20 men who comprised the elite team known as the Granite Mountain Hotshots. 

On June 30th, the fire suddenly changed direction, and 19 of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were overcome by flames, and died in the fire, resulting in the highest firefighter death toll in a fire since 1933.

Hearing about that while on the trail changed our mood a little bit, making it more somber and reflective.

Eventually we made it to the top of the hill, where we found a nice flat boulder where we could sit and enjoy lunch.  We didn’t get to relax for long though.

 

As I took a bite from my sandwich, I heard them.  Before I saw them, I actually heard them.  Swarming towards us.  Bees.  Thousands of them.

I now know what the term “scared spitless” means, as tried to swallow, and with my sandwich lodged in my throat, I scrambled down below the boulders to try and get out of their way.

Paul, of course, was calm and unconcerned, trying unsuccessfully to keep me from freaking out.  As soon as they moved away, I declared that lunch was over and we were moving.  Now.  A few minutes later we came upon another hiker who had had to walk through the swarm on his way to the peak.




Apparently bees swarm at this time of year while looking for a new location for a hive. When not swarming, they rest in clusters in tree branches.  We passed 3 clusters on the way back down the hill.


On the news that night we heard that several people had been attacked by swarming bees, and one woman is in the hospital with over 50 bee stings.









Once we were back down the hill I started to relax again, and started looking forward to our dinner with Dave and Nancy.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen them so we had a great dinner, and hope to see them again next week before we head off in different directions for the summer.  Of course, I never got my camera out, so I have no pictures of our reunion.

Boquillas Del Carmen, Mexico (12-05-14)

Our final adventure in Big Bend National Park was a day trip to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico.  The day started in an unusual way for this area of Texas- with fog clinging to both the roads and mountains.










  Boquillas is a small town in Mexico, that until 2011, was a “soft” border crossing. Mexicans would casually cross to shop in the United States, since the nearest grocery store in Mexico is a 3.5 hr drive down a dirt road.

 Americans would cross just as casually to explore Boquillas, eat lunch and buy souvenirs. September 11th changed all that, and devastated this small town with a population of just 300.  The border was closed.  Period.  No more crossing at all. The town inhabitants waited in vain for it to re-open, and eventually, many of them moved away to find new jobs.




Finally, in April of 2013, the border re-opened, but it will never be quite the same again.  Now Mexicans need a visa to cross into the U.S. and Americans need a passport to cross into Mexico.

Well, with passports in hand, the 6 of us began the trek to Boquillas del Carmen.  After an hour and a half drive, we reached the ranger station at the crossing, where we were briefed on the do’s and don’ts of crossing into Mexico.

Our options for crossing the Rio Grande were wading/swimming (not recommended) or paying Victor $5.00 to take us across in a boat. 

So, after a short boat ride, we were in Mexico.

The next step was to get to town, a mile up the road, where we would need to check in with immigration officials. 

Our options for that segment of the journey were to walk a mile uphill, ride in a pickup truck taxi, or ride burros.  We chose the burros. 

I think we laughed all the way up the hill.

  Our handler was Paulo.  He kept the burros moving, and we assumed that once we got up the hill, his job would be done, but we were wrong.

He walked us to the immigration building, waited for us, and gave us a tour of his town.  In fact, he stuck by us all day, right up until we crossed back over.  There aren't many jobs in Boquillas, so working for tips may be one of the better ways to make money.

Paulo spoke very little English, so the little bit of Spanish that we knew came in handy.  In fact, we learned later that one of the effects of the border closing is that the children of the town don’t speak English as well as the older people.






Paulo was very proud of the new hospital and school in town, and seemed happy to report that soon the town will have electricity, generated by a new solar station.  The residents will pay for the electricity they use, but the money will go into a fund to replace the batteries when the time comes.  Very clever.




  We worked up an appetite on the short tour, and had lunch at one of the two restaurants in town. 

The food was good, and the beer was cold!

Afterwards we wandered across the street to the other restaurant, which had a nice view of the mountains and the river.  So nice that we decided we weren’t in a rush, and sat down to have a margarita. 

The owners of both restaurants were very friendly and spent quite a bit of time chatting with us, sharing stories about their lives in this small town.

After purchasing our souvenirs, we decided it was time to head back.  The border crossing closes at 5 pm.

  Once back in the U.S., we all had to take a turn at the immigration kiosk where we inserted our passport for inspection, and spoke on the phone to an immigration officer.

All in all it was an easy process and a great way to spend an afternoon.

A Big Bend Thanksgiving (11-28-14)

Spending 10 days in Terlingua, near Big Bend National Park, always requires some careful meal planning.  The nearest full fledged grocery store is 90 miles away.  When you add Thanksgiving into the mix,  lots of meal planning and shopping is required.

Along with Mike and Julie, we made several trips to Costco and grocery stores on the way to Terlingua. 

The day we arrived it was Taco Tuesday (although we think they might have this deal every day).  From 5-6 pm, the Starlight Theater Restaurant has $1 tacos and $2 Margaritas.  It’s hard to justify cooking with a deal like that so we didn’t even try- we just headed over to the restaurant to eat.

Thanksgiving Day dawned with perfect weather- we had a short time for relaxing before the preparations began.

The guys had set up a table and tent between the two trailers, making an awesome spot for socializing and outdoor meals.

Both of our rigs have two ovens and they were all in use that day!

We were checking regularly with our friends Dave and Nancy, who were driving feverishly to get here in time for dinner.  It took several long days of driving, but they made it for dinner with about an hour to spare!

Both the food and the company were awesome….

Afterwards, some of us were plumb tuckered out, and took an afternoon nap.











With our energy level back up on Friday, we all hiked the 1.5 mile trail to Cattail Falls.  Paul and I have been here before and wanted our friends to see it. It isn’t on any of the park maps, which helps keep visitation down.

The first part of the trail wanders through the desert before approaching the mountains…

and the last section of the trail involves some minor rock scrambling….

The reward is a small but pretty waterfall in the shadow of the mountain, making it a perfect spot to stop for lunch. Waterfalls are rare in this area and the ecosystem here is very fragile, which is why it is not on the maps.

Nacogdoches, TX (11-24-12)

Why would anyone go to Nacogdoches, TX you ask?

Well, to see these people, of course!















I love it when we get within 200 miles or so of other full-timing friends.  The emails and texts start to fly back and forth, with everyone trying to pin down who will be where, when. This particular time, Nancy and Dave, full timing friends of ours, found out we would be driving near Nacogdoches, TX, where they happened to be staying.  They suggested we detour a bit and and slow down enough for the four of us to hook up.  They are staying in Nacogdoches for the next two months while they get a custom paint job done on their Foretravel Motor home. 

Dave took advantage of our being here to enlist Paul’s help taking his solar panels off the roof. All the windows will be replaced at the same time as well.  I am really curious to see the finished product, since even though the work starts soon, Dave and Nancy “have an idea” of what colors they want, and “sort of” know what they want it to look like. Well, regardless, I’m sure they’ll be very happy with the result!

¡Viva Terlingua! (11-04-12)

It's hard to believe, but this is my 300th blog post.  Anyone who has read it on a regular basis knows that sometimes I write posts with regularity, and sometimes I don't.  Some posts are more interesting than others.  I guess it's the nature of the beast.  Sometimes I am in the mood to write and sometimes I'm not.  So anyway, thanks for bearing with me for the last 3 years!

Terlingua- home to the world renowned International Chili Cook Off! We’ve been to Terlingua several times, as we use it as our base to explore Big Bend National Park. This time we made reservations a year in advance, to make sure we got a place to stay for the Cook Off. Our friends Julie and Mike arrived the day before us and set up camp.

Before the cook off started, we met a couple, Will and Cindy, who were participating. giving us an “inside track” to all things Chili.  As it turns out, the Cook Off was not at all what we expected- there was no Chili, brisket, or beans for the spectators.  This was pure contest, with very few samples and in general, no food available for purchase.  You could get a burger, or a burrito, but that’s about it. Quite disappointing. There are actually two Cook Offs at the same time- the original one and the CASI (Chili Appreciation Society International)Cook Off. 

 The entrance fee to each is about $30 per person.  We paid to get into one of them but then couldn’t say exactly what we got for our money.  Luckily the day we decided to check out the other one, the guy at the ticket booth, for whatever reason, accepted the wristbands from the competing Cook Off, so we didn’t have to pay again. 

Having been denied our dose of Chili, we found ourselves eating at the Starlight Theatre several times. They usually have live entertainment, but the best part is the $1 tacos and $2 Margaritas.

On the way down to Terlingua, we stopped in the Houston area and had dinner with our friends Dave and Avril.  They live in an interesting subdivision.  Instead of your typical golf course, their subdivision has its own runway.  Many of the homeowners own planes- Dave and Avril own two-and their driveway leads directly to the runway.  Talk about easy access! Being near Houston, in addition to many pilots living in the subdivision, they also have several past and present astronauts as neighbors.

Dave and Avril flew down to Terlingua to spend a few days hanging out and hiking with us.

We revisited two of our favorite trails with them- the Lost Mine Trail, and Santa Elena Canyon.

After an awesome two days of food and fun, it was time to watch them fly off into the sun……

 

The hiking continued with Mike and Julie.  Near the RV park there is a short hike that leads to some petro glyphs. There were also some great boulders to climb on as well! Note how blue the sky is! 

One of the things I love about Texas is how blue the sky is.  In fact, the weather has been absolutely perfect while we’ve been here.  We’ve eaten most of our meals outside at the picnic table.  It's been a week full of great food and fun with friends.  Tomorrow we move on, headed towards El Paso to spend a few days with Paul's mom before starting our trek towards Florida.

Not Every Day Can Be a “10” (Glacier NP 07-21-12)

Someone said that to me not that long ago, and of course, it’s very true.  We had a day that certainly wasn’t a ‘10’ the other day.  We got up early to drive up Going to The Sun Rd. to Logan’s Pass, so we could snag a parking spot for our enormous truck.  We planned on doing a hike at the peak, then driving down the other side of the mountain to see the sights. 

We made it to the parking lot ok, and got a spot, but there was a “road closed” sign blocking the rest of the road.  Some people may have heard about the rock and mudslides in Glacier.  Apparently there were 12 mudslides that impacted Going to The Sun Road.  After watching video footage, it’s amazing no one was killed.  The slides had happened the day before, but we had no idea how bad they were.  Actually, the road was closed for more than 2 days. 

So, with the road closed we headed to the hiking trail, only to find out it was closed too- due to snow.  Next we tried the Visitor’s Center, but apparently the rangers live on the wrong side of the mountain and couldn’t get there to open it, so… we needed a new game plan.  We decided to go to Canada for the day.

We went home to get our passports and headed for the border. Once we were in line, waiting our turn, Paul said “uh oh….the firewood.”  The bed of our truck is PACKED with firewood.  Of course, one of the questions from the Canadian Border guard was…..do you have any firewood?  Once we answered in the affirmative, he said-no problem, we can dump it off to the side and go on our way.  Paul said “nope” it isn’t worth dumping, we’ll just turn around and go home.

So the nice border guard called the American side to let them know that a huge F450 was headed back because of the firewood in the truck.  We get back to the American side and what we got was a lecture about carrying firewood, and an order to dump it all.  As irritated as we were, arguing with a border guard was not an option, so we unhappily dumped the firewood and went home. 

Now, on to the fun stuff…

Take Two of taking the shuttle over Going to The Sun Road.  On the way over in the morning, it would have been more appropriate to call it Going Into The Clouds Road.

 
I actually think this road is more awesome when there are clouds.

The clouds just wrap themselves around the mountain peaks and are constantly creeping and swirling.

We’ve done two more really great hikes- one was up a peak (2500 ft elevation gain) to Scenic Point for a 360 degree view:

On the way down we ran into some big horn sheep, almost literally.  These guys were really close to us.

 

For our last day, we decided to hike to an actual glacier.  Grinnell Glacier, to be exact, although we couldn’t get all the way there because the trail was closed due to snow.

We passed by three lakes on the way there:

Swift Current Lake

Josephine Lake

And, once we gained some elevation, we got a phenomenal view of Grinnell Lake:

When we looked to our right, we could see Grinnell Glacier, Grinnell Lake, and Grinnell Falls. The glacier is the largest patch of snow, on the right hand side of the picture.

After spending 3 weeks in Yellowstone, our measly week in Glacier went by way too fast.  We did get to spend a little time with our friends Dave and Nancy, who are fulltimers, and working near Glacier for while this summer, but their schedules were hectic so we didn’t get as much time with them as we would have liked.  And, as usual, I forgot to take pictures when we were hanging out with them.

Now we are on to more adventures in Montana…….