So… Utah

My plan was to go to the Redwoods. To take a friend up there, hang out in the big trees, come back through Yosemite, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Escalante. It sounded great. But then there was an earthquake, and suddenly the redwoods were closing some of the scenic drives and trails.  Yosemite is mostly closed due to snow. That news, mixed with my waning bank account and rising price of gas means meant a change of plans. I would just go see southern Utah. I decided on a timeframe of anywhere from three to eight days, depending on how the spirit hit me.

 

And so last Tuesday I left the dog at Mom’s house, packed up the truck once again, and pointed northward. I travelled through somewhat familiar territory. I’d taken this road on my last jaunt North, but turned at Tuba City to chase after Canyon de Chelly. This time I head towards the Jacob’s lake, and take a stop at the Navajo Bridge, one of only a few over the Colorado River:

 

 

Then towards Kanab, and my first stop: Zion National Park. I take my time driving down the road, soaking in the sights of all these rocks:

 

I head to the visitor’s center, but there’s something not right. I’ve lost an hour, I forgot that daylight savings apply here in Utah. The center is closed, there’s no chance of me getting a back country permit to backpack onto some of the trails of this gorgeous place. I’ll be sleeping outside the park today. I’m a little disappointed, but not overly so. Zion is the smallest of my stops, and so I go for a hike along the river, enjoy the sight of water all around:

 

And then I drive back out of the park, soaking up as many of the sights as I can:

 

I make one last stop at the trail for Observation Point. I hike to the point as the sun sets. No magical colors in the sky tonight though, the sun just dips below the horizon, giving a nice view of the road below. The rocks catch one last bit of magical light for the day:

 

 

And then I’m out of the park, figuring I’ll cover most of the distance to Bryce Canyon, and get there nice and early. I park twenty feet off the highway for the night, and prepare for the cold. Temps are supposed to be single digits again. I snuggle in deep, missing the dog’s company and his heat.

 

I wake up, clear the ice off the windows, and drive the few remaining miles to Bryce. I walk up just as the visitor’s center opens, and head to talk to a ranger. I ask about open trails, snow fall, backcountry camping. He tells me that Bryce backcountry camping isn’t nearly as scenic as the vehicle drive, that the one trail he would recommend for hiking is a four mile loop down the Navajo trail and out Queen’s Garden trail. If I’m not setup for a decent amount of snow he doesn’t recommend anything beyond the established campground on the road.

Disappointed once again I head off to the trail head, and make my way down the icy switchbacks. The hoodoos quickly assuage my dour disposition:

 

Thankfully, the ice isn’t melting yet, and so it’s just slick-not mushy. Also, my early arrival means I see few people, and have a bit of solitude as I hike:

 

It’s an interesting thing. My head is pounding, my lungs are pounding, my sinuses are burning. Some of this is from hiking at 9000 feet, but I keep feeling like I’m sick. Hot and cold. I admit that I am not in the best health right now. A sinus infection that is creeping into my ear. Oh well, nothing to do but keep hiking.

 

So I go and visit the queen in her garden:

 

And then it is uphill back to the rim, with more lovely rock views along the way:

 

At the rim I eat a quick lunch at the truck, then go for the long scenic drive down to the south end of the canyon. The turnouts are all gorgeous, but filled with people. Still, hard to complain too loudly about this:

 

The scenic drive done, I head out of the park towards my final destination of the trip: Escalante. My head is pounding and my sinus is on fire. I tell myself to take it easy and not do any more hiking for the day. I stop off at an arch, a gorgeous double arch in Escalante:

 

I end up at a trailhead for one of the trails I wanted to hike here, and my earlier thinking of resting goes straight out the window. In no time flat I am in the Cottonwood Narrows:

 

A nice hike down a narrow canyon. It’s only two and half miles back to the truck, so I take it slow and enjoy the scenery:

 

And once I get out, I find a spot to camp right on a little creek. I make myself some tea, and enjoy the reflections of the trees in my cup:

 

I eat a sandwich for dinner, and pass out as soon as the sun is behind the mountains. Twelve hours later I wake up to snow on the truck, and mud on the road. There are a few trails I wanted to hike today, and so I head to the first: Hackberry Canyon. More great scenery, but this trail is nothing but walking in a creek, mud, sand, and water creeping ever deeper into my boots:

 

It’s a beautiful morning, but my body is giving up. It’s cold, I’m wet, and decide to call it a day. I turn around and hike back to the truck.

 

I drive out of Escalante and earmark it for a future visit. This is a very beautiful place, full of solitude. Just my cup of tea. I’m feeling pretty happy as I drive south into Paige. I have one more planned stop. It’s a quick one. Just south of Paige is a place called Horseshoe bend, where the Colorado River makes a big U turn around a section of rock. It’s a place that I have wanted to photograph for a few years, but never made the trek this far north for it. So I pull into the parking lot, packed with tour buses and other cars. I hike a short bit to the lookout point, and jostle my way in for a look at the bend.

 

All of this is a bit less romantic that I had envisioned. There is no time for a nice spiritual sit down as people shout and chatter. It’s a beautiful place, but I’m not feeling it. The pictures I am taking look just like every other picture I’ve ever seen of the place. There is only one real vantage point. So I dutifully click away, but am just as happy to leave. At least the picture has the feeling of solitude:

 

So now it’s onto home. But wait, my buddy Ben calls in Flagstaff, wants to know if I want to have dinner in six hours. Not one to say no to a real dinner after three days of nothing but turkey sandwiches, I agree. That means I have to kill some time, I’m only two hours away from Flag. So I turn off towards Lee’s Ferry and pull off at some random BLM gate and hike along a wash. All of the washes here head towards the Colorado, so I figure a couple of hours might get me there and back. The hiking is pretty and sun-filled:

 

But soon I am confronted with the nature of the landscape here. The wash quickly turns into a deep slot canyon, not something I’m setup to traverse alone. I walk along the upper levels for a bit, but soon all the rocks are getting shifty, so I turn around. The slot wins this one:

 

That’s alright. I poke towards Flagstaff, going slow and stopping often. By the time I get there he is off of work and we eat with his folks, then head out on the town for the evening. Good times had, and I drive home early the next morning. I’m back home by eight, and ready to rest for a few days.

 

For the photoset with all the photos click here.

So I went to Utah for a few days

I’m still editing pictures and whatnot. Here’s a teaser:

Out of the truck and into the canyon.

The six hours to Prescott fly by. I stop by my Mom’s work to say hello, to let her know I’m safe. Then I head over to Chris’ house to hang out for a few hours, unwind a bit, before heading off once more to Courtney’s place to go grocery shopping for our Grand Canyon trip tomorrow. It’s a whirlwind, and by the end of the day I am exhausted.

 

Up early, and ready to roll north. I’m going light this time, about 12 pounds of stuff. I’m opting not to take a camera on this trip for one simple reason: I don’t want to worry about trying to get a magical picture this time down. I want to just enjoy the scenery without framing and f-stops running through my brain.

 

We hike down the South Kaibab trail, which is in amazingly good shape. It takes us only three and a half hours to get down, which is pretty quick for us. We are staying at Phantom Ranch, with some of the employees whom Courtney knows. We are scheduled to stay one night, and so we settle in, kick off the dusty boots, and take a dip in the Bright Angel creek. Cold and invigorating.

 

We eat dinner with her friends, meet a few of the other guests, and spend the night partying down in the bunk house. Upon waking we are invited to stay another night, something which neither of us want to turn down. Sowe decide on a long day hike after helping with some chores. We hike six easy miles up the North Kaibab trail to Ribbon Falls. It is gorgeous, and we sit and enjoy the view of cascading water for a long while before lacing back up and heading back to the ranch for another amazing dinner. It’s a quiet night in the bunkhouse this time around, and we pass out early.

 

Up before breakfast, and we do the short river walk before heading to the cantina to eat up. Once again, we are invited to stay another night. Thrilled, we agree. Courtney decides to chill out for the afternoon while I go up the Clear Creek trail a couple of miles to a scenic overlook, getting a nice view of the river.

 

Another stellar dinner, and another quiet night. At breakfast they invite us to stay longer yet. Tempted, we both decide that it is probably time to get back up to the rim and back home, so we back it all in, and hike the Bright Angel trail out. It takes a while, Courtney is having some allergy problems with all the juniper in the area and can’t breathe. That’s okay though, we aren’t in any rush. So six hours later we get back to the car, and go eat at a local joint in nearby Tusyan. We end up getting a hotel for the night, since we are both exhausted.

 

Come morning time, we drive back to Prescott. Yet another successful Grand Canyon Trip.

 

(if you want to see photos from the last trip down to Phantom check here.)

11 hours of I40

I’m on the interstate out of Arkansas by eight thirty. I hate the interstate. But today I’m in a hurry, and when one is in a hurry to get somewhere the interstate is the most time-efficient way to get there. So I chug along at ridiculous speed, concerned only with controlling this missile I’m in, and avoiding all the other missiles out there. It is a bit maddening for me:

 

But finally I hit Albuquerque, a city I am becoming more and more familiar with as I keep visiting my fine friend there. So I pull into town, go to a grocer store to pickup some things for dinner, and head to their house. Sadly, I’m a bit grumpy from driving all day, and so I just walk in and take over their kitchen. Cooking to get a bit of zen in my day, to unwind a bit.

 

A mellow evening with friends, catching up, looking at photos, eating. Just what the doctor ordered. I pass out five minutes into a movie, and sleep like a log.

 

I wake up early, grab a quick pic with them, and hit the road once again. I’m due back in Prescott today, and I’ve got six hours to get there.

A stop in with the folks again

I get a late start leaving Austin. I was invited to a house party on my last night in town, and partied it down until almost four in the morning. I wake up knowing that it is going to be a brutal day of driving.

 

Eleven hung over hours on the back highways of Texas and Oklahoma gets me to my parent’s house with dinner just about to hit the table. We catch up, watch a cold front come in, and eat. I stay for three nights, trying to get in as much time with the folks as I can before rushing back to AZ to make a canyon hiking trip.

 

At night we cook. Corned beef and cabbage, steak, salads, and something we like to refer to as polish tacos (kielbasa, red hots, red cabbage, sauerkraut, mustard, and mayo all on a tortilla):

 

The dog is just as happy as I am to sleep in a bed after the last six weeks in the truck:

 

My last day there, Dad and I go out shooting guns in the woods behind his house. We blow through about ten mags of .45, a few .40, and then the fun gun. Dad just bought a 30-30 rifle that he wants to run a few rounds through:

(I’m none too sure about that hat of his, but nonetheless- we have fun)

 

Up early the next day and on the road again. I’ve got 800 miles to go today in order to hit Albuquerque for dinner.

Small update

I’m back in Prescott, looks like I might be hanging out here for a while. I did stop and see the folks, I did stop and see my friends in Albuquerque again. I did go hike the Grand Canyon, and ended up spending three lovely nights down at the bottom, no camera and lots of hiking. I had a job lined up for april but that looks like it’s fallen through, oh well; I’ll just roll with the punches.

 

I’m not going to the redwoods, many campgrounds are closed, and a few of the scenic parkways are closed due to water damage. Oh well, perhaps another day. I’m thinking about going up to Bryce Canyon for a few days, possibly Escalante too. I’ve got a few pictures to post, but the current internet connection is not cooperating.

 

I’m in an odd mental space, not really feeling like I’m home yet, not really sure what I’m doing. I guess that isn’t really all that different than the last six months.

 

So yeah, more to come. :)

And now – I’ve decided to move on.

I’ve seen enough of Austin for now. It’s time to get back on the road, go see some friends and family. I’m going to go see my dad and stepmom again for a few days, maybe go hike the grand canyon, definitely go up to the redwoods again. From there, I have a few nebulous ideas depending on how the world turns. Time will tell.

 

I look back fondly on my time in Austin as I prepare to depart. I got to soak up lots of sunshine and warm up my bones after that bad cold snap. I got to go out dancing numerous times in different venues. I met lots of awesome people, made a friend or two, and had tons of interesting conversations. I got to lift heavy weights for a few weeks, I’m feeling and looking good. I got to see my buddies Mike and Steve. I got to shoot lots of photos. And most importantly – I had time to just chill out.

 

Thank you Austin!

Another slice of Texas

I drive West to the ‘hill country’ of Texas. Mostly, I am just trying to get away from the City, to find a slightly more quiet spot out in the world where I can not listen to traffic, not hear people, etc. I drive out to a town called Fredericksburg, not a place to find quiet, but just a place to find some pictures. Lots of people throughout Texas have told me to visit this town, apparently ‘it’s quaint’.

 

It is a town founded by a German immigrant, and thusly there are German restaurants as far as the eye can see. Bier gartens, sausage, German bakeries, etc. Sadly, I can afford none of them so I content myself with walking around snapping away. As you’d expect, there is a proud representation of the lone star state around every corner:

 

There are vineyards in the area as well, which means lots of wine tasting rooms:

 

Apparently, the town also has one of the very few unbroken peace treaties with the local Native American population, from the times of the original settlers:

 

And they also have some odd ides about what philosophies should be bedmates:

 

From there it was onto a little place called Luckenbach, which Catalyst told me about. There are only a handful of buildings that constitute the ‘town’, the busiest of which is the general store/post office/saloon/gift shop:

 

Everybody there was friendly, so I sat and had a few beers while the locals pickers did their thing:

 

There is a dance hall here too, which is fairly famous (with the likes of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Lyle Lovitt playing there), but since it was a weekday there was no dance going on while I was there.

 

After Luckenbach I hit the road for Enchanted Rock, hoping for peace and quiet there. The locale was great, a nice hike up the rock just as the sun set, with lovely views along the way:

But sadly, even here, the sound of loud and exuberant hikers were to be heard throughout the hike. I contented myself with the beauty of the colorful horizon, then climbed back down the rock and headed back for Austin.

A lot of junk hits my inbox

Sometimes something like this comes in though. Love it. Props to my dad for sending this my way.