SW Trip Day 15 - Great Basin N.P.

Our campsite at the Lower Lehman Creek Campground.

11/08/06 Wednesday

We spent yesterday driving across the great nothing of western Utah to get to Great Basin National Park.

Touring the Lehman Caves.

We skipped trying to hike Wheeler Peak because we had to drive home later. Instead, we took the Lehman Caves tour.

Is that a stalagmite in your pocket …

It’s a cool little cave with plenty of features to look at.

Early visitors wrote their names on the ceiling with candle smoke.

One section had graffiti left by visitors going back to the 1920s.

Pointy.

After the tour, we headed back home on Highway 50, The Loneliest Road in America.

SW Trip Day 13 - Riding the Slickrock Trail

It’s called the Slickrock Trail for a reason.

11/06/06 Monday

We came to Moab primarily to ride the world-famous Slickrock Trail.

The trail was originally created by motorcyclists (who also use the trail), but its popularity took off with the popularity of mountain bikes.

You can see Arches Natl. Park in the distance.

This was our first experience riding on slickrock, which is not slick at all, but has the grip of sandpaper.

The trail is 90% solid rock with the occasional sandy gully. It’s bizarre riding on solid rock all the time—you have to re-think how you ride and what is rideable.

Chugging up a steep hill.

The trail is very technical—you have to be a pro-level rider to clear the entire route. It has a lot of short, steep, up-and-downs.

It constantly challenges your level of commitment, as a fall on the sandstone will cost you a large patch of skin.

The cliff drops a thousand feet to the Colorado River. A group of riders sang “Happy Birthday” to Nancy here.

It’s a crazy area: you can see four-wheelers a short distance away, you share part of the trail with dirt bikers, there’s a national park in the distance, the Colorado River is 1,000’ below you, all in an area that would be a national monument in any other state.

Toward the end of the ride, we started getting more comfortable riding in this alien environment, but boy is it different.

SW Trip Day 12 - Natural Bridges to Arches NP

This is Kachina bridge as seen from the road.

11/05/06 Sunday

We camped in Natural Bridges’ little campground, and got up early to hike around a little bit before driving to Moab.

A panorama of the Owachomo Bridge, the largest of the bridges. You can see Nancy underneath it.

Balanced Rock.

We found an RV campground in the middle of Moab and made a half-day tour of Arches National Park.

The trail leading to the Windows section.

We went for a couple of quick hikes around the arches, starting at the Windows section.

The hills have eyes.

The Windows trail has a number of large arches.

The hike to Delicate Arch is mostly slickrock.

We then made the 3-mile roundtrip hike to Delicate Arch.

The final bend before Delicate Arch.

The trail doesn’t offer much scenery until the very end.

Iconic. License plate-ish.

There are signs advising visitors not to be “arch hogs” and stand under the arch, so as not to interfere with people taking pictures.

Didn’t matter; one hippie dude was camped out underneath it the whole time.

The Fiery Furnace viewpoint.

We did a couple more short walks and viewpoints as the light started fading.

A view of the La Sal Mountains.

We wished we could have spent more time in the park, but we set a pretty ambitious itinerary, with mountain biking in Moab tomorrow.

SW Trip Day 11 - Arizona to Utah

Montezuma Castle National Monument.

11/04/06 Saturday

We got up early at Diane’s to drive back to Utah. Our first stop was at Montezuma Castle National Monument, south of Flagstaff. This is a pueblo ruin used by the Sinagua people for over 400 years.

There is a short little walk under the ruins, but unfortunately you can’t go inside.

Sunset Crater.

Our next stop was at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, just north of Flagstaff. This area is very similar to McKenzie Pass in Oregon, only smaller.

Typical tourists.

We drove through Monument Valley, but we didn’t get there until evening and didn’t have time to explore.

Iconic imagery.

Monument Valley is a Navajo tribal park, and to get the best views you need to go on a guided tour.

John Ford country.

Unfortunately, we only had time to take a few pictures from the highway.

The Valley of the Gods as seen from the top of the Moki Dugway.

Our stop for the night was Natural Bridges National Monument. On the way we went up a crazy road called the Moki Dugway. The Moki Dugway is a steep climb up a series of switchbacks in the Valley of the Gods. When you’re approaching it, you can’t see the road—it looks like you’re going to drive straight into the canyon wall.

The Valley of the Gods is like a miniature Monument Valley, but we didn’t have time to explore it, either.

SW Trip Days 7-10 - Arizona

A view of the rim from the west drive.

10/31/06 Tuesday

We slept in after our hike yesterday and took it easy on our sore legs, touring the west drive until noon. Viewing the Grand Canyon from the rim is pretty anti-climactic after hiking down to the bottom, so we just limped around, perusing the exhibits.

My calves hurt too much to do a mountain bike ride outside of Flagstaff, so we just drove south to Cave Creek, which is next to Scottsdale, which is where Nancy’s buddy Diane lives.

On the way down, we witnessed the slightly bizarre sight of trick-or-treaters coming out at sunset in the slightly bizarre town of Sedona. It symbolizes something, but I’m not sure what.

On the Pinnacle Peak Park trail.

11/02/06 Thursday

We spent several days in Cave Creek, visiting with Diane and her husband Mike and letting the lactic acid slowly seep out of our legs. There’s a short hike near their house in Pinnacle Peak Park.

Wow, a golf course in Scottsdale.

The trail is three miles out-and-back and gains about 300 feet. It’s also a nature trail, with exhibits pointing out the various cacti.

Saguaros are the Lord’s way of giving you the finger.

It was apparent on the trail that Arizonians have their thermostat set at a different temperature than us mountain folk. The temperature was in the upper 80s, so of course we were in shorts and T-shirts, but a surprising number of hikers on the trail were wearing full sweatsuits.

We kept saying, “Aren’t they hot?” but nobody was sweating except us.