Miles traveled: 210
Hours on Road: 4.5
States covered: 1 –Colorado
Last night was the worst night’s sleep I’ve gotten thus far on this adventure. The night was warm, dry, windless, and quiet; the exact opposite of what I would have guessed had anyone asked me what I thought the night was going to be like. Every night we’ve spent at this altitude has been, at the very least, cold. Most nights have also been very damp. Even if we didn’t wake to an obviously wet tent, there was a dampness about the air. Not here. As for the wind – we nearly got blown off the sand dunes, and we had to weight down the tent while it dried out because we really thought it might blow away, but at bedtime, there was nothing. And there was not a sound to be heard outside of our tent. The night was silent. Well, silent outside the tent, anyway, which brings me to why I had such a lousy night’s sleep. I was between Jeff and Cal, and sleeping between the two of them was like sleeping in a wind tunnel. They both were breathing like they were in an iron lung and their chests were being manually enlarged then decompressed, enlarged, then decompressed. All night!! And there wasn’t a sound outside the tent to help counteract their raucous lungs!!
We showered first thing, which was a great way to start the day. Then Jeff and I bought coffee for us and doughnuts for the boys, and we went to check out the Dunes Visitors Center. We were on the road by 10 a.m.
We hadn’t noticed on the way in, but the road leading to the Sand Dunes Park is lined with Black-Eyed Susans. We also realized that it must have rained everywhere around us (the clouds had been visible throughout the area), but the rain never reached us at the dunes.
Because we wound up staying only one night at the dunes, rather than the two I had planned, as soon as we got cell service I called the Mesa Verde campground and got us an extra night there. I also called our new van loan’s bank to make sure the auto-withdrawal I’d set up before leaving had gone through. I didn’t want to be late with my very first payment. Even with the fun of vacation, real-life responsibilities still exist. It was all set up, so I tore up the check I had taken along to mail just in case.
In the town of Del Norte we crossed the Rio Grande. It wasn’t quite what I’d pictured from the ABBA song. If you look at the photos, you’ll see what I mean. And what’s with naming a town in the very southwest corner of your state “Of the North”? Did they plan to belong to New Mexico?
The boys all wanted a soda, so we stopped at a little store, and it just happened to offer 64 oz fountain soda drinks for 96 cents. Each boy got one. I estimated that there was 3000 calories in each soda. Parker and Cal finished theirs; Trey barely drank a quarter of his.
The canyon that contained Wolf Creek was fun to drive through. There was rock wall, river, road, rock wall.
The next big mountain we crossed had those deadly (to me anyway) switchbacks and a 7.5% grade for nine miles. We stopped partway down to get a view of the valley, and our brakes smelled awful; they were getting pretty hot. We had some lunch to kill a little time, and the brakes worked fine after that. We were almost to the end of the steepness, anyway.
We saw a rock sticking up oddly from the top of a rock-filled mountain. Turns out, we weren’t the only ones who thought it was odd. Others had thought it was outstanding enough to name it – Chimney Rock.
Shortly after the town of Durango we could see the cliffs that are Mesa Verde. Again, we drove through switchback after switchback, up, up, up. Our campsite, Morefield Campground, is in a valley that lies near the top of the mesa. We signed in and learned that they’d had torrential downpours the night before. Rain here generally lasts 30 minutes, but the day before it had started at 4 p.m. and didn’t stop until 6 a.m. The effects of the downpour were evident in the mudslides in several of the campsites.
This was another of those campgrounds where you pay first and then you go find a site. Only here, the sites were great, though most were a little too small for our giant tent. We eventually found a great one. Down a couple of steps in the middle of low trees, we had a very private site that was cozy and close to the bathroom. We had been told it was supposed to rain again, and we heard thunder, so we quickly set up the tent and headed to the laundry area to clean our clothes. They also had wifi available.
We finished the laundry long after the rain had stopped. By the time we went back to our campsite, the sun was shining. We ate bratwurst and potato salad and played some board games. The kids in the site next to ours asked the boys if they wanted to play kick the can, but not only were we in the middle of a game, Trey had also fallen earlier while checking out a tent site, and he had hurt his ankle pretty badly, so they opted out of running around in the dark. I didn’t really want them out of my sight, being the worrier I am, so I’m glad they didn’t want to play.
As we brushed our teeth before bed, Jeff and I saw giant lightning strikes off in the distance, but they were so far away, we never heard any thunder from them. We went to bed and read for a while, then we fell fast asleep.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1892501027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Friday, July 30, 2010
Day 20 – Great Sand Dunes National Park
Miles traveled: 280
Hours on Road: 5
States covered: 1 –Colorado
Yesterday I was convinced that Wilson trying to kill us. Now I see that it is us trying to kill ourselves. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll start at the beginning.
Today began in rain. Not a heavy downpour with lightning or thunder; just a little drizzle that came and went enough to get our tent drenched. It wasn’t even enough to bother us while we drank our coffee. Standing under the cover of a tree was enough to shade us from the drops. But our tent was not under any trees, so when it came time to pack up, the tent was covered with drops of water. We had managed to fill the tent with dirt during our stay, so when we took the fly off when the front door was open, the water flowed into the tent and turned the dirt into mud.
Parker, Jeff and I washed our hair with water that Jeff had heated over the Coleman stove. We felt like new people. It’s amazing how good clean hair makes one feel. We were packed up and ready to go by 10 a.m.
The first town we went through was Nederland. It’s a cute little town with beautiful wood homes lining the hills leading to and going from it. Because of these wooden homes, and probably because of the woodlands in general, the firehouse in Nederland was huge. They take putting out fires seriously. It was the largest building in town and was, appropriately, made of brick.
The roads in Colorado are fantastic. They all look freshly paved (stimulus dollars at work, and a very good use for the money, I must say). In fact, they sometimes have warnings that roads are damaged, and then we come across a stretch of road that looks like any road you’d find in Connecticut. I guess they have much higher standards here (along with much steeper roads).
Because of these steep, windy roads, my poor little baby got sick riding in the way back of the van. We got a bag to him in time, so the vomit was well-contained. After he threw up, he fell asleep, so he was no further disturbance to us.
We went through a town named Black Hawk, which had colorful houses as opposed to the common wood-brown houses we’d been seeing. The houses were built up on plateaus that were contained with beautiful stone walls. As we drove through the center of town we discovered the source of the town’s wealth – casinos. In fact, the town of Central City, just past Black Hawk, touts itself as “The Richest Square Mile on Earth.”
While Trey and Parker slept, we drove through a tunnel carved into the mountainside that was more than a mile long. Directly after the tunnel, the road got incredibly steep with a 9% grade at times. There were three runaway truck ramps and, while most traffic could travel at 60 mph, trucks over 26,000 GWVR had to go 30 mph. At least there were two lanes the whole way to accommodate the speed difference, and to allow cars to get out of the way of runaway trucks. The thing we’ve discovered along these steep roads with runaway truck ramps is that any truck that is “runaway” is never going to make it to one of the ramps. The roads are incredibly windy, so a semi going over 45 mph is never going to make the turns that are necessary to get to the ramps. Though it did look like they’d all been used in the recent past.
When we were about 35 miles from Vale the built-up, condo-filled towns began to appear. The first one we went through was Silverthorne, then Frisco, which sat right between a mountain face and a lake. Then we passed Copper Mountain Ski area, which didn’t look like much of a ski area – more like something you’d see in Connecticut than Colorado.
One big thing I noticed about this area was all the dead pines. The mountainside is generally green with all the live trees, with some areas of red where the pines have died. In this area, the mountainside was more red than green. I don’t know whether the death of the trees is some sort of blight or just the natural cycle of conifers around here.
At 10,618 feet we passed Ghost Valley that had once contained the highest Masonic Lodge in the U.S. The area is all rusty colored now from the mining that’s going on. We passed a hideous mess of a mountain that is half gone due to mining.
Leadville, at 10,152 feet, is a cute little town that looks similar to the center of New Milford – specifically, Bank Street. McDonald’s had not yet infiltrated the lovely village, which also had a rundown section at its southern border that contained mining areas and a giant junkyard.
Starting at the town of Buena Vista we began to see the Collegiate Peaks, which, I’m sure, are why Buena Vista was so named. They’re all above 14,000 feet. I have photos of them, so when you look through the photos for this blog, they’ll all come one after the other. First came Mt. Harvard (oddly, it’s photo #2), at 14,420 feet; then Mt. Yale (photo #1), at 14,196 feet; then Mt. Princeton (photos #3 & 4), at 14,197 feet; then Mt. Antero (I guess it’s technically not one of the collegiates, but it’s tall, and it’s photo #5), at 14,265 feet. Photos 6 & 7 are of what looked like the highest peak of all, but we never found out its name.
We stopped at McDonald’s in the town of Salida. When we first entered the town, it was mainly all houses that were located right along the road. That’s what’s so different out here from New England. We have villages that have a few large homes right in their centers, but most homes are away from the town center in neighborhoods. It seems like everyone out here who doesn’t live in the boondocks lives right off the main street in town. After passing through the home part of town we reached the commercial section, and that’s where we found McDonald’s (or, I should say, Lee found for us, because this stop was a little out of our way, but we wanted a McDonald’s, and Lee found it for us).
After this town, the roadway was lined with miles of small, green shrubs. It looked as though they were trying to use the shrubbery as a snowdrift blocker rather than having to put up those wood fences we saw earlier and assumed are for that purpose.
As we went on, the land on either side of us was as flat as could be for miles and miles until it reached the huge mountains that surrounded the area. We know the flatness went for miles because we could clearly see a storm occurring in front of us, but we drove for 25 miles and never reached the storm. Also, we could see the Great Sand Dunes when we still had to drive 25 miles straight then make a left-hand turn and go another 16 miles before we reached them. And when I say straight, I mean, point the van in the direction and let go of the steering wheel straight. As we watched the storms off in the distance, all I could think was that some family was having a picnic under the storm and saw that their neighbor down the road had no rain and Stella turned to Vern, punched him, and said, “I told you we should have built two miles east of here.”
I have a photo of a tiny building with a telephone pole next to it and the dunes in the distance. We still had 15 miles to go after that photo.
When we arrived at the park, there were no campsites left. I had called to see if we could make reservations, and they had told me it was first come first served. The girl at the gate said that some sites are reservable. I was livid when she told me that, and I complained to her that I was told differently when I called. She apologized for the mix-up and recommended that we stay at the Oasis, since it’s so close to the park and it has some shade trees, as opposed to the state park we’d passed 15 miles earlier. I hadn’t liked that state park anyway. The entrance to it was surrounded by high wire fences and looked more like a prison than a park.
We went to the Oasis Campground. You pay to get a site, then you drive in to choose your site. We figured out why they do it that way – get the money before you see the campground. The Oasis is aptly named if by Oasis you mean “pit of despair in a windblown hell hole.” The maintenance of the roads was non-existent. Their speed limit was 10, but we couldn’t go even that fast. Between the huge rocks and deep gulleys, going over 5 mph was out of the question.
We found a site not too far from the bathroom, which was an old railroad car and surprisingly clean inside. The site for our tent was so rock filled, we didn’t even bother to try to clear the area where we would sleep. As we put the tent up, the wind was blowing so hard we almost lost it a couple of times. I don’t think I need to explain the bad attitude I had during this process. In addition, the tent was still soaked from the morning, so we didn’t want to blow up the mattresses yet, but neither could we leave it without some weight in it, even though we had it staked down. We put a mattress in each corner so we could head out to the dunes and possibly change our attitudes. As it turned out, the wind was blowing so hard, the tent was nearly dry by the time we set it up, anyway. To prevent holes from rocks in the bottom of the tent, we slid the tarp underneath. It worked out fairly well.
We ate a little fried chicken since we hadn’t eaten much that day. We figured we could finish dinner once we’d gotten back from the dunes.
We were going to hit the Visitor Center first. As was fitting for our luck this day, the Center closed at 6 p.m. and it was 6:30. We went straight to the dunes. Oh My God!! The magnificence of the scene is indescribable. How something as grand at these dunes could develop in such a barren, mountain-enclosed area is miraculous. As it turns out, the creation of the dunes is the perfect combination of certain factors. “Wind and water are the primary movers of the grains (which mainly originated in the San Juan Mountains, over 65 miles to the west). Streams, creeks, melting snows, and flash floods brought bits of rock out of the mountains to the valley floor. Southwesterly winds then began the slow process of bouncing the grains toward the low curve of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. There they piled up at the base of the mountains or dropped into creeks to be washed back out toward the valley floor. Age estimates range from 12,00 years to over a million years.”
According to Trey, Paul Bunyan took his son to the area of Bryce Canyon to play with a pail and shovel. It is the young boy who carved out Bryce Canyon. Upon returning home, the boy had to empty the sand out of his shoes before going into his house, and it was that emptying that created the Great Sand Dunes.
We entered the parking lot at the Great Sand Dunes Wilderness Area where you can wander anywhere you want along the dunes. I had no idea we’d be able to climb them. Without water or mental preparation, we headed for High Dune, a three-mile round trip in which there is a 650 foot elevation gain. We were already at almost 8,000 feet above sea level! The average time for this journey is two hours; it was already 7 p.m. From the top, there is a view of the entire 30 square mile dunefield. Although High Dune looks like the highest from the parking lot, it is not the highest dune. Star Dune is, at 750 feet high, but it’s also another 1.5 miles past High Dune.
I had no idea how hard it would be to climb these dunes. My fear of heights was not an issue at all on the ascent. I was too exhausted to care about how high I was. This is where the “killing ourselves” comes in. Or, maybe, we’re just trying to kill me. About halfway up the trouble began. I could make it 10 steps or so, then I’d have to rest. We were at a high elevation, so I’m sure that had something to do with it. Plus, I’d had that attempt at Mt. Audubon not even two days before. But this was ridiculous.
The going was hard enough with just having to scramble through sand, but then we reached the top of one ridge, and the wind was ridiculous. It blew so hard, spraying sand at us, that we actually got some scrapes from the sand. The wind was stronger than what we’d experienced near the top of Mt. Audubon.
As I sat in the middle of one hill, three hikers on their way down went by. They gave great encouragement about how much the walk is worth it and how beautiful the view is. I really thought I wasn’t going to make it. I mentioned to them how we didn’t even have water with us. One of the women gave me a liter bottle of water. I almost kissed her, but I was too worn out.
With renewed vigor, I moved on. After about 10 steps, I tried the bent-over walk, with hands and feet working together. It was actually helpful since I was carrying everyone’s flippy floppies; I just used them as shoes on my hands. I kept resting, but I also kept going. I was not going to have a second failed summit attempt. By the time I was close to the top, I was crawling on my knees, but I was still going. Meanwhile, indefatigable Trey had made it to the top and was coming back down to help Jeff and me make it to the top. Then I was there!! I could barely breath, but I laid there (yes, laid there, face down) and rested for a minute. When I sat up, what a view!! Thirty square miles of nothing but sand dune. Even in my state of exhaustion I could appreciate the magnificence of what I was seeing.
Then came the time to go down. I wasn’t sure how well I’d do there. We were up pretty high. I thought maybe I’d be too scared to walk down very well. But let me tell you, there are few things in life that are more fun than running down a sand dune! The easy movement of the sand makes each step very secure. The boys bounded down each hill so fast that their steps were about 10 feet apart. I didn’t go quite that fast, but I ran, and it was fantastic.
There were places on some hills where the wind blew so hard the sand wasn’t soft and pliable. It had actually become pretty hard, more like solid ground than sand. In those places I was not as secure with my movement. At the bottom of one such spot, Parker told me, “Nothing personal, Mom, but Dad was walking normally there and you looked like you were pulling a GI Joe.” I knew what he meant. When I get insecure at heights, I bend my legs to lower my center of gravity and splay out my arms to distribute my weight. This was the stance I’d used on the ledges over Jenny Lake. Parker was being kind associating my movement with GI Joe. I think I looked more like John Belushi in Animal House.
When we were done, we were all more exhausted than we’d even been in our lives, but we finished in only an hour and half – 30 minutes faster than the average. The boys could have probably done it in an hour if they didn’t have to wait for me. We never finished dinner. We got back to the tent and fell asleep. The wind had died down, the night was silent, and our bodies were ready for a well-earned rest.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1892877027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 5
States covered: 1 –Colorado
Yesterday I was convinced that Wilson trying to kill us. Now I see that it is us trying to kill ourselves. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll start at the beginning.
Today began in rain. Not a heavy downpour with lightning or thunder; just a little drizzle that came and went enough to get our tent drenched. It wasn’t even enough to bother us while we drank our coffee. Standing under the cover of a tree was enough to shade us from the drops. But our tent was not under any trees, so when it came time to pack up, the tent was covered with drops of water. We had managed to fill the tent with dirt during our stay, so when we took the fly off when the front door was open, the water flowed into the tent and turned the dirt into mud.
Parker, Jeff and I washed our hair with water that Jeff had heated over the Coleman stove. We felt like new people. It’s amazing how good clean hair makes one feel. We were packed up and ready to go by 10 a.m.
The first town we went through was Nederland. It’s a cute little town with beautiful wood homes lining the hills leading to and going from it. Because of these wooden homes, and probably because of the woodlands in general, the firehouse in Nederland was huge. They take putting out fires seriously. It was the largest building in town and was, appropriately, made of brick.
The roads in Colorado are fantastic. They all look freshly paved (stimulus dollars at work, and a very good use for the money, I must say). In fact, they sometimes have warnings that roads are damaged, and then we come across a stretch of road that looks like any road you’d find in Connecticut. I guess they have much higher standards here (along with much steeper roads).
Because of these steep, windy roads, my poor little baby got sick riding in the way back of the van. We got a bag to him in time, so the vomit was well-contained. After he threw up, he fell asleep, so he was no further disturbance to us.
We went through a town named Black Hawk, which had colorful houses as opposed to the common wood-brown houses we’d been seeing. The houses were built up on plateaus that were contained with beautiful stone walls. As we drove through the center of town we discovered the source of the town’s wealth – casinos. In fact, the town of Central City, just past Black Hawk, touts itself as “The Richest Square Mile on Earth.”
While Trey and Parker slept, we drove through a tunnel carved into the mountainside that was more than a mile long. Directly after the tunnel, the road got incredibly steep with a 9% grade at times. There were three runaway truck ramps and, while most traffic could travel at 60 mph, trucks over 26,000 GWVR had to go 30 mph. At least there were two lanes the whole way to accommodate the speed difference, and to allow cars to get out of the way of runaway trucks. The thing we’ve discovered along these steep roads with runaway truck ramps is that any truck that is “runaway” is never going to make it to one of the ramps. The roads are incredibly windy, so a semi going over 45 mph is never going to make the turns that are necessary to get to the ramps. Though it did look like they’d all been used in the recent past.
When we were about 35 miles from Vale the built-up, condo-filled towns began to appear. The first one we went through was Silverthorne, then Frisco, which sat right between a mountain face and a lake. Then we passed Copper Mountain Ski area, which didn’t look like much of a ski area – more like something you’d see in Connecticut than Colorado.
One big thing I noticed about this area was all the dead pines. The mountainside is generally green with all the live trees, with some areas of red where the pines have died. In this area, the mountainside was more red than green. I don’t know whether the death of the trees is some sort of blight or just the natural cycle of conifers around here.
At 10,618 feet we passed Ghost Valley that had once contained the highest Masonic Lodge in the U.S. The area is all rusty colored now from the mining that’s going on. We passed a hideous mess of a mountain that is half gone due to mining.
Leadville, at 10,152 feet, is a cute little town that looks similar to the center of New Milford – specifically, Bank Street. McDonald’s had not yet infiltrated the lovely village, which also had a rundown section at its southern border that contained mining areas and a giant junkyard.
Starting at the town of Buena Vista we began to see the Collegiate Peaks, which, I’m sure, are why Buena Vista was so named. They’re all above 14,000 feet. I have photos of them, so when you look through the photos for this blog, they’ll all come one after the other. First came Mt. Harvard (oddly, it’s photo #2), at 14,420 feet; then Mt. Yale (photo #1), at 14,196 feet; then Mt. Princeton (photos #3 & 4), at 14,197 feet; then Mt. Antero (I guess it’s technically not one of the collegiates, but it’s tall, and it’s photo #5), at 14,265 feet. Photos 6 & 7 are of what looked like the highest peak of all, but we never found out its name.
We stopped at McDonald’s in the town of Salida. When we first entered the town, it was mainly all houses that were located right along the road. That’s what’s so different out here from New England. We have villages that have a few large homes right in their centers, but most homes are away from the town center in neighborhoods. It seems like everyone out here who doesn’t live in the boondocks lives right off the main street in town. After passing through the home part of town we reached the commercial section, and that’s where we found McDonald’s (or, I should say, Lee found for us, because this stop was a little out of our way, but we wanted a McDonald’s, and Lee found it for us).
After this town, the roadway was lined with miles of small, green shrubs. It looked as though they were trying to use the shrubbery as a snowdrift blocker rather than having to put up those wood fences we saw earlier and assumed are for that purpose.
As we went on, the land on either side of us was as flat as could be for miles and miles until it reached the huge mountains that surrounded the area. We know the flatness went for miles because we could clearly see a storm occurring in front of us, but we drove for 25 miles and never reached the storm. Also, we could see the Great Sand Dunes when we still had to drive 25 miles straight then make a left-hand turn and go another 16 miles before we reached them. And when I say straight, I mean, point the van in the direction and let go of the steering wheel straight. As we watched the storms off in the distance, all I could think was that some family was having a picnic under the storm and saw that their neighbor down the road had no rain and Stella turned to Vern, punched him, and said, “I told you we should have built two miles east of here.”
I have a photo of a tiny building with a telephone pole next to it and the dunes in the distance. We still had 15 miles to go after that photo.
When we arrived at the park, there were no campsites left. I had called to see if we could make reservations, and they had told me it was first come first served. The girl at the gate said that some sites are reservable. I was livid when she told me that, and I complained to her that I was told differently when I called. She apologized for the mix-up and recommended that we stay at the Oasis, since it’s so close to the park and it has some shade trees, as opposed to the state park we’d passed 15 miles earlier. I hadn’t liked that state park anyway. The entrance to it was surrounded by high wire fences and looked more like a prison than a park.
We went to the Oasis Campground. You pay to get a site, then you drive in to choose your site. We figured out why they do it that way – get the money before you see the campground. The Oasis is aptly named if by Oasis you mean “pit of despair in a windblown hell hole.” The maintenance of the roads was non-existent. Their speed limit was 10, but we couldn’t go even that fast. Between the huge rocks and deep gulleys, going over 5 mph was out of the question.
We found a site not too far from the bathroom, which was an old railroad car and surprisingly clean inside. The site for our tent was so rock filled, we didn’t even bother to try to clear the area where we would sleep. As we put the tent up, the wind was blowing so hard we almost lost it a couple of times. I don’t think I need to explain the bad attitude I had during this process. In addition, the tent was still soaked from the morning, so we didn’t want to blow up the mattresses yet, but neither could we leave it without some weight in it, even though we had it staked down. We put a mattress in each corner so we could head out to the dunes and possibly change our attitudes. As it turned out, the wind was blowing so hard, the tent was nearly dry by the time we set it up, anyway. To prevent holes from rocks in the bottom of the tent, we slid the tarp underneath. It worked out fairly well.
We ate a little fried chicken since we hadn’t eaten much that day. We figured we could finish dinner once we’d gotten back from the dunes.
We were going to hit the Visitor Center first. As was fitting for our luck this day, the Center closed at 6 p.m. and it was 6:30. We went straight to the dunes. Oh My God!! The magnificence of the scene is indescribable. How something as grand at these dunes could develop in such a barren, mountain-enclosed area is miraculous. As it turns out, the creation of the dunes is the perfect combination of certain factors. “Wind and water are the primary movers of the grains (which mainly originated in the San Juan Mountains, over 65 miles to the west). Streams, creeks, melting snows, and flash floods brought bits of rock out of the mountains to the valley floor. Southwesterly winds then began the slow process of bouncing the grains toward the low curve of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. There they piled up at the base of the mountains or dropped into creeks to be washed back out toward the valley floor. Age estimates range from 12,00 years to over a million years.”
According to Trey, Paul Bunyan took his son to the area of Bryce Canyon to play with a pail and shovel. It is the young boy who carved out Bryce Canyon. Upon returning home, the boy had to empty the sand out of his shoes before going into his house, and it was that emptying that created the Great Sand Dunes.
We entered the parking lot at the Great Sand Dunes Wilderness Area where you can wander anywhere you want along the dunes. I had no idea we’d be able to climb them. Without water or mental preparation, we headed for High Dune, a three-mile round trip in which there is a 650 foot elevation gain. We were already at almost 8,000 feet above sea level! The average time for this journey is two hours; it was already 7 p.m. From the top, there is a view of the entire 30 square mile dunefield. Although High Dune looks like the highest from the parking lot, it is not the highest dune. Star Dune is, at 750 feet high, but it’s also another 1.5 miles past High Dune.
I had no idea how hard it would be to climb these dunes. My fear of heights was not an issue at all on the ascent. I was too exhausted to care about how high I was. This is where the “killing ourselves” comes in. Or, maybe, we’re just trying to kill me. About halfway up the trouble began. I could make it 10 steps or so, then I’d have to rest. We were at a high elevation, so I’m sure that had something to do with it. Plus, I’d had that attempt at Mt. Audubon not even two days before. But this was ridiculous.
The going was hard enough with just having to scramble through sand, but then we reached the top of one ridge, and the wind was ridiculous. It blew so hard, spraying sand at us, that we actually got some scrapes from the sand. The wind was stronger than what we’d experienced near the top of Mt. Audubon.
As I sat in the middle of one hill, three hikers on their way down went by. They gave great encouragement about how much the walk is worth it and how beautiful the view is. I really thought I wasn’t going to make it. I mentioned to them how we didn’t even have water with us. One of the women gave me a liter bottle of water. I almost kissed her, but I was too worn out.
With renewed vigor, I moved on. After about 10 steps, I tried the bent-over walk, with hands and feet working together. It was actually helpful since I was carrying everyone’s flippy floppies; I just used them as shoes on my hands. I kept resting, but I also kept going. I was not going to have a second failed summit attempt. By the time I was close to the top, I was crawling on my knees, but I was still going. Meanwhile, indefatigable Trey had made it to the top and was coming back down to help Jeff and me make it to the top. Then I was there!! I could barely breath, but I laid there (yes, laid there, face down) and rested for a minute. When I sat up, what a view!! Thirty square miles of nothing but sand dune. Even in my state of exhaustion I could appreciate the magnificence of what I was seeing.
Then came the time to go down. I wasn’t sure how well I’d do there. We were up pretty high. I thought maybe I’d be too scared to walk down very well. But let me tell you, there are few things in life that are more fun than running down a sand dune! The easy movement of the sand makes each step very secure. The boys bounded down each hill so fast that their steps were about 10 feet apart. I didn’t go quite that fast, but I ran, and it was fantastic.
There were places on some hills where the wind blew so hard the sand wasn’t soft and pliable. It had actually become pretty hard, more like solid ground than sand. In those places I was not as secure with my movement. At the bottom of one such spot, Parker told me, “Nothing personal, Mom, but Dad was walking normally there and you looked like you were pulling a GI Joe.” I knew what he meant. When I get insecure at heights, I bend my legs to lower my center of gravity and splay out my arms to distribute my weight. This was the stance I’d used on the ledges over Jenny Lake. Parker was being kind associating my movement with GI Joe. I think I looked more like John Belushi in Animal House.
When we were done, we were all more exhausted than we’d even been in our lives, but we finished in only an hour and half – 30 minutes faster than the average. The boys could have probably done it in an hour if they didn’t have to wait for me. We never finished dinner. We got back to the tent and fell asleep. The wind had died down, the night was silent, and our bodies were ready for a well-earned rest.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1892877027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Day 19 – Brainard Lake, Day 3
Miles traveled: 0
Hours on Road: 0
States covered: 1 –Colorado
On yesterday’s hike I was beginning to think that Wilson was trying to kill us. Now I’m convinced of it.
We awoke at 2 a.m. to prepare for our hike. Jeff was already not going. Cal said in no uncertain terms, he did not want to go. He had spent the entire hike the day before keeping up with his Uncle Wilson, who blew all the rest of us away, so he had proven himself a worthy hiker and did not feel the need to prove anything else. Parker did not want to go either, but he also did not want to be considered a sissy, so he came along. Wilson, Trey, and Truman were rearing to go. Parker’s final words to his dad before we left were, “This sounds exactly like a horror movie. I think we’re on a suicide mission, Dad.”
The hike to the top of Mt. Audubon is four miles in which you climb almost 3000 feet in elevation. The first mile is through woods, the second mile is switchbacks that also go through woods, though the trees are smaller owing to the higher elevation. The third mile and a half is through boulder fields, and the final half mile, which has the greatest elevation gain, is over Volkswagon-sized boulders.
Wilson and I had coffee before we began, and the boys had cereal. We had packed water bottles the night before, so by 2:50 we were on the trail. Wilson led the way. He had a flashlight and bear spray. Trey followed Wilson, he also had a flashlight, Parker followed Trey, and I took up the rear. Parker and I did not have flashlights, but I had my airhorn and a large knife, as well as two trekking poles. We didn’t need the flashlight because the moon was so bright; it was full, which was the whole point of doing this hike at this time. Our entire trip had been planned around being in Colorado for the full moon so we could be at the top of a mountain on the continental divide under a full moon as the sun came up.
It wasn’t easy to enter the woods. Parker was thinking “wolves,” Trey was thinking “mountain lions,” and I was thinking “bears.” I pounded my trekking poles onto the ground with each step so I could make a little noise. Wilson suggested that Trey sing, so he did. The wind was howling so loudly that our noise didn’t make much of a difference.
We did well through the woods, stopping every now and then for some water or to take off a sweatshirt. I made a casual glance behind me once in a while, just to make sure some vengeful bear wasn’t sneaking up behind me to take us down, one by one.
When we left the woods, the switchbacks began. It was just dark enough that, although I could see the path for my footing, I really couldn’t see to the side. Amen for small favors. I started to slow down a little on this part of the hike. I blamed it on my 20-pound backpack. I had stuffed it with enough water for five of us, but we needed enough for only three of us. At one of our many stops, I emptied one of my water bottles into the camelback that Trey was wearing. He’d been careful to avoid dehydration by guzzling almost all the water he’d been carrying. We paid for that on the way down, when he had to stop and pee every five minutes.
Parker’s attitude began to improve as the hike went on. I think he was just feeling too tired and ill (he was getting a headache) to stay angry. As we rounded a corner where the boulder fields started, the wind blew down on us with such force, I almost lost my footing. I was feeling loopy from the altitude anyway, but this wind was making me feel almost dizzy. Wilson guessed that the temperature was probably 35 degrees F and the wind was probably blowing at 35 mph. Not a great combination when you still have almost two miles to go.
Over the boulder fields, we stopped frequently, and once we started again, I would lag behind within 10 feet of the rest stop. My trekking poles were helping immensely, but between the footing, the wind, the cold and the altitude, I was nearing my limit. No one else seemed to be struggling, which only made me feel worse. Wilson said that he needed the rests, as well, but I think he said that only to make me feel better.
I realized I wasn’t the only one suffering when, at one of our rests, Parker laid down in the middle of the stone-covered pathway, curled up in the fetal position, and fell asleep within five minutes. Wilson had said we could rest as long as we needed to, but falling asleep on a stone path?? Wilson said we were like the characters from the Wizard of Oz, falling asleep in the poppy fields, only instead of poppies, it was stones. By the time we got going again, the sweat that had built up on our underclothes had gotten cold, and it was just too much for us to carry on. We made it about 2.5 miles, just under 12,000 feet, but we decided to turn around. Things were only going to get worse farther on: more wind, more cold, steeper incline.
Though we turned around, we had gotten a wonderful view of the Denver area all lit up. It was just about sunrise, too, so we got to witness that. Trey commented that he had never known how big and orange a sunrise was, so something was gained on this hike.
Though the trekking poles helped immensely in the descent, I did turn my ankles frequently, so I commented that it was a good idea that Jeff and his bad ankle had not come. By the end of the hike, Trey said he rolled his ankles 17 times!
We started the hike at 2:50, and we returned out of the woods at 6:50. We saw one woman with her two dogs up on the switchbacks, which I could see on the return since the sun was out. They were excruciatingly steep. We also passed a group of Boy Scouts who we were convinced would never make it to the top. When we got back to camp, we all went to bed. Trey, Parker, and I slept until 9:30. Wilson had been awakened earlier by Truman. Jeff said that after we’d left for the hike, he could hear the wind howling through the trees and pictured Trey getting blown right off the mountain. He wasn’t too far off base.
Wilson had been calling Trey “the energizer bunny” since Saturday, but after this hike he changed it to “indefatigable Trey.” The boy just never stops. If his body isn’t going, then you can be sure his mouth is. One conversation on their ride to Brainard Lake had gone like this:
Wilson: How do you picture Ward to look like?
Trey: Messy.
Wilson: Did someone tell you that?
Trey: No. It just sounds like wart, and warts are messy.
Andrea was coming to visit us at noon, so Wilson had to pick her up at the gate to the park since we can’t have three cars at our campsite. While he did a few things around the campsite, Parker, Trey, Jeff and I headed to Ward to pick up some ice and some water. Somehow, we got lost. We had passed through Ward just before turning up the road to the park, but we took a right out of the park road and drove for miles, not seeing a single house. When we passed a sign that showed that Ward was in the direction from which we had come, we knew we’d done something wrong. We turned around and started driving back toward camp, wondering where we could have erred. I decided that maybe Ward is magical and can be found only by driving from this direction. When we started seeing houses that we hadn’t seen going the other way we started to think that my idea was not that crazy. Maybe Ward is like Brigadoon and comes out only every couple of hundred years. What really must have happened is that driving down the mountain, all the houses are blocked by hills and trees; going up the mountain, you can see the houses.
To get to Ward, we should have turned right out of the park road and taken an immediate left, where it said “Ward Post Office.” Hey, most of us got up at 2 a.m.
Ward is the smallest town on the face of the earth. The tiny little store that is the focal point didn’t have much, but it had what we needed. We got the last water jug they had as well as the last two bags of ice.
Andrea brought Taffy and stayed for several hours. We had a great visit. We played a game of “Last Word,” where everyone has a card with a letter on it, then a topic is read aloud. Players must shout out something that has to do with that topic that also begins with the letter they have in their hand. Then everyone continues to shout out things that have to do with the topic and also begin with the letter of the word that the first person shouted out (did I say that right?). The last person to shout something out before the buzzer goes off moves forward on the board. It’s amazing how blank you get when you have to think of something quickly. Trey kept getting Bs, and he kept shouting barbeque.
When it came time for Andrea to leave, Wilson decided to go with her. We didn’t have any more hikes planned, and he was exhausted from all the hiking we did and the lack of sleep he’d gotten. Truman’s a great dog, but he doesn’t let his tent partner sleep much at night. We helped pack him up, and they were on their way.
I kicked the boys’ butts in about 10 games of Banagrams. Cal ended up quitting because we wouldn’t accept “ZE” as a word. Parker was later sorry he wouldn’t allow that as a word, since he couldn’t figure out anything else to do with his Z. Parker may not be good at word games, but he did manage to finish his 436-page book, Lone Survivor, in three days. He’s pretty impressed with himself. Now he’s all set to start high school.
We were going to go to the local inn for dinner but then decided to use up the food Wilson had left with us. We had grilled potatoes and grilled zucchini, which had come from Wilson and Andrea’s garden. We mixed the zucchini with cous cous and, viola, a great dinner.
We’re all filthy messes. The dirt we already had on us has been covered by dirt. We’re hoping to find showers and a Laundromat at or near Great Sand Dunes National Park, which is our next stop. Until then, we have a 4.5 hour car ride in which we may have to socialize with civilians who may be less than pleased with our apparent lack of hygiene. They’re going to love us in McDonald’s if we stop along the way to post my blog.
The new neighbors we got were fine the first night, but this night they were playing loud, obnoxious, hillbilly music (sorry, Rod) while we tried to read. They had already run their generator most of the evening, spoiling the otherwise peaceful nature of the area. I expressed my usual outrage to the family and then went out searching for anyone with authority in the campground who could tell them to turn it down. I was hesitant to do it myself since the couple looked similar to the parents of the deformed killers in “The Hills Have Eyes.” By the time I got back from my unsuccessful drive, the neighbors had turned down their music and the kids had fallen asleep.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1892845027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 0
States covered: 1 –Colorado
On yesterday’s hike I was beginning to think that Wilson was trying to kill us. Now I’m convinced of it.
We awoke at 2 a.m. to prepare for our hike. Jeff was already not going. Cal said in no uncertain terms, he did not want to go. He had spent the entire hike the day before keeping up with his Uncle Wilson, who blew all the rest of us away, so he had proven himself a worthy hiker and did not feel the need to prove anything else. Parker did not want to go either, but he also did not want to be considered a sissy, so he came along. Wilson, Trey, and Truman were rearing to go. Parker’s final words to his dad before we left were, “This sounds exactly like a horror movie. I think we’re on a suicide mission, Dad.”
The hike to the top of Mt. Audubon is four miles in which you climb almost 3000 feet in elevation. The first mile is through woods, the second mile is switchbacks that also go through woods, though the trees are smaller owing to the higher elevation. The third mile and a half is through boulder fields, and the final half mile, which has the greatest elevation gain, is over Volkswagon-sized boulders.
Wilson and I had coffee before we began, and the boys had cereal. We had packed water bottles the night before, so by 2:50 we were on the trail. Wilson led the way. He had a flashlight and bear spray. Trey followed Wilson, he also had a flashlight, Parker followed Trey, and I took up the rear. Parker and I did not have flashlights, but I had my airhorn and a large knife, as well as two trekking poles. We didn’t need the flashlight because the moon was so bright; it was full, which was the whole point of doing this hike at this time. Our entire trip had been planned around being in Colorado for the full moon so we could be at the top of a mountain on the continental divide under a full moon as the sun came up.
It wasn’t easy to enter the woods. Parker was thinking “wolves,” Trey was thinking “mountain lions,” and I was thinking “bears.” I pounded my trekking poles onto the ground with each step so I could make a little noise. Wilson suggested that Trey sing, so he did. The wind was howling so loudly that our noise didn’t make much of a difference.
We did well through the woods, stopping every now and then for some water or to take off a sweatshirt. I made a casual glance behind me once in a while, just to make sure some vengeful bear wasn’t sneaking up behind me to take us down, one by one.
When we left the woods, the switchbacks began. It was just dark enough that, although I could see the path for my footing, I really couldn’t see to the side. Amen for small favors. I started to slow down a little on this part of the hike. I blamed it on my 20-pound backpack. I had stuffed it with enough water for five of us, but we needed enough for only three of us. At one of our many stops, I emptied one of my water bottles into the camelback that Trey was wearing. He’d been careful to avoid dehydration by guzzling almost all the water he’d been carrying. We paid for that on the way down, when he had to stop and pee every five minutes.
Parker’s attitude began to improve as the hike went on. I think he was just feeling too tired and ill (he was getting a headache) to stay angry. As we rounded a corner where the boulder fields started, the wind blew down on us with such force, I almost lost my footing. I was feeling loopy from the altitude anyway, but this wind was making me feel almost dizzy. Wilson guessed that the temperature was probably 35 degrees F and the wind was probably blowing at 35 mph. Not a great combination when you still have almost two miles to go.
Over the boulder fields, we stopped frequently, and once we started again, I would lag behind within 10 feet of the rest stop. My trekking poles were helping immensely, but between the footing, the wind, the cold and the altitude, I was nearing my limit. No one else seemed to be struggling, which only made me feel worse. Wilson said that he needed the rests, as well, but I think he said that only to make me feel better.
I realized I wasn’t the only one suffering when, at one of our rests, Parker laid down in the middle of the stone-covered pathway, curled up in the fetal position, and fell asleep within five minutes. Wilson had said we could rest as long as we needed to, but falling asleep on a stone path?? Wilson said we were like the characters from the Wizard of Oz, falling asleep in the poppy fields, only instead of poppies, it was stones. By the time we got going again, the sweat that had built up on our underclothes had gotten cold, and it was just too much for us to carry on. We made it about 2.5 miles, just under 12,000 feet, but we decided to turn around. Things were only going to get worse farther on: more wind, more cold, steeper incline.
Though we turned around, we had gotten a wonderful view of the Denver area all lit up. It was just about sunrise, too, so we got to witness that. Trey commented that he had never known how big and orange a sunrise was, so something was gained on this hike.
Though the trekking poles helped immensely in the descent, I did turn my ankles frequently, so I commented that it was a good idea that Jeff and his bad ankle had not come. By the end of the hike, Trey said he rolled his ankles 17 times!
We started the hike at 2:50, and we returned out of the woods at 6:50. We saw one woman with her two dogs up on the switchbacks, which I could see on the return since the sun was out. They were excruciatingly steep. We also passed a group of Boy Scouts who we were convinced would never make it to the top. When we got back to camp, we all went to bed. Trey, Parker, and I slept until 9:30. Wilson had been awakened earlier by Truman. Jeff said that after we’d left for the hike, he could hear the wind howling through the trees and pictured Trey getting blown right off the mountain. He wasn’t too far off base.
Wilson had been calling Trey “the energizer bunny” since Saturday, but after this hike he changed it to “indefatigable Trey.” The boy just never stops. If his body isn’t going, then you can be sure his mouth is. One conversation on their ride to Brainard Lake had gone like this:
Wilson: How do you picture Ward to look like?
Trey: Messy.
Wilson: Did someone tell you that?
Trey: No. It just sounds like wart, and warts are messy.
Andrea was coming to visit us at noon, so Wilson had to pick her up at the gate to the park since we can’t have three cars at our campsite. While he did a few things around the campsite, Parker, Trey, Jeff and I headed to Ward to pick up some ice and some water. Somehow, we got lost. We had passed through Ward just before turning up the road to the park, but we took a right out of the park road and drove for miles, not seeing a single house. When we passed a sign that showed that Ward was in the direction from which we had come, we knew we’d done something wrong. We turned around and started driving back toward camp, wondering where we could have erred. I decided that maybe Ward is magical and can be found only by driving from this direction. When we started seeing houses that we hadn’t seen going the other way we started to think that my idea was not that crazy. Maybe Ward is like Brigadoon and comes out only every couple of hundred years. What really must have happened is that driving down the mountain, all the houses are blocked by hills and trees; going up the mountain, you can see the houses.
To get to Ward, we should have turned right out of the park road and taken an immediate left, where it said “Ward Post Office.” Hey, most of us got up at 2 a.m.
Ward is the smallest town on the face of the earth. The tiny little store that is the focal point didn’t have much, but it had what we needed. We got the last water jug they had as well as the last two bags of ice.
Andrea brought Taffy and stayed for several hours. We had a great visit. We played a game of “Last Word,” where everyone has a card with a letter on it, then a topic is read aloud. Players must shout out something that has to do with that topic that also begins with the letter they have in their hand. Then everyone continues to shout out things that have to do with the topic and also begin with the letter of the word that the first person shouted out (did I say that right?). The last person to shout something out before the buzzer goes off moves forward on the board. It’s amazing how blank you get when you have to think of something quickly. Trey kept getting Bs, and he kept shouting barbeque.
When it came time for Andrea to leave, Wilson decided to go with her. We didn’t have any more hikes planned, and he was exhausted from all the hiking we did and the lack of sleep he’d gotten. Truman’s a great dog, but he doesn’t let his tent partner sleep much at night. We helped pack him up, and they were on their way.
I kicked the boys’ butts in about 10 games of Banagrams. Cal ended up quitting because we wouldn’t accept “ZE” as a word. Parker was later sorry he wouldn’t allow that as a word, since he couldn’t figure out anything else to do with his Z. Parker may not be good at word games, but he did manage to finish his 436-page book, Lone Survivor, in three days. He’s pretty impressed with himself. Now he’s all set to start high school.
We were going to go to the local inn for dinner but then decided to use up the food Wilson had left with us. We had grilled potatoes and grilled zucchini, which had come from Wilson and Andrea’s garden. We mixed the zucchini with cous cous and, viola, a great dinner.
We’re all filthy messes. The dirt we already had on us has been covered by dirt. We’re hoping to find showers and a Laundromat at or near Great Sand Dunes National Park, which is our next stop. Until then, we have a 4.5 hour car ride in which we may have to socialize with civilians who may be less than pleased with our apparent lack of hygiene. They’re going to love us in McDonald’s if we stop along the way to post my blog.
The new neighbors we got were fine the first night, but this night they were playing loud, obnoxious, hillbilly music (sorry, Rod) while we tried to read. They had already run their generator most of the evening, spoiling the otherwise peaceful nature of the area. I expressed my usual outrage to the family and then went out searching for anyone with authority in the campground who could tell them to turn it down. I was hesitant to do it myself since the couple looked similar to the parents of the deformed killers in “The Hills Have Eyes.” By the time I got back from my unsuccessful drive, the neighbors had turned down their music and the kids had fallen asleep.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1892845027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Day 18 – Brainard Lake, Day 2
Miles traveled: 0
Hours on Road: 0
States covered: 1 –Colorado
We got up at 6 a.m., but after having coffee and cereal and performing all other morning rituals, we didn’t start our hike until about 8 a.m. Speaking of morning rituals, the outhouse by us is amazingly disgusting. As has been determined by now, I am not a picky camper. But this outhouse has made me gag on more than one occasion. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything quite like it. If I don’t keep my mouth covered the entire time I’m in there, I get a little queasy. We’ve been going down to the one by the picnic area, which is closer to the lake and about a quarter mile from our site, but most definitely worth the time and effort.
Wilson had planned to take us on the Pawnee Pass trail. We even told our neighbors that we were doing that hike, and they said they were as well. We hiked up through pine trees that were scrawny but thickly grouped. We crossed a river, as seems the norm around here what with all the glacial melting. Just past the bridge was a gorgeous field of wildflowers. Wilson knew the names of several flowers we saw along the hike: columbine, little pink elephant ears, panstemon, and alpine buttercup. There were lots of different colors so it was amazing to see.
We crossed over another, wider river. It did not run as fiercely as the first, but it was larger. The bridge this time was made of two logs laid side by side then sawn to flatness on top.
We arrived at Mitchell Lake, as the sign at the bottom had said we would. We met an older man there who does a nature blog and who told us that he’d been told there was a moose in the area. We never did see one. What he also told us was that we were not on the trail to Pawnee Pass but the trail to Blue Lake, which he said is also a great hike. We didn’t care where we ended up, the trail was scenic no matter which direction we went.
We passed a couple more smaller lakes before getting to Blue Lake. We went up in elevation from 10,300 feet at Brainard Lake to 11,500 feet. We all seemed to be doing well despite the higher elevation. We felt so well, in fact, that we hiked past the lake, over a couple of small rivers that started at glaciers and ended in the lake, and across a glacier that angled down about 100 yards into the lake. I had no problem crossing the glacier, and we continued even further. Past the glacier we saw a marmot, then we kept seeing them. They make an odd squeaking sound, and at one point Trey appeared to have a conversation with one. Past the glacier, where the marmots were, was a giant boulder field. That was a blast to cross over. We were about 500 feet from the top of the mountain when we sent the boys on ahead to pose on the huge glacier sitting on the face of the mountain. In the middle of the glacier were some bare rocks; we told the boys to go sit on them. They sat on the first set of rocks; we yelled for them to go higher. They went to the middle of the next set of rocks; we told them to go higher. They finally got as high as they could on the rocks, we got some good photos, and then they headed back. We could see Trey’s mouth moving as he came down the glacier. He would up on the wrong side of a river that was coming off the ice, and we told him to go the other way. That’s when we could clearly hear him grumbling: “Ya know, that wasn’t easy.” “It was higher than you think.” “I’d like to see you try that.” He was mad at us for a good 15 minutes after that.
We went up a little higher, but the rocks seemed to be getting less stable, so we turned around. On the way back, Trey turned his ankle, and we heard about it the rest of the day. Actually, he turned his ankle three times, to hear him tell it; he was nearly crippled by his bad luck.
When we reached the glacier we had crossed, Wilson had the boys standing in the middle of it waiting for Jeff and me to catch up for a great photo op. The only problem was, I began to panic about crossing it in this direction. Crossing it the first time had been no problem; I stood up straight and walked across like any self-respecting individual would do. But this direction was not working for me. I told the boys they had to get over to the other side before I would even begin. Jeff was behind me, and he held my hand in support of the first step. I began to put my right foot out, but then I pulled it back. I did that about four times before I finally accepted that this was something I had to do. The worst that would happen is I would slide all the way down the glacier and land in the lake. I’d be a little cold; but I should be alive. I took the first step, still holding Jeff’s hand behind me. Then I took a couple more steps. It was about 30 feet across. I was digging my feet in because the top of the glacier was really just soft, icy snow. By the middle of the crossing, the panic set in. I let go of Jeff’s hand and grabbed for a handhold. But you can’t grab snow. Well, you can grab it, but then it just comes with you. I started to get wobbly and began breathing hard and fast. I could picture the slide I was going to take. I got my feet to move again, and as I chanted, “Panicking, panicking, panicking.” I made my way across to the other side, where I sat down to catch my breath.
As we all sat there waiting for me to gather myself, Cal threw a rock into the lake. These boys are always throwing rocks! Then Trey threw one that landed in the middle of the glacier, and Truman took off to get it. We all screamed for Truman to come back. He put on the brakes about 20 feet down the glacier and was able to stop himself from sliding into the lake. Then we all screamed at Trey for throwing the rock. The poor boy; he was only doing what came naturally. He didn’t stay upset with us for too long this time around.
By the time we got back to Blue Lake it was really crowded. Wilson had said that’s why we should go early, and he was right. The walk back down the trail was not as much fun as the walk up, though it was much easier since it was downhill. It wasn’t as fun because we were all exhausted. When we got back to the campsite we all took it easy. The boys had a great time playing board games in the tent while Uncle Wilson cooked chicken over the charcoal grill. By the time the chicken was done, Cal and Parker were asleep, but they got up for the non-slacker chicken.
Our neighbor who had actually done the Pawnee Pass trail came by later that evening. His wife had come by earlier because she was concerned about how long he and the two others he was climbing with were taking. It turns out, it took them a good eight hours to complete the hike. They'd looked for us along the way. Even as he spoke, we could see that distant look in his eye; the look of someone still in shock from exhaustion.
By evening we were filthy from all the dust along the trail. There aren’t any showers or sinks at this campground, so we just keep getting filthier by the day. I may have dreadlocks by the time you all next see me. Around my ankle area is a clear line marking where my socks go up to, but the darkness above the line isn’t tan, as one may first suspect. It’s dirt.
We all went to bed around 8 p.m. because the plan was to get up around 2 a.m. for a hike to the top of Mt. Audubon to watch the sunrise. We’d already lost Jeff as a hiking partner. When Wilson saw how swollen his ankle still was from his sprain earlier in the week, he said there was no way Jeff was going to be able to make this hike. It’s all boulder and rock. He went to bed early, anyway.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1892670027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 0
States covered: 1 –Colorado
We got up at 6 a.m., but after having coffee and cereal and performing all other morning rituals, we didn’t start our hike until about 8 a.m. Speaking of morning rituals, the outhouse by us is amazingly disgusting. As has been determined by now, I am not a picky camper. But this outhouse has made me gag on more than one occasion. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything quite like it. If I don’t keep my mouth covered the entire time I’m in there, I get a little queasy. We’ve been going down to the one by the picnic area, which is closer to the lake and about a quarter mile from our site, but most definitely worth the time and effort.
Wilson had planned to take us on the Pawnee Pass trail. We even told our neighbors that we were doing that hike, and they said they were as well. We hiked up through pine trees that were scrawny but thickly grouped. We crossed a river, as seems the norm around here what with all the glacial melting. Just past the bridge was a gorgeous field of wildflowers. Wilson knew the names of several flowers we saw along the hike: columbine, little pink elephant ears, panstemon, and alpine buttercup. There were lots of different colors so it was amazing to see.
We crossed over another, wider river. It did not run as fiercely as the first, but it was larger. The bridge this time was made of two logs laid side by side then sawn to flatness on top.
We arrived at Mitchell Lake, as the sign at the bottom had said we would. We met an older man there who does a nature blog and who told us that he’d been told there was a moose in the area. We never did see one. What he also told us was that we were not on the trail to Pawnee Pass but the trail to Blue Lake, which he said is also a great hike. We didn’t care where we ended up, the trail was scenic no matter which direction we went.
We passed a couple more smaller lakes before getting to Blue Lake. We went up in elevation from 10,300 feet at Brainard Lake to 11,500 feet. We all seemed to be doing well despite the higher elevation. We felt so well, in fact, that we hiked past the lake, over a couple of small rivers that started at glaciers and ended in the lake, and across a glacier that angled down about 100 yards into the lake. I had no problem crossing the glacier, and we continued even further. Past the glacier we saw a marmot, then we kept seeing them. They make an odd squeaking sound, and at one point Trey appeared to have a conversation with one. Past the glacier, where the marmots were, was a giant boulder field. That was a blast to cross over. We were about 500 feet from the top of the mountain when we sent the boys on ahead to pose on the huge glacier sitting on the face of the mountain. In the middle of the glacier were some bare rocks; we told the boys to go sit on them. They sat on the first set of rocks; we yelled for them to go higher. They went to the middle of the next set of rocks; we told them to go higher. They finally got as high as they could on the rocks, we got some good photos, and then they headed back. We could see Trey’s mouth moving as he came down the glacier. He would up on the wrong side of a river that was coming off the ice, and we told him to go the other way. That’s when we could clearly hear him grumbling: “Ya know, that wasn’t easy.” “It was higher than you think.” “I’d like to see you try that.” He was mad at us for a good 15 minutes after that.
We went up a little higher, but the rocks seemed to be getting less stable, so we turned around. On the way back, Trey turned his ankle, and we heard about it the rest of the day. Actually, he turned his ankle three times, to hear him tell it; he was nearly crippled by his bad luck.
When we reached the glacier we had crossed, Wilson had the boys standing in the middle of it waiting for Jeff and me to catch up for a great photo op. The only problem was, I began to panic about crossing it in this direction. Crossing it the first time had been no problem; I stood up straight and walked across like any self-respecting individual would do. But this direction was not working for me. I told the boys they had to get over to the other side before I would even begin. Jeff was behind me, and he held my hand in support of the first step. I began to put my right foot out, but then I pulled it back. I did that about four times before I finally accepted that this was something I had to do. The worst that would happen is I would slide all the way down the glacier and land in the lake. I’d be a little cold; but I should be alive. I took the first step, still holding Jeff’s hand behind me. Then I took a couple more steps. It was about 30 feet across. I was digging my feet in because the top of the glacier was really just soft, icy snow. By the middle of the crossing, the panic set in. I let go of Jeff’s hand and grabbed for a handhold. But you can’t grab snow. Well, you can grab it, but then it just comes with you. I started to get wobbly and began breathing hard and fast. I could picture the slide I was going to take. I got my feet to move again, and as I chanted, “Panicking, panicking, panicking.” I made my way across to the other side, where I sat down to catch my breath.
As we all sat there waiting for me to gather myself, Cal threw a rock into the lake. These boys are always throwing rocks! Then Trey threw one that landed in the middle of the glacier, and Truman took off to get it. We all screamed for Truman to come back. He put on the brakes about 20 feet down the glacier and was able to stop himself from sliding into the lake. Then we all screamed at Trey for throwing the rock. The poor boy; he was only doing what came naturally. He didn’t stay upset with us for too long this time around.
By the time we got back to Blue Lake it was really crowded. Wilson had said that’s why we should go early, and he was right. The walk back down the trail was not as much fun as the walk up, though it was much easier since it was downhill. It wasn’t as fun because we were all exhausted. When we got back to the campsite we all took it easy. The boys had a great time playing board games in the tent while Uncle Wilson cooked chicken over the charcoal grill. By the time the chicken was done, Cal and Parker were asleep, but they got up for the non-slacker chicken.
Our neighbor who had actually done the Pawnee Pass trail came by later that evening. His wife had come by earlier because she was concerned about how long he and the two others he was climbing with were taking. It turns out, it took them a good eight hours to complete the hike. They'd looked for us along the way. Even as he spoke, we could see that distant look in his eye; the look of someone still in shock from exhaustion.
By evening we were filthy from all the dust along the trail. There aren’t any showers or sinks at this campground, so we just keep getting filthier by the day. I may have dreadlocks by the time you all next see me. Around my ankle area is a clear line marking where my socks go up to, but the darkness above the line isn’t tan, as one may first suspect. It’s dirt.
We all went to bed around 8 p.m. because the plan was to get up around 2 a.m. for a hike to the top of Mt. Audubon to watch the sunrise. We’d already lost Jeff as a hiking partner. When Wilson saw how swollen his ankle still was from his sprain earlier in the week, he said there was no way Jeff was going to be able to make this hike. It’s all boulder and rock. He went to bed early, anyway.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1892670027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Day 17 – Brainard Lake
Miles traveled: 30
Hours on Road: 1
States covered: 1 –Colorado
I woke up the earliest of my gang today – 7 a.m. Wilson and Andrea were already out walking the dogs. I slept like a log, never waking up at all until 7, at which point I was wide awake.
Because Taffy is blind, you’re supposed to say “touch” just before you pet her so she knows it’s coming and doesn’t get startled. Well, she’s got me figured out. Whenever I say “touch” she rolls over on her back and expects a belly rub. She gets one every time!
There’s a river that runs through Boulder called Boulder Creek. The big thing to do there is to tube down the river and then walk along the path that follows the river back up to your starting point. Jeff and the boys did this. We rented tubes at Lolita’s, and they were off. We watched them go down the first time. We had to run along the side of the river to keep up with them. At one point, the river went over to an area that the path didn’t follow, but we could still hear them. Trey was screaming like someone was killing him. In fact, as we went along the path where we could only hear them, I overheard a woman say to her companion, “What’s going on over there? Is someone in trouble?” I told her, no, it’s only my spastic son having the time of his life. He’s most definitely not getting killed.
After we saw that first run, Wilson and I went to the grocery store to buy supplies for Brainard Lake. He and Andrea treated us to our dinners for the three nights of camping. We got burgers for the first night, chicken for the second and ribs for the third. We’re all very excited that we’ll have a real chef cooking for us while we camp.
After we all met up again we headed back to Wilson’s for some lunch – homemade tortilla soup. It was fantastic and totally vegan. We were also able to meet Andrea’s daughter, Rachel, and Rachel’s husband, Sean. Great people.
We were finally off to our camp site by around 2 p.m. It’s only an hour or so drive, so we weren’t concerned. Besides, we had reservations. Trey had asked if he could ride with Uncle Wilson because he was getting sick of being stuffed into the back of the van with about five pillows on top of him. The boys were all excited because Truman was coming camping with us. He sat in the way back of the Subaru, so he didn’t interfere with Trey’s sitting in the front seat.
On our drive there, Parker and Cal cracked us up as usual. Parker said that Uncle Wilson’s chicken the night before was the best chicken he’s ever had and that I need to get the recipe. As he said, “No more slacker chicken, Mom.”
We had to go up and over a big mountain, and the beautiful houses along the way were amazing. Even more amazing was that people were willing to drive on those roads in the winter time. The hills were steep and windy. The curves were so intense at times that there were signs that told bikers they had to go single file. The cyclists wizzing down the mountain at unsafe speeds were stressing me out.
There was a second mountain we had to go up. The roads were lined with pines, but you could tell we were getting higher because the pines were getting shorter. There were still bikers everywhere, even at the higher elevation with the extremely steep grades. These people are either crazy or in amazing shape.
At one point Parker brought up the Riders of Rohan and how stupid it was that there are about four houses in Rohan but there are thousands of riders. How this topic came up is beyond me.
We went through a town called Ward that Andrea had told us about. She said that all the hippies who came out here in the 70s left their old vans there to die. As you drive along the road through the town, which takes all of two minutes to get through, there are all kinds of rusted old vans lining the way.
My America the Beautiful pass worked at Brainard Lake because the lake lies within a national forest, specifically, Roosevelt National Forest. Cal was the one who noticed the sign that said the pass was accepted there.
Just as we got to our site it began to rain. No worries, though. We set up Wilson’s awning tent with the chairs under it and waited for the rain to end. We had bought some beer before heading out, so it was all good. The boys enjoyed some organic lemonade.
Wilson started making carmelized onions to go on our hamburgers. I knew I was going to hear about my slacker burgers very soon. We took a little walk to the lake before starting the burgers. It’s only about half a mile from our site. It isn’t a big lake, but it’s surrounded by mountains, so it’s beautiful. Cal had hurt his ankle jumping from a log to the fire pit, so when we got to the lake, he soaked his foot in it for a while. The lake’s so cold, it didn’t take long for Cal’s foot to get entirely numb.
When we got back to camp it took a very long time for the coals to heat up for cooking. This elevation is not conducive to fire starting. While Jeff chopped the wood up into even smaller pieces, Trey began to pile those pieces up. He was about eight feet from his dad, working diligently, when one of the pieces Jeff chopped into went flying through the air and caught Trey right on the side of his head. The poor kid, and poor Jeff. He felt horrible that he’d hurt the little guy. We fussed over him for a while then he relaxed in one of the good chairs. He had a huge knot on his head a while later. Like Jeff’s mom always said, “You can’t hurt a Swede by hitting him in the head.”
Dinner was great. We had burgers with carmelized onions and raw onions. It makes a big difference when you use good meat. We had a fire, but the kids didn’t stay up to sit around it. We knew we were getting up early for a hike, so they went to the tent to read for a while. A couple of nights ago when we had a fire, a spark flew out at Parker. He did a front kick to stop it, then he looked at me and said, “Roadhouse.”
I went to bed pretty early, too. Wilson stayed up. In the morning he said that the moon was amazing that night.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1893017027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 1
States covered: 1 –Colorado
I woke up the earliest of my gang today – 7 a.m. Wilson and Andrea were already out walking the dogs. I slept like a log, never waking up at all until 7, at which point I was wide awake.
Because Taffy is blind, you’re supposed to say “touch” just before you pet her so she knows it’s coming and doesn’t get startled. Well, she’s got me figured out. Whenever I say “touch” she rolls over on her back and expects a belly rub. She gets one every time!
There’s a river that runs through Boulder called Boulder Creek. The big thing to do there is to tube down the river and then walk along the path that follows the river back up to your starting point. Jeff and the boys did this. We rented tubes at Lolita’s, and they were off. We watched them go down the first time. We had to run along the side of the river to keep up with them. At one point, the river went over to an area that the path didn’t follow, but we could still hear them. Trey was screaming like someone was killing him. In fact, as we went along the path where we could only hear them, I overheard a woman say to her companion, “What’s going on over there? Is someone in trouble?” I told her, no, it’s only my spastic son having the time of his life. He’s most definitely not getting killed.
After we saw that first run, Wilson and I went to the grocery store to buy supplies for Brainard Lake. He and Andrea treated us to our dinners for the three nights of camping. We got burgers for the first night, chicken for the second and ribs for the third. We’re all very excited that we’ll have a real chef cooking for us while we camp.
After we all met up again we headed back to Wilson’s for some lunch – homemade tortilla soup. It was fantastic and totally vegan. We were also able to meet Andrea’s daughter, Rachel, and Rachel’s husband, Sean. Great people.
We were finally off to our camp site by around 2 p.m. It’s only an hour or so drive, so we weren’t concerned. Besides, we had reservations. Trey had asked if he could ride with Uncle Wilson because he was getting sick of being stuffed into the back of the van with about five pillows on top of him. The boys were all excited because Truman was coming camping with us. He sat in the way back of the Subaru, so he didn’t interfere with Trey’s sitting in the front seat.
On our drive there, Parker and Cal cracked us up as usual. Parker said that Uncle Wilson’s chicken the night before was the best chicken he’s ever had and that I need to get the recipe. As he said, “No more slacker chicken, Mom.”
We had to go up and over a big mountain, and the beautiful houses along the way were amazing. Even more amazing was that people were willing to drive on those roads in the winter time. The hills were steep and windy. The curves were so intense at times that there were signs that told bikers they had to go single file. The cyclists wizzing down the mountain at unsafe speeds were stressing me out.
There was a second mountain we had to go up. The roads were lined with pines, but you could tell we were getting higher because the pines were getting shorter. There were still bikers everywhere, even at the higher elevation with the extremely steep grades. These people are either crazy or in amazing shape.
At one point Parker brought up the Riders of Rohan and how stupid it was that there are about four houses in Rohan but there are thousands of riders. How this topic came up is beyond me.
We went through a town called Ward that Andrea had told us about. She said that all the hippies who came out here in the 70s left their old vans there to die. As you drive along the road through the town, which takes all of two minutes to get through, there are all kinds of rusted old vans lining the way.
My America the Beautiful pass worked at Brainard Lake because the lake lies within a national forest, specifically, Roosevelt National Forest. Cal was the one who noticed the sign that said the pass was accepted there.
Just as we got to our site it began to rain. No worries, though. We set up Wilson’s awning tent with the chairs under it and waited for the rain to end. We had bought some beer before heading out, so it was all good. The boys enjoyed some organic lemonade.
Wilson started making carmelized onions to go on our hamburgers. I knew I was going to hear about my slacker burgers very soon. We took a little walk to the lake before starting the burgers. It’s only about half a mile from our site. It isn’t a big lake, but it’s surrounded by mountains, so it’s beautiful. Cal had hurt his ankle jumping from a log to the fire pit, so when we got to the lake, he soaked his foot in it for a while. The lake’s so cold, it didn’t take long for Cal’s foot to get entirely numb.
When we got back to camp it took a very long time for the coals to heat up for cooking. This elevation is not conducive to fire starting. While Jeff chopped the wood up into even smaller pieces, Trey began to pile those pieces up. He was about eight feet from his dad, working diligently, when one of the pieces Jeff chopped into went flying through the air and caught Trey right on the side of his head. The poor kid, and poor Jeff. He felt horrible that he’d hurt the little guy. We fussed over him for a while then he relaxed in one of the good chairs. He had a huge knot on his head a while later. Like Jeff’s mom always said, “You can’t hurt a Swede by hitting him in the head.”
Dinner was great. We had burgers with carmelized onions and raw onions. It makes a big difference when you use good meat. We had a fire, but the kids didn’t stay up to sit around it. We knew we were getting up early for a hike, so they went to the tent to read for a while. A couple of nights ago when we had a fire, a spark flew out at Parker. He did a front kick to stop it, then he looked at me and said, “Roadhouse.”
I went to bed pretty early, too. Wilson stayed up. In the morning he said that the moon was amazing that night.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1893017027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Day 16 – Boulder
Miles traveled: 120
Hours on Road: 4
States covered: 2 –Wyoming, Colorado
[I’m back!! We’ve been out of wifi and cell phone contact for a while, but now we’re back in civilization. Actually, we’re in a rinky dink town called Salida in the middle of 14,000 foot mountains, but it’s civilized enough to have a McDonald’s with wifi. Conveniently, it’s lunch time, so the boys are eating.]
The morning was nice at this campsite. The sun slowly rose over the reservoir, and there was enough warmth to dry off all our stuff – chairs, coolers, tent. We must have had frustrated visitors during the night because, while our coolers were covered with raccoon paws, they were never opened. We found out from our neighbors that they lost four eggs to the raccoons, because the little scroungers were able to open their cooler. We’ve all been frustrated at some point on this trip because the coolers can be very hard to open, but now we’re happy they’re that way.
We had a pretty short ride ahead of us, so we stopped at a McDonald’s along the way to post a couple more blog pages. I was able to do the photos for only one because they uploaded too slowly.
Our next destination was Boulder, Colorado, home to my brother Wilson, and his wife Andrea. We arrived at their home a little after 1 p.m. Wilson wasn’t home yet, but we had a great time visiting with Andrea. She showed us some of the tricks their dogs can do. Both are Australian shepherds. Seven-year-old Truman has many talents and will even play dead when shot at. Taffy is three and she’s been blind as long as they’ve had her. She can catch her goo-goo (it looks like a pacifier) if you throw it right into her mouth, and she does this great circling trick where she spins in circles very quickly. While out on a walk we also witnessed her herding instincts, as she crouched down low and crept forward before pouncing toward Truman.
Boulder is a great place to live. There are bike paths everywhere, and bicyclists are allowed to ride two abreast. Cars must pass at least 10 feet from the bikes, and if anything bad happens, it’s the car driver’s fault. Everywhere you look you see people running or biking. We strolled part of the three mile path that Truman and Taffy get walked along every day.
We didn’t have lunch but we had a late snack, so we had an early dinner. Wilson made barbeque ribs and chicken along with potato salad and coleslaw. It was delicious. We finished just about everything they put in front of us.
After dinner we drove to Pearl Street. A good portion of the road is pedestrians only, and they have street performers to entertain folks. The first guy we came across was pretty incredible, though we didn’t stay for the whole show. He had a couple of chains he was laying out on the ground, and while he did that he asked people if they were from out of town and, if so, what their zip code was. Then he proceeded to tell that person what town they came from. He called on me, and he got New Milford, CT correct. After he’d say what town you’re from, he’d go on to tell you other things about yourself, but he was usually wrong then. He said I had two sons. I told him I have three. He obviously saw that Parker was with me and said that one of my sons plays basketball. Although Cal and Trey do, I knew he was talking about Parker, so I had to tell him no. But he knew he was just grasping at straws, so every time he was wrong, he just laughed about it. By the time we left, we could see he was making an outline of the US with the chains.
After that show, Andrea and Wilson treated us to ice cream – great homemade stuff. We then stopped to watch a contortionist. We didn’t know right away that that was what he’d do. He caught our attention with fire, using those sticks you put in lighter fluid then light on fire, but they really had nothing to do with his show. He admitted that they’re just his attention getters. His show started off pretty slow with a little girl throwing a rubber chicken at him that he caught in a bear trap – yes, you read that correctly. I was ready to leave pretty early into that show, but Trey wanted to stay. The guy’s big stunt was to put his whole body through a toilet seat. He also made lots of jokes along the way and was very funny. He had to dislocate both shoulders and both hips to get through the seat, but he did it. Andrea had to walk away because she was so disturbed by the whole thing; it was making her nauseous. He ended his show by putting chain hooks through his ears and using the chains connected to them to pull a 200-pound man on a skateboard. I told Andrea she was smart to have walked away when she did.
That evening the boys slept on two cots and a couch. They had a fan going, so they were in heaven. Jeff and I got the guest room upstairs and had a great night’s sleep. Because of the air conditioner in the room, we couldn’t hear a thing. Taffy slept right outside the door. I guess that’s usually her room.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1880969027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 4
States covered: 2 –Wyoming, Colorado
[I’m back!! We’ve been out of wifi and cell phone contact for a while, but now we’re back in civilization. Actually, we’re in a rinky dink town called Salida in the middle of 14,000 foot mountains, but it’s civilized enough to have a McDonald’s with wifi. Conveniently, it’s lunch time, so the boys are eating.]
The morning was nice at this campsite. The sun slowly rose over the reservoir, and there was enough warmth to dry off all our stuff – chairs, coolers, tent. We must have had frustrated visitors during the night because, while our coolers were covered with raccoon paws, they were never opened. We found out from our neighbors that they lost four eggs to the raccoons, because the little scroungers were able to open their cooler. We’ve all been frustrated at some point on this trip because the coolers can be very hard to open, but now we’re happy they’re that way.
We had a pretty short ride ahead of us, so we stopped at a McDonald’s along the way to post a couple more blog pages. I was able to do the photos for only one because they uploaded too slowly.
Our next destination was Boulder, Colorado, home to my brother Wilson, and his wife Andrea. We arrived at their home a little after 1 p.m. Wilson wasn’t home yet, but we had a great time visiting with Andrea. She showed us some of the tricks their dogs can do. Both are Australian shepherds. Seven-year-old Truman has many talents and will even play dead when shot at. Taffy is three and she’s been blind as long as they’ve had her. She can catch her goo-goo (it looks like a pacifier) if you throw it right into her mouth, and she does this great circling trick where she spins in circles very quickly. While out on a walk we also witnessed her herding instincts, as she crouched down low and crept forward before pouncing toward Truman.
Boulder is a great place to live. There are bike paths everywhere, and bicyclists are allowed to ride two abreast. Cars must pass at least 10 feet from the bikes, and if anything bad happens, it’s the car driver’s fault. Everywhere you look you see people running or biking. We strolled part of the three mile path that Truman and Taffy get walked along every day.
We didn’t have lunch but we had a late snack, so we had an early dinner. Wilson made barbeque ribs and chicken along with potato salad and coleslaw. It was delicious. We finished just about everything they put in front of us.
After dinner we drove to Pearl Street. A good portion of the road is pedestrians only, and they have street performers to entertain folks. The first guy we came across was pretty incredible, though we didn’t stay for the whole show. He had a couple of chains he was laying out on the ground, and while he did that he asked people if they were from out of town and, if so, what their zip code was. Then he proceeded to tell that person what town they came from. He called on me, and he got New Milford, CT correct. After he’d say what town you’re from, he’d go on to tell you other things about yourself, but he was usually wrong then. He said I had two sons. I told him I have three. He obviously saw that Parker was with me and said that one of my sons plays basketball. Although Cal and Trey do, I knew he was talking about Parker, so I had to tell him no. But he knew he was just grasping at straws, so every time he was wrong, he just laughed about it. By the time we left, we could see he was making an outline of the US with the chains.
After that show, Andrea and Wilson treated us to ice cream – great homemade stuff. We then stopped to watch a contortionist. We didn’t know right away that that was what he’d do. He caught our attention with fire, using those sticks you put in lighter fluid then light on fire, but they really had nothing to do with his show. He admitted that they’re just his attention getters. His show started off pretty slow with a little girl throwing a rubber chicken at him that he caught in a bear trap – yes, you read that correctly. I was ready to leave pretty early into that show, but Trey wanted to stay. The guy’s big stunt was to put his whole body through a toilet seat. He also made lots of jokes along the way and was very funny. He had to dislocate both shoulders and both hips to get through the seat, but he did it. Andrea had to walk away because she was so disturbed by the whole thing; it was making her nauseous. He ended his show by putting chain hooks through his ears and using the chains connected to them to pull a 200-pound man on a skateboard. I told Andrea she was smart to have walked away when she did.
That evening the boys slept on two cots and a couch. They had a fan going, so they were in heaven. Jeff and I got the guest room upstairs and had a great night’s sleep. Because of the air conditioner in the room, we couldn’t hear a thing. Taffy slept right outside the door. I guess that’s usually her room.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1880969027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Day 15 – Curt Gowdy
Miles traveled: 240
Hours on Road: 6
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
We had a late start today because we had to figure out a different packing strategy. We expected our ride to be 4.5 hours minimum, and there was no way we could all be as stuffed into the van as we’d been the day before. We decided we’d put the large cooler on the roof with the bubble, but to do that, we needed more straps. Jeff and Trey headed to Lander to get two bags of ice and some straps. They came back with inadequate straps and no ice. Off to a great start!!
We packed up, putting the cooler on the roof with the straps they got and some bungees we already had, and hoped for the best. On the way to town I told Jeff to take it easy on the corners so we wouldn’t tip over, what with all the stuff on our roof. He deliberately maintained his unreasonable speed around a corner to prove to me that the van was not going to tip over. I liken my reaction to the startle reflex that tiny babies have: my hands rapidly pulled back toward my shoulders while my fingers curled up. The startle reflex – my reaction to everything out here in the west. We did not tip over, but that doesn’t mean he was right. He may just have been lucky. In Lander, we stopped and got ice, then we stopped at a bookstore to get the book Parker needs to read for school. The bookstore did not have it. We had gone to a bookstore before our trip specifically to get the books the boys NEEDED. Parker got the books he wanted, instead. Just a few days ago he started to panic that he really needs the book he must read for school. Now it has become our problem.
All along the roads out here are barbed wire fences, which are understandable for keeping livestock and game animals out of the way of speeding vehicles. But several times, and particularly along this ride, we’ve seen high wooden fences that are laid out in no particular, useful fashion. The only thing we could come up with is that they are to prevent snow drifts from coming onto the roads, but sometimes they’re laid out perpendicular to the road rather than parallel.
We came across Jeffrey City (spelled Jeffery City on one of the earlier signs). All the buildings were large, aluminum, garage-type structures. The only thing differentiating the church from all the other buildings was the large brown cross attached to the front of it. Parker’s opinion of the city, at the risk of offending anyone from there, is as follows: “This is a city? Every building is a rundown piece of crap.”
We crossed the continental divide again – a couple of times.
We are so thirsty out here. We bought a 2.5 gallon container of water last night around 6 p.m., and it was gone by 1:30 today. Trey and I have severally chapped lips. We complain about the humidity back home, but it’s freakin’ dry out here.
We stopped in Rawlins to grab some lunch. We didn’t buy lunch there. We just stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom and make sandwiches with the stuff we’d bought the day before. We’d bought a container of premade tuna, which was excellent, and we also had a little fried chicken left from dinner the night before. As I opened the hatchback of the overly stuffed van, the tea kettle came flying out and rolled across the gas station parking. What I sight I must have been, chasing a runaway tea kettle!
The look of the mountains that outline the plains changes dramatically minute to minute. At one point, the mountains looked like a bunch of butt cheeks mooning us from afar. The photo I got doesn’t do the scene justice.
The town of Laramie was the last one we had to go through before getting to Curt Gowdie State Park. Jeff seems to think the park must be named after the sports caster of the same name. Makes sense to me. We were able to get Parker’s book in that city, which is also the home of Wyoming University. I would hope they’d have a good bookstore there. After the city we hit construction traffic. There was a three mile backup that took us a half hour to get through, and the only work we saw the entire time on this three lane highway was one guy in the middle of the two blocked off lanes sweeping the road – by hand, with a push broom.
We made it to Curt Gowdie. Not the finest place we’ve stayed. Our site was one of three reservable sites, and evidently, they don’t like people to reserve their sites. We’re sitting in the middle of a field with nary a shade tree in sight. It must be 100 degrees. The grass is like straw; Parker already got a splinter from one piece. I think the place could be fun (there’s a nice reservoir here), but I think we just got one of the crappiest sites. As I write this, the sun has finally gone behind a hill, so the site is seeming better. We’re probably just jaded since yesterday’s site was the nicest we’ve EVER had. Cal and Parker are reading, Trey is wandering. Jeff and I are again sipping vodka Arnold Palmers.
Tomorrow we leave the great state of Wyoming. The boys and I have been here since last Thursday. We’re sorry to be leaving, but we’re certain Colorado will bring many great adventures.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1875124027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 6
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
We had a late start today because we had to figure out a different packing strategy. We expected our ride to be 4.5 hours minimum, and there was no way we could all be as stuffed into the van as we’d been the day before. We decided we’d put the large cooler on the roof with the bubble, but to do that, we needed more straps. Jeff and Trey headed to Lander to get two bags of ice and some straps. They came back with inadequate straps and no ice. Off to a great start!!
We packed up, putting the cooler on the roof with the straps they got and some bungees we already had, and hoped for the best. On the way to town I told Jeff to take it easy on the corners so we wouldn’t tip over, what with all the stuff on our roof. He deliberately maintained his unreasonable speed around a corner to prove to me that the van was not going to tip over. I liken my reaction to the startle reflex that tiny babies have: my hands rapidly pulled back toward my shoulders while my fingers curled up. The startle reflex – my reaction to everything out here in the west. We did not tip over, but that doesn’t mean he was right. He may just have been lucky. In Lander, we stopped and got ice, then we stopped at a bookstore to get the book Parker needs to read for school. The bookstore did not have it. We had gone to a bookstore before our trip specifically to get the books the boys NEEDED. Parker got the books he wanted, instead. Just a few days ago he started to panic that he really needs the book he must read for school. Now it has become our problem.
All along the roads out here are barbed wire fences, which are understandable for keeping livestock and game animals out of the way of speeding vehicles. But several times, and particularly along this ride, we’ve seen high wooden fences that are laid out in no particular, useful fashion. The only thing we could come up with is that they are to prevent snow drifts from coming onto the roads, but sometimes they’re laid out perpendicular to the road rather than parallel.
We came across Jeffrey City (spelled Jeffery City on one of the earlier signs). All the buildings were large, aluminum, garage-type structures. The only thing differentiating the church from all the other buildings was the large brown cross attached to the front of it. Parker’s opinion of the city, at the risk of offending anyone from there, is as follows: “This is a city? Every building is a rundown piece of crap.”
We crossed the continental divide again – a couple of times.
We are so thirsty out here. We bought a 2.5 gallon container of water last night around 6 p.m., and it was gone by 1:30 today. Trey and I have severally chapped lips. We complain about the humidity back home, but it’s freakin’ dry out here.
We stopped in Rawlins to grab some lunch. We didn’t buy lunch there. We just stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom and make sandwiches with the stuff we’d bought the day before. We’d bought a container of premade tuna, which was excellent, and we also had a little fried chicken left from dinner the night before. As I opened the hatchback of the overly stuffed van, the tea kettle came flying out and rolled across the gas station parking. What I sight I must have been, chasing a runaway tea kettle!
The look of the mountains that outline the plains changes dramatically minute to minute. At one point, the mountains looked like a bunch of butt cheeks mooning us from afar. The photo I got doesn’t do the scene justice.
The town of Laramie was the last one we had to go through before getting to Curt Gowdie State Park. Jeff seems to think the park must be named after the sports caster of the same name. Makes sense to me. We were able to get Parker’s book in that city, which is also the home of Wyoming University. I would hope they’d have a good bookstore there. After the city we hit construction traffic. There was a three mile backup that took us a half hour to get through, and the only work we saw the entire time on this three lane highway was one guy in the middle of the two blocked off lanes sweeping the road – by hand, with a push broom.
We made it to Curt Gowdie. Not the finest place we’ve stayed. Our site was one of three reservable sites, and evidently, they don’t like people to reserve their sites. We’re sitting in the middle of a field with nary a shade tree in sight. It must be 100 degrees. The grass is like straw; Parker already got a splinter from one piece. I think the place could be fun (there’s a nice reservoir here), but I think we just got one of the crappiest sites. As I write this, the sun has finally gone behind a hill, so the site is seeming better. We’re probably just jaded since yesterday’s site was the nicest we’ve EVER had. Cal and Parker are reading, Trey is wandering. Jeff and I are again sipping vodka Arnold Palmers.
Tomorrow we leave the great state of Wyoming. The boys and I have been here since last Thursday. We’re sorry to be leaving, but we’re certain Colorado will bring many great adventures.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1875124027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Day 14 – Sinks Canyon
Miles traveled: 160
Hours on Road: 5.5
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
We love our camping, but it sure was hard to leave the Snake River Lodge. Cal and Trey went swimming for an hour while Jeff and I had coffee at the pool. Then we had to pack our stuff in the van and head out. Before leaving, however, we met up with Jay. We had a bottle of wine we wanted to give him for hooking us up with such a nice room and welcoming us with the wine, but somehow it just didn’t seem like enough. Jeff had met Jay many years ago, but the kids and I had never met him. What a nice guy he is!
After chatting with Jay for a while we were on the road. We took Moose/Wilson Road again, which we’d taken many times before, but it had rained the day before and it was exceedingly bumpy this time. So bumpy, in fact, that the Coleman stove that had been shoved on the shelves sitting behind Trey fell off the shelves and crashed onto Trey’s head. All I can say is, it’s a good thing it didn’t land on something he uses. He said he was fine, but we strapped it down before moving on.
We had to retrace the steps the kids and I took to get to Yellowstone. We went through Dubois again. That meant heading back through 17 miles of roadwork. We lucked out because we reached the backed-up traffic just as the “Follow Me” truck arrived, so we didn’t have any wait at all and were last in line for the entire 17 miles.
Another thing we backtracked through was the Wind River Reservation, which brought back mothy memories. It was the Upper Wind River Campground that we were supposed to have stayed at but was too moth infested. We drove through the entire reservation. It looked just like we expected the west to look like: lots of grassy plains with a few rolling hills and several areas of reddish rock outcrop. It was sad to drive through the populated areas. It looked very rundown with either worn-out trailer homes or very small, ramshackle wood dwellings. Just before leaving the reservation there was a casino, and just outside the reservation were beautiful, large homes.
The first town after the reservation is Lander, which is also the last town before Sinks Canyon. It’s your average town with car dealerships, a Safeway, a Holiday Inn a large high school, and a taxidermist. Not quite 7,000 people live in the town.
What strikes us most about this area is the openness. You can go for miles and miles without seeing anything, then there’s just some random house out there, in the middle of nowhere, then suddenly there’s a town, then nothing again.
Six miles out of Lander is Sinks Canyon, one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen on our trip. To get there, you go through the town, then sparse, yellow grassland, then red rocky ledges, then a giant canyon, in which lies the sinks. Along the red rocky ledges, out on the bluffs, are some of the most beautiful houses in the area. They’re all a natural wood color and all have giant windows for overlooking the plains below. Most of the houses included several horses.
The sinks is so named because halfway down the canyon, the waters of the Popo Agie (pronounced Po-Po-shuh), a rushing mountain river, abruptly turn and enter a large limestone cavern where the crashing water “sinks” into fissures and cracks at the back of the cave. A quarter mile down the road, the river emerges in a large calm pool called “The Rise.” It takes two hours for the water to go that ¼ mile. At the rise are hundreds of Rainbow and Brown trout, who wait to be fed by the onlookers who stand on the deck well above the river and throw pellets of food to them ($.25 a handful). More water exits to the rise than enters the sinks, so water must also be coming from somewhere else. Spelunkers have tried to swim its course, but the holes and cracks get way too small for a person to fit through, and even those that are big enough are clogged with plant debris. While Jeff and I were in the Visitor Center, a Native American man (admittedly not Crow) told us that Popo Agie is a Crow word for “good river.” The pamphlet says “there is confusion about its meaning, (but) most people believe it means “gurgling river.” Six in one, half dozen the other.
Our campsite was down a pathway from where we parked. We even had to cross a little wooden bridge. It was nice and private, though a bit of a haul for all our crap. We set up our tent about 20 feet from the Popo Agie, which flows with such strength, we had to yell a little to be heard over its noise. To one side of our site was a cliff covered with pines, to the other was a red rock cliff on which we looked for big horn sheep (but never saw any). Everywhere we looked, it was simply beautiful.
Another distinctive thing about this area besides its openness, and as opposed to New England, is the lack of rules and regulations. We camped right next to a rushing river, we walked right up to the edge of the sinks, with water rushing by, and never did we see a sign telling us to stay back, nor were there fences to keep us back. At the state campgrounds, there are no rules against drinking. The individual is allowed to make his/her own decisions out here, and then suffer any consequences that may ensue. Not like New England, where everyone has to worry about being sued so rules are everywhere. Just thought I’d add that observation.
We had a wonderfully relaxing evening. The boys rediscovered how interesting the books they’d been reading are. And Jeff and I sat out under the stars and sipped vodka Arnold Palmers. I noticed at one point that we were very near the road, but we couldn’t hear a single vehicle because of the noise of the river. We were all in bed and falling asleep by 11.
With the river so loud and so close by, everyone got a great night’s sleep – no fan or white noise machine needed. Except for me, of course. Around 1 a.m., I woke up thinking about how close we were to the road, how loud the river was, and how far away our van was. I’d left my purse and my computer in the van. Anyone could rob us, and we’d never know it. After debating whether or not to wake Jeff and see if he’d go get the stuff, I got myself up and wandered into the dark woods alone, just so I’d be able to sleep once my mission was accomplished. It wasn’t as frightening as I thought it would be, and once back in bed, I slept like a rock!
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1852278027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 5.5
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
We love our camping, but it sure was hard to leave the Snake River Lodge. Cal and Trey went swimming for an hour while Jeff and I had coffee at the pool. Then we had to pack our stuff in the van and head out. Before leaving, however, we met up with Jay. We had a bottle of wine we wanted to give him for hooking us up with such a nice room and welcoming us with the wine, but somehow it just didn’t seem like enough. Jeff had met Jay many years ago, but the kids and I had never met him. What a nice guy he is!
After chatting with Jay for a while we were on the road. We took Moose/Wilson Road again, which we’d taken many times before, but it had rained the day before and it was exceedingly bumpy this time. So bumpy, in fact, that the Coleman stove that had been shoved on the shelves sitting behind Trey fell off the shelves and crashed onto Trey’s head. All I can say is, it’s a good thing it didn’t land on something he uses. He said he was fine, but we strapped it down before moving on.
We had to retrace the steps the kids and I took to get to Yellowstone. We went through Dubois again. That meant heading back through 17 miles of roadwork. We lucked out because we reached the backed-up traffic just as the “Follow Me” truck arrived, so we didn’t have any wait at all and were last in line for the entire 17 miles.
Another thing we backtracked through was the Wind River Reservation, which brought back mothy memories. It was the Upper Wind River Campground that we were supposed to have stayed at but was too moth infested. We drove through the entire reservation. It looked just like we expected the west to look like: lots of grassy plains with a few rolling hills and several areas of reddish rock outcrop. It was sad to drive through the populated areas. It looked very rundown with either worn-out trailer homes or very small, ramshackle wood dwellings. Just before leaving the reservation there was a casino, and just outside the reservation were beautiful, large homes.
The first town after the reservation is Lander, which is also the last town before Sinks Canyon. It’s your average town with car dealerships, a Safeway, a Holiday Inn a large high school, and a taxidermist. Not quite 7,000 people live in the town.
What strikes us most about this area is the openness. You can go for miles and miles without seeing anything, then there’s just some random house out there, in the middle of nowhere, then suddenly there’s a town, then nothing again.
Six miles out of Lander is Sinks Canyon, one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen on our trip. To get there, you go through the town, then sparse, yellow grassland, then red rocky ledges, then a giant canyon, in which lies the sinks. Along the red rocky ledges, out on the bluffs, are some of the most beautiful houses in the area. They’re all a natural wood color and all have giant windows for overlooking the plains below. Most of the houses included several horses.
The sinks is so named because halfway down the canyon, the waters of the Popo Agie (pronounced Po-Po-shuh), a rushing mountain river, abruptly turn and enter a large limestone cavern where the crashing water “sinks” into fissures and cracks at the back of the cave. A quarter mile down the road, the river emerges in a large calm pool called “The Rise.” It takes two hours for the water to go that ¼ mile. At the rise are hundreds of Rainbow and Brown trout, who wait to be fed by the onlookers who stand on the deck well above the river and throw pellets of food to them ($.25 a handful). More water exits to the rise than enters the sinks, so water must also be coming from somewhere else. Spelunkers have tried to swim its course, but the holes and cracks get way too small for a person to fit through, and even those that are big enough are clogged with plant debris. While Jeff and I were in the Visitor Center, a Native American man (admittedly not Crow) told us that Popo Agie is a Crow word for “good river.” The pamphlet says “there is confusion about its meaning, (but) most people believe it means “gurgling river.” Six in one, half dozen the other.
Our campsite was down a pathway from where we parked. We even had to cross a little wooden bridge. It was nice and private, though a bit of a haul for all our crap. We set up our tent about 20 feet from the Popo Agie, which flows with such strength, we had to yell a little to be heard over its noise. To one side of our site was a cliff covered with pines, to the other was a red rock cliff on which we looked for big horn sheep (but never saw any). Everywhere we looked, it was simply beautiful.
Another distinctive thing about this area besides its openness, and as opposed to New England, is the lack of rules and regulations. We camped right next to a rushing river, we walked right up to the edge of the sinks, with water rushing by, and never did we see a sign telling us to stay back, nor were there fences to keep us back. At the state campgrounds, there are no rules against drinking. The individual is allowed to make his/her own decisions out here, and then suffer any consequences that may ensue. Not like New England, where everyone has to worry about being sued so rules are everywhere. Just thought I’d add that observation.
We had a wonderfully relaxing evening. The boys rediscovered how interesting the books they’d been reading are. And Jeff and I sat out under the stars and sipped vodka Arnold Palmers. I noticed at one point that we were very near the road, but we couldn’t hear a single vehicle because of the noise of the river. We were all in bed and falling asleep by 11.
With the river so loud and so close by, everyone got a great night’s sleep – no fan or white noise machine needed. Except for me, of course. Around 1 a.m., I woke up thinking about how close we were to the road, how loud the river was, and how far away our van was. I’d left my purse and my computer in the van. Anyone could rob us, and we’d never know it. After debating whether or not to wake Jeff and see if he’d go get the stuff, I got myself up and wandered into the dark woods alone, just so I’d be able to sleep once my mission was accomplished. It wasn’t as frightening as I thought it would be, and once back in bed, I slept like a rock!
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1852278027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Day 13 – Tetons Day 5 -- Slide Lake & Signal Mtn.
Miles traveled: lost track
Hours on Road: 5.5
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
We had to pack everything into the van this morning. With an additional person with us (Jeff), things didn’t fit very well. Trey is stuffed into the way back seat, barely visible from the front. All of us have to travel with things on our laps, so traveling the next week and a half is not going to be comfortable. We were all packed up and on the road by 10:30 a.m.
We couldn’t check into our hotel until 4 p.m. so we had some time to kill. Jeff had seen a nice scenic drive we could take without having to put any effort into walking. That was just our speed. Besides, today was the first rainy day we’ve had since arriving in the Tetons, so all we really wanted to do was take it easy. We really just wanted to be in our hotel room, but that would have to wait.
We drove up Signal Mountain. From the top you can see a dent in the prairie below where a glacier had planted itself to melt. We couldn’t see any of the Tetons because of the cloud cover. Soon after we reached the top the rain began to fall and thunder and lightning erupted. We headed back down.
We stopped at a store called Dornan’s, which was located in Moose. We bought stuff for dinner and a bottle of wine to give to Jay, Jeff’s niece Leah’s cousin, as a thank you for setting us up with a night at the Snake River Lodge and Spa. It was the perfect day for staying at a hotel rather than camping out.
After the store, to kill time, we visited Deadman’s Bar. It was not, as the name would indicate, a place to get a drink. It’s the spot along the Snake River that most rafting trips start from. The road leading to the river has a 19% grade.
We loved the look of the clouds rolling through the mountains. We took lots of pictures, but none of the photos ever seem to represent the real scene we see. The beauty just doesn’t translate.
John left his Yellowstone & Grand Teton book with us when he left, which is where Jeff discovered things like Phelps Lake and Signal Mountain. Another thing he discovered was the town of Kelly. It’s located in what is called Gros Ventre, pronounced GROW-vont, which means Big Belly in “French trapper lingo,” according to the book. The town of Kelly is made up of several yurts and log cabins. Those who live in the yurts share a common bathhouse and rent the land. A little farther along the road is Slide Lake, which was created when a section of the mountain “2,000 feet wide and a mile long slid 1.5 miles down slope, instantly damming the river.” A rancher witnessed the landslide and barely made it out alive with his horse. The dam held back the river for two years, at which time a section broke loose “pushing an enormous wall of water through the downstream town of Kelly.” Six people died in that flood.
When we first drove down the highway to Jackson last Friday, Parker had said that there was a section of the mountain that looked like Bob Marley. It turns out, that’s the section of the mountain that had the landslide. It’s now mostly barren, but a few trees remain, giving the hill the Bob Marley look.
At four o’clock we finally got into our hotel room. I have to say, we’ve never stayed at a hotel as nice as this one. But it isn’t snooty nice; it’s friendly nice. Everyone is welcoming and kind. We entered our room to find a bottle of wine and box of chocolates waiting for us, along with a nice welcoming note from Jay. Unfortunately, Jay was not working today. Maybe we’ll get to meet him tomorrow.
All three boys went swimming for a while then came back to the room for dinner, which was sandwiches again. Then Jeff took Cal and Trey back to the pool where they stayed for nearly two hours. The pool goes both indoors and out and has four waterfalls. They had a blast. Now we’re all lying in bed watching TV. We love camping, but pampering like this is a welcome change.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1832007027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 5.5
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
We had to pack everything into the van this morning. With an additional person with us (Jeff), things didn’t fit very well. Trey is stuffed into the way back seat, barely visible from the front. All of us have to travel with things on our laps, so traveling the next week and a half is not going to be comfortable. We were all packed up and on the road by 10:30 a.m.
We couldn’t check into our hotel until 4 p.m. so we had some time to kill. Jeff had seen a nice scenic drive we could take without having to put any effort into walking. That was just our speed. Besides, today was the first rainy day we’ve had since arriving in the Tetons, so all we really wanted to do was take it easy. We really just wanted to be in our hotel room, but that would have to wait.
We drove up Signal Mountain. From the top you can see a dent in the prairie below where a glacier had planted itself to melt. We couldn’t see any of the Tetons because of the cloud cover. Soon after we reached the top the rain began to fall and thunder and lightning erupted. We headed back down.
We stopped at a store called Dornan’s, which was located in Moose. We bought stuff for dinner and a bottle of wine to give to Jay, Jeff’s niece Leah’s cousin, as a thank you for setting us up with a night at the Snake River Lodge and Spa. It was the perfect day for staying at a hotel rather than camping out.
After the store, to kill time, we visited Deadman’s Bar. It was not, as the name would indicate, a place to get a drink. It’s the spot along the Snake River that most rafting trips start from. The road leading to the river has a 19% grade.
We loved the look of the clouds rolling through the mountains. We took lots of pictures, but none of the photos ever seem to represent the real scene we see. The beauty just doesn’t translate.
John left his Yellowstone & Grand Teton book with us when he left, which is where Jeff discovered things like Phelps Lake and Signal Mountain. Another thing he discovered was the town of Kelly. It’s located in what is called Gros Ventre, pronounced GROW-vont, which means Big Belly in “French trapper lingo,” according to the book. The town of Kelly is made up of several yurts and log cabins. Those who live in the yurts share a common bathhouse and rent the land. A little farther along the road is Slide Lake, which was created when a section of the mountain “2,000 feet wide and a mile long slid 1.5 miles down slope, instantly damming the river.” A rancher witnessed the landslide and barely made it out alive with his horse. The dam held back the river for two years, at which time a section broke loose “pushing an enormous wall of water through the downstream town of Kelly.” Six people died in that flood.
When we first drove down the highway to Jackson last Friday, Parker had said that there was a section of the mountain that looked like Bob Marley. It turns out, that’s the section of the mountain that had the landslide. It’s now mostly barren, but a few trees remain, giving the hill the Bob Marley look.
At four o’clock we finally got into our hotel room. I have to say, we’ve never stayed at a hotel as nice as this one. But it isn’t snooty nice; it’s friendly nice. Everyone is welcoming and kind. We entered our room to find a bottle of wine and box of chocolates waiting for us, along with a nice welcoming note from Jay. Unfortunately, Jay was not working today. Maybe we’ll get to meet him tomorrow.
All three boys went swimming for a while then came back to the room for dinner, which was sandwiches again. Then Jeff took Cal and Trey back to the pool where they stayed for nearly two hours. The pool goes both indoors and out and has four waterfalls. They had a blast. Now we’re all lying in bed watching TV. We love camping, but pampering like this is a welcome change.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1832007027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Day 12 – Tetons Day 4 - Phelps Lake
Miles traveled: 87
Hours on Road: 7
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
5:30 this morning, Trey and I headed out to the airport to take John to his flight that was to leave at 8 a.m. People on flights from Jackson are supposed to arrive two hours early because they pack all their flights into a few hours each day to keep employee work hours down. They process several hundred passengers all in a short period of time and then send the planes off, one right after the other. On the way to the airport, since it was so early, we saw many animals. A herd of elk was crossing the road at one point and bison were everywhere.
Trey and I returned to camp and went back to sleep for another two hours. The beds are just that comfortable.
Jeff picked out a hike for us that began at the Death Canyon Trailhead. The way the area got its name is not as bad as it sounds. One winter a surveying crew went out, and one of its members was never seen again. The trail we followed eventually leads to Phelps Lake, but first you have to reach the lookout above the lake, which is at 7,200 feet. On the way to the trailhead we saw a mule deer as well as that mama moose with her calf again, still along that same river.
The day was really hot, and Cal complained of a headache. We made him keep going, chalking it up to his not having had enough water. We kept pushing the water on everyone. The walk to the summit was through fairly thick woods, but the path was clearly marked. There wasn’t a great deal to see since the forest blocked out all the mountains. From the summit, the view of the lake was beautiful. We headed down the same kind of path you find everywhere in this area – a narrow ledge with a steep drop-off to one side. I’m almost getting used to it.
At one point on the path the boys found a seat “made by God.” It was a rock that had a perfect ledge for sitting, and it was located in a rare shady spot along the path. During the walk, Parker noticed an animal on a rock far away; I was impressed he saw it. There was no way to tell what it was with the naked eye, but with the camera, we decided it was a beaver.
We reached a spot on the path that indicated you could go either right or left to reach the lake. We opted for right. We should have gone left. The sign wasn’t that far from the lake, which we had seen not long before we reached the sign, so we knew we were close. But the path to the right went on and on, and it led away from the lake. We finally turned around. When we got back to the sign, we saw a guy who had a map. Looking at the map we saw the problem. While both paths did, in fact, lead to the lake, the one to the right was a lot longer than the one to the left. With our newfound knowledge, we took the path to the left. Before long, we were at the lake.
The horseflies had been terrorizing us the whole walk, and they weren’t any better at the lake. In fact, they were worse, because we weren’t moving. Jeff, Trey, and Cal all went swimming. Cal said it made his headache worse, but at least he looked a little cooler (his face had been bright red). He even started shivering, since the lake is glacier fed, so I knew he was cooling off. We stayed for at least half an hour. Parker and Trey wanted to go farther and get to a rock we could see across the lake that people were jumping off. I said I didn’t care if they went, but I was going back to the van. They decided to go back with me. And it was a good thing they did. The walk back was painful – steep, long, hot, and we were running out of water. While we were resting on the “seat made by God,” we saw horses heading uphill toward us. There were 10, two regular horses (for lack of a better description) and eight work horses. It looked like they may have brought a load of something to the bottom of the mountain because the work horses all had empty baskets over their backs (one basket on each side). The two regular horses had riders on them, one rider in the front and the other in the middle of the pack. I told the guy in the front that I’d be way too chicken to ride a horse up that steep path. He said I should try it when the berries are out. That’s when the bears come out and the horses get spooked. He said you have to be ready to jump off your horse if it looks like the horse is going over the edge. Lovely.
On the path that led from the summit to the van, Parker, Cal, and I got way ahead of Trey and Jeff. We stopped and waited for them, and when they finally appeared I yelled to them, “Where have you been?” Jeff looked up to respond, and proceeded to twist his ankle on a rock in the middle of the path. It was France all over again, where he twisted his ankle within 15 minutes of arriving in Paris. This time, like then, he continued despite the pain. Parker and I ran ahead to get the van, which was almost a mile beyond the trailhead. We figured we could save Jeff at least that much of a walk.
After I’d picked up Jeff, Cal, and Trey at the trailhead, I started to drive away. The road was very narrow, so when a truck came into view, I backed up to let him pass. Did I get a thank you wave? No. A little farther along on the same road, I again stopped to let a girl walk across the bridge that didn’t seem wide enough for her and my van. Again, no thank you wave. What’s up with people? Is a wave that hard?
While Jeff was riding in the passenger seat he noticed that the handle over the door was broken. I told him I wasn’t surprised considering Trey had been hanging from it with his full body weight just the day before.
As we headed back to camp we saw more people pulled over to the side of the road. They were photographing some animal we’d seen before. We all turned up our noses at stopping for a photo. We’ve seen so many fascinating things, and our standards have become so high, we said we weren’t stopping for anything short of a bull moose. Or a pronghorn, which we hadn’t seen yet, but did see later on this car ride back to camp. It was along the highway, but I pulled over to the side anyway. While Parker got a picture of the pronghorn, I got a long, nasty honk from a passing car. I didn’t even react (I’m that tired). Ya know what, if you don’t like people stopping to take photos of the wildlife, don’t go where the wildlife is awesome.
We had Dinty Moore beef stew for dinner. Cal didn’t eat. He fell asleep as soon as we got back to camp. I headed out for the laundromat to work on my uploading of photos. Jeff had dropped me off there, so he had to come pick me back up. Apparently, just as he left to get me, Cal vomited from his top bunk bed, and Trey went running down the road after Jeff to call him back to clean it up. I guess Cal did feel really bad on the hike. I walked most of the way back to camp, but it was a nice night out so the walk felt good.
Sleep would come easily.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1832394027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 7
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
5:30 this morning, Trey and I headed out to the airport to take John to his flight that was to leave at 8 a.m. People on flights from Jackson are supposed to arrive two hours early because they pack all their flights into a few hours each day to keep employee work hours down. They process several hundred passengers all in a short period of time and then send the planes off, one right after the other. On the way to the airport, since it was so early, we saw many animals. A herd of elk was crossing the road at one point and bison were everywhere.
Trey and I returned to camp and went back to sleep for another two hours. The beds are just that comfortable.
Jeff picked out a hike for us that began at the Death Canyon Trailhead. The way the area got its name is not as bad as it sounds. One winter a surveying crew went out, and one of its members was never seen again. The trail we followed eventually leads to Phelps Lake, but first you have to reach the lookout above the lake, which is at 7,200 feet. On the way to the trailhead we saw a mule deer as well as that mama moose with her calf again, still along that same river.
The day was really hot, and Cal complained of a headache. We made him keep going, chalking it up to his not having had enough water. We kept pushing the water on everyone. The walk to the summit was through fairly thick woods, but the path was clearly marked. There wasn’t a great deal to see since the forest blocked out all the mountains. From the summit, the view of the lake was beautiful. We headed down the same kind of path you find everywhere in this area – a narrow ledge with a steep drop-off to one side. I’m almost getting used to it.
At one point on the path the boys found a seat “made by God.” It was a rock that had a perfect ledge for sitting, and it was located in a rare shady spot along the path. During the walk, Parker noticed an animal on a rock far away; I was impressed he saw it. There was no way to tell what it was with the naked eye, but with the camera, we decided it was a beaver.
We reached a spot on the path that indicated you could go either right or left to reach the lake. We opted for right. We should have gone left. The sign wasn’t that far from the lake, which we had seen not long before we reached the sign, so we knew we were close. But the path to the right went on and on, and it led away from the lake. We finally turned around. When we got back to the sign, we saw a guy who had a map. Looking at the map we saw the problem. While both paths did, in fact, lead to the lake, the one to the right was a lot longer than the one to the left. With our newfound knowledge, we took the path to the left. Before long, we were at the lake.
The horseflies had been terrorizing us the whole walk, and they weren’t any better at the lake. In fact, they were worse, because we weren’t moving. Jeff, Trey, and Cal all went swimming. Cal said it made his headache worse, but at least he looked a little cooler (his face had been bright red). He even started shivering, since the lake is glacier fed, so I knew he was cooling off. We stayed for at least half an hour. Parker and Trey wanted to go farther and get to a rock we could see across the lake that people were jumping off. I said I didn’t care if they went, but I was going back to the van. They decided to go back with me. And it was a good thing they did. The walk back was painful – steep, long, hot, and we were running out of water. While we were resting on the “seat made by God,” we saw horses heading uphill toward us. There were 10, two regular horses (for lack of a better description) and eight work horses. It looked like they may have brought a load of something to the bottom of the mountain because the work horses all had empty baskets over their backs (one basket on each side). The two regular horses had riders on them, one rider in the front and the other in the middle of the pack. I told the guy in the front that I’d be way too chicken to ride a horse up that steep path. He said I should try it when the berries are out. That’s when the bears come out and the horses get spooked. He said you have to be ready to jump off your horse if it looks like the horse is going over the edge. Lovely.
On the path that led from the summit to the van, Parker, Cal, and I got way ahead of Trey and Jeff. We stopped and waited for them, and when they finally appeared I yelled to them, “Where have you been?” Jeff looked up to respond, and proceeded to twist his ankle on a rock in the middle of the path. It was France all over again, where he twisted his ankle within 15 minutes of arriving in Paris. This time, like then, he continued despite the pain. Parker and I ran ahead to get the van, which was almost a mile beyond the trailhead. We figured we could save Jeff at least that much of a walk.
After I’d picked up Jeff, Cal, and Trey at the trailhead, I started to drive away. The road was very narrow, so when a truck came into view, I backed up to let him pass. Did I get a thank you wave? No. A little farther along on the same road, I again stopped to let a girl walk across the bridge that didn’t seem wide enough for her and my van. Again, no thank you wave. What’s up with people? Is a wave that hard?
While Jeff was riding in the passenger seat he noticed that the handle over the door was broken. I told him I wasn’t surprised considering Trey had been hanging from it with his full body weight just the day before.
As we headed back to camp we saw more people pulled over to the side of the road. They were photographing some animal we’d seen before. We all turned up our noses at stopping for a photo. We’ve seen so many fascinating things, and our standards have become so high, we said we weren’t stopping for anything short of a bull moose. Or a pronghorn, which we hadn’t seen yet, but did see later on this car ride back to camp. It was along the highway, but I pulled over to the side anyway. While Parker got a picture of the pronghorn, I got a long, nasty honk from a passing car. I didn’t even react (I’m that tired). Ya know what, if you don’t like people stopping to take photos of the wildlife, don’t go where the wildlife is awesome.
We had Dinty Moore beef stew for dinner. Cal didn’t eat. He fell asleep as soon as we got back to camp. I headed out for the laundromat to work on my uploading of photos. Jeff had dropped me off there, so he had to come pick me back up. Apparently, just as he left to get me, Cal vomited from his top bunk bed, and Trey went running down the road after Jeff to call him back to clean it up. I guess Cal did feel really bad on the hike. I walked most of the way back to camp, but it was a nice night out so the walk felt good.
Sleep would come easily.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1832394027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Day 11 – Jackson
Miles traveled: 80
Hours on Road: 7
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
For breakfast Jeff made breakfast tacos. They were pretty yummy for being cooked over a gas grill. We also had our usual two cups of coffee, thanks to Folgers coffee bags.
We didn’t get going until 11 a.m. today. I’m getting so exhausted I can barely function. Thank goodness Jeff and John are here now to relieve me of some of the responsibility.
Our goal today was to visit Jackson. One thing I’ve noticed out here is that the breezes coming across the plains are extremely powerful. You’re driving along with your window down with the usual breeze you get from having an open window and suddenly, swoosh, this wind comes whipping in, driving air into your brain through your ear and making it impossible to take a breath. I have to admit, I kinda like it. Parker keeps complaining and begging for the air conditioning to be put on. But there’s nothing like the fresh country air, so I keep my window down.
Turns out, Jackson Hole is the whole area in which lies Jackson, Teton Village, Moose, Wilson, and a couple other places. Still, it’s appropriately named, since they all pretty much sit within a hole the mountains have made.
Jackson center is a small, square area that has antler arches on each corner. The arches are made of hundreds of antlers woven together. After posing under one arch, we walked around to check out the town. We saw an old-fashioned stagecoach that provides rides around town, and we went into a couple of shops. Then we headed for the brewery where we got nachos and glasses of ale, stout, and lager. The boys had rootbeer floats. After the beers, we headed back to the van, stopping at an amazing furniture store that had thousand-dollar log-cabiny furniture made of animal parts. To end our visit, John treated us all to homemade ice cream.
On our way to Teton Village we saw a bull moose. We got up pretty close to him. He was munching on grass on the other side of a pond. I think Jeff’s life is complete now.
Our destination at Teton Village was the aerial tram that goes to the top of Rendezvous Mountain. Like Jeff said, if anyone told him to meet them at the top of Rendezvous Mountain, I’d tell him, “I’ll meet you at the bottom.” The tram can hold up to 100 people, is powered by 1,970-horsepower engines, and climbs almost two and a half miles in 10 minutes. I swear they’re trying to kill me. Skiers actually jump off the cliffs at the top and proceed to ski down. The top of the mountain has an elevation of 10,450 feet. When I was at the top, every time a breeze blew, I felt like I was going to fall off the mountain. The top is large – there’s even a shop up there where you can get waffles or souvenirs – but I really felt like I was going to fall off. We walked around a while and saw Idaho off to one side. The boys all walked down to where there was still snow; they thought that was pretty cool – snow in July.
There’s another restaurant a short distance from the top, but still up very high, where, according to a man we spoke with on the tram, you can get dinner for a set price of $85 a plate, and kids are only $57. We opted out of that.
For dinner we had sandwiches, courtesy of John. They really hit the spot. The kids made s’mores over the nice fire Jeff made. Another great day.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1830997027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: 7
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
For breakfast Jeff made breakfast tacos. They were pretty yummy for being cooked over a gas grill. We also had our usual two cups of coffee, thanks to Folgers coffee bags.
We didn’t get going until 11 a.m. today. I’m getting so exhausted I can barely function. Thank goodness Jeff and John are here now to relieve me of some of the responsibility.
Our goal today was to visit Jackson. One thing I’ve noticed out here is that the breezes coming across the plains are extremely powerful. You’re driving along with your window down with the usual breeze you get from having an open window and suddenly, swoosh, this wind comes whipping in, driving air into your brain through your ear and making it impossible to take a breath. I have to admit, I kinda like it. Parker keeps complaining and begging for the air conditioning to be put on. But there’s nothing like the fresh country air, so I keep my window down.
Turns out, Jackson Hole is the whole area in which lies Jackson, Teton Village, Moose, Wilson, and a couple other places. Still, it’s appropriately named, since they all pretty much sit within a hole the mountains have made.
Jackson center is a small, square area that has antler arches on each corner. The arches are made of hundreds of antlers woven together. After posing under one arch, we walked around to check out the town. We saw an old-fashioned stagecoach that provides rides around town, and we went into a couple of shops. Then we headed for the brewery where we got nachos and glasses of ale, stout, and lager. The boys had rootbeer floats. After the beers, we headed back to the van, stopping at an amazing furniture store that had thousand-dollar log-cabiny furniture made of animal parts. To end our visit, John treated us all to homemade ice cream.
On our way to Teton Village we saw a bull moose. We got up pretty close to him. He was munching on grass on the other side of a pond. I think Jeff’s life is complete now.
Our destination at Teton Village was the aerial tram that goes to the top of Rendezvous Mountain. Like Jeff said, if anyone told him to meet them at the top of Rendezvous Mountain, I’d tell him, “I’ll meet you at the bottom.” The tram can hold up to 100 people, is powered by 1,970-horsepower engines, and climbs almost two and a half miles in 10 minutes. I swear they’re trying to kill me. Skiers actually jump off the cliffs at the top and proceed to ski down. The top of the mountain has an elevation of 10,450 feet. When I was at the top, every time a breeze blew, I felt like I was going to fall off the mountain. The top is large – there’s even a shop up there where you can get waffles or souvenirs – but I really felt like I was going to fall off. We walked around a while and saw Idaho off to one side. The boys all walked down to where there was still snow; they thought that was pretty cool – snow in July.
There’s another restaurant a short distance from the top, but still up very high, where, according to a man we spoke with on the tram, you can get dinner for a set price of $85 a plate, and kids are only $57. We opted out of that.
For dinner we had sandwiches, courtesy of John. They really hit the spot. The kids made s’mores over the nice fire Jeff made. Another great day.
For corresponding photos, go to:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1830997027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Day 10 – Yellowstone
Miles traveled: 220
Hours on Road: 13.5
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
Today was the kind of day you remember for the rest of your life, except you remember it as being two or three days. So much splendor and diversity is seen and experienced your mind can’t believe that it was all done in one day. One conversation at the end of the day went something like this: “That’s where we saw that bear.” “Oh yah. Yesterday?” “No, this morning.”
When we started out at 9:30 a.m., it had been decided that since we’d seen so much wildlife, we now needed to witness a bull moose fighting a grizzly bear. We then added that a bison should be refereeing the match. So that’s what we set out to find.
Yellowstone is 18 miles from where we are staying in Colter Bay. Once inside Yellowstone, there is one road to follow for about another 20 miles, then you can choose to go to the left or the right. The way the park is laid out you can make one giant circle of it, or you can do several circles within that circle. We chose to go to the left and make that one giant circle.
It was before we’d entered Yellowstone that we had the bear sighting. About 100 yards off the road a large black bear was wandering among the tall grasses foraging for whatever it is bears forage for. That was our first bear sighting, so we were off to a good start.
The road leading to West Thumb, where we would take the road off to the left (or west, if you’re in to navigational terms) had high canyons with steep drop-offs. Once again, I had an adrenaline overload. Jeff was sympathetic to my plight in the beginning, but he got annoyed when I yelled at him every time he took his eyes off the road to check out the scenery. I felt that I had to watch straight ahead since he was sightseeing so if we started to veer off the road I could scream out in panic and he could correct his direction. It’s not that I want to be annoying, but I get this physical feeling, I guess maybe vertigo, whenever I’m near a steep drop-off. I feel like I’m going to tip over at any moment. The first glance into steepness sends a wave of dizziness over me, then immediate panic, then I feel I’m going to fall. Most times, if I’m not secured in a building or an automobile, I have an underlying feeling that I may jump. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what it feels like. My body’s reaction is to send my adrenals into overdrive, and before you know it, my heart is beating a mile a minute and I feel like I might pass out or do something crazy. It isn’t a fun way to live, but when there’s so much to see in high places, I accept the dizzy rush and hope for the best.
I did try to relax and take deep breaths. I even forced myself to look around at all the scenery knowing logically, if not emotionally, that Jeff was being very careful. Lewis River had carved a deep gorge into the rock creating a spectacular canyon that was covered with greenery.
We arrived at Grant village and took a drive around. The book John had with him vehemently criticized this village as too touristy and something to be avoided. It just looked like a souvenir shop, store, and gas station to us. We didn’t bother getting out of the van.
At West Thumb we went west. It wasn’t long before we came across a herd of elk. We saw only females and youngsters – no one with impressive antlers.
We saw several signs for the Continental Divide. We finally stopped for a photo op at Isa Lake. According to the sign, “From this snow-fed hollow, Isa Lake drains in two different directions – from directly astride the Divide. Isa’s west arm feeds the Firehole River on its way to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and Gulf of Mexico. The lake’s east outlet leads to the Snake and Columbia Rivers and the Pacific Ocean via Yellowstone’s Shoshone Lake and Lewis River.” Jeff put it simply: rivers to the east of the divide drain into the Atlantic Ocean; rivers to the west drain into the Pacific Ocean. We met three motorcyclists from New York, one of whom took a photo of all of us.
Next on the agenda was Old Faithful. We arrived 20 minutes before the next expected eruption, so we found a good place to sit, and we waited. Viewers had to stay off the “thermal areas” for their own safety, so we were probably 100 to 200 yards from the hole of Old Faithful. There were several false-alarm eruptions before the big one came along. It started slow, with water reaching five feet, then 10 feet. Then, it went full force, maybe 50 to 100 feet in the air. Since the wind was blowing so hard, the plume appeared very wide, with spray spewing quite a ways. We were not downwind from it so we didn’t get any water on us. In fact, when we walked around afterward we noticed that the area that is downwind from the eruption is a little farther back from the hole than we had been.
There’s a wooden walkway built throughout the area so that people stay on the path and off the thermal areas. We came across a pool of iridescent, blue water in what appeared to be a very deep pit. Steam was coming off the water, so it was obviously warmed from below. Trey wanted to throw a rock in it, but signs specifically prohibited throwing anything into the water holes. The signs said that anything could plug up a vent, and once plugged, vents do not become unplugged.
We ate lunch at Old Faithful Lodge. Talk about grandeur. The main room is open all the way to the top with balconies on every side. It’s made entirely of logs and has the feel of a giant tree house. It looked like it was five or six stories high, and at the very top was a room made to look like a little log cabin. The fireplace was stone and reached all the way to the ceiling and had a giant clock going down its side. We got sandwiches at the deli and ate up on the deck that overlooks Old Faithful, but it was too soon for the next eruption.
After we left the lodge, we headed north toward Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way we saw several cars pulled over to the side of the road. That almost always means there’s an animal insight. I looked out my window and over the crest of the hill to the side of the road, and I could barely make out what looked like the tips of antlers. Naturally, we stopped and got out. The animal in sight was a giant bull elk with a huge rack of antlers. He was lying down enjoying the sun and the grass that was within reach of his mouth.
The map we got when we entered the park indicated that there would be traffic between two spots that we intended to hit. We hit that traffic. In Yellowstone, they don’t just do repair work; they entirely replace roads. We had to travel on dirt where the asphalt had been removed so it could be replaced. Though it was a 10-minute wait, it was in such a beautiful spot, no one minded.
By the time we’d passed the traffic jam we were all dying of thirst. It’s amazing how much we’ve been drinking out here. Between the dryness and the elevation, we’re always thirsty. We pulled over at the next pull-off we could find and pulled the coolers out so we could get to the water to refill our water bottles. The second we pulled out the water, the skies opened up.
At some point along the drive we saw a female elk that Trey insisted was a mule deer. He said that if it were an elk, it didn’t look like the picture in the brochure. I thought it was hilarious that a nine year old was talking about what he’d seen in the brochure. He later said he’d like to see a pronghorn and was told by his brothers that there is no such animal. He immediately responded that there is so a pronghorn; it’s in the brochure. He even found a picture of it and showed them.
Mammoth Hot Springs was as far north as we were going in the park. Montana was only five more miles down the road, but we still had so much to do in the park, we decided to skip going to the border. The hot springs are remarkable. The color of the stone in the area changes drastically from one spot to another. One minute it’s a rusty orange, the next it’s whitish, somewhere between cement and marble. There’s a long wooden walkway to the top, so we went up. Because the walkway winds back and forth and around all the hot springs, it’s a very long walk. At the top, it’s like you’ve entered a whole different world. The floor of the hot springs at the top looks like coral. Jeff says it’s thermophilic bacteria. It’s beautiful. Right next to the coral-looking area is an area that looks like it snowed. There are dead trees in amongst the springs that add to the mystique of the area.
It turns out, there’s a parking lot at the top of the springs, and since the kids were pooped, Jeff and I offered to walk to the bottom and get the van. On the way down we saw two women, probably in their twenties, on their way up. One of the two was in a wheelchair and was probably ecstatic that the walkway was a ramp. Unfortunately, it was a ramp only at the start. I told them that soon they would reach the first of many staircases but that they could reach the top by driving. It was not made clear at the bottom that there was a parking lot at the top, so I wanted to make sure they could still get there.
After getting the gang at the top, we drove back to the bottom to use the restroom. While walking to the building it was in, we passed a private residence. I knew we were still in Yellowstone, so I thought that was odd. I asked the first ranger I saw how those people got to live there. She said that you have to be a park employee to live there.
After Mammoth Hot Springs, we turned back south(east). Along the drive we passed a bison that was right at the side of the road grazing. I could have touched it from the passenger seat. After that was Dunraven Pass, which is at 8,200 feet. It winds through a forested area where many people were pulled over to the side. Evidently there was a sleeping grizzly way down in the woods. We took a pass on that one. A sleeping grizzly may as well be a log. After the grizzly spot, there was a several-acre area of dead trees. They were still standing, but they were all gray. It was a pretty cool sight.
At the next junction we reached, called Canyon, we went into the education center that had information on the supervolcano that exists under Yellowstone. They had a giant relief map of the area, so we got a photo of Parker’s Peak.
The final big thing we wanted to see was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I’d never even heard of that. People always talk about Old Faithful, but I think the Grand Canyon was the most impressive part of the park. We walked down to the brink of the lower falls. It was a long, steep walk down, but it was amazing. You can walk right up to the edge of the brink and look over to where the river has carved the giant gorge. It reminded me of Bridal Veil Falls on the American side of Niagara Falls. I guess the lower falls are even taller than Bridal Veil. The walk back up was exhausting, but well worth the view we’d seen below. On the walk down and then back up we could see the Upper Falls, but it was getting late and we thought if we walked to the brink of those falls, we wouldn’t get back until after dark. After we’d gotten back in the van and had driven a while, we got to the Grand View pull-off. We were almost too tired to move, but Jeff, Trey and I got out to check out the view. It wasn’t quite as amazing as the view from the falls, but it was impressive.
Since it was already passed 8 p.m., we decided to backtrack a little to the last junction and find a restaurant to eat in. We found a cafeteria where you paid one price for a certain plate size -- $6.95, $9.95, or $12.95 – then you fill that plate with as much food as you want (or can possibly pile on). Parker was worried they were going to say something to him about how loaded his plate was. We all got the $9.95 plate, and he managed to pile on chicken fried steak, 10 popcorn chicken, a couple cups of corn, a couple cups of mashed potatoes, a deep-fried chicken wing, garlic bread, and three corndogs. In addition, he had three glasses of rootbeer and a piece of German chocolate cake. Yes – he ate it all. Cal was pretty impressive, too, with noodles, two meatballs, sausage, six chicken nuggets, three corndogs, two rootbeers, and pudding. Somehow he finished off his plate without a scrap left on it. Trey didn’t eat much at all, though he had good intentions. He served himself some salad, but all he ate was the cheese cake he took.
By the time we left the cafeteria, we were so tired we were loopy. All the tree trunks and rocks started to look like animals. At one point I yelled out, “Moose, rock, bison.” It turned out to be a bison lying down. The only real evidence was the moving tail.
On the southern part of the drive we passed Yellowstone Lake, the largest high-elevation lake in North America. At 7,000 feet in elevation, it has 110 miles of shoreline and has a maximum depth of 390 feet.
Just as we were about to leave the park we saw a giant herd of bison. They were grazing up on a hill as the sun set. We got out to take pictures only to discover that we’d pulled up alongside people from Danbury, CT. What a small world.
We didn’t get back to camp until a little after 11 p.m. What a day. After spending 13 and a half hours touring Yellowstone, no wonder it seemed like two days worth of sightseeing.
For photos, use the following link:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1829372027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
I've added links for photos to all the previous days, as well.
Hours on Road: 13.5
States covered: 1 –Wyoming
Today was the kind of day you remember for the rest of your life, except you remember it as being two or three days. So much splendor and diversity is seen and experienced your mind can’t believe that it was all done in one day. One conversation at the end of the day went something like this: “That’s where we saw that bear.” “Oh yah. Yesterday?” “No, this morning.”
When we started out at 9:30 a.m., it had been decided that since we’d seen so much wildlife, we now needed to witness a bull moose fighting a grizzly bear. We then added that a bison should be refereeing the match. So that’s what we set out to find.
Yellowstone is 18 miles from where we are staying in Colter Bay. Once inside Yellowstone, there is one road to follow for about another 20 miles, then you can choose to go to the left or the right. The way the park is laid out you can make one giant circle of it, or you can do several circles within that circle. We chose to go to the left and make that one giant circle.
It was before we’d entered Yellowstone that we had the bear sighting. About 100 yards off the road a large black bear was wandering among the tall grasses foraging for whatever it is bears forage for. That was our first bear sighting, so we were off to a good start.
The road leading to West Thumb, where we would take the road off to the left (or west, if you’re in to navigational terms) had high canyons with steep drop-offs. Once again, I had an adrenaline overload. Jeff was sympathetic to my plight in the beginning, but he got annoyed when I yelled at him every time he took his eyes off the road to check out the scenery. I felt that I had to watch straight ahead since he was sightseeing so if we started to veer off the road I could scream out in panic and he could correct his direction. It’s not that I want to be annoying, but I get this physical feeling, I guess maybe vertigo, whenever I’m near a steep drop-off. I feel like I’m going to tip over at any moment. The first glance into steepness sends a wave of dizziness over me, then immediate panic, then I feel I’m going to fall. Most times, if I’m not secured in a building or an automobile, I have an underlying feeling that I may jump. I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what it feels like. My body’s reaction is to send my adrenals into overdrive, and before you know it, my heart is beating a mile a minute and I feel like I might pass out or do something crazy. It isn’t a fun way to live, but when there’s so much to see in high places, I accept the dizzy rush and hope for the best.
I did try to relax and take deep breaths. I even forced myself to look around at all the scenery knowing logically, if not emotionally, that Jeff was being very careful. Lewis River had carved a deep gorge into the rock creating a spectacular canyon that was covered with greenery.
We arrived at Grant village and took a drive around. The book John had with him vehemently criticized this village as too touristy and something to be avoided. It just looked like a souvenir shop, store, and gas station to us. We didn’t bother getting out of the van.
At West Thumb we went west. It wasn’t long before we came across a herd of elk. We saw only females and youngsters – no one with impressive antlers.
We saw several signs for the Continental Divide. We finally stopped for a photo op at Isa Lake. According to the sign, “From this snow-fed hollow, Isa Lake drains in two different directions – from directly astride the Divide. Isa’s west arm feeds the Firehole River on its way to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and Gulf of Mexico. The lake’s east outlet leads to the Snake and Columbia Rivers and the Pacific Ocean via Yellowstone’s Shoshone Lake and Lewis River.” Jeff put it simply: rivers to the east of the divide drain into the Atlantic Ocean; rivers to the west drain into the Pacific Ocean. We met three motorcyclists from New York, one of whom took a photo of all of us.
Next on the agenda was Old Faithful. We arrived 20 minutes before the next expected eruption, so we found a good place to sit, and we waited. Viewers had to stay off the “thermal areas” for their own safety, so we were probably 100 to 200 yards from the hole of Old Faithful. There were several false-alarm eruptions before the big one came along. It started slow, with water reaching five feet, then 10 feet. Then, it went full force, maybe 50 to 100 feet in the air. Since the wind was blowing so hard, the plume appeared very wide, with spray spewing quite a ways. We were not downwind from it so we didn’t get any water on us. In fact, when we walked around afterward we noticed that the area that is downwind from the eruption is a little farther back from the hole than we had been.
There’s a wooden walkway built throughout the area so that people stay on the path and off the thermal areas. We came across a pool of iridescent, blue water in what appeared to be a very deep pit. Steam was coming off the water, so it was obviously warmed from below. Trey wanted to throw a rock in it, but signs specifically prohibited throwing anything into the water holes. The signs said that anything could plug up a vent, and once plugged, vents do not become unplugged.
We ate lunch at Old Faithful Lodge. Talk about grandeur. The main room is open all the way to the top with balconies on every side. It’s made entirely of logs and has the feel of a giant tree house. It looked like it was five or six stories high, and at the very top was a room made to look like a little log cabin. The fireplace was stone and reached all the way to the ceiling and had a giant clock going down its side. We got sandwiches at the deli and ate up on the deck that overlooks Old Faithful, but it was too soon for the next eruption.
After we left the lodge, we headed north toward Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way we saw several cars pulled over to the side of the road. That almost always means there’s an animal insight. I looked out my window and over the crest of the hill to the side of the road, and I could barely make out what looked like the tips of antlers. Naturally, we stopped and got out. The animal in sight was a giant bull elk with a huge rack of antlers. He was lying down enjoying the sun and the grass that was within reach of his mouth.
The map we got when we entered the park indicated that there would be traffic between two spots that we intended to hit. We hit that traffic. In Yellowstone, they don’t just do repair work; they entirely replace roads. We had to travel on dirt where the asphalt had been removed so it could be replaced. Though it was a 10-minute wait, it was in such a beautiful spot, no one minded.
By the time we’d passed the traffic jam we were all dying of thirst. It’s amazing how much we’ve been drinking out here. Between the dryness and the elevation, we’re always thirsty. We pulled over at the next pull-off we could find and pulled the coolers out so we could get to the water to refill our water bottles. The second we pulled out the water, the skies opened up.
At some point along the drive we saw a female elk that Trey insisted was a mule deer. He said that if it were an elk, it didn’t look like the picture in the brochure. I thought it was hilarious that a nine year old was talking about what he’d seen in the brochure. He later said he’d like to see a pronghorn and was told by his brothers that there is no such animal. He immediately responded that there is so a pronghorn; it’s in the brochure. He even found a picture of it and showed them.
Mammoth Hot Springs was as far north as we were going in the park. Montana was only five more miles down the road, but we still had so much to do in the park, we decided to skip going to the border. The hot springs are remarkable. The color of the stone in the area changes drastically from one spot to another. One minute it’s a rusty orange, the next it’s whitish, somewhere between cement and marble. There’s a long wooden walkway to the top, so we went up. Because the walkway winds back and forth and around all the hot springs, it’s a very long walk. At the top, it’s like you’ve entered a whole different world. The floor of the hot springs at the top looks like coral. Jeff says it’s thermophilic bacteria. It’s beautiful. Right next to the coral-looking area is an area that looks like it snowed. There are dead trees in amongst the springs that add to the mystique of the area.
It turns out, there’s a parking lot at the top of the springs, and since the kids were pooped, Jeff and I offered to walk to the bottom and get the van. On the way down we saw two women, probably in their twenties, on their way up. One of the two was in a wheelchair and was probably ecstatic that the walkway was a ramp. Unfortunately, it was a ramp only at the start. I told them that soon they would reach the first of many staircases but that they could reach the top by driving. It was not made clear at the bottom that there was a parking lot at the top, so I wanted to make sure they could still get there.
After getting the gang at the top, we drove back to the bottom to use the restroom. While walking to the building it was in, we passed a private residence. I knew we were still in Yellowstone, so I thought that was odd. I asked the first ranger I saw how those people got to live there. She said that you have to be a park employee to live there.
After Mammoth Hot Springs, we turned back south(east). Along the drive we passed a bison that was right at the side of the road grazing. I could have touched it from the passenger seat. After that was Dunraven Pass, which is at 8,200 feet. It winds through a forested area where many people were pulled over to the side. Evidently there was a sleeping grizzly way down in the woods. We took a pass on that one. A sleeping grizzly may as well be a log. After the grizzly spot, there was a several-acre area of dead trees. They were still standing, but they were all gray. It was a pretty cool sight.
At the next junction we reached, called Canyon, we went into the education center that had information on the supervolcano that exists under Yellowstone. They had a giant relief map of the area, so we got a photo of Parker’s Peak.
The final big thing we wanted to see was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I’d never even heard of that. People always talk about Old Faithful, but I think the Grand Canyon was the most impressive part of the park. We walked down to the brink of the lower falls. It was a long, steep walk down, but it was amazing. You can walk right up to the edge of the brink and look over to where the river has carved the giant gorge. It reminded me of Bridal Veil Falls on the American side of Niagara Falls. I guess the lower falls are even taller than Bridal Veil. The walk back up was exhausting, but well worth the view we’d seen below. On the walk down and then back up we could see the Upper Falls, but it was getting late and we thought if we walked to the brink of those falls, we wouldn’t get back until after dark. After we’d gotten back in the van and had driven a while, we got to the Grand View pull-off. We were almost too tired to move, but Jeff, Trey and I got out to check out the view. It wasn’t quite as amazing as the view from the falls, but it was impressive.
Since it was already passed 8 p.m., we decided to backtrack a little to the last junction and find a restaurant to eat in. We found a cafeteria where you paid one price for a certain plate size -- $6.95, $9.95, or $12.95 – then you fill that plate with as much food as you want (or can possibly pile on). Parker was worried they were going to say something to him about how loaded his plate was. We all got the $9.95 plate, and he managed to pile on chicken fried steak, 10 popcorn chicken, a couple cups of corn, a couple cups of mashed potatoes, a deep-fried chicken wing, garlic bread, and three corndogs. In addition, he had three glasses of rootbeer and a piece of German chocolate cake. Yes – he ate it all. Cal was pretty impressive, too, with noodles, two meatballs, sausage, six chicken nuggets, three corndogs, two rootbeers, and pudding. Somehow he finished off his plate without a scrap left on it. Trey didn’t eat much at all, though he had good intentions. He served himself some salad, but all he ate was the cheese cake he took.
By the time we left the cafeteria, we were so tired we were loopy. All the tree trunks and rocks started to look like animals. At one point I yelled out, “Moose, rock, bison.” It turned out to be a bison lying down. The only real evidence was the moving tail.
On the southern part of the drive we passed Yellowstone Lake, the largest high-elevation lake in North America. At 7,000 feet in elevation, it has 110 miles of shoreline and has a maximum depth of 390 feet.
Just as we were about to leave the park we saw a giant herd of bison. They were grazing up on a hill as the sun set. We got out to take pictures only to discover that we’d pulled up alongside people from Danbury, CT. What a small world.
We didn’t get back to camp until a little after 11 p.m. What a day. After spending 13 and a half hours touring Yellowstone, no wonder it seemed like two days worth of sightseeing.
For photos, use the following link:
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1829372027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
I've added links for photos to all the previous days, as well.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Day 9 --- Tetons, Day 2
Miles traveled: 108
Hours on Road: All Day
States covered: 2 –Wyoming
We got going somewhere between 9 and 10 a.m. today. With no obligations to attend to it’s hard to remember to look at the watch. Driving along the road that the camp is on we saw a herd of elk. They were pretty far away, but we could tell what they were. At one point they started to run all together across the prairie – what a sight!
Jeff called early in the morning to let us know when he’d be arriving. He was already in Chicago when he called at 8 a.m. our time, which is currently Mountain Time. He’d gotten up at 5 a.m. Eastern Time and was expected to land at 2 p.m. Mountain Time. We decided that we would just drive around until we picked him up and start our hiking after we’d gotten him.
The drive to Jackson Hole is beautiful. I was much more relaxed driving it the second time, despite the steep drop-offs. These aren’t drop-offs like in the mountains. These were deceiving drop-offs in which I thought there was a green field stretching between the road and the Tetons, only to look more closely and realize that there is only five to 10 feet of green field before the land drops off into deep green valley, about 50 to 100 feet below the road. There is no room for error out in this part of the country, and watch it when you pull over to the side of the road, as there may be no side of the road at all. But on this second drive to Jackson Hole, I was a little more calm.
We stopped at several lookouts along the road. These are places where there actually is land to drive onto and there are awesome views of the valley below as well at the Tetons above. The first one we stopped at turned out to be my personal favorite. You could look 100 feet below to the Snake River winding its way through the valley, which was covered in various species of pine tree. Above that valley loomed the Tetons, viewed from more of a side angle. Further along the road was a pull-off that allowed you to see the Tetons straight on. That was John’s favorite since he got a great shot of the mountain range.
We stopped at the Grand Teton Visitor Center. It’s brand new and has a few great exhibits that tell about the history of the area, the people who settled here, the natives who first lived here, and the climbing that’s been done here. Well worth the visit. Plus, heading toward it put us on Moose/Wilson Road, which is closer to the Tetons than the highway is so we got a more rustic drive.
We stopped at the Chapel of the Transfiguration. John said that lots of people get married there and that they must book it well in advance, and he believes it costs about $1,500 to get married at the Chapel. When we pulled in we could see why -- this tiny little chapel with all three of the Tetons as a backdrop. We all rang the chapel bell.
Next along that road was the visitor center for Jenny Lake. Our plan was to boat across the lake and hike the trail once Jeff arrived. After checking it out we continued along the back roads where we saw a mother moose and her calf walking along a river that was right next to the road. It was so exciting to see our first big animal up close. The big four we have been hoping to see are moose, bison, elk, and bear. We’d already seen the herd of elk, and now here was the moose. We’d seen bison at Bear Country, but we wanted to see them in their natural environment. A little farther along the river, we saw an adolescent moose, as well. Fittingly, we saw these moose on Moose Road.
When we finally reached Jackson Hole it was lunch time. We stopped at a BBQ joint called Bubba’s. They had the most fantastic salad bar. We all filled up because, as I warned John, all I had for us to eat for dinner was a piece of chicken each and a cucumber.
After lunch we went to get Jeff from the airport. We were a little early, so the boys went to check out the bathroom again. They like the hand dryer, which is a Dyson that you put your hands into. I tell you, simple things amuse them. Jeff arrived on time, and we were all happy to see him.
With Jeff in our midst, we headed to Jenny Lake. On the way, we saw our bison not too far off the road. We were at three for four! All that was left was a bear. Although Jeff still had elk and moose to see.
The boat ride across Jenny Lake was fun. As you leave the boat dock and round the peninsula the dock is nestled in you can see the Tetons rising up from the edge of the lake. A camera simply cannot do justice to the magnificence of the scene. The boat traveled at high speeds and water splashed on us, so I did wind up tucking the camera back in its case. The ride was only about five minutes, then we were off on our hike.
There is a river that runs down the side of the mountain right into Jenny Lake. It must be fed by a glacier because this was no small trickle. Massive amounts of water were rolling down the hill and every now and then, at the steepest parts, there were magnificent waterfalls. Our first destination on the hike was hidden falls. They’re pretty massive and are made more beautiful by their setting, which is in a crack of the rocks with trees growing all around.
We continued on to Inspiration Point. I had not been made aware at the beginning of the hike that the final part of the trail went along a thin ledge. But once I’d started this trek, there was no turning back. Cal and John opted to stay at a lower level, and Parker, Trey, Jeff, and I carried on. I had no problem with the cardio aspect of the climb, but the steepness of the potential fall had me panicked. I believe I’m the only one who got up there while hiding my eyes from the sight to the right, much like a horse sometimes has side blinders on so as not to be distracted. I was in a squat-like pose for the walk up, keeping my center of gravity nice and low, grasping frantically at the rock wall as I ascended. John told me later that he could see me holding tightly to the rock face as I went along. I made it to the top without a heart attack, but I think I overdosed on adrenaline. My body has been in fight or flight mode since we entered high country, but this hike nearly did me in. I looked like Mr. Tudball, “I’m coming, Mrs. Hawiggins!”
The view from the top was well worth my fear. We could see all of Jenny Lake and the surrounding valley. The walk down was not as bad, except for the part where I had to walk on the outside of the trail because a family was resting in a little corner made by the rocks. I told them I had no problem waiting until they moved on because going around them was not an option. But they weren’t going anywhere any time soon, so I started to move past them. I gathered all my courage and took my first step, but I must have looked a mess because one of the women stepped back toward the edge of the ledge and put out her hand for me to hold onto. I couldn’t look her in the eye, but I did grab that hand, and I moved on. I may experience humiliation in my day, but I’m not going to miss a beautiful view.
When we got back to camp I got the chicken out that I’d planned to serve for dinner. It didn’t smell quite right, so we ended up having hotdogs. While I sat typing into the computer, a chipmunk that Parker and Cal had been chasing to get its photo went right under my feet. The creatures here are not afraid of people.
I was so exhausted by bedtime, I thought I was gonna die. But what a day!!
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1824391027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Hours on Road: All Day
States covered: 2 –Wyoming
We got going somewhere between 9 and 10 a.m. today. With no obligations to attend to it’s hard to remember to look at the watch. Driving along the road that the camp is on we saw a herd of elk. They were pretty far away, but we could tell what they were. At one point they started to run all together across the prairie – what a sight!
Jeff called early in the morning to let us know when he’d be arriving. He was already in Chicago when he called at 8 a.m. our time, which is currently Mountain Time. He’d gotten up at 5 a.m. Eastern Time and was expected to land at 2 p.m. Mountain Time. We decided that we would just drive around until we picked him up and start our hiking after we’d gotten him.
The drive to Jackson Hole is beautiful. I was much more relaxed driving it the second time, despite the steep drop-offs. These aren’t drop-offs like in the mountains. These were deceiving drop-offs in which I thought there was a green field stretching between the road and the Tetons, only to look more closely and realize that there is only five to 10 feet of green field before the land drops off into deep green valley, about 50 to 100 feet below the road. There is no room for error out in this part of the country, and watch it when you pull over to the side of the road, as there may be no side of the road at all. But on this second drive to Jackson Hole, I was a little more calm.
We stopped at several lookouts along the road. These are places where there actually is land to drive onto and there are awesome views of the valley below as well at the Tetons above. The first one we stopped at turned out to be my personal favorite. You could look 100 feet below to the Snake River winding its way through the valley, which was covered in various species of pine tree. Above that valley loomed the Tetons, viewed from more of a side angle. Further along the road was a pull-off that allowed you to see the Tetons straight on. That was John’s favorite since he got a great shot of the mountain range.
We stopped at the Grand Teton Visitor Center. It’s brand new and has a few great exhibits that tell about the history of the area, the people who settled here, the natives who first lived here, and the climbing that’s been done here. Well worth the visit. Plus, heading toward it put us on Moose/Wilson Road, which is closer to the Tetons than the highway is so we got a more rustic drive.
We stopped at the Chapel of the Transfiguration. John said that lots of people get married there and that they must book it well in advance, and he believes it costs about $1,500 to get married at the Chapel. When we pulled in we could see why -- this tiny little chapel with all three of the Tetons as a backdrop. We all rang the chapel bell.
Next along that road was the visitor center for Jenny Lake. Our plan was to boat across the lake and hike the trail once Jeff arrived. After checking it out we continued along the back roads where we saw a mother moose and her calf walking along a river that was right next to the road. It was so exciting to see our first big animal up close. The big four we have been hoping to see are moose, bison, elk, and bear. We’d already seen the herd of elk, and now here was the moose. We’d seen bison at Bear Country, but we wanted to see them in their natural environment. A little farther along the river, we saw an adolescent moose, as well. Fittingly, we saw these moose on Moose Road.
When we finally reached Jackson Hole it was lunch time. We stopped at a BBQ joint called Bubba’s. They had the most fantastic salad bar. We all filled up because, as I warned John, all I had for us to eat for dinner was a piece of chicken each and a cucumber.
After lunch we went to get Jeff from the airport. We were a little early, so the boys went to check out the bathroom again. They like the hand dryer, which is a Dyson that you put your hands into. I tell you, simple things amuse them. Jeff arrived on time, and we were all happy to see him.
With Jeff in our midst, we headed to Jenny Lake. On the way, we saw our bison not too far off the road. We were at three for four! All that was left was a bear. Although Jeff still had elk and moose to see.
The boat ride across Jenny Lake was fun. As you leave the boat dock and round the peninsula the dock is nestled in you can see the Tetons rising up from the edge of the lake. A camera simply cannot do justice to the magnificence of the scene. The boat traveled at high speeds and water splashed on us, so I did wind up tucking the camera back in its case. The ride was only about five minutes, then we were off on our hike.
There is a river that runs down the side of the mountain right into Jenny Lake. It must be fed by a glacier because this was no small trickle. Massive amounts of water were rolling down the hill and every now and then, at the steepest parts, there were magnificent waterfalls. Our first destination on the hike was hidden falls. They’re pretty massive and are made more beautiful by their setting, which is in a crack of the rocks with trees growing all around.
We continued on to Inspiration Point. I had not been made aware at the beginning of the hike that the final part of the trail went along a thin ledge. But once I’d started this trek, there was no turning back. Cal and John opted to stay at a lower level, and Parker, Trey, Jeff, and I carried on. I had no problem with the cardio aspect of the climb, but the steepness of the potential fall had me panicked. I believe I’m the only one who got up there while hiding my eyes from the sight to the right, much like a horse sometimes has side blinders on so as not to be distracted. I was in a squat-like pose for the walk up, keeping my center of gravity nice and low, grasping frantically at the rock wall as I ascended. John told me later that he could see me holding tightly to the rock face as I went along. I made it to the top without a heart attack, but I think I overdosed on adrenaline. My body has been in fight or flight mode since we entered high country, but this hike nearly did me in. I looked like Mr. Tudball, “I’m coming, Mrs. Hawiggins!”
The view from the top was well worth my fear. We could see all of Jenny Lake and the surrounding valley. The walk down was not as bad, except for the part where I had to walk on the outside of the trail because a family was resting in a little corner made by the rocks. I told them I had no problem waiting until they moved on because going around them was not an option. But they weren’t going anywhere any time soon, so I started to move past them. I gathered all my courage and took my first step, but I must have looked a mess because one of the women stepped back toward the edge of the ledge and put out her hand for me to hold onto. I couldn’t look her in the eye, but I did grab that hand, and I moved on. I may experience humiliation in my day, but I’m not going to miss a beautiful view.
When we got back to camp I got the chicken out that I’d planned to serve for dinner. It didn’t smell quite right, so we ended up having hotdogs. While I sat typing into the computer, a chipmunk that Parker and Cal had been chasing to get its photo went right under my feet. The creatures here are not afraid of people.
I was so exhausted by bedtime, I thought I was gonna die. But what a day!!
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1824391027/a=2740108027_2740108027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
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