North Rim of the Grand Canyon

October 9 th and 10th

After 2 weeks we left Hurricane, Utah to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Only 10% of the people that visit the Grand Canyon, go to the North Rim. Most people go to the South Rim. They are only 10 miles across from each other, but 270 road miles.  The North Rim is much higher at 8300'. The South Rim is only 7000'.  It is a much quieter and colder. It closes Oct 15th because of snow. We were there the 9th and 10th, so we just made it.  We parked at the closest RV Park,  50 miles north.  A few days before we came, they had 4" of snow. The roads were fine, but there was still snow at the sites. At night it got down to 35 degrees. The RV park was in a National Forest so felt right at home, surrounded by trees. You could have real fire so we thought we better do it. When we go further into Az., parks don't allow  it.  They even supply you with jugs of water to put it out. There are signs all over the park about putting it out with water because of  all the trees. A spark could easily start a fire.  Two more groups left their fires before we did and neither one put out their fires. Can't people read the signs!  Management put the fires out.

Hard to see in the picture, but I have on a  Washington Huskies sweatshirt. It was quite a conversation piece.  Met people from Tacoma, Marysville and Olympia. At the parking lot, I met  a  man who was sure he knew me. He looked vaguely familiar but I really recognised his voice.  We kept meeting at various points on the trails and kept trying to figure out how we knew each other. Denny mentioned that I might have known him thru work. Could have been security or maintenance at the many buildings I worked at. JACKPOT!  He was in charge of maintenance at a couple of churches I worked on over a span of 15-20 years.  My boss went to a Catholic church,  St. Brendon's,  and we worked there  off and on for many years.  What a small world.   Larry was the maintenance foreman. We followed him to another church in downtown Seattle when he changed jobs. Hadn't seen him for several years.

                                                    Overview of the canyon

Another view

Denny often gets very close to the edge!  Lots of trails have no guardrail. A tad close for me

Getting closer to catching up but still a ways to go

Bad water

Ever since we left, the water hasn't really tasted great to me. Not bad enough to buy it, but not really good either.  I was surprised at that because we were in the Colorado Rockies in the beginning.. You would think they would have great water.  The first thing I do when we get settled is try the water.  Hurricane's was the worst. I finally bought water. It tasted like rubber.  Then we went to a few more  places and the water didn't taste too bad. Now, it is horrible again.  Turns out it wasn't the water.  When we got here, (Kingman), Denny changed the outside water filter. Lo and behold,  the water tastes okay.  When we got to a spot that we stayed a few weeks, Denny put the filter on. When we were traveling a few days at a time, he wouldn't. The filter was bad, that is why it was sometimes good, sometimes bad.  In the past years we have traveled, we always had to buy water in central and Southern Az.  I suppose once we go further south, we will have to again.

We have seen alot of different and unique RVs.  I think our RV is huge, that's why we call it the Monster. It is 35' with 4 slides.  When we were in Blue Mesa, Co., there was a 38' with 5 slides. It was HUGE.  We talked to the guy and he admitted that he was about 3000lbs overweight for the truck that was pulling it.  It was no stronger than what we have.  It is a very dangerous thing to be so overweight. Not good when you want to put on the brakes. Also you go thru alot of transmissions and other parts.

Very rare to see a converted bus as an RV.  Looks beautiful, but doesn't have any slides. Would love to see the inside. Even had the matching red car.

When we first started  out  few years ago, you rarely saw 4 slides.  Now that is common sight. Now we are beginning to see a few with 5 slides.  Never seen the inside of one, but it must seem like a house. We also saw one that we have never seen before. It was a 5th wheel with 2 doors. We have seen  2 doors on trailers but never a 5th wheel.  Also, the main slide, where the couch and dining room table is,  had a peaked roof.   Very unusual RV.  I took a picture of it but I think  it is lost in cyberspace.

Cedar Breaks and Zion/Kolab National Park

September 29, 2011

Thought I had better start dating my blogs since I am so far behind.  We went to Cedar Breaks National Monument on Thursday.  It is about 30 miles north of Hurricane.  When we left Hurricane  it was 95 degrees, so I had on a tank top.  Even tho I knew we were going to a 10,000' elevation, I never thought of the cold. When we got there, it was 54 degrees out. BURRR.  I had to buy a T shirt, what a senior moment that was.  DUH! We met an older couple (I think in their mid to late 70's) from Hurricane. Even tho they are older, they thought ahead enough to bring jackets.  Doesn't say much for me! Denny even brought a sweatshirt.   Now I never leave without a jacket/sweatshirt in the truck.

It was quite a drive going up.  Hurricanes is 2500', so we had a climb of  7500'. Very twisty and steep, but a good road.  Cedar Breaks is beautiful.  All the lookouts are different views of a huge  amphitheater of red rock mesa's, arches and spires.

This is the park that got 17" of snow 2 days after we  were there. I talked about it in an earlier blog.  It closes Oct. 15th. Because it is colder,  the fall colors were beautiful. Most of the trees are Aspens, which turn a vivid yellow.  Didn't really see any oranges or reds. 

Cedar Breaks

Beautiful fall color

Zion/Kolab National Park

On the way back, we stopped at Zion/Kolab National Park.  It is part of the main Zion, but it has a different entrance 60 miles away.  You can't get to it from the main park. It gets missed by most people, bit it is actually close than the main Zion for us.   It is like a miniature of the main park.. You only drive in 5 miles. By the time we got back down to it from Cedar Breaks, it was again 95 degrees.

I feel like I'm on a roll. Three out of the four pictures I downloaded came thru. The most ever

I'm still married, but Denny is not!

The 2nd day we were at Hurricane, we went to town to get groceries and go to the bank. As we were walking away from the truck, Denny realizes his wedding ring is GONE!  We went back to the truck and looked inside and out. NOTHING.  Because Denny isn't really working with his hands anymore and with  the dry heat, his knuckles are alot smaller. The ring is  very loose.  He usually spins his ring around his finger to make sure it's still there. He did that and NOTHING! We looked   in the RV, but no luck. We are hoping that we might see it someday in a place we don't expect, but I really doubt it.  It could be anywhere. We have been gone about 10 weeks.  Denny thought he had seen it a few days earlier, but not sure.

In our last two trips, it has always been a game which bank we will find first. Denny has BofA and I have US bank. Before, we have always found BofA  alot more than US Bank.  That's not bad, because it means we take money out of his account, not mine.  Not this time. We found US Bank in Hurricane. Still haven't seen Denny's bank. For the past 2 years, I didn't find mine until Palm Springs and not again until Tucson. Now the money comes out of my account!

I take lots of pictures of  sunsets. I also take sunrises, but not as many because I'm usually not up.

The weather at Hurricane was beautiful and warm for the first 10 days, then turned rainy. It rained almost 2 days straight. When we woke up one morning there was snow on the mountains that aren't too far away.  We had been up to visit  Cedar Breaks (more on that later) a few days earlier. Lucky we went when we did. It got 17" of snow.  We met some friends from South San Francisco that happened to get caught up there. They showed us pictures.  It took them 2 hours to go down a road that  usually takes 30 minutes.  It is at an elevation of 10,000 '.

Our new friends had a bad time. They had actually tried to go to Cedar Breaks (30 miles) a few days earlier. Had transmission trouble with their truck.  Limped home and went to a certified technician about it. He jerry rigged it with foil  and said the part would be in the next day.  It wasn't, so they started out again. This time they had to be towed  back to the garage. His temporary fix obviously didn't work. The part still wasn't in so they got a rental, which is what they took to Cedar Breaks and got caught in the snow.  They were suppose to leave 5 days before us. By the time we left, they were still there. Very frustrating to them.  They had to get home so made arrangements for their 5th wheel to be transported home. They were going to follow in their rental car.  Not sure if they also had their truck towed home or had to leave it there.  What an way to end their trip. They had planed to go to several more places before going home. Had to cancel everything.  I can't imagine how much that must have cost.  I hope they had insurance for it. We do.

I tried to do more pictures, but it still takes forever. More later.....

Still trying to catch up.  Once we left Zion the places we went to didn't have good Internet connections,  so I'm even further behind than I was.

Zion National Park

We are staying at a RV park in Hurricane, Utah, 35 minutes from Zion.  It is a very nice park. Serves meals twice a week, which you know, we go to every one. Any time I don't have to cook is wonderful.  There is alot to do and see in this area.  In nearby, St. George, they had the Huntsman Senior Games.  It is like the Olympics, except for the Senior set, 55 and older.  They expected 10,000 people from around the world.  There were quite  a few at the park. We were going to go but that didn't happen.

Went to Zion. You have to take a shuttle to see most of the park. It goes to all the sights and you can get off and on at your leisure. Saw some rock climbers while we were on the shuttle. It was straight up and down. Can't imagine doing that. Looks so scary and dangerous. 

Zion is very beautiful. Very majestic.  Hard to descibe, especially since I don't have any pictures to show you yet. The Virgin River runs thru it.  Like Bryce, all this was created from water. Millions of years ago, immense pressure  and heat turned all the sediments beneath the water to stone. Volcanoes pushed up over 130,000 sq. mile mass of rock to the surface.  Rainwater  caused a series of cliffs to form, starting at Bryce and ending at the Grand Canyon.  This is a very condensed version of what caused the Grand Staircase, which is what this whole area is called. If you look on the map, it is one long range of mountains and canyons from Southern Utah into Arizona.

Another day we went to East Zion. It looks like a completely different park.  Reminds me of soft pudding that is gradually falling down a mountain. One layer starts and then another layer and then another layer.  All of the sudden it stops and there are layers upon layers of rock.  To get to the east Entrance, you have to go thru a mile long tunnel.  There are no lights. Makes you a little nervous. If you take an RV thru, you have to pay $15 and have an escort. It is only 13' high at the top.  Even regular cars and trucks go in one direction at a time.  They stop traffic, let one side go, then the other. Before the tunnel, you go thru a series of the steepest, most curvy hairpins we have ever been on.  Can't imagine taking an RV on either the  switchbacks or the tunnel. We met some people that have done it but it would be very hard on the RV.  The switchbacks remind me of the ribbon candy you buy at Christmas. It was just one after another.

After we got out the East Entrance, we went to the Pink Coral Sand Dunes. Couldn't believe there would be sand dunes in Utah, let alone pink.  They were very unusual. Started to take a short hike, but it was too hard in the sand.

I wrote a much longer blog but it was more like a book. Way to long.  We went to alot of different places but  I'll do a little at a time. Don't want to bore you too soon.

Bryce Canyon

I have given up on downloading any pictures until we get  somewhere the feed is better. It took 10 hours to do 2 pictures. Very frustrating.  I'm going to chat about our travels, so I can at least catch up.  If I waited for pictures, that would never happen. Whenever  we get to a better feed, I'm going to download all the pictures at once.  You'll probably get tired of pictures.

I do have to say I miss my old camera. I originally had a 35mm SLR. I bought just before digitals starting getting reliable.  I then went to a Canon digital. I liked it but I wanted something smaller so I could put in my pocket when hiking. I really, really miss my viewfinder.  It is so bright sometimes, that I can't really see what I'm aiming at.  I think I'm going to breakdown an get a digital SLR.  They are spendy, but I'm not happy with my small camera.

After 6 days at Moab, we went to Bryce. It was a short drive.  Of all the National Parks we have been to, I think Bryce is my favorite.  The views are breathtaking.  The rock formations are a vivid red. My camera certainly doesn't do it justice.    

 Our campground was 5 miles from  the entrance. We felt like we were in Washington. There were trees everywhere. Not Douglas Fir, but Pinin Pines. That is the tree that you see everywhere.  We could even build a fire. It is rare for us to be able to have a fire. Since we usually can't , we had no kindling or starter. We bought firewood, $6.00 per bundle.  No ax to chop into kindling. Bought charcoal starter and it worked like a charm. Went thru 3 bundles. Seemed strange to buy wood.  We have a freestanding 12" round gas fire pit. It works, but isn't as good as a real fire. 

 The 2nd day we went for a drive on Highway 12. It is an All American Highway. There are a lot of Scenic Highways, but very few All American Highways.  It has to be  so scenic that it is a destination in itself.  I was a tad disappointed. Parts of it were very scenic, but  we thought the rest was just okay. Washington has alot more beautiful highways  than what we were on.

The Red Rock Canyon leading to our campground had a couple of short tunnels. We had to go in the middle to make sure we got thru.  Glad there weren't any cars coming the other way.  The sides really sloped down.  The top was only 11' 6".  Very tight!  Picture of it will have to come later. 

Now we are up to Sept. 23rd.

'

Canyonlands, Island in the Sky & The Needles

I gave up on pictures from the Arches, so I'm on to the Canyonlands. Hopefully I'll have better luck.  Only 30 miles from Arches  is Canyonlands Nat. Park. It is the largest National Park in Utah, but many people don't even know about it. The Arches is so much more famous. People that don't go are really missing out. It is so big that it has 3 distinct areas that have 3 separate entrances. Can't go in on entrance and see all 3. We went to two, Island in the Sky and the Needles. They are 65 miles apart.  The Maze is so remote it only is for hikers or bicycles.   Very unusual to have 2 so close together. Even tho they are very close, the terrain is completely different. Arches had huge rock formations high into the sky. The Canyonlands are deep, deep canyons.

Remember the movie, 127 hours?  It was about a climber that got his arm stuck between 2 rock cliffs. He sawed his arm off with a pocket knife and hiked out.  It took place in an area of Canyonlands that you can't drive to, The Maze.    The same time we were there, they had to rescue a 53 yr. old man that was so inspired by the movie, he hiked to the same area.  He got lost.  He was inspired, but not enough to go with a partner.   Also a long distance runner (woman) had to be rescued. She had been badly injured and wouldn't have lasted another night.  What were these people thinking by going alone?

 Denny walking out to an observation point.

We went for a short hike.  This group of hikers passed us up like we were standing still. The leader was carrying a pizza  for everyone to share.  As you can see there were no guardrails. They certainly got close to the edge.  The leader even told them to stand back.

Remember the movie Thelma and Louise?  The famous last scene where they drive off the cliff rather than go to jail was filmed in Canyonlands.   To see the exact place, we would have had to take a jet boat ride down the Colorado.  We didn't realize this until we were already on the Light and Sound Show tour.

I wanted to show a lot more pictures, but I have again given up.  Took many, many hours to download just these 4. I think I'll have to wait until we go to the another place.