Canyonlands and Mineral Bottom

 On Thursday we packed up and left the commercial campground. We arrived at the BLM Horsethief campground around 10 AM, only to find no empty campsites. We talked to a couple who were about to leave, and ended up in their campsite. It is right next to the dirt road, but beggars can't be choosers.

After setting up the camper, we decided to go to Mineral Bottom, which turned into quite an adventure. Two young men had a shredded tire on their van, and their jack would not lift the van high enough to change the tire. We found out they were highliners, which we understand to be slackliners, but further off the ground. Between the truck jack and a wood block from the truck, Richard was able to lift it high enough to get the job done. They were surprised that several people stopped and asked if they needed help, even after we were already stopped.

Two of the switchbacks

Mineral bottom is 13 miles of dirt roads, to the edge of the cliff. The road goes over the edge and then back and forth along the side of the cliff, with occasional switchbacks. Sandi was scared to death. We made it down, and enjoyed the scenery along the banks of the Green River. 

After a lunch break, we decided to head south on the White Rim road, which follows the river. We drove a few miles, and turned around before we got into Canyonlands Park. As we were returning, we found four college age girls who had stuck their rental car in the sand. They were attempting to dig the wheels out with their flip flops and a frisbee! After reviewing our options, Richard decided that their best option was to jack up the front wheels, put rocks under them, and then wood and rocks behind them. Richard had a wood block to put under the base of the jack. Once we were ready, one girl drove and everyone else pushed. It worked! I am not sure that I recall rescuing two different groups in the same day, but Sandi said we did our kind thing for the day. Maybe for two days. We got back to the camper about 4, and rested before dinner.

Studying the weather forecast for Sunday, we saw that the weather service predicted a major storm and extreme cold. This caused us to rethink our trip plan. We decided to come home early, on Saturday, to beat the storm. In order to do this, we decided to start the drive on Friday, and finish it on Saturday.

Friday morning, we drove into Canyonlands NP, and headed for the southernmost part of the Island in the Sky section of the park. We decided to take the Grand View Point walk along the rim, looking down into the canyons of the Colorado and the Green Rivers. There were many people with the same idea; the views were impressive, and the hiking moderate, about 2 miles round trip. We had considered taking the walk to the Mesa Arch, but that parking lot was full, so we drove back to the camper, packed up, and headed out. We refueled in Grand Junction, and then continued on I-70 to the campground at Island Acres, part of the Colorado River State Park. The campground was pleasant and not crowded; we enjoyed a hike along the river.

Saturday we headed home. The closer we got to Fort Collins, the worse the smoke appeared. The two largest fires in Colorado history are west of us. Luckily the snow should put a damper on the fires.

Overall, a good trip. We plan to return in the future and hike more in Canyonlands. October is a busy month in that area, perhaps another month would be better.

Moab and Arches National Park

 

On Sunday October 18^th we drove to Grand Junction, where we stayed at the RV Ranch. The drive on I-70 was routine, buying fuel in Arvada before we headed into the mountains.

On Monday we fueled up, and drove to Moab. Archview campground is north of Moab; we had a reservation for two nights, but were able to get that changed to three nights.

We drove through construction into Moab, and picked up lunch as Sultan's restaurant, which we ate in the town park. There were a lot of camper vans parked there, including people working on their laptops. We walked around downtown Moab, as Sandi had never been there before. Sandi did some shopping. Moab seems more upscale than in the past. The town was very busy, but we were told that October is their busiest month.

In the evening we drove into Arches National Park, which neither of us had seen before. It was very impressive and we took many photos. We plan to return in the morning.

Tuesday we got up very early, and were in the park before dawn. We took some photos of balanced rock at dawn, and took a short hike to see Delicate Arch, the symbol of Arches NP. Then we started to notice full parking lots. After that we stopped at the fiery Furnace, and continued to the end of the road. The area was closed, but we persuaded the ranger to let us through, so that we could check out the campground. The park was filling up, so we left. After a stop at the visitor center and bookstore, we left the park, and noticed that the entrance was closed, too many people. We drove over to check out Horsethief Campground, a BLM campground north of Canyonlands, and found a few empty sites. We also drove further down the dirt road, but the few campsites there were occupied. We did see some oil activity in that area. We continued into Canyonlands park, and stopped at the Green River overlook. We went back to the camper to rest, and later drove to the Windows area in Arches, where we were very impressed with the double arch, which is almost hard to believe. We left as it was getting dark.

Every parking area seemed to have a noisy raven, begging.

Landscape Arch is almost hard to believe.

Wednesday we got up early, and were on the road by dawn. We drove to the Devil's garden area of the park, and hiked to Landscape arch. We stopped on the way to see Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch. By the time we started back, the trail was getting busy, and the parking lot was full. We gave our parking space to a needy tourists, and headed for Moab. Sandi visited the local yarn shop. We had a pleasant lunch outdoors at the Arches Thai restaurant. We decided to drive the La Sal Mountain Loop Road, which starts along the Colorado River, and then climbs 5000 ft to 10,000 ft elevation. The road has more switchbacks that I could count, and many very steep sections. This was new for both of us. We checked out Ken's Lake Campground, south of Moab, on our way back to the campground. The weather forecast is forcing a trip replan, as we don't want to drive I-70 in the snow. We canceled our reservation for Sunday night in Grand Junction, but we may still spend a couple of nights in Grand Junction.

Backpacking in Rocky Mountain Park

 I had not been backpacking for a while, but decided to go on a short backpacking trip in Rocky Mountain National Park.   On Sunday, Sandi and I went to the park, got my wilderness permit, and took a hike.

Monday I drove to the Finch Lake trailhead, in the Wild Basin area, in the SE corner of the park.  The hike up was a grind.  My pack was 45 pounds.  The hike was 5 miles, about 1500 vertical feet up.  I found the official campsite, set up my tent, and cooked dinner.

Mt. Meeker in foreground, Longs peak left of Meeker

Tuesday I hiked and fished my way around the lake.  Unfortunately the fish had no interest in my Kastmaster lure, which usually works.   I am not 100% sure that I even saw fish dimpling on the water, so perhaps there were few fish in the lake, although the reports were of good fishing.     I was frustrated at first, but then settled down to enjoying the place.    The view of Longs and Meeker peaks from the other side of the lake was nice, kind of a unique view, as no roads will give you that view.

Camp Robber or Gray Jay

I had thought of hiking higher, but my boot was starting to come apart, so I did not.  With no fish and a bad boot, I ended up coming out Wednesday, a day early, after two nights, but I knew that was a possibility before I left.   It felt good to get out.  .