Colorado Highs and Utah Bottoms

This trip was a high. A high in the sense that it was so incredible, so beautiful, such a treat to experience raw nature - the high elevations of Colorado, and the vastness and red rocks of Utah's Canyon Country.  But what do you call it when instead of ascending a peak to hike to a summit, as we do here in the Rockies, you head down into a valley bottom for your destination more like one would at the Grand Canyon?  They're still highs for me to experience, but in Utah they call them Bottoms.

Day 1 - Landing in Denver and on to Boulder

My first day went as planned: land in Denver, and head straight to REI.  I limited myself to 20 minutes there so that I could be in Boulder at dinner time and still have time to see the Flatirons (and not to spend a fortune at REI!).  After quickly eating I took a drive up to Flagstaff Mountain.  Boulder seems like such a quaint little city and I loved the fact that it was perched up right against the mountains.

Somewhere just east of Calgary

REI Westminster (north Denver)

Day 2 - Rocky Mountain National Park and on to Colorado Springs

My first mission was to get closer to the Flatirons.  I came across the Center for National Atmospheric Research which offered great views, and the building itself (by I.M. Pei) was a masterpiece to see.  From there I drove west to Nederland, then north to Estes Park (scoping out the Longs Peak trailhead for another trip) and into Rocky Mountain National Park.  Most of the park was still closed, so I drove the road to Bear Lake.  That area still had 78" of snow.  People snowshoed.  I was done with the snowshoeing, so only took a little stroll, then decided to head right through Denver and onto Colorado Springs.  Gotta love some of those highways - 8 lanes each side, traffic lights to get on.  Wish I could have taken a photo there.

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder

Flatirons, Boulder

Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

Day 3 - Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak

This was a day I have waited for for iver a year.  One of my main reasons for adding Colorado to this trip was to make it to the top of Pikes Peak in order to see if I have any issues with 4,000m+ of elevation before I'd book my trip to Everest Base Camp.  Driving from Colorado Springs in the morning I saw a big snow plume at the summit.  I knew what this meant - fierce winds, and cold temperatures.  When I arrived at the beginning of the Pikes Peak Highway (if one can call a gravel road highway), I also learned that this meant the summit is closed.  I could drive up 13 out of the 19 miles, so went for it, but didn't even reach an elevation higher than Temple.  I must go back to Colorado, as I still want to do this one (ideally as a two-day hike spending the night at Barr Camp).

On my way down I met Ranger K.F., with whom I chatted for close to an hour.  We shared stories - of stupid thins tourists do, of animal encounters, and of national parks we've each visited.  I told him my intended route for the next day and he sent me a different way.  Take Highway 24 west, he said, where you will see a valley 50 miles wide by 100 miles long.  You can see all the peaks of the front range there.  That sounded very intriguing, but can one actually see the full extent of a valley that size?

So, with some time on my hands due to being done with Pikes Peak sooner than expected, I visited the Cave of the Winds.  It was a dry cave, and it was touristy, but I scratched it off my list.  In the evening it was a return visit to Garden of the Gods, where I had also started my day.  That little garden is a gem and it was my first glimpe into red rocks with a backdrop of white peaks that I would encounter on this trip.

Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak

Mile 13 at Pikes Peak.  Had to turn around here due to high winds.

The spot that ranger K.F. showed me for one of his favourite views of the peak

Cave of the Winds

Garden of the Gods

Day 4 - Travel Day: Colorado Springs - Durango

Today would be a long day and I covered 650km on smaller roads.  Garden of the Gods was on my way out of town, so I paid a return visit to it yet again.  I love this place.  At different times of day you exoperience different light, see different creatures, and after 5pm encounter virtually no people.  This morning I took a little walk, only to hear music in the background,  It wasn't a radio blasting, but it took me a while to find out that there was a guy standing atop the roof of his truck, playing his guitar and singing.  It was very soothing.

Also on my way out of town, I called the Pikes Peak info line, just in case one could make it to the summit today.  One could go to mile 15, but still not all the way up, so I passed and went on my way taking the route that ranger K.F. recommended to me the day before.  Highway 24 was interesting, and for at least another 30 miles I would be driving with Pikes Peak on my left side and seeing it from various vantage points.  I stopped by the Florissant Fossil Beds, and continued further west.

All of a sudden, topping out at a hill, I was surprised by the sudden appearance of the magic valley.  It was grand.  It was huge.  I literally had to turn my head from left to right to take it all in.  You can't even photograph this to capture the vastness.  It was a moment I'll never forget, seeing far, far into the distance, seeing perhaps more mountains in one single vista than I had ever seen before.

Then it was off for another few hours of slow driving, past UFO landing spots according to the ranger.  He believes in those (and treasures).  I do not.  However, passing through this landscape, driving down the same straight road for 200km, I can see how one could start seeing things - seeing mirages.  Finally I saw the sand dunes - huge collections of pure sand with not a piece of grass sticking out.  I thought I could reach the top in 20 minutes, but my return trip ended up being two hours.  And this was only my half-way point to Durango.  I continued through meadows, through hills, another mountain pass in snow, and finally into Durango.  I ended the day with a nice salad and steak.  It doesn't take me more than a minute to fall asleep on this trip.

Garden of the Gods

Vastness of the Colorado valley

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Final stretch to Durango

Day 5 - Travel Day: Durango - Telluride - Moab

This was another long driving day, but another one I really looked forward to as it would include the Million Dollar Highway (where they say two trucks can pass with nothing more than 6" clearance between them) and a stop in Telluride.  When I arrived at Denver I got a topo map for SW Colorado to scope out potential peaks to bag in this area at a later date.  There are three 4x4 roads that cross over the mountains, and I was especially intrigued one that would exit right in Telluride, cutting perhaps 100km of the day's trip.  I decided against it as the last time I drove a 4x4 road (with a rental in Moab) I got a flat in the middle of nowhere and didn't want to chance that.

Beyond Telluride I was getting quite tired from all the driving, so stopped at a Dairy Queen for a blizzard, and then pulled off the side of the road opposite a cemetery to take a nap. Just as I reclined the seat, I spotted two old trucks. Their times were over, but I got an instant flash of a photo opportunity. So, I tried what I had only read about before and took my wide angle lens to only an inch away from the truck, capturing, in the end, one of my favourite photos from the trip. I didn't nap there, I was back on a high and continued driving - passing through Bedrock (Flintstones), by the La Sal Mountains, and into Moab.  There I would have a home base for a few days and get a few hikes in.

Main Street, Durango

Million Dolloar Highway - not as scary as they make it sound

Ouray, Little Switzerland of America (not sure why)

Box Canyon Falls

The Telluride switchbacks - a wise decision that I didn't try to go there

My lunch spot overlooking the switchbacks and frozen Bridal Veil Falls

The truck

Day 6 - Morning Glory Arch and Fisher Towers

As luck would have it, a friend was in Moab at the same time as me, so we planned hikes for a couple of days.  This day would ease me into the heat with two 7km hikes.  Boy, did I ever get a welcome.  Hiking in 38ºC take a lot out of you.  I do better with the cold than with the heat.  We had breakfast and started catching up about what we've each seen so far.  At times it felt like we weren't getting anywhere because we kept chatting, but that was ok.  Today was filled with awe.  Morning Glory Arch is so pretty nestled along those canyon walls.  But the hike that I was really looking forward to was Fisher Towers.  They certainly did not disappoint, though we did disagree with the Copelands' trail description as being easy.  We scrambled up portions (likely because we lost the trail), and the heat made it a slow go.  In cooler weather it might be a walk in the park.  The Fisher Towers, however, and particularly the climb up Ancient Art, are no breeze.  We stood in awe as we watched climbers tackle what many argu to be the most unique summit in the world.  The register showed that it was a party of four from Alberta.

Morning Glory trail register

Hiking alongside a creek and green vegetationw as a real treat

It's hot here!

Morning Glory Arch

Fisher Towers

Ancient Art at Fisher Towers

(zoom in to see a person climbing up)

Their summit

Day 7 - Canyonlands: Island in the Sky

I will never forget this day for I have experienced more magic than I ever dreamed possible, and experienced what may very well be my top hike ever.

When I first planned this trip over a year ago, I came across a picture of an arch.  I had no idea where it was, as there that particular photo wasn't labeled.  As luck would have it, the local hiking club had a lecture on a week before I was scheduled to go and I was seated next to C., a photographer.   If you go to Moab, he said, you absolutely must got to Mesa Arch for sunrise.  So I went home and googled it, and that was the arch.  Ever since, I knew that I'd want to experience sunrise there myself.  Sunrise was at 6:14am and a photography book I got said it would take 50-60 minutes to get there.  We settled for leaving Moab at 4:25am, though I think A. would have been game to leave at 3am :-).  Ironically enough, I was wide awake by 3am and showed up at her place ten minutes early.  Driving to Canyonlands was unreal.  In that area they protect the night sky and it is amongst the darkest that one can experience.  We saw the Big Dipper and the clearest display of the Milky Way.  I turned off the car and all lights to experience.  I was in awe.  But, we had ana rch to get to, and as it was a Sunday and the last clear day in the forecast, we were certain others would be there, all wanting those coveted few spots.  As we got close, we saw lights in the distance ahead, meaning others were at the trailhead.  We also started seeing headlights far behind us.  I think we were fifth to arrive and I had the spot that I wanted on teh right side of the arch.  Just a few minutes later two other photographers ariived, setting up their macho tripods just behind mine.  One of them, a charming man, we ran into four times over the next three days.  This is the photo I got that morning:

Mesa Arch sunrise

After Mesa Arch we stopped at the Grand View overlook for breakfast before starting our hike down Murphy Hogback.  It was such a unique area to be hiking in, with the sand at the beginning, stumbling across a lone campsite (with the grandest vistas), the switchbacks down the canyon wall, descending the wash and coming across white minerals, and a short stint on the White Rim Road before heading back into the desert bushes of the Hogback.  I carried 6L of water after being worried from hiking in 38ºC the day before, but an average temperature around 25ºC made this hike much more bearable.  At the switchbacks at the end I was sucking wind.  I was up hours before I normally would be, and I certainly wasn't used to the elevation at the end of a hike.  We passed the spot where I had left a summit stone earlier in the morning, and it was gone.  We were happy about that, for surely it brought a smile to another hiker.  Only moment later, however, A. turned around with an alarming 'Barbara, go back'.  We were nearing the top of the canyon wall and already had fierce wind gusts to contend with, so I wasn't sure how much further back I was willing to go.  Was it a cougar?  No, it was a snake.  My hear started racing for this is my biggest phobia.  I'll take ten grizzlies over one snake.  Tahnkfully I didn't see it, but A's description wasn't helping me - four to five feet long, green, and quite thick.  I was ready to lose it, and in what surely isn't the right way of handling a snake (just as it would be a big no-no with bears), we armed ourselves with rocks.  That made me feel safer and then we made a run for it.  I was curious though, so made A. inquire at the visitor center what this was, is it poisonous, and how common are they?  it turns out that it was a non-poisonous western racer that is quite rare to see.  And the next day I would see one again as I was in backcountry Arches National Park on my own.  Lucky me.

As it was nearing sunset, we decided to end the day with a drive to Dead Horse Point.  I knew there wasn't much time, but I wanted to see the vuiew at least.  As I came around teh corner to the bench, there was this charismatic photographer we had met in the morning again.  We checked in to see whateachother did for the day.  He was back at the hotel editing photos, while we had our grand day.  He thought we 'are crazy' for doing such long hikes, but that's just the way I like it.  By the end of the day i was burned (literally, from the sun), that I had to wear leggins to bed for the sheets were too painful.  And I was out in a second.

Grand View Overlook, our breakfast spot

Start of the Murphy Hogback Trail

The wash

Rest stop at Murphy Hogback

Shaffer Trail

Dead Horse Point

Read Making Waves' trip report here.

Day 8 - Arches National Park

I woke up to thunder and rain against my window, so after two long days of driving and two days of hiking, I saw that as excuse enough to have a later start.  Everyone must have had the same idea, as people kept hanginga round the breakfast tables, re-planning their days and deciding where to go.  I felt like sitting in a low, comfy couchy chair, but all I could get was a stool at the high counter.  The guys sitting next to me planned their Jeep adventure and talked about slick slickrock in the wet weather.  Someone had put a laptop opposite mys eat and I didn't notice it (I was reading in a new photography book I got, Photographing the Southwest).  As luck would have it, it was that charming photographer again.  He played with his MacBook Pro, and we talked about plans for the day.  I told him to check out Fisher Towers.  He told me to check out the clouds in Arches National Park for dramatic effect.  Throughout breakfast he kept getting up to look out the window as I'm sure only photographers do.  We made smalltalk, and it turns out we grew up just an hour apart in Germany.  He showed me his best photographs - all minimalist landscapes - as well as one from Mesa Arch before.  I was interested in seeing how a more serious photographers' photos would compare to mine,s eeing how we photographed the same arch on the same day and at the same time. 

So, off I went to Arches.  I'd been there on my trip in 2008, so decided that this would be my easy day.  I walked up to Delicate Arch as others hurried back due to the dark clouds and lighning in the distance.  I didn't care if I get soaked.  I wanted a moody weather shot (but which I don't think I got).  But that was ok and I just went for one little touristy trail after another.  At Sand Dune Arch I ran into A.  We were both having a lazy day, took photos of eachother, and some older American couples were convinced that a ghost passed behind us as we took photos of them.  They were surprised that we didn't 'feel' it, then tried to say that it might have been a plastic bag.  It wasn't.  With the weather turning, I told A. that I might drive down to the Needles the following day and I immediately saw a big glow on her face.  We made plans to reconvene and each went about our day in Arches again.

Thanks to the rain, I took a drive down the one unpaved road in the park.  There I did see moody landscapes, lightning in the distance, dark clouds, then sun.  And as my luck would have it, as I came back on the red dirt road, I saw something lying across it.  I'd have said it was a stick, except there weren't any trees.  It was another bloody snake, and same length as that from the day before.  I didn't have time to brake, so steered to the side of it, worrying a little that I might still catch its tail.  Tahtw ould have been a real mess, so when back on the highway I picked up some speed to get off anything that might be stuck to my tired.  That would give me a heart attack otherwise.

I'd only planned on spending three hours in the park, so only had water and some nuts.  I was still going for more little walks at 5pm, so was getting quite hungry.  Still wanting to see more, though, I figured I'll drive the Potash Road before heading back into town.  I went past the plant and drove another couple of miles along the White Rim Road.  I enjoyed being out there and would have loved to go further, if it weren't for the fear of getting a flat tire again.

Finally back into town, I was ready to raid the restaurant when, with more of my luck, I locked my keys in the car.  AMA came to the rescue (40 minutes later), and by 9pm I got my food.  Then it was back to the hotel for another day of feeling pleasantly (and a little unpleasantly) depleted.  I never had time to write the postcards I bought.

Delicate Arch

Sand Dune Arch

Backroad in Arches

Some rock near Wall Street / Couthouse.  After a while they all looked the same.

Day 9 - Canyonlands: Needles District

I got a good night's sleep and soon enough heard A. knocking on my door.  We had a nice leisurely breakfast before heading out towards the Needles.  The weather wasn't the greatest, so it would be good for a driving day instead of a hike.  Maybe 20km out of Moab I slammed on the brakes to see when the Hole in the Rock would be open until.  It was a crazy place, a fun place.  We looked around the stuff around the parking lot and checked out the gift shop.  We wanted to go see the house in the rock!  And luck was on our side - a 12-minute tour could start whenever we wanted, for $5. 

Hole in the Rock

Hole in the Rock

Hole in the Rock

The Needles district of Canyonlands was very quiet.  Everyone seems to go to Arches.  Fewer people venture into Canyonland's Island in the Sky, and far fewer still into the Needles.  Not much here is accessible by car.  Most of the good stuff would have to be seen by foot, by hiking in on mostly overnight trips to get anywhere.  We scopes out all the viewpoints and decided to drive the two gravel roads in the park.  The one at Elephant Hill would mark the start of the most difficult 4x4 trail in Utah.  We picked it as outr lunch spot.  The Needles provided different scenery yet again, and a small interpretive trail took us to a cowboy camp, more pictorgaphs, and a couple of ladders.

The Needles

US National Park Campground - look at the luxury

Road to Elephant Hill

Elephant Hill

Picnic table at Elephant Hill

Cave Spring

It's been a lazy day, but also a long day.  I was really fading because of all the driving on this trip, so we decided to have a nice farewell dinner in Moab as our vacation was about to come to an end.  But, guess what?  The sun shone brightly and I said why don't we head over to Kane Canyon first and also check out Mill Creek as described in the Copleands' WOW book.  Kane was easy, and I longed for a 4x4.  Mill Creek, however, was another story.  We got lost in eastern Moab.  Seriously lost.  I couldn't decipher the GPS anymore, Austrian tourists were of no help, until we finally found the trailhead.  And that was only after many, many stops for the oddest things. 

I braked for a bunker ...

... and a shaggin wagon gate,  ....

... a goofy drill mailbox, ...

... and a strange fence.

Then A. suggested that we stop by Slickrock, and so we did.  A classic way to wrap up Moab.

Slickrock

Slickrock and the La Sal Mountains

Day 10 - Heading Home

To say that it has been a wonderful vacation is an understatement.  I can't believe how much I saw - from the Rocky Mountains to sand dunes, to arches and canyons, needles, fins, and desert.  Within the span of less than 24 hours I've experienced a few feet of snow and +38ºC.  Some roads were closed due to snow, a mountain was inaccessible due to fierce winds, and I ended up carrying 6L of water for a single day of hiking in canyonlands.  Wow!  I'll be dreaming about this one for a long, long time.

Main Street, Moab

Moab Rock Shop 

Moab Rock Shop

Definitely had a good 10 days!