Utah Rocks – Part 1… with or without Hoodoos
Utah is a state that for our journey (visiting the green bits on the USA map) was full of promise - but after five weeks did it deliver? With five fantastic National Parks, seven National Monuments (parks in waiting) and two National Recreation Areas (huge reservoirs etc) all within a 300 mile radius we were always going to have fun there. Add six National Forests and 43 States parks - some of them like Snow Canyon or Dead Horse are mini National Parks in their own right - and it is a miracle that we have stayed out of Utah for so long. The problem is the weather… to be more precise the altitude. Much of Utah is above 4000ft… even the ‘flat’ bits are higher than Mt Snowdon! Altitude drops the temperature by around 3 to 7C per 1000ft. Utah can be very cold in March.
For us it was a bit schizophrenic as the cold fronts came through reminding us that spring in Utah tends to unfold in much the same way as everywhere in the world – in stops and starts. To prove that after seven months we have not lost our ability to think like true Brits here is where we have been in Utah and the impact of the changing weather : )
Cold, wet and windy at Sandy Hollow State Park near Hurricane, Utah – nothing to write home about - place or weather : )
Cold and wet when we arrived in Snow Canyon State Park near St George, Utah but from day two it was warm / hot with one rather windy day… It is one of the best State parks we have visited - amazing multi-coloured sandstone cliffs rising 3000ft from the canyon floor and topped with a jet black lava flow. No surprise that this place has a list of film location credits a mile long. The campsites were the narrowest we have seen. Hitting a post when parking proves why it takes a special level of skill to become ‘UK Minibus Driver of the Year’
*** Congratulations David ***.
Sunny and hot, very hot one day at Zion… but typical of Utah, Zion was also a bit schizophrenic with the South (Watchman end) of the canyon being warm, bright and fun while the following day, the North end (the ‘Narrows’) was dark, cold and damp. In fact the 16 mile Narrows hiking trail is always wet… very, very wet. A quote from the park newsletter… ‘Not a trail to be underestimated. Hiking the Narrows means hiking in the Virgin river. At least 60% of the hike is spent wading, walking or swimming in the river. There is no maintained trail because the route is in the river!’ We decided we didn’t have the right shoes for this walk… and yes we were a bit put off by the fact that five people died in a flash flood whilst ‘walking’ it recently.
In fact the Zion National Park newspaper drew to our attention how schizoid Utah and much of the US can be. In a state where you can legally ride a motorbike without a crash helmet, drive a car whilst using a mobile phone, bring a firearm into the National Park (discharging it is prohibited… nice touch) and still have more than one wife (this one is illegal - mostly) you can’t buy alcohol in a supermarket? Can you see what we mean by schizoid – you can undertake an utterly insane hike that you need to be drunk to even consider and no one stops you… but don’t ask for a bottle of wine in Wal-Mart!
Bryce Canyon – sunny, very warm days, lots of snow about and freezing cold nights -6C with no heater! It’s not really a canyon at all but the result of erosion on a massive scale along the edge of an uplifted 100m year old mud puddle now known as the Colorado Plateau. More on a human scale than say the Grand Canyon – in both size and rate of change - Bryce has to been seen to be believed. Picture it like this - if you were to ask Tinka Belle (or any other fairy) to design a grotto to live in Bryce would be the result. The magic of Bryce is to suggest that nature has the imagination of a five year old… if you still believe in Father Christmas or enjoyed Tolkien even then you will be totally at home staring into the Bryce Amphitheatre. The interesting and equally sad thing is that this landscape changes as you watch. The Hoodoos (see picture) seem to have a human quality… Bryce is their birthplace, nursery and graveyard - each time you look ‘they’ appear to have changed, moved even… enchanting and disconcerting at the same time. In addition to ‘doing’ the scenic drive, we spent two days walking along the Rim and down into the Canyon.
The week old snow had blown off the exposed areas resulting in three feet drifts in the low lying areas making some bits of the Rim trail just a little bit more exciting than we had foreseen. As we write this section of the Utah blog Bryce is getting another 17 inches of snow over the next 3 days! Phew, so glad we made it back down to below 6000ft (and a power hook-up : ) before that lot came in!
Then Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, Escalante, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. OK it was wet and windy but a lot warmer than Bryce and all that snow.
Escalante is so remote that the town of only 750 people is the only settlement for 75 miles in any direction. It’s a myth that people don’t settle here because it takes two days to write a home address when filling in a form : ) The Monument itself is huge and unspoilt stretching over 2 million acres of Southern Utah. It is a giant outdoor laboratory for scientists with only a few dirt roads and is no place to venture if you don’t have a four wheel drive vehicle. Like most people who come to this area we stayed in the State Park and hiked at the bit around the edge when it was not raining or snowing. This was the first time I (Den) had seen petrified wood in its natural setting – amazing colours.
The weather was so bad (snow, -5C at night) that we extended our stay and used the time to plan in and out of Yellowstone National Park at the end of May. Yellowstone is very popular and gets fully booked so you need to book early in the season. The power hook-up at Escalante means we can use our little electric heater (Lasko) over night. We hadn’t forgot how cold it was at Joshua N P when the water froze inside the RV. Once was enough, thank you!
We finally left Escalante for Capitol Reef National Park (N P) full of trepidation – it was higher and bound to be colder… we were wrong it was warm and sunny! The campground (Fruita) was high at 5,400ft but set in a fertile bowl and beautiful. The National Park Service has preserved the original Mormon settlement which included a farm and an amazing orchard. The ‘Raindrops keep falling on my head’ sequence in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed at the old barn there apparently.
Capitol Reef was a real find and had an old world feel with some great walks up on to the 2000ft sheer faced, red sandstone cliffs that overlook a truly magical setting down in the valley. Hey, did we mention that the nights were cold, really cold (no hook-up)… but at least it was not teeming with thousands of visitors like it will be in May : )
From Capitol Reef onto Natural Bridges via the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Hite if you are following with a map : ) Hite (hot and sunny) was a marina on the shores of Lake Powell and it should have been a great spot. It was a beautiful, rugged, vast open area but now a ghost town as the Lake is at a 30year low and boats can’t launch there anymore. We were totally alone – us and the coyotes - after the lone ranger (Kimosabi) went off duty. We did have a great BBQ (hand built rock, fire pit) and an even better thunderstorm.
Utah Rocks – Part 2… natural bridge or arch
Utah really is simply like no other place on Earth… lots of US visitors (some of you guys?) do what is known as the ‘Grand Circle’. A loop that normally includes the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas (flight and some man-made fantasy) and as many of the main Southern Utah National Parks as possible - depending on how long you have / can afford etc. We are lucky enough to be able to zig zag across Utah and spend a couple of days or more in each park and although we know already that Utah will not be our favourite state it is the most amazing natural playground with photo opportunities at every turn. One thing that has been rather strange this year is the way we have witnessed the spring. Not our normal slow, stop start progression but a jumbled up mix – trees that are in full leaf in one place… not even in bud at the next etc… as we go up and down in altitude. We have even become quite expert at determining how cold it is likely to be at night by looking at the stage of the cottonwoods in the nearby valley. We have seen wild flowers bloom here in the last few days that were out in Arizona over a month ago. The vast majority of Southern Utah is technically desert with less than 10inches of precipitation per annum so as you would expect it has been mostly blue skies and cold nights… and a small amount of rain / snow (above 6000ft).
So following on from Part 1… Natural Bridges was a small National Monument (park) with three natural bridges all at different stages of evolution. It was very chilly (coats) with scary climbs down makeshift ladders (brown trousers). One hell of a day’s walking down to each bridge in a canyon and then climbing back to the plateau – an exhausting day. We were too big (RV not us) for the campsite (21ft max) so we camped for nothing on public land and saved $20 before heading to Canyonlands N P (Needles section) the following day.
Canyonlands is split into three large areas The Needles, The Islands in the Sky and The Maze. The Maze is 4WD only and very easy to get lost in - surprise, surprise!
The Needles looks just like a scene from a Road Runner cartoon… spires, columns, huge rocks with typically big ‘western’ vistas. We did a great 5 mile hike at the end of a 6 mile dirt road … and got a citation (ticket plus a hand written note from Ranger Kerri) on our screen when we got back –
dirt road classified as unsuitable for vehicles over 21 feet - we are 30ft plus. OK, the road was very scary – slow, windy, rough, single track, blind bends, big dips and long drop offs and yes we did have to park the wrong way round in the tiny ‘one way’ loop car park because we didn’t think we would be able to turn round if it got any busier… but it was all cool. After contacting Ranger Kerri back at the Visitors Centre and using a bit of English charm we got off with a warning… Miles from anywhere in the Land of the Free but you still have to obey the law – we didn’t see the sign – honest! The sights and sounds (silence) experienced were worth the humble pie as we could never have walked the full 20+ miles.
At the campsite we met Lesley and Rich from Montana… Lesley is by far the most interesting American we have had a conversation with so far. The majority of RVer’s we have met are good, solid, honest, reasonably educated, flag flying, white, retired Americans but dare we say they often seem a little parochial and not particularly self aware. There’s nothing wrong with this as such and it’s likely to be the same in many countries including the UK (who are we to judge etc : ) but it is somehow just not consistent with the view of the USA as the bastion of the free world. Two or three hours chatting with Lesley just whizzed by… covering anything and everything from Quorn to politics… asking questions and even remembering our names…
Sunshine all the way at Canyonlands - Islands in the Sky. It is different from Needles with vast, big sky, multi-coloured panoramas stretching for thousands of feet down and miles across with majestic snow capped mountains in the distance - lovely. After our success with getting off the previous citation we decided to risk camping in the campground with a limit of 28ft. A patrolling Ranger did come after us – knocking on the bedroom window – but only to tell us that our socks had escaped from our walking boots (airing outside) and were making their way across the road. These things happen when you only have 5 pairs (of socks) and are walking over 70 miles a week : )
For the uninitiated Park Rangers (National and State) come in many flavours… the Law Enforcement Rangers carry guns, look mean but are friendly (mostly) and in remote parks can be seen (you normally hear their radios way before you see them) hiking the trails. They enforce the Law… but also offer guidance, wisdom, water (only an idiot sets off on an 8mile walk without any - but people do) and a defibrillator for those who wander beyond their bodies capabilities.
Over Easter it was often cloudy, cold, wet and grey with glimpses of sun and yes, we know the UK had lots of sunshine! We stayed at our 2nd Dead Horse State Park, (DHSP) Utah this time with an even more suspect story to justify the name. On the 1st day the weather was good enough, long enough for us to explore the
‘breathtaking panorama of Canyonlands sculptured pinnacles and buttes towering 2000 ft or more above the Colorado River’. In fact it was a beautiful park with miles of walks but the view of the 12000 ft snow covered Le Sal mountains bathed in a pink glow from the setting sun was extra memorable given that we had to walk 2 miles along the rim back to the campsite in fast approaching darkness. If you have seen the film Thelma and Louise the final scene - when they drive off the cliff - was shot here. Errr… it is not a good location to stumble around in the dark. In fact the whole Moab (biggest town) area is a movie buffs mecca with hundreds of film having been shot here.
In the middle and at the end of our stay at DHSP we spent 3 days, 2 nights at Arches National Park. Lower than the 6000ft DSHP it was sunny but it did get very windy with almost a sand storm one tea time. At Easter Arches is very popular but other than at Delicate Arch (most famous arch) we didn’t see too many people. OK, during the 2nd day (Good Friday) we saw more people than we have seen in all the National Parks put together (excluding the Grand Canyon maybe). Most of them gather around the road sites and don’t walk to where you get the best views of some of the 2000 arches.
The truly iconic Delicate Arch (see photo) is the symbol of Utah and with good justification. It just looks like it could and should never be. Unlike natural bridges which are eroded by a river, stream or wash, arches are simply eroded by rain, wind and the thaw freeze cycles making their existence even more amazing. These very individual structures are timeless in the human context with Delicate Arch looking pretty much the way it does today (a giant pair of cowboy chaps) when the Egyptian Pyramids were being built… However, even apparently timeless solid rock arches have a life cycle - the Wall Arch fell (2008) and Landscape Arch is now very precarious. So, as Baby Arch gets bigger Delicate Arch will one sad day fall. If you go to Utah – Arches N P is a must visit destination – even during a national holiday. Unusually we found it to be better than even the guide book hype.
So,… the best bits of Utah for you Jane?
Where do I start…Could it be the majestic presence of Mount Watchman standing guard over the Zion campground? The alien quirkiness of the Bryce hoodoos? Maybe the poetic, old world charm of the Fruita orchards set amidst imposing red rock cliffs at Capitol Reef or the infinite number of weird and wonderful gigantic spires and fins that make up the Needles? Perhaps it’s simply the quiet magic of Arches with its massive multi-coloured, eroded sandstone spans… offering smooth, slick-rock solitude.
Yes, all of these will have a special place in my memory!
Whilst I agree with Jane’s sentiment entirely (the look and feel of the Fruita valley, Delicate Arch etc) I have fallen in love with the Bryce Canyon hoodoos. If the word isn’t enough for you then these hauntingly beautiful yet precarious, fantasy structures offer solace in the fact that in the physical world as in life, beauty is only skin deep - nothing lasts forever.
Into Colorado next
Thinking of you all back home… In addition to David’s success mentioned earlier…… Our
congratulations to
Chris for his recent promotion to ‘Reception and Accommodation Manager’ … To
Taryn for a 3 month internship at the ‘Way with Words’ Literary Festival and to
Logan and Kaleidofly (his band) for winning the
‘Live and Unsigned Band’ Regional Final… London and the East final next on the15th May 2011 – Good Luck!
HAPPY EASTER : )
Jane's Easter chocolate cake...
Take Care
Den and Jane X
Remember when we sat there in sunglasses, T-shirts and shorts when most of you were in the depths of the UK’s pre-Christmas winter blast? Well the tables have turned and we have experienced how cold it can be in May, 8000ft up the Rocky Mountains. We have spent two exciting weeks in Colorado as the weather has see-sawed from winter cold (3C day, -12C night!) to beautiful spring days with reasonable nights. With snow everywhere and some very scary high road passes we have slowly and carefully followed our route north. Mile after mile on narrow roads with 8 -10% gradients in 1st or 2nd gear up and down hill, it needed a lot of concentration in something so big. (PS I did hear Jane muttering about it being warmer in Arizona on at least one occasion.)
The weather was unpredictable all across the US, bad storms, tornadoes and either flooding or heat waves. The way things are politically the weather is also likely to be seen as Obama’s fault : ) Virtually anywhere that we have had really cold weather we have had a power hook-up which means that although frozen up outside, the inside temp has not dropped to freezing like it did one night in California.Some nights we have just had to ‘do a Shakespeare’ and wear all our clothes in bed : )
To keep warm we did watch the Royal Wedding (no TV so via Internet)… well watch was a relative term. We were at a state park with very, very limited connectivity and it took over an hour to download 5 mins of video! So we had a complete (cold, snowy) day of 5 min snippets of the big day etc and followed it with champagne and strawberries to toast the happy couple… and ‘Her Royal Hotness’ as Kate’s sister Pippa was labelled by the UK Press. It was a real surprise how many Americans have asked us about the wedding one way or another. Many of them got up at 4am to watch it on TV! Some however have no idea - one even asked us “So how do you like your new Queen buddy?” obviously a colonial peasant!
There is real money here with exotic, expensive houses perched on mountain tops. We are only 60 miles from the rich and famous ski hang outs of Aspen and Vail but I bet you that the ‘in crowd’ spend most of the winter somewhere else. As we were some of the only tourists mad enough to be travelling north we had nearly everywhere we stayed to ourselves and we got to see and hear a lot of wildlife close up. You know that there are very few tourists around when the deer start taking photos of you! At Vega State Park the lady Ranger was so pleased to see someone that she offered to lend us some snow-shoes to do the walks in as the snow was still 3ft deep in places… real friendly in Colorado.
Talking about wildlife… we parked at a remote location (called High Point) in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park to do a walk recommended by a very bored Ranger (only a couple of visitors that day) who had time to chat and exchange jokes about a so called ‘problem bear’ in the park. After lunch in our RV (a packed lunch is not recommended as apparently bears can smell food from 5 miles away) we were already outside locking up the RV only to hear Jane shout ‘BeeaAR!!’ and pointing. A big black bear was making his way towards the empty picnic ground only 15ft from the RV… he heard us… stopped, looked, sniffed and carried on ambling across the picnic site in front of us and disappeared into the undergrowth.
I was so surprised that by the time I had got the camera out of my pocket (Jane had quickly opened the RV door) the bear had gone behind a bush and we never got a clear shot of him – Damn! We thought about it for 5 mins and decided to do a different walk… closer to the Visitors Centre… The bears are just coming out of hibernation and are pretty hungry. There was only one other empty jeep at the High Point trail head – let’s hope the occupants didn’t take a packed lunch with them : ). It was an amazing experience that we have not stopped talking (or dreaming) about. OK, we had hoped to see bears on our travels… at Yellowstone maybe … a 100ft away… from inside the RV… but this unexpected encounter will make us a bit more wary for the rest of the journey.
The big surprise about Colorado is not the cold, the stunning mountain scenery or the bears but the amount of conventional agriculture at altitudes where in Europe it would just be Alpine pasture? Colorado, starting at 4,000ft with 54 peaks at over 14,000ft and a very short growing season (May – Sept)... we were stunned to see so many vineyards, farmyards and orchards (peaches etc) there are – something in virtually every mountain valley. Other surprises include the number of birds you get with blue colour in them at 5000ft (Blue birds, several types of jay, painted bunting etc) and coming across lots of huge brown velvet butterflies when walking at Vega (8000+ft) when everything was still dormant and covered in snow?
Having spent our whole lives at sea level we have suffered from the altitude even after 5 weeks. They say that at 5000 ft the air carries only 70% of the oxygen it does at sea level. We found we got out of breath quickly, with headaches and chest pains and felt weak especially walking in the heat… so with that and the colder weather our walking average has come down to around 5 miles a day since Utah.
Mesa Verde is a World Heritage park/site with some amazing well preserved Pueblo cliff dwellings. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park…South Rim - remote, (a very remote campsite, 103 site but just 2 RV’s camping) rugged 2000+ft sheer dark grey cliffs with coloured streaks. The North Rim was similar – but no visitor Centre here - just dirt tracks and more like being on safari than anywhere else we have been in the USA. We only saw 2 trucks and 3 other people all day - not a good place to break down etc. Colorado National Monument – we spent a day on the 22 mile scenic drive and walked the trails to the various lookouts – some great monoliths and canyons.
Seeing that the source of both the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers are here in Colorado has made us think that our journey so far has been a tale of two rivers. First we followed the Rio Grande west and then the Colorado north. Both these mighty rivers (sadly tamed by numerous dams) would have been both barrier and highway for untold numbers of people during the history of the discovery of North America. Unlike many of these explorers who settled along the way, we have to find our way back home… or Kate will come looking for us! : )
