2009 - Week 5




May 14, 2009, Thursday:
Diana was up early again and walked Conrad. I was up at 7:00am and walked Daisy, returning at the same time as Diana. I can assure you that her walk was much longer than mine. We had a slow and lazy morning, leaving Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP around noon and heading northwest on US50 to Grand Junction CO. We arrived at 2:00pm. The temperature was 84 degrees, the warmest of the entire trip so far. Everyone made a mad scramble for shorts and short-sleeve shirts. We mulled over what to do and finally decided that we would take a walk over the hills at the rear of the KOA. When had to walk about a 1/2-mile before getting on the restricted land. There were several trails back there including the Gunnison River Trail and the Spanish Trail. We hiked as far as we could, finally stopped after traveling 2.25-miles by fences with ‘No Trespassing’ signs. The view north from the top spot on the hike was awesome. The sun was brilliant on the Book Cliffs. The cliffs on the south side (the edge of the Colorado National Monument) were in the shade but from our 2003 trip we know it will be great tomorrow morning. We didn’t take Daisy, as her feet were still hurting. Not sure what the problem is but we’re trying all sorts of things. Maybe the next step is booties like the sled dogs use during the Iditarod Race in Alaska. Susie made dinner as the sun and temperature went down. We again played cards until 10:00pm, then to bed.

May 15, 2009 Friday:
Typical morning: walk the dogs, have breakfast and talk for a bit. We left for the Colorado NM, thinking that we’d be traveling for about 3 hours, as the trip through the Monument is only 23 miles. We entered from the west end through Fruita and headed up the southern Book Cliffs.

2009 – Week 5We stopped at all but one overlook. It was wonderful having Paul drive the Honda and me not the RV. The Visitor Center was about 4 miles from the entrance (it really pays to enter from the west). We took a few small hikes along the edge of the cliffs and had lunch at the only shady picnic table in sight. Continuing along we saw numerous examples of what erosion will do to create rock sculptures and expose material laid down and then exposed over the years.

We were even able to see some pre-Cambrian period rock, 4,500 Ma (million years ago) to 540 Ma. The most amazing view was a very, very large section of cliff named Fallen Rock that has been separated from the main cliff and slide down a hundred feet without falling over.
We continued on and eventually left the Monument after 5 hours. Back to the KOA where we took the dogs for a walk, and took showers. After we fed them, we were so hungry that we went to the Outback Steakhouse for the final dinner of Paul and Diana’s visit. Back to the KOA where we played the last game of cards for the Intergalactic Championship. I am pleased to announce that I won even though I almost fell asleep during the game. We went to bed, and Paul, Diana and I had a great sleep, but Susie didn’t because she was too hot. Maybe she can catch up tomorrow when we’re doing laundry and working on the blogs.

May 16, 2009 Saturday:
Diana and Paul’s departure day. We had a Diana special breakfast and talked until the realization that Paul and Diana had to finish packing the car and take Conrad to the dog park to burn off some energy before the drive back to Sedalia, a bit south of Denver. They left the KOA at 11:00am and reached home around 5:30pm. We had a great time with them and Conrad. He’s going to be a great dog as Diana trains him. Susie and I jumped in to do the tasks that needed to be done before we headed into Utah tomorrow. These included the laundry, Susie working very hard to catch up with her drawings. The last one she had completed was for Monday May 11th. Each day takes about 4 hours of work from deciding what to draw to pencil drawing to inking and finally coloring. This doesn’t include the photography or transferring the info to the blog. By the time she came to bed at 11:00pm, she had all the pencil work done, all but one inked and no coloring. The KOA was full early in the evening so it should be a quiet night.

May 17, 2009 Sunday:
Up again early this morning. Susie finished inking her pages and started coloring. I packed up the RV, and after showers we left at the 11:00am checkout time. The first stop was the grocery store where were restocked the pantry and freezer. We headed west on I-70, stopping for gas in Fruita CO. The gas prices in Grand Junction were all over the place, ranging from 2.25 to 2.49. Thee didn’t seem to be any rime or reason for these price swings. Off we went west into Utah and then south on UT128 towards Moab UT. All along I-70, we saw the La Sal Mountains where we were almost trapped by snow in 2004. These mountains are in excess of 12,000 feet and are still snow covered. We completely befuddled Gabby Garmin, but we had traveled this road three times before so we knew more than she did. In general, this route follows the Colorado River into Moab, and we are firmly convinced that the road scenery in the best we have ever seen on our trips (and we’ve seen some great scenery). We stopped in the Dewey Bridge Recreational Area to have lunch and let Daisy swim. The Dewey Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in UT when it was built in 1906. It was restored in 2000, but it is impossible to see what was done because there in no bridge decking and the cables seem badly deteriorated. Dewey Bridge is at the north end where the Colorado River started to erode the rock, creating its canyon with beautiful red rock cliffs. We saw several interesting rock formations, but the one that has stuck with us is the Fisher Tower. It is unusual because the rock has eroded into horizontal lines and it looks very different that other columns we have seen. It looks very much like a building.


The Colorado River was flowing fast and full (25,000cfs), and the rafters and kayakers were having a terrific time. Red Rock Resort is about 15 miles north of Moab, and they seem to have all sorts of activities including horseback riding, motorcycles, and kayak and raft trips. We believe that they took people up the river on rigid inflatable boats and then let them off to float downstream. We wanted to camp in the Arches National Park Campground, but it was full when we checked at 4:30pm. We headed back north on UT128 because there were several small campgrounds in the Colorado National Recreation Area. We finally found a spot in Hal Canyon Recreation Area, but were in the sun when we stopped at 5:15pm. By 5:30pm, the sun went behind the cliff on the west side of the Colorado, and the temperature started to drop. We started dinner at 6:30pm, worried that the sunlight will fail early. At Arches NP, the temperature high for the day was 88 degrees, and it is expected to reach a high of 92 tomorrow. We’ll have to get up early tomorrow to take our hikes.


May 18, 2009 Monday:
Well, the temperatures fell enough last night that we needed to get the warmer bed covers on. I awoke at 6:15am and took Daisy for a walk. When we returned Susie was up and had prepared coffee for us and breakfast for Daisy. Susie was a bit woozy just after she got out of bed, but she was able to hold things together, and we left the riverfront Hal Canyon campground and headed into Arches, going to the farthest point where we could hike before the sun increased the temperatures. We first stopped at the Visitor Center to see if we could get a campsite in the Park but we were too late (lucky us). We were concerned about Daisy in the RV and so planned only short hikes. There was a cool breeze, and we were able to orientate the RV to block most of the sun while letting the breeze flow through. The first hike we took was to the Landscape Arch in the Devil’s Garden section. We heard last year that a big arch had fallen and thought it was this one, but we found as we rounded the bend, it was still standing. It turns out that it was Wall Arch (I found a picture of Wall Arch from our 2004 trip) back off the beaten track. We were happy to see Landscape Arch in place because it is magnificent!


We had breakfast and started south, stopping at the Sand Dune Arch (up close) and the Broken Arch (from a distance). Next was the Fiery Furnace Overlook.
In order to walk through the Fiery Furnace, you need to be on a Ranger-led tour or have a backcountry permit. We had neither so had to be satisfied with the overlook. The overlook had an aerial photograph, and we bet it would be a great walk in cool temperatures. Next was the Salt Valley Overlook. The Salt Valley was formed when the residual salt from the time the area was covered by ocean was compacted and liquefied by the later deposits of heavy materials. The salt moved and the rock above collapsed into the void and created the valley. There are numerous colors in the valley, but they don’t show well in photographs. Next stop was the arches names North Window, South Window and Turret. We were able to climb into there, and found to our delight that there was shade and breeze. That was our last view of the day, as the temperatures increased, and we were getting tired. We had been drinking lots of water, but that didn’t seem to help. Of course, if we hadn’t been drinking the water it could have been worse. We headed out of the park and found a commercial campground with electricity, water and sewer. There was one space left, and we took it. Susie made a great lunch, and all three of us took a 2-hour nap. We debated if we should go back into the Park to see the Delicate Arch, but at 6:00pm the temperature was still above 90 degrees. We bagged it and made our plans for the next few days. NOAA says thunderstorms and a temperature break Wednesday evening so we’ve decided to hunker down her for another night and head south on Wednesday.

May 19, 2009 Tuesday:
When I woke at 6:15am, there was something unexpected with the weather. What was forecast to be a clear sky that was to change to a 20% chance of thunderstorms in the late afternoon became complete cloud cover and much lower temperatures. I checked NOAA, and the weather was ahead of the forecast. We drove northwest to the Island in the Sky (north) section of Canyonlands NP where, at the Visitor Center, we had breakfast and collected info on the activities for the day. I am a bit baffled to admit that I didn’t remember visiting the Island in the Sky area in 2004, but we must have.


There were 2 Park Ranger programs on geology at the Grand View Point Overlook, the extreme southern end of this park section. On the way there, we stopped at the Mesa Arch. That revived my memory. After listening to the Ranger talk, we headed out along the one-mile hiking trail to the end of Grand View Point. From here we were able to look down and see the White Rim Road that Diana and Paul had biked a few years ago as part of a group tour. The White Rim refers to a layer of white sandstone deposited about 250 million years ago. It was 1,000 feet below where we were standing. Another 700 feet down, you are at the bottom of the Monument Basin with all its wonderful rock formations. When we were at the point, we noticed that the sky had darkened noticeably, and the clouds were headed towards the RV with Daisy inside and the windows open. We hustled back, and were able to put all in order. While we have some wonderful pictures, the scale is so large that photography (at least with our limited skills) cannot take it all in. We headed north and by the time we had traveled less than 3 miles and stopped at Buck Canyon Overlook, the rain had just started. How lucky can we get? This is a place that receives an average of 9 inches per year, and we get to see a portion of it.

As we drove on, we looked to the west, and it was possible to see large wet (flooded is probably to strong a description) area on the White Rim. We continued on to the northwest, stopping at Upheaval Dome. On our way there, the rains really came down, and we waited in the RV for it to stop, before climbing to the viewing points. The Dome is a geologic feature whose origins are unclear. Some geologists think that a meteor hit the area about 60 million years ago, creating a hole about 6,000 feet deep. 60 million years later 5,000 feet of material has been eroded from the area so the hole is only 1,000 feet deep. At the bottom of the hole is colored material that is composed of iron oxide. The Park Ranger told us that this material is a slick as ice when it gets wet and that the big tires of the off the road vehicles are of no use in those conditions. When we reached the First Overlook, I remembered having been here also. It looked as if the skies were about to open again, so we hurried back getting there just in time. As I was opening the RV door, a gentleman from the adjacent car asked if we were really from MD and if so where. It turned out that he and his wife were from Cabin John, next to Bethesda MD. We drove back to the RV Park, signed up for another night so that we can go back to Arches NP now that the temperatures have dropped. On the way home, we saw a rainbow, probably an unlikely occurrence in this area. We had dinner, cafeteria-style, in a large room with about 200 people who were on a bus tour, and the evening activity was to take a boat trip (all at once) on the Colorado River. The whole feeding process reminded me more of a cattle feedlot operation than a cafeteria for humans. The Owners were very curious as to how we had heard of them. We said they had a notice in the RV Park (next door) where we were staying. The astonished comment was “ Oh, really?” I think we must have been the first, but we still had to pay. Susie is madly working on her drawings, and we hope to be able to post another update before we leave here.

May 20, 2009 Wednesday:
A beautiful morning; cool and clear. Leaving the RV Park at 10:00am, we went back into Arches right after breakfast to take advantage of the temperatures. We made the 4-mile roundtrip to ‘Delicate Arch’ and had a great time. It was hot in the sun, but every so often we had shade and it was noticeably cooler. We had a confrontation in the parking lot with a tour bus operator who felt that he should have a parking spot rather than having the driver move whenever someone needed to get past. Susie said that she could see from my expression that Mount St Helens was about to re-erupt. We were able to protect Daisy from the sun and so off we went. As we went up, there were several school groups on class trips, and they were great. The group of 60+ from Greeley CO was traveling for 5 days and sleeping in high school gymnasiums on pads with sleeping bags. They had protection from the weather and showers were available(for which the parents were thankful). There were several parents who had taken a week vacation to assist. Everyone was having a great time. The next group was from West Virginia University with the purpose of exposing the students who were having trouble deciding what they wanted to do in life. Little do they know that whatever they decide this year probably won’t be what they end up doing. Anyway, it was a great trip for them. Once we reached the Delicate Arch we saw another group of kids running around on the stone ledges without a care in the world. If they had slipped off the ledge, it was about a 100-foot drop to the bottom of a large hole. The only loss we saw was a water bottle, but it seemed to sober the kids up for a few seconds. As we were walking towards the arch to get a better view and take pictures, we heard a wife say to her husband “John, please don’t go close to the edge.” I said to the couple, “I have heard the similar comment” as Susie often says to me “Jamie, don’t go any near to the edge.”. I think this must be a common phrase used by numerous families. There were further comments about being late in sending in the insurance payment, lack of Accidental Death policies, etc. We then hiked down, went to the Arches NP Visitor Center and watched the introductory video. Seems we’ve got it backward. The last event of the day was a 10-mile trip up the Colorado River to find a spot for Daisy to swim. Lo and behold, there was a group of 7th graders from Aspen CO who had just completed a river raft trip. Daisy didn’t have any idea what to do with all those screaming teenagers, but decided the water was too good to miss. She got a lot of laughs from the parents watching the kids. Off they went after about a half-hour, and the silence was deafening. She swam for about 30 minutes in the cold water before we headed back. We took showers, had dinner and worked on administrative issues. It was to be our last night for wifi for a week so we needed to get caught up. Susie stayed up late to draw and take pictures to be prepared for the next blog issue. I don’t know if we are slowing up or the work has become more complicated, but we seem to always be behind. Of course it may be that we’re spending more time outdoors and thus have less time for indoor stuff.