Author Archives: Jill and Bud

On Sunday evening Bud was putting air back in our truck tires in anticipation of our move to Montrose, Colorado on Monday. (The recommended inflation for towing is higher than normal, which makes for a rough ride without the trailer, particularly on unpaved roads.) He noticed that the new shocks we had put on June 15 in St. George, Utah, didn’t look right. He called me to take photos. Meanwhile, our neighbors at the campground in Moab returned from a day of off-road driving.

They said the shocks were mounted wrong. One of them jumped up and down on the back bumper while I took this little video of the movement. You can see that the top of the rod is going up and down. It shouldn’t do that.

It shouldn’t do that because if it does eventually it will punch a hole up through the bed of your truck. Oh no! We hadn’t seen the hole because the bed of the truck has a rug in it. We thought the noise we heard on some rough roads was something we had stowed wrong, though we couldn’t find it.

The neighbors said it should be a quick job to get them fixed, but it was already Sunday evening, nothing was open and we wanted to leave on Monday.

Monday morning Bud called the garage that installed them and had to leave a message. He then called and left a message at a local garage. The place in St. George called back right away. It turns out he is friends with the guy from Moab, so he sent a message asking the Moab garage to help us out. The local garage called Bud back and by eight-thirty our truck was up on the lift. Turns out a convex washer had been installed upside down (on both rear shocks) and so had broken. The mechanic was able to heliarc weld them back together and before 10:30 Bud was back with the repaired truck. We never saw the bill, it went directly to the garage in St. George. And when we have time to make a permanent repair on the bed, the St. George garage will pay for that and a spray on bed liner. Wonderful! We pulled out just a couple of minutes after the 11:00 AM checkout time.

We took the back way which eventually got us into some beautiful country, but not until we’d come down some steep and snakey hills. The one in Utah was marked as a 9% grade. Once we got into Colorado the grades weren’t marked. They were pretty stingy with their guardrails, too.

We think this is Telluride in the distance. We were just northwest of the area.

We finally made it to about a mile from the main route up the valley into Montrose when up ahead there was a construction vehicle on the side of the road and a highway worker stopping traffic. Cars were passing one at a time, and most were turning left, not going straight. When it was our turn he asked if we were going to Montrose. We were. The road was closed in that direction (due to an accident; Bud asked) and we could either wait for a couple of hours or take the detour on County Road 1. After the drive we’d just had on state highways I asked if we could pull the trailer on that road. “You can,” he said. “It’s gravel but the people who live up there have trailers.”

We took the detour. There was a steady stream of cars both ways. The road went up a very steep hill, but that part was paved. The miles of ridge top road were not paved, but it was the hardest packed, smoothest gravel road I’ve ever been on. Then that road was closed due to utility work, so we had to take a detour on the detour! The whole time it was steady traffic; cars, motor homes, even a few semi’s. The hill back down was not as steep and at 3:30 we finished what should have been less than a three and a half hour drive to Montrose and Cedar Creek RV Park.

Our reward? Cedar Creek really is a creek. With water, and trees!

Before we left Bluff we took one more tour.

This was at Hovenweep National Monument. Matey could come on this trail that led around a small canyon with some unusual native ruins.

These were very well made structures, but not linked as in the other pueblo ruins we had seen.

There were a number of buildings around the edge of the canyon,

and two towers down in the canyon. No one knows just what these buildings were for, but we do know they were built by natives, probably the same ancestors of the modern Pueblos that built the villages at Mesa Verde.

At Moab we visited a couple of petroglyphs sites.

Not only did we see some unusual and well preserved petroglyphs, the ride and terrain around them was spectacular.

Do you see the Jeep on the OHV road (Off Highway Vehicle, as they call them here)? That’s right across the side canyon of the Colorado where we were.

We took another day to visit Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park.

Dead Horse Point State Park was beautiful, but small. At least Matey got to walk on some trails there. The road you see below was not part of the park, the park ended at the point.

Unless you have an OHV or are doing some serious backcountry hiking and camping…

The Island in the Sky part of Canyonlands is a series of overlooks;

admittedly…

very

forbidding…

but beautiful overlooks.

We all agreed we preferred Aches.

To get a break from unending rocks we drove the La Sal Mountain Loop Road. As we got higher into the mountains we came to trees.

And more trees,

these little blue butterflies,

and these really big trees.

We even saw some snow still up on the mountains. It was a nice break and a foretaste of things to come.

My apologies for the gap in posts. While in Moab I couldn’t get any of my photos transferred to my iPad. I’m doing three posts to catch you up. First is our two days in Arches. This park is so popular that you now need a timed entry permit to get in anytime between 6 AM and 5 PM from April 3 to October 3. Happily I had known this and applied for and got entry tickets for between 7 and 8 AM on June 22nd and 23rd. This meant a very early morning, especially on the 23rd when Matey didn’t go and had to be walked before we left. Fortunately our RV park was only 20 minutes from the entrance.

Arches National Park has the highest concentration of stone arches in the world with over 2000 in the park. The first ones we saw were these double arches, although we chose not to hike up to them.

Instead we took the hike up to, and through the Window Arches. Here Adler and I are approaching the North Window Arch.

On the way up we got a good look at the Turret Arch.

From underneath you see and feel how huge these formations are.

As we scrambled down on the other side you could look back at both the North Window Arch (on the right) and the South Window Arch.

We took the primitive trail back, which led through this little valley hidden among the rocks.

We then drove out to the main park road past this odd formation.

We stopped at the view point for the Delicate Arch. This is one of the most photographed arches in the park. It is the lone remnant of a rock fin. We opted not to do the 3 mile hike up and back to the arch. My knee seems to be good only for a mile at a time.

We stopped at the overlook for the Firey Furnace, a hike here would have been great, but a permit is required and unfortunately that hike also seemed beyond Bud and my capabilities. Poor Adler, we told him he needs to come back with friends when he is old enough to drive. He’s being a great sport, though.

We also saw the Skyline Arch that day. Its placement along a prominent ridge makes it one of the most visible arches in the park.

The next morning we started our day with a hike through Devil’s Garden at the end of the main park road.

The trail was beautiful;

the morning sun on the red rock fins made some great photos.

We visited three more arches, Tunnel Arch…

and Pine Tree Arch, which were on spur trails,

and most spectacularly, Landscape Arch, the longest natural rock arch in North America. This is as close as you are now allowed to approach. In 1991 60 tons of rock fell from the bottom of the formation. Happily, the people under it heard the cracking and ran back before it fell.

Bud and Adler went a bit further on the difficult trail that continued. Adler made it to the top of the uphill scramble, but Bud couldn’t and I was waiting below so he turned back.

Later we took a gravel road out through Salt Valley to Klondike Bluffs and the trail to Tower Arch.

This started with some rock scrambling.

I made it far enough to see the tower arch, which you can just about make out in this picture. Looking down the left side of the tower you can see an oval impression in the rock wall just below the tower. That is the arch.

I was proud of Bud and myself for making it that far, this is the “moderate” elevation we climbed up. Look closely just right of center and you can see a bit of the road coming in.

This is looking down at the truck after we’d climbed down the first steep section and we’re ready to climb the last steep part.

And here is Adler, just below me on the trail. Yes it was steep, but I made it, bunged up knee and all.

We all loved Arches, a very different experience than Mesa Verde, but equally interesting.

We have visited several Pueblo tribes on our trip so far and have seen rock art from ancient Indian groups, so visiting the Long House held extra meaning. Mesa Verde National Park encompasses several inclined mesas, or cuestas. Only two of them have roads and developed sites to visit. The main road extends along Chaplin Mesa and there is a side road, open only from May through October that extends along Wetherill Mesa. The cuesta slants at about 7 degrees from north to south. The park road enters on the higher, north side and once reaching the top of the mesas runs all the way to the south end. The Wetherill Mesa Road turns off the main park road on the Chaplin Mesa, crosses the canyon to the Wetherill Mesa and runs to its southern end. All this makes for an interesting, if somewhat harrowing drive.

We had tickets to the ranger led tour of the Long House cliff dwelling on Wetherill Mesa. The cliff dwellings are under the rim of the southern end of the cuestas, because that’s where the water runs down, seeps into the sandstone, freezes and carves out chunks of sandstone that form alcoves. Our tour was at 11:30, the park entrance was an hour and a half from our campground and the park information said to allow an hour and a half to drive the 30 miles through the park. We could have made it in less time, but the park roads are not built for hurrying. The Wetherill Mesa Road had a speed limit of 25 mph for most of its length, steep inclines, switchbacks and for all but one sharp turn, no guardrails. There are no pictures of the drive because I was too busy simultaneously gazing around and gripping the armrest.

Once we parked we had to walk 3/4’s of a mile on the top of the Mesa to get to the meeting point for the tour. Then it was another 1.1 miles down stairs and a switchback trail to the site.

At our first glimpse of the Long House we knew it had been worth it.

Our group gathered where the trail came into the west side of the dwelling. We met our ranger guide, Michael.

After a brief introduction Michael led us up the two fifteen foot ladders to the main level of the dwelling.

There were several levels, including small rooms tucked way up under the roof of the alcove.

Michael explained that the dwelling was expanded over time and that earlier construction was crude, with unshaped blocks and extensive use of mortar and small chinking stones.

Later construction used carefully shaped blocks and much less mortar. In reading the park brochure I learned that people had lived on the top of the mesa since about 500 CE (current era), while the cliff houses were built from about 1150 to 1300 CE. They did use the cliff alcoves but didn’t live there. During the years they lived on top they improved their building skills. I would guess that the early walls and rooms were built by the people living on top of the mesa and incorporated into the dwellings once the people moved below.

It is not known why they chose to move to the alcoves. We do know that their culture was prospering. They were growing corn, beans and squash on the mesas and not only were their own families growing, but people were moving in from other places. There are at least 600 alcove dwellings in the park. The Long House is the second largest (Cliff Palace has a few more rooms) in the park and in North America. One draw can be seen in this photo. If you look to the right of the remnants of the rooms, you can see an open area where the shale floor meets the sandstone roof. The green is plants growing at a seep spring. The water that permeates the sandstone comes out when it hits the impermeable shale. That both shaped the alcove and produced the springs. Those springs were essential during dry periods.

Central to their lives and their belief system were their Kivas. This photo is looking down at the original floor of a kiva built about 800 years ago! Looking from the lower right towards the upper left you can see the ventilator (the rectangular opening in the wall and the space behind the wall). Next is the short wall of the air deflector and the round fire pit. An entrance ladder would descend from the center of the roof in this area. The docent at the Coronado site had told us that it was designed so you would come down through the smoke and be purified. Kivas were built partially underground. The small round opening above and left of the fire pit looked like a piece of PVC pipe. It is actually the sipapu and is the neck of a large clay vessel. It is embedded in the floor and is an opening to the earth and a reminder that these people believed they had come from below the earth into this world on a journey to find their proper or ideal home.

Our tour took us all across the upper story of the dwelling and then down into the plaza. Michael told us that the plaza was the center of their social interactions. He also explained that these dwellings in Mesa Verda held a unique place in the native culture. Here many people came together and shared ideas and skills.

But after a number of years their crops were failing, perhaps because of a drought combined with too many people growing crops on the mesa fields which may have depleted the soil. In the end the people decided this was no longer the right place for them and the groups dispersed. The Zunis, Jemez, Acoma and other pueblo communities we had passed all had Mesa Verde as a former home. These people still come here to visit their ancestral home and to hold spiritual ceremonies. Our guide told us a Hopi elder told him they always end their ceremonies with a prayer for all people to live in peace and in balance with the earth.

We left with a greater appreciation of the skill and wisdom of these people.

And for their physical abilities, because we learned they had no steps to get up and down, but traversed the canyon with hand and toe holds cut into cracks, and often were carrying clay vessels on their backs held up with straps around their foreheads!

On Thursday we drove 319 miles, which is the farthest we’ve driven since we left Arkansas. We were up early and left the campground at 6:40.

The drive went well, into Arizona, back into Utah, into Arizona again and arriving in Bluff, Utah before 2:00 PM. Still it was a long day and Bud had a bit of a headache, so today I thought we’d just go about 5 miles down the road to Sand Island to view petroglyphs.

We found two short trails along the cliffs along the San Juan River (the same river we were camped near in Bloomfield, NM in the beginning of May) both of which had some nice panels of petroglyphs.

Signs there said they were from 300 to 3000 years old. We could tell some were really old, but they didn’t show up well enough to photograph.

When we were getting ready to leave there, Bud asked if we’d like to continue west to Monument Valley. Well OKAY, if he was willing to make the hour drive we were willing to go along.

Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park. To me it was like the inverse of the Grand Canyon. Instead of a plain with a deep canyon eroded through it, you are on a plain where everything has eroded except these towering rock structures. The park is 91,696 acres. It has a 15 mile gravel road through it that winds around the mesas, buttes and spires.

I struggled, as I have been all through the southwest, to capture the grandeur of it. Here I am at the base of one end of Cly Butte. Were I to walk up to the base I would not be tall enough to reach up to the lowest crack in the cliff.

This is the view when I turned around. The spires in the distance, probably well over a mile away, are the Three Sisters.

This is a closer view of the Three Sisters.

I had Adler climb up on one of the smaller boulders at the base of one end of the Spearhead Mesa.

Here Bud and Matey are resting in the shade of a huge boulder at the same end of Spearhead Mesa.

At the overlook at the Navajo Code Talker Outpost you can see how a more erosion resistant layer is creating flat-topped columns.

These huge columns, which were still quite distant, were two formations, one called the Totem Pole and the other Yei Bi Chei. Notice the sand dunes in front of them.

These dunes, not far from the Totem Pole, were easily as tall as a two story house. Adler really wanted to walk out and climb them but you aren’t allowed to hike on your own and the dunes were probably a mile away.

We drove out, leaving West and East Mitten and Merrick Buttes and all of Monument Valley. We got back to the trailer at 3 after another busy day. And tomorrow we need to leave here at 7:30 to get to our tour on time at Mesa Verde National Park. Whew!

Monday Matey stayed home while Bud, Adler and I went back to Zion.

We left very early and were on the shuttle by 7:40.

We turned off Utah 9 and onto the restricted road up through the main canyon, the canyon of the Virgin River.

The last stop of the shuttle was at the Temple of Sinawava, which is also the trailhead for the Riverside Walk which leads to the Narrows. The Narrows was the trail Adler most wanted to hike.

You are immediately surrounded by the huge rock walls.

Riverside Walk is a paved trail the leads along this beautiful canyon.

I’ve run out of superlatives to describe the beauty of this place.

We followed Riverside Walk just over a mile up along the river as the canyon narrowed.

Along the way we passed some very tame wildlife, like this mule deer,

and this squirrel, one of many.

We passed this spring…

and interesting rock formations,

a lot of interesting rock formations.

At the end of the Riverside Walk was the Narrows. The canyon walls come right to the river here so the trail takes you through the water.

The water was cold. Adler took this picture of me picking my way across the rocky bottom.

Even as early as we were, there were a lot of other people wading up to see this magnificent canyon.

After a bit we came to a place where it looked like you had to wade in up to your waist. I decided not to do that, so I took Bud’s keys, wallet and phone and the pack and his hat from Adler.

I stood in the cold water and watched them wade away from me. I noticed others coming back and they were only wet to their thighs. I changed my mind and followed, now carrying everything.

I made it through the deep part and was rewarded by this lovely spring running down the canyon wall.

I found Bud and Adler, but the current was getting more swift and the bottom more stony.

We decided to turn back. The guide said the Narrows was a nine mile out and back trail, we had probably not made more than a half mile, but it was enough for us.

We walked back to the Riverside Walk…

and back to the shuttle stop.

I can see why so many people visit Zion, and why private cars are kept out of the Virgin River Canyon. There were many more hikes we could have taken…maybe next time.

I was looking for another short hike in the area and I came across the Anasazi Trail in The Red Cliffs Recreation Area. Some reviews said there were Plebloan ruins, but no petroglyphs, some said petroglyphs and ruins, some mentioned dinosaur tracks.

It was another beautiful area. When we got to the trailhead area there were several trails. Adler and Bud had spied some signs up on a ridge with a narrow path leading up, so that’s the way we headed.

Turns out the signs were next to some dinosaur tracks. These are thought to be from bipedal meat eaters from the Jurassic period. You can just make out the three front toes in the photo. They were much more striking in person.

From there the path went steeply up the side of a canyon.

It gave us a nice view of the entrance road.

We followed the path around the shoulder of the hill.

The path got quite narrow and eventually led to a skiddy slope down to a wash. The wash was well traveled so we continued up it.

We were in another canyon with red rocks and blue sky all around.

The sides got steeper and the bottom narrower.

Eventually we came to a place where it would be a scramble up rocks with no sign of a well worn path, ruins or petroglyphs.

We turned around there and walked back down the wash and when we were nearly back came to the trail that was probably the one to the ruins and (maybe) petroglyphs. But by then we were hot and tired and decided to be satisfied with dinosaur tracks and another beautiful canyon. We choose the short walk back to the truck and air conditioning.

Adler is with us now and we moved to Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane, Utah. We’re at just over 3,000 feet here, instead of the 1,700 feet of Mesquite, and it’s about 8 degrees cooler, topping off today at 102 instead of 110 degrees.

Last evening Adler and I walked Matey to a bluff overlooking the reservoir here. No trees, but the blue sky and the very blue water make a striking contrast to the red rock and sand, which is everywhere.

This state park is not far from Zion National Park. Since dogs aren’t allowed on the trails in National Parks, we’ve been driving through the parks on our first day of visiting to get the lay of the land with Matey along. In Zion, the main canyon drive is closed to private vehicles, too. The only way to go there is by shuttle. I found a trail (using All Trails again) that ended in a slot canyon and was on the other side of Zion, so we could see some of Zion and do the hike.

The road had a lot of switchbacks on the map and two tunnels so I thought it would be an interesting drive. Turns out the road is famously interesting. It’s the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway and Tunnel and was built from 1928 to 1930 to allow travel from Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon to Zion. On the west end it starts going up along Pine Creek Canyon from the canyon of the Virgin River that forms the main part of Zion.

There are some beautiful views of that canyon.

It’s hard to capture the grandeur of the area, but realize that you are not seeing scrub brush in this photo, but full-sized trees. This landscape is BIG.

After seven switchbacks you arrive beneath these cliffs and near the mouth of the first (and by far the longest) tunnel.

From below, you can see this opening in the cliff above you.

There are about five of them and they provide the only light and ventilation in the 1.1 mile long tunnel.

They also provide a spectacular glimpse of the canyons as you drive past.

At the east side of Zion you drive past the giant Checkerboard Mesa.

You might think our hike would be a disappointment after that spectacular scenery, but it wasn’t. It started out up a sandy wash.

Adler got to play a bit on the red rock slopes.

It was getting hot now so a narrow side slot was a cool place to rest.

A second side slot ended in what looked like stairs, but were too slick to climb.

The main slot had a sand bottom and smooth walls.

It wasn’t that long…

but it was very pretty.

It’s hard to beat blue sky, red rock and a pinch of green.

We were the only ones in the slot and all had fun climbing in the cool shade.

I flew to Buffalo and left Bud and Matey in the heat. They coped while I had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family. I took no pictures, so the only ones I have are for the last weekend, when our daughter, Jamie, her husband, Sean, and our grandson, Adler, were there. Jamie sent me these.

My friend Erin had us all over the Saturday Jamie got there. Her friend Vera obliged us with a four generation picture. Front row is my sister Joan, my mom and me. Back row is Sean, Jamie and Adler.

We informally celebrated three birthdays, my Mom turned 103 on May 13, Adler turned 13 on June 2 and Joan will be 80 on June 21. This is Adler, Joan and me with the cake I bought for Adler.

No visit to my mom’s is complete without playing games. This is Adler, me, my mom and Joan playing Lucky Seven, which we just call the dice game.

On Monday Sean, Jamie, Adler and I went on the Whirlpool Jet Boat out of Lewiston. The boat takes you upstream in the Niagara River (downstream of Niagara Falls) from the smooth water at Lewiston to the whirlpool and the class five rapids just downstream from it. I am the dorky one with only my face showing. However, they said we would get soaked, and although the air temperature was close to 80 degrees, the river water was just 60 degrees, so I wasn’t fooling around.

Here we are, ready to start our trip. The first four rows get the wettest, They all wanted to be there but by the time we got in the boat there was only room for two more. Adler took one and persuaded me to take the other. We’re on the left in the third row. Sean and Jamie are also on the left, but in the second row from the back.

The folks in front got doused more often and more thoroughly,

but we all got very, very wet! You can see my blue hood and Adler’s brown hair in this picture. The top of my head was the only dry spot on me at the end of the trip.

We could use that dousing now. Adler and I flew back to Las Vega and are with Bud and Matey just over the state line in Arizona on the north side of Mesquite, Nevada. We bought a small room air conditioner to add to our trailer air conditioner. It was 107 degrees here, with both air conditioners going we were able to keep it below 85 inside.

It was 38 degrees early this morning at Kaibab Camper Village. It warmed up quickly and was up to about 60 degrees at 9 AM when we left for our next campsite.

We drove only 143 miles. We are here in Desert Skies RV Resort just over the Arizona line from Mesquite, NV. We are perhaps a tiny bit north of where we were on the Kaibab Plateau. However, there we were at just about 8,000 feet above sea level, here we are at just under 1,700 feet above sea level. It is dusk in this picture because it was 104 degrees when we arrived and Matey and I waited until near sunset, when it was a mere 98 degrees, to go outside.

We are back in the desert, back where the only trees are the ones that are planted and watered.

It does have its own beauty.

There’s a golf course just behind the RV Resort.

But we aren’t here for the beauty. We’re here because it’s about an hour and a half drive to the Las Vegas airport and I am flying to Buffalo to see my mom while Bud and Matey spend two weeks out in the desert heat. The forecast calls for it to cool off to the 80’s and then heat back to 101. But at least there’s nothing in the forecast quite as hot as today!