Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The focus of today was a 35-mile trip along Rock Creek, a pretty winding “crick” as it’s pronounced in Montana. We ended up in Philipsburg, a small town with many brick, Victorian buildings. One of them provided us with great ice cream; Moose Tracks for Dave and the best chocolate soda I’ve had in years.

Yesterday was housekeeping. We did laundry and thought we were getting the tires rotated on the Lazy Daze. Dave noticed one of the tires was wearing thin on one side and we don’t want a blowout while we’re driving. But surprise: we need a lot of work done on the wheels. Why? Because our motor home is heavy. Hopefully, the work will be done tomorrow morning and we can head north to Glacier National Park.

We’re staying at Jim and Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, MT and a pretty park it is, with lots of flower beds. We’ve met several neighbors. One lady was telling us that she lived in her motor home “for now” with two cats and Murphy, a big, gentle Golden Lab that she found in a humane society. Another couple asked for a tour of our Lazy Daze and pronounced it perfect for them. They want a little more room than their fifth-wheel provides them. Most people in the RV parks seem often to be on the lookout for their next RV. Size-wise, they are looking to move up or down. We are very contented with ours (even if it is heavy!).

Monday, we visited the National Bison Refuge, a large piece of property where 400-500 bison wander peacefully about. They are not intimidated by cars and so you can get very close to them. They are amazing creatures: huge bulky heads and bodies with skinny, delicate legs. One was rolling exuberantly in the dust. We also saw pronghorn (similar to antelope) and a beautiful elk, munching grasses he was pulling out of Mission Creek. The hills are so strange-looking here. From a distance they look like they’re covered with tan suede. Lines of trees follow indentations down the hills and there are groups of trees on the top, but otherwise the hills are bare, with just a tree here and a tree there.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

KOA had a nice campground in Dillon, MT. We heard the sound of Canadian Geese in the distance (which seems to be increasingly common everywhere). We went to Bannack State Park on Friday. Bannack is a legitimate 1862 gold rush town. It hasn’t been commercialized like Calico in California and houses haven’t been moved here from other places. It’s a lovely site, set in the hills of the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest. Our approach into the hills surprised me: most of the hills are treeless. We ambled up and down the main drag, with short detours to Bachelor’s Row (small one-person dwellings) and the town jail. The town had inhabitants until 1974, then it became a state park. Because there were many women in town, many of the homes have remnants of wallpaper layers still up on the walls. It was a pleasant afternoon.

Yesterday, we had a pleasant drive to Stevensville, MT, although several fires in the mountains created a pall of smoke.  We stopped for lunch at Big Hole National Battlefield, a commemorative spot where Nez Pierce Indians suffered a significant loss in one of many battles they fought with the military. It’s the same old story: they accepted being confined to a sizable reservation, but when gold was discovered on it eight years later, the reservation was decreased to ten percent of its original size. Some Indians accepted that; others did not. Some vengeful young warriors killed some white settlers, the military was sent in, and the Indians went on the run. After half of the tribe’s 800 members were killed or dispersed, they surrendered. A depressing story. On a cheerier note, there was a group of old V-8 Fords at the Visitor Center. The club members own Fords made between 1942 and 1962. Most of them were in beautiful shape, gleaming in the sunshine.

Today we’re enjoying the Charles Water Campground, a peaceful place, with Bass Creek running nearby. It’s wonderful to once again enjoy the odor of dusty, dry pine needles warmed by the sun. We went to Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge this morning. Our short walk didn’t reveal much wildlife besides a few white-tailed deer and some ducks. But after we got back in the car and went down a dirt road behind town, we saw an Osprey hanging out near its nest and two cranes, flapping along slowly in perfect unison. Later in the day, we went for another walk near the campground and started fooling around with the cameras. Photography is endlessly entertaining.

Wednesday, 090909

We’re finally on the road again. Departure was delayed a week because our black tank (sewage tank) developed a small leak. Dave tried various means to fix it, but finally sought professional help. Camping World was less than helpful; one said they didn’t do that kind of work, the other said they would just replace the entire black tank.. They didn’t want to take a look at it to see if it could be repaired rather than replaced, and told us the earliest date they would look at it was September 10. Finally, Dave found Advantage RV in Napa, a family-run place, that agreed to take a look at it, said a patch would fix it and had it done in 2 days for a very reasonable amount of money. We were very happy.

So we left a week later than we expected, and we won’t get to Lassen National Park or Dave’s cousins in Boise, but it’s much better to have a working black tank than not. The Bay Bridge was still closed yesterday on Labor Day, so we went up 101, east on 37 to Napa and picked up I-80 East. It was smooth sailing for us; not so much for west-bound holiday revelers heading back to the Bay Area. We saw about a 5-mile backup in Reno, due to an accident. We also saw various revelers returning home from the Burning Man Festival. Artifacts being towed or stowed included a propane-driven snail (about 15 feet high), a headless horse, and a very large Groucho nose with eyeglasses. It looked like people had a good time there this year.

After a lot more driving yesterday, we stayed in Jackpot, Nevada, a tiny burg with 5 casinos and a lot of RVers. Today we wended our way across Idaho, through farmland, then into lava country. We didn’t stop at Craters of the Moon National Park, an eerie, strange place. We camped in Arco and checked out “Number Mountain”, a large outcropping above the small town, where graduating classes since 1920 have painted their class graduation year in very large numbers. There’s also the requisite “A” painted on the hillside. (We also passed a town who probably shouldn’t have put their initials on their hillside: Battle Mountain, Nevada.) Arco also had the first nuclear power plant in the country (1955), and celebrates that fact by showing off the sail of a nuclear submarine, the USS Hawkbill.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Home again

We’re home once again. The weather is beautiful and unloading the RV hasn’t been bad. It’s been another good trip.

Last Tuesday, we steamrolled our way past Kodachrome Basin, Bryce Canyon and Red Canyon to get to Cedar City, our standard push-off point to drive 400 miles through Nevada. We usually take Highway 6, ending up at Mono Lake, but Tioga Pass is still closed at this time. We’ll take US-93 and US-50 across the state, roads on which there are darn few towns. So we filled up with food, milk, water and gas in Cedar City, and headed out, just like the pioneers of old. (Not exactly.) My birthday dinner occurred at Great Basin State Park, in eastern Nevada. Nothing fancy, but a beautiful location. Then, in the middle of Nevada, we discovered the Petroglyphs Recreation Site, a free campground with a great view of snow-covered mountains. So we’re doing a lot better at finding nice sites to stop at on Highway 50.

We were in our next to last RV park in Fallon, Nevada, on Saturday. Dave left at dawn to drive 45 miles back east to the Shoe Tree. He wanted a shot with clouds, but it didn’t happen. I, on the other hand, luxuriated in bed for a couple of hours, reading and sipping tea. What a life! Then we got our act together and drove to Carson City, then over to Lake Tahoe, went along the shore for a ways, then up and over Highway 50 into the mountains. Our goal was Plymouth, CA on Highway 49, home town of the Shenandoah Valley, our favorite wine-producing area.

We checked into our fancy RV park, parked next to a pond full of ducks and ducklings, and found out that Karmere Wines was open on Sunday, but not Monday. So we got over there by 4 p.m. and picked up a case of very good zins, syrahs and a couple of jugs of “The Temperance Tarts”. We returned to our lovely campsite, I fixed some appetizers and we sipped our way through sunset. The only dark spot on the day was that one mother duck who had three tiny chicks when we arrived, ended up with only two later. We looked around, but chick #3 had disappeared. The next day we cleaned the inside of the RV a little, visited a few more wineries and enjoyed the beautiful location.

Monday, May 4, 2009

After a couple of hours of driving on Saturday, we reached Capital Reef National Park, another beautiful place. As we searched for a campground, we passed another Lazy Daze and said hello. Later, Mike and Linda invited us over to see their rig and a glass of wine. It’s a 23-foot vehicle, so it’s set up a little differently from ours. We then had another glass of wine at our rig, so they could get a look at ours. They are full-timers, with no permanent house, who split their year between New Zealand and the United States. They keep a rig in New Zealand and spend summer in both countries, since New Zealand’s summer is our winter and vice versa. As we drove out the next day, we met another couple from Livermore, CA in their Lazy Daze. There aren’t all that many Lazy Daze rigs, so it is fun to talk about them with other owners.

Yesterday, we did one of our favorite drives in the country. We went on Highway 12 over Boulder Mountain. It was a mostly cloudy day, so the light wasn’t that great, but the views are still spectacular. Boulder Mountain has the best stands of aspen we’ve seen. They were still bare of leaves, but their white trunks, limbs and twigs gleam in any light.

In all our trips to Boulder, we never went on the Hell’s Backbone Road. We did today, and though it had a few nice spots, it wasn’t worth the 38-mile trip. So we continued onto the Burr Trail, one of our favorites. The ride starts out in white hills that are etched with vertical and horizontal breaks that create a grid effect. Then the road drops into Long Canyon, with 1,000-foot high red cliffs with huge alcoves where the rock has broken away. Although I’m very careful going up and down the gullies, my feet slipped out from under me and landed very hard, directly on my butt, adding to my collection of bruises, but not seriously hurting myself.

Tomorrow, we head to Cedar City, to stock up for our race across Nevada. Nevada has its own kind of beauty, but it’s a long haul across a lot of empty country. It looks like Nevada is where I’ll turn 60.

Friday, May 1, 2009

From Needles, we drove north to Moab in order to stock up for another dry camping experience at Goblin Valley State Park. Moab had very nice weather, so we got up early on Tuesday and went to Canyonlands’ Island in the Sky, an enormous mesa that is 2,000 feet above the Colorado and Green Rivers. It was much chillier and windier than we expected, but the light with the clouds was spectacular; it always is. The remainder of the day was spent grocery (and wine) shopping, but we went to the Moab Brewery to get a good burger and fish and chips. In the restaurant, we were entertained by videos of people whose off-road experiences didn’t go so well.

Currently, we’re ensconced in Goblin Valley State Park. This place is filled with strange sandstone formations that assume all types of weird shapes. The weather is extremely pleasant – around 78 outside with a little breeze. We got up early today and went down a couple of dirt roads into the San Rafael Reef (Isn’t that a great name?), a 2,000-foot-high, 30-mile long, spectacular ridge of multi-colored rocks in various states of erosion. There are natural bridges, arches and ancient rock art strewn about the deep canyons running through the Reef.

Today, we got up very early in order to drive east for 40 miles on a dirt road so we could begin the 7-mile hike to Horseshoe Canyon at a time to avoid the heat of the day. The hike worked out very well. When we got to the parking area, two married Park volunteers were getting ready to go down into the canyon. This was good because we could get a lot closer to the pictographs with them around.  There was cloud cover and the first couple of hours were very pleasant hiking. By the time we got to the Great Gallery, the sun was out and it warmed up considerably. But the Park volunteers were great. They spend every spring there for a week or two, acting as docents for the Great Gallery. We got to go up very close and they were pointing out all kinds of details we had never noticed before.

Afterwards, we sat in the shade and talked to Blaine, the volunteer, for a while. It turns out he is a golf pro, who retired early, along with his wife. They’ve done what we have: cutting back on some expenses and spending more on travel. As we were talking, a small bird landed on Blaine’s daypack and appeared to be looking for a way in. Then he fluttered directly in front of Blaine’s face, almost landing on his shoulder. A few minutes later, he landed on Blaine’s neck and was pecking at his collar. It was very strange to see a bird do this. We finally began to hike back, and though it was only 3.25 miles, it was much hotter and the 750-foot rise out of the canyon at the end was a slow, sweaty enterprise. But we had plenty of water (unlike a father with 3 young sons, who looked like he had one 12-ounce bottle for everyone) so we were fine.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

We didn’t make it into Canyonlands. At the first sign of nice weather, everyone comes out here and the small campground in the park is full. Luckily there is a good campground right outside the park limits. Lucky, because the park is 34 miles from the main highway with no developed campgrounds (though there’s lots of undeveloped areas). It’s still hard to believe that certain government flacks were seriously looking at using this beautiful area as a spent nuclear fuel storage area. (Not that I approve of Yucca Mountain in Nevada, either.) Anyway, we tried again and failed to secure a campsite in the park Thursday morning, so we probably are ensconced here for the duration of our stay. We got out for a walk at Pothole Point in the late afternoon, and while the rocks didn’t completely wow me, the clouds were spectacular – from deep-gray cloud explosions to blinding-white fluffy sheep-shaped clouds. One way or another, it’s always amazing here, with crazy weather and ever-changing light.

On Friday, we did the hike to Chesler Park, one of our very favorite hikes in the country. It started out with high clouds, but still was very nice. It’s fun to walk by rocks and trees that we remember photographing on past trips (that’s going back 25 years or so). Spring is beginning to spring here; there’s some Indian Paintbrush and locoweed blooming. The Needle rock formations are amazing, as usual. We enjoyed our lunch at Chesler, then hiked back and were back at our campground by 2:30. Later that afternoon, our friends, Don and Janet Curley, showed up with their Outfitter Pop-top Camper and a rented Jeep Rubicon (their Jeep is currently under the weather). We had a cozy dinner in our Lazy Daze, since the wind was blowing about 35 miles per hour and we didn’t want sand in our chicken.

The next morning, bright and early we went off on our first real off-road experience. Don and Janet have been off-roading for years and I felt very comfortable riding in the back seat, where I couldn’t get a good look at the road ahead. The Elephant Hill Road is considered very difficult in places and it is frightening right at the beginning; a very steep incline with lots of boulders and rock ledges. There’s one spot where you go down a portion of road in reverse. Don had no problem with any of it and we eventually were going down the Devil’s Lane, a sandy track. There was a vehicle stopped in front of us, and as the driver got out and walked back to us, we thought he had broken down. Instead, he pointed out a fantastic panel of rock art that Don said he had never noticed before. The big benefit of off-roading in Southern Utah is that there are ancient ruins and rock art all over the place. We ended up east of Chesler Park, and a short hike through incredible fissured rocks got us into Chesler for lunch. After that, we drove out to the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, a thousand feet below us. The two rivers are very different colors, so it’s obvious where they meet.

The next day we headed up Salt Creek and Horse Canyon. Don told us that this should be an easier road, but when we went for a backcountry pass, the ranger told us to look out for lots of heavy sand, lots of spots with water, and quicksand here and there. As soon as we were on the narrow track, there was deep sand with deep pools of water. Don sped up so as not to get stuck. I don’t know how fast we were going, but it felt like Mister Toad’s Wild Ride. The jeep was flying through the water so fast that sheets of it kept getting thrown up and you couldn’t see through the windshield for about 5 seconds. There were quick hard turns going at the same time. I guess it lasted 7 or 8 minutes but it seemed like a really long time. Wow! My mouth was hanging open the entire time. Totally amazing – and exhilarating! The last time I got a thrill like that was on the old roller coaster at Santa Cruz. There are holes in the bottom of the Jeep, and we had to drain out water that had flown in. Don later said that he’s driven through water and heavy sand before, but never for that long a stretch. I’m now totally converted to off-roading – as long as Don is driving.

Anyway, we saw some very good petroglyphs, pictographs and ruins that day, as well as Paul Bunyon’s Potty, a butt-shaped arch that lives up to its name. We went through the water on the way back, but because we were expecting it, it didn’t seem quite as drastic as the morning ride. Still, a great day. Don grilled steaks that night, and we celebrated the day. Unfortunately, they had to return the Jeep on Monday, so we parted ways until the next time.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

We made a fast escape from Chaco on Friday. The sky was leaden gray when we woke up, but it began to snow while we were showering, which did not bode well for the thirteen miles of dirt road. As we barreled along at 20 mph, the snow got pretty heavy, but was not melting on the road, which was the important part. Once on the highway, the snow immediately stopped and we drove up to Farmington unimpeded. We stayed in town at Mom and Pop’s Campground, pleasant enough, but surrounded by exceedingly ugly buildings. It was our first campground staring out at razor wire cyclone fences.

After stocking up, we headed to Hovenweep National Monument, another Anasazi ruins place that is out in the middle of nowhere. This group of people built houses on the edge of the canyon or on tall boulders sticking up out of the canyon. Some of these dwellings are amazing. We went on our first hike at 3:30 in the afternoon, when it was cooler (yes, suddenly it’s getting quite warm) and the light was better. We met a photographer at the end of the canyon where a lovely group of buildings are grouped. He photographed us photographing, telling us that he was shooting an article for National Parks Magazine and that it was hard to find people in good light doing stuff at the remote sites he was photographing. So our butts, bent over our cameras, may be in the summer issue of the magazine. It will cover Hovenweep, Chaco and Canyon de Chelly and his name is George Huey. Reminds me of our honeymoon, in 1989, when we spent ten days on a small boat in Alaska, and were videotaped as part of a production on Alaska. It’s only a moment, but it’s romantic, with us in silhouette, watching the sun set.

The next day we sat around in Hovenweep, enjoying the nice weather. We were going to take a 2 mile hike, but a little walking in the hot sun convinced us to cut that short, and Dave bumped over a dirt road to the Holly Ruins instead of us walking it. We hear that it’s 91in San Francisco, and are happy to be in 75-80 degree weather here.

After a short drive to Blanding, Utah, we are gearing up (shopping, filling up with water, dumping the grey and black tanks) to spend 5 or 6 days in the Needles area of Canyonlands. We will meet our friends, Don and Janet Curley there. They have a Jeep and will take us into the wilds on Saturday. We are looking forward to seeing them and the backcountry of Canyonlands.

In the meantime, tonight, we’ll see who got thrown off Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. We’ve also been able to watch HBO’s “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series. It’s great. Alexander McCall has written 7 or 8 books about Precious Ramotswe, a Botswani female detective, and the TV production really follows the novels pretty well.

Friday, April 17, 2009

The snow had melted at Bandelier but not in the Jemez Mountains! We couldn’t take our favorite route across the mountains; the RV isn’t meant for dirt roads covered with snow. So we took the long way around the mountains and passed the Jemez soda dam, a weird construction built over time by minerals in the water. We were debating going into Chaco; I was seeing a lot of puddles and when the red clay roads get wet, vehicles have no traction at all. We have slid into a couple of ditches over the years. But we decided to go and the sixteen miles of unpaved road was washboardy, but dry.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is an amazing broad canyon that contains six enormous “Great Houses” plus many smaller ones. Pueblo Bonito is the largest of these, with 600 rooms rising to four stories in some areas and 40 kivas (subterranean, round ceremonial chambers). These structures were created 800-1100 A.D. (By the 1300’s, like other pueblan communities in the Southwest, they were largely abandoned.) The great houses in Chaco Canyon were connected by roads to more than 150 great houses throughout the region. Some of the roads were used so heavily that the many feet traversing them have created channels in the rock. There are also “Chacoan staircases”, scary-looking, hand carved steps to help travelers climb vertical cliffs. It is believed by many that these roads were used primarily for trade and that Chaco was a major trade center. Perhaps local turquoise was traded for macaws, shells and copper items from distant lands. There are petroglyphs of parrots and sea turtles and other non-indigenous creatures. The National Park Service has excavated different great houses to differing degrees and has rebuilt certain walls to give a feeling for how the architecture looked long ago.

We went on a hike to Alto Pueblo, which is built on the mesa above Chaco Canyon. You begin by scrambling up 250 feet through a crevice in the cliff face. Then a mile of hiking brings you to Alto, which isn’t excavated much. I was thinking about finding the fossilized sheep teeth in the South Dakota Badlands, and began looking at all the rocks on the side of the trail. Something caught my eye: a fragment of black and white-striped pottery. A little later, Dave found three pieces. Having learned our lesson in the Badlands, we photographed them and let them be.

Wednesday, we got up at dawn and went to photograph Pueblo Bonito. Dave and I both have our favorite areas. Mine is a wall that is unfinished and is far from straight. Both of us were feeling worn out, and the high winds gave us a valid excuse to relax inside during the afternoon. Dave went out to catch some sunset light, but clouds were not cooperating.

We woke up to a layer of snow on everything on Thursday. It was chilly, but the winds had stopped, so we went on another hike to see Pueblo Chiquita. (I keep wanting to call it Chiquita Banana.) The big attraction to us was the petroglyphs near the Pueblo. They were extensive and interesting. In addition to the Anasazi petroglyphs, the Navajo’s have etched some wonderful horses and war scenes, and surveyors and sheepherders have left messages as well. Near another Pueblo ruin, archeologists surmise that a pictograph (painted, as opposed to being pecked into rock) of what looks like a star, may be an image of a supernova star that occurred during the time the Anasazi were in Chaco.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

We packed up everything and headed 50 miles to Bandelier National Monument. The busy US-84/285 Highway had quite a few pilgrims walking along the side, headed for El Sanctuario de Chimayo. Each highway exit had a sign, pointing the pilgrims off the highway, but quite a few just trudged along.

Bandelier is one of our favorite places. The ancestral Pueblo people built some large villages in the mid-1200’s. Bandelier has two sites exceeding 600 rooms. What adds to the experience is that they also built many cliff dwellings, enhancing and building in front of natural caves in the cliff. There is also the attractive Frijoles Creek, a small stream that created Frijoles Canyon. We went for a walk along the main loop trail, enjoying the late afternoon sun on the incredible cliffs. On Friday, we got a fairly early start on the trail down Frijoles Creek that goes to the Rio Grande. There was a warning posted that dead feral cows would be found along the trail from last November. (I didn’t realize that feral cows existed.) When they herded most of them out of the canyon, a few were too weak to go and were abandoned. We could smell them as we approached; it detracted from the hike quite a bit.

We listened to rain and snow on the roof during night and woke up to snow on Saturday morning. The sky would lighten and darken, the snow would be heavy or light, the flakes would be big or small or sleety. For Californians, it is fascinating to watch it snow. We didn’t do much all day; just went into Los Alamos to catch up with email.

Today we woke up to sparkling, ice- and snow-covered terrain, but it was already melting away by the time we got outside for a hike. There’s still not much sun, but the weather isn’t particularly cold. We did enjoy seeing a Red-naped Sapsucker outside the RV window as we ate lunch. The weather cleared up and we had a nice afternoon hike along Frijoles Creek to Alcove House and beyond. Alcove House is a high cliff dwelling and people with heart conditions are advised not to climb the four very steep ladders leading up to it. I was thinking of Mary P. as I labored my way up those ladders. The view is spectacular once you get to the top. It was a nice way to end our stay in Bandelier.