Hiking in the trees

Yesterday, I went hiking with Jesse, Dan, and someone Jesse met through the internet, Juan. Juan was here from Spain, visiting the southwest. We went up to the San Francisco Peaks, AZ and hiked the Kachina Trail #150 for about 3 miles from the parking area near Snow Bowl. The weather was quite nice with only slight drizzle for one short portion of the trip. Afterwards we ate at The Cattleman’s Lodge, a steak house in the Flagstaff area. I’m always amazed by the similarities between people throughout the world. Juan spoke of many of the same issues and concerns that exist in our country. I enjoyed the opportunity to speak with him.

Last weekend I spent over at Jeff’s place for his Birthday gaming weekend. Had a good time and I got a chance to speak with Paul regarding renting a room from me. We discussed the details and agreed on a move in date sometime in August.

Next weekend I plan to have a burgers and game day at my place. I will be getting Starcraft on the table as well.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 10

Well, I did my Lick Wash hike in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, UT this morning. I got up pretty early and got to the trail head. It was a fairly interesting hike and only slightly cold during it. When I got back to the car, I noticed that one of my rim lug nut covers was missing, as well as 1 of my lug nuts. I tightened the other nuts, as I found that they were all loose. Then proceeded to head back home. I made it back to the house by about 7pm. Overall it was a good trip, although I am somewhat disappointed that the weather was so bad up north. I’ll have to make another trip back up there at some point. Gas prices are so high right now, though, I don’t think it will be too soon.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 9

5:28pm - earlier today I hiked the lower calf creek falls trail in grand staircase escalante national monument, UT. It was about 6 miles round trip and ended at a high falls with a lot of water. I then drove to bryce canyon national park, UT which is where I currently am writing this. I did a quick 3 mile loop on Navajo trail down and then queens garden coming up. The hike down was very steep and through what almost felt like a cave, the walls of stone were so high around me. I am headed back to grand staircase now to sleep for the night. I'll be going down Skutumpah road and stopping somewhere along it. Tomorrow I think I'm going to do this slot canyon hike called lick wash.

7:34pm - I'm stopped for the night not too far Skutumpah Rd. I'm parked in some trees among a few campsites. I'll have some dinner and then read some more of my book, iCon.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 8

I'm feeling pretty good today. I drove down to Capitol Reef National Park, UT. I explored a bit of the north end of the park and found a nice little spot in some trees on BLM land just east of the park to spot for the night. The weather is much nicer down here. Warm and sunny. I got a map and hiking book for the Grand Staircase Escalante, UT. Tomorrow I'll hop over that way and do a hike. I found out that The Wave requires a permit and they are extremely limited. I have to show up at the ranger station at 9 am to try and get one of only ten they give out daily. I might try that in a day or 2. I'll have to see where I'm at. I finished up that WW2 history book and have started reading iCon, a book about Steve Jobs.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 7

Left Yellowstone NP, WY this morning around 9am. It was snowing again all the way out. Grand Teton NP, WY had much clearer weather and not much snow on the ground, but it was still raining/snowing there and quite cold. I basically drove through. I then drove down Hwy 89 through Wyoming, Idaho, and into Utah. The scenery in this area of the country is simple amazing. I could not stand the cold, but its quite green with lots of trees. Tonight I was driving fairly late and attempted to find some national forest land to sleep in overnight, but ended up staying at this Econolodge in Nephi, UT. Its a pretty sweet deal, so no complaints. I am heading down towards Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, UT tomorrow. I purchased a map in one of the gift stores so I might be able to explore that area some. I also recalled that Mark told me about an area called “The Wave”. It is in that same area I believe, so I’ll find out exactly and might check it out as well. Between gas prices and the weather, I don’t have a huge desire to keep traveling around on this trip. I considered driving out to South Dakota, but it would have added many more miles, so I decided to just head back south.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 6

This cabin isn’t the greatest quality. This morning while trying to take a shower, the water was just barely not cold. Good enough for a shower without much suffering, though. I spent the morning reading more of my WW2 history book and also playing a WW2 game on my computer (Commander - Europe at War). The weather was somewhat improved today, although still cold. I left about 1pm to go to Mammoth Hot Springs in the northeast of the park. It was an interesting area, but way too cold to walk around outside for long. I then decided to drive down to Old Faithful. The weather here has been strange, I would go through patches of heavy snow and then get sunshine a few miles later. After taking some pictures at Old Faithful (I didn’t wait around in the freezing cold for it to go off), I came back up to the cabin. I then took a quick trip to the “Grand Canyon of Yellowstone”. Its a fairly deep and steep canyon formed my the Yellowstone river. I went to the viewpoints for the Upper and Lower Falls on it. Its quite spectacular. Three things can be noted about Yellowstone. First, there is wildlife everywhere. You can hardly drive for 15 minutes without something being near the road. I’ve seem more buffalo than I can even count. Twice while coming into the Canyon Cabins where I’m staying, there was a buffalo off in the woods and then again one walking down the road. I’ve seen some elk and deer as well. Just all over the place, it might just be a good time of year to see them, I’m not sure. Second, the geothermal stuff is all over the park. Driving around I continually see steam rising from the earth. Its amazing how large of an area is being heated. Third, a lot of the park has burned. There was a huge fire in 1988 that took out about 1/3 of the park and almost every drive you see burned areas still. Its a shame that I can’t fully enjoy all that the park has to offer due to the terrible weather, but seeing it covered in snow is not a complete loss. Tomorrow I am leaving to go to Grand Teton National Park. On the way out I’ll stop by Yellowstone Lake. I’m not sure what I’ll do from here. Ideas range from going home to going to South Dakota, to going to the Grand Escalante National Monument. The weather just sucks everywhere up here right now.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 5

Yellowstone, made it after years of thinking about it. I left Salt Lake City, UT on Friday morning and drove up towards Yellowstone. I had made reservations for Friday night, despite the forecast for very cold (40’s) and snow. They had one of the cheap cabins available. On the way up, it was snowing before I even got to the park. I called 2 times to check on availability to extend my stand by an extra time and was successful on the second call. The final 12 miles to the cabin was quite difficult, as there was a fairly large amount of snow coming down. I managed to make it to the room by around 3-4pm, but discovered that the heater in the room did not work. After several hours of waiting for it to be fixed, they finally moved me to another room by about 8-9pm. It was quite cold before getting the new room. I spent most of the time reading my WW2 history book.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 4

2:01pm - Well I am sitting in a hotel room just outside of Salt Lake City, UT. This morning I woke up to even more rain and clouds with the forecast showing it continuing for today and tomorrow at least. I plan to check the forecast more and plan where I want to go next or if perhaps I should just stay here another day. So far on this trip I’ve had the following weather: freezing, raining, snowing. Never, EVER leave for a trip up north before July.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 3

1:44pm - Arches National Park, UT. This morning I woke to clouds and threat of rain, followed by actual rain. Checking the forecast and area satellite images showed the entire region covered with clouds. I did a short, 3.2 mile roundtrip hike to delicate arch. Rain and wind accompanied me for most of the hike. It was a light drizzle so not too bad overall. Next I may head to Colorado National Monument, CO. Tomorrow brings more of the same weather. Its a shame that yet another trip is ruined by me needing to leave too early in the season.

7:29pm - I'm settled in for the night north of grand junction, co on blm land just east of hwy 139. Its raining moderately hard at the moment and I hope that it lets up without too much rain or I might get stuck in mud trying to get out tomorrow. I wish that I had started this trip 2 days later as the weather seems like it will be improving at least in this area. I love sleeping in the car out in the middle of nowhere. Hotels feel so dirty to me, plus they are not cheap. My visit to Colorado nm, CO was very short. Between the rain and cold I just drove the road through it and stopped at some view points. I'll get a hotel tomorrow and burn a day waiting on the weather I guess.

10:04pm - ok that was a bit of a disaster. I decided to leave my night spot at about 8pm because of the rain and mud. I slid around getting out so it was a good idea. I then drove north in the rain and got in the middle of heavy snow right around the pass. I was about to turn back, but cleared the pass and kept driving. I ended up going past Rangely, CO and Dinosaur, CO. I am now pulled off on a side road from the road leading to dinosaur national monument, CO. Seems pretty remote so hopefully I won't be disturbed.

Tour de Parks 2008 - Day 2

12:01pm - Here I am at mesa verde national park, CO. I left my house yesterday without my national parks pass, so I had to buy another one. As usual on these trips I feel torn between going forward and going home. I am not sure exactly why that is other than I get accustomed to my life while at home. I looked over the volunteer jobs for the parks before heading out and found that they seem as interesting as ever. I feel a bit uncertain about life for some reason right now. I just don't know exactly where I want to go from here. I still prefer not being in a relationship, but I do wonder if that itch will return. I certainly hope that it does not.

7:26pm - the arches national park campground was full so I drove up to the national forest above Moab, UT and found a nice place in the woods (Manti-La Sal national forest, UT) to park for the night. I went up hwy 128 which runs along the Colorado river. Then I turned onto one of the most beautiful places I've been, castle rock canyon. Sheer rock walls leading down to flat open land, green from irrigation. I stopped by Lowry Pueblo ruins, CO after mesa verde. It was very cool, old ruins that you could walk in and around out in the middle of nowhere. Much more enjoyable than the hour long guided tour. I opted to leave mesa verde after that tour and a quick hike to a viewpoint. Moab, UT is a pretty big town, I had not gone through it before. Tomorrow will be arches national park, UT and then Colorado national park, CO. Not sure exactly after that. Weather in yellowstone is looking bad until next week and even then it doesn't look great.