BRRRR-ice Canyon

Man! Kids these days! They complain no matter what! Three days ago they were whining about the heat just because it was 103 degrees, so we drive around till we find someplace cooler, and what do they do? Complain ‘cause it’s too cold! There’s just no pleasing them!

In between, we did have some amazing, picture perfect days, in spectacular, breathtaking scenery; romping in the Coral Pink Sand Dunes,

3 hikes in Zion,

and an exhilarating mountain bike ride along a cliff edge and across miles of blooming sage.

But you didn’t come here to read that disgusting, saccharin tripe! Where’s the fun in that? No, you want to hear about how we mindlessly scheduled ourselves to land at Bryce Canyon on Memorial Day Weekend, as if there would be a campsite available, and how when we realized our mistake, we chose as Plan B to camp at Duck Creek, in the Dixie National Forest (elevation 8,000+ feet) and how we got pummeled with snow pellets as we cooked dinner, which we then ate huddled under the car-tarp. And how we left the cooler ice container out on the picnic table overnight, to re-freeze the ice! (And it worked!) And how we woke to fresh snow on the tent, and a temperature that was a full 80 degrees colder than what we had just three days earlier… after we had sent home 3 boxes of extra clothes.

And how we naively thought it would be fun to go to Cedar Breaks National Monument (elevation 10,000 feet) on the first day of the year that the road was supposed to be cleared of snow, except that it was snowing furiously as we drove there, so the road wasn’t exactly clear.

But Cedar Breaks was amazing, at least the couple of glimpses we got of it through the clouds and snow squalls!

And the continuing bitter cold weather did solve one problem for us: by the time we got to Bryce, we found the campground almost empty! Everyone with any sense at all had gone home! So we spent two “brisk” nights there, were treated to snow flurries both mornings as we made breakfast, and hiked over 14 miles in a day and a half, bundled up in long pants, jackets and hats!



















The other benefit of the cold weather was that it prevented my camera from overheating during the extreme use it got in Bryce!

GRRRRR!and Canyon, or “The Honeymoon is Over, The Bloom is Off the Rose, etc”

Have you ever had one of those days where everything falls in place like clockwork, you seem to have the Magic Touch, and all your plans turn out better than you even dared to hope they would? Well, neither have I!

I got up in time to bike to the rim for sunrise, returned to camp feeling pretty good, only to find my loving family… at each other’s throats! The van had been packed with evident malice, no breakfast had been cooked or eaten, and Carroll was just discovering that the rear tire on her bike, just repaired in Flagstaff, was once again flat as a prairie dog on I 70!

We drove in heated silence to the Canyon Café, thinking that treating ourselves to breakfast out might change the mood. OR NOT. Expensive, bland, dry… and in a crowning touch, the lid to Carroll’s way-too-hot-coffee-to-go didn’t fit, so slosh, slosh, fill in the blank!

By 9:00 AM, the heat was already withering, so at every pullout, we tried desperately to squeeze the van into any scrap of available shade to park. I’d like to be able to say it was too hot for the boys to even fight, but that would be a LIE!

Our moods recovered a bit as we got back on the open road, but it was not to last. By the time we reached the Glen Canyon Dam, the temp was in the high 90’s, so Carroll was in no mood to trifle with the hidebound homeland security detail, dutifully protecting the nation from tourists intent on destroying the 350 foot-thick concrete structure with a pocket knife. I think they were ready to draw their weapons and initiate a lockdown of the facility at one point in the confrontation.

Between the bad taste of that exchange, and the depressing thought of how many miles of beautiful canyon had been drowned in order to generate electricity, (something akin to burning your great-great-grandmother’s china cabinet to heat your house), it was a pretty low point for all of us. We desperately needed something to lift our spirits, and in a stroke of good fortune, we found it, in the person of one very friendly, helpful BLM employee in the Grand Staircase of the Escalante visitors center in Bigwater, Utah. We learned a lot in a short time, about the geology of the area, the dinosaur fossils they’ve found there, and good places to camp and hike. Mostly though, we just appreciated that his cheerful nature was so infectious that by the time we left, we were able to laugh when we saw that the temperature was now 103 degrees.

We took his advice and camped in a little-known, little-used state park, Ponderosa Grove, rather than Coral Pink Sand Dunes, as we had planned. We had the whole place to ourselves until 8:30 or so, when one other party pulled in. The weather cooled off nicely, there was a strong breeze, and the day ended on a good note.

Arizona

On the way to Flagstaff, we visited the Petrified Forest and Meteor Crater, both mind-boggling, in their own ways. It was hard to imagine that arid, desolate, barren landscape, with no plants bigger than sage brush, having once been a tropical forest.

It was equally hard to imagine a 150 foot diameter chunk of iron and nickel hitting the ground at 40,000 mph, making a hole half a mile wide, throwing debris 7 miles in all directions, vaporizing almost completely on impact, and driving microscopic spherules of nickel 3,000 feet into the ground!

Now we’re back on the road after a relaxing stay at The Hotel Alvarez in Flagstaff. We got the red carpet treatment from the proprietors of that posh establishment, two of Carroll’s Northland College friends, Donna and Alex, and their three children.

The boys racked up some major frequent flier miles on the trampoline, we enjoyed a hot but very scenic hike near Sedona, cooled off in Oak Creek, and did some mountain biking with Alex. Hopefully he picked up enough tricks from the boys that he will win his next race!

We figured the Grand Canyon would be spectacular enough to chase away the lingering blues we had from having to depart the comfy environs of Chez Alvarez, but boy, were we ever wrong! Our first glimpse of the canyon, from Yavapai Point, left both boys thoroughly unimpressed. “I thought it was supposed to be a rock canyon. There were trees growing all over the place in there!”

They gradually warmed up to it after we hiked a little way down the Grandview trail, but even that was fraught with difficulty, because it was HOT; well up in the 90’s, and all the way down, Sam and Carroll were butting heads like a couple of bighorn sheep, about how much water Sam was, or should be, drinking. Finally, he decided to settle the argument and prove that he was drinking enough, by leaving us in the dust on the return trip up to the rim.

Now, all the signs warn that you should plan twice as long to hike back up, as it takes you to hike down. We had spent an hour and fortyfive minutes hiking down… we made it back up in 40 minutes!

More later….

Canyon de Chelly

A very different feel here, compared with the other National Parks and Monuments we’ve been to so far. The scenery is every bit as breathtaking, but here it is woven inextricably with the evidence of how difficult it is to eek out a living in this harsh area. Immediately upon parking at the visitors center, we were accosted by locals hawking Navajo artwork; “$6 for this rock painting so I can get something to eat?” We felt uncomfortable, had no inclination to buy anything, but gave them some oranges because we suddenly felt obscenely wealthy…

We arrived in the afternoon with just enough time to do the one hike in the canyon that doesn’t require a permit and a hired guide, a 3 mile round trip to the White House Ruins. We found locals selling their wares at the bottom of the canyon also, but the atmosphere was entirely different: no one approached or pressured us, and as a consequence, we stayed and chatted with (mostly listened to!) a Navajo named Miles for quite a while, watching as he etched a stone slab with symbols, explaining each as he went, and carrying on a wide ranging discussion, about his several dogs, his relatives who still live in the canyon, and his college plans, among other things. We bought a small slate etched with a hunting story, and we also each bought a different necklace from various of his relatives, and it was a pleasant exchange.

We decided to check out the private campground just outside the park, before going to the free campground back at the entrance, and since it was so reasonably priced, and not at all crowded, and the owner seemed so pleasant, and it came with two dogs who immediately befriended Sam & Robin, AND it even offered wifi (!) we went no farther.

After getting Carroll and the boys tucked into bed, I took the owner up on his offer of bringing my laptop into the camp office to check email, and tidy up the blog a bit.

I truly felt as though I was in a foreign country; the camp office had a dirt floor, a woodstove giving off a very pleasant warmth, and the air was thick with a smoky smell I couldn’t quite identify… some type of herb, perhaps.

The wifi seemed thoroughly incongruous: the whole place was off the grid, powered by solar panels and a small windmill, and a backup generator that I could hear humming somewhere in the distance. It was a peaceful place, where the lack of material wealth didn’t seem to weigh so heavily. When the old Navajo who ran the campground wished us a good journey as we left, I had the feeling he was not referring to our roadtrip.

Canyon De CHILLY

We're at a Navajo campground at Canyon DeChelly, which has wifi, so I'm sitting in the little camp office trying to get the blog squared away and updated, and check email, etc. while the rest of the family sleeps. If you look through our previous posts, you may notice I added a picture or two, and finished the tale of the sand dunes hike.
We were at Mesa Verde the last two nights, and we had to laugh, because once again, just as we pulled into camp, it rained, and this morning, as we packed up, it started raining again! So today as we drove here, we just navigated by driving toward the darkest clouds on the horizon, and got here without missing a turn!
Can't complain, though, because we got a nice hike in this afternoon, with only a few sprinkles. No pics downloaded yet of DeChelly, but I sure took a few!

Speaking of weather, we are getting some classic desert climate; warm days but CHILLY nights. For example, our first morning waking up at Mesa Verde looked like this:>





But we had a great day, and had the good fortune to get as our Ranger guide for the Cliff Palace, one Mark Andrews, who had a breadth of knowledge that was remarkable, a wry sense of humor that was spot-on, and an easygoing, self effacing manner that made him easily approachable. When we heard that he is retiring in two weeks, we felt extraordinarily lucky. We knew we were in the presence of greatness, that not many more people will get to experience, at least in that capacity. I will end this post wishing him a happy, adventurous retirement.

Canyonlands Hike

The other day we had a fantastic time in Arches National Park. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a campsite in the park so we had to drive to a campground between Canyon Lands and Arches. It was about 8 pm when we arrived and so decided not to cook the steak we had bought for Mothers day and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead.

The next morning we got up extremely early and made it to canyon lands campground by 7 in the morning. Luckily for us a camper was just packing up and leaving so we took her spot and Robin set the tent up and laid out all our sleeping bags and pads and pillows in a nice cozy set up all ready for us that night. We planned on taking a long circular hike in the park, 8.3 miles according to the map. Then we all filled our water bottles, camel baks, and our bellies with tons of liquids. Made a lunch and packed our packs.

Off we went on a beautiful hike. Stunning scenery, lizards, flowers, trees, cacti in full bloom, just unbelievable to us to be in such a gorgeous spot, and no one around for miles. We hiked down, down, down into the canyon with steep walls all around and incredible piňon trees, red sand, flowers, etc all around. And on we hiked, finally seeing someone in the bottom of the canyon down by the riverbed. He had left the same time we had going the other way on the circle route so we figured we must be almost half way (turns out we were maybe 1/3 of the way). We ate lunch and enjoyed the warmth, it had been chilly when we left and so the sun was a welcome relief. Then we hiked on down the riverbed, it was dry, but interesting to see how the flash floods that occur here had taken out so many bushes and deposited rocks in big piles along the way. I just learned that flash floods are responsible for most of the erosion in the park, and I could understand that by seeing the left over effects of them.

And on we hiked and started up another canyon towards the trailhead. Then we heard thunder and saw huge black clouds coming in, but just a sprinkle of rain. Then more thunder…but still just sprinkles. Then we climbed up and around and over this huge boulder field, very fun, very steep, and not for people uncomfortable with heights. But we loved it despite being scared and nervous for much of it. Then we entered a canyon riverbed area that was beautiful.

And then it started to rain. Time to put on the rain gear. Then it down poured; thank goodness we had rain gear. So we hiked faster and faster and prayed for the parking lot, which seemed to never come. Robin and I were out in front at this time and I kept hearing Sammy talking to Buzz so I was sure they were close behind. Finally we made it to the parking lot with Robin and Sammy having very sore feet. Buzz’s hands were so cold he needed my help getting his rain jacket off, luckily my womanly extra layer of subcutaneous fat kept me feeling pretty warm, just soggy. So we get in the car and turn on the heat full blast, man did that feel great! Lots of sighs of relief and crying and laughing all at once from all of us. Then we drove back to the campground looking forward to the dry tent with warm sleeping bags waiting for us.

As we passed the campground to a ‘look out’ over the Green River we saw something in the bushes that looked a lot like our green tarp that was under the tent that morning. The lookout is right next to the campground and our campsite was the first one in on the road so it was plausible that it could be ours but no, we tied that tent down to 30 pound rocks, couldn’t be ours we think. So we go take pictures at the lookout, mostly of the SNOW that was falling down hard!!! Then drive back to the campground to find our warm dry tent tipped over from the wind with a puddle of freezing rain and snow on the inside!!

Our life view was pretty grim at that point, but upon further inspection we found that only Sammy’s bag took the brunt of the damage, soaking wet from one end to the other. More crying and whining about how hard our life is until Buzz and I finally act like parents and take charge and change the kids into warm, dry clothing, find the extra sleeping bag for Sammy and change our clothing as well. Another night where we don’t eat the steak that I had marinated that morning…in fact we just eat a couple slices of salami with cheese and dry brush our teeth in the tent (no toothpaste because no one wants to get out of our warm semi-dry bags to spit), then to bed by 7pm. I slept so well I couldn’t believe it. This morning dawned cold and windy but dry! Now all our gear is dried out from the wind and we are on our way towards either Mesa Verde or Canyons of the Ancients, both in Colorado. We are hoping we don’t run into any more snow, at least until Sammy’s sleeping bag dries out thoroughly!

PS We are really looking forward to hot showers!

GREAT Sand Dunes!

Apologies for the very choppy way this log is turning out... it's very hard to find access, and when we do, the whole family has to wait around while I try to upload pictures, etc.... life on the road is SO hectic, racing from one adventure to the next! I'm days behind already, as you can see. Oh, well... Here's what I have typed up from a couple of days ago:

We are striving mightily to live up to our Adventurer titles! Yesterday, as we approached the Great Sand Dunes National Park, it was like an instant replay of the first night of the trip: heavy black clouds dropping sheets of rain right on our destination! The big difference was that we were at 8,000 feet above sea level, in the Rocky Mountains, and when we drove straight into the downpour, we discovered that it was HAIL, not rain!

We stalled a bit, checking out the visitor’s center, and picking out a campsite, but by that time, I don’t think a category 5 hurricane could have kept Robin and Sam away from the dunes!The hail had given way to mere-smear icy rain, and the sky was only slightly darker than a bottle of ink in a coal mine, so we put on all our winter clothing, topped with raingear, and headed off.

To be continued....

Now, a hike in the dunes might sound like a day at the beach, but to get to the dunes, we had to cross Medano Creek, which while it is only a few inches deep, is about 100 feet wide, and ICY cold! We took off our shoes, hitched up our pant-legs, and crossed. We had seen warnings not to hike barefoot because the sand can reach a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit, but that didn’t seem like a very big concern that day, so we left our shoes near the creek, figuring it would be nice to feel the sand between our toes.

Which it was… for a while. As we topped the second or third dune, the texture of the sand changed from fine beach powder to 20 grit broken glass, rubbing the bottoms of our frozen feet raw, and by the time we reached the “summit,” the rain had resumed, accompanied of course by howling wind! Having attained our goal, we felt no shame in heading back to camp, but before we could get to the creek, the rain changed to something frozen: we still can’t say if it was hail or snow pellets. We of course were still barefoot, and still faced the daunting prospect of wading back across the icy stream. There were some tears, but at least the boys kept their composure, and soldiered on quite bravely!

The Long Haul

Day 2 was a pretty long driving day: 530 miles, which got us to Lieber state Park , between Indianapolis and Terre Haute Indiana.

Highlights of the day were:

Robin and Sam finding a treasure trove of seashell fossils in the brook near our campsite in Allegany State Park.

An all-day Fuel Duel, to see who could get the highest mpg. Carroll’s first day average was around 21.5, so I thought I had her cold when I got up to 25.5, but I should have known better! Never underestimate the competitive instinct of a Maxwell! Before the day was out, she got it up to 25.9!!!

The real highlight had to be the campground this evening, though. Dogwoods and redbud in full bloom, and the smell of the honeysuckle almost overpowering. Our first chance to ride our bikes, and the campground entirely to ourselves!

Day 3 was Northland Alum Reunion Day, first in Vandalia Indiana, where we rendezvoused with Tom & Magi and their dog Slim, who were headed east on I 70. Our last post was sent from the library there.

Then on to St Louis, and a quick trip up in the Arch… (Very impressive!) On to Rosebud for a wonderful visit with Jessie Cargas. We totally fell in love with her place there, nearly bailed on the whole rest of the trip to just spend 6 weeks there. Boys fished in her pond; Sam caught 15 fish on his home-made pole!

Finally, very reluctantly, dragged ourselves away at 3:00 in the afternoon.

*****Post ends abruptly due to family eager to see more of Kansas! Much difficulty posting pics, so more later.*****

The Intrepid Part

Well! It sure didn’t take Reality very long to rear its loathsome, unkempt head!

In all my daydreaming and careful planning of this trip, I never once pictured that we would encounter anything as inconvenient as… RAIN! I mean, sure, it was sprinkling a bit as we were doing our final packing, but that was Vermont; of course we know that it rains in Vermont, but I assumed as soon as we left the state, the rain would stop! And my assumption seemed to be validated entirely, because that’s exactly what it did. Throughout the day, the weather just seemed to get better and better; the clouds lifted, and we had a glorious early-spring day.

Right up until 7:00 PM, as we approached the campground we had picked out, Allegany State Park, in far western NY. At that point, the sky ahead turned a filthy black, and we could see the curtains of rain dumping out of the clouds.

However, having advertised ourselves on our blog as Intrepid Adventurers, we couldn’t very well be caught with our tails between our legs, staying in a motel the very first night! So we bravely soldiered on into the POURING rain, and found the campground.

Which was closed.

But not gated, which to us was as good as a neon sign flashing “Free Camping for Intrepid Adventurers!” Surprisingly, no one else was taking advantage of this incredible offer, so we had our pick of spots. As we trolled around looking for the Very Best of the soggy, muddy, puddle-strewn campsites, Robin asked “Mom, why are you and Dad laughing so much?” ("Because we have to laugh, to keep from crying!")

We found a site with especially cozy-looking wet leaves, and Carroll deftly backed the bike trailer in, on only the 4^th or 5^th try! We donned our rain gear, and set the tent up as fast as possible, trying to keep it dry. As we staked out the last corner of the fly, I noticed something was different… something about the light, and the sound… yes, as if on cue, the rain had stopped!

We laughed again, marvelled at the very unusual cloud formations suddenly lit up by the setting sun, had our elaborate dinner of veggie burgers on tortilla “buns” and crawled into bed.

Anchor's aweigh!

We’re on the road!!!

The usual last minute packing and preparation, bringing Lilly the cat to Uncle Don’s, etc., and we hit the pavement at… 10:28! (You Northland College alums will appreciate the significance of that particular time: for the rest of you, just know that it’s extremely cosmic!)

The gray skies and intermittent rain we had this morning seem to be behind us now as we cruise along I 88 through the rolling hills and farm valleys of New York state. The leaves are just budding out on the trees, and whenever the sun breaks through the clouds, the new Spring grass lights up a vibrant green.

In just the last hour, we’ve seen four little league games in progress in fields cheek-by-jowl with the interstate, reminding us of one of the trade-offs involved in making this trip: the boys are missing the whole baseball season. A trade worth making, though… nobody’s complaining… just a little bittersweet seeing that Springtime ritual play out in glimpses from the impersonal distance of the 65-mile-an-hour freeway.

Picking the boys up from school yesterday had a very celebratory feel, since it was their last day for this year. Sam’s teacher took the class out to the sandbox for a hands-on lesson about erosion, in which they made their own Grand Canyon, and they had an ice cream party as a send-off.

For Robin’s last day, his teacher brought donuts, and Robin got to sit on the couch all day, even though it wasn’t his couch day: in his words, it was “The Best Day Ever!” In the car just now, he said, and I quote, “I know this will be hard to believe, but I’m going to miss school on this trip!”