Picks and Pans

As our trip comes to a close, we are reflecting on the best, and the worst. While all the scenery was fantastic, the snow capped mountains of CO had one key thing going for them – they were not in the heat/sun zone. Yeah, it’s a dry heat, but we doubt Icarus was complaining about the humidity either.

We do pride ourselves on having lunch in interesting locations, and we certainly picked up two of those this year – the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and on the Bear Creek Trail in Ouray, CO.

(The photo below is from CO. For a video of the North Rim lunch spot, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfS_S_a219o)

Our best campsites were easily those which were cooler and more isolated. And we have a new all-time worst: Wahweap Campsite at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area at Lake Powell near Page, AZ. Hot, sandy, windy (which does fun stuff with said hot sand), burrs that pierce the tent (not to mention your feet), and full of RVs. Save yourself. Push on to the dispersed camping in Kaibab National Forest near the North Rim instead.

The food was disappointing in general. We had been hoping for truly amazing Mexican, some great Native American food, and we just didn’t find it for the most part. We did pick up two great restaurants in Colorado, though: The Adobe Inn in Ridgway with great Mexican and Smokin’ Jack’s Pit BBQ in Poncha Springs/Salida with fantastic pork and ribs and even better sides.

Overall, we’ve taken four trips exploring different parts of the country. We’d rank this the second-best, trailing only 2006’s Montana/Wyoming tour. Of all the trips, probably the timing was most important for this one and we may have enjoyed it more had we been able to go earlier in the year. As one of the Bryce Canyon rangers said, there’s only a couple of million years left before it erodes away. Better hurry!

A Few Random Statistics

All told on this trip we put 3,792 miles on our rented Chevy Cobalt. That’s in line with the past two years (3,819 in '07; 3,941 in '06), which is strange given that we’re pretty much just going wherever we want to go. Apparently, that’s just under 4,000 miles, wherever it is.

The Cobalt was pretty good to us from a gas mileage standpoint. We were consistently in the 32-33 mpg range. Which is good because the cheapest gas we found was $3.859 in New Mexico, and we paid as much as $4.299 in Ridgway, CO. All in all, we spent $475 on gas, $110 more than last year and $71 more than in 2006. Not bad, considering.

Homeward Bound

The scenery on the ride back to Denver was, as expected, gorgeous. For the first 35 miles we had the company of many of the 1500 participants of the Colorado Bike Tour. They had spent the night in Ouray. It was interesting to see so many kinds of bicycles and bikers, but it did slow us up a little.

Smokin’ Jacks BBQ Pit in Poncha Springs was perfectly located for a mid-drive break, and the food was even better than we remembered it.

Directly after Poncha Springs we ran into a thunderstorm, with lightening and even a moment of hail. This created an amazing mix of clouds and mountain ranges.

In Which We Learned More About Mining Than Was Strictly Necessary

This entire region was settled pretty much for the mining and it’s an important piece of the history here. So we headed to the Bachelor-Syracuse Mine for a tour. After getting outfitted with hard hats and yellow slickers, we were loaded into one of two cars on a tram (stride it like a saddle and don’t stick your fingers outside the bar, as the rip comes close!). Our guide was a hoot, constantly quipping (“did you get the round trip ticket?” “let’s start ‘er up, she usually does”). We were riding a drift where the miners followed the seam of ore. At some point the drift has been expanded and brought to the surface so the railroad could be put in. The ride to the stop in the mine was loud, and bumpy. Our car was unloaded first into a room-sized space scattered with mining equipment. When he went to move the tram forward to unload the last car, the engine wouldn’t start. So much for the quip. He tried the engine many times, but it wouldn’t start. Fortunately there was a phone there, so he rang up the front office. It took awhile, but someone finally arrived and started the engine. Courtesy of the delay, he did a very impressive job of cramming 45 minutes worth of information into half an hour. The mine was started by three guys, who joined together to drop down a shaft in a likely location. They dug 200 feet down and they ran out of money, so one of the guys dropped out. They found another investor at $2,000, which was an incredible sum for a non-producing mine (around $100 would have been standard). They went another 50 feet down and struck it rich. At that point they followed the ore seam vertically. Then they dropped the shaft down till they hit more ore. There are 10 levels to this mine. It was interesting to learn how US and global history have changed mining. In 1878, Congress passed the Bland-Allison Silver act which backed our currency with both gold and silver and required the treasury to purchase $2 to $4 million worth of silver bullion monthly. This pushed up prices dramatically till the act was repealed a few years later, causing the bubble to crash. Most of the intense mining in the area was done in this time period. There were some other times of flurries of activities, as well, but the big push was after the silver act. The life of a miner was one of 6 – 7 10 hour days a week, until they switched the pay from hourly to a percent of the ore you brought out, when most miners worked 12 – 14 hours a day. Most miners didn’t live long, as they got lung disease. This mine was considered a good one to work in, as it was producing well and the air was clean.

Squash Blossom Boys

We stopped at the Ridgway Farmer’s Market Sunday morning. There were about 8 or so vendors, selling jewelry (??), cheese, elk meat, grass fed chickens, plants, and a quite good blue grass quintet, the Squash Blossom Boys from Albuquerque, who had popped over from the Bluegrass Festival at Telluride. Younger than you’d expect, but they were all characters, and quite good. They were using one mike stand and had down pat the delicate dance of shifting to and fro to allow people to move closer to the microphone when it was time. They looked like they could do this in their sleep, and indeed a few of them may have been asleep. One of the two main singers had the absolute perfect bluegrass voice.

NOTE: Just listened to the stuff on their myspace.com page (linked from above) on Wednesday. What we heard them do live was very different and way better. Oh well. Sorry.

Two Unexpected Gems

What a way to end a great day. We stopped a the local Box Canyon Falls, which contains the geological wonder called the Great Uncomformity that people come to from around the world. When you walk the 95 stairs to the bottom of the falls, you see an intensely powerful waterfall rushing through a vertical slit in the rock. It's difficult to describe the power of the falls. The sign said that if they hooked it up to a generator it would create enough power for the whole town. The Great Uncomformity is sedimentary rock that was crunched together until the black and white bands turned completely vertical. Then more sedimentary rock was laid down on top of that, kind of like a lady's fingers cake.

For dinner we landed, rather by chance, at the Adobe Inn in Ridgway, which definitely had the best Mexican food we've had the entire trip. That makes the two best restaurants, by far, we've found on this trip being located in Colorado. What's not to love?

Coming Full Circle

With just a few days left before Tuesday’s return flight, we knew we wanted to get back into Colorado and we thought it’d be nice if we could keep the same campsite for our last three nights under the stars (Monday we’re in a hotel so we can re-pack everything). After a less-than-helpful stop at the Colorado Welcome Center in Cortez, we decided to come back to the area we fell in love with as we drove to Mesa Verde and decided to give Ridgway State Park a try because of its ideal location, between Telluride and Ouray (YOU-ray).

We nailed this one. Turns out National Geographic named this the best Colorado state park and it’s easy to see why. The facilities are spacious and immaculate. The walk-in tent sites in Pa-Co-Chu-Puk Campground, while a good distance from the parking spaces, are across the Uncompaghre River and have sweeping vistas. The area has phenomenal hiking, cute towns, and gorgeous scenery.

Today we opted for the Bear Creek Trail, the first 2.4 miles of which go to the Grizzly Bear Mine. While the mine itself was a tad disappointing, this was by far our most challenging (climbing 1600' in elevation, much of it over a strange rock) – and most rewarding – hike to date.

You Know it’s a Long Day When the Campsite Host Locks the Gate on You

For such a tiny town, Jemez Springs is surprisingly touristy and they have quite a nice library. From there, we took a scenic drive past a view of the caldera. (Those of you with us last year will recall that Crater Lake is also a caldera, though a much wetter one.) This area had quite the volcanic activity tens of thousands of years ago (hence, the springs) and the ash compressed into rock (called tuff), which is now eroding interestingly, creating a neato Swiss cheese effect.

We then went through the Santa Fe National Forest (under some amazing cloud formations, including something disturbingly mushroom-y, especially given our proximity to Los Alamos) and ended up in the city of Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a bit like a hotter, drier Newport (minus, of course, the “port”), with art galleries (high end art galleries: nice to see an Ansel Adams in person, but $55K is a lot for a photo) and museums galore. We lunched on carnitas from the “famous” truck at the Plaza and wandered around for a couple of hours. On our way back, we stopped at Bandelier National Monument (free entrance fee with our InterAgency Annual Pass – at $80, quite a bargain around here) and walked the 1.2 mile main loop past an Ancestral Pueblo village and through some cliff dwellings.

Then we stopped at one of the hot springs that give the area its name. We almost didn’t make it, turning around after a steep scramble to nowhere but Scott sussed it out. It’s kind of just a hole in the rock, and quite warm. We joined a nice couple from Albuquerque and spent 45 minutes “taking the waters” and chatting with them. Earlier we’d targeted the Laughing Lizard for dinner and were surprised to be greeted with a closed sign at 8:20. We were also surprised to be greeted with a locked gate at our campsite 10 minutes later. Guess it’s a good thing the Lizard was closed.

It's All About Water

Over the years, but especially this trip, we've come to realize the importance of water. So many of the natural wonders we've seen have been formed at least in part by water (either through its running or freezing/thawing or dripping, etc.). Here, water, or lack thereof, will make or break a community. In past trips, as in this one, we've seen a lot of desert-type landscapes hard up against green, irrigated fields. This year, though, is the first time we've seen river beds completely dry. What natural water there is tends to look more like something you'd expect to see from a toxic waste dump: yellowy orange, in the middle of a salt flat, nothing that looks remotely potable.

The theme has played out here over centuries: the Ancestral Pueblos left their cliff dwellings at least in part due to drought. (And even before that, much of their water supply came from seepage from the sandstone, which looks like a damp spot on the rock wall.) Bryce, the namesake of the canyon, and his family created a ten-mile ditch, a project that failed the first time and took two years to complete, in order to re-route water from the Sevier River. Prior to that the community had been surviving on a trickle of water that, when we saw it at least, couldn't have been more than 6 inches wide.

Turns Out, Standing Will Get You Places

On a non-random corner in Winslow, Arizona, (Amy is questioning whether the famous corner had something to do with the area penitentiary we passed on the way into town) we ran into a recent Yale Law grad who had just quit her job and was traveling cross country en route to her home in LA. She had just come from a small town in New Mexico called Jemez Springs (that's HAY-mes) that she highly recommended we check out. Having no other heavy plans, we decided to make our way over there and are we glad we did!

We pulled in a little later than we'd have liked to the San Antonio Campground in the Santa Fe National Forest (close to 9 PM) and found an isolated, wooded site near a rushing stream (Water! They have water here!). Ben, the campground host, is friendly and helpful, the area is peaceful and (relatively) non-hot so we'll spend at least one more night here.

We Just Didn’t Take to Sedona

Maybe it was the noisy camper who had us up at 1:30 a.m.
Maybe it was the nasty $3 showers in the already expensive campground.
Maybe it was the written warning Scott received for going 50 in a 40.
Maybe it was the multiple trips through town to find the restaurant recommended by Officer Dominguez.
Maybe it was the two-year road construction project through both main roads of town.
Maybe it was the fact that the Coconino Loop Trail disappeared and we were left to scramble in 90+ heat at 9 a.m. through cacti and thorny brush to reach the safety of the road.

It’s a Small World, After All

Headed south from Fabulous Flagstaff, we found our way to a semi-remote campsite in one of the many campgrounds on the steep and scenic road from Flagstaff to Sedona. Our neighbor was showing Scott the short cut to the vault toilet.

Scott: Where are you from?
Neighbor: Prescott Valley
S: Where’s that?
N: Well…. It’s near Jerome…Where are you from?
S: Connecticut.
N: Really? I grew up in Connecticut.
S: You’re kidding! Where about?
N: West Hartford.
S: You’re kidding! What high school did you graduate from?
N: Conard.
S: You’re kidding! What year?

Turns out she graduated a year before he started. And to top it off she’s a guidance counselor at a high school in the area. Now, how can we expense this?

Fabulous Flagstaff

Our attempt to enjoy a slot canyon in Arizona was beaten out by the incredible heat at midday and the exorbitant tour fee. Despite what the brochure says, it’s not $6 to just wander around the canyon soaking up the atmosphere and color. And we arrived too late to tour the Hopi village but too early to camp in the beating sun waiting for them to open in the morning. So, on to Flagstaff to camp and maybe eat in a restaurant.

Flagstaff is a lot like a warmer, drier Northampton, MA. An adorable, walkable downtown with a ton of patio dining, artsy places and art galleries. As it was after 5, the visitor center was closed. Oh wait, we changed time zones, so they’re open! After a visit to the best camping store and a wonderful dinner on Café Ole’s patio, we realized that many businesses in the area don’t use their air-conditioning. The art gallery was kind of hot, and the restaurant was warm, but who sits in the restaurant when the patio is open? It was pretty warm out, but the breeze was lovely and it was the most pleasant 90+ degrees we’ve experienced.

What’s Next?

Frankly, we’ve about had it with dust and dry and rock formations. (Ranger: “That’s what we specialize in around here.”) We would probably enjoy this a great deal more if the heat were not so intensely merciless. We are slowly learning that the temperature outside means less than where the sun is. Most of the days we’ve had have been cloudless. Between 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. or so the sun is intense and hard to avoid. We’re deciding to skip this year some of the other Utah National Parks. We had been especially looking forward to Zion but it is hotter there and the mandatory shuttle bus system for non-overnight stays makes it harder to navigate the area (one bus to get into the park, a second to move around once inside).

Slot canyons still hold a lot of appeal for us and a talk with a ranger here suggested that Antelope Canyon back in Navajo Nation would be a good destination. We’ll head there tomorrow and hopefully go further south into Arizona afterward, perhaps camping near Flagstaff.

Bryce Canyon: International Tourist Destination

We’ve noticed on our travels around the park a much higher percentage of non-native English speakers than we’re used to. We’re betting the favorable Euro-to-dollar exchange rate has a bit to do with that. All of the signs encouraging people to use proper footwear appear only in English, as do the warnings in the park newspaper that the #1, #2, and #3 causes of death in Bryce Canyon are “Bad Choice of Footwear.” Could this explain the designer flipflops we’ve seen along the trails? We even saw a baby stroller abandoned on a set of switchbacks leading into the canyon.

The Beauty of Bryce

So there’s these big, colorful rock thingies around here. Apparently, they’re quite famous. Perhaps the only ones like them in the world. They are rather beautiful and it is hard not to be entranced by the hoodoos. The rock here is mainly limestone, which can absorb water, and is topped by a harder dolcomite. This area has on average 200 days a year where the temperature dips below 32 degrees at night and rises above that during the day. This leads to a type of erosion known as frost wedging, which shatters and breaks the weak rock apart. Eventually, holes form, called ice windows. The holes get larger and larger until they can no longer support the rock above them. This rock collapses, forming a notch. As the notch deepens, the spire lengthens, forming the hoodoo. The colors come from different iron (yellow and red) and manganese (pink and violet) deposits in the stone.

(Hint: clicking on the photo below will lead you to some others we took at Bryce Canyon.)

Bryce Canyon

We're Still Feeling It, But It Was Definitely Worth It

Grand Canyon

(Hint: Clicking on the above photo will take you to a collection of pictures from our mule ride into the Grand Canyon.)

Phew, Room at the Inn

We were deciding between Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks . . . we were unable to get reservations on either. We read that the campsites at Zion are in mostly desert, at the bottom of the canyon (so, hot) and Bryce had Ponderosa Pine sites with what appeared to be ample first-come, first-served locations. So it was on to Bryce. And here we are with a dusty campsite, just got out of a sweeping ranger talk on the geology of the entire region and are plotting our next move.

PORCUPINE!!!

We’ll Feel This For Several Days, But We’ll Remember It Forever

Today was the day we’d been training for since January. Our mule ride. We had been hesitant to the point of almost chickening out but boy are we glad we stuck with the plan!

Mules, it turns out, are fascinating creatures. The product of the union between a female horse and male donkey, they are more sure-footed than horses because their eyes are set slightly farther apart on their heads so they can actually see all four of their feet. This is helpful when the path is narrow and the consequences of a mis-step can be severe. They are also are naturally inclined not to drink a lot of water in the middle of the day, which is helpful on a day-long ride. A horse can be trained to tank up but mules tend to do their drinking early and late (they can go through 15 gallons of water in a 24 hour period). Festus and Pumpkin got along very well, which is why they were put together in the line. Scott was fortunate enough to be right behind our guide, Swaney, who was training a three year old mule named Slim. Swaney would slap his reigns against his leather chaps every now and then to get Slim acclimated to sudden noises, the better to keep him from spooking when a paying customer is on board. Mules can live over thirty years and can work well into their twenties.

Swaney was a gem. He’s the type of guy you can ask a yes or no question and get a 15 minute answer. Unfortunately, Scott couldn’t think of any questions (just kidding). Swaney knew many of the plants (Century Flower was our favorite) were riding by, He was exceptionally knowledgeable about rocks and geology, and, obviously, mules. We’re sore. Our knees hurt a little, but mostly it’s the sit bones. We’ll recover, but we’ll feel it for a while.

Lunch

Through all our trips, we try to end up with a memorable lunch spot or two. Two years ago we had an amazing vista of fields and mountains near Devil’s Tower. That year we also forded the Snake River to have sandwiches on a log. Last year we dined on a sandbar when we went white water rafting. This year we took a 2 ½ mile (one way) hike on the Widforss Trail and found a spot on a rocky outcropping with great views. A little scary getting in and out though!

Thoughts on the North Rim

We’ve been enjoying our time here. The fauna is plentiful – plenty of mule deer, a coyote, many different birds, and tons of butterflies. We even saw a Kaibab squirrel that is only found here on the North Rim and no where else in the world (too fast for the camera, though!).

The flora is beautiful, with towering ponderosa pines, lupine meadows, and aspen groves – very Colorado-esque.

And of course the stunning vistas.

Unexpected Bonus: People Watching

We walked a ½ mile trail before dinner to catch the sunset. We perched on a rock and watched the parade of tourists coming to snap photos. Many languages were spoken, and there were some very impressive camera setups (most notably by the Japanese contingent of four 20-something men). The jockeying for position on a small space was deeply humorous as everyone seemed to want the same shot.

It is a Dry Heat but . . .

So Tuesday night we slept in the Glen Canyon recreation area because our trip through Monument Valley meant we wouldn’t make the Grand Canyon that day. When we turned off the car at around 10 PM (Mountain Standard Time = 1 AM Eastern Daylight Savings Time . . . Arizona being the only state not to observe daylight savings), the thermometer read 92 degrees. Hard weather to sleep in. Fortunately, there was a good breeze and our tent opens up quite a bit to let the air in.

Then on Wednesday, when we settled in at the forest site, the temperature on the car at 10 PM read 42 degrees (forecasts said the low would be 32). Fortunately, our tent holds its temperature pretty well when it’s all buttoned up. We piled on the clothes and used all of our cold weather gear and we were fine.

Tonight’s low is predicted to be 28. We're working on our sunburns, a trick we picked up last year.

No Room at the Inn

Our trip to the North Rim from Glen Canyon was very scenic as it took us right past the Vermillion Cliffs (Scott was disappointed to learn that “Vermillion” is just a code word for “red” . . . not one of his best colors).

We had been lured to the North Rim by a number of websites which suggested that it was the “quiet” side, with more trees and fewer people. Hmm. If that’s the case, then the South Rim must be intolerable. We were greeted at the entrance station with a sign that said sorry, campsite full. The lodge was full too. Directly north of the park is the Kaibab National Forest. The nice ranger at the ranger station said there was a ton of dispersed camping in that area. Just drive in, find a place you like, and set up. We pitched our tent four miles in, just past the trailhead for the East Rim overlook, which connects to the Arizona trail, a trail that runs from the Utah border south through all of Arizona to Mexico. The campsite had a lot of large trees and was completely private. And free.

The only reason we wouldn't stay there our entire visit is because it's at least a 30 minute drive to the campsite. We managed to secure two different campsites in the Park for Thursday and Friday, so we'll be closer to the action for our mule ride tomorrow.

At the Grand Canyon

We're on the North Rim. The wi-fi here is primitive (it seems only one computer can access it at a time and even then it's a trial . . .) so we will post when we can. We've got campsites for tonight (Wed), tomorrow, and Friday (all different sites, but at least we're not sleeping in the car) so it might be the weekend before we can post again.

Hey, Them’s Some Big Rocks

Hey did you know, there’s this nifty place called Monument Valley along the Arizona/Utah border? We’d heard of it, vaguely, but didn’t think much about it until the landscape started to get interesting and road signs popped up. It was only about 20 miles out of the way (one way) so we decided to go for it.

It was definitely worth the 11 mile bone jarring, unpaved ride through the area. Essentially, the formations are a soft sandstone capped by a harder rock that slows down the erosion of the sandstone.

Four Corners Decision

Hey, how can you get out here and not contort yourself so all your limbs are in different states? Plus, we have a nifty photo of Arizona taken from the Four Corners Monument in 1970 thanks to our neighbor Jill. The plan was to get to the monument, eat from the vendors we’d heard about, and then decide where to go.

There is nothing for miles around until the monument itself which is surrounded by artisans, souvenir stands, and three food vendors all offering variations on fry bread. Mainly, though, it was hot. Brutally, unrelentingly hot. After $12 to Navajo Nation (following the $3 per person entrance fee), we were somewhat fed. We took the obligatory photos then we laid our map of Utah on the hood of the car and were promptly blinded by the reflection of the sun. There is no break from the sun and heat there. No hint of shade. We made a hasty decision to head to Capitol Reef and use it as a base to see Arches as well, since they looked close together. Ten miles down the road, after the A/C had cleared our brains, we pulled over to re-assess. We didn’t want to risk missing the “big name” places on this trip. We know we’ll come back to this region but we didn’t want to rush through things. So we decided to head for Zion and Bryce. Problem was, as they say in Maine, you can’t get there from here. We would have to drive out of our way many miles, either to the north or the south. It seemed a bit shorter to go the southern route, so we were Arizona bound.

Decision Time

Not 100% sure where to go next. Today is shaping up to be about 10-15 degrees warmer than we’ve had so far (mid-to-upper 70s for highs) so we’ll want to stay in the A/C as much as we can (supposed to cool down tomorrow). This might mean we head for Monument Park before entering Utah.

Cliff Dwellings

While the cliff dwellings are the most spectacular and famous attractions here, they represent fewer than 600 of the more than 4,000 archaeological sites in the area.

The alcoves which serve as the “foundations” of the dwellings occur naturally throughout the region. Sandstone is extremely porous and as the water which it has absorbed freezes and thaws, chunks of the rock break away from the cliff faces, creating the alcoves. Here’s a very small scale version of an alcove we discovered en route to the Spruce Tree House.

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde is billed as the only National Park dedicated to preserving the works of man. It was also named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978, underscoring its importance to the global community. So while it has the stunning vistas and jaw-dropping beauty we’ve come to expect from parks in this region of the country, much of what the park has to offer revolves around the ruins of the Ancestral Pueblo sites. (The term Anasazi has been used for many years to refer to this group but it has fallen out of favor as there are living descendents of the Pueblos still practicing many of their traditions today.)

We took tours of Cliff Palace (missing our 10 AM time due to the mishap previously outlined) and Balcony House. We also went on a self-guided walk to Spruce Tree House and drove the Mesa Top Loop Road. We feel that gave us a pretty good overview of what the Park had to offer.

In a nutshell, the Park traces the evolution of a people living in the region over the course of approximately 1200 years. They began as semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, settled in the Mesa Verde area around 750 A.D. and starting digging shallow pit houses. Gradually these pit houses became deeper, and a new type of above ground construction developed, and over time these were grouped into gradually expanding villages. Around 1100 some of the people living in the area began constructing their homes and villages under alcoves in the area, resulting in the cliff dwellings. Between 1200 and 1300 A.D., they left for reasons which are not entirely known but likely involve a drought accompanied by a shortage of wood and other important resources.

Apologies to Stacy at Budget Emergency Roadside Assistance

En route to the site tours we’d bought timed tickets to, we hopped out of the car at the motor lodge, and Scott put the keys in the left front pocket of his jeans. The wi-fi in the lobby was great, it even had a power outlet if Scott was ok with sitting on an end table. With 20 minutes to spare before our 10 AM tour of Cliff Palace, Scott picked up the car keys from the table he was sitting on and we headed out the door. (Those of you who are good at naming the murderer before Agatha Christie does can see where this is headed.) Arriving at our car, we discovered that the keyless entry button no longer worked, and strangely, while the key fit into the lock, it wouldn’t turn. Fortunately, we’d left the back door window down just enough to fit an arm into, so we reached in and unlocked the door. Scott sat in the front seat and the car exploded in a wall of sound and light as the horn and hazards went off in tandem. He quickly inserted the key into the ignition, it fit, but, like the door, it wouldn’t turn. It was as if we were breaking into our own car. Scott began pushing buttons on the remote. Somewhere off in the distance, a car horn sounded in sympathy. Eventually, the fuss and bother settled down and we were left in silence to plot our next move. Nothing was working, so we called Budget. The woman answering the phone laughed at Scott and gave him the roadside assistance line. Stacy asked the usual “tech support” questions: are you using the right keys? (Of course, there’s the four-button remote, two black Chevy keys, and an ID tag.) Are you entering the correct car? (Yep, all our stuff’s in there.) Apparently, sometimes turning the steering wheel simultaneously with the ignition key can help. Amy ran out to try this while Scott kept Stacy on the line. He mentioned that there was no owner’s manual for us to check out. Apparently, it’s now common for rental car companies to put that in the trunk with the spare tire. Owner’s manual theft is a problem these days. Who knew? Amy’s attempt proved futile but Stacy said lots of times someone comes out and it starts right up, so she wanted us to do more turning and pressing and give her a ring back if it didn’t work. Being good doobies, we headed back to the parking lot. Getting into the car created explosion #2. Amy emptied the (stuffed) trunk, while Scott pressed buttons, turned steering wheels and attempted to crank the starter. A distant car horn sounded in sympathy. Eventually, Scott began to notice a correlation between his button pressing and the distant car horn. He wandered off to investigate while Amy frantically pawed through the owner’s manual. Strangely, our remote seemed to be working just fine on a different Chevy. Light bulbs went off (in Scott’s head this time) and Scott ran back into the motor lodge to return the keys for the white Chevy Malibu. And found our keys in his pocket. But hey, at least now we can figure out how the radio works!

Ah Amenities

Now that we’ve got you hooked on Black Canyon of the Gunnison, there’s one other thing we should mention: All water must be trucked in from a town 14 miles away. This means vault toilets and no showers. Not even enough running water to wet a washcloth and get a sponge bath.

So we were thrilled to arrive at Mesa Verde. The more we explored, the more it seemed like Grand Teton; there’s no reason to ever leave the park. Showers were included with the $24.05 nightly tenting charge, they had a store which sold food basics and ice for our cooler, a coin-op laundry, and free wi-fi in the lobby of the lodge in the middle of the park. One of us went 52 consecutive hours in the same pair of underwear and was eager for a shower Monday morning. The all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast was forgettable, but nonetheless a nice break from our typical morning meal of pop tarts and breakfast bars.

Four New (for us) Road Signs

The first, en route to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, was merely a black silhouette of a bighorn sheep against a yellow background with the words Next 3 Miles. The second sign, just south of Ouray along Route 550, read “Avalanche area, no stopping or standing next mile.” The third, less than a mile from the second was simply a Black sideways S “10 M.P.H.” (Route 550 is as major a road as it gets around here.) Finally, we saw a large elk sign, a la the bighorn, but with no words.

The Drive to Mesa Verde

The drive after Montrose, through Ouray and Silverton, has been way beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. Even better than yesterday. Mile after mile of outrageous views, incredible hairpin turns and sheer cliff drop offs. Simply stunning. Ouray in particular combined a charming Victorian village with surrounding red rock cliffs, snow capped mountains, and fast running creeks with Cottonwoods.

Scale

It’s very hard to take in, let alone describe, the feeling of this place. So, here we go:

Those are full grown trees on the top.

That little white area on the bottom? A raging river.

(Hint: click on the picture for a bigger view.)

BC o’ the G

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is stunning. One of our newer National Parks, it was established in 1999. Prior to that, it had been a National Monument (the difference, as explained by Ranger Esther Weeks, is that a Monument is established by a president, a Park by Congress.) The two rims are quite different from each other. The North Rim gets a lot more sun, so the snow melts more quickly. The South Rim stays snow covered longer, so has a lot more erosion from freezing and thawing, creating a sheer cliff face of 2,000 feet for the North Rim and a somewhat more gentle drop off with some vegetation on the South Rim. The area of the canyon was formed first by a lot of tectonic uplifting. The river, because of its very steep slope, is exceptionally powerful, and cuts through the hard rock. There was also considerable molten lava in the area, leading to some vertical rock formations similar in style to Devil’s Tower. Add that to the fact that river rock has been found on the top of the canyon, and it must really be a geologist’s playground. Another interesting feature is a tunnel built in the 1900’s to bring water from the Gunnison River to the valley on the other side of the mountains. Can’t imagine how they did it. It’s been proclaimed an historical engineering feat.

Smokin’ Jack’s BBQ Pit

If you’re ever in or near Poncha Springs, CO this is well worth grabbing a meal at. The view’s not bad, either.

Colorado is Just Freakin’ Gorgeous

After some fiddling with the GPS (which claimed the fastest route to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was about a hundred miles longer than the route Google Maps suggested) we found ourselves driving through absolutely jaw-dropping scenery. It was a 300 mile ride to rival anything we’ve ever seen before, including Going to the Sun Road in Glacier N.P. Snow-capped mountains, gorgeous valleys complete with cattle, evergreens as far as the eye could see in spots, Aspens just beginning to leaf out in others. There just aren’t words. (Nor are there pictures, as our GPS was indicating a post 10 PM arrival at the campground. We were just making time.) The temperature gauge fluctuated wildly, up as high as 79 or 80 and down to the low 50s, as we traversed the mountains.

A Long Wait Yields a Sweet Ride

Everything about the trip out to CO went smoothly (in spite of our mild surprise that we didn’t have a non-stop flight after all, turns out we were just two of seven people who didn’t get off the plane in Chicago) until we arrived at the Budget rental car offices. There we were greeted by a lengthy line out the door (we were number 51) due to a national computer system outage (turns out that Alamo and one other rental company were similarly crippled) that forced employees to do everything manually. We were in line for close to an hour but the computers were up by the time we got to the front. The agent who helped us was very nice and even post-poned a clearly much-needed cigarette break to ensure that we got the most fuel-efficient car available. A customer had just returned a silver Chevy Cobalt Sport, our mobile home/office for the next 2.5 weeks. This thing is loaded: heated leather seats, sunroof, XM radio (reminds us of why we cancelled our cable TV . . . 175 channels and nuthin’ on), outdoor temperature gauge, two cigarette lighter power jacks, OnStar, and enough room in the trunk and back seat to accommodate all of our luggage. The info panel says that throughout the 7,382 miles it had been previously driven, it got 28 mpg. All it’s missing is the owner’s manual to tell us how to work everything. Not bad for $14 a day.

A Little Background

About three years ago we were despairing of ever seeing this country. After all, you really need a good couple of months, minimum, to do it right, right? Then we hit upon the idea of taking it in pieces. We started in 2005 from our front door in Wethersfield, CT, packing up the car and driving West. We ended up in the Black Hills of South Dakota before turning around and hoofing it home. This trip taught us that we really could camp. So long as we had a decent air mattress.

In 2006, we picked up where we left off. We flew out to Denver and drove around Wyoming and Montana. So far, this has been our best trip hands down. We never realized there were places that beautiful in the world.

Last year, we flew out to Portland and toured the Pacific Northwest. We reached one goal: going coast to coast from east to west.

Now that we'd done that, the question became What next? Continue with the counter-clockwise circle we'd started or try something different?

We've heard great things about places in California and we've heard about the canyons in the Four Corners region. Amy wrote away for information. We got in the mail a very nice brochure from California. And one from Arizona as well. But something strange was happening. EVERY DAY we'd go to the mailbox and there'd be something new from Utah. Each piece was more jaw-droppingly beautiful than the last. It was canyon porn. And it was relentless. The siege continued for a good month and finally we cried Uncle! We made the decision to spend our time in the Four Corners area.