Arches National Park, Utah

Arches is park with a lot of roads. It attracts an international crowd, many Asians and Germans. There are some hiking trails but it is also ideal for people who have RVs and just like to drive around. In my mind, if you’ve seen one arch you’ve seen em all. But still, since it was there I had to go.

I went up to Delicate Arch last night to catch the sunset and see if a decent picture could be taken with crapass camera. I met a bunch of funny people at the overlook and one of them offered to take my picture, she did a pretty good job. After which I took myself to an actual restaurant for a burger. The waiter had issues and sat down at my table without my permission, I thought this awfully annoying. He probably thought he was being cool and hip. I had no choice but to steal the bandana napkin.

This morning I decided to go see more arches wanted to tool around the Devil’s Garden area. But beforehand I wanted to make myself an egg white omelet. I don’t know what it is about these krauts but they are the rudest travelers on the planet. Usually when they annoy me I am in some third world country and try my best to behave so there isn’t much I can do……but this time they were on my turf. So the annoying krauts decided to serenade me with their generator as I ate my breakfast at the picnic area. The krauts, of course, weren’t leaving their RV so they could sit in air-conditioned splendor. I guess they thought that no one would complain since they were hermetically sealed in their Winnebago, little did they know. We had words, the krauts decided to turn their generator off, Freulein Kraut proceeded to give Cham the evil-eye. I evil-eyed her back and felt empowered. I am making it my personal mission to teach all the krauts proper vacation etiquette, I think I have my work cut out for me in this regard.

And what is it with these Germans and their trekking poles? They take them everywhere, they must use them when they go to the corner store for milk.

I get to Devil’s Garden and proceed with my walk. Naturally I took the longer more difficult way. Upon looking at the map, realized it was going to be 6 miles. I was wearing the wrong shoes and had no water but I decided this would make it more challenging. I got a little parched but was no worse for wear.

My breathable trailrunners were shot and I had to buy a new pair. The new shoes are made for slickrock and should give me more grip, but the fucking things are a rather ugly lavender. If I am ever invited to a bridal shower on a mountain I’m ready. I took a shower at the white trash trailer park, poor minivan had to park next to some sort of demolition derby mobile, I don’t know which one of us were more horrified.

I am headed over to Colorado tonight and then north into Wyoming. It is somewhat hot here and it is time for a climate change to cooler temps.

Slideshow for Arches:

Moab, Utah

I have only been here for a few hours so far and have no pics yet. However, I do notice that everyone either has a mountain bike, kayak or is wearing hiking boots, or some combination of the three. The women here are older, thin and muscular; And also look like they spend most of their time outside. So far I have met only one person and he is from Cumberland, MD. When he got here he quickly set down roots.

For once, I don't feel like a freakazoid.

I am absolutely loving me some UTAH!!!!

Muley's Twist at Capitol Reef NP, Utah

Once I made the decision to go with Gary to Muley's Twist I swung into action. I quickly reorganized my gear to switch over to backpacking mode. We had to drive about 45 miles on backcountry roads to get there, I am taking the poor minivan where no minivan should ever go. Minivan seems to be enjoying it. We stayed Thursday night at the free campground off of the BLM road called Cedar Mesa, when we got there all the sites were taken but some really nice people from Idaho let us share their site.

We got going early, I learned all about Gary and how he is very very meticulous. We continued on our way to the trailhead and didn't arrive until about 11AM. The ride up to the trailhead in the car was a real white knuckler, see the pic on the slide show of the switchback road. Things were going fine until we saw some people at the trailhead and decided to ask them about the trail. These guys were real hiking pros from Wyoming and they gave us some tips about the slot canyons. We had no plans to go into the slot canyons but the conversation went like this:

Nice lady at the trailhead: "The slot canyons are very interesting and worth a look. They aren't difficult but you might have to do some chimneying and bridging to get into them."

Cham: "Sure, no problem, we can handle a little chimney and bridge."

What Cham was really thinking: "What the fuck is this lady talking about?"

After this, Gary and I were on a mission to get to slot canyon #3, who according the the Wyoming people was the best. We packed it in about 5 miles and Gary insisted we find a campsite near water which proved to be a wise idea. I learned that when you hike in the southwest the most important aspect of your hike was where was the water, if there was water. There were no gurgling mountain springs here like back east. Every drop is precious. We got our water out of a little puddle and we had to pump it, see picture on slideshow.

Then we hiked a few more miles and thanks to my GPS we were able to find slot canyon #3. We learned quickly that the when the Wyoming couple said #3 was the best they meant the most difficult. But the fact that Gary and I had no slot canyon experience whatsoever did not stop us. We had our kayaking shoes, what more did we need?

It turned out we had to climb and steep hill, then wade through some slot canyon puddles up to our thighs and then shimmy up a slick rock slot canyon. I can very well understand how you can get your arm stuck in one of these things. I am also very glad for all the weight lifting that I do because upper body strength is key, as well as the ability to turn and manipulate yourself in a very tight space. Since I am small I needed Gary's help to get up, but somehow we managed to get into the slot canyon with the camera so I was able to document the whole thing to prove I was there. I was thrilled about our success.

Exhausted we hiked quietly back to camp and had the most magnificent site ever. Muley's Twist is like being in Zion National Park but having the entire park to yourself. I now know what bridging and chimneying is and vow to do some more slot canyoning, its wild. Love it. Gary let me hang at his hotel pool after we got done.

We got back to the car on Saturday morning and now I am getting ready to move on to Arches. I have no bars on my cell phone so bear with me. Email if you wish.

Slideshow:

Capitol Reef NP, Navajo Knob, Utah

I left Cove Fort and moved on to Capitol Reef National Park. This park is much quieter than the two big ones in the area, Zion and Bryce. I felt obligated to stop by merely because it was there but once I got there I was blown away. I stayed at the campground the first night, and decided to get out the mapping software and download some maps onto my GPS/PDA. The next morning I drove down the scenic road which is sort of a large slot canyon for cars. I saw a strange looking bird, maybe Mr. Drew could clue us in on what it was, see pic on slideshow.

Then I decided to hike a trail called Navajo Knob, it was a quarter mile from the campground and along the way I saw a hitchhiker whom I failed to pick up because I was going so short a distance. It turned out that the hitchhiker was trying to get to the trailhead as well and I gave him a hard time about hitchhiking so short a distance. He was hiking the same trail as I so I told him to get going. He turned out to be Gary from Vancouver, a solid hiker with good stamina. Once we got to the top Gary suggested I go backpacking with him over at Muley's Twist (see next post). Gary was not attracted to my winning personalitly and my hot body, but moreso the fact that I had a car, he did not and he had no other way to get to Muley's Twist. I immediately agreed because it sounded like Gary knew what he was doing and had a plan, and, sadly, I do not.

Slideshow:

Cove Fort, Utah

I finally had an opportunity to visit Cove Fort which was really really exciting. I made a preliminary video which will be improved after I get home and can organize my pictures. I will upload the pics at a later date and get things to look pretty. But my explanation of why this place is so important is outlined in the following video. Enjoy.