A Few Days in Cortez, a good place to relax. 2013

 

On route from Moab to Cortez, CO we happened on this very scenic arch.  I have no control over the fact that I was shooting into the sun what you see is what you get!

Cortez,  CO is a good place to relax, very scenic to say the least.  I must say that the accumulation of 13% sales tax when we were grocery shopping caused us to do unscheduled deep breathing exercises!

The big tourist attraction is the 52,000 acre Mesa Verde National Park.  Founded in 1906, it charter leads it to conserve and perpetuate It’s famous for the large number of Pueblo Mountain Ruins.  Several of these are open to exploration to those fit and able to climb ladders and take semi-long hikes at an 8,500’ altitude.  You can count this guy out of that!

I did get to this shot of Anne-Marie in front of The Spruce Tree House, she is about 300’ above it.

We saw a few deer, not much wildlife as there is very little food or water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the long hot summers on 2000, 2001 and 2002 huge forest fire destroyed about 30,000 acres of the parks Douglas fur and Ponderosa Pine Forest.  The view on the left is undamaged, the view on the right is regrowth after 13 years!  Why so little improvement?  This is high country desert folks, very little rain and cold winters.  It is estimated that renewal will require 300 years.

Canyonlands, the ‘short cut’ home

 

Part 2 of 2

After our very pleasant ride along the top rim of Canyonlands National Park, the friendly ranger told us that there was a rarely used road back to Moab that went to the bottom  of the canyon.  There was a warning sign at the start of the road that was just a bit short of the warnings the Doctor gave me before open heart surgery.  OK, it did not say; You could die and other bad things may happen!  After a 2 mile dirt road approach, we were confronted with the road shown on the right.  Sniveling commenced form the copilots seat, it would increase in volume as we descended.  The road was 1 1/2 cars wide and hugged to mountainside for the 5 mile trip to the bottom.  When meeting opposing traffic there was a bunch of maneuvering meant to conserve the sheet metal and reduce the snivel factor.  The view was at once awesome and puzzling as to who would cut this path (I cannot call it a road) to the bottom of the canyons.

Research on the website yielded the following: “ In spite of the early settlers, much of the Canyonlands area remained relatively inaccessible until the uranium boom in the 1950's, After the atomic bombings in Japan ushered in the nuclear age, the Atomic Energy Commission offered monetary incentives for the discovery and delivery of uranium ore. The uranium-rich Canyonlands area lured prospectors who built many exploratory roads in search of the radioactive "gold", opening up miles of previously unexplored public lands.” 

 

This is the only picture I have of us driving on the rim, not a great time for 1 hand driving.  On the right is a quick shot into the canyon out of the drivers door.

We were about 1,000 feet from the surface of the rim when we were confronted with a 25 mile drive to our exit point near Moab.  The road was bad but passable at about 15mph, had to keep and eye on it as there were occasional pot holes that required crawling speed.

 

Below are the photo the attest the we made it to the bottom, there was very little excitement on the lower level which exited adjacent to The Colorado River and gave us a pleasant 10 mile ride to or campground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday we will travel to Cortez Colorado where we will spend the weekend.  SWMBO will be happy to have WalMart and other modern conveniences at her disposal.

Canyonlands National Park 2013 Part 1 of 2

 

Got to love this ‘Senior Pass’ deal for our Federal Parks, show the card and drive right in!  Spend the whole day and have money left over for a beer on the way back to camp.  On Wednesday we went to a park I’d never heard of, Canyonlands.  Want to find it?  Go to Moab, UT, it’s about 25 miles west.  At the visitor’s center you will be cautioned that there is no water or services in the park, there are pit toilets.

95% of the visitors will be satisfied to stay on the upper rim road which winds away for about 25 miles giving wonderful vistas of the canyons.

 

In the photo on the far right, we see a Canyon (rimmed in white) which is about 350 feet below the rim Anne-Marie is standing on.  The canyon that is central goes down about another 750 to the base which is fairly flat.  The far wall (not the snow capped mountain0 is about 20 miles away.  The Colorado River empties into Lake Powel about 40 miles north of here.

 

 

 

 

The Grand View Point is at the end of the road.  A good place to stop and picnic, now would be a good time to see if we have water.  No?  Well I’m damn happy she supersized the Coke!

Photos below are taken at The Grand View Point.  Very windy here, skin gets a light abrasion treatment.

 

 

 

 

OK, I hear you, I’m only about 50’ up.

Now is when 95% of the folks go back on the road, having pleasant memories of these wonderful vistas and more.

 

Tune in tomorrow and I’ll show you the way we went home after a friendly (?) Ranger showed me an alternate road.

The Arches National Park 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Arches National Park’s entrance s about 5 miles out of town.  Having taken Anne-Marie’s descriptive picture we had to drive up the 2000’ tall switch back road to get onto the plateau.  While I have a bunch of pictures, to see great ones go to this link!

The road thru the park is 18 miles one way of easy driving.  With all the stops, it took us 4 hours.  This is high desert, very few critters as there is very little water.

I’m thinking they must have a night shift that comes in and balances all these rocks this way!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Three Gossips are one of the more photographed formations, the master sculptor that makes these formations has been crafting this type of work for thousands of years!

I wish there was some type of size reference for these photos.  I assure you that if I were standing next to them, I would not be visible!

The parks name sake Arches are similar in size, longest free standing arch is 730 feet long.  I limit myself to those that are a short walk from the road as I do not do well with 2 mile+ hikes.

Tomorrow we will tour Canyon Lands another Federal Park.

Moab, UT here we come! 2013

Sunday we stopped at the train museum only to find it closed .  I did get a picture of the 970,000 Beauty that goes 110mph.  Built to last a long time she awaits in this shed for the day she might jump into action again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was Antelope Island which is reached via a 7 mile causeway over The Great Salt Lake.  The 18 mile long island has been stocked with Bison, Great Horned Sheep, Elk and Wolves.  It is world famous as an aviary that hosts some 200 species of birds.

From left to right:  Bison's at the Beach on Vacation, Wales & Anne-Marie with a spectacular rack.

 

We traveled 250 miles to Moab, UT on Monday.  Moab is very much a tourist town located in the Southeast corner of Utah on the Colorado River. We are staying at the OK Campground (Passport America) which is a few miles out of town and very quiet. The Book Cliffs paralleled our route for about 100 miles, they were stark and uninviting.

Tomorrow we will explore The Arches National Park, Stay Tuned! 

 

Brothers of Washington Lodge #70 {Windsor Connecticut} after performing a degree on Monday evening, satisfaction is evident!  They appear to be outside The Union Pub!

 

More Wale Watching 2013

We’ve been sightseeing and eating large for the past few days.  While at the barber, she told me of a delightful restaurant about 10 miles out of town, up Rt39 which is a steep winding trail between the mountains. The Oaks is a 100 year old hide away that treated us with great food and a lovely setting.  On this map, our campground is on Rt-15 at the upper left.  The Oaks is at A about 10 miles into unpopulated mountains.  The drive up is not for the faint hearted, very winding and steep narrow 2 lane.  Reward?  Wonderful scenery!  On leaving, we continued east to Rt-158 & 162 looping around some wonderful country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  This photo was at the crest of the road (6500 feet) on our return trip, in the distance you can see The Great Salt Lake.  We are surrounded by bad weather to the north and west, very happy we made the decision to rest here a while.

We heard from Connecticut O.E.S. friends Marg & George Wales who were on route to California delivering their son’s car.  The have been posting their travel on Facebook and noted that they would be in salt Lake City this weekend.  We made phone contact and arranged to meet on Saturday evening for a casual dinner.

I have a Diners, Drive-ins and Dives ap on my i-phone which is a great help when looking for (often eclectic) spots to dine while on the road.  This time we were lead to The Blue Plate Diner, a very good choice.  Now Marg and George are old enough to remember Eisenhower, hard to believe that they had never had country fried Steak. Well, they have now!  This diner used sausage gravy to add to the joy, must not divulge this to my Cardio-guy!

The soda fountain is original from the ‘50’s.  So I’m told as I don’t remember back that far!