Where we go; what we see.
After our successful evening ride, we were excited to be up early and spend the day Jeeping. We drove south to Corkscrew gulch – a little muddy to start, but lots of trees – until we got to the switchbacks (yuck!), but beautiful views of the famous red mountains!
We then headed along a shelf road to Hurricane Pass – here is a video clip Chuck took of the shelf road
Chuck’s video clip coming down California Pass:
Had a lovely lunch among some dandylions
Our friends from Minnesota, Ike and Joann, wandered through Colorado and decided to rent a Jeep in Ouray. Since that is close by (ha! Only 300 miles!) and our Jeep needed some exercise, we decided to drive out and join them. The people in Ouray (rhymes with Hurray) believe that Ouray is the Jeep Capitol of the World. It is certainly beautiful and a lot of fun. Many of the trails were still not open because of snow – but we found some great places to see!
We arrived just after the rain stopped, at around 5pm, so we decided to try a “romantic evening ride” up Yankee Boy Basin:
May 21 2018 – Well, I guess we just didn’t get enough of giant monuments, so we swung up to the Valley of the Gods (BLM land) near Moki Dugway in southern Utah.
Here is a drone video Chuck made at Valley of the Gods:
Quite the magnificent scenery here!
May 21, 2018. Goosenecks State Park. This was incredible. Just a quick drive off the main road, cost $5 to get in. Should have spent last night at this place – plenty of camping spots.
This is a MEANDER of the San Juan River in Utah. The river meanders 6 miles back and forth as it travels 1.5 miles. Chuck and I walked to the edge and saw this:
Then we looked over and saw the second one right next to it – WOW!
May 20, 2018 – we started on our way home from the Overland Expo and headed for Monument Valley (Navajo Tribal Park).
Monument Valley was a very neat place. The rock formations were immense. It was fun to imagine how the first people who came across these “monuments” felt as they named each one.
Spent the weekend at the Overland Expo – West in Flagstaff. Did see lots of cool rigs, didn’t take many photos, but here is a shot where we camped with some friends. This was our third Overland Expo, we will most likely be attending more of them!
May 15,16,17 2018. We spent a few days resting and restocking in Sedona. Here is the required panoramic shot from the Chapel in Sedona:
Spent most of May 16 doing laundry and shopping, but got out on the trails on the 17. Here are a few shots from Boynton Canyon Trail:
14 May 2018. Drove off of the rim and tried out a very cool Arizona State Park that someone had mentioned to us: Tonto Natural Bridges State Park. This was such a wonderful place, we would recommend it to everyone. Here is a little description:
The Arch was beautiful! You started at the bridge part of the arch, then followed the trail down one side and under the arch to another trail going up the other side. Going under the arch, you had to rock scramble (hands and knees), climb, and get a little wet. This was such a fun place!
May 13 2018. Spent the day traversing the top of Mogollon Rim in Arizona. 40 miles of dirt Road – didn’t quite make it to the end before we camped. Great Vistas, Steep drops, small lakes. Truck handled it all well.
May 11-12 2018 – We drove into Arizona on desolate Highway 61 and saw another one of these observatories (VORs – Thanks Bob & Cathy!) (that’s three so far this year if we count the one by our house, too)
Then we headed into the Mogollon Rim area or Arizona. It was VERY windy the first couple of days, so we spent a lot of time at the campground.
11 May 2018. Left our campsite and headed to El Morro National Monument. This is a beautiful site, and really the only place for 150 miles that the native Americans and early settlers had to get water. The little Oasis pool here is no longer really natural, its been expanded and lined with cement, but is still full of water. There are a few petroglyphs here, and lots of early settlers left historical graffiti – their names carved into the rock walls.
Here are some photos of the some of the inscriptions on the wall:
May 10 2018. We continued our exploration of Volcanic badlands today – but this time on foot. Hiked the El Calderon area of El Malpais National Monument, saw lava tubes, caves, lava flows, sinks, close up cinder cone, and cinder bombs; cool stuff!
Then we traveled nearby to the commercial “ICE CAVE and BANDERA VOLCANO” site. This was actually much better than we had hoped, and we would recommend it. The hike to the volcano was relatively short, the cinder cone was magnificent. The Ice Cave was very educational (and also nice and cool after the hike to the volcano). The inside of the ice cave stays at no more than 31 degrees F.
May 9 – After our wonderful weekend in Texas, we drove to New Mexico (picking up 18 counties along the way). We spent two nights in Santa Fe, “restocking”, the headed to El Malpais (means the badlands) National Monument and Conservation area. This area encompasses over two dozen Cinder Cones, Lava Flows, Lava Tubes and caves. The last eruption was probably 3000 years ago (the “new area”), but most of El Malpais lava is 10,000 years old. There is also a ridge of Cinder Cones (30 of them) that erupted probably 200,000 years ago.
We stopped at the Sandstone Bluffs Overlook for lunch and then headed to the La Ventana Natural Arch (the largest arch in New Mexico.
We then spent quite a few hours driving across the “Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway” (4×4, high clearance recommended). Saw lots of Cinder Cones. Road is probably a geologist’s dream. Too bad we are not geologists.
May 4 2018 – Spent the weekend with our friends, Jim and Tracy, in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area of Texas. You know they are our friends, because they let us stay on their driveway!
Here are Jim and Tracy taking us out to dinner – quite a feast!
We had a great time at the convention – used the train to get to Dallas, made the traffic a breeze
May 2, 2018. We started our last practice trip before we attempt the trek to Alaska. This one starts by visiting Jim and Tracy near Ft Worth, TX and ends up three weeks later at Overland Expo West near Flagstaff, AZ. We are looking forward to practicing “restocking days”- groceries, laundry, etc and other aspects of long term traveling.
Our first overnight was at a cute New Mexico State Park near the borders of Oklahoma and Texas: Clayton Lake. Famous for its lake trout and the Dinosaur tracks that were discovered while the dam here was being built.
