Utah - Part 3

From Moab, we headed south to get to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We passed by Monument Valley in full moon light that was so bright you could make out features on the towers - it was like muted daylight and gorgeous. We split up the drive to the GC by staying a night in Kayenta, AZ and then drove up to the North Rim from there. Here is Kim, the Grand Canyon and the San Francisco Peaks in the far background. The sun was really bright.

We stayed a night at a campground just outside of the National Park and had our first really cold night. The water bottles froze and frost covered everything. So we split back to Utah and went to Bryce Canyon to see the crazy HooDoos Every new park we went to was more impressive than the last and each is so unique.

The other thing to consider is that the little newspaper style guide you get at the park entrance that has all of the main hiking trails, is written for the "average" tourist that would visit the park. Some of the recommendations the park service makes about time to hike, footwear reguired and other info is aimed (potentially) at the people in the parking lot standing around you.

The hiking is fantastic and the thing that was the hardest for me was the difference in elevations between Portland and everywhere else we went.

I'm going to save my favorite park for the next Utah post - stay tuned.

Utah - Part 2

Welcome to Utah...again. So the last post was sort of a quick overview of most of the trip. The beginning starts at a climbing area called Joe's Valley. It is in coal mining country and very close to the mine where the miners lost their lives recently. They also pump natural gas here as well.

We only climbed here a little bit and then decided to leave for Moab, because Kim really wanted to go to Arches National Park to see Delicate Arch. We rolled into Moab on a Saturday and went to Arches first thing. We walked out to Landscape Arch to get a feel for the park and because it will most likely not be an arch for much longer.

The hike out to Delicate Arch was really hot, takes about 45 minutes, and it was surprising how many people didn't have water with them. Arches is a beautiful park and worth the visit to Moab, but pay attention to the weather. After taking in the view at Delicate we headed back towards the car and off in the distance it was clearly raining. And rain in the desert means flash floods. Half way back to the car we started getting sprinkles and people were still heading out to the arch with no water, across a wide and exposed expanse of sandstone slabs. Crazy.

I said earlier that we rolled into Moab on a Saturday. Well never do that unless you either have hotel reservations or you don't mind staying at the RV park. It also rained and rained hard for the next several hours - which all of the locals working at Pasta Jay's wanted to go outside and watch. Coming from Portland we were impressed by the ferocity of the run off, but not by the rain itself.

Utah - Part 1

So, I got married 2 months ago today. And for our honeymoon, Kim and I went to Utah. When you tell people that they always seem so dissapointed for you, like, "You didn't go to a resort?" That resort link is to bouldering in Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands and if someone wants to pay for us to go, we accept.

No and yes - we spent most of our time sleeping in the truck, checking out national parks and when we needed showers we would get a hotel room, RV site, and we even stayed at a spa/resort our last couple of nights in St. George, UT.

The worst part about driving to Utah is getting through Idaho. We did drive past the Ore-Ida plant and had a fantastic sunset. We spent the first few days outside Castledale, where the Food Ranch is King, in the area around Joe's Valley Reservior, but that wil be Part 2.

Flat Tire Blues

This is a true story that must have started sometime Saturday night. My friend Mindy picked Kim and I up Sunday around 2pm to go out and go climbing. When we went out I noticed that my passenger front tire was totally flat, sitting on the rim. So, you know, I was like, "that sucks, but I'll take care of it Monday morning." I thought I had a nail or screw stuck in it and would be able to take it up tp the Les Schwab and they would plug it and I would be done.

But NO - some jackass stuck a knife through the sidewall. Lucky for me the Les Schwab folks are awesome and came out and put my spare on for me. My truck has a lift with 32" tires and so my little bottle jack wasn't enough to get it off the ground for me to change myself.

After the Schwab guy left, it then took me 4 hours and 2 Les Schwabs later to get a matching replacement tire that cost me $220.00. That was my Monday Morning Flat Tire Blues and I've been recovering from that until now.

The picture is my truck parked next to the U.M.W.A. boulder along Cottonwood Canyon Rd. in the Joe's Valley area of Utah, just outside of Castledale and some cows (all open range land). I was to distraught to remember to take a picture of my poor flat tire.