Day 65 - Dinosaur to Flaming Gorge

At first I thought it was a dream-- bumping sounds by the van--then there was another bump. I looked up and saw a herd of cows surrounding the van, cows again! I yelled at them to no effect then I started the motor and backed out of the side road-- startling the cows and allowing me make my getaway. Rains had fallen all week making the gravel-based 15-mile dirt road to the Utah section of Dinosaur a bit slippery but passable-- luckily I only had to go downhill. Holding my speed through the muddy sections as to not get stuck, I made it down.

I wanted to climb Split Mountain, a mountain carved in two by the Green River, but it was rainy and the rocks were wet. I did hike up a trail by the river and then off road to a high hill overlooking the mountain and river. Incredible views, no one else around.

I then drove to the famous "fossil wall", a ancient riverbed layer filled with thousands of dinosaur bones, tilted sideways by rising mountains and now available for the public to experience. The wall is huge and only a quarter of its original size. The bones of 100 dinosaurs were mangled, tangled and embedded in the rock.

After Dinosaur, I drove north towards Flaming Gorge, a reservoir formed by a large dam fifty years ago. I joined a tour of the dam (wider walls than Hoover) and then drove around the lake towards Wyoming. The weather was overcast and rainy so photos didn't exactly capture the flaming nature of the Gorge. But it was pretty.

Given the rainy weather and the fact that I was arriving in Wyoming a week early, I decided to make a detour-- to South Dakota. This 1000 mile detour would allow me to see Devils Tower, the Black Hills, Custer State Park, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Mount Rushmore and the Badlands. I drove on another two hours to a Walmart parking lot in Rawlins, Wyoming in order to cut the distance for tomorrow's drive.

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Day 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park. A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view. Yes sir!! The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reef...

Day 35 - Escalante River

Our group of eight intrepid but novice backpackers and two incredibly experienced guides gathered for breakfast at 8am to meet, greet and bulk up for 5 days in the Escalante River area. We laid out all our gear to ensure we had the needed hiking, camping and survival supplies and drove to our trailhead for departure. We hiked along a trail following the course of the Escalante River for a mile or so before getting to our first of many river crossings. Wet feet were not something we could avoid so we simply hiked across and sometimes down the river. When the river ran close to the canyon walls we knew we would have to find a shallow entry to the river, then cross the river to the bench on the other side. Guides Andrew Skurka and Alan Dixon offered instruction along the way on map reading and route finding and information on local vegetation and geology and how the knowledge of both helped make your off trail travel more efficient. For example in geology their were two main ro...

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site. Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint. And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...

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