Day 31 - White Sands

Pristine white sand dunes with brooding moutains surrounding in all directions, White Sands is a photographers dream. Arriving to the park at 430pm I watched the visitor center video and drove out to the dunes for very short hikes I search of the perfect vantage point for sunset.

A eight mile road goes into the heart of the dunes and halfway in turns from pavement to white sand surface. There is one longish hike at the end of the road, in the most white perfect sand section of the park, so I ended up there by 6pm. I packed my day bag with water and food, brought my camera and tripod, and hiking sticks and set out. I hiked until 7pm following stakes in the sand and then turned around so not to get lost in the dark. I got back to my car just as the sunset was starting to glow. Five other people were there, snapping away at the pure perfection of the White Sands sunset. One of the Chinese guys had taken pics of me hiking out and hiking in and must have taken 500 shots in ten minutes.

Having done my best to capture the white sand beauty and feeling alert, I decided to drive on two and a half more hours towards Albequerque so I could resupply at Costco and get an oil change done early the next day. I pulled into a Walmart parking lot at 1130pm, put up my blackout windows and crashed after a big day.

Here are my white sands pics.

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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 104 - Glacier to Vancouver

The hike up Balu Pass was supposed to be fairly easy, beautiful and dotted with waterfalls, but when I talked to the park ranger and learned that Vancouver was an eight hour drive away, I decided to skip Balu and drive west. I left behind this pretty view. And drove many hours through pristine mountains, fewer and fewer snow-capped ones the further west I drove. Some of the valleys were flooded to make reservoirs, leaving scenic sights. I eventually made it to Vancouver and drove right on through to Point Roberts USA, a five mile by five mile coastal land just below the 49th parallel and thus in the USA. The park ranger had suggested this as a good place to camp but being late of the Thursday night before the Fourth of July there were no spots available. I drove around instead and stopped at a forested coastal park. After ten minutes of walking I came to my first grand Pacific view with Mount Baker 60 miles east. The San Juan Islands and Orca Islands could also b...

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