Road Trip Daily

A lightning strike last night had disabled the elevator at Wind Cave.  Safety regulations require the elevator to be working during tours, so I went to plan B: climb Mount Harney, the tallest peak east of the Rocky Mountains.  An hour drive took me back to Sylvan Lake where despite 100% chance forecasts of rain, I put on my hiking gear and breezed up the 3-mile long, 1000 ft+ climb. The CCC built a castle-like stone watchtower on top of the mountain in 1933, making the final climb very memorable.  A white mountain goat at the top of the peak appeared regal and resolute but the dark clouds around ominous. I took some pics and headed back down, hoping to get down before the rain set in.  The descent route took me to the backside of the cathedral spires I saw yesterday.  After climbing Harney, I drove an hour north to Rapid City to Meineke to get my front brakes replaced and complete my second oil change. 10,000 miles!  $427 later the van was back in good shap...

Today was a great, long day-- starting at the seldom-visited South unit of Badlands, heading to patriotic memorial Mount Rushmore and then to the scenic Black Hills.  A young Park Ranger said that Sheep Mountain Table was his favorite hike at Badlands, so I drove south. He also said the road could be impassable after heavy rains but I was able to travel four miles up to the mesa "table" top before the going got rough. I parked and walked along the dirt road amid vast grassfields and eventually leading to the edge of the mesa and lovely views of the canyons below. These white badland canyons reminded me of Bryce Canyon hoodoos. The road looped around and I walked for several hours without seeing another person-- my own private park.  Mount Rushmore was one of those places I had low expectations for given its tourist popularity-- but wow, I loved it! The memorial does a great job presenting  the history of the site: 15 years in the making, 90% of the carving done by dynamit...

Badlands means very difficult and dangerous to travel through-- Badlands lived up to this name.  I began my eight mile loop hike by climbing up a steep canyon side to the mesa wall on top. From here I travelled east towards the popular window, door and notch trails via a wet, muddy and slippery Medicine Root trail that left me covered in mud up to my knees.  Of the popular trails the notch was my favorite because it involved a wooden ladder climb and then a hill scramble past crumbling rock up to a six foot "notch" step that required a almost-rock climbing move to ascend.  The views up at the top cliff were sensational. Even more fun, two girls from New York-driving to Portland and a young couple saw me up there and followed the path up-- with a bit of my help at the notch. I love helping people get a bit beyond their comfort zone. We all enjoyed the view then descended safely to find that this notch was not actually the trail but a side canyon-- haha.  I then hiked ...

Devils Tower had captured my imagination ever since I saw picture of it long ago. Set far in the northeast corner of Wyoming, I didn't think I would make it out to see it-- but I made it.   I arrived at Devils Tower midday while the weather was rainy. I secured a campsite and then took a long nap until the weather cleared up.  Most people drive up and walk the 1.5 mile inner loop trail around, but I thought I would hike up on the outer loop trail and then connect to the inner loop and then return back on the outer loop - 6 miles total.  Along the way I passed by some barking Praire Dogs and some great views of the tower and the praire below. The tower was formed by a magma intrusion and erosion then carved its famous narrow pillars. The tower is a sacred Indian site and walking around the tower in the rainy must felt mystic and spiritual.  The first people to climb the tower did so in 1873 with a 350 foot wooden ladder. I found myself mapping routes up the tower in m...

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...

A quick five mile round trip hike took me to the canyon bottom of the Monument and Wedding Canyons at Colorado National Monument. Climbers were out and begginning their climbs up Independence Monument. Pics.  After this morning hike I drove north two and a half hours to Dinosaur National Monument. Named for a small park with a fossil wall of 200+ dinosaur bones, the park actually has a second larger section with incredible canyons and the scenic Echo Park at the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers.  I desperately wanted to see Echo Park so I went to the non-dinosaur part of Dinosaur first.   Unfortunately the dirt road to Echo Park was closed due to recent rains making it rutted and impassable, so I had to stick to the views from the ridgeline 2500 feet above. But wow, were they great views. The view from Canyon Overlook is pic 3 and then 4, 5 and 6 are from Harpers Point at the very end of the road at the very end of the one mile trail, about 100 feet past the fence...

Rattlesnake Arches is the third largest grouping of Arches in the USA, with seven major arches in a one mile stretch-- you just need to hike six miles out to get there. But what a lovely hike it was, up Pollock Canyon for a walk along its bench the down into another canyon, then up the far canyon wall into another canyon and then finally up high to Rattlesnake Canyon.  After two and a half hours and six miles, I finally reached the arches hot spot. All the arches were formed from the same sandstone ledge and many had wide openings. I don't remember the official names of the arches so I'll make up some names for the best three:  1 Beam-me-up Arch 2 Bridge to Nowhere Arch 3 Hops Arch Hops Arch was my favorite obviously. She is the last arch and requires a small scramble up from the trail at the bottom through the arch to the top.. the very top. I hunkered down under this arch during a quick rainstorm before hiking back six miles to the trailhead. Here are some big vista shots....

Established as a national monument early in 1911, Colorado NM is known for its high canyon "rim road" and sandstone spires of Monument Canyon.  The canyons of west Colorado are pretty--as they have more green trees and shrubs than the more famous Utah canyons. This gives them a more alive feeling, although the sandstone spires were formed many thousands of years ago by erosion.  Rim Rock road curves up the the top of the canyon cliff, goes through several round tunnels and is lined with scenic viewpoints. The best views were in he Monument Canyon section, and included in sequence, the Coke Ovens, The Kissing Couple (behind my head), and the most famous of all: Independence Monument, the tall spire in pic 3 and viewed from the side in pic 4.  The original promoter and caretaker of the park, John Otto, was the first person to climb Independence Monument and now it's a climbing right of passage. Every July 4 climbers ascend and mount an American flag at the summit. Fun! ...

Black Canyon South Rim looks over the same gorge as the North Rim but has a few especially scenic viewpoints that captured my imagination, causing me to spend all afternoon and night there. The best viewpoint to me was of the Painted Wall-- the highest cliff in Colorado at 2300 feet and marked with curving horizontal lines formed by ancient lava flows. If it wasn't for the heavy poison ivy covering the canyon bottom and routes down, I would've hiked down and camped at the river tonight. The painted wall is on the right side of the pics below.  The second highlight was Warner Point. You had to hike 3/4 miles to this point, the highest cliff to river point in the park at 2775 feet down. I climbed fifty feet down an edge and then up a spire floating out in the gorge for epic views. Some Danish boys climbed out seeing me there and then an older couple adventured out with me guiding them. I was happy to have lead people out beyond their natural stopping point.  The third and final ...