Day 44 - Goblin Valley

Goblin Valley has a cool name.

My choice this morning, was 1-drive forty miles on a dirt road to hike the Upper Muley Twist Canyon at Capitol Reef or 2-drive north to Goblin Valley State Park, a maybe list site. My guidebook said Upper Muley Twist was forgettable but did mention another great hike to a double arch and narrows-- but they were too far south-- so Goblin Valley it is! Who can resist a place with that name.

The drive was lovely through this butte and canyon desert. I seemed to pass only RVs-- testament to the middle of nowhere nature of southeast Utah.

I immediately went to the valley of Goblins and was a bit underwhelmed at first. Originally called Mushroom Valley, this tidal basin of old has thousands of spires with head-like shaped. I walked down to the small valley and climbed up to alcove to write some blog posts in the shade of the morning. The view looking back across the park was sensational.

After an hour, the valley filled with people, mostly families, so I hiked to another more remote section and started climbing up and over the Goblins. Now that was fun. Using the ten second timer on my camera, I arrainged and captured my favorite selfie of the trip-- me in motion as I ran toward the camera center after climbing quickly up the rock face in the bottom of the photo.

After an hour more of climbing, I decided to push on. A brochure in the ranger station mentioned a famous slot canyon called Little White Horse close-by but with a very threatening sky above-- I thought it foolish to head to a slot canyon. So I drove on to Arches. Sky darkening-- bad for narrow slot hiking.

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Day 161 - JMT Purple Lake and Tully Hole

We got our first glimpse of smoke far across the valley as we climbed higher. Up on a ridge after a morning climb, we followed a side trail to an open viewpoint beyond the trees. Selfie:) The smoke, while visible, seemed to give the mountains a blue glow-- like a highlighter to a sketch. You could still see the edges of the mountain ridges, the story of their creation. We could hike in this. But the smoke looked worse farther south. Or it was getting worse as time rolled incessantly forward. On day two we had ran into a northbound hiker we nicknamed Speedy Steve. Speedy Steve had hiked 18 miles a day through eight consecutive smoke-filled days, including atleast three "very bad days" when he couldn't see the surrounding mountains, the sun glowed a haunting orange and ash accumulated overnight. On the way to Purple Lake we ran into three dirty, beat up, tired north-bound hikers with a similar story. They had to spend one night in an emergency hut at Muir Pass to avoid the...

Day 172 - JMT Mount Whitney

Our day began in silence, at 315am in pursuit of the summit. We walked carefully, looking for slick, sandy rocks and icy sections--not wanting to fall. Hiking along a cliff edge in total darkness was thrilling, vividly black and white. By 5am, we had reached the three mile marker and the turnoff up to Whitney summit. We removed the heavy items from our bags and set off towards the summit sunrise. The trail was spectacular, a special creation of this nation, winding from one side of the mountain to the other, going down and around one side before coming up to another, creating anticipation with each turn. Looking back, the sloping ridges caught the early sunset delicately. As we hiked along the two mile upper trail, the views east would open up for the narrowest of moments. This opening was my favorite. 14,000 foot cathedrals of nature thrusted towards the heavens at each turn. The summit was almost in sight, the highest peak in the lower 48 states nearly at...

Day 52 - Mesa Verde

The Anasazi first settled on the mesa tops of Mesa Verde in 500 AD, then moved into the cliff dwellings this park is famous for in 1100 AD, then mysteriously abandoned the area entirely in 1300 AD. Like the other tourists, I was interested in seeing the cliff dwellings! Unfortunately many sites are closed in Colorado until Memorial Day, so I wasn't able to go into the two largest dwellings, Cliff Palace or Long House, settling instead for Balcony House. Balcony House is a small cliff dwelling built in a defensive posture on an inaccessible cliff. You have to climb a 30 foot ladder to enter the dwelling and then you have to crawl through a 3 foot wide hole and up more ladders to exit. Adventure and history are a nice combo. The ranger taught us about building techniques, spiritual structures and customs, and theories about the Anasazi culture and disappearance (draught or war). Pics. After the guided tour of Balcony House, I did self-guided tours of a historical museum,...

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