The Hoodoo that You Do

Utah is nuts. Well, in July.

Getting extremely tired of the 106 degree weather, we saddled northward(ish) from Zion to spend the day at Bryce Canyon. While still warm, losing at least ten to fifteen degrees made a fairly large difference, and we set out to enjoy our day at yet another ridiculous national park.

Bryce Canyon Hoodoos

Bryce Canyon is very deceptive. As you enter the park, you get no feel for the type of topography that lies just beyond some of the trees to the East where the canyon lip stands. Even until you walk right up to the lip, you really have no idea what is in store for you. The colors and the power of the earth is on display, and the pictures do not do it justice - such an otherworldly experience.

Still not tan. Weird.

 We decided to hook three different loops together to make for a nice 6 mile afternoon, and took in the Queen's Garden Loop, half of the Navajo Loop and the Peek-a-boo Loop. Without a guidebook or someone telling us what we were looking at, it was mostly a hike of staring at crazy formations and shades of orange that we were fairly certain all had names but didn't know. We once again quickly decided that a short backpacking trip on our next return should be in order, if only to see the entire park and find some more solitude.

Hoodoos on the Peek-a-Boo Loop

 The one thought that blossomed in our heads while hiking, though, was how much we wanted to see home again. We decided after getting up and out of the canyon that we would drive through the Escalante Staircase (a drive in itself that is worth going to the area for) and try to find a campsite at Capitol Reef National Park - which would get us in range for single day of driving the following day back to Fort Collins.

Arriving in Capitol Reef was a little eerie. The park itself has a major highway running through it's skinny (and elongated) middle, so there was no entrance station. As we rolled down to the single campsite, almost half the spots were still open, and all of the current residents were all super quiet and seemingly placated. There are all kinds of fruit orchards strafing the campgrounds, and the fact that this area was a Mormon settlement in the 1800's is easy to see due to the orchard size and order.

Capitol Reef Vista

Ten bucks got us a gigantic campsite with a flushing toilet - and without even seeing any of the park proper it made me want to stay a whole week. It was just so less busy and so much quieter than any of the other parks we had been to, it was the perfect antidote to feeling crushed by all of the RVs and cars we had forded to arrive.

In the morning we did a short drive around some of the park to grab some pictures and get a sense of the scenery before getting out of dodge and eventually eating lunch at Colorado National Monument. The CNM was our final stop of the trip, and also marked the 9th national park/monument/scenic area that we had gotten to see. All it took was ~6000 miles and a month!

Colorado National Monument - Independence Monument

We eventually got back to our driveway, exhausted but happy to be back to our beds, friends and kitty cat. All of the different sets are on the Flickr: Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Colorado National Monument. A final and summarizing group of pictures from the entire trip can be found on the Flickr right here.

Woof!

Zion National Park

California is nice. They have a lot of produce, people we love and Yosemite National Park. But what Cali doesn't have is the scenery of Southern Utah - which was a drastic change in pace from every other place we had been visiting so far on this nutty trip.

Sailing into the town of Springdale from a night in Las Vegas (a well intentioned exploration of Sin-City that confirmed every expectation of not really liking it at all...) we got some information at the wilderness desk of Zion National Park and eventually found a campsite at Mosquito Cove. The cove is.. deceptive. While driving through without many people in attendance, it seems nice, flat, next to a river and best of all: free. Once you have picked a spot and pitched a tent, though, some exploration only finds the worst side of free camping. Trash, used toilet paper, dead chairs, sometimes bullet casings (but no dirty diapers, at least) were strewn about like some urban johnny appleseed had made his rounds but the night before.

Zion Sunset

Tired of such grossness after only one night, the morning saw us waking up and directly finding a spot in Zion proper. We were once again directly next to the same river, but wading in it and not finding the remnants of a case of Mountain Dew made the required afternoon cool down much more palatable.

The final push up to Angel's Landing

 After relocating, we made our way up to the top of Angel's Landing with about fifty million other people (or so it felt). Angel's landing is a crazy hike that uses a network of chains to keep people from falling off the edge, though apparently someone had done so even just earlier this year. To make matters even better, about halfway up the tall and final portion, a fierce rainstorm picked up and began to soak and chill us with some nasty winds. We sat it out, and discovered a small blessing of the storm: most of the people behind us gave up their hopes of summiting and turned around. We enjoyed the views of the Zion valley over lunch and eventually picked our way back down to camp. The rest of the afternoon was spent in a local coffee spot doing homework (doug) and adjusting pictures (liz).

The view atop Angel's Landing

 Earlier that morning, we had gone to the wilderness desk again, in order to obtain a permit to do the full 16 mile day hike of the Narrows for the following day. Upon inquiring, we were immediately (and effectively) talked out of it by the ranger on duty. She told us that it was longer, wetter and not nearly as fun as it sounds, and we were better off saving the $70 it would cost us (permit plus private shuttle fees) to simply walk up nearly halfway to the Big Springs feature in the river valley and come back down. We were disappointed to not get the whole experience (and will do it in an overnight next time - though we need some partners to help plant a car!) but she appealed to my cheapness, which usually tends to win.

The Virgin River in the Narrows

So, for our second day we rode to the top of the valley in the park's shuttle system, and headed up the five miles of the Virgin River attempting to lose as many large groups and families attempting to do the same thing. After mile 2, most dropped off and we were set to the challenge of walking upstream of a river that at times was very deep (some portions, though avoidable, were easily deeper than my height) and consistently cold.

Ever use a river as a trail?

Narrows Congregants

 We watched the walls come in and out, saw the way the sun moved across the small sliver of sky above and got utterly soaked. Turning around at Big Spring, we decided to skip the whole 'walking' thing, and after triple-wrapping the camera swam as much of the river down as we could. It wasn't all the much faster, but it was much more fun!

Big Spring - Not just a Clever Name!

 It turned out that the ranger was completely right - by the end of our little 10 mile day, we were pretty tired of slipping on rocks and only wanted to something warm to drink. Overall, though, the hike was one the most interesting and unique things we've ever gotten to do, and really really want to give it the two day treatment in the future.

(Here's all of the shots in the Flickr set)

In Love in the Narrows

Yosemite Valley's North Rim Backpacking Trip

Satisfied, showered and happy to see another couple in love take the plunge, Liz and I nosed the Subie Easterly to find Yosemite National Park. Liz had spent all of one real day at the park in 2002, and I had only done one real hike myself in 2003, so we were completely geeked to get to spend a week in our favorite park.

Arriving late on Sunday night, we got our backpacking permit at the Hetch Hetchy wilderness station and immediately found out that our planned campsite (Tamarack Flat) was a) Full and b) only taking reservations, anyways. Taking it as a sign to stay put, we pulled into the Hetch Hetchy backpackers campground and took to completely sorting out our car of all bear-attracting things. We took a walk of the reservoir that nearly killed John Muir (spiritually, not literally.. though that could be argued) and eventually got some sleep.

Hetch Hetchy Reservoir

The morning found us excited to get to the beginning of our trip, a hike we originally read about in Backpacker last year. The original recipe (and hook of the article) was that the hike began from the valley floor on very old, rockslidden road that is no longer listed on any maps. Doing a little poking around and reading trip reports revealed that not only is the beginning portion of the hike on said rockslidden road sketchy, but difficult and not necessary. A cursory examination of the area gave us our starting point of the Tamarack Flat Campground and a downhill jaunt to where the original recipe met us at Cascade Creek. From there, we actually continued on up to Ribbon Creek where we camped next to El Cap for day 1. The 2000' ascent in less than 2 miles was a bit of a burner, and we got to enjoy the late snow melt running down the granite slope of Ribbon Creek to celebrate our first night.

On top of El Cap

The next day was another 7 miles, though this time punctuated by crazy-awesome views of the valley as we continued. We first topped El Cap, and I scrambled down to see the spot where most climbers ascend from climbing this monster. Scampering around and up to Eagle Peak proved to give the best (and highest) views of the valley for the entire week - and the day eventually ended on the banks of Yosemite Creek, directly before it turned into Yosemite Falls.

The view from Eagle Peak

Day 3 began with the knowledge that it was our longest day, and day 2 had ended with some nasty blisters from our dainty feet who were not used to actually carrying weight. (wah!) Taking a glance off of Yosemite Point and greasing up with sunscreen and DEET, we made it around multiple creeks to eventually have lunch on top of North Dome and get yet another perspective on the valley. From there its a good five miles around to the top of the Snow Creek trail and our campsite on the lip of the valley wall that was literally directly across from Half Dome. This site won for best campsite of the entire trip (including every other campsite we'd come across in Washington, Oregon and California) and gave us an awesome show at sundown.

Half Dome Sunset

Day 3 Campsite Under Cloud's Rest

A Lovely Spot for Breakfast

The final day began with the 2500' descent over 1.5 miles to Tenaya Creek and a deluge of tourists at Mirror Lake. We made some friends who were also doing nearly the same hike as us for the week, and were very graciously given a ride back to our little car hiding out on the wrong side of the valley from where we ended up. That night we ended up having dinner in Lee Vining just East of the Park at the Mobil gas station, where we had the best fish tacos we've ever had. Seriously. At the Mobil. The whole California segment of our trip was capped with a free campsite just south of Mono Lake, where we were basically on a large sandy beach covered with sage and juniper and another nice view of the sunset.

Mono Lake Campsite

As far as having a first time multi-day backpacking experience goes, ours was incredibly rewarding and a lot of fun. We feel like our wimpy car-camping personas were (finally) stretched and are excited to explore more of our own backyard in such a fashion...  as soon as I can talk myself out of needing a real pillow. Seriously. Real pillows are amazing.

To catch all of the shots, head over to the set on Flickr. And I finally tagged all of our recent pictures to show up on the Flickr Map, if that suits your fancy.

The Nuptials of Matt and Anne

The historic Carmel Mission Basilica exudes a feeling of spirituality within. The wedding begins with the usual procession of parents, bridesmaids, etc. Then the 20 foot tall doors open and sunlight pours into the sanctuary, framing the bride and her father in their long procession toward the alter. The dramatic entrance was only the beginning of a very sacred wedding ceremony.

Matt and Anne's wedding is one for the wedding magazines, though not for the sake of being flashy or boastful. Each detail reflects the Central California setting and the story of the couple in some way - from the centerpieces of homegrown succulents and lemons, to Anne's father's Croatian toast and father-daughter dance, to the homemade limoncello made with meyer lemons from Anne's dad's trees. Matt and Anne have graciously invited us, along with the rest of the wedding party, to stay the weekend at the Holly Farm, where the rehearsal dinner and reception takes place. It is perfectly cultivated and tailored to weddings. Between the beautiful setting and the warmth and graciousness of the couple and their families, it is impossible not to feel glad-hearted at this wedding.

Our Marriage Turns 4!

We drive from Redwood to Central California to visit some beloved friends and some favorite old haunts before attending the nuptials of Matt and Anne. We take some time to celebrate our own wedding day, the adventures we’ve had together over the last four years, and the deep deep joy we continue to find in one another.

Redwood National Park

Redwood National Park is free to drive through, but has some crazy expensive campsites. Upon looking through the backcountry map, we find that there are “backcountry” camping sites that are only about a half mile from parking lots and did I mention free? Securing a campsite on Enderts Beach overlooking the Pacific was well worth schlepping all our stuff.

We are saturated in beauty today. Pictures won’t describe the absolute awe that falls over you when you stand in a grove gazing up at 300 foot tall redwood trees that have stood for centuries. Or watching the sun sink behind the Pacific inch by inch. We are feeling very humble today.

Crater Lake

Our last day in Oregon takes us to Oregon’s only national park and a place almost universally recommended to us by anyone who has ever visited here. Crater Lake is a stunning blue. Nestled deep into the remnants of a volcano, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. There’s not much to do in the park itself aside from drive around the rim and marvel at the lake, so that’s exactly what we do.

Hey look, it’s Hillman Peak!

Southwest of Crater Lake, the Rogue River National Forest provides our campsite for the night. As I read the last few blog posts, I’ve failed to mention anything about food (rare for me), so let me just say that even though we’ve spent much of the last week in the sticks, thanks to Trader Joe’s, our little campstove, and an open fire, we are eating quite well. Exhibit A – our brats with caramelized onions and peppers.

Day in Bend, Oregon

We are ready for a day in civilization and Bend feels so much like Fort Collins, we feel at home immediately. Even though it’s a nice day, we are kinda excited to do indoor things, like shower, check email, have a dinner that doesn’t require starting a fire first, and sleep in a bed. Our B&B and visits to the Deschutes and Bend breweries do the trick nicely.

Deschutes National Forest

Somewhere between Hood River and Sisters, Oregon, the landscape changes drastically. Instead of the lush green rainforest we’ve been surrounded by the last few days, we are met with higher altitudes, sunshine, hardy pines, and scrub brush. We have a new remote campsite in the Deschutes National Forest and it feels quite a bit like home.

We spend a day attempting to hike the Tam McArthur trail. It is still too snow covered to find a trail and we are without snowshoes and other helpful gear, so we mush around through the snow for a few hours and manage to get a few nice views of the Three Sisters Wilderness, earning our ice cream and coffee shop time for the rest of the afternoon.

Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia River Gorge is saturated in beautiful greens, winding rivers and streams, and frequent glimpses of the surrounding mountains. Looking out from Sherrard Point in the Mount Hood National Forest, we can see Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson to the south, and Mount St Helens, Mount Rainier, and Mount Adams to the north.

It feels like cheating to get such amazing views after a half mile hike, so we try to put a few miles in at Angels Rest, a 4.6 mile roundtrip hike through streams and wildflowers to a ridge overlooking the gorge.

We stop by Multnomah Falls on the way back to our campsite. It truly is a beautiful waterfall, but being surrounded by hundreds of noisy people eating ice cream cones and taking pictures doesn’t exactly enhance the experience for us.

The next morning is cool and foggy as we set out on the Eagle Creek trail. We hike past several waterfalls along the way, but the destination is Tunnel Falls, which we hike not just past, but behind. 

The sun is out by the time we start hiking the 6 miles back to the trailhead. The heat and the fact that we haven’t had showers in a few days is enough to lure us to jump into the icy cold creek alongside Lower Punchbowl Falls.