Grand Canyon, is Both

Rest stop at 1.5 miles down

The day dawned clear an cool, a beautiful day to visit the Canyon. On the hour drive from our hotel in Williams to the South Rim, we traveled the featureless plain of the Coconino Plateau. As you get closer there is a lot of new tourism based development in Tusayan and Grand Canyon Village .

Hiked down the Bright Angel Trail, into canyon for a little over 2 hrs. Some of us made it to the 1.5 mile rest stop along the trail, where there is an aid station with water.  Saw the wide range of hikers from the hard-core with all the gear, to the people who look like they decided to walk down the trail on a whim, such as women wearing heels.  In the exposed areas, the sun was hot, but in the shade you could feel the cool rock walls.

During our time on the rim, we heard lots of different languages being spoken, a lot of French and either Italian or Portuguese.  Since the roads connecting the most popular vistas are closed to auto traffic, we took the shuttle bus to see a few other views of the canyon.  Due to the steepness of the canyon walls nearest to the water, it is hard to see the Colorado River.

Views on the way out

We stopped by a little roadside stand that we had seen the night before, so we could look at jewelry made by members of the local native american community.  A short walk down a trail was a nice overlook on the edge of Little Colorado River Canyon.

The destination for the evening was St George UT.  This meant we had to retrace our steps throught he Painted Dessert, and then head north and west on 89, 89A and AZ 389 to UT 59.

Echo Cliffs


View from an overlook on the South Rim





View down a side canyon from the trail



On 89A we drove along the southern side of the Vermillion Cliffs, which form the southern edge of the Paria Plateau.  There was a thunderstorm hitting the top of the plateau, and we had some wind and showers along the way as we passed through the house rock valley.  The road started to climb the Kiabab Plateau, with many switchbacks as it gained elevation.  We saw a nice overlook and got out to stretch our legs and get a few pictures.  Looking back to our east, we saw the valley we had just traversed and the Vermillion Cliffs.  There was a game preserve in the foreground, and the BLM road stretched to the north through the House Rock Valley.  It was a nice view that we weren't expecting so we lingered a few moments to enjoy it.



Little Colorado river Canyon



We were enjoying the scenery, but realized that there would be few options for dinner till we got off the plateau and into Utah.  At the intersection of the road that takes you 60 miles south to the north rim of the Gand Canyon is the Jacob Lake Inn .  We decided it would be a good time and location for our dinner stop, as it had a restaurant, gift shop and motel.  We enjoyed a nice dinner and browsed the gift shop.  There were a lot of Christmas decorations hanging up and Christmas music was playing in the background.  This is something they do to celebrate the end of the summer, as many of the staff are college students and they were getting ready to leave.



View of Vermilion Cliffs, a nice surprise

The obvious picture

Mesa Verde and Grand Canyon at Sunset

Mesa verde
Spruce tree house
Mesa top Loop

Lunch at cortez with thunder shower
Desert drive
Photos at Grand Canyon
Sunset talk
Mountain lion crossing signs
Lodging in Williams, AZ

Colorado Springs and Great Sand Dunes

Air Force Academy Chapel

We had a great time in the Denver area, touring by day and visiting in the evenings.  Now the next phase of the trip was about to start, so we headed south on I25 toward Colorado Springs.  Along the way we had nice views of the Front Range to the  west and the wide open prairie to the east.  There were even a view mesas along the way.

Our first stop was the Air force Academy.  The campus is built into the foothills of the Front Range with beautiful vistas all around.  Since the campus is relatively new, the buildings all are built in post World War II, modernist architectural styles.  We walked around a small portion of the campus and toured the iconic chapel.  The chapel is built of 17 aluminum clad spires, interspersed with narrow bands of stained glass.  It has design elements from European cathedrals, but in a very modern style.

Rock Formation at Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods, incredible rock formations.  A taste of what is to come.

Went on a quick stroll through OTC gift shop

Great Sand dunes National Park, walked for about 1.5 hrs. and got up only a over the second row of dunes.

Dinner in Alamosa, CO

Drive to Durango, over the San Juans and Wolf Creek pass, too bad it was dark.

Sign near entrance of Olympic Training Center

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park

First stop along Peak to Peak Highway

Lilly Lake, our scenic lunch stop

After another nice breakfast with the Robinson's, we headed north to Lyons, where we got on the Peak to Peak Highway.  It is a winding road that runs west of the Front Range, so it was a great prelude to what was to come.  We stopped along the road to enjoy the creek and a little climb.

We headed west toward Ferncliff and then north toward Estes Park.  There were a lot of beautiful views of alpine meadows interspersed with wildflowers and pine trees.  The hot temperature at Lyons gave way to much cooler, more pleasant climes as we gained elevation.  We had nice views of Longs Peak ,one of the 54 "fourteeners" (mountains topping 14,000'). Just before we started the descent from the high valley were driving through, we came upon Lily Lake.  There we ate lunch and took some pictures.  We were very tempted to hike the loop around this scenic lake, but decided to save time for a hike later in the afternoon in the park.  We met a couple from Texas who has been coming to this area for many years.  They gave us some good ideas about what to do and see in the area.

After descending, and driving through Estes Park (a tourist oriented town), we arrived at the entrance to the park.  The friendly and helpful park rangers at the entrance and in the visitors center provide a lot of good advice about what to see and do.  We decided to take the Alluvial Fan hike which scrambled over the fan created by the 1982 Estes Park flood.  We did a some boldering and a dicey stream crossing on the way back.

View from Old Fall River Road, back down valley

When that was done, we headed up the dusty Old Fall River Road, a one lane dirt road with twisting switchbacks, steep drop-off's and many beautiful vistas.  This evoked many "Oh my gosh" moments from Sarah.  Near the top, we took a brief hike on the Chapin Creek Trail.  We all quickly got winded and lightheaded, since it was a little over 11,000 feet.  We could see the top of Chapin Peak, and really wanted to bag the summit, but needed to cut it short due to time and weather danger.  After the hike then continued on to Old Fall  River Road, till it climbed above the treeline.  As we continued, we started to see some patches of dirty brown snow, where snow had blown over ridges and settled in steep ravines that get very little sun.

Elk herd grazing along road

We arrived at the intersection with Trail Ridge Road, which runs along the ridge line, and then stopped at the visitor center which was at an elevation of 12,976'.  There were a lot of tourists at the center, as this road carries a large volume of tourist traffic.  As we drove along the ridge and started heading downhill, we saw a few bicyclists making the long climb up.  On the way down, we passed a small heard of elk, very close to the road.

Drove to airport and exchanged Explorer for a Dodge Caravan.  As the trip progressed, it became clear that this was the best solution, but a very expensive option.

View of remote alpine meadow, north of Chapin Peak Trail

Denver and the Front Range

Our first stop for the day was the 16th Street Mall in Denver, which is the downtown shopping district at the heart of the city.  The first destination was Larimer Square, which was commercial district with boutique shops and trendy restaurants.  Streets were closed for a couple of blocks as workers were setting up for some sort of  fashion/music event. Sarah bought at hat, and the clerk at hat store had ties to PA.  There is a free bus service that runs the length of the mall, so we rode it to the state capital complex.  We were able to get a photo on the 13th step of the capital building which is exactly one mile above see level. We also walked by Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies, which is located at the north end of shopping district, along the Platte River

Steps of Colorado State Capital building,
at exactly 1 mile above sea level.

After spending the morning and lunch in downtown Denver, we headed northwest toward the city of Boulder.  Our first stop was Celestial Seasonings a tea company which started here and still blends and packages all of their products at this plant.  We have purchased their products, and I followed the Red Zinger bicycle stage race in the late 70's which they sponsored for a few years, until Coors took over the title sponsor role.  They had free samples, a video, and a factory tour (requiring hair nets).  The mint room made your eyes water and the general tea smell certainly induced a craving for tea, which they capitalized on by strategically making you exit through the gift shop.  We got a good dose of tea trivia, for what it's worth.

After our tea time, we went to Pearl St. Mall, which is the commercial district for Boulder.  It was what you would expect for a college town, lots of trendy shops, art galleries and restaurants with a veggie flair.  Anne really liked Peppercorn a 12,000 SF kitchen, gourmet food and home furnishings store.  I spent most of my time checking out the bike's around the mall, lots of "fixies" chained to whatever wasn't moving.

Being a endorphin junkie, I was quite aware of the large number of elite endurance athletes that call Boulder home.  We saw a lot of people riding bikes around town, whether for training or transportation.  The concentration of bikes was similar to what I would expect to see in Europe.

To end the day, we drove to National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).  Although this is a place I would like to visit some time, we went there for access to a trail head that allows you to access the Flatirons area of the Front Range.  Since it was getting late, we ended up only taking 20 minute hike up the Mesa behind the NCAR campus.  It did give us a preview of the mountain scenery to come tomorrow at Rocky Mountain National Park, and chance to take a few pictures.  Although the mountains that make up the Front Range of the Rockies are not quite as tall as the interior peaks, they do have a lot of exposed rock formations that add to the scenic value.  We saw a couple mule deer while exiting the parking lot.

View of Flatirons from the trail behind the NCAR complex.

Flatirons Formation in Winter
Source: Wikipedia

Denver to Denver



Passing time at the airport

Our trip to the airport went very well, including a friendly shuttle driver that has a day job at the Williamson Free School. When we got to the airport, thats when the fun began. Anne left her ID at home, so after showing her library card and everything else that had her name on it, the TSA gave her a good pat down and then let her through.

During the flight, we had some minor turbulence from thunderstoms in the Midwest, hopefully they were getting rain.  We also observed how the township and range surveysystem impacts development patterns west of the Appalachians.  As we continued west, we saw lots of dry lakes, streams and rivers, evidence of the draught gripping the Midwest.  As we got even further west, we could see the circular fields where center pivot irrigation systems are used.

The remainder of the flight went OK, but the rental car pickup was not so fun.  We had a 20 minute wait for the shuttle, an hour wait for service, then the van which we had reserved, suffered a broken window in the car wash. They gave us a Ford Explorer, which is too tight for 5 passengers and luggage for 13 days.  All these events added to the stress of the first day of travel, and we hoped that this trend would not last.

However, once we arrived at David and Diane Witonsky's, we were able to put the stress of the travels behind us.  Diane is Anne's cousin, and we were also joined by her cousin David Robinson and son Cy, along with her Aunt Norma and Uncle "Robbie" Robinson.  We had a nice dinner and burgers and salad, followed by a little badminton and horse shoes.  Later we took a 2 mile walk around the neighborhood and then went swimming at the community pool.



"Crop circles", evidence of center pivot irrigation
in the high prairie of the western Great Plains

Prologue - Great Expectations?

I took a trip around the US with my family in 1976, so I have a pretty good idea about what to expect in 4 of the 8 parks we are expecting to visit.  That trip was 5 weeks, including a couple days in the Canadian Rockies.  It was a great experience, and we covered a lot of ground, so I'm anxious to see if our 2012 trip can live up to our collective expectations.

We have an ambitious schedule planned, and we all have slightly different interests and biases which will influence our experiences during this trip.  All of the kids are anxious to see the Grand Canyon, but are not sure what to expect at the other parks.

I am writing this blog so that we can remember many aspects of this trip that may get lost with time.  However, I hope that any of you reading this will also enjoy the photos and get some value out of our perspective of what we saw.  Before and during the trip, we asked a lot of people who had any experience with areas we planned to travel for advice on what not to miss.  This advice was very helpful in planning how we spent the short time we had wherever we went.  This allow us to make the most efficient use of our time.  It is our hope that what we share in this blog will be helpful to you.

So with all these thoughts in mind, we are ready to "go west young man".