So this is the flip side

Adventures are always interesting, but not always what you thought they would be.





We spent 10 days in the high desert of Utah and Arizona and Nevada. Deserts are hot.



Scene 1: Vegas North





We flew into Vegas and promptly GTFO (Got the F Out) of Vegas. Cicely and I rented a car, and started driving towards Moab, Utah. North to Utah, through St. George and Hurricane, through Zion National Park (sorry that we didn't spend more time there, going back for sure, just not in the summer) out to Bryce Canyon National Park. We spent the night at Bryce, and did a little 3 mile-ish hike around sunset. Bryce is an amazing geological location. To think of the forces and the time to make the Hoodoos is just incredible. These Hoodoos are 100-300 feet tall.








We had breakfast at Ruby's, bought the greatest guide book for the Colorado Plateau, met up with Stu and Andrea, and got on the road.






Driving through southern Utah, is something that everyone should do. There is an endless supply of beautiful things to see. Each time you round a corner, it is more spectacular than, than the last corner, and that never stops.








Scene 2: Moab




Checked into the Gonzo Inn in Moab, Utah. The Gonzo is a killer hotel just a couple of block from downtown. Moab is like an adventure seeker's Shangri-La. What do you want to do today? Climb? Hike? Raft? Dirt-bike? Quad? Horse? Take Photos? Swim? 4x4? Mountain Bike? Eat good food? Drink good Beer? Lounge at the Pool? Shop?
It is all very available, just pick it and do it. Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park are all within 10 minutes of downtown Moab.




Arches is an awesome photographer's paradise. I didn't get to spend enough time here. I am going back.













We hiked up a little creek to a swimming hole that apparently on locals know about, (and us because we bought the greatest guidebook ever,) hung out there for a few minutes and headed further upstream and found some petroglyphs from the Anasazi Indians. They occupied all of the Colorado Plateau, and have cliff dwellings, ruins, petroglyphs, and pictographs everywhere. It is really cool to go in search of Anasazi evidence. Once we got a little further upstream, we found the best swimming hole in the whole area. When we got there we were the only people there and it stayed that way for about an hour. The funny part is we thought about just staying at the hotel and swimming in the pool. When we got back we saw that the pool was jammed with people that don't know there is life beyond the hotel and we were very glad that we like to get off the beaten path.


We got our mandatory this is how you work everything talk from the outfitter that we rented the raft and kayaks from, and at 8:00am the next day we were at the shuttle service and headed towards the River. Our trip is to be from Mineral Bottom and the Green River to Spanish Bottom just past the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers, just above Cataract Canyon.






Scene 3: The River


We hopped on the short bus (appropriate) and took all of our stuff to the river. Got our raft inflated, kayaks dialed and shoved off. It is interesting when you take a trip when there is really no return if things go poorly. Rivers are a one-way street, and we weren't being picked up until 5 days later at the confluence. We have no choice but to continue on.





First day on the river was pretty good Stu and Andrea in the Kayaks, Cicely and Andy in the raft. It is really, and I mean really hot. 100 degrees in the shade, if you could find it, and well over 120 in the sun, my thermometer only goes to 120 and it was redlined.



We got to our first camp after about 4 hours on the river, a cool place at Fort Bottom. It is named that because of the Anasazi ruin at the top of the hill that the river meanders around. We hiked up to the ruin a little before sunset. You can see for miles. It is fantastic. Climbed back down to camp, and started to ready to make dinner. As soon as the sun ducked behind the hills the bugs came out. And I mean bugs. They were so bad that while you were at the camp kitchen cutting your meat someone else had to be fanning you with a book or something to keep the bugs away long enough for you to concentrate. Cicely and I had 100% deet on, which is a bug repellent that will melt plastic if you touch it, so we didn't get as badly bitten and Stu and Andrea, but it was miserable. As soon as dinner was over we dove into our tents, and didn't get out until the next morning. We packed up camp as fast as we could threw all of our stuff into the boats and got out of there through the haze of bugs. The bugs were so bad that you could actually hear them, when you were just sitting there. A constant hum. We got into the boat and decided that this absolutely sucks, and we want out of this river A S Double A P. We are going to make a push to the confluence and hope we can catch a ride out early.



The next day was hot. Nowhere to hide from the relentless sun. We floated for about 8 hours, and 20 miles that day, and finally decided that we need to find a place to camp. Cicely and I hopped in the Kayaks and went on a scouting mission. We pulled over at one place, and found nothing but desolate river bottom, and it was going to suck to camp here because of no shade. After I ran around for a while we decided to bag this spot in hopes of finding something else downstream and soon. We shoved off and went down a little ways and saw a couple of tents pitched below Turks Head in a spot about 20 feet above the river. We didn't want to camp right next to someone else, but decided to check it out anyway. I went up and talked with the guys, and they said that this was going to be their second night at this camp, and the bugs were nothing like they were at Fort Bottom. There was a ton of room here so we made this spot of home for the next two nights. It didn't even come close to sucking. It had a great location that started to get shade at about 1:30 in the afternoon, there was a perfect swimming hole with a back eddy that made it so you didn't have to swim against the current and could just relax in the water, we spent the whole next day in the river. It was really great.



After the sun started to go away we climbed up the rocks and got on top and hiked all of the way around Turks Head. Unbelievable sunset.















Day 4 on the river we push off and only need to go about 15 miles today. 5-ish hours of floating, well the wind started to blow and we had to paddle for about 3 hours. We found another great camp and Water and Shot Canyons. Had a great night here.



Side bar - Can you see how the the river looks...dirty? It was. absolutely filled with silt. We brought our water filters , and had to get a bucket of water and let the silt settle for at least 3 hours before we could run it through the filter, and even then we could only filter about 6 liters of water and would have to dismantle the filter and let it dry so we could knock the dust out of it and start over. It was a lot of work.



Back to it. This was our last night on the river, and we still had 3 bottles of wine. Stu and I drank most of it, and some gin. It was a good night. It was an even better morning, the sun didn't break over the cliffs until around 9:00am in this camp, that unfortunate occurrence would happen at about 6:30am in all of our other camps, and when the sun hit your tent you had no choice you had to get up or you will cook in your tent.


We got all of our stuff together and shoved off at about 10:00am. We had to be at the below the confluence at 1:00 for the shuttle. No problem. We started going and the river channel narrowed, and so I rowed the craft. By this time the novelty of the kayaks had worn completely off and we just had them both lashed to the raft so it sort of looked like a raft with pontoons. I rowed to the pick up spot, about 6 miles. We got out got our stuff together and the jet-boat came and picked us up. We all sort of felt as if they rescued us. It was a really nice ride 50 miles up he Colorado river and back to Moab. We got out of the river and into the car and headed South to Bluff Utah.












Scene 4: Bluff and the road to the Canyon



Bluff is one of my most favorite places I have been. It is a little town of 300 but there is a motel there that I have stayed in a couple of times now that is clean, has a pool and a hot tub, and a library of area information, and I am talking 3 ring binders full of maps, descriptions, and pictures of darn near everything to do in the area. Oh yeah, it is about 65 dollars a night. Best deal in the US I am sure. And the best thing...a shower. It has been 5 days of taking a bath in a river that is completely filled with silt. Cicely and I were, let's call it... dirty. We spent the night here and then in the morning with hit the road again on the way to the Grand Canyon.


The drive to the canyon was an interesting one. We found a cool site along the way with a wall full of petroglyphs. It was really neat. As we were traveling through the Navajo Indian reservation we saw a sign that said Dinosaur Tracks. I asked Cicely if she wanted to check that out, she said sure. I think we were both expecting to walk for about 20 minutes in the scorching desert sun and see something that looked remotely like a half of a print and really have to use our imagination. This is what we found. And there were a lot more like this. I was amazed.




















The Grand Canyon is unreal. I have been there 3 times and am still blown away by it. If your are anywhere near it, take the time even if it is 6 hours out f the way to go check it out, you won't be disappointed.





Scene 5: Back to Vegas







We got to Vegas and it was even hotter. 111 degrees. We checked into the Mirage, and then checked into the pool and when the sun went down we walked around town. Didn't lose too much money, but what I did lose I lost really, really fast. On the plane the next day, and got home.




Scene 6: Hindsight



First and foremost, I am not going back to the high desert any later than the end of May. It is too hot. Bugs suck.


I am going back to Moab. I think about a week at the Gonzo Inn would be really nice. Spend the days checking out some of the cool stuff around Moab, and sleep in a nice bed. Cold beer on tap has a nice ring to it also.


The four corners region is a place that if you went there for 2 weeks every year for the rest of your life you won't see everything that you would like to. Don't try to see it all, you will only scratch the surface, and be disappointed that you couldn't spend more time in one spot.



Mt. Rainier details to follow.


Over,

AC