Author: Lori

As I had mentioned previously, the park is sectioned off  by two rivers; the Green and Colorado. Our campground was located 30 miles from Island in the Sky and 69 Miles from The Needles. We knew we were never going to go to The Maze, as it is all back country with no maintained trails or cairns. A person who chooses to venture into this section is totally on their own. The brochure states, be prepared for “self-rescue.” First of all, what is self- rescue?  If you can get out on your own, is it considered a rescue or just a successful hike?  With such contradicting verbiage, we steered clear of The Maze.

Prior to even reaching the NP sign we stopped at an overlook. The rock looked like the surface of the moon:

Island in the Sky is a mesa that rest on sandstone cliffs over a thousand feet above the surrounding terrain. The scenic drive  has many overlooks and short hikes to see different perspectives of the terrain bellow.

At this overlook, Terri noticed two Jeeps descending the steep switchbacks. They appeared to be creeping down the trail.

We did do a hike to an Arch:

 Here’s the view through the Arch;

Additional photos from another hike:

Temperatures topped out at 103 degrees. We were going to do more of the bike path in  Moab, but opted to  rest up and plan to ride early in the morning.

As a side note, ever since Terri has seen the name Island in the  Sky, she has been singing Islands in the Stream –non stop. Even bringing up you tube performances.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP7Wb5r6DKU

Let it be in your head all day!

We arrived in Utah on June 30th. We stayed at the Canyonland RV Resort in Moab Utah. The drive to Moab suddenly opened up with Red Rock and I was in love with the place. Terri said she would prefer palm trees to Red Rock , but still thought it was stunningly beautiful.

The RV resort was just a few miles from Arches and in between 2 of the three sections to Canyonlands. Canyonlands is divided into 4 separate areas. These areas are naturally divided by the Colorado and Green Rivers. We decided to do Arches the next morning.

We were truly overwhelmed with all the beauty of the park. The majestic arches and pinnacles. The beautiful colors and shades of red rock. We did several hikes, some short, some lengthier climbs to the arches.

This rock is called “The Three Gossips”

This one was called “The Lamb”.

Then to our amazement- “The Balanced Rock”!

Terri was fearful today would be the day the rock would loose it’s balance.

We did one long hike were we saw four different Arches. The North Arch:

The South Arch:

The two together:

The Turret Arch:

The double Arch:

Some interesting perspectives:

The small Arch in the distance is called The Delicate  Arch and one of the most photographed.  There is a trail to get a much closer look, we opted not to do another hike as we wanted to do some road cycling. We noticed a paved trail on our way the National Park that morning.

The bike ride was one of the most scenic rides we have ever done. The path was lined with towering  red rock and followed the Colorado River. Here are some pics:

It’s not the  Rio Grande, but it is the Colorado!

What a great Ride. We didn’t want the ride to end. LOVE MOAB!

Terri got a text today with this pic. Audrey, Ashley, Emma, Rachel and Isaac dedicated miles to Terri today on the Fourth! If  you look closely, you will see Terri’s name on their calves.  Thanks again  4K for Cancer!

https://www.facebook.com/4kforcancer/

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY! GOD BLESS.

At the first stop on our tour of Mesa Verde, we ran into Sue or as Terri refers to her, “the Bird Lady”. She is an avid bird watcher and a volunteer at the park. She has been keeping an eye on a Golden Eagle fledgling. She had a high powered scope and allowed us to take a peak. A Golden Eagle has a wing span of 6 feet. Mama Eagle was flying above us. I could not get a pic because she was so high. This was a great moment for Terri, as she has recently taken an interest in birds..

Sue reported the fledgling was ready to leave the nest any time now. She told us about a bird app called Sibley. It will actually do bird calls, but Sue cautioned us to use it responsibly because when you call birds, predators may follow…

The next person we met along the way was this gentleman who was from Germany.

Earlier, I had offered to take a photo of him and his wife. We hiked up a steep incline to a fire tower, the view was expansive.

This was the highest point and not only did this gentleman decide to do push ups, he ran up to the fire tower. His daughter was taking photos of him exercising. Perhaps for an article in German Association of Retired Persons, GARP?  I didn’t ask, my German is rusty.

We were still at the fire tower when a husband was taking pictures of his wife. Terri decided to photo bomb the moment and put her arm around the wife. Terri directed the husband to snap the photo of his wife and her new friend. At first the husband was speechless, then the wife said, “I like spontaneity, go ahead.”

This was such a fun moment. I got permission to post the photo. They introduced themselves as Barbara and John. Barbara is originally from Pittsburgh and her brother lives in Latrobe! Another Pennsylvania connection- in our back yard!. The other Pennsylvania connection was Bernie, the owner of the Cortez/Mesa Verde KOA. He is originally from Loretta PA.

Utah is currently experiencing several devastating fires. From Colorado, you can see the smoke from one of the major fires.

As of today, there is one close to ZIon NP and restrictions are in place. It has been so dry and the majority of fires are human caused. There was a fire a few years back on the mountain where the fire tower is located-

This was the view for several miles. Sad. So sad…

Some additional pics from Mesa Verde:

We arrived at Cortez Colorado  on June 28,  late afternoon. We have been schlepping our golf clubs 3,500 miles and had yet to use them, so we decided to  pull them out of the back of the truck. That was quite a task. Terri is an over packer.  My jackets are the red and yellow on the left… The rest are hers… just saying…

Once we dug the clubs out we headed to Conquistador Golf course. It was a beautiful course, with a spectacular back drop.

That night we witnessed the moon rising up over the mountains. This is not a sunrise or sun set:

The following day we headed to Mesa Verde NP

We did several hikes to see the see multiple examples of the different types of Pueblo dwellings, from single level, to elaborate multi-level cliff dwellings .

The following is called Cliff Palace. This structure was an elaborate dwelling that housed hundreds

This dwelling is called the Balcony.

Note the Kivas in all of the structures.The Park offered tours of the cliff dwellings.  Terri and I attempted to sign up for a twilight tour months in advance , however they were sold out. In the Balcony tour, you had to climb a 60 foot ladder. Both of us are afraid of heights, so that one was not an option.

Before I blog about Mesa Verde, I want to share something that happened last evening. When  we were planning this Journey, I imagined meeting people along the way, sharing stories and special moments.  Having brief encounters that would impact us, or perhaps the two of us having an impact on others.  We have had many of those moments  so far and last evening was no exception.  Terri and I believe this was meant to happen. We were at a gift shop in Moab where Terri was looking at some jewelry. A young woman noticed Terri’s bracelet made of palm nuts.  Terri explained she bought the bracelet in Florida. They exchanged  pleasantries and Terri asked if the young woman was vacationing. .  Audrey explained she was part of a group  running across America to raise  money and  bring awareness regarding Cancer. Terri then shared her story of her diagnosis  and our Journey across America.  Terri called me over to meet Audrey and Audrey called her friends over to meet us.   

This is Team Emma. From left to right: Audrey Moeglin, Ashley Cooper, Emma Sanning, (Emma is a cancer survivor) Rachel Armstrong and Isaac Flora.

Here is a link to their Facebook Page-

https://www.facebook.com/4kforcancer/

These are young college kids who give up their summer to either bike or run across America. Here is an excerpt from their FB Page explaining 4Kfor Cancer program

So the next morning we started at the South entrance of the park. Here we did 2 hikes and saw some really big petrified logs. One trial was aptly called Giant Logs trail.  So I found the old trail guide that explains the process of how a tree becomes petrified a bit more in detail.”216 million years ago, the trees fell into a river. They  were buried beneath layers  of silt, mud, sand and volcanic ash, which protected them from decay. Mineral laden ground water peculated through the layers, carrying silica from the volcanic ash and other trace minerals. The silica or quartz, crystals slowly bonded with the cells of the tree. Eventually, silica replaced the wood material.” copied from *National Parks Service publication* 

There are acres and acres of petrified wood.  People who sale polished wood for table tops and such, find the petrified wood outside of the park.

Here is a polished peice:

Another interesting excerpt form the *National Parks Service publication*  explains the why there are different colors. ” ….are due to trace minerals that soaked into the wood along with the silica. Iron minerals cause bright mustard, orange, reds, ochre,  and black.  Manganese minerals cause blue , purple, brown, black and the fern like patterns…”

We also hiked up a trail to see another Pueblo ruin. This one was constructed of pieces of petrified wood!

Afterwords we checked out a few gift shops, and like always- Terri makes a friend:

Here are a few more interesting pics:

Off to Mesa Verde……

We cut our stay at Carlsbad short because we realized Terri would have to drive approximately 9 and 1/2  hours to the Petrified Forest KOA. We booked a site at an RV Park outside of Albuquerque which split the drive time up between the two days.  When planning this trip, we knew we would have to modify our schedule from time to time.  We  arrived at Holbrook/ Petrified Forest KOA late afternoon on Terri’s birthday. We did laundry and relaxed.

We headed out early the next morning and we were attempting to get a selfie at the National Park sign when 2 men pulled up on Harley Davidson bikes. Jim offered to take our pic. We spoke to them for about 20 minutes and found out Jim was from Pittsburgh. This has been a common theme as we are running into many people from the great state of Pennsylvania.  Some,  a few miles from our home.

Jim and Ron have been best friends for years and do a lot of traveling together. They told us about their trip cross country via Route 66.  Thanks Jim and Ron!

The Petrified Forest is vast and we spent 7 hours the first day stopping at overlooks, doing different hikes and taking in the  beautiful views. We began at the North Entrance and the Painted Desert:

The trail led The Painted Desert Inn, constructed in the 1930’s.  It was not open for tours at the time we arrived.  The Inn had guests up until the 70’s.

I saw this in the trail leading to the  Inn. We were 5836 feet above see level.

On the way back from the motel, I got this spectacular pic:

A partially dead tree-

A section of Route 66 cuts through the Petrified Forest.

Another neat aspect of Petrified Forest is the Petroglyphs that can be found throughout the park. Pueblos inhabited this area.

Here is a Pueblo ruin.  A Kiva is a room, usually underground, used for rituals, ceremonies or social gatherings.   

More of the painted Desert. These are called Tepees:

Now to even more marveling sites- petrified wood. Here is a link explaining the geological process:     https://geology.com/stories/13/petrified-wood/   

The colors of the quartz in these woods is breathtaking when seen in person. I took so many photos. Here is just a small sample:

These logs are not cut, this is how they break,  Petrified wood is mostly silica—quartz. The logs are very hard, but brittle. After petrification, the logs cracked under stress. Silica naturally breaks on a clean angle. Much like a piece of chalk.

We ended our day around 4:30-5:00. A  long but exciting day one.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park was approximately a half hour from Carlsbad Caverns. This would have been an ideal opportunity to do  a lot of hiking, except for THIS:

I have never experienced temperatures this high and please do not say, “but it’s dry heat!

El Capitian:

We opted to do a a mile stroll to the remnants of an old stage coach and mail post

Along the trail was markers identifying different plant life.

Dead Tree- no marker needed. As you may have already noticed or will notice, I like pics of dead trees. One of my favorite shots was in Sedona Arizona

This was a really nice stroll but as you can see, no shade.

After our hike we went to check out the Frijole Ranch/ Museum. In my mind, i thought, “Oh museum, air conditioning!” Not if it is a Ranch from the 1800’s! The Ranger was very informative and gave an extensive history of the ranch and it’s owners through the years.  The later owners, rented out to people visiting Carlsbad Caverns.

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There were multiple displays within the Ranch house spanning multiple generations:

The Ranch had expanded  and a school was needed. One was built next to the Ranch house. This served as the school and the teachers’  quarters. The first teacher ended up marrying the eldest son: