Ouray to Nashville

Well.... we've had an interesting couple of weeks.

We headed out of Ouray last Saturday, in the thoughts of camping at the trailhead.  The drive took much longer than anticipated, and the afternoon thunderstorms were kicking in.  So, we opted to find a place to stay in Lake City, CO to gear up.  After searching a bit we scored a cabin at the Wagon Wheel Cabins.  There is a three night minimum but we lucked out and could get a cabin between two three night stay guests. We got the last cabin, much to the chagrin of a former visitor from the cabin.  She, her husband, and daughter returned to the cabins moments after I had paid for the cabin, thinking they  had a cabin for the night.  When the owner told her I had gotten the last one, she became upset, stating that she had told the owner's wife earlier to "hold a cabin for them." She looked at me and said, "Evidently she did not tell her husband."  Who just puts a "hold" on a cabin without putting a deposit down???  The owner apologized that he did not have a cabin to rent her, but also stood his ground in giving the cabin to me.  She proceeded to ask him if they could at least use a bathroom in one of the cabins before they headed on their way.  "Is Cabin 2 available for use?" she asked.  "We stayed there last night and loved it."  The owner did not let her use a bathroom, telling her all cabins were already clean.  She turned to me and hugged me, telling me that we were going to love it there.  On her way out, she yelled out her car window telling the owner to give them a call if someone did not show up.  Not sure where they planned to go.  The town was all of two miles long.  Everything was pretty much all booked up already.  It was a very strange town, like something out of the Twilight Zone.  Jeff commented that when we left he half expected to see signs saying "Entering Lake City, CO" over and over again as we drove. He wondered if we would ever leave Lake City, CO.

Our backpack did not go as planned, the elevation hitting everyone pretty hard the first day. We made it .9 miles up the trail in a little over an hour with only 900 feet of elevation gain.  We still needed to go another 3.5 miles with 1500 feet of elevation, and again, the afternoon thunderstorms were starting to kick in.  The decision was made to bail and get the heck out of Colorado with their elevation and afternoon thunderstorms! It was on to Taos, NM, a town we had heard was pretty cool.

We found a campsite for $15 a night at the Enchanted Moon Campground.  When I called ahead to see if they had sites available, the camp host happily told me they did but regretfully told me they were 14 miles out of town in a valley.  When we arrived at the campground we found the host and his friend (the owner?) to be wonderful hippies that are happily living in a valley outside of Taos.  They were very helpful and ran a great, affordable campground.  The camp host told us about a restaurant next to the St. Francis Church in town that served the "best tacos he'd ever had!" Coming from a former Texan we figured we HAD to go to the restaurant.  Unfortunately, when we found the restaurant (after calling the camp host because we couldn't find it) it was closed on Mondays.  Ugh!

Brandon's disappointment over tacos.

St Francis Church in Taos, subject of Georgia O'Keefe painting

We drove around Taos, visited the Gorge.  The Gorge had lots of vendors and a guitarist playing next to the bridge.  We did not give him money and as we left, he flipped us off as we drove past!!!  The kids and Jeff think it's because I did not think he was very good and I looked at him as we passed.  No one saw him flip us off but Brooke, who said, "Oh no! He just gave us the finger!" (in shock). Town had lots of cute shops but we found most to be overpriced artwork.

After Taos we headed to Nashville, an 18 hour drive.  We plugged along and drove like mad, arriving in Nashville around 4 pm on Wednesday.  We hoteled it again.  Now, what to do in Nashville?  We let the graduates decide.

While waiting for our hotel room to be available, we went to the Shipwreck Cove restaurant on J. Percy Priest Lake.  We had a wonderful waitress who was originally from Buffalo.  She told us about the exciting day she had with a visit to the restaurant by Luke Bryan.  Jeff and I had no idea why she was so excited about his visit and when the kids saw our faces they said, "They have no idea who he is."  She exclaimed, "No!" To which Brooke Googled a picture of him to show us.  On our way to the hotel while Jeff was in a store, the kids and I witnessed an older toothless gentleman talking to himself.  He came to get on his three-wheeled motorcycle right next to us.  At this point we could read his t-shirt.  It said, "If you can read this shirt then the bitch fell off." It was a picture of Trump on a motorcycle with Hillary falling off the back of the bike.  Across the bottom it read "Make America Great Again."  Classic.  We wondered what the next three days had in store for us!!!

Thursday we hit the Adventure Science Museum (a choice of Brandon and Brooke) and then we finally got Brandon his real barbecue dinner at Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint.  It was fantastic!  We got the Big Daddy Meal that could feed 4-5 people - chicken, pulled pork, brisket, ribs, with sides of mac and cheese, potato salad, cornbread, and hush puppies.  Yum!

We visited the Nashville Zoo, a request of Lynn.  The kids loved the animals!  The most exciting highlights from the visit was petting a kangaroo and seeing the giraffes.

We didn't feel like a visit to Nashville would have been complete without taking in a show at the Grand Olde Opry.  So, on our final night in Nashville we did just that.  It was a blast and it was well worth every single penny we paid to see the show.  The final performers were the Oak Ridge Boys and they performed "Elvira," which was a thrill to the audience.  Luckily we had purchased an Oak Ridge Boys CD during the day and had played "Elvira" for the kids beforehand.  So they knew exactly how the song would go!

At the Grand Olde Opry!

Brandon flew home Saturday (which was a journey in itself as his leg from Washington D.C. home got cancelled!) but didn't get home until Sunday after Lisa and Brian fetched him at the airport in D.C.  We headed to Lake Anna, VA to meet up with the gang for a week, which is where we are now.

 Awesome trip and sad to see it end.  But, it will also be good to be back home on Sunday.  Then... the whirlwind of Lynn going to college, Brooke starting Varsity Swimming, and our preparing for our new classes!

Ouray, CO

Wednesday, July 20th - Saturday, July 23rd

Ouray, CO

After decompressing (and de-sanding most of our gear) at the Inca Inn in Moab, UT, we headed to Ouray,CO.  Ouray is a very cute mountain town at 7,700 feet if elevation and we really enjoyed our stay there.  We did a couple of hikes to get our bodies used to the altitude.  Now we head to the trailhead to prepare for our backpacking trip.  We'll be backpacking until next Wednesday.

Here are some pics from our hikes...

Kathy by waterfall on perimeter hike.

Group on perimeter hike.

Brandon on Bear Creek trail.

On Bear Creek trail.

Group on Bear Creek trail.

Brooke, Lynn, and Brandon at mouth of Grizzly Bear Mine entrance.

At Grizzly Bear Mine.

Green River - Part 2

Saturday, July 16th - Tuesday, July 19th

Canoe Trip Part 2 - Mineral Bottom to the Confluence (Edwards + Brandon)

Waiting at Mineral Bottom

The second part of the trip went very quickly.  The wind began blowing hard against us, making paddling difficult.  However, we saw some amazing sites - an outlaw cabin, cliff dwellings, and a short hike to some Native American rock art.  We also saw a Jeep riding on a sketchy road high up in the canyon.  Not a road Kathy would have been happy on!

Canoe Partners

Native American Rock Art

We ended up putting in big miles; 24 miles the first day and 25 miles the second day before finding beach/island campsites.  Part of the reason for this is that when we stopped, it was blazing hot and the high winds were sand blasting us.  Being on the river was much more pleasant.


Saturday we stopped for the night around 5:30 and made dinner, as Brandon was getting very hungry and grumpy.  Brandon was also quoted as saying, "a hearty breakfast is VERY important,"  and apparently our breakfast of Pop-Tarts didn't cut it.   He also observed that, when travelling with the Edwards crew you have to eat when you get the opportunity because we often forget to stop for food.  While eating on our island campsite, we were blasted by sand again, so we finished eating, packed up and pushed on.  We found another beautiful island campsite.  Sunday we got ourselves three miles from the confluence, in the  hopes of having an early day and getting out.  Tex's had given us the dates they would be at the confluence in case of "Emergency" or "Stand-by."  Monday was one of those days.  Our scheduled day to leave was Tuesday.

We got to the confluence between 7:30 and 8 am on Monday.  Who did we find waiting there as well?  The bloody British Army!  The women of our group were very excited to have the opportunity to listen to their accent again.

We chatted with them for a while, and learned why they were there.  Apparently, the British Army is one of the few that incorporates adventure training to develop their soldiers.  This particular group worked with dogs in the army, although there were no dogs with them on this trip.  The idea is to get people out of their comfort zone and teach them to deal with stress and uncertainty.  They chose the Green River because it is one of the few long stretches of flatwater in a very remote location.  The trainer who I spoke with was a serious climber, and climbed the Nose on El Capitan.  He acknowledged that their feeling of being kick-butt adventurers was somewhat shattered by the 12 year old boy scouts floating the river in homemade kayaks.  They seemed like a fun group of men and women.

After chatting with the Brits, we all hunkered down to wait in the hopes of catching an early return to civilization.  We cleaned our boats and got all of our gear ready for departure.  But..... much to our HUGE disappointment, no boat ever came.  Whoever was supposed to leave that day must have changed their plans.  The time varied as to when each of us came to grips with our not leaving.  Some (Lynn) accepted it at 10 am (an hour before departure time) and some (Kathy) didn't accept it until 1 pm.

About the time we gave up, we could see a thunderstorm brewing.  We weather proofed everything and got into our tents to wait it out.  It came and went, with little damage and we came out.  Brandon immediately began taunting Utah, shouting, "Is that all you've got, Utah?  That was nothing!  I want a real storm."  The rest of us told Brandon to shut up, and apologized profusely to the Utah storm gods.
We were up and prepared to leave early Tuesday morning.  Tex's showed up at 10:30 am with two boats - a large jetboat and a smaller jetboat.  We were thrilled when the smaller jetboat came to get just us (the larger boat would get the British Army and two families) AND we didn't need to wait for the other boat!  The boat ride was amazing - the fastest we'd moved in 8 days!  We were back in Moab by 2:30 pm.  Yeah!

Final Campsite

Our canoes at the confluence.  The Green River is the closer river and the Colorado River is coming in from the top.

What an adventure!

Green River, Part 1

Monday, July 11th

The day after our epic hike, we said farewell to Escalante and headed to Moab to prepare for our next adventure - our week-long canoe trip down the Green River.  We checked in with Tex to size up the canoes, shopped for meals, did laundry, and prepped gear.  After a passable Mexican meal at a restaurant, we resumed our packing.  We all retired to bed around 10:30 pm.

Tuesday, July 12th - Saturday, July 16th

Canoe Trip Part 1 - Crystal Geyser to Mineral Bottom (whole crew)

We're ready to go!

We arrived at Tex's around 7:30, and by 8 we were being briefed by Devin, the gentleman  who would be taking us to the launch.  We circled around 'Old Tex,' which was a cube-shaped steel box with a circular opening on top.  A lid fit securely on top of Old Tex, and their were screws to secure the lid.  Old Tex also had a pressure relief valve and a plastic, donut shaped seat.  This would be our privy for our time on the river.  We knew about Old Tex, and the federal regulations and sanitary reasons that made Old Tex necessary; but seeing him for the first time opened some eyes.  Devin told us that we had it easy since we only had to make deposits.  They had to clean it out.

The first think you need to understand if you are going to get along with Old Tex is that he sits out in the hot, desert sun all day long 'stewing.'  If you don't pull the pressure relief valve before unlatching the lid...well...you can work out the consequences.  You only use Old Tex for pooping.  Peeing is done directly in the river.  The lid needs to be put back on securely, without getting sand on the seal.  Everything else just comes naturally.  Some in our party began trying to figure out if they could go four days without ever getting to know Old Tex.  Day four is when we would come across our first outhouse.  One of them made it; the rest didn't.

Devin drove us to our put-in, Crystal Geyser.  Along the way, Jeff peppered him with questions and he answered each one patiently.  If we had a medical emergency, the best bet would be to get to Mineral Bottom (mile 64) or the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers (mile 116).  Trying to hike out of the canyon would be a mistake.  If we got bit by a scorpion, don't assume you will need to be evacuated; their stings are kind of like a bad bee sting.  If you get bit by a rattlesnake, you should try to evacuate and get medical help.  The good news is, although there are plenty of rattlesnakes, in Devin's 24 years of working there nobody has ever been bitten.  Don't dive into the river.  It's the color of chocolate milk and you can't see hidden rocks.  In his 24 years, he has rushed people to the hospital on a backboard after they ignored this advice.

As we had loaded all of the boats, Devin asked Jeff if he wanted to go over the map with him.  He pointed out campsites and points of interest along the way.  We thanked him and bade him farewell!  He wished us luck and told us someone, if not himself, would see us at Mineral Bottom to fetch Lisa, Brian and our Devin, who would be ending their trip there.  Off we went into the Utah wilderness!
We quickly came upon a large group floating the river from near Provo, UT.  They looked like a plane crash, scattered all over the river, and bumping into each other.  Most of the kids were in the river.  Adults were sitting in lawn chairs while paddling.  Jeff and I talked a bit with one of the adults in the group before paddling along.  Later, wee passed a Boy Scout group with homemade kayaks made out of roofing material.  The boys let the current dictate their direction and spent their time bailing by loading water guns and shooting each other.

On the second day we saw even more groups!  Not the isolation we thought we would feel.  Some of the paddlers were even playing loud music from their canoes.  Thanks for sharing... Out of all of the groups, only two of them had any females.  Definitely a male-dominated adventure.  Lisa and I were disappointed by the lack of a female presence.  The second night we were all settled into camp when a man stopped and jogged his way up to Jeff, greeting Jeff with a "Hello mate!"  He then explained, "We're the British Army and we've already paddled 10 miles further than we wanted to.  Could we share this island with your group?"  The bloody British Army!!  The last time they were stateside, they burned down the White House.  I acquiesced, since they couldn't do much harm in the Utah desert, and I couldn't do anything about it anyway.  They looked our group over and said they would keep their language in check.  They were indeed very quiet, and we couldn't have asked for more civil neighbors.

A swarm of mosquitoes quickly sent us all into our tents for an early bedtime. This was fine, since we had paddled 28 miles.  Shortly after settling in, a HUGE wind came up, destroying Brandon's tent and threatening to blow Lisa, Brian and Devin into the Green  River.  Then all was quiet.  Lisa, Brandon, the girls, Jeff, and I, ventured out into chairs to watch the stars.  Amazing!

Day 2 Campsite

The next day we set out, stopping after a couple miles to hike what is known as the Bowknot.  The Bowknot is a six mile loop in the river where the river comes back on itself.  At it's narrowest point, it is only half a mile across by land.  We hiked up to the top of the canyon and could see two sections of the of the river at once, flowing in opposite directions.  Jeff, Lynn, Brooke, Brandon, and I took off to hike while Lisa, Brian, and Devin opted to stay with the boats and wait for us.  Within minutes Brooke accidentally kicked a cactus on the side of the trail!  She pulled out the large quills but who knew there were so many small quills!  Unfortunately she had to remove her shoe and sock and receive a piggy back ride from Jeff back to the waiters to wait with them.  <The sneakers (easily her most favorite pair) will eventually be thrown out at the Inca Inn, much to her displeasure.  Just couldn't get the quills out without totally tearing apart the sneakers.>  The view from the top was breathtaking!

Lunch stop before Mineral Bottom

Campsite at Mineral Bottom

All-in-all the first section of the trip was amazing!  We paddled more that we had planned Wednesday and Thursday in search of good campsites, so we arrived early at Mineral Bottom and camped there. As soon as the boats hit shore, Devin sprinted for the outhouse.

Coyote Gulch

Sunday, July 10th

Kathy and I had reservations about taking the family down Coyote Gulch.  In favor of this hike was that it is considered to be the southwest hike that all others are compared to.  The argument against included the fact that we had to drive the Pilot down the Hole in the Rock Road again, and the fact that the exit from the canyon required a sketchy climb up slick rock.  Just how sketchy was a matter of debate.  The BLM classified the climb as class 5, which means you need a rope and harness because a fall could be fatal.  Many others considered it a class 3, in which scrambling is required.  From research, it was apparent that many boy scout troops and families backpacked this hike and did not use ropes.  But the BLM said class 5...  In the end, we decided to risk another flat tire on 'that road,' and brought along a rope and harnesses to belay the exit climb.  On, on!

We awoke at 4 am, and departed promptly at 4:30 am.  The plan was to drive the 40 miles of dirt road in 1.5 hours, arriving at the trail head shortly after sunrise.  This would avoid hiking in the hottest part of the day.  The entire hike was 13 miles, so we figured five hours of hiking, followed by another 1.5 hours of driving, would get us back to camp by 1 pm, when we would finish the day soaking in the reservoir.

The drive was brutal.  I was going much slower than anticipated, and in continuous fear of another rock cut in my tire.  The washer-board road got worse and worse. The last ten miles were done blindly, as the rising sun was in our eyes.  Saint Christopher, protect us!  The drive took 2.5 hours.  If I had known how bad the drive would be at the start, we would have bailed.

We parked the car, and the Edwards family, Brandon, and Devin headed on down the dirt road.  After two miles, the jeep road turned to bonifide trail and we followed cairns and compass towards the Crack in the Wall.  It was only 7 am, but it was already hot.  We successfully arrived at the edge of canyon and were blown away by the vista, which included both the yawning canyon and the dominating Stevens Arch.  We were also hit with the disbelief that there was a safe route to the canyon bottom.

Gearing up at the trail head

Cross-country, towards Crack in the Wall

The edge of Coyote Gulch

We found the 'crack' and headed down.  The entrance involved squirming through a massive vertical slot between the top of the canyon and a slab of rock that had separated.  At first we walked sideways.  Then my pack was removed and lowered to the the bottom of the cliff with rope.  Our personal coolness factor doubled.  We were officially adventurers.

Someone in Crack in the Wall I Found in Google Images

After negotiating the crack. we hiked down a huge sand dune, all the while being dwarfed by our surroundings.  We reached Coyote Gulch, prepared to filter some water, but found it DRY.  The nice lady at the BLM office told us water was reliable, but there was nothing but mud.  Surely, there will be water up canyon, we told ourselves while simultaneously thinking, "Uh, oh."

Do you see us little people?

Stevens Arch in the background

Up canyon we hiked, and shortly we found a stagnant pool of water.  We filtered, hoping less musty smelling water would be found further upstream.  Within another mile, we found good water and our outlook improved.  Within another two miles, we were walking beside, or in running water, which continued for the remainder of the canyon.

The hike was indeed beautiful.  We hiked up and around waterfalls.  Passed under a natural bridge.  Marveled at immense rock amphitheaters.  My words cannot properly capture what we saw, and pictures didn't either.

Coyote Natural Bridge

Towards the end of our hike, we encountered two college age guys who hiked down into the canyon and were just hanging out there.  They were very enthusiastic, and seemed eager to share what they were experiencing with anyone who would listen.  My nephew Brandon thought that this was a cool idea.  I wouldn't be surprised if he does this next summer instead of getting a job.  Not my fault, Lisa and Brian.

At the other end of the canyon, we reached Hamblin Arch.  This is another huge, photogenic arch.  While the rest of the crew filtered some more water for the exit and snapped photos of the arch, I contemplated our exit.  If we had to rope up, that meant going up one at a time, which would take a very long time.

Hamblin Arch

I found the trail up and came to the slick rock exit.  The first section required a few handholds, but the consequences of a fall were nothing but a few bruises.  The next section didn't look too bad either.  Maybe it is just a class 3.  I started up the slick rock, and quickly came to the realization that this was indeed a class 5 climb.  As the guidebook states, the route requires the lead climber to ascend without protection, and I did my best to reach a secure place to belay from without falling or peeing myself.  Great relief came when I found such a place.  And to my great joy, others had left behind caribiners and webbing tied off to the rock.  I added my webbing to the mix and tied myself in.  Let the belaying begin...

Without going into all the ugly details, the process of getting the group of six to the top was frustrating and exhausting.  The rock face was not straight down, so I had trouble throwing the rope down to the next climber.  The wind often took the rope sideways and hung it up on the rocks in between.  It was hot.  It took two hours.  To top it all off,  I lost my hat to the wind.

Class 3?!!

Kathy Topping Out

When Kathy topped out, we gathered our gear and began the two mile cross country walk back to the car.  We were all beat, and the little water we had left was the temperature of tea.  At 5:30, we reached the car and rejoiced at our completion of an amazing adventure.  The only thing left was a 2.5 hour, bone jarring, nerve-fraying drive back to camp on the Hole in the Rock Road.

And did we have a good time?  You betcha!

Down Day

Last night was a late night - just enjoying the beautiful evening weather in breath-taking landscape together.  Had a delicious meal of grilled chicken with a mushroom sauce, rice, salad, and some fresh rosemary olive oil bread.  Some white wine was enjoyed along with the meal.

After the meal Jeff decided to walk off dinner up the trail into the petrified forest.  We waited, and waited, and waited for him to come back as the sun went down.  We took turns looking up the hill to see him come down, with increasing worry.  At dusk, Brandon, Brooke and I got headlamps out and headed up the trail to find Jeff.  Brandon laughed at our pace, commenting that I had my "angry mom" pace going on.  Luckily, and to our pleasure, we met Jeff coming out at the top of the hill, before we had to make a decision which way to go at the fork.  Jeff said he had at least another hour of walking time before he couldn't see any  more.  The three of us agreed that maybe he had about 15 minutes.  By the time we got to the bottom of the hill and back to camp, the sun had completely set.
After the excitement settled down, we sat out under the stars, watching for shooting stars and discussing politics until very late.  So... we decided to sleep in another day and put off the 13 mile hike and Bryce Canyon.

After a pancake breakfast, we rented three paddle boards for two hours.  Everyone paddle boarded except Jeff and Brian.  Jeff napped during the time and Brian snapped pictures.  The kids enjoyed throwing each other off the boards.  Lisa and I enjoyed being out on the water.

We'll do the hike up the hill here into the petrified forest.  Lisa and Brian haven't hiked that yet.  We'll also probably head to the rock shop just outside the campground.

Escalante River

July 8th - Escalante River Hike

Camping in the American West provides an experience you don't get in a hotel.  Day or night, you are often brought back into the present by the howling of area fauna.  Sometimes the wilderness cries are more of a screech.  Whether howl or screech, it is obvious that the creature making these sounds is a juvenille Bratus Americanus; otherwise known as an American child.  These creatures infest the campground environs like an army of ants.  Their calls can be heard day and night; and makes one ponder the value of a $20 nightly fee.  The only thing more trying than Bratus Americanus is Moronus Americanus.  These creatures, who are often parents, can't figure out how to operate their rented automobile without setting off the alarm.  Again and again and again.

Today we took the intensity of our trip down a notch.  Everyone had voted to have a more leisurely morning so we set our departure time for 10 am.  Breakfast of eggs and bacon was served!  Jeff was very skeptical that we would not make the 10 am time, as the eggs and bacon began at 9 am.  But... everyone was in the car ready to leave at 10 am sharp!

As planned, our hike was  a shorter, flatter hike  which led us down the Escalante River to a natural bridge and a natural arch.  The awesome part of this hike was that we had to cross the river (walking right through it) six times one way.  That kept us nice and cool!  We enjoyed that.  The hike was very pleasant with amazing scenery all along the way.  Just before the arch we discovered some etchings along the rock and an old grainery up on the cliffs.

After the hike we stopped at the Kiva Koffeehouse for some smoothies and iced coffee.  To everyone's pleasure they had wifi - an added bonus! They also gave the correct password.
Tonight will be an early night because Brandon, Lynn, Brooke, Jeff and I head out to hike Coyote Gulch in the am.  It's a 13 mile hike so we'll get an early start - planning to leave the campground at 4:30 am.  Lisa, Brian, and Devin will venture to Bryce Canyon while we're gone.

Group at the Natural Arch

Group at the Natural Bridge

Lisa loved the stream crossings!