Leaving Las Vegas

Jeanette and I had an awesome time out west. The trip was all we had hoped for and then some, but its time to return to the east coast and I think we are ready. We figured by this point in the trip we'd be at each others necks, but we both agree this is not the case. We've never spent this much continuous time together but we l actually enjoyed each others company - go figure. But out west is definitely a land of extremes - in topography, weather, wildlife and we are east coasters at heart. We are ready for some green grass, deciduous trees, our house and most of all returning to friends and family. Can't wait to see everyone when we return.

Maple Canyon Multipitch

We did 2 awesome 3 pitch climbs in Maple Canyon yesterday. They were excellent. The 1st was a 5.5 called Changing the Stripes which climbed a super moderate arete system to expansive views of the lower canyon. The second was a 5.8 called the Great Chasm which was higher up in the canyon and yielded 360 degree views from the top. The 1st pitch was a full rope length of slab climbing with the longest runnouts between bolts I've ever climbed. Only 8 bolts on the pitch. The 2nd wasa traverse across the "Great Chasm" which separated 2 sides of a giant fin and had tons of exposure. The last pitch had 3 little overhangs with huge jugs all the way to the top that made you feel like you're some sort of good climber. It was AWESOME! Today we are driving back to Vegas where we will be attempting to win back the cost of this trip. Thursday we will return back to the East Coast to join up with a group of friends heading down to the Outer Banks for a week where we will begin the relaxation part of the trip!

Eclipse

We were the only ones in the theatre for the Sunday evening showing. Lucky for me since I don't want to look like a sissy out here.

Maple canyon

Today we climbed in maple canyon. Its by far the wierdest rock we've ever been on. Its a conglomerate with pebbles averaging 8" in diameter and some several feet. The climbing is weird either really open hand holds on the cobbles or big pockets where they've fallen out. There's a certain style to climbing here that we have not yet exactly figured out-but we're getting there. We're headed to the movies tonight-probably see something girly, but I'm not complaining because tomorrow we're hitting up a sweet 3 pitch line I've drooling over since we started planning this trip. Should be great.

Dead Horse Point

We looked into rafting on the CO but the flow is so low this time of year that it would have only been Class I and II, so we opted to wait for the Lehigh and WV back east. We visited Dead Horse Pint, which is like the Grand Canyon of the Moab area - beautiful views of the river carved canyons below. From there we drove across to the Maple Canyon area where we will be climbing the next 2 days.

Laundry

The not so sexy moments of road tripping - laundry.  We are accumulating it at record pace here in the heat. Man is it hot here. Its mid afternoon and we are enjoying taking solace from the heat in a Laundromat and took Italian showers - hitting the hot spots. No showers here in the campground,  water is too scarce.  We are learning in this heat you do your activity in the early morning or late evening. To that end we hiked delicate arch last night for sunset and did he devils loop this morning. The arches are.amazing. The stars last night were awesome too - best so far on the trip. Tomorrow we are planning a touristy activity like rafting or boating. Then we will be heading back towards salt lake city to climb in maple canyon.

Arches

We drove 8+ hours from lander to moab after a half day climbing yesterday, arriving around 10. This was the longest day of driving on our trip so far. It was a long drive but beautiful going through the flaming gorge of southern WY.

This morning we entered Arches national park. The temperature difference is staggering - around 100 here. I have never drank so much warm water, there's almost no way to keep it cold once its in a bottle. The geology here is amazing with all of the spires and arches. Currently we have taken a hiking break to setup our camp and plan on hiking out to the famous delicate arch at sunset tonight. The picture is of this arch from a viewing area across the canyon. It's amazing how small it looks and we are excited to sit beneath it tonight.

Leaving Lander

Today we are leaving Lander and the Wind River Range to head back into Utah toward moab and arches national park. We've spent the past 3 days climbing in sinks canyon and wild Iris. Its been a long time since we've done that and our forearms are tired and fingers sore. We really enjoyed the routes here.  Heres a pic of the cliff and if you look in the right side of the cliff you will see 2 climbers for a sense of scale. We also visited some pioneer and mining historical sites along the oregan and Mormon trails. Pretty amazing - those people were determined.

Sinks Canyon

We are in Lander WY staying in the Frontier Lodge - a really nice (and cheap) rustic motel in the heart of downtown Lander. The temperature and the topography here is somewhere in between the extremes of Zion and Yellowstone - but extreme in its own right. The weather is hot but a beautiful cool breeze seems to always be blowing. The land is one part colorful mesa and another towering craggy pine covered mountain - really beautiful.

Today we explored Sinks Canyon. The area gets its name from a geologic phenomenon in which the Popo Agie River vanishes into the side of a limestone mountain into a cavern which looked similar to the "magic water spot" in Lost-this area is the Sinks. The water then reappears at the Rise, about half a mile down the canyon. They have done dye testing to prove the same water comes out that goes in, but takes 2 hours to emerge and in higher volume. They hypothesize that there is a series of tortuous underground caverns where other water sources combine with the Popo Agie and then reemerge.

The Sinks



















The Rise (from above) - Trout are the specs















The canyon has beautiful rock climbing on dolomite cliffs high above the river. Jeanette and I climbed there today and had a really great time. It is moderate sport climbing on super fun routes.

Mooooooose!!!

We decided to stick with the original plan after getting some beta from the front desk clerk kid in our hotel (certainly more reliable info then the NPS). He felt the trails would be passable. We took the tram to the top of the rendezvous mountain and had a waffle breakfast on the summit.

We then began the descent into granite canyon. Trail was snow covered in the shady spots, but totally passable and required a bit of attention to for trail finding, but never got desperate. The hike was awesome filled with wild flowers and grand views.

We were feeling pretty confident about our outdoor prowess as we setup camp along the river sid for the night. Mother nature was to teach us a lesson.

We began to cook dinner and dark clouds rolled in. Lightning, thunder, a soaking rain and hail ensued. Our spirits were high as we had rigged a tarp over our cooking area and we ate a ramen noodle feast in the storm. In the middle of our meal I looked up to see a HUGE dark colored animal also eating dinner some 25 feet away. It lifted its head to reveal it was a bull moose. The thing was huge. He seemed content with us until a group of hikers emerged from a clearing farther up the trail. He felt threatened and at this point began to get aggitated and bit aggressive throwing his antlered head around in a charging manner. Survival instincts kicked in and to make a long story short he made several charges at us and we ended up scrambling up a rocky talus field for safety. It was nutty - those animals can move fast.

After realizing we may have setup camp in his favorite diggs and the situation seemed diffused, we decided This pack up camp and make an attempt to hike out to the car. He had other plans and he blocked our escape trail at a river crossing. Did I mention this thing is huge! We ended up backtracking on high alert code red over a mile to a new location and reestablished camp. Needless to say it.was not a restful night sleep as your mind begins to think every little noise is a killer moose or bear.

This morning we hiked out on code orange. We actually ran into another moose, luckily not the one from the prior evening, but she wanted no part of us. In fitting style we finished the hike in the rain and proceeded into Jackson hole for a celebration of life lunch.

It was an awesome trip and beautiful scenery but certainly opened our eyes to the reality of wild animals. We hunk our moose friend simply felt intimidated and did not want to mess with us, but boy it made for an interesting night.

We are moving on to the wind river range in central WY where we plan on climbing, hiking, and avoiding wild animal close encounters.

Grand Tetons

Today we drove down to Jackson WY, home of the Grand Tetons. Truly beautiful mountains. After 6 nights camping we are staying in a hotel this evening up near Rendezvous Mountain, the ski resort in Jackson. Our plans tomorrow were to head into the backcountry via the arial tram for the ski mountain. Taking this up to the top of Rendezvous Mtn at 12000 feet and working our way back down through Granite Canyon on the flanks of the Tetons. Our trip thus far has been graced with great weather, but it looks like we may need to alter our plans. Due to the cold summer they have had here it appears there is still a ton of snow up top such that trail signs are buried and ice axes may be needed for safe travel. We are not exactly prepared for that, so we're looking at alternative plans, perhaps hiking up from the base into the camping zone of Granite canyon - not as fun as taking the tram, but maybe our only option.

At any rate, Jeanette had a wonderful time shopping in Jackson this afternoon - its a pretty neat town with a real western feel.

Another cool pic fron today

Can't seem to figure out how to have 2 pics in 1 post with this app.

Last Day in Yellowstone

Today marked our final day here in Yellowstone - we will be headed down to the Tetons tomorrow morning. We decided to pack a lot in today and did about 13 miles of hiking visiting lone star geyser, fairy falls and imperial geyser, all backcountry destinations. The hikes were great. We had plenty of sun and were actually able to get under the 200+ ft waterfall for a quick but cold dip. We really enjoyed Yellowstone but are ready for a change of scenery.

Old Faithful

We made it through the night out in the grand canyon of Yellowstone.  It was a cold night with rain and snow! No bears that night. But so far in the park we have seen mule deer, elk, buffalo, a grizzly bear from the car, moose, Jack rabbit and crazy loons. We have moved to the center of the park now and today we saw old faithful and some of the other features of the geyser basin. Pretty amazing. Tried posting a video but I'm still technically challenged. We're taking a rest day today and what better place to read then in the sun at old faithful.

Grand canyon of Yellowstone

We spent today hiking around the fastest river Ive ever seen. Super steep sand/gravel raveen cut by numerous 100's of feet high water falls. We hiked the 327 stairs  down Uncle Tom's trail aka the "heavy metal stair master".  We finished up on a trail so notrious for bears even dave spent a ton of money on state-of-the-art bear spray. Looks like a mini fire extinguisher. At this point we have only seen chipmunks and a crazy loon- no bears; the nite is still young. This might be our last post... we love u all ;>

Mammoth hot springs

Yesterday we visited the Northwest side of the park-mammoth hot springs. This area is like a giant witches cauldron on a hillside. Boiling hot water emerges from a lodgepole pine covered hill. As it makes its way down it deposits a travertine crust making a series of terraces which look like limestone and reek of sulfur. Our favorite spot in this area was called boiling springs. This was where the extremely hot water from mammoth hot springs ran down and merged with a freezing cold glacial runnoff river. At their confluence was a natural hot tub.

We spent the evening of the 4th in west Yellowstone listening to a local funk band. Even I danced because it was so cold it was the only way to keep warm. The evening finished with the local fireworks display.  It was a great day.

West Yellowstone

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday we finished up our visit in Zion with the angels landing hike in 105 degree weather. This was an amazing climb up a several thousand foot sandstone cliff overlooking the zion valley carved by the virgin river we had hiked the day before. The views were spectacular and the hike a bit insane, finishing with a system of chains bolted into the exposed cliff face for handholds. This was the end of our visit with Joey Kaylan and Wendy and after a quick bite to eat Jeanette and I hit the road north. We made it as far as salt lake city, and spent the night in a sweet Ramada in where we did laundry and repacked.

This morning we hit the road and are now in west Yellowstone MT. The drive in was beautiful and the temperature could not be more different then Zion. As I write this I am huddled around a fire with pants, jacket and hat on. Its so nice, we believe the temps are in the high 30s. Tomorrow we will begin exploring the park.

Vigin river narrows

We just finished 2 days in the backcountry. By far the most amazing backpacking trip we've ever taken. Essentially You hike from the source of the virgin river where it appears to look like any east coast river down through Zion canyon where it cuts through 1000 foot cliffs of red rock. Amazing. The going was slow. As Jeanette said, the 13 miles felt more like 26. This was due to the continuous river crossings in some areas 5 feet deep. It was a great start to our trip from an outdoors point of view and taxed us physically.  We will sleep well tonight.