25 April 2021 Chesler Park Hike

 We had listened to a pod cast of our favorite authors in which they recommended the Chesler Park Loop trail in the Needles District of Canyonlands NP. When we researched the trail, we found that it was over 11 miles with over 1800 feet of elevation gain. That was a bit more than our legs could handle at this point. So we decided to do the Chesler Park Viewpoint trail. It was advertised to only be 6.6 miles round trip with 1200 feet of elevation gain. We tried to get an early start because we knew it was a popular trailhead and parking was limited. We got to the end of Elephant Hill road at 10:15 (its an hour drive from Monticello) and were very lucky to get one of the last parking spots that the Behemoth could fit into. We packed plenty of water since the temperature was supposed to climb into the 80’s and the humidity in single digits. The first 1/2 mile should have been a good hint of what was to come. Steep climbs, big drop offs to clamber over and lots of people (Most of them going faster than us). The trail has absolutely beautiful views of the Needles rock formations. The steep climbs and drop offs definitely tested our hiking skills. But we made steady progress. There was even a couple of intimidating deep crevices that had to be jumped across. At a couple of points there were narrow slot canyons that had to be squeezed through. The last ½ mile to the viewpoint was very steep, a real gasper (for air that is). But the rock formations are just gorgeous. Topping the ridge to Chesler Park was a relief! We were surprised to see how flat Chesler Park was. We had expected to see a bunch of spike shaped rock formations and deep canyons. But it is a fairly open and level (compared to what we had just climbed) area. The loop runs around the outer edge of the plain. It was tempting to continue on but our legs were telling us that was not an option since we had to traverse the same trail back to the truck. The trail turned out to be 8 miles round trip with 1332 feet of elevation gain (4,549 calories burned, 4 hours 52 minutes). Our legs were feeling like rubber by the time we got back to the Behemoth. Another excellent day of hiking!

David on the trail

Leslie Jumping a Crevice

Leslie in the "Slot"

Chester Park

Chester Park

24 April 2021 New Kayak

 After Yesterdays hiking, we were not feeling too ambitious this morning. The weather was warming up, but there were wind warnings out (Gusts to 60 MPH) for fire danger. We had been eyeing the Recapture Reservoir, just north of Blanding in our trips back and forth to the south. David had purchased a new Kayak back in November and he had not had a chance to take it out yet. So we decided today would be a good day. So we got the kayaks out of the garage and on the Behemoth and checked out our other kayaking gear as well. On the drive south to Blanding, one of the straps holding the kayaks blew off because the wind was blowing so hard. We had to stop and put a another strap on to keep everything in place. We headed for the north access road and drove down to the waters edge. The reservoir was pretty low, but still easy to access the water. We unloaded the kayaks and noticed we had picked the windy side of the lake since the strong winds were blowing out of the south. But the waves did not look too bad. David launched first on his maiden voyage. He paddled about 15 yards out from shore, into the wind, and turned his kayak so he could watch Leslie launch. Just then a big gust of wind with an equally large wave hit him from the side, and over he went. That water was COLD!! There were a couple of fisherman nearby that he could swear were laughing their butts off! So much for the maiden voyage of what was supposed to be a very stable kayak. As he swam the kayak back to shore, the wind was whipping up more and Leslie did not want to try it. Looking across the reservoir to the far side, the water look to be smoother since the ridge was blocking the wind. So we decided, after David dried off, to go and try the south side of the lake. So we loaded up, drove around to the south access point. The water looked much smoother, so we unloaded and got out on the lake. We had a great time paddling along the south shore for a couple of hours and David was very happy with his new kayak.

David in his new Vibe Kayak

Leslie on Recapture Reservoir

Recapture Reservoir with mountains in the background

23 April 2021 Fire and Water

 Well, it has been two weeks since our COVID vaccine shots, so we should have some level of immunity now. We had read about the House on Fire ruins in what is now Bears Ears National Monument. It was formerly managed by Bureau of Land Management Indian Creek Recreation area and other parts managed by the National Forest Service. Created by President Obama and then had its boarders reduced by President Trump, the Bears Ears NM has two districts, one encompasses land to the Southeast of Natural Bridges NM and the other encompasses land directly to the east of Canyonlands NP (includes Newspaper Rock). The NM is so new, there is not a visitor center yet, so it is managed by the BLM office in Monticello and the NFS Office in Blanding. We drove the Utah Bicentennial Highway (UT95) to the Mule Canyon turnoff. About a half mile down the road, there were a lot of cars parked on the sides of the road, indicating the trailhead. We went beyond the parked cars and up the hill to find a spot big enough for the Behemoth. The trail to House on Fire is only a couple of miles round trip (2.1 miles, 66 feet elevation gain, 1,066 calories burned). The ruins are in pretty good shape and the striations in the rock ledge above the ruins give the impression of flames coming out of them. Its probably the most visually interesting ruins we have seen so far. There were a lot of people hanging around the ruins, so getting good pictures was a game of patience. Eventually, a lot of the folks left and we had the ruins almost to ourselves and one other couple. We struck up a conversation about camping and hiking experiences and spent a half hour chatting before heading back to the Behemoth.

Our next stop we learned about from a fellow RVer in the RV park. Fry Canyon is a tributary to the huge White Canyon. It intersects UT95 at the minuscule town of Fry. We drove over the canyon on the highway bridge looking for a place to park. We had to turn around and go back to the small rough parking area to the south of the bridge. We had been keeping a close eye on the building rain clouds as we headed toward Fry but the clouds moved off to the east and the sky cleared. Where Fry Canyon goes under the highway, it is a pretty deep slot canyon. We had read that you could access the canyon going north since the canyon directly under the bridge is typically flooded with hip deep brackish water. So we hiked along the eastern rim of the canyon, heading north (Towards White Canyon). We could not find a safe place to descend into the canyon. The walls were 20-30 feet of shear rock. We saw one place on the western edge of the canyon where someone had placed a very rickety, home made, ladder that looked like it was 50 years old and ready to collapse. That was definitely not a safe way down. After going ½ a mile along the rim and not seeing any place to descend, we headed back. When we got back to the parking area, David went further south along a dirt track and found a point where people were obviously descending into the canyon. It was pretty steep slick rock to scramble down, but folks were obviously making it down and back up. But by that point we were ready to head on. We drove a little past the airfield at Fry and took the rough road down to the Fry Canyon Ruins overlook. The ruins were barely visible in the shadows. We could see some folks hiking down in the canyon. As headed back up the road, David dropped the Behemoth into 4 low since we had some rough rock to climb back up. This is only the second time we have ever had to drop the Behemoth into four low to crawl and claw our way. Behemoth handled it with aplomb and we were soon backup on the paved road.

Back on UT95, we continued to head west toward Lake Powell. The drive through huge red cliffs and canyons is beautiful. We saw Jacob’s Chair, a large butte that is shaped like a chair from the right viewpoint. We made it to where the Colorado River flows into Lake Powell only to find no lake! Lake Powell and Lake Mead are at historic low levels. All we found was dry desert where there was supposed to be 40 feet of water. We drove down to Hike where there was supposed to be a marina, boat ramp and camp grounds. The huge concrete boat ramp was dry as a bone with no water in sight. The marina was closed and the campgrounds were empty. That pretty much canceled our thoughts of renting a houseboat on Lake Powell for a week. It was getting late, so we headed back on the 2 hour drive to the Wanderer and Etta. 

House on Fire

House on Fire

Selfie

Fry Canyon

Fry Canyon Ruins

Scenery on Bicentennial Highway

Boat Ramp at Lake Powell

Lake bed at Lake Powell (This should be 20 feet underwater)

Views fro Bicentennial Highway

Jacob's Chair

19 April 2021 Valley of the Gods

 We woke to sore muscles and aching joints. We headed for Blanding to get lunch at Pops Burritos. Then we headed for Mexican Hat on Trail of the Ancients Scenic Byway and turned off at the Valley of the Gods road (Mile marker 29). This 17-mile gravel and clay road runs through BLM land, which contains a series of monoliths that many call a mini-Monument Valley. The road is fairly easy and we were surprised to find so many people boondocking in their RVs. The rock formations were beautiful as we drove around the loop, which ends at the base of Moki Dugway. We thoroughly enjoyed the drive and it was not an issue for the Behemoth. We then drove down into the small town of Mexican Hat to find many of the restaurants and bars closed due to COVID. We headed back to the wanderer, planning to stop in Blanding for beer and wine, only to find that there is not anyplace in the town (which is the largest in the area) which sold beer and wine! Back to smaller Monticello, the only town within 60 miles that sells wine and alcohol. Only in Utah!

18 April 2021 Squaw Canyon to Big Spring Canyon Loop

 We researched the Needles area of Canyonlands NP and decided on at least one long hike into the canyons. We choose the Squaw Canyon to Big Spring Canyon loop trail. The national park service maps showed it as a 6.6 mile hike, but reviews on All Trails indicated it was over 8 miles. There were also interesting comments about the climb from one canyon to the other. We started out from the Canyonlands Campground A parking area and followed several reviewers the said to take it clockwise. So we headed out the Squaw Canyon stretch of the loop. The views were incredible and the rock formations stunning. As we approached the end of the canyon, we began to climb up onto the higher rock layers. We stopped and had Lunch under a gnarly tree to rest up for the climb. As we progressed, we came to a huge rock shelf. As we followed the cairns across the rock, we came to a large and very deep crevice. There was no bridge, no way to get around it, there was no choice but to leap across. A leap of faith! But we made it across, a little more confident in our hiking abilities. Eventually we came to a point where we could see the pass we had to climb through to get to Big Spring Canyon. We had to cross a very large, steeply angled, sheet of red sandstone that ended with a 200 foot cliff. We were very happy to have our walking sticks to act as a third point of contact. Fortunately the traction was good as we side stepped up the sheet of rock, trying not to think about what would happen if we fell and started rolling. When we got to the top, we stopped for a snack and a rest before we started down into Big Spring Canyon. The hike down into Big Spring was VERY steep across slickrock and red rock. We had to sit down and scoot down portions because it was too steep to walk down confidently. Leslie spent a lot of butt-time on those transitions down into the canyon. We worked our way through Big Spring Canyon with beautiful rock formations. When we finally came to the last half mile, we found we had to climb over and down another steep stretch of slickrock. By the time we got back to the parking area, we were tired but very happy with the challenging and beautiful hike (8.2 miles, 1446Ft of elevation gain, 4,230 calories burned).