Lucky me! I made it to and through Yellowstone before the deluge. So sad that it rained so much it put out the fires powering the impressive displays and, in some cases, washed away the boilers as well. The National Park Services estimates that it will be years before the fountains are operational.
Oh, dear. My van has sprung a leak in its fresh water system. A cheap plastic fitting buried in the Unreachable Spaces has split. All the Winnebago dealers within Wyoming and surrounding states are taking service appointments month in the future. So…you’ll never believe the only solution I can see. I’m driving 1,000 miles to Iowa where I bought the thing so they can fix it. I suppose I should count myself lucky that they can get me in.
I visited Grand Teton National Park and stayed a couple of days at the main lodge, in a cabin. The views are spectacular. The National Park Service installed signs everywhere, promising bears, but none appeared. The NPS bear wrangling division clearly requires some management attention. They had better luck getting the elk and antelope to show up as promised.
Did you know that paleo-Indians settled here 11,000 years ago? That’s what the NPS web site said. I was astonished; had no idea that dietary fad had been around for so long!
The motivation behind the moniker “Canyonlands” has been lost with the passage of time, but a visit to the place is worthwhile. In the shadow of Arches National Park (spare yourself the trouble of visiting these prima donna rocks), Canyonlands is quite fun for man and feline alike. I stayed in a village, called “Moab” by the locals, for 3 days. It is a perfect base from which to visit the national parks and take the scenic drives around the area.
Did you know there is such a thing as a Capitol Reef National Park? Of course, you didn’t, because no one has heard of it before. It is worth a (short) visit if you’re in the neighborhood. Pretty drive, big rocks. They dubbed it Capitol Reefs NP as some of the rock formations look like a capitol dome and some of them looked like reefs. I suppose it is better than Big Red Cliffs National Park, but only by a little.
I loved visiting Bryce Canyon National Park. Perfect weather, inspiring scenery, free dispersed camping right outside the gate. Xena had a great time climbing trees, ever vigilant for lizards, birds and squirrels.
I stayed several nights in Dixie National Forest. Fabulous, except for the dust. When the wind picked up or a (rare) vehicle drove past, clouds of red dust billowed. Additionally, the cat serves as a reverse dust mop, bringing fine red dirt into the van, distributing it liberally.
I visited the Grand Canyon for several days, admiring the views of the canyon itself and staying in the adjacent Kaibab National Forest. You may have read the recent article in the New York Times about the advantages of visiting the north rim instead of the south. The north is more difficult to get to and therefore less crowded. It’s about 1,000 feet higher than the south, so it is cooler. I think its prettier.
The Kaibab NF is beautiful, a real national treasure. The forest has many well-maintained service roads and tons of places for dispersed camping. Within a half hour’s drive of the national park, I could camp in perfect solitude, peace and quiet.
Driving east through the far-east of California, I made an amazing discovery! As you probably know, Hwy 168 skirts the northern boundary of Death Valley. What I doubt you realized as you passed by, however, is the existence of some of the oldest living things on the planet. I call them “bristlecone pines.”
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” According to Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching, anyway. My journey will be considerably more than a thousand miles and involves more sitting than stepping, but I guess the sentiment still applies. I left Oakland Sunday, May 15, if memory serves. It usually doesn’t, so if one of you know better, please let me know.
I didn’t drive far on the first day. Why should I? Travel without agenda or obligations is an exercise in freedom. 😇
Stay tuned, next time more California and my exciting discovery!
Note: I found this draft post from a while back. I guess I forgot to press the publish button. I think I may also have forgotten to finish it.
A beautiful, twisty road leads to Carlsbad Caverns.
We found a dispersed camp site just 30 minutes from the park gate. It was a rough and rocky road to get there. Xena surveils the environment, keeping a steady watch.
The Caverns are 750 feet below the surface. Visitors can either hike down a switchback trail or take an elevator (the elevator is required for all on the return trip). The photos can’t convey the beauty and enormity of the caverns. You have to make the trip and see for yourself.
Archeologists from the University of Southern New Mexico have recently unearthed a well-preserved village near the the pueblo of Las Cruces. Dubbed “Mesilla” (pronounced meh SEE ya), this village displays the physical village arrangement typical of the first band of Spanish thieves. They established a sense of place by creating a town square called an “alameda,” after an island in San Francisco Bay.