Day 19

Day 19 was one the best days of the trip
a very cool old mining building 

possibly the coolest dog ever

Day 19

both of these pictures are of the prismatic pool in Yellow Stone 

this is the Old Faithful inn, it was a magnificent hotel designed by a 29 year old architect 

when we where in Yellow Stone we saw at least 20 wild buffalo 

Day19

the Grand Tetons

this was a hot spring in Yellow Stone

old faithful expels 4000 to 7000 gallons of water every time it erupts

Day 18

these are pictures of Opa and my trip up to Jackson  hole 

this is the coolest cell tower I have ever seen

this arch was made totally out of deer antlersthose are the Grand Tetons

Day 16 and 17

here is some pictures of Arches National  park and our time with Jeff and luke

this is at Rifle falls state park 

I took this one on our drive back up to Salt Lake City

Wild flowers

here are some wild flowers I have see along the way

Day 15

this is one of the hog backs we rode down

thats the Colorado river

Day 15 (June 24) was probably the best day of the trip so far.  We had built the plan for this father/son excursion around the idea that we wanted to ride the White Rim Trail and today we completed the rather epic trip!

We started the day by trying to eat a good breakfast...carb loading with pancakes, oatmeal and some cereal.  We filled our camelbacks with ice water and brought two extra small water bottles each.  We even filled up on gatorade prior to leaving camp.  We had the GPS, a pretty robust first aid kit and some tools in case we had mechanical trouble.  Thankfully we didn't need any of it except the water.

The ride from our campground to the start of the WRT was 21 miles of asphalt driving through some very nice scenery on the road to Canyonlands NP.  The first 4 miles of the trail is actually Shafer Road which was built in the 1950's to haul uranium ore out of the canyon bottoms.  Fairly good road, but it edged along a 1,500 foot dropoff so we hugged the right side and were very wary of any vehicles coming up the other way.  The switchbacks in the road as it dropped to the white rim (literally a whitish rock layer that the trail follows around the whole park) are dramatic and we took them slow of course.  A great introduction to the rest of the day.

The trail then alternated between kind of fun trail riding on a packed dual track "road" and rather tense movement around the very edge of canyons dropping of 200-500 feet right next to the road. 

 Just when we'd get some speed up, we'd come around a curve and be right on the edge of some abyss!  We constantly had to keep our concentration.  We saw some great scenery including several arches...you can see Ben on top of the Mussleman Arch.

  We met a couple of guys who were driving a Land Rover around the trail and twice we saw them with their hood up adding coolant...they were friendly, but seemed like they should be heading to a Green Day concert rather than nursing their SUV through some of the most rugged terrain we've ever seen.  Flip flops, board shorts and a Justin Timberlake-like floppy hat must be the expedition wear this year.

We had to climb out on Horsethief Trail which was almost as dramatic as how we first started the trail.  By the time we hit pavement again (103 miles) we were pretty wiped out.  We rode back to camp, cleaned up and then went in to Moab for a well deserved pizza.  Great, great day of adventure. 

Day 14

Day 14 (June 23) was a slow, recovery day.  We woke up after a tough sleeping night.  Too many birds chirping too early.  We spent some time cleaning and organizing the van and then headed out for some riding. 

     Gemini Bridges Road connects Hwy 191 (out of Moab) to Hwy 313 (entrance road to Canyonlands NP) but is actually a pretty aggressive jeep trail past a couple of nice arches.  Good riding and desert scenery. 

 We connected to 313 and went in to Canyonlands. 

 We started down the Shafer Road to get a feel for tomorrow's White Rim Trail ride, but immediately were in for a surprise.  It's an old mining road that gets a lot of traffic, but it literally runs along the rim of a 1,500' canyon.  Very dicey, particularly when we turned around to head back up and had to ride on the outside edge!

   We checked in at the Visitors Center to get info on the White Rim trail and to get set for the ride.  After some nice "twisties" on the paved highway back to our campground, we ate a big dinner and then went for ride out toward Arches NP which is just behind our campground.  Pretty slow day, but we rested for the big ride tomorrow.

 

Day 13

Day 13 (June 22) we left Kanab and all the Model T'ers after buying a bit more food and water and to fill up with gas.  We expected to be out in the boonies of SE Utah and needed to ensure we had topped off.

    We stopped near Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass, two slot canyons in the Paria River drainage, but didn't want to drive ~8 miles down a narrow dirt road to get to them.  Instead we pressed on towards Page, AZ and came across several interesting slots just of US 89 outside of Big Water, UT.  We could see Lake Powell in the distance so decided to pull of and do some hiking.  The first canyon we entered turned out to be the most interesting.  

After dropping down a couple of 4-6 foot drops we ran into a 15 foot drop and had to go back to the car for some climbing gear.  We cleared that drop only to find a 25' drop just around the next corner.  

This little canyon was apparently a locals' favorite as there was a knotted rope already in place.  Ben went down first and the old man was able to follow, though at the time I was pretty sure I'd be hiking out and around rather than coming back up the same way.  The canyon then widened as it got near the main river, but there was an interesting side slot that we chimneyed across to a nice little hidden box canyon.  

Getting out was a lot of work, but we managed and decided that was about the coolest hiking either of us had ever done.

   We continued on in to Page very hot and sweaty and decided to take a dip in Lake Powell.  We found a public access just up river from the Glen Canyon Dam.  We found a place with 8-20 foot cliffs and had a blast jumping/diving in to the lake.  A great way to cool off!

   We decided to head straight to Moab rather than split the trip in two parts.  We did see some of Monument Valley before it got too dark.  We arrived at our campground at about midnight and pitched our tent in the dark.  It really was a fun, productive day and we were able to reposition to Moab for the final few days.