August 2011 – Globitrotter

Needles – an unexpected adventure

After some breakfast in our favourite café in Moab we drove south towards Needles. The Needles is a part of Canyonlands National Park and since we already had a backcountry permit for this park we thought we should drive in and have a look.

This is what we did NOT read before driving happily along and now we also understand why the park rangers wished us good luck…

So, we did not know that we were about to drive one of the hardest trail in the state although it was written on our map, on the flyer we got at the ranger station and on the big board as you start the drive. We simply did not read it… Maybe sometimes it is good not to know everything.

We just wanted to drive in, hike a bit and camp somewhere in the park and then leave the next morning. It turned out being quite a drive with one of us most of the time in front of the car spotting the best way to go. We knew that the car was capable of a lot but we did not really want to try it out because we did not want to break it. Now we know more.

We made it through without any damages to the car, but next time we will probably hike into the area and leave the poor car safe on the paved parking lot. Once we reached our camp we went for a hike and it was all worth it because this is what we saw.

The fact that the hike was longer than we expected (our mistake again), that we had to hike the last hour or so in the dark (luckily we were clever enough to bring head lamps), that we lost the trail for a short while and were hungry and tired is something we don’t really remember anymore. Somehow it is almost always worth it.

Arches National Park

After a well deserved shower and over night stay at a camp ground we were ready to take on Arches National Park. We started with some coffee at a café in Moab before heading out to the park which is very close to town.

The first target was Delicate Arch which the park is probably most known for. It is a maybe 20-30 min hike to get to the arch, which is not too much but the heat makes it fairly tiring. We had checked the weather which said possible rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon so we did this hike first although the light for photos is better in the afternoon. With some tricks we still got a cool picture.

Next stop was Devils Garden which was a bit longer hike but featured some very nice views, arches and some rock hopping. The trail was a lot more fun here but we ended up in the middle of a sand storm so we had to rush back after half the trail. We met many tourists on their way into the area as we were coming out. Many with their SLR cameras in their hands trying to take pictures in the sand storm. The wind was very strong and you could feel the sand between your teeth. I expect some of them having to bring them in for cleaning afterwards. We had packed ours safely in the camera bag.

White Rim Road – Utah

Almost ten years ago I stood at Grand View overlook in Canyonlands National Park, looking down over Colorado River as it meanders through the canyons. Halfways down I saw a trail following the white rim and I thought that some day I want to drive that road. A few days ago we drove down the Shafer Trail that took us to White Rim Road and exactly where I wanted to go.

The Shafer Trail is a steep trail with a series of switchbacks that takes you down to the white rim level. The trail then takes you along the rim in a very desolate area. There are a few camps along the trail but the number of visitors are limited and it is a quite long and bumpy ride so very few day trippers go that far. We spent two nights on the trail and saw very few people, only as we were entering the area and leaving again. Unfortunately the end part of the trail was blocked due to heavy rain so we could not drive the entire loop but had to go back the same way we came in.

The cool thing about the White Rim Road is the fact that it is isolated and you feel like you are the only people in this moon like landscape. At one spot you can look up to the Island in the Sky and see the tourists at the look out point looking down at you. Otherwise there is no sign of civilization at all. Luckily we brought some extra gas because we would not have made it back on only one tank of gas. And of course the beers we brought were also important. What else is there to do in the afternoon when you have reached your camp and it is still almost 40 degrees… 🙂

Green River at sunset from our second camp site.

The white rim is white sand stone that runs along the canyon. At some spots you can walk out on the rocks and look down towards the river.

After two and a half days of driving mostly 20 mph due to road conditions it was nice to get out on the paved road again. It is fun to drive on this kind of trails but it is usually enough for a few hours. The picture shows an example of what it can look like and although it looks quite smooth it is fairly bumpy.

In this park we saw a few long horn sheep along the way. This one looks particularly cute.

Denver

We did not have a lot of expectations as we drove into Denver after almost two weeks in the mountains. At first it did not look very impressive but as we drove through the city center we were convinced. Denver actually has what we miss in Phoenix, a city center where people spend time, where there are restaurants, bars and cafe’s. On a Friday night people are walking the 16th Street Mall watching other people, street performers and shop windows. We immediately liked the city and nominated it to a favourite US city. We could live here. The problem now is that we don’t really want to go back to Phoenix…

Very close to the center we found this little park.

Only in America…

We did it!

Ten 14ers and one 13er in 10 days. Out of those ten days two were resting days which means three of eight hiking days we did two peaks. Right now I feel extremely good but I don’t think I could have done many more without some more rest at this point. My body wants to do something else.

The last five 14ers were Mt Harvard and Mt Columbia (one day), Mt Yale, La Plata and Mt Elbert. Mt Elbert is the highest of the 14ers and the highest peak in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. It was ironically the easiest one and had the biggest crowd on top. There were hikers on all peaks we visited but usually 5-10 others while on Mt Elbert there were probably about 20 and we met many still on their way up as we hiked down.

At Mt Harvard early in the morning we saw two mountains goats. This one was a bit scruffy looking but very cute.

Driving through an aspen forest to reach Mt Elbert trailhead.

We were surprised as to how few foreigners we met in the mountains. On ten peaks we only met three foreigners, two from the Czech Republic and one from Canada. All of these though live in the States at the moment as do we. I guess that we can now say that the international tourists does not make it to these wonderful areas. They are missing out on something! Apparently the tourists go to Rocky Mountain National Park and Mt Evans where you can drive all the way to the top of the mountain. It seems a lot of people from the cities in Colorado do weekend trips up to the mountains to go hiking, biking, rafting and 4 wheel driving. There was a very impressive traffic jam coming back to Denver on Sunday afternoon as we were leaving to go to Utah. Luckily we were going in the right direction.

Leaving the mountains for other adventures.

Five 14ers done, five to go

Uncompaghre, 14321 ft or 4365 m

Now we have done five 14ers and one 13er. We threw in the 13er just because it was named Matterhorn. This Matterhorn is much easier to climb than the Matterhorn in Switzerland. The peaks we have climbed so far are Handies, Redcloud, Sunshine, Wetterhorn, Matterhorn and Uncompaghre. Redcloud and Sunshine we did in one day as well as Wetterhorn and Matterhorn. The two last mentioned peaks were a bit different than the others because you had to do a bit of climbing to reach the top. It was quite fun, easy climbing more scrambling really.

On the top of Matterhorn.

Enjoying the view on Uncompagre.

We had one days rest after 3 peaks and now another lazy day before we are aiming to do five peaks in four days. We do not know if we will make it but we will try. The reason is that in four days the weather forecast says there might be thunderstorms and we would like to avoid them if possible.

There are lots of marmots around these mountains, we see them everywhere. This one we found quite close to the top of Uncompaghre. Apart from marmots we see chipmunks, deer and elk. They claim bears are around but we have not seen one so far and honestly I do not have to…