HIKING REPORT: These Red Rocks Are For Muriel

We hiked several trails in Arches NP just outside Moab, Utah. A camera isn't capable of capturing the beauty of this landscape. It has to be personally experienced and then archived to memory. 

                   

DESTINATIONS: Four Corners and Hovenweep

A drop down into the San Juan River Valley Canyon and to today's first stop at the Four Corners Tribal Monument ... we're in Utah, Arizona on the left and Colorado, New Mexico on the right.

DESTINATIONS: Cave Dwellings

We drove to the Los Alamos area in the morning and hiked Frijoles Canyon in the Bandelier National Monument. 

From Wikipedia: 

Human presence in the area has been dated to over 10,000 years before the present. Permanent settlements by ancestors of the Puebloan peoples have been dated to 1150 CE; these settlers had moved closer to the Rio Grande by 1550. The distribution of basalt and obsidian artifacts from the area, along with other traded goods, rock markings, and construction techniques, indicate that its inhabitants were part of a regional trade network that included what is now Mexico. 

Frijoles Canyon contains a number of ancestral pueblo homes, kivas (ceremonial structures), rock paintings, and petroglyphs. Some of the dwellings were rock structures built on the canyon floor; others were cavates produced by voids in the volcanic tuff of the canyon wall and carved out further by humans. 

 Driving down into Frijoles Canyon.

DESTINATIONS: Tent Rocks

There's a lot to do in New Mexico if you're interested in outdoor self-propelled activities. Get a Land Management Map - it's the best resource. We only have this one extra day right now but we'll probably swing back after our canoe trip to investigate other areas and places of interest. The landscape, geology, flora and fauna are truly fascinating. At this time of year, the weather is quite pleasant but I imagine, come June until late Summer, the high heat would make some activities difficult and quite oppressive ... Spring and Fall are probably the most favourable times of year to be here.

Kasha-Katuwe is an area well worth doing a half days hike into. We arrived at the trailhead early so the trail was quiet on the way up. On the return, we probably encountered 200 plus hikers, mostly school groups and some families, but few individuals or hiking couples. There is a mostly gentle grade for the first 9/10 th’s of this trail, the final several hundred feet can be steep in places and some scrambling is required. Earlier sections of the trail are through a constricted slot canyon that features unusual rock formations and pleasant walking. The final elevation is at 6760’ ASL, a 630’ vertical elevation gain that affords a panoramic view of the surrounding area and an interesting perspective of the trail just hiked.

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One supports another in a tunnel of high wind.

One Thousand and Thirty - Five Litres

Of fuel. 

We've spent 6 days just driving and we're averaging a little more than 600 kms /  day.  This amounts to a long day in a truck camper - often 6 to 7 hours of driving time. I know it doesn't sound like a great distance - you can do 1000 kms + in a car easily, but we don't move as quickly, aren't nimble on rough roads, don't corner as quickly or climb hills as well as other vehicles. Plus, we're old, we move slowly, take our time packing up and having breakfast, make mistakes and errors in judgement that need to be corrected and accounted for throughout the day ... and quite honestly, we really don't need to do any more than 105 - 110 kms / hour to get where we're going.

We've travelled 3722 kms in total so far and passed through the states of Michigan - Indiana - Illinois - Iowa - Nebraska - Kansas - Oklahoma - Texas and we're now into New Mexico. We'll spend a day or three here before heading out on the last leg of the drive to Moab, Utah. The weathers been mostly good, dry roads, some poor road surfaces, reasonable traffic. We purposely chose a southern route over a northern one across the Rockies in order to avoid any high altitude snow or poor driving conditions across the top of Colorado. We have heard reports of other travellers being stranded for a day or two due to heavy snow accumulation in previous years. This route adds distance to the trip, but it gives us sufficient time to meet the other paddlers in Moab in time for the Green River put-in.

SOME  PHOTOS

The view from our front window on Departure Day: Tim's Lake is still frozen over April 16th.

The snow has mostly disappeared in the bush and LOAF's packed ... we're ready to head out.

BASECAMP 04.11.14 ... " Pre-trip Southwestern USA "

DESTINATION - Southwestern USA

We left early in March and flew to Cozumel Island, MEXICO for a 2 week SCUBA and snorkelling trip. We returned March 21st and we've been busy ever since with preparations for our next LOAFing Around adventure.

The rig needed some attention after sitting since March 5 following our return from the south eastern USA. The Ford had a front hub and u-joint replaced under warranty and the transmission was reprogrammed (also under warranty) to resolve a harsh shifting problem. Additionally, an oil-filter-lube service, transmission flush and a heavy service inspection. The Lance got a front canoe bar and cab-over struts installed. The struts will dampen the tendency LOAF has of 'porpoising' when driving rough or undulating highways.

Front Canoe Bar