HIKING REPORT: Part 1 - Exploring National and State Parks

May 11-12, Mesa Verde National Park

On June 29, 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt established Mesa Verde National Park to "preserve the works of man," the first national park of its kind.

Ancestral Puebloans made Mesa Verde their home from about A.D. 550 to 1300.  For more than 700 years they and their descendants lived and flourished here, eventually building elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls.  In the late A.D. 1200, in the span of a generation or two, they left their homes and moved away.  Today the park contains over 4,000 archaeological sites including cliff dwellings and the mesa top sites of pit-houses, pueblos, masonry towers and farming structures.  It is a truly magical place that tests your imagination trying to picture the ancient people living and thriving in such an environment.

The Cliff Palace – Contained approximately 150 rooms and 23 kivas (a subterranean structure used primarily for ceremonial or political gatherings).  Experts estimate that it was home to over 100 people.

BACKCOUNTRY: Canoeing the Green River, UT, USA: Labryinth & Stillwater Canyons

It Was A GRAND Trip, But We've Never Felt Dirtier ... EVER!

LOGISTICS (UT, USA) 
Van Shuttle: With Tex's Riverways from Moab > Crystal Geyser, GREEN River

Tandem Canoe: Crystal Geyser > (near) COLORADO R. confluence - Labyrinth & Stillwater Canyons, CI+, 9 days, 189 kms

Jet Boat: on the COLORADO from near the confluence with the GREEN > Potash Landing - 2 hrs, 80 kms

Bus Shuttle: With Tex's Riverways from Potash Landing > Moab

DVD Available: Get copy from Store

View Green / Colorado River(s), Utah, USA in a larger map

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

INSTRUCTION: PADI Advanced Diver Certification: Hotel Cozumel & Resort, Cozumel Is., QR, MEXICO

Wikipedia: MEXICO

Meeting up with diving and snorkelling buddies Heather & Randy to spend time under a tropical sun and underwater in the warm Caribbean Sea is always a good time. I completed my PADI Advanced Diver Certification.

LAST Camp

Where We Are Now ... Ft. Clinch Amelia River Campground, Amelia Island, Florida

SH*T Happened

We’re travelling northeast across Central Florida now. We have one additional 6 night stay at Ft. Clinch on Amelia Island. After this last one we’ll be heading north, leap-frogging our way back to Canada ... whenever we get attractive weather windows we'll make as many kilometres as we can in a day. 

We have this planned stop tonight to reconnect with a ‘cousin of a cousin’ of Helen’s - Nancy Shepheard and her husband Jim - it should be fun.

When we left Ft. De Soto this morning we chose not to dump our black or gray water tanks because we knew we’d have a full hookup in Winter Garden and dumping would be more convenient.

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Setting up a Truck Camper to camp is ‘A Dance’.

40 Things To Do In A Truck Camper On An ALL Day Windy WIND Day

1.   Get up.
2.   Turn furnace on.
3.   Make coffee.
4.   Drink coffee.
5.   Check Email.
6.   Check Facebook.
7.   Think about getting dressed.
8.   Think about braving the outdoors to go for a shower.
9.   Put on gloves, scarf, toque, jacket, thick wool socks.
10. Walk to shower.

Birds On Welfare

Where We Are ... Ft. De Soto CP, FL

A travel day. Got away late, we don’t have far to go so we plan on checking out some potential campgrounds for next year. We liked what we saw in Siesta Key and will probably try and include 1 - 2 weeks in our itinerary for that area. Other than that, the drive was uneventful ... groceries, lunch out and camp was set up by 4:00 pm.

KAYAKING: GATOR Hunting on the Myakka River, Florida

... with a CAMERA

We had two good days paddling on the Myakka River. From our site , a short paddle intersects us with the river proper, where we can travel north or south - and we did just that. It’s a pretty river and fairly quiet. The palms and riverbank vegetation are thick along the shoreline and there are few takeouts, landings are very muddy. Most river traffic are kayakers and some fishing boats. Not an abundance of waterfowl, but enough to keep us interested. We saw several of the Herons - Blue and Little Blue and Green, Egrets, also Wood Storks and Belted Kingfishers, Osprey and a couple of Hawks we couldn’t identify. Sunday was cooler and we didn’t see any gators but Monday made up for it ... a dozen at least, one that was around 10 feet, a few 8 and 4 footers and one or two small ones. Alligators are only agressive when they are protecting their young or during the breeding season. Like any wild creature if you give them space they won’t bother you. We stayed in the middle of the river channel as much as possible and shot any pictures from a comfortable distance for both us and the gators. 

The Myakka River

Where We Are NOW ... Camp Venice Retreat, Venice, FL

A Crash

We took advantage of the cool weather and got away early on the bikes. We rode most of the day and did not return until about 2:30. Most of the day was spent in the JN Ding Darling Reserve along Wildlife Drive ... lots of waterfowl photos. 

This scene repeats itself many times along the length of the Wildlife Drive.

Belts & Suspenders and A Bike Friendly Island

Where We Are NOW ... Periwinkle Campground, Sanibel Island, FL

NAPLES

We made a one night stop in Naples to do a scheduled oil change service at Tamiami Ford. We were told the garage could handle a vehicle 12’ high ... we are 11’ 6” (or, so I thought) including a 4” safety margin ... Surprise, SURPrise, SURPRISE!!! I pulled through the approach bay slowly and it was marked 12’ clearance. BAMB! ... I nailed the bow of one of the kayaks. I stopped soon enough that no damage was done to the boats, other than a minor scratch on the nose of mine. I backed out. We were subsequently told that they could ‘now’ NOT handle us for an oil change ... so, we drove next door to the ‘Qwik Lube’.

Inside a Truck Camper On An ALL Day Rainy RAIN Day When it Rains ALL Day.

Truck Campers are really just like all of our houses, they're just a lot smaller. 

These AREN'T RV's ... we're not talking $500,000 Class A motor coaches. This is living in the back of a pick-up truck ... a little more space and convenience than a 4 season tent.

They are notoriously poor in storage space and the attention to construction quality and detail,  even from the better known manufacturers (Northern Lite, Bigfoot, Lance, Arctic Fox) is often lacking. I've made some minor modifications while we've travelled, but until I return home and get access to my shop and tools again I won't be able to complete other planned upgrades ... and, my list is long.

Most of us have these rooms in our homes. Where we are living ATM, they're just tinier and probably not as well detailed as youall have. Here, then, for your enjoyment is a TOUR of the inside of a few of the rooms in our Overland Expedition Vehicle.

The LIBRARY ... some novels,magazines, trip planning info & brochures, office briefcase

The THEATRE Room ... 13 " HDTV / DVD / CD ... & it swivels. We have dinette, bedroom and outdoor speakers. We are carrying a collection of approximately 100 cd's that cover all musical genres and are recorded from our 'At Home Music Archive.' Musical quality is good ... certainly better than listening to sound through your cell phone. 'At Home' we have a HI END  Audio & Video Theatre Room ... vintage audio gear, an extensive music collection and a room built for quality listening and viewing.

The PANTRY ... it's about 12 inches wide x 16 inches deep x 36 inches high. Our 'At Home' pantry is about 8 feet wide x 10 feet deep x 16 feet high (cathedral ceilings). We have enough food & supply at home to survive for several months if we had to. Here, we could last for a few days,, but our wine stores would last a few additional days.

The WINE CELLAR .... this one holds about a dozen bottles, a few more if you flip them over and store them with the corks wet. We don't have much of a cellar 'At Home' either, but it is an Ikea rack that holds 150 bottles (never full of course)

The GEAR CLOSET ... this is LOAF's back seat. 'At Home' we have TWO Large gear closets and additional outdoor storage for boats and other stuff. Our indoor storage there houses gear and clothing support for all our paddling, hiking, cycling, camping, SCUBA, snorkelling etc activities. The back seat of an F350 is  ... just ... inadequate!!!

I Muskie a Reely Crappie Fisher Person Bassed on What I Cod

Where We Are NOW ... Rock Creek RV Resort, Naples, Florida

We spent harf the day on a Deep Sea Fishing Charter about 15 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Naples, Florida with Mike the Captain and Johnston the First Mate. These guys work hard ... stringing line, untangling line, baiting hooks, fish on, fish off, pumping the head and listening to fisher persons like us calling out 'need bait', 'fish on', 'caught on bottom'.

LOAF Narrowly Escapes Being Toasted

This actually happened yesterday, but BLOGGER 'time stamps' the entries.

Welllll, this should be a very interesting New Years for us. The Olderlies that inhabit this RV Park have informed us that part of this New Year’s Festivities will take place in our yard ...  we were briefly included in the planning. The sites in these RV parks are designed for the Class A Motor Coaches or Park Models that need 50 feet +/- to get in. We don’t really have an RV ... it’s just a truck camper and it’s only about 23 feet long ... this means we have a lot of empty space in our spot for community activites, such as New Years celebrations. 

A firepit has been located approximately 20 feet from LOAF. Dry burnables (mostly highly sparkable cedar) have been stacked nearby and the designated firekeepers Bill and Gloria, have been into the martinis already.  I spent the day cleaning, washing and waxing LOAF ... automotive wax is highly flammable!

5:00 pm - Preparations are in full swing now. We are presently watching a slow but steady parade of partiers bringing tables, chairs, food, adult beverages and more burnables to the end of our driveway. LOAF seems nervous!

6:15 pm - I snuck out, when I thought, no one was looking and moved the portable firepit further away from LOAF and closer to the roadway. Bill & Gloria happened to bring additional burnables at the same time but thankfully the ‘early martini’ effect must have kicked in, because they didn’t notice what I’d been up to. LOAF noticed though!

RV Parks collect regulars that return each year. Most are here for up to 6 months and some are full-timers that live in park models. Only a few, like us, stay for a couple of days and then move on. But, this is a very tight-knit community. We spent a very nice evening with these folks, we stayed late but never saw midnight, as is our tradition.

... and thankfully, LOAF wasn't toasted!