High Passes and Flat Plains

We headed North to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison - billed as yet another 'pocket-sized' Grand Canyon. The weather was unusually poor, so we stayed a night on the rim and explored a couple of the trails the next day.

We drove on East and North through Colorado, stopping in various creek-side camping spots and the Rocky Mountain National Park.  Being early in the season, the campgrounds and roads within the park were mostly closed, but the wildlife was prolific and we spotted deer, elk, moose and pronghorn antelope along the way.

We drove over several 11,000ft passes marking the continental divide and this year's late snowmelt continued to prevent much walking and exploring, but made for beautiful alpine views.

With no long walks and plenty of time around the campsites, the girls tried to put their new-found knowledge of the Navajo into practice by making a skipping rope-and-stick bow and arrow. It was somewhat ineffective, but Tony called his whittling and binding skills into action to produce an almost authentic and certainly more effective version.

We left Colorado yesterday, through the scenic Poudre River Valley and up through the flatter grasslands of East Wyoming. Today we will head into South Dakota to spend some time in the Black Hills and Badlands before turning West again for Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. By way of background reasearch, Francesca is reading Little House on the Prairie and we are hunting down a copy of Calamity Jane.

Colorado and the High Rockies

A week ago, we visited Mesa Verde National Park and its numerous Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings.  The South West is full of these fascinating and ancient structures and Mesa Verde's are some of the most famous.

 

We were forced to spend a few days in Durango for a minor van repair.  All agreed that there are much worse places to be stranded - the weather was lovely, the town is surrounded by the high mountains of Colorado and the girls particularly enjoyed the leisure centre with its pool and climbing wall.  Durango's main tourist attraction is the Silverton train which steamed through our campsite several times a day. However, seeking more excitement, we opted for a raft trip down the Animas river instead.  Swollen by snowmelt, it proved rather wetter and even more exciting than we had expected.

Tracing the northerly route of the train, have spent the last few days enjoying the solitude of the high San Jaun Mountains before the Memorial Day tourist rush next week.  Our campsites at nearly 10,000ft were a little chilly at night, and snow blocked our aspirations to walk much higher, but the gorgeous weather and total isolation more than made up for it.

Sorry....more rocks

After many enjoyable weeks in Utah, we finally moved on and are now in Cortez, Colorado.  We left Moab last Saturday heading South, and couldn't resist diverting into Canyonlands again - this time to visit the Needles district.  There, the girls were stretched to their limits with a record-breaking 11 mile walk to celebrate Mother's Day!  They both put in a sterling effort, but are now threatening strike action.

Despite many hunts with the children, we still haven't seen a rattlesnake, but were lucky enough to spot an American badger which looks cute, but apparently eats rattlesnakes.

We left the Needles promising a respite from long walks and spent a couple of relaxing days around Cedar Mesa and the Valley of the Gods.  We found some idyllic campsites and spent our afternoons just pottering around.

We really loved the Valley of the Gods, which is known as a 'miniature Monument Valley' but has few visitors due to the long dirt access road.  After prising ourselves away, we visited Goosenecks State Park where the San Juan River winds through 5 miles of 'entrenched meander' to go just one mile - a geography teacher's dream.

Our route then took us through the real Monument Valley, which was every bit as impressive as in the movies. 

Having had our 'John Wayne' moment, we headed back into Arizona (our route is becoming something of an entrenched meander) to the Canyon de Chelly.  The land here is still owned and farmed by the Navajo but the beautiful valley contains many relics from its past inhabitants. 

"Death or Agony"

We are going to have to change our plans (such as they were).  Utah is an amazing place, with so much to see and do, that we can't bear to leave too soon.  By way of example, we left Escalante last week, heading for Boulder (30 miles up the road) but didn't even get that far. We were waylaid by the temptation to visit Calf Creek Falls, entailing camping at the trailhead for a 7 mile walk up a delightful gorge alongside a little stream brimming with brook trout. It was very different from the mountain hikes of recent weeks and the girls couldn't believe there was no uphill section.

We rewarded ourselves with our first meal out back in the States - brunch at the Boulder Mesa Restaurant. This consisted of all the eggs, bacon and pancakes we could have wished for, together with excellent local travel advice.  Despite occasional snow showers, we followed the lady's suggestion to go down the Burr Trail, expecting to return after the tarmac ended and before the infamous 'switchbacks'.  However, we threw caution to the wind and we safely descended into the Waterpocket Fold to find ourselves, unexpectedly, in the Capitol Reef National Park. 

Most excitingly, we had our first glimpse of Mount Ellen (the highest of the Henry Mountains). Enjoying prevarications not possible on a short holiday, we holed up for the night in a lovely, if chilly, spot, probably 10 miles from any other living soul, whilst deciding whether to turn left or right!

The next morning, we decided definitely to go right... then left... then right again. We used to be decisive, but now we aren't so sure!  After finally plumping for the ferry crossing at Lake Powell, we found the out-of-season, lake-in-the-desert resort all too uncomfortable, and turned around - changing our minds one last time.

 

We spent a night with hot showers, etc in Moab, before heading off to the Canyonlands National Park. The highlight of our three days there was a long trek around the Syncline Loop, somewhat extended after some misleading cairns. The girls became quite excited at the prospect of an unplanned wilderness sleep-out... until we re-found the trail!

A little reluctantly, we left the expanses of Canyonlands for the nearby Arches National Park, one of the busiest in America. Despite applying the 100yds rule (90% of Park visitors never venture more than 100yds from their car) and choosing the longest possbile trail, we turned out to be never more than 100 yds from 90 screaming school kids!  Nevertheless, the scenery was pretty scenic...

All of this 'slickrock' gave us ample opportunity for scrambling, which both girls loved.  The title of this blog  arose when Francesca was walking along a narrow fin and looked down one side to find a 300ft drop. On seeing the mere 20ft on the other side, she sighed and declared "Well, its death or agony".  Thankfully there was no cause to find out, but some of the other hikers were a little perturbed!