Our hiking tour begins in Denver, Colorado, on May 16th. Leaving Denver in the morning, by way of I-70 W through Central City, Georgetown, the snow-covered hillside by Loveland Pass and the 1.5-mile long Eisenhower Tunnel. Passing through Frisco, and Silverthorne, where the lakes are still frozen, we go over the 10,000 ft. high Vail Pass. We drive through Vail, the well-known ski resort, without stopping. After lunch at Glenwood Springs, we reach our first overnight stop at Aspen, the other well-known ski resort. Since we are still in the shoulder season, the crowd has not shown up, so we find the town relatively quiet.
Snow still covers most of the mountain tops in the high Colorado Rockies.
Our first hike on Hunter Creek Trail, in the hills of Aspen. We go along a creek, and make our way up hill. This section of the trail still has snow on the ground, but the sun is out and it is comfortably cool. The hike takes an easy 3 hours.
We are on our way to the town of Marble, an old abandon marble quarry, where the Lincoln Monument marble was quarried. This group of elks are just munching on the side of the road.
Stopping at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison for a look at this 2,000 ft. deep canyon and the river down below. It is spine-chilling to look down such a deep, narrow, and craggy canyon when the wind is blowing hard. We breathe a sigh of relief leaving this impressive canyon, glad to have seen it first-hand. We head to the town of Ouray. The scenic drive is a white knuckle experience for CC, although Rexplorer is a very good driver. We had a fine dinner. Next morning we decide to hike the "Perimeter," a trail that goes around the town of Ouray.
Ouray town is nestled between two steep mountains less than a mile apart. The Perimeter trail takes us immediately uphill. We meet this deer on the grassland.
Ouray claims to be the Switzerland of America. When we reach their version of the "Sound of Music" we must agree that the mountains and grassy meadow looks very much like a little Switzerland.
Being all alone on the hill top, we decide to take this opportunity to practice some yoga stretches. CC doing the Tree.
Rexplorer doing the Warrior Two. The mountains are still streaked with snow.
A little rest after our yoga practice.
Soon enough we realize the Perimeter Trail is not what we have thought it to be: a leisurely stroll around town. Since the town is between two big mountain ranges, the trail naturally goes up and down the cliffs, switching back and forth on a sometimes narrow pathway. One of the fun sections is this tunnel.
A long series of steps going down the side of the mountain. It has a cable hold.
This section of the trail is narrow and steep. Fortunately I can hold on to the rock wall for security. The town of Ouray is down below, and the mountain behind the town is the other part of the perimeter. In winter, ice climbers come to Ouray to climb these cliffs.
After some hyperventilating moments, we finally reach a waterfall. It is actually bigger and taller than what is shown in the photo. From here on it's downhill. Despite the surprising difficulty level of this 5.2-mile, 5-hour hike, we enjoy it greatly. CC gets rewarded with a milkshake at a chocolate factory afterward.
On our way to Durango to spend the night. This mountain of heavy iron content at about 13,000 feet gives off a colorful hues of orange and brown.
A brown bear almost runs onto the road. We don't know who is more surprised. When it sees two cars, one from each direction, he runs into the bushes and takes a peek at us. Our next stop is Mesa Verde, the famous mesa where the Ancient Pueblo people had set up many cliff dwellings.
At Mesa Verde, we sign up for a guided tour by a ranger to Balcony House, a cliff dwelling that is open for guided tours only. It makes sense that people are not allowed to go on their own. Witness this 30-foot tall open ladder, the first of three. The ranger advises everyone to "keep climbing and don't look down".
Replorer getting ready to go through a narrow crack between two "rooms".
Another tall open ladder to get up to the next level. Notice the guy carrying an infant on his backpack.
Another narrow crack in the wall between two rooms.
Everyone has to crawl through this tunnel on hands and knees for the exit level. Rexplorer passes the test of fit-ability!
One last open ladder for the exit of this amazing cliff dwelling of the ancient Pueblo people.
We leave Colorado and enter Utah, with our first stop at Moab where the famous arches are. Our first short hike in Arches National Park is on a trail called Park Avenue.
These tall free standing rock walls look so much like the facade of an ancient castle.
On our way to Delicate Arch, the symbol shown on Utah license plates, we stop to check out these petroglyphs, wall carvings by the Fremont people depicting a hunting scene of hunters on horseback in pursuit of big horn sheep.
One of several lizards we encounter on hiking trails. With a reddish back, they blend in rather well with the red rock surroundings.
Hiking to Delicate Arch. Without much shade, this climb up the rock is a little hot. We have to follow the cairns that mark the trail, otherwise we could get lost fairly easily.
The giant Delicate Arch, a symbol of Utah state.
Rexplorer on the Ledge on the way out of Delicate Arch. This hike is listed as somewhat difficult due to this ledge. But we are used to narrower trails than that ! :-)
Next hike is to Tunnel Arch.
CC and Rexplorer under Pine Arch, although we notice that there are no pines, only juniper.
CC climbs up this "window" next to Pine Arch.
The world's longest arch, Landscape Arch, spans the length of a football field.
This is Navajo Arch, with a nice Christmas tree in front.
Our last arch of the day, Partition Arch, with a partition between the big one (Rexplorer sitting below the big one) and the little one on the right.
Leaving the last arch, CC chooses the narrow crack to descend instead of climbing down the boulder face.
Last of the narrow ledges upon leaving Arches National Park. We put in a total of 6 hours hiking through the Park, visiting the five arches.
Next day we head to Capitol Reef. After settling in at the Lodge at Red Rocks Ranch, we take a short hike to The Tanks. Rexplorer admiring the tall rock formation.
The dry trail in a slot canyon on our way to the Tanks.
Outside the Lodge at Red River, near Torrey, herds of bison roam the two thousand acre ranch. We can see them while eating our breakfast. No bison steaks.
A view of Green River's goosenecks at Capitol Reef National Park. The river below meanders around the rocky shores and gains its name. We drive through Escalante and the Grand Staircase National Monument to take a back country road through Capitol Reef. The unpaved road descends through numerous switch-backs and is somewhat nerve wracking, CC spends most of the time taking several video clips to avoid white-knuckling all the way down.
Beautiful aspen trees. A single aspen can spread and grow a whole forest of identical aspen trees with the same genetic DNA.
We proceed to Bryce Canyon National Park, where we hike down to the base of the canyon, on the Navajo Loop and Queen's Garden Trail, a 2.5 mile long descent, for a different perspective of the hoodoos (rock formations). We pass through several tunnels.
Looking up at the hoodoos, they look like a group of statues. Down at the base of the Canyon, less tourists visit this portion of the hike.
CC passes through this narrow crack. Will her hips make it through?
Whether by car or by foot, everything goes up and down in the desert on switchbacks. This is how you climb out of the canyon.
Top-of-the-canyon view of the hoodoos. We spend the night at the Park Lodge so we are able to attend a lecture on nocturnal animals and how their habitat is negatively affected by lights from cities and towns (Bryce is famous for its darkness at night). We also go star-gazing through powerful telescopes and see Saturn, distant galaxies, and the Moon surface where the first space shuttle has landed.
On the way to Zion National Park, we stop at this fantastic stretch of landscape (actually, petrified sand dunes) that looks like waves. Rexplorer stands alone.
The first hike at Zion National Park is rated as "strenuous, with steep and narrow trails, and not for anyone in fear of heights". This is the Hidden Canyon Trail. We figure we have had some experience in dealing with steep and narrow trails, even though neither of us like heights, we are gamed to try this hike. Here Rexplorer is on part of the steep and winding trail, with a sharp drop into the canyon.
CC is able to use the rock wall on one side to gain some sense of security,
Near the top of the trail, there are three sections where the trail is only a slanting rock face. Fortunately there are chain holds to hang on for dear life. With careful focus on placement of the foot, and determination not to look down the cliff, we make it to the top. Of course, we will have to repeat the same on the way down!
A few more obstacles of rock climbing, we are at the top.
Rexplorer squeezing through a narrow pass. We go beyond where the trail is no longer maintained by the park service, and finally come to a sign stopping further progress. We turn back and make our way once again by the chain holds and the narrow trail. It is a great 3-hour hike and although spine tinkling, it is not too crowded, and we survive it.
Our final hike for the trip is up the Narrows. This is a water hike up the Virgin River to a stretch of very narrow canyon called the Wall Street. We rent water boots, neoprene water socks, and a strong staff. Since the water temperature is about 58 degrees, we forego renting a dry suit. Rexplorere takes a series of photo of CC negotiating the fast moving water.
A waterfall down the shimmering rock wall. Here the water is fairly calm.
We have to crisscross the rapids many times, fighting the currents and the unsteady footholds at the bottom of the river. I only trip and fall once, and get a little wet. My death-grip on the staff for balance is firm and tight, and my fingers have to be pried open at the end of the hike!
We are happy at almost the end of the hike. We reach the Wall Street section, and decide to turn back. The crowd on the river trail is amazingly thick, often vying for space to cross the rapids or resting on the shoreline.
Going back down the river, we both feel more sure-footed, and make pretty fast time back to the shuttle bus station, letting our sore feet rest. The hike takes nearly 5.5 hours. At times it is very hot, and at times very cold, depending whether we are in the sun or in the shade. The narrow passage is very impressive and it is a great way to wrap up our two-week hiking adventure.
We need to make our trip back to Denver from Zion, across Utah and Colorado, in two days' time. A quick stop at the town of Golden, hometown of Coors beer. We were going to tour the Coors factory and guzzle some beer, but since the Coors factory is closed for Memorial Day, we go instead to the Dinosaur Park and take a really good tour to see the dinosaur footprints, and the embedded bones all around the town area. Before we leave, Rexplorer poses with his namesake, Tyrannosaurus Rex.
CC poses with Stegosaurus, the one with a brain the size of a pea. No wonder they are extinct.
Well, we had so much fun. Colorado is very beautiful with magnificent snowy mountains, rivers and lakes. Utah has endless deserts, fabulous rock formations, and numerous hiking trails. We enjoy everyday of our trip, and all of our hikes. CC is ready to get back to hiking on Saipan!
