Fort Collins and Grand Junction, Colorado

On the road again . . . This time to Colorado. . .

Early in the trip, we arrived in Duchesne and stopped, of course, to grab a couple of geocaches.  I looked at the hill ahead of us and thought, "Ugh, that's going to be a rough climb.  I really hope it's not up there."  I don't know what Chris was thinking but the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of a Subaru commercial with my life flashing before my eyes.  I fully expected us to find ourselves sliding backward at any moment.  It was that steep.  But, we made it to the top.  I say this because I saw the top, not because I saw us actually driving up the hill while my eyes were closed and I was holding on for dear life!  This picture doesn't really do it justice.

This one, however, is not a camera trick.  It really looked like this from the bottom.

The best part?  The cache wasn't even up there.  It was about even with where I was standing to take this picture.

From there we went on to Vernal . . .

And then to Fort Collins.  Wow, what a beautiful drive!  There's nothing quite like listening to John Denver while driving through the Rocky Mountains.

While Chris was working in Fort Collins, I had some time on my hands so I went exploring.  I ended up at Coyote Ridge.  While there enjoying the view, I learned that this is a Hogsback Ridge.

 

This butterfly was nice enough to pose for me before flying away.

Later we went sloshing through this frog's stream to get to the other side.  Why take the easy way, right?

 Then we found the path and just looked at the water from afar.

 

From there, on to Grand Junction.  Another beautiful drive.  I-70, you surprised me!  Grand Junction and its surrounding towns have a lot of street art . . . This is "Mike, the Headless Rooster."

They also have some great scenery as they are located at the edge of the Colorado Plateau.  Here are a few views of the Colorado National Monument.

Next stop, Arches and southwestern Utah . . .

Spring is Here? II

Only in Utah can you go from this . . .

To this . . .

And back to this . . .

All in less than 24 hours!

Sand Hollow, Bryce, and Grand Staircase

I've heard from several people that there is some pretty good diving in the new Sand Hollow Reservoir and we decided it was time to go check it out.  Near the end of this big rock, there is a sunken airplane with a geocache in the glove box.  There's also a VW bus down there.

After diving, we had lunch and Chris finally got to fly her kite.

From there, we went on to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes for the night.

The next stop was Bryce Canyon.  It's just as beautiful in the spring as it is in the winter and summer.  We intended to spend a half a day or so there then move on but got sidetracked and stayed a little longer.

This raven flew up next to us in a big wind gust.  He was having trouble landing with the wind but finally made it.  I think he was disappointed that we didn't have any food for him.

We had plans to hike the Queen's Garden Trail the next day but while watching the sunset at Sunset Point, we overheard someone talking about the Peekaboo Trail.  I believe her actual words were, "It's so freakin' cool!"  After that review, we had to change our plans.  It was a very good decision.  We started on Wall Street.  This trail was closed last time I was here so I was excited to get to see it.   Here's Chris taking a picture of a really really tall tree.

Here's the tree . . .

After a while, the Wall Street Trail connects with the Peekaboo Trail.  The trail is named Peekaboo because there is a new surprise around every corner.

These rocks look like someone stacked them up, but they are really very much stuck together.

This tree is just too cool.  With the wind we had this weekend, it's not hard to guess why it looks this way.

 

The next destination was Grand Staircase National Monument.  We were pleased that we found a camping spot before midnight for a change and settled in to enjoy the evening at Devil's Garden. 

We found out late that night that the camping register in the parking lot was actually for back-country campers and we had set up camp in a day-use picnic area.  Oops.  (Fortunately, we found out from a guidebook, not from a ranger coming to kick us out.)  With the relentless wind and looming rainstorm, and the late hour, we decided to stay there anyway.  The rain never materialized but the wind went on and on and on and on.

In the morning we set out for some exploring.  This place is amazing.  I definitely need to go back and see more!

One of the "must-sees" in the area was the Hell's Backbone road.  This road was built by the CCC back in the day to connect the towns of Escalante and Boulder.  It was clearly an adventurous building project but driving it was a little underwhelming after all the hype.

Looking down from the bridge . . .

One more view. . .

Sadly, we were out of time after that so we had to put the rest of the plan on hold for another trip and head home. 

Angel's Landing

The last two weekends have been a whirlwind of adventure.  I've hardly had time to catch my breath, much less upload pictures and blog but before I get too much further behind, here's what I've been up to . . .

For Spring Break, Chris and I had planned to do a grand tour of southern Utah.  When she had to work, we rescheduled for Memorial Day weekend, and the weekend before, thinking that would be plenty of time to accomplish the "to see" list.  OK, is there ever REALLY enough time to explore Southern Utah?  Probably not.  But we saw a lot!

First stop:  Zion National Park
I remember a while back when Liz  posted on her blog about climbing Angel's Landing.  I thought she was insane.  I wondered why in the world anyone would want to do such a thing.   One day not long ago, I suddenly thought to myself, "I want to climb Angel's Landing!"  I have no explanation for this change of heart . . . I'm as surprised as anyone.  Here we are at the beginning of the trail.  Chris is smiling because she is taller than me. 

 Looking over the edge . . .

 I thought we had arrived, only to find out this part still had to be climbed.  Yikes!

Almost there!

We made it!  I'm still a little shocked.

While we were enjoying the view, we also enjoyed a Maori war dance performance from the nearby BYU students.

Eventually we headed back down the trail . . .

Later, we stopped to check out Weeping Rock. . .

And Menu Falls . . .

On the way home the next day, we stopped to grab a cache or two (or something like that) and found these lambs there to greet us.

How cute are they?

Stay tuned for the next stops. . .