October hike with my youngest son, Stephen.
This was my first, very small, segment of the PCT. We hope to do a lot more in the coming few years.
My Adventures
A Ride Through Yellowstone
I have made it home, arriving late last night (Sunday) after spending a couple of days in Kennewick, Washington. Directly after worship on Sunday, I made a few small detours but mostly just focused on getting home.
Friday was my last ‘real’ day of special rides. I left the Tetons at 6am and headed for Yellowstone on my way to Kennewick. The Snake river was beautiful and other features of the park were interesting, but the day was won by the bison.
Below is my final album of the trip unless I create a collection of some of the pictures from across my journey that I hadn’t shared. I will be working on processing gobs of 4K video I took and adding it later. Thanks to everyone who followed my journey. I will keep posting to the site and I return to regional rides and hikes around Southern Oregon.
Grand Teton National Park
Thursday was about traveling to bask in the wonder of the majestic Tetons. As I planned my trek, it was an accident that I discovered these beautiful, jagged mountains would be on my course.
Along the way, I traveled beside the Salt River. It is one of my little joys to see small streams that wander along the road or across a field, often missed by the average traveler who is looking up at the horizon rather than noticing one’s immediate surroundings.
In a little town called Afton in Wyoming, there is the ‘World’s Largest Elkhorn Arch.’ Imagine my surprise to learn there was a competition. I must learn, one day, where the second largest elkhorn arch is found and see what must be done to elevate their game.
I did reach the Tetons and fairly early in the day. I sat in amazement on several occasions and just stared at their grandeur. I was pointed to an old cabin with a porch where I could rest and enjoy the scenery.
Below are a few more of the MANY photos I took that day. Also, there is a short video of the great bonus I experienced from the porch where I settled — there are marmots in Wyoming. I cannot express my excitement for this discovery. I spent a great deal of time watching them be amazing.
Getting Offroad at Canyonland National Park
Though Arches National Park is the better known destination at Moab, it is not the better park. Canyonland is vast like the Grand Canyon with stunning vistas and you can drive your car (or ride your motorcycle) through many areas in the bottom of the canyons. Did I mention the vistas were stunning?
The first picture in the album below is probably the most iconic around Canyonlands, but is actually from Dead Horse Point State Park which is positioned just outside of Canyonlands National Park. When exploring the interior of Canyonlands, you come across lots of interesting formations including this ‘rectangular’ arch called Musselman Arch. You may have to look at the photo and focus to see the empty space.
In the midst of the desert rocks, though you will see vegetation along the rugged roads at the bottom of the canyons, you don’t find many trees. I really only saw this one over the many hours I spent by myself in the dry landscape.
I wasn’t always alone. On occasion, a group of riders who came from all over the world would tear down the road on their rented dirt bikes. Some said that they trailered their bikes from states away rather than ride in as I did.
The area was too vast for me to explore in one day. In fact, I could ride through the available roads for a week and not see everything. I hope you enjoy the pics.
At Arches National Park
I reached Moab on Monday evening and had a chance to drive through the park with the evening sun. My whole goal was to get to the Delicate Arch.
On the way to the arch, I saw a cave across the terrain on the left. I love caves and it called to me, but it will have to wait for another day.
As the 1.5 mile hike was drawing to its end, I was struck by the visual of everyone disappearing at the top of the hill and there was no one coming back our way. All I could think of was lemmings and an old video game we used to play. It turns out everyone was hanging out at the arch for sunset.
This post started with the best picture, but below are a few more from the evening. The pièce de résistance of my time in Moab was Canyonland on Tuesday. I hope to have those pictures up by tonight.
On the Way to Moab
Unfortunately, the Navajo Nation and its Monument Valley park remain closed due to Covid-19 concerns by the tribe. However, I was still able to enjoy some fantastic views. They have named this spot for Forrest Gump after the movie made stopping here popular.
In the movie, Forrest ended his running at that amazing spot on Hwy 163 in Southern Utah. His character carried on, but this poor critter ended his journey with less — well, everything!
I did make it to Moab. Here are more pictures from my day’s travels (there will soon be two different posts with highlights of my activities in the Moab area).
Sedona 4 Wheeling and Hiking
Today was a wonderful bonus. I came to Phoenix to visit and spend some time with two of my brothers and my third brother was still in town for a nephew’s graduation — so we had breakfast together. It was the first time all four of us had ever been together. Though one brother had to go home (eight hours away), the rest of us headed to Sedona.
We spent some time in one brother’s Jeep traveling on roads designed for serious 4-wheeling. Then we hiked a bit at the West Fork Oak Creek Trail. Here are a few pictures of the day’s adventure.
The Long Road to the Valley of Fire
After a restful night, I was awaken early in the morning by the surprise sound of a train on tracks just beyond the tree line where I camped — and we were off again on the day’s adventure.
If you are wondering the location of the middle of Nowhere, here is photographic evidence of its existence.
We were on one a long dirt road, all by ourselves (Stella and me) for hours.
The jewel of the day was the Valley of Fire.
After a weekend of visiting family, the next adventure will be a couple of days in Moab starting on Monday. Stay tuned!
Cathedral Gorge
There were some interesting sites on my way to the Cathedral Gorge State Park in Nevada.
When Stella and I reached Cathedral Gorge, it did not disappoint. There will be some video later, but I hope you enjoy this album.
After several hours of hiking around, it was time to find a quiet place off the beaten path to make camp for the night. No campground this time, just a flat spot to put my tent off the road.
Leaving Big Creek Campground
Signal and Wi-Fi and sparse in the Nevada desert. I finally have the opportunity to share lots of photos from the last couple of days. This will be the first of a few posts put up together.
I had camped the night before at the Big Creek Campground in the Toiyabe mountains in Nevada. As I arrived after dark, I didn’t really get to enjoy the views until the next morning. There is a lovely creek that ran right by my camp space.
Here is a small album of pictures from my departure (I posted a few other photos to the companion Facebook page).
