4WD TRUCK WHEELS

0 PHOTOGRAPH PARTICULARS 0

I don't know what the surface of Mars looks like, but this must be close. Bisti is a magical mixture of colorful clay and rock with some of the most fanciful rock forms I have ever seen.

0 ACTIVITIES DAY FIVE OF TWELVE 0

After a good night’s rest at Farmington, New Mexico we left at dawn, as was our custom on this trip, with three major destinations in mind: Bisti (pronounced: Biss Tie) badlands; Chaco Canyon; and Bandelier national monument. We had motel rooms reserved at Santa Fe.

The hike into the rock and clay formations at Bisti turned out to be my favorite stop on the entire road trip. I had never been there before. We were the only ones there, the weather was bright and clear, and the formations were absolutely amazing. I used my small Garmin etrex to make certain that we would hike to one of the two “good spots” and back out, in the most time efficient manner.

There is another good section of Bisti that I know, one day, I will return to visit. Same with the De-Na-Zin area. Always something for another road trip. After Bisti we made our way to Chaco Canyon and visited Chetro Ketl and Pueblo Bonito. I had been to Chaco three times before but never in a situation where I wasn’t rushed for time. Ed and I enjoyed our walks to both ruins and took our time.

After Chaco Canyon it was clear (using the ETA on the NUVI navigator), that we weren’t going to make Bandelier with enough light to really enjoy it, so for the first and only time on this road trip, we altered our route solely as a result of “running out of time”. There were several times we altered plans due to weather and dirt (mud) road conditions.

So instead of traveling the highways that would lead us to Bandelier from Chaco, we checked the map and took a scenic but more direct highway into Santa Fe (highway 96 instead of highway 4 that would have taken us to Santa Fe via Bandelier).

We got into Santa Fe right at dark, in time to check out the historic town square, the cathedral, and get a good meal. The next morning would follow a now established and predictable routine: On each and every day of this road trip, Ed and I would load our gear back in the Jeep right at or just before dawn, always looking forward to the new day’s destinations. The way a road trip should be.

0 3,875 MILE/12 DAY ~ 4 CORNERS ROAD TRIP OVERVIEW 0

At the start of year 2011, I made tentative plans to take a two week solo “road trip” through the Four Corners area (The Colorado Plateau), during the last half of March. Then, if my wife could get the time needed off from her part time job, I also planned a “road trip” vacation to the Southwest, in April with her.

When I put the plan together for the March trip, I decided to see if an old friend of mine, Ed (Flickr’s: OldWrangler), might be interested in joining me. I volunteered to take my old four wheel drive pickup truck and split the gasoline expense with him. We would each get an inexpensive motel room on the road to serve as “base camps” to hike, photograph, and explore back roads in the Four Corners area.

Not only did Ed accept but he also proposed that we take his brand new 4-door Jeep Wrangler instead of my old pickup truck. That didn’t take any thinking on my part. I LOVE Jeeps and Ed and I have always got along well (decades ago, I worked for him and we had taken a fun road trip together back in 2008, along with my friend John and my youngest son). The deal was sealed.

We left my house in Central Washington early Monday morning on the 14th of March. We returned 12 days and 3,875 miles later on Friday evening March 25th. We spent a lot of time drinking Diet Pepsi from the ice chest and keeping the hits of the 60s (and occasionally the 70s), cranked up high on the Jeep’s Sirius satellite radio sound system. Sing along music! “Road trip” tunes.

Weather often dictated changes to our proposed route and activities. We stayed flexible, and in the end we visited the large majority of places we had hoped to see, when the road trip began. We had sun and clear skies, snow, dust storms, and high winds at times. Ed’s Jeep had an outside temperature display. We drove in everything from18 degree weather to temperatures in the 70s in New Mexico.

Here in outline form are the places we saw, hiked, photographed, and visited during the 12 day road trip:

Mon 3.14.11
* Interstate travel from my house in Central Washington to Lehi, Utah

Tue 3.15.11
* Scenic back roads ( Hwys: 6, 89, & 31) from Spanish Fork to Huntington, Utah
* Dirt road travel to “The Wedge” and down Buckhorn Wash to I-70.
* Side trip to the Head of Sinbad petroglyph and then on to Moab.

Wed 3.16.11
* Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands NP (Mesa Arch & Upheaval Dome)
* The Shafer “Jeep” Trail down to the White Rim road and back to Moab.
* Hike to Delicate Arch & visit Windows section in Arches NP.

Thu 3.17.11
* Newspaper Rock in the Needles district of Canyonlands NP
* Attempt back road travel thru the Abajo

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There is a beauty of morning not present in sunsets (my opinion). This was the landscape scene we saw Wednesday morning as we made our way slowly to the Mesa Arch trail head in the Island of the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park.

0 ACTIVITIES DAY THREE OF TWELVE 0

We had rooms reserved at the Moab, Utah Motel 6 for Tuesday and Wednesday night. This would serve as our “base camp” for visits to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands and to Arches National Park.

Taking only camera gear and day hiking packs, we left Moab just before dawn on Wednesday morning for our visit to the Island in the Sky area. We stopped on the way into Canyonlands to photograph the sunrise and to look over and photograph the Shafer trail from the rim.

In the 1980s, I had ridden a dual sport motorcycle (Honda XL500) along the White Rim road and up the Shafer trail. I was hoping that the road might be in good enough shape to travel it on this trip with Ed’s Jeep.

After stopping at the Shafer trail overlook we made our way to the Mesa Arch TH parking. We were pleased to find nobody else there. We would not see one other person on the hike in or out nor doing our stay photographing Mesa Arch. A pleasant surprise.

After Mesa Arch we drove to Grandview Point and took a few photos there. Then backtracking we took the side road to the Upheaval Dome trail. It was the first of several geological formations that geologists have yet to agree on as to what formed it. It appears as a giant crater with a light colored “sharp” dome, rising out of its center. I tried some side by side shots there so I could stitch a panoramic photo together later.

We stopped at the Canyonlands visitor’s center on the way back and found that a free “permit” was required these days to drive the Shafer Trail and the White Rim road, so we obtained our pass and headed down the fun, interesting, and exciting route off the Island in the Sky plateau, down the old Shafer cattle trail to the White Rim road, which then runs along an esplanade above the Colorado and Green Rivers.

Traveling down the Shafer and along the White Rim roads in the Jeep, with windows rolled down, was a real treat. There are some rough spots on the White Rim road so it took us awhile to work our way back to Moab (for a mid-day meal).

That afternoon, we drove into Arches National Park headed for the trail to Delicate Arch. The weather came apart on us by this time and the gusting winds were absolutely fierce. Ignoring the blasting winds as best we could we made our way to Delicate Arch. The bad weather kept the number of people down, but the lighting wasn’t the best - - and staying upright in the high gusts of wind took some work in places. Still, we had come to see Delicate Arch, up close, and the hike there was well worth the time.

Leaving the Delicate Arch trail, the wind dropped down a little as light faded over Arches NP. We drove to the Windows Section of Arches and then out of the park as the sun began to set. Somewhere near the Petrified Dunes viewpoint area of the park, Ed sensed excellent sunset light in the offing, and we parked the Jeep off the side of the road, and climbed a small ridge for some photographs.

Ed’s intuition was perfect. Though the winds got cold, we got some of the best light of the entire day for photography, with warm red sandstones in dusk light and the snow covered La Sal Mountains in the distance (Mt. Peale at 12,720’ is the highest peak in these high desert mountains).

A bright moon peeked through the cobalt blue evening skies and storm clouds traveled quickly across the sky. So that is how the third full day of our Four Corners road trip ended; photographing the golden sunset light inside Arches National Park. Fun.

0 3,875 MILE/12 DAY ~ 4 CORNERS ROAD TRIP OVERVIEW 0

At the start of year 2011, I made tentative plans to take a two week solo “road trip” through the Four Corners area (The Colorado Plateau), during the last half of March. Then, if my wife could get the time needed off from her part time job, I also planned a “road trip” vacation to the Southwest, in April with her.

When I put the plan together for the March trip, I decided to see if an old friend of mine, Ed (Flickr’s: OldWrangler), might be interested in joining me. I volunteered to take my old four wheel drive pickup truck and split the gasoline expense with him. We would each get an inexpensive motel room on the road to serve as “base camps” to hike, photograph, and explore back roads in the Four Corners area.

Not only did Ed accept but he also proposed that we take his brand new 4-door Jeep Wrangler instead of my old pickup truck. That didn’t take any thinking on my part. I LOVE Jeeps and Ed and I have always got along well (decades ago, I worked for him and we had taken a fun road trip together back in 2008, along with my friend John and my youngest son). The deal was sealed.

We left my house in Central Washington early Monday morning on