Let me set the stage. Kelsey hadn’t been to Oregon since 1998 when she was six years old. She’s now 16. Most of my family lives in Oregon and after a 10-year gap they all had expectations of seeing her … in the 20 waking hours we had scheduled for Kelsey to be in the area. We had a LOT of ground to cover. Ready. Set. Go!
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I’ve been in many caves and I have my favorites. Luray and Carlsbad Caverns were alone at the top of the list until today. Kartchner Caverns was revealed to the world in 1999 after over a decade of secretive development. Never before have I been in a cave so pristine, so well preserved, so artistically presented. The finale is a light show of a feature called Kubli Khan. It was beautiful and moving and extremely well done. Kartchner really rocks!
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Spend too much time behind the wheel of a car and you go stir-crazy. While on the road I am constantly in and out of my car but I may be driving about for 13 or 14 hours before my car and I separate for the night. Especially when I’m covering lots of ground or navigating slow terrain, I can go a bit nuts.
Four weeks into my last trip, I started to think about Old Rag. Hiking to its peak and down is probably my favorite few hours ever spent in boots. Elsewhere on my blog you can learn more about Old Rag but suffice to say, I started looking forward to hiking it again from about Billings, Montana. That’s over a week and a half before I actually got home, before I could head out and climb it.
Today I hiked Old Rag. It was a perfect day to climb because it was cool enough to make the ascent without getting terribly overheated. The climb just takes more effort when it’s hot; so too it’s a challenge when it’s too cold. Today was a Goldilocks hike day and I enjoyed the heck out of it.
It’s good to be home.
UPDATE:
Three weeks later we received an unforeseen weather gift of a warm day. Not only was this day warm, it was sunny and the air was clear. This was not the day to ignore the call of Old Rag so off I went!
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Upon leaving Portland my goal was to get home swiftly which meant lots of mileage and few stops each day. I pretty much flew nonstop from Portland past Boise and settled for the night in Twin Falls. The problem was that there were many temptations locally and I had only planned on a couple of them. Seems it was going to be another loooong but enjoyable day.
The Snake River cuts a canyon through southern Idaho as it winds its way to join the Columbia River. Great vistas, water falls, and impressive bridges abound in here where Evil Knievel made his failed attempt to jump the gorge. Here’s a nice sample of what can be seen right around Twin Falls:
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I have a great time each year as do hundreds of others. JazzTrax is wall-to-wall live jazz starting on Thursday evening and continuing through Sunday night. This year I saw old favorites and was introduced to new artists. My uncle has been responsible for helping many an artist “break out” of the pack and ignite their career. The fact that this all happens on a lovely island just an hour from Los Angeles only adds to the charm. Very nice. Highly recommended!
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No, I did not hike the full length of trail which begins in the far north of Catalina at Starlight Beach and finishes in the far south at Pebbly Beach. I did what was a reasonable one-day outing, a total distance was around 12 miles.
Crazy as it sounds I hiked from Point B to Point A.
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My next stop was Moab, UT where I was going to deliver a box of DVDs to the parents of a friend. Old favorites such as Arches and Canyonlands were also on my agenda as were new recommendations such as Dead Horse Point. Little did I know that an interesting-looking shortcut would drop me into the Colorado Riverway Recreation Area, another wonder of red rock and water.
To a great extent I’m going to let pictures convey the grandeur of the area. However, before I set you free on my albums I want to make two points. First, the rock really and truly is a beautiful shade of red. Second, the combination of blue sky, red rock, and green plants combine to make magic. The Colorado River is what makes this possible in Utah’s arid plateau.
I could spend a month in this region and not begin to do it justice.
Guess I’ll just have to keep returning!
Enough! Let’s see some pictures!
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The expanse of these canyons is impressive. They’re wide and deep and intensely colorful. However, the gorges are north-facing and they’re viewed from a road that runs along the rim. As a photographer I was disappointed with my timing. I arrived in the autumn in the late afternoon when shadows were long and much of the beauty was obscured in relative darkness. Though I’m glad I went, it was a disappointing photographic experience.
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Timing is key. To this point all of Rocky Mountain National Park had been open and this included Trail Ridge Road which run the length of the park along part of the Rockies’ spine. As I pulled in to Estes Park after a long day it started to rain. By morning Trail Ridge Road was closed for the season as the roads were impassible due to snow. Timing is key.
What to do?
Thankfully there were still many options; snow at the lower elevations had melted. I had long planned to hike to burn off energy after so many days behind the wheel. Back home I had researched this outing and selected a 9+ mile hike which would take me to six lakes. An overview of the area can be seen here; I visited Bear, Dream, Emerald, Haiyaha, Mills and Jewel lakes and in that order. It turned out to be a simply glorious day for hiking and in the Rockies no less! Timing is key.
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My hike was 125 miles: 115 miles along the Appalachian Trail plus another 10 along Shenandoah’s Dickey Ridge Trail to the park’s entrance. In addition, I biked 105 miles along Skyline Drive. I have no idea where I got the idea pursue this big goal but I can briefly describe how I did it.
Stage 1: It all started innocently enough. “Why not hike a little section of that famous Appalachian Trail which runs 2,170 miles from Georgia to Maine?” I thought. Linden, VA on Interstate 66 was a convenient place to start so I did a couple of one-day hikes along it till I reached Skyline Drive which runs along the ridges of the Shenandoah National Park. When I arrived, the next phase of my adventure occurred to me.
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