07.05.2010

Capitol Reef
So our pal Kelton Russenberger took us to Capitol Reef National Park for some hiking and camping on his day off from Bryce Canyon National Park. This was one of the many beautiful view while driving into the park on the gravel road towards Cedar Mesa.

Capitol Reef
Hitting a trail.

Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef
So this hidden treasure that many overlook for the sexier nearby parks (like Zion, Bryce, etc.) is pretty neat. Being a geology and geography nerd, I was simply astonished to be in a waterpocket fold, which is a geologic monocline (a wrinkle on the earth), that extends almost 100 miles in the park!

07.04.2010

Valley of Fire
Celebrating the Fourth of July proper — by hitting the trails in Valley of Fire before it got too hot. It was nice not to see anyone else there on our hikes.

Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire
An of course we saw many petroglyphs.

Valley of Fire
Love these rolling hills, all of different colors!!

And then we hit the road again, heading to Bryce Canyon to visit our caving friend, Kelton Russenberger, who’s working there for the summer as a ranger.
Bryce Canyon

07.03.2010

Sequoia National Forest
Getting breakfast ready at our campsite in Sequoia National Forest. Unfortunately, our laundry didn’t dry much during the night.

Trail of 100 Giants
So we hiked the Trail of 100 Giants in Sequoia National Forest. And this is me standing next to one of these babies . . . she’s a bit big!

Valley of Fire
And we made it to one of my favorite places to camp — the Valley of Fire in Nevada!
We put out or wet laundry and go figure . . . it was dry in 20 minutes!

06.29.2010

Backpacking El Cap
The sun warms up the Valley at dawn. Folks brought rope (and we took our vertical gear) to rig the spot where we would have rappelled. But I couldn’t bring myself to go down to the Diving Board to see the view that could have been. It would have broken my heart.

So instead we decided to leave Yosemite. But first thing first, get off the huge rock called El Cap.
Backpacking El Cap

06.28.2010

Backpacking El Cap
Since we travel all the way to Yosemite with our backpacking gear, we decided to do a trip to the top of El Capitan.
Here is Robin Mitchell blazing the way along Yosemite Creek during our 12-mile hike to reach the summit of El Cap, where we planned on spending the night.

Backpacking El Cap
Chris hikes towards the summit of El Cap. You can see the opposite wall of the Valley in the background.

06.27.2010

Yosemite
We arrived in Yosemite National Park today. Looking up at El Capitan from the Valley floor made me sad we were not able to rappel and climb her.

Yosemite Vernal Falls
Took a paved trail to see Vernal Falls.
The trail was a shit show. This really fat man, who looked to be in his late 20s, was with his fat wife and two fat small children. They were hiking up the same trail as us. They had one empty water bottle for the four of them on the hot June afternoon. They all looked like they were going to stroke out at any moment. He approached us and said “You two look like you know what you’re doing in the outdoors.”

“Can I drink this water?” as he pointed to the river we were hiking by. Chris said “Sure, if you want to get diarrhea.”

He scrunched up his face and turned on his heal quickly towards his waiting family.

06.26.2010

Lunar Crater
A panorama of Nevada’s Lunar Crater while driving from Utah to California on the last leg of going cross county.

Lunar Crater
Chris stands in a salt flat in Nevada.

Lunar Crater
This is what the desert does to a dead cow . . . body leather.

Lunar Crater
My car looks so tiny from atop a small hill!
She’s been doing great this trip, her send across the country.

06.25.2010

Colorado River Campsite
We checked for an open campsite for the night at Arches . . . they didn’t have one. So we found this outside the park along the Colorado River. Yeah, there were a lot of mosquitos.

But we were camped right next to some awesome petroglyphs!
Colorado Petroglyphs

Arches National Park, Day II
Arches National Park
Chris and I spent the entire day hiking the rest of the trails in the park to see all the obscure arches in Arches National Park. Above is me standing in an unnamed arch we found while hiking to Sand Dune Arch.

Arches National Park
Some pretty rippled sand.

Arches National Park
A portait of the two of us at Broken Arch.

Arches National Park
Me being a goober while hiking to Double O Arch.

06.23.2010

White River Camping
Waking up in the morning at our beautiful campsite an Aspen grove in White River National Forest, elevation about 10,000 feet. The plan . . . to spend several days up at high elevation — sleeping, hiking, caving — to get acclimated to it. So when we arrive in Yosemite, at 7,500 feet, it won’t kick our asses nearly as bad.

Our view from a day hike.
White River Camping

And then we got to go caving again with Ken Headrick. He meet up with us after work and took us into Groaning Cave, Colorado’s longest cave at 10 miles, for a short 2.5-hour trip.
Groaning Cave

Groaning Cave
Another photo of Ken.

And the sexy entrance!!
Groaning Cave