Well hello there Capitol Reef

We pulled into Capitol Reef National Park a little after noon today. The drive went really fast. Danielle drives the Subaru and I drive the RV incase you were wondering. The first couple drives with the RV I would sit there and hit the 'scan' button on the radio over and over to try and find something to listen to. I would mostly end up listening to country, but I even found a native american station once. I finally got smart and just loaded a couple podcasts on my iPod and now I drive with one headphone in. The time flew today.

Anyways, we pulled into our new campground, which we love. It's a really small place and they have chickens, horses and a dog named Dylan. The view is really great too. Since it was already mid afternoon we decided to head straight into Capitol Reef National Park and stop by the visitor center. We bought a map of the hikes in the area and spoke to a friendly Ranger who pointed out a couple hikes to do today. She also let us know that one of the things we really wanted to do, Glass Mountain, would be off limits unless we had a 'high clearance vehicle.' So we ended up picking two hikes that the ranger recommended and off we went!

The first hike was called Chimney Rock which was a 3.5 mile loop where we climbed up onto a ridge to the north of Highway 24. Once we topped out the views were breathtaking. Huge walls of sandstone on one side and a geologically puzzling rise on the other.

The next hike we did was back south through the park and then we turned off onto a dirt road and drove through this amazing gorge called the Capitol Gorge, driving through these rocks felt like being in a IMAX movie. The road was barely wide enough to pull off tight to one side and let another car pass, so I'd say it was a 1.5 lane road. On either side of you rose up these 200 foot sandstone cliffs. The hike wasn't much different. It wasn't exactly a slot canyon but it wasn't more than 10 feet wide and the whole time you were flanked by sandstone. We saw a set of petroglyphs that were.. meh.. they were okay. The really awesome man-made thing on this hike was a 'pioneer register,' basically it's a place where pioneers and early settlers came and carved their names on the stone of the walls. I believe the earliest date we saw was in the 1890's. Unfortunately, the latest dated carving we saw was possibly from last summer, there was a lot of graffiti. At first I was kind of sad seeing this, then it hit me that the authors of the new carvings were no different than the authors of the old carvings.. they're just men claiming nature as their own with a knife.

It was a great first day here in Capitol Reef, such a beautiful place and it's amazing to me that there aren't more people who visit or talk about this park. After our hikes we came back home and had a very fancy dinner, prepared by me, world-renowned chef Tommy O'Connor. On the menu was a starter salad featuring shitake mushrooms and a crumbled goat cheese, the main dish consisted of a parmesan cous cous and the star of the show was a hotdog on a microwaved two-seconds-ago-it-was-frozen hotdog bun! We eat like a king and queen.

Tommy

Last Day in Moab

Today was our last day in Moab. Looking back we've really seen and done a lot. Different hikes, the canoe trip (which was by far the best thing here) and umm yeah mountain biking. A couple of days ago we both felt a bit disillusioned. We were so excited to come to Moab for mountain biking, just to find out that it's not what we expected or wanted it to be. So after admitting that our skill level is rather intermediate and not expert, we decided to select some easier trails. No crazy steep slick rock or fatal cliffs to fall off from. We went on a 16 mile ride to Gemini Bridges yesterday and it was perfect for us. Beautiful scenery, wide road, some nice climbs and the Gemini Bridges at the end. Only sad thing was when we heard, that 3 people had died at this spot as well. Not mountain biking this time, but one guy fell off the cliff in his jeep and two people tried to jump the 10 foot gap between the two bridges and didn't make it. But enough about dead people, that why we decided to go to Dead Horse Point State Park today. Not sure why it's called Dead Horse, but it's a State Park that contains beautiful overlooks of Canyonlands and the Colorado river. And it happened to have an easy 9 mile bike loop. Not expecting much or rather expecting this to be a pretty boring easy ride, we got on our bikes and started pedaling. The trail turned out to be a fun single track, not dangerously close to any cliff but it had some fun fast turns and decent drops to keep your attention and heart pumping. At the end we finished with a big smile and agreed that Moab's mountain biking wasn't so bad after all. We just had to look for the right trails. I guess sometimes it's better not to have any expectations. Unless they're bad expectations and you get pleasantly surprised.

Moab (Day ?) - In Love

Well, we've been in Moab for almost two weeks now. Danielle and I really love this place. There are so many beautiful things to see here. But the most beautiful thing here, hands down, is the girl I get to spend my days with. Tomorrow marks our three week anniversary of being on the road. Sure, she nags at me, for this and for that, which I mostly deserve but will never admit to. But to wake up next to her every day is something special. Even when we wake up and it's reeeeallly cold in the RV because she wanted to save on gas the night before and she nags at me to go turn on the heat, she's still the most beautiful thing in Moab.

Moab - Portal Overlook

This week has been pretty busy. Since we took a couple days off for our canoe trip last week, we have lots of work piled up to catch up with. So after a long day of work, we decide to do a quick evening hike. We choose the hike to Portal Overlook. Close to town, 4 miles roundtrip, 1000 feet elevation gain and promising a panoramic view. Sounds perfect and off we go. This trail also happens to be a mountain bike trail, and as we start to climb up the rocky, steep and narrow trail, I'm wondering how people have the courage to ride down a trail like that. As we get up higher, the trail narrows to about 2-3 feet with a horrifying cliff going down at least 1000 feet. Tommy's and my knees start to feel weak and we are barely able to walk the trail, clinching to the walls of the rock trying not to look down. It's relatively safe to hike it as long as you pay attention and don't trip, but riding this on a bike is definitely insane. As we go on further we see signs, warning mountain bikers to dismount their bikes and walk. Apparently 3 different riders have died by falling off the cliff. I can't believe people are actually riding this trail, but tons of tire tracks on the trail leave no doubt. Tommy and I decide that our skill level must be way below those people's skills and that Moab might just be suited for fearless expert riders. We're definitely not willing to risk our lives just to have some "fun". Maybe we just go on another hike again tomorrow or pick a really easy simple wide trail far way from any cliffs.

Moab, we're not impressed with your slick rock trails.

So, we've been looking forward to Moab for quite a while, but mostly for our canoe trip and doing a LOT of mountain biking. The canoe trip was awesome. The mountain biking, we've only been able to do two rides and both of them were so-so.You basically ride on huge sandstone hills, which has a really fun feeling under your tires, but the shape of the rock also makes it so that you descend at a sharp slope and then you have to climb steep slopes. We love the descent part, it's the vertical climbing where you lose momentum and then have to un-clip from your pedals and hop off the bike before falling over only to then have to hike the bike up the climb get back on and then ride to the next climb where you jump off again.. wash, rinse, repeat. We decided that we'd probably like it a lot better if we were in much better shape and slightly more skilled. We're most likely going to do a trail called the Porcupine Rim Trail that's mostly downhill. Although, I'll admit that 'primo downhill advanced technical stuff, dropping off a gazillion small rocky ledges, with the last 3 miles a hairy single-track on the edge of deadly cliffs' kind of scares me.

Today we rode the practice loop for the most famous of Moab trails, the Slickrock trail. It was 2 miles of me frowning and complaining about how, 'I thought this was going to be different' and 'I think I like the trails back in California better,' oh and a few times I think I cried a little out of frustration. Oh well. We're lucky that Moab also has so many other things to do and see.

Moab - Negro Bill Canyon

Seeing the arches and all the beautiful spots Utah has to offer is truly amazing. It's something I definitely wouldn't have wanna missed on my trip. But I noticed that the times you wander off the beaten path and get away from the crowds are often much more rewarding. In Arches for example we followed a short paved trail to the sign that said petroglyphs, took a couple of pictures and looked for the next sign that would lead us to one of the Arches while passing other tourists also tromping to the same destination. After taking some shots of the Petroglyphs I thought about our canoe trip and how we had seen some Petroglyphs there as well. Those Petroglyphs were not as spectacular as the ones in Arches, but when we saw them we were way more excited about them. Not knowing where exactly the Petroglyphs were located we followed a vague mark on the map the river guide had given us. There were no signs or no other tourists. All we saw was a little opening in the brush on the shore, where we pulled over and tied up our boots. We walked a narrow trail through some brush that spit us out in front of a big rock formation. We hiked around looking for some hints of where the petroglyphs could be and after about 45 minutes and almost missing them we finally saw them. We felt like real explorers. It didn't matter that we weren't the first ones to see them, it still seemed exciting to us.

I got the same feeling again today when after a long day of working, we decided to go on a little evening hike. We went to Negro Bill Canyon, which is close to town. There wasn't anything too spectacular about this hike, other than that it lead through a beautiful canyon. It was pretty quiet since it was later in the evening and I really enjoyed being away from the crowds. Tommy told me to stop and kissed me while taking a picture of our shadows. It's these moments you remember for a long time.

Moab - Arches

We all woke up nice and early and dehydrated from our canoe trip. It was Kenita and Lindas last day with us here in Moab, so we all decided we should go explore Arches National Park. We rolled out of the RV and went straight for Love Muffin to have some pre-Arches breakfast. Kenita found this restaurant on yelp when she was researching this trip and as it turns out, it was fantastic! Danielle and I shared a breakfast burrito and a breakfast panini. The coffee was fantastic too. I'm pretty sure I could eat breakfast here everyday for the rest of our trip. Then with our bellies full, off we went to Arches NP to see some big awesome… arches.

The first formation we stopped at wasn't even really an arch, it was the Balanced Rock. It's basically this large rock formation that's standing a good 60 feet up on top of a smaller formation below. How it happens? The larger rock is made of a stronger sandstone than the lower rock, so the lower one erodes quicker than the top rock. 

Next we saw the Double Arch which is two, two, two arches in one. If Arches National Park is ever looking for corporate sponsorship then McDonald's will be first in line for this one!

Then, we hiked to see the most famous of all arches, the Delicate Arch (the arch in the headline). It truly is amazing. It's this twisting arch that really seems like it shouldn't belong where it is. I think the description at the trailhead said something about it, 'seeming like it jutted out from a lunar plateau,' which is pretty well said. 

We saw some other stuff, lesser arches, cool rock formations, but I won't bore you with any of those.. I'll get to my second favorite sight of the trip.. Landscape Arch. It's really amazing that it's still standing. In 1991, a large chunk broke off of the right hand side of it while people were there. This is the arch you shouldn't miss if you ever find yourself in Arches NP. It's gorgeous and it might not be around for long. It's a Limited Time Offer Arch. 

After seeing all these arches we were famished, and Kenita and Linda needed to get to Grand Junction to catch their flight, so we all headed on over to this awesome little milk shake and hamburger stand called Milt's that's near our RV park. Every time we drove by this place it was packed! We got milkshakes, burgers and sandwiches; all of which we're great. They opened in 1954 and they've got a really fun atmosphere. When you step up to order from the counter, if someone else's food is ready they ask you to call out their name.. so when I got to the window I had to yell out, 'Steve your order is up!' I did it so well they offered me a job. We hurried through our lunches so that Kenita and Linda could hit the road, said our goodbyes and went back to our home.

I know this post is already really long. But a story isn't a good story without also telling the other side of things. The crappy side of things. Bambi wouldn't have been a story unless that hunter hadn't killed Bambi's mother. Living in an RV is awesome. Danielle and I were just talking about how we didn't miss living in a house and how great this kind of life is. Then, 2 minutes later we got one of our slide-out's stuck. Which is a really bad thing because when your slide-out is extended, you can't move. By the way, a slide-out is a part of the RV that slides out to give you more room inside the RV. We were also pretty full with our holding tanks (dish water and umm poo/pee water) and needed to dump them. We had no electricity besides the power from our generator which is noisy and has to be turned off at night so you don't annoy the neighbors. Oh, and the internet was really bad where we were parked. We could remedy all of this very easily if our RV was parked back in our usual spot. But it wasn't, we couldn't get the slide-out back in and couldn't move to our spot. So we were stuck. We called mechanics in Moab and learned that none of whom fix slide-out's. We tried everything, I even climbed below the RV and tried manually retracting the slide-out. Nothing worked. The next morning we were getting pretty worried about how we were going to fix this. We decided to give it one last try and low and behold, the slide-out retracted. Later we realized that it must have been because our batteries had gotten very low. When we went on our canoe trip and left the RV I accidentally forgot to switch a couple things in the control panel and ran the batteries down pretty far. When we got back and couldn't get the slide-out back in we started running a generator to power the RV which eventually charged the batteries over night and that's why we were able to get the slide-out back in. It was a tough lesson but we'll never do that again!!

Tommy