Friday Sept 16th - Hike out of Holy Cross Wilderness Area to Leadville & Aspen - Woke up early again, had omelets from a freeze dried kit. Cleaned the hut and Brian split and replaced firewood we burned. Loaded our (somewhat lighter) backpacks and hiked down (which is a misnomer since there was still a lot of up going down...) An overcast day where we needed to don raingear occasionally. Again, encountered no other hikers. Got to the car and the rain started pouring. Timing was very good. Went into Leadville, caught up with the Kuhns and toured downtown Leadville and a couple of "antique" stores. Headed from Leadville, across Independence Pass (12,000+ feet) and north to Aspen. Found a nice hotel in downtown Aspen and Brian got to see some Ruggerfest - and we both got to see a shower after two days......The hotel had a happy hour where we were able to meet people including a nice couple from Fort Collins - a retiree from ExxonMobil. Dinner at a good Mexican restaurant recommended by Scott (the hotel host) and a very comfy bed.
Saturday Sept 17th - Aspen to Grand Junction - Can you say "hip flexors"? Recovery day! We were both a bit sore from the recent day hikes but all in all felt very good. Great breakfast at the hotel - ran into the same set of people. Spent quite a bit of time chatting with Jack and Eileen Crystal - the Exxon folks from Fort Collins. They had spent the previous day in Grand Junction and gave us a lot of information and we shared "Hut" info with them. Pretty drive down the valley past Carbondale, Basalt and thru Glenwood Springs. Quite a bit of rain off and on - although as Lauren Kuhn pointed out, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes or drive 5 miles. Stopped at Plum Creek winery (recommended by Jack & Eileen) on our way into Grand Junction. Had made a reservation before we left Aspen (there was a wine fest in Grand Junction) and were moved to a new hotel from the Hampton Inn (both downtown) to a brand new suite hotel with a much needed washer and dryer. Great place to catch up on email, pictures, acquiring replacement boots for Brian's blown out pair, a solar charger to experiment with in Utah, and regrouping for the next week. Outstanding dinner at Food 707(??) and great entertainment at Le Rouge, a bar on the way back to the hotel. And a good night’s sleep!
Sunday Sept 18th- let the Utah adventure begin! - On our way out of Grand Junction, we drove through Colorado Monument National Park (the Colorado Grand Canyon). It is spectacular - not on our "agenda" so we didn't stop much, but an amazing park. Then Grand Junction to Moab to Monticello. Sunny sunny day. Ate breakfast in Grand Junction, packed the Subaru with clean stuff and headed west. The scenery changed from green Rockies quickly to spectacular high desert with lots of rock & canyons. Stopped briefly in Moab to reconnoiter and decided to head to Monticello. This would put us a little closer (still 46 miles) to the entrance to the park. There is a lot of distance between stuff in Utah.... Went to the Monticello Visitors center (manned by one of the few self-proclaimed Gentiles in Utah) and got info and a fresh plum. Not a lot of choice in the hotel and restaurant department in Monticello. Our first choice of hotel, our second choice of B&B were booked. Ended up in a "Truckers Welcome", " New Carpet" Rodeway Inn. Parked in the back among stacks of 140 old mattresses. The proprietor (who was apparently the entire staff) proudly proclaimed his new replacement mattresses arrived the prior week, but the bed frames did not. The good news is that we had new mattresses, the bad news is there was no bed frame. (Another hotel later in our trip boasted about new mattresses...prompting Brian to conclude we must be travelling along the 'new mattress fault'. errrgh). Next was the adventure to find dinner. R&F Diner was recommended by our friend at the Visitor Center. Also one of about two restaurants in town that were open on Sunday. So in we went. No alcohol.... Dinner was...white. One waitress. Good news is that we arrived before the "crowds" and we had stashed a bottle of wine from Grand Junction in the car, so we had our own little after dinner happy hour, and prepped for an early departure the next morning for Canyonlands.
Monday Sept 19th - First Day in Canyonlands National Park - Took a back road from Monticello into the park, after a questionable breakfast at the hotel. Stopped at Peace Tree for wraps for our lunch (very good stop....) The road from Monticello was not recognized by our car's GPS. There were a lot of deer in the road, many wild turkeys and free range cows. A beautiful road, no traffic, but a lot of animals. Arrived at the park about 9am and talked to the back country ranger. After some discussion, regrouped on our original plans and decided to camp at the Squaw Flats campground in our tent and take two long day hikes. This would allow us to cover more ground and go easier on our bodies (maybe!). Turned out to be a good decision! The camping sites are first come first serve and there wasn't much available. We found a great site (Loop A, site 12), Brian pitched the tent while Deb went back to the visitor’s center to get more water (the water line was broken in the campground). Based on a ranger's suggestion, we hiked Big Spring Canyon, over the pass and down into Squaw Canyon and back to the trailhead at our campground. 7.8 miles. A deceiving 7.8 miles. There are some sandy trails, but mostly slick rock and lots of up & down. Getting over the pass required a bit of Brian coaching Deb. There was quite a bit of scrambling (4 or even 5 points of contact required at times....fifth point being Deb's backside). Again at the Canyonlands, most of the routes was several miles from anyone, and encountered very few people on the trail. Gorgeous weather - warm and sunny....Feeling pretty accomplished, we returned to camp, made dinner and enjoyed our last hidden bottle of wine.
Decided to see what the ranger was presenting in the campground when a lost young man asked if we would take him to meet up with a group he had gotten separated from. Having been in a similar situation years past, Brian sympathized and drove him to Elephant Hill Trailhead (3 miles of winding dirt roads in the dark) where they connected. Deb hung out by the ranger presentation just in case.... A beautiful nite for sleeping. Cool and crisp and we were exhausted and sleeping on the ground didn't bother either of us.Tuesday Sept 20th - Canyonlands Chesler Park Hike - BTW - after leaving Monticello we have had no cell phone coverage.... Got a good night’s sleep, made oatmeal and coffee for breakfast, broke camp and headed to Elephant Hill Trailhead. The 3 mile dirt road that Brian had driven in the dark the night before had many steep drop-offs...... The hike we planned was a "Lolly-pop" route. 3 miles in, a 5 mile loop and 3 miles back out. Part of the 5 mile loop includes the "Joint Trail" a .5 mile, 70 foot high, crack in a canyon. It is about 2 feet wide with various crevices along the route that branch off the main trail and can be explored. Like our hike the day before, the topography was challenging and the afternoon was rather hot. The hike is spectacular - the stuff postcards are made from - and quite challenging to access and except near the trailhead, encountered very few hikers. We completed the hike in an hour less than planned, and headed to ....... Durango. Did we make a hotel reservation?? No. Guess we hadn't learned our lesson from our prior experiences. Still not sure why Cheyenne, WY was booked. Found a room at the Durango Inn and had a late super at Applebee’s.....! And then a very long shower.
Wednesday Sept 21st - Durango to Colorado Springs - Brian had an 11am conference call with Valdes scheduled which was cancelled and let us leave Durango earlier than planned. Ate breakfast in town after doing some work in the motel room and repacking bags. Beautiful trip from Durango to Colorado Springs - surprisingly so. The trip took most of the afternoon. Called ahead to a B&B that we had visited a year before - The St. Mary's Inn - and got a room. Had a fabulous dinner at Le Creperie and had a very comfortable room at the B&B.
Thursday Sept 22nd - Colorado Springs, eMi visit, and started heading back east. Woke up early and had a wonderful breakfast at the Inn. Waffles with strawberries, whipped cream, sausage, eggs.... we remembered the good breakfasts from the prior year. We have had more waffles on this trip than in the past 5 years..... We worked in the B&B suite most of the morning (yup actually billable work....) and then Brian headed to eMi to meet Andy for lunch and catch up with several other eMi staff. Deb packed and fueled the car and the cooler for the road trip. We met up about 2:00 and took an eastern heading out of Colorado Springs to avoid Denver traffic. Crossed back into central time zone. Stopped in a small town (York, Nebraska) for the night. Light dinner at 'the' restaurant in town (Applebee's again) and in bed before midnight.
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