Wild People, Unite!

A poem by Walt Whitman as reprinted in the book, "Why I am Against it All" by Durango author, Ken Wright.

Fall Colors, 2012

Mancos balloon festival.

Balloon's over the head of Mesa Verde.

The Dolores river at Stoner.

Fall Colors.

Sunrise near home!

Hammond Canyon Trip Report, Memorial Day 2012

Headed out to Hammond Canyon for a short overnight on the Memorial Day weekend. We avoided strong winds and *chilly* temps on the first part of the weekend by heading in Saturday evening.

Abajo Mountains seen from the SouthEast

Hammond Canyon from the south (hiding just behind the trees)

 We camped at the top of the canyon, just across from the access road to Dark Canyon

This is the trailhead at the top of the canyon. We decided that it would be better to descend to the bottom and enter that way. Turns out, both are steep drops into the canyon proper and this access may have been the better choice.

Heading in to "Dwarf Flats" and the mouth of the canyon

Hammond Canyon Lower Trailhead (Eastern most access)

The trail traverses a ridge and drops down to the canyon floor over the course of a mile

A the mouth of Hammond Canyon

 Inside Hammond Canyon

Guess that funding making this a heritage site didn't come through

Wow!

 Double Wow!

Back to camp for beer:30

Our guide

 Doodles LOVE hikes!

This is the area known as Dwarf Flats

 BEHOLD! THE DWARF!

 Left the area by the way of the Bears Ears

Mineral Bottom Trip Report, Vol. 2

The road heads north for roughly 3 miles from the boat launch until it intersects a side canyon. We followed it 2.3 miles upriver, and encountered one moderate obstacle before finding camp. Just after that point, there was a short wash and a boulder hazard that would have put the kabosh on further progress in the van.

This is our campsite at "Yonsson Point".

Looking downriver - the canyon of the Green.

Looking upriver in the noon-day sun from camp.

And from the bank.

Good dogs helping with cooking. Note the fancy boots we have on Rufus to help with sharp grasses and even sharper cactus quills.

Contemplating the canyon.

Mineral Bottom Trip Report, Vol. 1

When heading to Mineral Bottoms, it is important not to confuse Horsethief Road with Mineral Top Road, which begins at Horsethief Campground just off of 313 prior to the White Rim Entrance to Canyonlands N.P. Pass the campground on your right and 1/4mi later, take a right onto Horsethief Road (marked). The road is a dirt highway, and is well maintained up to, and in to the canyon of the Green. The drop is sudden, and I had to stop to eyeball the situation just after passing the cattle guard before dropping in.

My first thought was, "Holy $**t! But upon closer observation, it was apparent that the road is well maintained.

Take a deep breath, and off we go!

Once you are on the road, its not so bad. Even a 2-wheel drive car would be ok. I wouldn't recommend an RV due to length. Also, it is a well established fact that 9 out of 10 rental RV drivers will crash and burn on this thing, so stay away if that is what you are traveling in.

There is a road in Capital Reef N.P. that is similar in steepness, but much shorter in height than this road. Other than that, the only comparable roads I can think of are the paved Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain N.P., the paved road up to Jerome, AZ, and the BooolShyte that the government of British Columbia calls a road from Lillooet in to Whistler that we drove in a U-Haul with a trailer attached in a fog so thick that I was driving with my head out the window to see the sideline on the raod so we didn't drive off of a cliff into the river. We turned around on that one and barely made it back down in to town. It was the only time I have truly been scared driving. Had there been a place to pull off, we might have done so and slept in the vehicle. So this was nothing compared to that.

The Westy rolling in behind us. Colin has a manual, which would have been nice. I just burned brake pads.

The home stretch down to the Green.

Texas Flat Trip Report

The weather hit just right, and we were given a June weekend in April. We capitalized on this by rolling the van out to the edge of Cedar Mesa in canyon country. The goal was to camp at an amazing site accessible by the AWD van that was not too far from home. The Arch Canyon overlook at Texas Flat delivered in spades.

This is view back to camp from a pinnacle of rock that juts out into Arch Canyon proper.

These two were pretty happy about having morning coffee out here!

To reach the rim trail, take the southern split in the road to the end. It is a definite 4WD road, and we stopped just after this sign due to steep grades and a rock ledge. The sign is 1/4 mile from the trailhead proper.

We bushwacked to this point from where the trail crosses the head of the canyon for lunch. The trail is not too aggressive, though the haul out to the end and back would take all day.

UTAH!

Sleepy Puppy!

Relaxin' with a view.

Oh Yeah!!!