Nov 12 2008
Good Friends in Southern Utah
On Nov. 4, two good friends I made in Patagonia met at my home after work – Robert from Germany and Nicole from Washington. This was Robert’s first trip to the States. We saw the election returns. Robert will never forget where he was when the next President of the United States was elected.
You can see a few pictures here… see my pictures.
Nov. 5 was a travel day for us. It took about 13 hours to reach Torrey, Utah – our base. We stayed with my folks. Lew fed us the first of many good meals! Trust me, we never went hungry.
On Nov. 6, after sleeping in, we drove over Boulder Mountain to Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument and hiked/played in Peek-A-Boo and Spooky slot canyons. Both canyons are narrow and are about 0.25 miles long each. Spooky is very tight and constricting. We had a fun snaking though the canyons.
On Nov 7, we woke up early and drove to Moab, Utah. We grabbed a hotel room and rented mountain bikes. We rode our bikes from Moab to the world famous Slickrock bike trailhead located 3 miles from town. Robert and I rode the 12.7 mile long trail. Nicole made a go of it on the shorter loop. Both trails are “technically demanding and strenuous.” Riders are warned to “be certain that your brakes are in good working condition,” and not to learn how to ride a mountain bike on these trails. Good thing I got the bike ride in on Donner Pass in October. What a ride it was! I’ll never forget it. We ended up at Zak’s for dinner. Good eats. Then we headed to the grocery store to buy food for an early start the next day.
Nov. 8 found us awake at 5 am. We drove to the far end of Arches National Park and hiked to Landscape Arch in time to see the sun rise. It was very peaceful and beautiful to be alone and see the alpenglow on the arch. We hiked the “Primitive Loop” trail back to the car and a full parking lot. We headed over to the Delicate Arch trailhead and hiked to Delicate Arch. Then we drove to Moab and back to Zak’s for lunch. I highly recommend the ‘Ranch Burger’ and fries. Immediately after lunch, before the food could settle, we drove to a rock climbing spot known as “Ice Cream Parlor.” Robert dragged his climbing gear all the way from Germany and there was no way we were leaving without rock climbing in Moab. Robert is a good climber. I gave it a shot. Then it was back to Torrey where we were fed another great dinner (Thanks again Lew.)
Nov. 9 was a quite day for us. We played on the computer and had an early Thanksgiving Day dinner – to Robert’s delight. After dinner, Robert and Nicole took the ATV/quad up Velvet Ridge and I rode my mountain bike with my very sore butt – remnants from the Slickrock trail.
On Nov. 10, we got up early again – it’s amazing how little sleep I need during vacation – and visitied Capitol Reef National Park. I showed off the old Floral Ranch and some old Indian petroglyphs. Then it was back over Boulder Mountain to Bryce Canyon National Park. We wanted to see Bryce at sunset and Nicole wanted to see Bryce with snow on the hoodoos. We hiked a leg of the Navajo Loop Trail and the Queens Garden Trail. Sunset in the park was very nice, but there was only a trace of snow in the park and it was mostly on the shady north slopes. Nonetheless, we had another great day in Utah.
Nov. 11 was another early day. We drove to Las Vegas, Nevada, where I dropped off Robert and Nicole and then I drove home. All in all, it was 963.9 miles in the car. I was sad to see my good friends go, but we sure did have a great time together. There’s no such thing as a bad day playing in Utah. And I do not believe this will be Robert’s last trip here.
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