Category: Places

22 June, 2015

Back on the Colorado River

THE COLORADO ON A VERY HOT DAY
The Colorado River from Big Bend camp

It’s still raining all around us so we decided to spend a few more days on the river. Next week it’s supposed to be over 105…we’ll try to miss that.

In the mean time, it seems that Kaila has found a way to feed us. Every night the river guiding companies pull-out on the beach next to our camp and camp in the group camp adjacent to us. Kaila has charmed her way into helping the guides cook and even CLEAN UP their meals. Her hard work has earned her the role of honorary river guide AND it’s gotten us all a couple of nights of strawberry shortcake!

RED CLIFFS OVER THE COLORADO
The sun sets on the cliffs of the Colorado

20 June, 2015

Trying to hide from the rain

LIGHTNING OVER THE COLORADO RIVERLightning over the Colorado River

Apparently there’s some hurricane down Mexico way that’s wrecking the weather in the area. With four solid days of rain forecast in Southern Colorado we skipped out and headed back to the Colorado River where the forecast was ninety degree days and only occasional T-storms. At about three am Copper D. Dawg let me know that he was VERY unhappy with the thunder and lightning. So we got up and let nature entertain us…well one of us anyway…by bouncing lightning off the canyon walls for nearly three hours.

T-REX LIGHTNING
T-storm over the Colorado River

6 June, 2015

The Valley of The Gods

CLINT WAS HERE
The amazing and stark beauty of the Valley of the Gods
I’ve passed by the turn-off for the Valley of the Gods at least half a dozen times and every time I had a schedule and someplace to be, always promising myself that next time…Well, we finally made it and I’ve gotta say that after getting fleeced at yet another tribal rip-off – Monument valley ($20 to enter and there’s no hiking on the formations) – this place is nothing short of stepping into your own personal spaghetti western. Free entrance. Hiking anywhere and everywhere. And you can curl up with your six gun and sleep underneath any one of dozens of amazing buttes.

4 June, 2015

Gooseneck State Park

NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER’S HORSESHOE BEND
Gooseneck at Gooseneck state park
This is a REALLY cool place. We highly recommend it. A hearty thanks to our friend Mark who recommended it to us. Lightly regulated remote camping with a well maintained pit toilet. Check, check, and check.

3 June, 2015

More Gooseneck State Park

MORE BENDS, LESS CONGESTION
The bends at Gooseneck State Park

It’s just a few miles off the 163 but it might as well have been a thousand. This place has two or three times the bendies of Horseshoe Bend and none – I mean zero – of the congestion.

We pulled in and were greeted with a total of four – yes four – campers. We drove about a half a mile and camped literally thirty feet from the one thousand foot drop into the San Juan river. It was AWESOME! Just be careful if you get up to take a leak in the middle of the night.

PASSING THUNDER STORM
Thunderstorm in Gooseneck State Park

As we were setting up this cell pushed through to our north and shook things up quite a bit. The winds went from about two mph to about thirty in a heart beat and we saw at least one tent commit suicide by flinging itself into the abyss.

26 May, 2015

Slot Canyons

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Antelope canyon is a zoo and a complete and utter rip-off. Some really cool light beam photos have spawned a tourist trap. Trucks full of people on Antelope Canyon tours fill the streets of Page. Read more…

24 May, 2015

The Overland Expo

A MUDDY MESS OF AN ADVENTURE
A Muddy Mess of an Adventure

Wind. Rain. Sleet. Snow. MUD! No, I’m not talking about training to be a carrier for the US Postal Service. I’m talking about the weather at this years Overland Expo West. Read more…

12 May, 2015

Glen Canyon Dam

DAMMIT!
Clunkmonkey visits the Glen Canyon Dam
The sun seems to rise quickly here. At first just a thin bright orange band starkly outlining the buttes, mesas, and temples that surround us. Lake Powell is REALLY pretty early in the day. Within just a few minutes all is bathed in the suns warmth. I guess that’s how fast this giant rock that we’re flying through space on turns. Read more…

10 May, 2015

Horseshoe Bend

VIEW FROM THE TOP
Horshoe Bend Az

About five years ago I took Wyatt and Carson on a road trip of the desert southwest with our good friend Yoram. We stopped at Horsehoe Bend on a weekday morning…granted it was winter and about fifteen degrees but still…it’s Horseshoe Bend. There were only three cars in the small parking lot and we didn’t run into the pilots of those vehicles in our four hour stay at the bend. Read more…

8 May, 2015

Desert View

THE WATCHTOWER
The watchtower guards desert view

The Grand Canyon goes on…and on…and on. And then there’s Desert View and the watchtower. It’s kitschy and commercial and dedicated to separating you from your money. But it’s so cool in a creepy way that it’s worth the stop. It also provides an excellent view of the Colorado River.

VIEW FROM THE DESERT VIEW
The Colorado river enters the Grand Canyon