Goodbye Dinkey, Hello Highways
The Roamin Gnome got air in the tires
and the Subaru had a tune up to a sum of $1,500. We were ready for
action and the open road. The destinations include Denver →
Saskatoon → San Diego → Phoenix AZ. The in-betweens were to be
decided.
After leaving Dinkey, we posted up our
camp nearby in the Swanee Grotto while the Subaru was worked on. With
all fluids swapped and a few other unexpected fixes that lingered, we
hit the road heading north. The route to our campsite right outside
the south entrance of Yosemite was twisty and seemed much longer than
the 2.5hr suggested time. We arrived at the Goat Meadows Snow Play
Area and found our spot fairly quickly; large lot with private
entrance and access to sun for the panels. GREAT. We spent a few days
exploring the area of Yosemite. Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome and
Vernal/Nevada Falls were excellent points to seek out and enjoy the
magic of the area. Even though we traveled in early October, Yosemite
was still crowded and hectic. There is just no way around the crowds
unless you plan to hike the solitude of the Yosemite Wilderness which
requires some trail studies and skill sets.
Viewing Vernal Falls from above.
At the top of Nevada Falls
Atop Sentinel Dome
Post Yosemite, the Gnome took Kaiser
Pass to the northeast out of the park and into the Mono Lake Region.
Two days were spent exploring the region but a few more could have
been had. While in town, we had many explorations including the Mono
Lake tufa's at Sunrise. The cold morning air chilled me to the bone
but Liz powered on to capture some amazing photos of the tufa's as
the sun rose. A tufa is a towering structure formed from calcite
deposits in the saltwater lake. Some of these structures stood 15
-20' tall and were a valuable ecological resource for the areas bird
and biological wildlife. On the way back from the tufa exploration,
we stopped at the nearby Panum Crater which offered a short hike to
either the rim or the plug of the volcano which hasn't erupted for at
least 350 years. Should be safe. The Panum Crater lies along the Mono
Lake fault line which is responsible for the chain of other volcanic
mounds which line the area. Panum was fantastic for its rich obsidian
and pumice rock formations.
Furthermore, we also made a visit to
Bodie which is a historic ghost town a few miles north of Mono. The
town was fairly inexpensive to access and the 2$ informational
brochure was needed in order to read what which building was known
for. As you walked the main streets, you could almost feel the
stagecoaches blow by or the saloon brawls breakout. Unfortunately,
due to two major fires in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the towns
size had burned down to just 10% of its once magnificent size of
~8000 residents to a handful by the mid 1900's. By the 50's, the ore
had gone dry and the people left for other explorations leaving the
town to collect dust.
Before we left Mono, I urged Liz to
drive out to one last adventure at Black Point. The miles of dirt
road eventually lead to a parking zone and a suggested hiking path.
We opted for our own hiking path and went straight up the terraced
hill. Each terrace was filled with scrubby and thorny brush and once
summited, would reveal the next unforeseen terrace. It was fairly
grueling to say the least. Once on top, we quickly realized that the
volcanic fissures we sought were on the other side of the peninsula
and thus our hike continued. Eventually, we reach the fissures which
ranged in length and depth from 10-80ft deep. The volcanic activity
of this area was breathtaking and reminiscent of some sort of Indiana
Jones exploration.
We packed our gnome and headed south. A
quick stop by Devils Post Pile once again had us in awe of the
geological powers in the area.
On to the town of Bishop where we
hoped to camp at a cheap campground called Grandview. Unfortunately,
Garmin decided it would be best to direct us up a very rough dirt
road which may or may not have led up the mountain slope. In the
waning sunset, we consulted our options before delving too far into
the world of 'dark off roading'. Liz determined that Garmin was full
of it on this route and found an alternative which would take an
extra hour. As we turned on the road to begin our climb to the
campground, we noticed another campground right near the highway.
This unnamed campground gave us a safe place to call it a day and
included showers and a water supply. We gladly paid the $15 to spent
the night. In the morning, before check out, we drove up the road to
find the Ancient Bristlecone Pines at 10,000ft elevation. The pines,
which were nothing spectacular in size, are the oldest known living
organism on the earth. Their bark, weathered from years of snow and
sun and the occasional fire, showed some signs of wear and tear but
when the dendrochronologists got involved, they noticed that the
rings of these pines aged back thousands of years. The oldest living
tree was deemed Methuselah and aged back 4,500 years. Some of the
fallen pines were dated to 11,000 years old. This find actually
reinvented and recalibrated the carbon dating system for high
altitude organisms, since now they had a visible scale to measure
carbon decay rates at. Ziggy enjoyed trotting down the deserted
freezing cold trail at high speeds to pee on the elders before mom
and dad saw his deeds. The afternoon was spent driving the 5+ hours
to Garnet Hill outside of Ely NV.
Arriving in the dark, the GPS once
again led us to a extremely rough and impassible road in the hills of
an unfamiliar place. We managed to make a jackknife turnaround in the
dirt gully and started to head to Plan B which was 45 minutes away in
the wrong direction. As we drove, we passed a sign for Garnet Hill (3
miles) and seemed like a much better option than Garmin and Plan B
combined. The road took us up a hill as expected and in the dark, we
managed to find, set and explore camp. Dinner was prepared and sleep
was inevitable.
In the AM, we rose to explore the top
of Garnet Hill which featured a free to explore policy. With hammer
in hand, Liz and I began to split large rocks while Ziggy watched.
The first few were nothing to be desired but upon further inspection,
small maroon to black garnets were located in the smashed rock. A few
are left to be extruded but we were satisfied with our haul. With
rocks in pockets, the gnome bounded on towards Utah with the
destination of Capitol Reef. I had no expectations or knowledge of
the area and maybe that made for a bigger surprise.
That night, our free campsite lead was
a straight success and we made camp before dark! WOOHOO. Laying in
the camper bed, Liz remarks upon the high winds and being in the
camper, makes suggestions for a safer option. We would hate to be
stranded without a roof or risers let alone a rip to our precious and
frail canvas. We opt to drop the top. The gnomes roof descends for
the night and the tent is erected. The wind continues into the moons
full glow and blows anything under 10lbs towards the butte face. We
came to realize that the tent wasn't even an option. It was Texas all
over again. Rocks were placed on the camper to keep the roof and
canvas down and the tent was abandoned. Subaru's 'roomy' outback
seats became the beds for our limited nights sleep.
Groggy and grumpy, we settled our camp
in the morning and headed into Capitol Reef. We were not expecting
the beauty and amazing geological structures that were in the park.
Think Zion meets Bryce but less crowded and a majority of the viewing
areas are along Highway 24 and thus free to see. If you wish to
access the other parts of the park, you can pay a small fee via drop
box. Additionally, the historic orchards on site are still maintained
and free fruit picking is encouraged with a small donations box on
site. Dont worry, the resident deer don't bite. We grabbed a few
apples and dropped a few coins for our drive in the park. Make sure
you're vehicle is capable of the terrain of the off road areas. Since
Capitol Reef was just a stop through and our nights sleep was
lacking, we decided not to pursue any of the trails this day but hope
to be back soon enough for further exploration.
On to Moab we drove and arrived around
4pm. Our first campsite was about 10 miles from town. We pull off the
highway and onto the dirt road and notice the massive amount of
campers in the area. Every turnout had a tent or campers or someone
car camping without much room to spare. In addition to this
overcrowding, we checked the weather for the evening and next day and
gusts of up to 30mph were predicted again. The desert doesn't offer
much in the way of wind breaks so a night in a hotel was our option
for a good nights sleep. We hastily got on our phones which luckily
had service and surfed for the pet friendly spots in town. A couple
calls led to more misinformation than we could handle. Then, Liz
remembered that sister Kathryn stayed a night and two weeks more at
the local Lazy Lizard Hostel. One phone call to Brett and he assured
us a cabin was ready for our arrival. The cozy bunk beds let mom and
dad take top while doggie bunked on bottom. As the night went on, we
could hear the wind howling outside and we felt the struggle for our
tent neighbors, many of which woke in their cars. We, well rested,
arose and explored the center of town with its many gift shops and
eateries. The gnome team located camp two and headed there after
checkout. This camp is on the other side of town (opposite of Arches
NP) and had about 3 other camps set. Plenty of room to find our spot
and behind some berms too so any additional wind will blow over and
not decimate us. Arches will be explored over the next couple days
and we will be Denver bound by the end of this week.
Post Denver, our plans are still loose
as we aim to stay warm. A journey south of Denver may loop us through
Great Sand Dunes, Natural Bridges, Mesa Verde and Escalente which has
been highly recommended by numerous people on our travels. Then a
shot north to Canada in November where we will have a house to stay
in. The gnome plans to stay state-side at storage while we explore
Canada. That's about it for now. Thanks for reading and getting
caught up with our activities.
