Hello Everyone! Greetings to you all from Grand Junction, Colorado. As I mentioned last week, I have just dipped over the border for the day because I wanted to pay a quick visit to Colorado National Monument. While I’m here I got some groceries and now I’m going to hole up in the library and get this week’s newsletter done before returning to Utah later today. Crossing into another state is fascinating when you’ve really dug in somewhere for a few weeks and have been paying close attention to the culture of a place. Crossing from Nevada into Utah or Utah into Colorado is very much like crossing into a different country. Not like going from Sweden to Uganda, but more like going between England and Wales or between Cambodia and Laos – there are plenty of similarities, but they’re also remarkably different. I’ve really been enjoying my time in Utah and this feels like I’m cheating on it, but I’m sure Utah will get over it and I’m really looking forward to the rest of my time in The Beehive State. I’ve spent more of this last week on the trail than on the road, and that’s been an excellent use of my time. It’s been another soul-stirring week out here, so let’s get right into what I’ve been up to since last I wrote.
After I finished this post last week, I ended up spending another morning there in Blanding, a town I grew quite fond of during my three night stay. I started off my day with a quick visit to the Four Corners Cultural Park (the “four corners” refers to the shared border of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, the only place in the country where four states come together in a squared off fashion). I thought this cultural park was really cool because you could walk between examples of the “houses” of the different cultures that came together in Blanding. There were Ute tipis, Navajo hogans, a Mexican hacienda and Mormon pioneer cabins all within a short walk of each other and I thought it was just a neat place to check out. From there I went to the museum at Edge of the Cedars State Park which displays cultural artifacts found around the area and interprets the cultures which came before the modern inhabitants of the region. The museum’s pottery collection is remarkable and it’s amazing to see the artistic expression of the people who made these items. These bowls and jugs were not simply utilitarian, they were beautifully crafted and then painted with precise geometric designs and were all very impressive. The museum also had a beautiful macaw shawl which has kept its bright coloration for over a thousand years. I always find the macaw feathers found here fascinating because they are evidence of the vast trade networks of these earlier cultures which stretched deep down into what’s now Mexico (where macaws were commonly found). I’m sure this one cost someone a few beautifully crafted pottery items in trade. The museum was fabulous, and the ruins out back were okay but not nearly as good as so many others I have visited in the last few weeks.
Leaving Edge of the Cedars, I said goodbye to Blanding and headed north and then west towards The Needles section of Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands is divided into four sections: The Needles, The Maze, Island in the Sky and Horseshoe Canyon. I had been to all but The Needles, so I was very excited to finally get there. On the way, I made a quick stop at Newspaper Rock, certainly one of the most well-known petroglyph panels in the area. It’s a huge panel with over 650 characters stretching back 2000 years. There are definitely examples of both Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock, and more modern images as well. There are at least two images of people on horseback and while horses once lived in prehistoric America, they went extinct here thousands of years ago and didn’t exist in the Indian world until the Spanish brought them in the 1500s. There are also many images of feet with six toes which is a wonderful mystery to ponder.
When I arrived in The Needles, clouds had moved in and overtaken the clear blue skies I was used to over the last week. I stopped in the visitor center to chat with the ranger and come up with a plan for my visit. It was getting late, so I went out and cruised down the scenic drive, but it started to rain and snow so I decided not to do the short hike I had planned for the afternoon. The sun poked through the clouds as it neared the horizon though, so I was at least able to get a few good photos in at least. Then I headed just outside the park boundary and up Lock Hart Road which had some gorgeous (and free) campsites on BLM land. It was stupendously quiet out there and once the clouds blew out, the stars were fantastic.
I was up early on Friday and headed back into the park to hit the trail. With the weather improved, I had decided to hike the 11ish mile trail from Elephant Hill out and around Chesler Park and back – the main hike through The Needles. It was an extraordinary hike made even more exciting by occasional dustings of snow (better than rain any day of the week). I amused myself by trying to think of all of the things the formations reminded me of, from coke bottles and bowling pins to castles and skyscrapers, but not a single one looked anything like a needle. Regardless, this was one of the best hikes I’ve done in a long time, with unbelievable views around every corner. It took the better part of the day to complete, but it was definitely a day well spent. Feeling pretty good about my hike, I headed back out to my little camping spot for another quiet night.
I decided to stay and do another hike on Saturday morning and this time to see the canyons instead of The Needles. I set off down Big Spring Canyon to the end and then climbed up and over the saddle and back down Wooden Shoe Canyon to the trailhead. While the scenery was definitely more subdued than in Chesler Park, it was still a beautiful hike and a quiet one for a Saturday as I only met a half-dozen other hikers on the eight mile loop. Hiking almost every day for the last few weeks has definitely been good for my body and my soul. I’ve started to fall into a good rhythm and my breathing is good, even on the big climbs. I certainly feel good at the end of every day and sleep pretty well at night as well. The fact that I’ve lost a few pounds doesn’t hurt either.
My original plan was to leave Canyonlands in the afternoon on Saturday and stay at an inexpensive hotel I had scoped out in tiny Monticello (named for Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia home, but mispronounced as “Monte-sell-o”). On a whim I thought I’d check prices in Moab which would keep me from backtracking and I found a place in town for about the same price as the place in Monticello, so I headed north instead of south. On my way to Moab, I stopped off to see the Hole-N”-the-Rock, one of southern Utah’s most notorious tourist traps but also one I’ve been driving past for years and never stopped to see. It was definitely worth the $9 price of admission, but probably not much more than that. The Christensen family homesteaded the area in the early 20th century and in the 1940s Albert and his brother Leo started drilling and blasting holes into the nearby sandstone cliff. Over the next decade, they carved out enough rock to create a home, where Albert and his wife Gladys lived out there days. It not only served as their home, but they opened it up for tours and ran a little restaurant in the front section (and, for a while, a speakeasy in the back). Pleasantly cool in the summer, it was heated by a woodstove in the winter and it’s actually a lovely little home. The tours are only about 15 minutes long and I’m glad I finally stopped to have a look.
From there it’s just a hop, skip and a jump into Moab. I couldn’t help but think as I drove into town that if I hadn’t started coming to Moab 25 years ago, I would probably think it was a great place. But I remember Moab when it was still a small Mormon town with a few mountain bikers, a couple of jeep rental shops and a rafting company or two. Now it has exploded into a major tourist hub with people everywhere in their tricked out jeeps and 4x4s. All of the major hotel chains are now in town and the small-town atmosphere has long since disappeared. Of course I guess that was to be expected with Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and Dead Horse Point State Park just outside of town, the Colorado and Green Rivers nearby and an ever expanding network of hiking, mountain biking and 4x4 trails spider webbing out into the surrounding hills. The area is spectacular but the word is definitely out and Moab as a town has lost a bit of its soul. I had a pleasant but subdued visit, stopping at the grocery store before dinner at the Moab Diner and a couple of quick beers at Woody’s (which hasn’t changed much over the years, although it used to be a “private club” since you couldn’t operate a bar in Utah without serving food and the $1 membership at the door seemed to be a fine workaround). Other than that, I enjoyed my private shower, comfy bed and cable television for the night.
I grabbed a quick meal at Milt’s Stop and Eat, which has been serving up fast-food to Moab since 1954, on my way out of town the next day and then made my way up the hill to the Island in the Sky, the northern unit of Canyonlands National Park. I love Arches, but I’ve been there many, many times and have hiked all of the trails, so I decided to give it a miss on this pass-through, certain I will be back in the future for work. On the other hand, I had only been to the Island in the Sky once or twice before, so I headed there instead. I enjoyed taking in some of the viewpoints, took a short walk to Mesa Arch and then did a nice hike out to Murphy Point for sunset. Island in the Sky provides some amazing views of Canyonlands from above, but it wasn’t nearly as hiker-friendly as The Needles section was. I’m still glad I spent the day and night there and the stars up there were phenomenal.
On Monday morning I walked from my campsite to the Green River Overlook for sunrise and then got packed up and took off. I drove back to Moab and then followed the Colorado River east up the valley towards the Colorado border. I stopped off a little ways up the highway to do a quick five mile hike to the Fisher Towers. This is another hike which has been on my radar for a long time and one I definitely wanted to stop and do if I had the time. I’m definitely glad I did as it was another amazing hike. The Fisher Towers are a series of beautiful sandstone spires and include the 900 foot Titan, the tallest sandstone spire in the country. The hike wound its way around the towers and got you right up and close to all of them, ending with a view out to the Onion Creek Canyon in the distance. I imagine it’s brutally hot out there in the summertime, but it was pleasantly warm and breezy in mid-afternoon for me. I was glad to get some steps in, and the views were fantastic all the way around.
When I finished with my hike at the Fisher Towers, I continued on up the road to where it met the interstate and then cruised on out to Colorado. Colorado National Monument is only maybe 20 minutes over the border, and the park road winds its way up steeply to the mesa top where the visitor center is located. This park is a testament to the road construction crews of the Civilian Conservation Corps if ever there was one. I stopped in for a chat with the volunteer ranger there before setting off down the scenic drive. I stopped to do a short walk on Otto’s Trail to an overlook of Independence Rock, the park’s centerpiece formation. The trail is named for John Otto who fell in love with the scenery of the area and petitioned two presidents for protection before President Taft designated it a National Monument in 1911. Otto was named the park’s first superintendent, drawing a monthly salary of one dollar for his efforts. I was happy to finally get to Colorado National Monument, and I really enjoyed the scenic drive and the walk I did, but it didn’t really compare to the scenery I’ve been traveling through in Utah for the last few weeks. The scenic drive ended right in Grand Junction though, and I was happy to head to Planet Fitness for a shower and then to a bar called Scallywags for a quick dinner and a couple of beers before calling it a night.
I spent most of yesterday in the library, working on some things and trying to get this newsletter together. The Mesa County Library is a good one, so I figured while I had a good space and fast internet I would get as much done as I could. I left right around sunset and took a nice walk down Main Street. Grand Junction seems like a nice town and everyone I’ve met here has been super friendly. I’d like to stick around, but I have a schedule to keep and also if my current plans hold up, I will probably be spending a fair bit of time in Colorado in the future. As for last night, I had a quick beer at The Rockslide Brew Pub and then a nice Nepalese dinner at Guru’s Kitchen, as both breweries and spicy food are rare in Utah, and then called it a night.
This morning I hit the gym and grabbed a donut from a cute place called Sweet Coloradough and then came back to the library to finish up. As soon as I wrap this up, I’m headed back to Utah and hope to see the John Wesley Powell museum in Green River this afternoon. From there I am off and running through the scenic 9 Mile Canyon I’ve been reading so much about (at 42 miles nobody is quite sure how it got its name). Then I’m headed up to Dinosaur National Monument and the Flaming Gorge before turning west into central Utah. There are a lot of historic sites I want to see out there and I want to keep up my hiking endurance as well. I haven’t looked too far beyond the this coming week, but I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the Beehive State as it’s been nothing short of magical so far. I hope you’ll come back next week to see what I get up to. I’m certainly planning on making the most of my extra hour of daylight in the afternoons, that’s for sure. Thank you for reading and have a great week out there.
-Mike