Jack and Debi

Monday, May 21, 2012 We were up early and on our way to Canyonlands National Park and camping at Dead Horse Point State Park. We left the trailer at the campsite and hiked and drove the park until afternoon. There were beautiful vistas at the convergence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. We returned to the Dead Horse Point and realized that this park offered the best views of the Colorado River. It looked so tranquil and calm with many turns and twists. We plan on getting up before sunrise and walking a 5 mile rim trail of the East and West sides of the park. Tonight we watched a beautiful sunset as we made our bean soup. This is one of the few times that we have a little down time and I read Stegner ... read more

Sunday, May 20, 2012 We drove to Arches National Park this morning. There were dramatic arches and rock formations but lots of people. We decided to hike in the park on our way to Grand Junction. We had a park overview but mostly drove. We needed to get back to do laundry and get groceries for tomorrows camping at Dead Horse State Park between Canyonlands and Arches. We had dinner in Moab at a café with vocals in the background. We had a some what sleepless night for both of us. We looked at our VISA bill and noticed a $5000 charge that did not belong to us. We canceled our card and hoped for the best.... read more

Thursday, May 17, 2012 We made the short trip to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument this morning. We camped at Kodachrome Basin State Park. We had the best site in the park (number7) and was amazingly the same site that was vacated by a couple that we met at Brice yesterday. The site was backed by red cliffs and shaded by Utah Junipers We drove to Escalante and hiked the Escalante River Trail. The canyons were 200-300 ft high. The sandstone was mostly black and Grey and made many U shaped curves up the canyon. We started a 5 PM and did not finish until just about sunset (8:30). We ate a Barbeque restaurant in Escalante. It was a windy but a nice hike. Friday, May 18, 2012 This morning we hiked at Willis Creek. This tiny ... read more

We arrived late in the afternoon at Zion. The Watchman Campground was a little “close to other campers” but our campsite was between two canyons of Navaho Sandstone and views were spectacular. Zion has huge (the largest I have ever seen) rocks. The top layer is Navaho Sandstone (laid down in the Jurassic Period) that is much younger than any the rocks we saw at the Grand Canyon. Under this sand stone is a layer of Red Sandstone created in the Triassic Period (still younger than the Paleozoic rocks on the rim of Grand Canyon). The rocks still contain beautiful swirls from the sands that covered this area in the Jurassic (larger than the Sahara Desert of today). Two to Three thousand feet of sandstone stand in the canyons. Debi and I hiked trails along the ... read more

On Monday we had our long drive day. We drove from Yucca Valley to Sedona Arizona. It took about 8 hours. You would think that we would be exhausted but when we arrived we knew something special was waiting for us. Our campsite (Cave Springs) was surrounded by oak and pine trees but abutted a 500 foot cliff of red and grey sandstone. This was just a taste of things to come. We decided to drive into Sedona (about 8 miles). Tiny Oak Creek has carved out one of the most beautiful places on earth. Sedona is surrounded by massive sandstone formations on all sides. They rise out of the desert and climb 2000 feet strait up. There is every shade of red that you can imagine but there are also greys and pinks. The sandstone ... read more

Saturday, May 05, 2012, We left El Capitan above Santa Barbara and crossed above LA. The route took us through the Simi Valley and across a lot of desert. Our final destination was Yucca Valley. We are going to stay a couple of days in a motel to get the camp dust off our clothes. We went into Palm Springs and ate dinner after a long shower. I have to admit that it felt good to sleep on a good mattress but I missed opening the door to the trailer and walking out in the natural world. Today I got up early and went on a bike ride through the desert. I had to turn back after just a few miles because the sand bogged me down. Debi and I returned to Palm Springs mid morning ... read more