After farewells to Jess and Brian, we hit the windy road up towards Russian Gulch State Park, enjoying the coastal scenery along the way. We picked out what seemed like a good site at the campground, but didn’t factor in the acoustic nature of the gulch, which allowed us to hear every detail of every conversation around us, drowned out only by the literally screaming young girl, who kept it up for about eight hours of the day and night. Very relaxing. We put the kayaks in the water for a quick float around the ocean waves and amongst the [View Full Entry]

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Met up with Shane’s cousin Mike and his partner Joseph for some dinner and beers in Berkeley. We caught up with them for a few hours, discussing the Heath heritage and other hot topics. Great to visit with them! Headed from there to San Mateo, where we were graciously taken in by our friend Brian’s family for a couple nights. We caught up with Jess and Brian for a while, then conked out. Went into San Fran the next day and did a touristy tour of the Academy of Sciences and Museum of Modern Art. As typical for such museums, [View Full Entry]

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Aimed the truck for Tahoe and drove drove drove across western Colorado and across the entire state of Utah. Back into the desert, temporarily. Made it to Great Basin National Park in Nevada, and parked it for the night. Next morning explored Lehman Cave before hitting the road for Tahoe. The cave was pretty cool, with all kinds of ‘decorations’ like popcorn, spaghetti, curtains, and shields (which look like a pizza suspended in air with cheese dripping down). Apparently Lehman, the first whitey to discover the cave in the 1880s, opened the cave for tours back then, and offered pe [View Full Entry]

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Explored around Boulder for a day, enjoying the yuppie/hippie town. Filled our Indian food craving, and checked out the local scene. Seemed like a place we could live. From there headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. Got a tip on some good walk-in campsites and picked a nice site next to a roaring stream (though waited to set up camp until the snow melted in the afternoon sun). Drove through the park and did a nice hike up to Loch Vale and Mills Lake, past some nice waterfalls on the way. Still a lot of snow on the mountains and [View Full Entry]

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Found our way to the Harper’s cabin and made ourselves right at home, enjoying the luxuries of having a roof over our head (flush toilets! shower! oven! bed! heat! etc!). The views out the cabin windows were spectacular, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains covered in forests, snow and spring greens. We stocked up on foods we’d been craving at the local market, particularly things to bake since we can’t bake on the road (fries, brownies, cookies, obviously a healthy array of foods). We met Claire’s dad Len, who warned us to look out for black widows and brown recluse [View Full Entry]

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Out of the redrock summer of Utah and into spring in Colorado. The aspens are leafed out in their bright greens, and we’re loving the transition into snow-capped mountains, forests, and lakes. Our first night we make it as far as Cortez, and stop at the lovely Tomahawk Motel for the night, glad to be inside as it pours relentlessly outside. Next day head to Mesa Verde National Park. This park is full of Ancient Puebloan (a.k.a. Anasazi) houses built into the cliff faces. We toured Balcony House, which involved climbing several steep ladders and negotiating a narrow ‘hallway’ [View Full Entry]

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Another great visit with Casey and Sam and Cecilia. Rocked out with Social Distortion, and despite the energetic moshing, awoke in good condition. Headed up towards Moab, UT. In the thick of Ed Abbey country now. Shane brought out Desert Solitaire to reread. Arches was a cool landscape, though it seems to have succumbed to all Ed’s worst predictions - drive-through tourists with car- and lazypeople-friendly facilities all along the way. The trails were pretty busy too, at least people were getting out of those metal contraptions to explore! We walked around the Windows area and the Devi [View Full Entry]

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After a night in town fulfilling our food cravings (minus my grossly unsatisfied Indian food addiction - nobody of Indian descent seems to have settled anywhere in Utah, can’t understand why) and solidifying some plans with friends for upcoming fun, we headed for the north rim of the Grand Canyon, where we had a five day backpacking trip planned. Made it there no problem, despite the excitement offered by the many signs warning us some of the roads were still closed for the winter. Our friend Cecilia and her co-worked Rosa found us at our camping spot near the trailhead [View Full Entry]

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Loaded up in the morning and drove the nearly three hours to the Havasu Canyon trailhead, west of the National Park. We prepared for the 10-mile descent to the campground, and took off, as it was already afternoon. The trail down is switchbacked for the first mile or so and then levels out as you follow a canyon all the way down to the village. We were passed by 3-4 groups of horses (loaded up with supplies and lazy people’s backpacks) but saw very few people. By the time we reached the river, our feet were quite sore from all [View Full Entry]

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The windy 45-mile drive to Gila Monument from Silver City took nearly 2 hours, and we set up camp at a frontcountry site near the monument (free campsites!) and had a roaring fire. We met another Shane from Vermont, although he had only lived there 8 years and was not a true Vermonster like me. We slept in late and then headed for the Cliff Dwellings. A 1-mile popular little trail takes you up to the cliffside, and those Mogollon natives sure did pick a pretty spot for their cave dwellings, which served mostly ceremonial purposes, apparently, and were not [View Full Entry]

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