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A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything.
-Laurence Sterne
5/13/07 Start - 5:00 AM Eastern time, Louisville KY, 642 ft above sea level
Finish - 10:00 PM Mountain time, Des Moines NM, 6452 ft above sea level
Distance traveled ~ 1200 miles
States - Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico Goshen Rd Rest Area, IL
When I'm bored (i.e. on a roadtrip by myself) I drink. Water that is. I go through it like there's no tomorrow. This means two things. First of all, I'm super-hydrated (good for elevation changes, alertness, and pretty much just good in general). Secondly, and more pertinent to this particular story, I have to stop to pee quite frequently. About 90 miles east of St. Louis, that familiar feeling struck and I pulled off at the Goshen Rd Rest Area. I pulled into an empty spot next to a sedan with Florida plates and a handicapped tag. As I gotout of my car a little old man got out of that aforementioned sedan. He pointed at my kayak and asked
if I was finishing a kayak trip or just starting one. Seeing an opportunity to gloat a bit, I said that I was kind of doing both and proceded to explain how I was going to be living the life nomadic traveling and guiding. I asked him if he had ever done any kayaking. He said that 50 years ago he was ranked as one of the 10 best whitewater guides in the world. I asked him if he still did it and he said that he did but only up to class IV because he got tired. This guy must have been 75 years old and suddenly I felt really lame. We continued to chat for a couple more minutes, he wished me well in my life, and I wished him well in his. I hope that at some point in my life, I can be half as awesome as that old guy. Anyway, I went into the rest area to do what I had pulled over to do. As I came out of the bathroom, I noticed a plaque on the wall about Illinois's wetlands and how they were disappearing. Apparently, the rest area was trying to do
its part to help and had 2 acres of protected wetlands with a little trail running through it. Of course I had to hike it. This was about 8 AM and the early morning birds were singing and despite the semi trucks in the parking lot the air was fresh and clean. Between the awesome guy I met and the nice trail I hiked, I believe that this was the niced rest stop I've ever been to.
Kansas - We were all wrong!
I feel as if I've been misinformed about Kansas. I was told that Kansas was all flat and boring and horrible to drive through. Eastern Kansas consists of amazingly beautiful lush green rolling hills. They were short and wide hills, however since I was able to see for miles and miles I was able to appreciate them. It actually reminded me quite a bit of New Zealand and was definately one of the highlights of my drive. Two other things worth mentioning happened in Kansas. First, as I was driving down a country road that wasa supposed to go on for 55 miles, I came upon a stop sign next to a detour sign. Apparently, I
needed to take a detour that went a ways to the left. However, the funny part was that directly in front me, where the road was supposed to go, was absolutely nothing. No road, just dirt. I thought it was funny anyway, so I took a picture. The second thing that happened was that I was very excited about driving through Dodge City. You know, saloons, ranch hands, the sheriff, bandits, the whole nine yards. I was going to put on my cowboy boots, go into the O.K. saloon, and order a cowboy-sized steak and a shot of whiskey. When I got to Dodge however, I found something very different. It was a completely normal, middle class thriving suburbia. I didn't want my steak and whiskey from Applebee's darnit, so I grabbed a sandwich from my cooler and got the heck out of Dodge. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. I finished Kansas, did a bit of Oklahoma, got into New Mexico, parked at a rest area and crawled into the back of my truck for a well deserved sleep.
5/14/07 Start - 6:30 AM Mountain time, Des Moines NM, 8773 ft above sea level
Finish - 9:30 PM Mountain time, South Fork CO, 8773 ft above sea level
Distance traveled ~ 300 miles
States - NM and CO
Capulin Volcano National Monument
At the time that I was looking at a map trying to decide where I wanted to go for this trip, I knew absolutely nothing about Capulin, except for the fact that it had the word "volcano" in its name. In my experience, anything with that word in its name is worth seeing. It was based on that information alone that I decided to visit, and I have to say that my thesis has not yet been proved wrong. Located just 20 miles north of my rest stop, the morning's drive was fairly simple. I arrived at the Visitor's Center at about 7:30, which was a half hour before they opened. So I was able to sit on a bench, eat my breakfast, and write my journal entry from the night before. When the Park Ranger showed up, I used my annual parks pass (for the first time ever mind you) and drove the 2 miles up to the crater. I hiked up and around the crater (a 2 mile hike with
its highest point at 8182 ft), and needless to say I got fairly winded. I'm going to blame that one on the altitude. Anyway, it was absolutely beautiful, and I was able to see the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, which was a destination for later that day.
Great Sand Dunes National Park
After my visit to the volcano, I headed north into Colorado to visit the Great Sand Dunes National Park. I wasn't prepared to be that impressed, after all, I had seen sand dunes before. I had been to Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, heck I had been to a beach before. I expected just to go, see what was there, and head back out. However, when I got there I found something very different. I found a huge pile of sand, 750 feet tall at it's peak and over a mile wide. Its surrounded by a creek first then the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. I parked at the dunes parking lot and prepared to do one of the park's signature hikes, a 2 mile hike to the top of High Dune, at 750 above and 12 smaller (marginally) dunes away from the parking lot. Needless
to say, it was one of the toughest hikes I had ever done. Still trying to deal with my newfound altitude and also the sand and the heat, there were definately times where I considered turning back. However, I kept going and finally made it to the top of a huge sand pile. I felt very accomplished. I hiked back down and when I got back to the car I took some time dumping the sand out of my shoes. Like I said, when I first got to this park, I hadn't planned on camping. However, I thought that it was such a unique place that I changed my mind. I drove on a 4-wheel drive only road back to my primitive campsite. When I got there though, the site wasn't as nice as I had hoped, and I still had a couple hours of daylight, so I decided to head back out on that very same road and start heading towards chimney rock. I ended up camping right next to the Rio Grande in the San Juan National Forest near South Fork, CO.
5/15/07 Start - 7:30 AM Mountain time, South Fork CO, 8773 ft above sea level
Finish - 9:30 PM Mountain time, Durango CO, 6463 ft above sea level
Distance traveled ~ 200 miles
States - CO, NM, and CO
Chimney Rock Archeological Site
I woke upin my truck and headed to Chimney Rock. I remembered it from the Oregon Trail, that computer game that you know you played 10 years ago. When I got to the Visitor's Center, I got some info on the site and decided to hike up to the upper parking lot instead of driving. It was a 2 1/2 mile hike uphill along the valley going up to Chimney Rock, and it was gorgeous. I got to the parking lot and took a 1/3 mile self-guided tour of the lower village that the ancient pueblo indians used to live in. I couldn't tour the upper village and the Great house by myself because this was apparently a nesting ground for a pair of perrigrine falcons. I could however go there with a tour group. So that's what I did, knowing that when I got back down to the bottom I'd have to pay the $8 for the tour. It was definately worth it though, cause I was able
to see a very impressive structure built 900 years ago, as well as a breathtaking view of both Chimney Rock and Companion Rock. An unfortunate thing happened though at the top. I was getting ready to take the final perfect picture with me in front of Chimney Rock, and suddenly my camera ran out of batteries. Ahhhhh!!! Anyway, some awesome guy named Dave from Indiana offered to take my picture and email it to me. I should be getting it in a couple of weeks. Yay Dave! Anywho, I hiked back down to the bottom and after about 3-4 hours at Chimney Rock I headed out.
Aztec Ruins National Monument
Afterwards, I headed to New Mexico to see some Aztec Ruins, or so I thought anyway. It turns out that it was really Anasazi ruins and western explorers simply misnamed the area. Anyway, the site was spectacular and very moving. It never ceases to amaze me what ancient people were able to accomplish. That's about all I have to say about that place, I went on the self-guided tour and learned a lot about the culture. After that, I headed back up to Durango CO, and feeling somewhat ill,
I got a hotel and am holing up for the night. I do have lots of pictures of all the things I've talked about, and I hope to get them posted this coming weekend. I hope everybody is doing well, and with that, I'm out.
-SoarPheat
P.S. Chris's little brother is celebrating his 20th birthday in Europe today. So way to be Dan! Happy Birthday!
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Montana
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Welcome to the West!
Soarpheat (great name!), You will love the west. I hope you are not experiencing altitude sickness because you are going to be going much higher. If you would like some hints to great places to visit as you travel the Western parks, I am willing to suggest. For example: In Colorado, assuming you are heading for Rocky Mt. National Park, you will want to see the Mesa Verde National Park, travel the Million Dollar Hwy from Durango to Ouray (you'll find a saloon in Silverton); visit the Black Canyon of the Gunnison near Montrose, go west to Grand Junction and the Colorado Nat. Monument or go east to Pike's Peak at Colorado Springs. By the way you missed some great things in New Mexico, or maybe you will catch them on your way home: Carlsbad Caverns is a must see, Alamagordo's White Sands NM--wow, dont' forget your sun glasses here; Bandelier NM near Santa Fe; El Moro NM west of Albuquerque. There is so much more to see in all the western states. Enjoy!