Hello Folks,
Hope this finds you enjoying a great summer of outdoors activities.
In April I made my third pass through southern Utah, a truly wonderful section of the U.S. I visited Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Canyonlands National Parks and the Escalante Grand Staircase area. I found new trails at Zion, hiked the same old ones at Bryce, hiked Capitol Reef for the first time and started hiking all the trails at Canyonlands again.
The zoom on my Pentax Zoom90WR camera had stopped functioning. One day I was sitting at the top of a trail staring off into space. 20-30 feet below me was a ledge jutting out 30-40 feet. As I watched, a desert big horn ewe and a nearly grown kid walked out on the ledge, both with fairly large horns. They saw me and we just exchanged stares for 30-60 seconds or so. What a time to be without a camera.
Wind and dust were pretty bad all month but eased up and allowed me several great days of paddling at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Lake Powell). With the huge, red and white sandstone walls and the Colorado and Dirty Devil Rivers with their deep canyons, this has to be one of the premier paddling spots in the world. Moving into the fourth year of a drought has had its impact on Lake Powell. It was down 20 feet or so since my last visit in November. Even so, all that really meant to me was boat ramps were longer and the canyon walls towered even farther above.
I hiked half of the trails at Canyonlands and fully intended to hike the rest but sustained winds up in the 40's and 50's is one thing but the constant swirling dust was too much. This had been going on for several weeks by then and I had enough and had to move on.
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area on the Utah/Wyoming border is another great paddling spot but high winds only allowed me one day out of six on the water. While there I came face to face with a pronghorn antelope buck, again without a zoom on the camera...sigh!
And that about ended my third year on the road.
Traveling up through the prairies of Wyoming, pronghorn antelope are as common as deer in other areas of the country. I saw my first wild buffalo (bison) in South Dakota, several herds of them in Wind Cave National Park. Driving along, a small herd seemed to be drifting off towards a dirt road. Although the zoom didn't work, the rest of the camera did. I thought if I drove over to the dirt road the buffalo might come my way and I'd get a good shot or two.
Signs warn how unpredictable and dangerous a 1000 pound buffalo can be. I also knew (or at least hoped I knew) they can't see for squat. So I waited for them and sure enough they came right to me. One guy knew something was there because he kept sniffing the air. I did get a couple of good shots and moved on after they drifted past.
Drove over to the Badlands where Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and the Hole-in-the-Wall gang used to hang out. A big, giant basin with rugged rock formations all around it. If I hadn't just come from southern Utah it would have been quite impressive.
Stopped by Mount Rushmore and snapped a couple of pictures. Very impressive but after 5 minutes you've seen and done everything. The Chief Crazy Horse Monument is not far away but it was really foggy that morning. Besides its privately owned and they charge outrageous prices.
Back in Wyoming it was on to Yellowstone National Park. Driving in from the east entrance I saw a couple of cars pulled over to the side of the road. I get out and there is a young, male grizzly bear rooting around up on a little ridge. As I watch he starts down the hill, coming right at me. Not charging or anything, I just happened to be in the way to where he was going. I fixed that little problem by getting behind the truck but he kept coming. I had the door to the truck open just in case but he just walked by not 15 feet from me. I had gotten one nice picture as he came down the hill but by the time I recovered from the experience all I got was a butt shot as he walked away.
Early the next day driving into the park, there is a grizzly sow with two cubs playing near a small pond. Another guy already there said he had been watching them for an hour. I was fortunate to get a couple of pretty good pictures without the zoom. After they wandered off into the forest, I continued on and there coming right down the middle of the road is a big buffalo. Not a care in the world and not the least bit concerned with anything going on around it. Talk about a close up picture without a zoom. I just leaned out the window from 5 feet away.
By the third day I thought it was my inalienable right to be treated to at least one grizzly bear and was sorely disappointed when I didn't see one driving in. But not to worry. Later in the day I see a whole line of cars pulled to the side. I go down a small hill into a stand of pines. 30-40 people are lined up along the edge of a small meadow. Beyond the meadow is a creek 50 feet wide or so. On the other side of the creek is a big, fat grizzly bear in some marsh grass chowing down on an elk. How do I know? Every once in a while the griz would tug on the carcass for another mouthful and one of the elk's stiff legs would pop up in the air. He was too far for a picture but I sat with everyone else and watched him through the binoculars for 10-15 minutes. Quite a sight.
Besides the grizzes, the park has an abundance of buffalos and elk. The bull elks are only sporting their velvety antlers at this time of year. I may try to get back in September when they should be in their glory. Not too far away is the National Elk Refuge where 7000-10000 elk winter. That should be quite a sight. I saw a few pronghorns in the distance but no mountain big horn sheep nor any gray wolves.
As for the rest of Yellowstone, there are lots and lots of hot springs, some quite colorful, mud volcanoes and geysers, and of course Old Faithful. I just missed it spouting off and had to wait 95 minutes for the next one. Then it only shot up 40-50 feet or so rather than the 150-200 feet it used to. Sounds like its getting old and tired too.
Then it was on to Grand Teton National Park, right next to Yellowstone... and that took my breath away. Driving in from the east I came to the crest of a mountain range and could look over a huge valley and there on the other side is the Grand Teton Mountain Range. It had snowed a couple days earlier so I was treated to that added dimension to a gorgeous scene.
The Grand Tetons aren't particularly tall but they are rugged, with sharp, jagged peaks. Every mile I got closer the view improved and I'd stop and take another picture. I used up half a roll just driving down into the valley. By now I had purchased an Olympus C-700 10X Optical camera so was trying it out too.
I drove around a little and found Jenny Lake along a little scenic drive... and here found one of the most beautiful spots I've ever seen. This small lake is backed by two snow covered peaks dropping down to meet at the lake on the far shore. Wow! I seldom pay for campgrounds anymore but I went and signed up for 5 days.
The next day I hiked along Jenny Lake (3 miles or so) to String Lake (1 mile) to Leigh Lake (3 miles). These are 3 glacier lakes, one feeding the next with overflow. Backing all three lakes are the Grand Tetons. This 15 mile hike is certainly in my top 5 of all time with one great view after another.
The following next day I bought a boating permit and put in at String Lake, portaged to Leigh Lake and after paddling around there entered that trip into my top 5 paddle trips of all time. The following day I hiked the Painted Canyon trail and entered that into my top 5 hikes of all time. Here I climbed up to where I had views of Leigh Lake and Jackson Lake beyond. Farther on, snow topped peaks formed imposing views and I had to cross several snowfields. It doesn't get much better than that. Check out the photographs on the web site.
While hiking another trail I came face to face with a young bull moose coming the other way on the trail. By the time I got done fumbling with the camera he decided he didn't want his picture taken and all I got was a butt shot.
Since then I've been hanging out in Bridger-Teton, Shoshone and Big Horn National Forests in Wyoming. This is grizzly country and I carry pepper spray with me just in case. Shortly after buying the new camera, I slipped and fell full length while crossing a stream. Got myself soaking wet and, I was afraid, my new (electronic) camera, GPS, binoculars, etc.
Back at the truck I got into dry clothes and started testing everything. The camera didn't get wet and worked OK. The GPS worked and the binoculars weren't fogged up. Then I thought to test the pepper spray... but the wind was blowing the wrong way. So I turned around, pressed the lever and the wind shifted again and I got a load of pepper spray in the face.
Some went in my right eye and I inhaled some. I had seen a TV show where cops had to take a blast of pepper spray so they'd know what they were doing to someone they used it on... and they were in pain. Mine didn't seem so bad, more like the burn of a strong soap or shampoo and only lasted 30-60 seconds. After inhaling it, all I had was a little tiny eh, eh cough for 2-3 minutes.
Check out the web site... it's got a whole new look thanks to my buddy Mark. I've been working pretty hard the past couple of months to get all the kinks and quirks out of it. Let me know what you think.