Chris Tanner

Slickrock Trail and Arches NP

August 24, 2014March 6, 2017 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Jon and I got up just after dawn, to ride the famous Slickrock Trail before the sun got too hot. Though it wasn’t our first experience on slickrock – that was last night – it was an awesome loop, 10 or so miles over grippy, rolling rock, following the painted white dashes. The views over the Colorado River were amazing in the early light. By the time we got back to the van it was scorchio-hot, I wouldn’t want to do this in the middle of the day!

We’d run out of food again, so we stocked up in the supermarket. We can fit about 3 days’ worth of fresh food in the fridge, after which we have a couple of meals of non-perishables, and then need to find a shop again. We’re eating out now and then, but generally cooking in camp. Heading north out of Moab we drove into Arches National Park, only a few miles out of town. The plan was to head straight to campsite which was shown as being full, but in the past we’ve had success finding a space where someone had cancelled, or the rangers hadn’t quite got things right. This time it really was full. It’s a small site and all the pitches are reservable, and it supposedly fills up months in advance. But Rose chatted up the camp host and he let us stay in the group area – result!

The arches park is stunning. Driving in from the visitor centre you climb a steep, twisty road between huge red walls of rock, overlooking the Moab geological fault which created the valley below. Even though the whole town is surrounded by rock, cliffs and desert, it still feels like you’re entering a different place. The ochre coloured walls are so steep, so big and such a strong colour. Amazing shapes everywhere – not just arches. After a while you think you’re getting desensitised to incredible scenery, but then something comes along that sets the barrier even higher – the Arches National Park is one of these places. We explored a few spots, took a bunch of pictures and soaked it all up.

The classic sunset Thing To Do is to hike up to Delicate Arch, Utah’s state symbol, which catches the setting sun. It’s a mile or so away from the parking lot, but even though it’s a strenuous walk there were crowds of people up there waiting to get their own classic photo. It’s an impressive amphitheatre of rock, with the arch sitting on the back rim. Mr Sun wasn’t playing ball tonight though, and tucked behind a big bank of storm cloud early in the evening, so no glowing gold sunset for anyone.

Back at camp, it got really windy which meant no camp fire, but on the plus side also meant no mosquitoes. The sky cleared up to reveal gazillions of stars. I love the night sky in the desert – usually with no trees around you get a good view of the whole hemisphere – and you’re miles away from any bright city lights. We’ve not had a moon for the past couple of weeks, so the night skies have been sensational.

Moab

August 23, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Maybe the most picturesque campsite yet? We woke to amazing views – colossal sandstone cliffs forming a cove around the camp, and dry, scrubby desert stretching out to the horizon. Somewhere out there is canyon country! We spent the morning scrambling around, testing the limits of friction on the steep, grippy rock.

As we were only a few miles away from the Needles Overlook – a viewpoint perched high on a cliff above the Canyonlands National Park, we made the detour. Woah. Huge. While not as deep as the Grand Canyon, the views out over the Canyonlands are supposed to be just as impressive, and the distances to the far side are greater. It’s so arid. Just crumbling rock and sand for miles and miles. So much to look at, it’s impossible to soak it all in.

The drive to Moab was exactly how I’d expected Utah to be – lots of open scrubby desert, big rocks and awesome scenery. Just like the whole of the rest of the trip, every minute on the road has been interesting in some way or another. There’s just so much to look at and soak in, even out here in the desert. It’s only when we double back on ourselves and drive the same road again that we get the opportunity to focus on anything other than gawping out of the windows. We passed Wilson’s Arch on the way into town and of course scrambled up there too.

After setting up camp in town at Slick Rock Campground, the temperature had dropped a bit so we headed out for a ride at the “Bar-M” trails area just north of town, ending up doing the Circle-O loop – following a painted line on the slickrock for a few miles. A big storm was drenching the Arches National Park and the El Sal mountains to the south, but it rolled on past without hitting us.

Moab is perhaps one of the world’s most famous mountain bike towns, mainly due to the unique, endless slabs of rock surrounding the town. Not only is this place a mountain bike mecca, it’s also a top spot for 4-wheel-drivers and off-roading, river rafting and general outdoor adventures – but not a place I’d like to live. Too hot in the summer, and not much else going on as far as I can tell.

Mesa Verde National Park

August 22, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Helen wasn’t feeling so good, so we left her and Jon at camp while Rose and I explored the cliff dwellings of the park – Long House in the morning, Balcony House in the pouring rain, then in the evening, as we were the only two people, with our very own guide we explored Cliff Palace. Wandering around these ruins was much like the experience in the Mexican ruins a few years back. Clearly there has been a lot of “restoration”, since early photos show many of the sites as piles of rubble – which makes it feel a bit like you’re walking around a prepared, packaged exhibition rather than an original, ancient site. But without restoration, you wouldn’t get the same idea of what the villages used to be like, and tourism probably wouldn’t even be possible. Impressive, nonetheless. Yet another unique experience!

We picked up Jon & Helen and trucked on towards Utah. We’d not had an American diner meal together, so we stopped off for dinner at Denny’s in Cortez where we met a friendly local called Steve, who lives on a small ranch nearby with his wife – having moved from Boston seeking the simple life. Another late night drive – we’ve hardly done any driving after dark in months – took us over the border into Utah. It’s very, very dark at night out here. No street lights, and pretty poor van lights means that we only get to see a small patch of yellow tarmac for a few hours – with a huge flash of lightning every now and then in the distance. We’ve been able to see thunderstorms somewhere on the horizon pretty much every day. So we turned up at a campsite a 6 miles down a small side road, in the dark. With my powerful bike light we could just make out the huge, red rocks looming over us. What’s it going to look like in the morning?

Durango

August 21, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

I got up early and wandered down to the lake overlook. Not much of a lake really. The water had clearly been much, much higher when the local maps were made, but now there was not much more than a pond sitting in the bottom of the valley. Back into Colorado, where we stopped at Durango, another mountain bike hub. First port of call was a place called Steaming Beans for coffee and internet catch-up, and to make plans for the next few days with the maps and guide books out. Jon and I tackled another of Colorado’s Top Ten Rides – a double black diamond rated route up onto a ridge and down a super rocky, technical descent – more like trials riding than mountain biking, with a huge vertical drop into the valley below if you get it wrong. So not many pics.

At the top we met a couple of locals, Andy and Ivan, who showed us some more awesome riding over the back of Horse Gulch and Telegraph Hill, including an epic swooping twisting downhill called Sidewinder. We met the girls for dinner at Steamboat brewery, then piled back into the van for a late night drive to Mesa Verde National Park, where we camped.

Sand Dunes and Taos

August 20, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Monday and Tuesday

South again, to Sand Dunes National Park. A dramatic drive across huge, open plains with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains rising gradually from the valley floor on the left. In the distance, nestled at the foot of the hills, we could see the sand dunes as we approached. All the sand from the surrounding mountains gets washed into the valley, then the regular strong wind blows it all down to the corner where the huge dunes form. We set up camp, waited for the sun to chill out a bit, then hiked up the dunes to watch the sunset. Way across on the other side of the valley, a couple of thunderstorms were rolling southwards, making for a pretty atmospheric evening. We decided that we liked this camp so much that we’d stay another night, so we spent a day relaxing, reading, and had a wander up the river that runs along the foot of the dunes.

Wednesday 20th

Into New Mexico! We weren’t originally planning to come this far south, but on recommendation from Ben and Rosie, and with a pinch of wanting to bag an extra state, we thought we’d pop over the border to Taos. The drive to Taos took us past a load of random homesteads – families set up for remote, desert living. Some really run down, and some clearly belonging to old hippies that have been here for a long time; from school buses converted into houses to smart solar panelled eco-dwellings made from adobe and glass. We stopped in Taos for lunch, had a look around at the numerous galleries and bought a couple of souvenirs. We decided that there wasn’t much extra to be gained from staying for a night, so we turned back on ourselves, over the impressive Rio Grande Canyon, and on towards Durango. With hindsight, and reading the guides, we should have stopped in at Taos Pueblo just north of Taos – the longest continuously inhabited settlement in America – but we just drove by without knowing about it. Should try to read up a bit further ahead.

A long drive through Carson National Forest brought us to a campsite at Heron Lake State Park – a pretty much empty gravel site on the edge of a lake.

Monarch Crest and Salida

August 17, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris Tanner1 Comment

Rode another of Colorado’s top ten trails this morning – the start of the Monarch Crest trail, and then breaking off left down Fosse Creek. Rose wasn’t riding, so she took the van round to pick us up at the bottom, which meant a short bit of climbing for us – with stunning views – and then 9 miles of downhill. Probably the best ride I have ever had in my life. Real mountains, dry, dusty trail, incredible scenery, fast technical downhill that just went on and on and on. Two more pinch punctures – I’m getting good at quick tube changes!

Colorado definitely deserves its title as the mountain bike centre of the world. There are so many amazing trails – we’re only managing to scratch the surface. It feels awesome to have been able to get a taster – I wonder if I’ll ever be back?

Time for a shower, which meant heading east into a small town called Salida to find a motel. In the afternoon, we wandered round the place, did a round of laundry, and then had a meal out. Salida is yet another Colorado mountain bike town – filled with a mix of hippies, cyclists and old timers. Met a couple in a cafe who are cycling down from Montana to Mexico and had a quick chat.

Crested Butte

August 16, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Friday 15th

Drove up over Cottonwood Pass – the highest the van has been so far on this trip, an altitude of over 12000 feet. And then all the way down the other side to Crested Butte, one of Colorado’s many mountain bike towns.

Introduced J&H to The Great American Breakfast at Paradise Café, then headed on up into the hills through Mount Crested Butte, to find somewhere to spend the night. Found a wild National Forest site, perched on the side of Gothic Mountain, along a bumpy dirt track. I’d spotted that the local ski centre was doing free chairlift rides in the evening, so we all had a few hours riding the downhill trails of the bike park. Thunderstorms around the local hills meant that the usual free-Friday night crowds weren’t around, and it wasn’t too hot. My bike is still just about holding together, it’s pretty old and tired now. No idea what I’m going to do with it when we go through the next phase of selling / giving things away in September, to thin possessions down for our trip south. I managed to get two pinch punctures during the evening, broke a tube valve, and a pump. Awesome riding though – typical bike park trails – a range of smooth swoopy berms and rougher technical bumpy stuff through aspen groves.

Saturday 16th

We’d come up this valley to be near a trail called the “401” – one of Colorado’s ten best mountain bike rides. We took the van a short way further up the road and parked up. The ride starts with a couple of miles of tough climbing – a bit of dirt road and then singletrack to the high point at about 11000 feet. Pretty hard work riding at this altitude, but incredible scenery. Then perhaps 6 miles of downhill, skimming along the side of the valley, looking out over amazing views, swooping and twisting through chest-high wild flowers. They say that the height of the wild flowers is a prediction for the depth of snow that’s going to settle in the coming winter. Left Rose and Helen at the bottom of the trail while we rode back up the road to get the van.

There’s a load more riding here, but we need to keep moving. It’s the same story with everywhere we’ve been – it would be easy to spend days, even weeks, getting to know a place and meeting people, but with limited time, we’re choosing to just get a taster of each spot. So we headed on south through Gunnison towards Salida – over the top of Monarch pass then found a campsite nearby. I was just starting my shower out of the back of van when the rain clouds opened – Jon and Rose put the awning up. The rain didn’t last long, and by the end of the evening we were sat around the camp fire, burning the cardboard bike boxes that we’d been lugging around ever since J&H arrived.

Denver and Boulder

August 14, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

Wowzers. So it’s been over ten days since I managed to sit down and get some writing done. So this post and the next few are being uploaded from Zion in Utah … split into a number of separate posts since we have, again, gazillions of photos. Our buddies Jon and Helen have been with us since the 12th, and we’ve been busy.

Tuesday 12th

We descended from the hills into Denver to shop for cowboy boots and sun hats, and to get some internet time. As part of the sun hat hunt, we visited a huge outdoor store filled with not only all the hunting, fishing and camping gear that’s ever existed, but also every North American animal stuffed and put up somewhere on the walls. Four wolves chased an elk across the wall as we came in. Across the back of the store, trout, salmon and walleye eyed us up from huge tanks. In the evening we picked up Jon and Helen from the airport – I drive loops around the arrivals area while Rose waits inside. Helen has a cousin who lives in Boulder, so we are staying with them for a couple of nights – Rosie and Ben.

Wednesday 13th

Hiked up Boulder Flatirons – great big slabs of rock guarding over the town of Boulder. The Rocky Mountains here rise straight out of the prairies, so the view from the top was pretty impressive. In the evening we explored Boulder’s Pearl Street, browsed around a bookstore and had dinner out in town at a local brewery.

Thursday 14th

Jon and Helen brought their bikes over with them – Colorado has some of the best mountain biking in the world – and Ben had suggested we ride a local trail called Betasso, so we drove a few minutes out of town to do that. 8 hot and dusty miles later we were back at the van – a good ride – the altitude really makes a difference! Denver calls itself the “mile high city”, and here in the hills it’s riding at over 8000 feet. We stopped to wash off in Boulder Creek, then filled up with fuel for the drive west – over plains not far from where we were a few days ago at Eleven Mile Lake – an area called South Park. Through Buena Vista and up into Cottonwood Pass, where we found a nice camp in the National Forest by a stream. In Colorado you can just camp anywhere in a National Forest which is handy. J&H are sleeping in the tent they brought with them, so we need to find sites that work with a tent as well as the van.

Around Denver

August 12, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris Tanner1 Comment

Saturday 9th August

Frustrating day today. It’s been too long since I spent a load of energy. Sitting in the van, and sitting around camp for too many days. It’s relaxing, but after a while I get all antsy and need to get the blood pumping. I’d read that there was some good riding in the State Park, so I headed out on a random track – Mule Deer trail – which turned out to be an awesome 9 mile loop of singletrack through beautiful alpine forest and meadows. I certainly felt the 9,000 foot altitude, but it didn’t take too long to readjust. Back at the van feeling much revitalised, I freshened up under the camp shower and made dinner as the sun set over the aspen trees.

Sunday 10th August

Another day of surprises! One of the great things about being on the road with no particular agenda is that unexpected things always creep up on you. Today we planned to get some more time at the library, and then scoot south over the Interstate 70 to another campground where we could get a shower, but that’s not quite what happened.

We did spend some time at the library, where, it being closed on a Sunday, we had to sit outside to use the WiFi. I had a long chat with a guy in the car park about the settling of The West while Rose did some research. I feel like I’ve not absorbed as much local history and culture as I would have liked on this trip – I’m going to have to stock up on books and catch up retrospectively when we have lots more reading time on the boat. We headed south and somewhere around Black Hawk, a crazy town that seems to be purely casinos and hotels, we missed the turning to the i70 and ended up in Clear Creek Canyon. Which turned out to be an awesome drive through a twisty gorge of red and golden rocks, next to the tumbling creek. Lots of people were out – fly fishing, running, climbing and enjoying their day off. It’s funny how I look forward to weekdays now since everywhere is less busy.

The canyon road funneled us all the way back to Denver, which was way off route and there were no campgrounds anywhere nearby, so we decided to head further south west to a state park and a likely looking site. After an hour or driving, along a twisty, narrow dirt track by the site of the Platte River, we ended up at Platte River Campground … not much more than a dusty parking space and a few tent pitches. Checking my phone again, I realise that the Platte River Campground I was looking at was in Michigan. Oops. Was a nice drive, anyway.

So we came up with a new plan. Across the mountains to another State Park. We took an unpaved road up onto the hill which wound its way through empty wilderness and dead fire-destroyed trees for miles and miles. Every now and then we passed a parked truck, where a couple of guys were shooting guns – I assume at targets. We also passed a number of mountain bikers loaded with gear. Stopping to chat briefly to a chap at a junction, we learnt that they were part of a 500 mile race from Denver to Durango. Hardcore. Pretty miserable for them this afternoon though – the skies opened and poured with rain, turning the dirt road into a river and making for some slippery driving. Pretty dramatic though. We even passed an area where it looked like it had snowed, or maybe hail. Eventually we ended up at Eleven Mile State Park, surrounding a reservoir. The setting sun dropped below the dark cloud cover and gave us an awesome light show.

Oh yeah, and last night we had the police disturb us around midnight. We were parked up in a quiet layby, fast asleep, when a car pulled up with all its lights ablaze. I’m a good sleeper, but something woke me up before the car pulled to a stop. I poked my head through the back door to a cop asking what we were up to. I gave him our story, he took my licence and came back a couple of minutes later – all ok – wishing us a good night.

Monday 11th August

So nice to be back out in open country. The majority of our campgrounds on this trip have been tucked away in the trees, without much view of the sky or surrounding mountains, which means it gets dark early, and we don’t see the sun until quite late in the morning. This place is a huge flat valley, nestled in between the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, about 60 miles southwest of Denver. There are no trees, just lumps of granite amongst the grassland, which reminds me a bit of Joshua Tree NP. We had a relaxing day, out on the water in the kayaks and relaxing in camp.

I fiddled a bit more with the shortwave radio and laptop, receiving weather faxes. When we’re out at sea, away from phone and VHF radio reception, the shortwave radio is the only way we’re going to be able to get weather forecasts, so I’m testing out the gear and getting practice to make sure everything works OK. I’ve been trying at a number of remote places, but have generally had reception problems – but here I finally managed to receive clear, complete faxes. Looks like Hurricane Julio is sat just above Hawaii, tracking north. The rest of the eastern Pacific looks pretty chilled out though.

I’m still deliberating whether to get a satellite phone for when we head south, which would let us download weather files by email, as well as stay in touch with family. Not cheap though. Also trying to decide what to do about a life raft. We already have an inflatable dinghy to use as a tender, but it’s not a survival craft by any stretch of the imagination. Usually people also have a dedicated inflatable life raft, either stowed below in a tough bag, or up on deck in a canister. Life rafts need to be serviced every year, and cost a bomb … and from what I’ve been reading, are not anywhere near 100% reliable, especially after a few months in the sun. They sometimes don’t inflate, and sometimes leak badly once inflated. If we’re going to be spending a bunch of money, I’m thinking it might be better to get a hard dinghy that converts into a lifeboat – something like the Portland Pudgy. Nothing to inflate, nothing to leak, a more robust tender than an inflatable would be, and would also hold its value.

Tuesday 12th August

We’re on the way to pick up Jon and Helen from Denver! They are going to be with us for three weeks, as we journey down through Colorado, Utah, Nevada and maybe a bit of Arizona. We’ve been looking forward to them joining us, it’s going to be rad. Hopefully lots of hiking, biking and adventure, as well as seeing some of the most dramatic scenery in the USA.

Got up early this morning – before the dawn – and watched the sun come up over the mountains, burning off the wisps of mist on the lake. I keep saying it, but I love early morings. As Henry David Thoreau says in his classic “Walden”, which I’m gradually working through,

“The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us; and for an hour, at least, some park of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day and night.”

The mind is fresh, with none of the half-finished threads of thought that collect during the day to distract from peacefully absorbing the surroundings. The fizz of mental activity has not yet begun and the body is (usually) well rested. I make a coffee, have a stretch, listen to other creatures waking up, and just watch the world.

Chickens and thunderstorms

August 9, 2014July 22, 2018 Chris TannerLeave a comment

After a long day of driving we pulled into North Platte to find somewhere to stay and something to eat. Ended up at a great little motel where we cleaned up, and then popped down the road to a Taco John’s for a quesadilla. The past few days we’ve not been cooking much, we’ve been eating breakfast in camp then snacking during the day, and eating out in the evenings. It’s not easy to find decent, healthy food on the road out here, so we’re going to do a shop tomorrow and start cooking again.

08-07 Grain elevator — An abandoned grain elevator

Thursday was another long day on the road – closing off our Nebraska experience and heading into Colorado. I was expecting to be driving through the same kind of open grassland landscapes that we saw when going east through South Dakota, the state just north of here, but the cornfields and agriculture in Nebraska extend a lot further west.

Chicken — Someone left a chicken at the rest area

The skies were awesome. Driving into Colorado we saw a huge thunderstorm ahead – from about 20 miles away, the beast covered over a quarter of the horizon. The clouds were changing every minute as the storm developed. It looked pretty menacing. Not sure if we were heading into the belly of a full-on mid-west summer tornado, we flipped the radio on to get a weather update. Sure enough, the music was interrupted regularly by storm warning broadcasts. The storm was due to pass south of us by a few miles, with winds of up to 65 mph forecast, and golf ball sized hailstones being reported.

We cut through the trailing corner of the storm, and got our fair share of wind and rain before we popped out the other side for the final run into Denver. Driving straight through the city, we headed up into the Golden Gate Canyon State Park to look for a campsite. The site in the State Park was fully booked, but the ranger directed us down the road a short way to a National Forest site which still had a few places free. I’m sensing the outdoorsy and adventure vibe here – much like Montana and Wyoming – lots of cars and pickups with high-end mountain bikes on the back. Not so many kayaks or boats though. I think it’s going to be a bit harder to find free camp sites, so we may have to plan a bit more and book ahead.

Friday was a nice leisurely day, hanging around camp, tidying up the van, and making an excursion to a local library just down the road for Rose to do some stuff online. It feels a little strange to be right in the middle of beautiful mountain country and not walking, biking or getting out at all but it’s just nice to be stopped still for a while, recovering from a few long days of driving.