Day 6 and On,,,,,,Rob and Cheryl’s Gigantic NARVO – April to June 2016

Leg 2 of Rob and Cheryl's NARVO Day 6 to Day 13 

Day 6 – April 19^th, Denver, Colorado to Moab, Utah (292miles/1877miles) – Contrasts on the Colorado


We decided to leave Denver early to beat the commuter traffic through the city on our way out of town. Up at 5.15pm and heading out by 6am. It was a bit tricky finding our way through Denver in the dark and with traffic flying by us on the freeways. Nevertheless we made it and were soon beginning the long uphill haul out of Denver and into the Rockies on the I-70.

Snow was threatening and we were getting dire warnings about icy roads and snowy conditions, but I figured we were going uphill at about 40mph, how dangerous could it be? Amazingly, about 20 miles in, the weather cleared, the roads were dry and the drive was gorgeous. We had been recommended a breakfast stop about 1.5 hours along in a town called Dillon. After a bit of searching we found the place only to find it was closed for renovations, so we ended up with breakfast in the RV in the parking lot.

The drive through the Rockies was breathtaking. At times we had the railroad, river, cycle path and road all travelling together. Once we started coming down, after the Vale Pass, the scenery began to change dramatically from pine covered mountains to massive treeless, sandy looking mountain formations. 

We passed through the Glenwood Canyon which was spectacular and then we were out into flatlands of Utah, which sometimes felt like we were in a fascinating moonscape. We stopped at the Utah State Visitors Information Centre en route to pick up maps and headed south to Moab our destination for three nights. We are now in a very nice RV park relishing the idea of being in one place for three nights. The scenery in this part of the world is dramatic and very different. Moab seems to be a mecca for mountain bikers, off roaders, ATVers along with hikers. It seems to be a fun place.

We have just met our RV park neighbors, Steve and Peggy from the Adirondacks, driving a gorgeous 40 foot diesel motorhome. Steve is an ex airline pilot and “doesn’t miss flying because he enjoys piloting his plane without wings”. They have been motorhoming for 10 years and have visited all 48 of the US states and tell us that this spot is the best they have found anywhere. So I guess we lucked out. 

Tomorrow we are looking forward to exploring the Arches National Park and then the highlight of my day will be to give the RV a wash down at the local wash bay – she is encrusted with days’ worth of grunge and demanding to be made clean. 

Day 7 - April 20th, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah - Breathtakingly beautiful

I've got a problem, because I'm going to run out of superlatives. We were told, "you must go to the Arches" and it's true. I won't go on and on other than to say there were actually one or two times when I literally did feel a bit breathless. The variety, shapes and sizes of the rock formations are just too wonderful and leaves one wondering how they came into being. My eyes glaze over when the geologists get going, but suffice to say, God has made some fearsomely wonderful parts of His creation. 





We visited 5 or 6 of the main arches, did some walking, but could have done much more and were ready for a break around 3pm. We decided to take the RV in for a wash and oh my goodness, like a well groomed horse, she's been driving better ever since. 

When we got back to the campsite I did a few odd jobs on the RV and then around 6pm decided to take a bike ride down the bike path to the not so far Colorado river where we'd gathered you could ride along the river. It looks like the bike path goes for about 25 miles along the river and what we saw was once again very beautiful. We're realising that one could easily spend a week or 10 days in Moab, there is so much going on in this place. 

Tomorrow we are going to Canyonlands National Park, which those in the know say is better than the Arches. We're debating about getting up early to watch the sunrise over Dead Horse Canyon, which is reputed to be a must see event. We're feeling a bit over stimulated right now. Must go to sleep.....watch this space. 

Day 8 – April 21^st, Canyonlands NP, Dead Horse Point SP, Moab, Utah,(175/2062miles) - Island in the Sky

We took a tip from yesterday and set out early, so as to beat the crowds. We drove about 30 miles to the Visitors Centre at the entrance of Canyonlands NP and of course there were many folks ahead of us. There were even line ups at the “restrooms” which, in keeping with the times, are of course all unisex.

Why Island in the Sky? We were up on a high plateau at about 6000 feet, surrounded by the Green River valley coming in from the north and the Colorado coming in from the East. This created stunning lookouts and vistas as we travelled to the edges of the Island throughout the day. 

Once we had our maps and directions we took a ride to Grandview which is stunning in its size and grandeur as layer upon layer of mountains, as far as the eye could see have been cut away by the Colorado and Green rivers over time. Grandview is aptly named, but not for the reason you would imagine. The Colorado and Green rivers merge about 20 miles further downriver and what we were seeing were the two river valleys approaching each other. Originally the Colorado prior to merging with the Green used to be called the Grand River, hence the name Grandview.  To get to the grandest view we had to walk a mile along the edge and each turn and curve necessitated another photo break. Always in search of the perfect light and angle. It was a great start to our day.

The rest of the day was spent visiting various Canyonlands highlights. Every area was different, but always impressive. Our bodies are now reminding us that we did too much walking yesterday and have repeated the error today.

We ended the day at Dead Horse Point State Park, just down the road from Canyonlands NP. The legend goes that back in the day local cowboys rounded up the wild horses in the area and corralled them on a little peninsula which is connected to the mainland by a 30 metre narrow bridge of land. Once they had the horses corralled and sealed off they took the best of the lot and left the rest to die of thirst, in sight of the Colorado River 2000 feet below – probably a rural (opposite to urban?) legend, but nevertheless makes for a good story.

We had heard that watching the sun set over Dead Horse Point is to die for – excuse the pun. And so it was. We parked the RV at an RV picnic site, a first for me, had a nice BBQ enjoying one of God’s greatest views and then wandered over to the view point to watch the sun going down. It was a special way to end the day.

As we pulled out of our RV picnic site we saw a young couple who we’d met at the view point, walking down the road to the Visitor’s Centre 2- 3 miles away. It was getting dark, so we offered them a ride which they were glad to accept. Got chatting of course, now we’re bosom email buddies, swapping travel tips and so on. It turns out they are travelling to the same place as us tomorrow, so another contact has been made in the Fellowship of the Road.

We also met a young guy Mark who we’d shared a bit of view space with at Grand View and then bumped into him later in the day. I walked the extra mile with him when Cher went back to the RV as it was hot and she was tired. He is a finance guy with the Iowa government, taking a few days off. He looked lonely, so we chatted along the way. We have noticed way too many folks travelling on their own – one wonders what their stories are and why they travel alone. Another great mystery to ponder on as we lay our heads down for another night. Tomorrow is reputed to be one of the most beautiful drives in the USA.

Day 9 April 22^nd, Moab to Mt. Carmel Utah ( 331/2393 miles) – Diversity Rules

Today we knew we had a long distance to cover along with much to see en route, so we were up at crack of dawn and hit the road by 6am.

 

  To try and summarise today’s travels I would have to say that the word diversity stands out. We travelled through at least 5 distinct types of geology with correspondingly diverse flora and fauna. At the outset on the I-70 we could have been travelling on the moon – large grey mounds and sometimes massive grey hills and mountains. Ugly but impressive. Following that we drove through the Capitol Reef NP characterised by massive outbreaks of what looked like volcanic rock. 

We stopped there at the Visitor’s Centre and listened to a volunteer geologist explain the make up of the area. It was pretty interesting, but despite him having used words of two syllables or less we left with our minds a fog of tectonic plates, stratified layers of sedimentation and erosion. And we learned that the one sedimentary level originates from Virginia and Maryland – go figure. I left with a revived respect for geologists and their ability to cook up theories.

We continued on from there and climbed 4000 feet through a mountain range, peaking at 9600 feet before descending some pretty steep hills, taxing the braking system and our nerves. 

On the far side of the mountains we entered the mighty town of Boulder. I joked to Cher that we might find a boulder or two in the area. Wow was I correct, but in spades. From Boulder on we entered the Escalante National Monument Area, consisting of massive outbreaks of granite looking rock as far as the eye could see. It was impressive on a grand scale. This is apparently the least developed area of the USA. We saw perhaps one hundredth of the total area. It is being kept as total wilderness.

Our next stop was Bryce Canyon NP, which we’d been recommended to pop into. We were not disappointed. The little we saw focused on “hoodoos” which are tall orange sandstone rock columns. In Bryce they appear in spades, literally forests of them. We did a walk along the rim of the canyon, which was unfenced and very gravelly, but straight down. We nearly had caniptions every time a small child got close to the edge, imagining of course our own precious chiddles sliding down into the depths below. Ughh – doesn’t bear thinking about. The overall impression of Bryce Canyon was magnificent.

 

 People along the way - We bumped into lots of people at Bryce, sitting on the shuttle and walking to the various viewpoints. Everyone has their travel tips to share and of course we soak them up as we are happy to steal anyone else’s good ideas. Two couples confided in us that they too are considering taking up RVing and “how do we like it?” We were able to put their minds at rest on that score.

We ended our driving day at 6pm with a final 70 miles of driving to our resting place at a humble little RV park in Mt. Carmel about 20 minutes’ drive from Zion NP. En route we travelled through the Red Canyon, consisting of rich red sandstone mountains and arches. It would be safe to say that by this stage of the day we were suffering from intense sensory overload. I totally agree with the folks who recommended today’s route that this was a drive not to be missed. I am running out of superlatives, but tomorrow is  Zion NP and we have been told this is a must see and “the best”. 

Day 10 April 23^rd – Mt. Carmel to Zion Park, Utah ( 33/2426miles) – Mormon Mountain Memories

Today we slept in and had a nice relaxed breakfast before departing our RV park in Mount Carmel and heading for Zion NP. Someone had recommended the home made pies to be found in Carmel Junction. Cher popped in to buy some and of course realised that we still think like South Africans. For us pies are meat pies whereas of course in North America they generally refer to dessert pies. Drat – we were looking forward to those meat pies.

On entering Zion NP we were given very detailed instructions about going through “the Tunnel”. It turns out it is a mile long tunnel with no lights. They have a one way traffic system, so one just has to drive down the middle of the tunnel with headlights on and go for it. It was fun and was followed by a very steep drop down into the Canyon. I’ll be amazed if the RV makes it out of here tomorrow.

Zion has not disappointed. The whole place basically does not allow cars to drive on the roads. You arrive, park your vehicle and go wherever you want to in the park by shuttle. It would be chaos if they didn’t do that. So the day has been dominated by seeing the mountains from the foot of the valley as we followed the Virgin River along. We have been incredibly impressed with the organisation of the National Parks wherever we’ve been, but Zion notched up a couple of extra points in my book when they have paved the roads in the park with brown tar to tone in with the look of the surrounding mountains. Now that’s what I call going the extra mile.  

The area was originally settled by Mormons and they did a wonderful job of naming all the main peaks with biblical names, so the whole place has a real Biblical feel to it. We decided to start at the top of the Canyon and work our way down. There is a popular hike called The Narrows which takes one through a very narrow canyon following the river up, in the water. However when we got there, they had closed the Narrows due to the risk of flash floods and the river did indeed seem to be flowing fast and furious. We spent the rest of the day meandering down the valley, enjoying the magnificent views set in an azure blue sky.

People along the Way – Lo and behold who should we bump into but Tom and Doris who we had met on Day 7 at the Arches NP. They were the couple who are matching our itinerary and timing virtually all the way up to Seattle. Amidst great celebration we agreed to potentially meet for supper in the nearby town of Springdale.

Tomorrow we are on our way to the Grand Canyon for two days. We wonder if by this time we will have any capacity to take in any more Canyoning. I suspect the Granddaddy of all of them will not disappoint.

Day 11th April 24th – Zion Park, Utah to Grand Canyon, Arizona ( 272/2698miles) – Time Stood Still

Contrary to my misgivings, we made it easily out of the Canyon and our initial goal for the Day (Sunday) was to find a 9am church service in a local town within 50 miles or so of our departure. We prayed the Lord would help us find a nice service. Kanab in Utah and Fredonia in Arizona just over the State Line looked like reasonable sized blobs on the map so we figured we’d find an early service there. Well when we got there we didn’t find anything at Kanab or Fredonia other than Mormon which we figured we’d pass on. On inspecting the map we realised we could reconfigure our route by going via Page in Arizona instead of our planned route. Page was about 70 miles away, so we figured we’d catch an 11am service and we prayed again that the Lord would help us find a good church.

Well it turned out to be an interesting route, much of it extremely remote. We got to an information desk near Page around 10.30am and enquired about church services. The guide, said that because the town of Page was designed from scratch around the hydro electric dam all of the churches were given land side by side along the same street, so it would be easy to cruise down the road and pick and choose service times and even our flavor and style. We were thankful it would be so easy and prayed again that the Lord would help us find a nice service. 

Well we got to the street in question at around 10.55am and very quickly found that every church in Page is not only on the same street, but they also have their services at 10am, so we’d missed them all by one hour. Our hopes were dashed and we were about to get back on the road, but decided to double check. On doing so we found the Baptist church service actually started at 10.40am, so I said to Cher “let’s just catch the second half of the Baptist service”. So in we wandered at 11.05am, to find the parking lot only a quarter full and the sanctuary empty. On enquiring the folks said well it was only 10.05am so the service was only starting in 35 minutes. It turned out that Arizona does not do daylight saving time, so we had actually gained an hour and it was actually only 10.05am in Arizona. Because we still had a long way to go, we didn’t want to wait till the Baptists got going so we ended up at the United Methodist Church and enjoyed a very different kind of service, in a church which particularly caters to RVers right down to having water and electricity hook ups for RVs in their parking lot together with a group of “Nomad RVers” who travel to churches doing volunteer work in the local community. We thought the Lord was having a good chuckle at the joke he’d played on us in giving us an extra hour in this day and then to cap it all a church service with an RV flavour.

The rest of the drive to Grand Canyon was interesting because much of the road travelled through the Navajo Nation Reservation. It was incredibly desolate and much of the time we felt like we were travelling through a third world country. Things looked pretty basic and broken down. Having said that we stopped at a trading post and Cher went in while I dozed and found some hand woven blankets starting at $300 all the way up to $15,000. Yes, $15k that’s not a typo.

So we are now settled in our campsite at GC an enjoying the fact that we’ll be here for three nights. It feels good to be staying still for a while. We have been dreaming of visiting this place for 25 years – the moment has finally arrived.

Day 12 -13, April 25 - 26^th, Trailer Village, Grand Canyon, Arizona – Living the Dream

We were horrified to find our first day in GC, that the weather was awful. The temperatures ranged between -4 to plus 11 degrees. Along with wind, snow, sleet and rain, it was pretty miserable doing the grand tour of the GC. Nevertheless we were only here for two days, so we decided to press on and do what we could. Four layers of clothing later, we embarked on our explorations.

We started at the Yavapai Lodge where they have free wifi, so stopped in there for a short email fix. While there we bumped into a mid 30s or so French couple who are in the final few months of a 2.5 year, 50,000 mile Tip of Argentina to Alaska cross country road trip. They have travelled up the west side of South America through Central America and now have a three month visa in the USA and will end their trip in Canada, after doing an Alaska cruise. They have fitted out a Landrover which apparently meets all their needs. In their broken English they called it a “motorhome”. With that kind of a cool travel adventure notched up I reckon they can call it whatever they like.

We, along with a few other souls braved the arctic conditions and did a bus shuttle tour of many of the major lookouts. The sun was coming and going, so it was good but could have been a lot better. Many people were obviously as surprised as we were by the weather and many were wandering around in shorts and sandals etc. Brrr. It made cold just to look at them. We came back “home” earlyish as I had a bunch of little jobs to do in and around the RV and at least it was out of the wind.

Today, the weather started off cold, but it was sunny and no wind. We had decided that today was going to be our day to walk down into the Canyon, so once again we layered up and set off to give it a shot. While walking down to the access point, we stumbled onto a Ranger giving a group an orientation tour. We joined them and he was extremely interesting and humorous.

By the time we got started on the downhill route it was a bit later and warmer. As we dropped down into the Canyon, we were out of the wind and the temperature warmed up. We had decided to only go as far as Rest Stop #1, one and half miles down, because we were very conscious that we had to walk back up and that might be the moment of truth. We had a lovely walk down and gradually shed layers as the temperature really warmed up. 

We had lunch at a nice lookout area just beyond Rest Stop #1. As we arrived there we were greeted by two volunteer rangers who wanted to know how far we were planning on going and how much water we had – by then it was mid-day and they knew we had to retrace our steps but this time with gravity against us. They are part of a Volunteer Rescue Prevention team – their job is to stop folks like us from attempting dumb things – another illustration of the commitment to excellence that we have experienced in all of the National Parks so far.

The walk back to the top was strenuous, but we had lots of fellow sufferers to commiserate with and keep our spirits up. Along the way we met a bunch of folks who had been doing various types of camping down at the bottom on the Colorado River, or who had just completed a six day river rafting, including rapids trip, and were now doing a 7 hour walk out of the Canyon from the bottom to the top. The trip included all meals and equipment needed – all they needed were their clothes. Most nights they slept out under the stars. The one guy had done this three times and said it is a “must do” trip. Another thing to add to our bucket list. Lord please give us time.

We ended the day doing a different shuttle loop which we hadn’t done yesterday and with clear sunshine we enjoyed much better views and outlooks, so it was a great way to end our stay at Grand Canyon. We could easily have spent a week here and still not have touched sides.

We are now settled back “home” resting up and getting ready for our next leg. Tomorrow is Vegas and the bright lights. We’ve heard without the gambling it’s a fun place, with lots to do, so are looking forward to seeing what it offers.