A Bite in (or is it out of?) the Big Apple

It was a blitzkrieg of an evening but I had the chance to go to "the city" in New York.  I happened to be in Queens for some work and had one evening free to do something.  I have a motto to never miss out on an opportunity if at all possible.  I had not been to Queens and asked several people before my trip, during my flight there, and once landed about things to see in Queens.  They all said the same thing, "nothing."  I couldn't believe how unenthusiastic people were - even about their own borough.  When you research Queens interestingly most items are NOT in Queens so maybe Queeners (?) have just accepted the facts.  The two most notable items actually in Queens are Flushing Meadows (1964 World Fair and more famous is a scene from Men In Black) and the Mets stadium.   

Let me back the horse up just a bit speaking of the flight over.  I have flown a million times to Newark and JFK but I had never flown into LaGuardia.  The flight route went from Atlanta to LaGuardia and it was a beautiful sunny day.  The first excitement (after the disappointment of a delayed flight) was the fact that Woody Harrelson was on the flight.  He came in late to the plane in first class but did sign a few autographs for the smaller kids.  My question is...why do smaller kids know Woody Harrelson?  Isn't he in mostly R rated movies?  I guess Hunger Games are for a younger crowd but not this young of kids. 

The approach took us low right over the Statue of Liberty, past Manhattan, the bridges, the Mets stadium and I could have spit on the tower (just for you Dad) in Flushing Meadows.  It was great, although I now had seen everything anyone thought was of interest to Queens and I hadn't even officially arrived. 

Since everyone was ba-humbug about Queens my friend and I decided to not waste a perfectly good evening and run down to "the city" or the Big Apple.  We grabbed a metro card from the hotel (much cheaper this way) and headed out on a blitz adventure.  After taking a bus through Queens to the trains we made it downtown just at dark.

Yep, we just missed the first train into the city...but it was a pretty wait!

First stop...some tasty New York style Pizza near Times Square and the Broadway district.  The place - John's Pizza.  There was a serious wait but that's what you get when you go to a good place, right across from the plays on a Friday night at 7pm.  It was definitely worth the wait however as the pizza was very good.  I love a good pizza.  This place was large with some personality and also 4 brick ovens going at once.  Wow! It was hopping. 

Yum...look at those pizzas

Next stop, now that my tummy was full and we could think better, we walked around the Big Apple seeing all the lights.  There weren't a ton of people around and the weather was half way decent (although the next day it turned FRIGID).  You can definitely tell what movies are going to come out next because of the huge billboards.  A striking observation is that as you look at all the glitz in a truly iconic American place (it is where the ball drops after all) shown around the world and everything you see is NOT American.  Toshiba, Hankook, Xinhua (with symbols and all).  It sort of made me sad. 

It was time for more food!  We hit Ellen's Stardust Diner right off of Time Square.  This is a really family friendly fun place.  They serve real diner food (which is much more American than the signage in Times Square) and all the servers sing.  And I mean sing!  They just continue to rotate through signing Broadway hits in a fun and interactive manner.  They indicated that in just the past year 5 of the servers are now on Broadway singing.   That's cool.  It is really neat to be so close to the performers in a relaxed atmosphere.  You don't have to worry about what your kids hear here either...I think it would be a great place to introduce kids to Broadway.  We had a tasty milkshake before heading back out.

The final stop was a walk to Radio City Music Hall.  I was bummed because the Rockettes didn't start their Christmas shindig for another 3 days (just after I left from my trip).  That would have been neat to see.  But, I did get to see Radio City decked out in Christmas lights.

So, not too bad of a blitz bite in (or out of) the Big Apple. We did that all in about 6 hours!   

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Fish On! in Washington

For the past couple of years I have been fortunate enough to head up to the homeland (well, one of my homelands) and go fishing for a weekend.  This homeland happens to be Tri-Cities, Washington where the mighty Columbia , Snake and Yakima Rivers all meet.  When people drive by the Tri-Cities they quite honestly don't think much of the city.  In fact, most people really poo-poo the whole region.  It used to really bother me growing up.  I'm okay with it now because the city is growing a lot anyways and more people means congestion and this hidden gem being found.  I realize there is a lot of sagebrush, rattlesnakes, and ticks (see picture below).  But hey,...my parents complain if you have to wait for more than 2 cars at an intersection!  It's a great place with lots of water activities and fertile soil thanks to Mt. St. Helen's blowing up a few years (decades) ago.  Heck, there's even deer and some really cool big barges that go up and down the river!

 An oil barge on the Columbia River

A few deer besides ticks and rattlers!

In October the weather was mild, sunny, and beautiful.  One of the fun things I always remember about this part of the world is that in the fall cobwebs float by all the time.  As a kid I didn't care for them, especially when walking home from school! But now, I think they are fascinating as they float and shimmer in mid-air.  I have never encountered this phenomenon elsewhere.  Well, the cobwebs were floating by all weekend! 

We fished not far from where I grew up on the Columbia River.  Most people go up to what is called "the Reach" at this time of year so you can catch a really, really big king salmon.  We've done that in past years but it is a long (but beautiful) boat ride up to the free-flowing part of the river and there tends to be a gazillion people.  Really, even in the small town with no more than 2 cars at an intersection.  Instead, everyone is out in the same small area of the river.  So, we took a more laid back approach and hit McNary Dam.  The fish aren't as big but they are more plentiful.

Fishing was really good.  We caught many fish each day.  Steelhead and salmon tend to be a one or two per day sort of event so it was great to reel in a lot!  The only problem is that we had a few issues with the pole setup and had to let several go (ok, we lost them but hey you can't land everyone of these bad big boys) on the first day.   Thereafter we did much better.  The freezers are full.

Ya!  One of the many...

Fishing goes on until dark and the sunsets on McNary Dam are truly spectacular.  I've put several in the picture gallery for viewing pleasure or purchase (CLICK HERE -SCROLL to "UNITED STATES"). 

Trilobites and Topaz

TRILOBITES

There's a lot of T's in that title!  My friends and I went on a local adventure to one of the least populated places in the US and if you can believe it, it is right here in Utah!

This journey started by traveling about 3.5 hours southwest of Salt Lake City out into the sticks.  Well, I'd say sticks but there aren't even many sticks out there!  There is a great big lake - Lake Sevier with an oasis type view through the dessert.  The one cool feature along the ride is the "shoe tree."  This is a dead tree along the road that passerby's leave their shoes.  It's kind of funny and neat all at the same time.  If you take the time to look there are a ton of varieties from tennis shoes to red high heels.  It's definitely a unique feature along the rather boring drive.  As I did some quick research I found that there are actually a few of these shoe trees in Utah.

The Shoe Tree

Driving past Delta, Utah about 30 miles and then taking a well maintained but gravel road another 20 miles you end up at the U-Dig fossils.  While there are apparently a few dig sites this site seems to be the best.  The curators (if that is what you call them) are an extremely friendly husband and wife team and they provide you with buckets and hammers.  Even better is that after you collect your finds they polish and cut them for you! 

The Vista from the dig site

The U-Dig Office

When we first arrived there was a family from Switzerland.  They had skipped Zion's, came straight from Bryce and slept in their campervan just outside the gates to be the first ones in for the day!  They spent a total of four hours chipping away.  The two young girls seemed very excited about their finds.  I'll have to admit that I would not put this on my foreign trip agenda (there is just so much driving in the desert and out of the way) but we met more foreigners and apparently the site has a ton of foreigners during the week.  I would have never thought!  At the same time I guess it is pretty cool to find fossils ~500 million years old - that's old!

Anyway, my friends and I scaled back to a two hour session which we deemed plenty long.  The site takes a back hoe and digs out of the side of a shale rock area which has a ton of trilobites in it.  You simply go up and start hammering away at rock.  You can get out some good aggression this way!  Maybe it was my too strong of hammering but I seemed to only find half of fossils or no fossils at all.  My friend, on the other hand, seemed to crack a rock and find several trilobites each time.  I found that walking along the dig area and turning over rocks was more productive for me. This may not be as exciting as Indiana Jones archeology but it's fun to play an archeologist for a morning! 

Indiana Jones' for the day!

Way nice curator measuring my find

So here is the funny part...novice TrekkingTrego, I, found two different very large trilobites.  I thought they were cool because they were big but apparently they were some of the biggest found this summer.  The name of this fine fossil is Asaphiscus and it measures 2.5" long!  Typically they are only 1.875" long so mine is huge!  Apparently they are worth up to 150$US.  I'm not sure where the market is for these types of items so I'm not sure how to realize that amount other than to brag to people about it when I show it to them. 

The big trilobite!

All in all we had a good time.  The curators are just so friendly and amazingly helpful.  Its easy enough for any age child to do it so if your child is interested you should go for it - just know that it is a seriously long and boring drive.

TOPAZ

To round out the day and since we were already out in the sticks, I mean near Delta, we drove over to Topaz.  Topaz is one of the ten interment camps for the Japanese during WWII.  Online there is indications of a museum and that parts have been renovated or rebuilt.  I'm here to tell you that it hasn't happened yet.  I was so glad this wasn't the only reason we drove out here or we would not have been happy campers.  After driving through the weed field (literally) for the Topaz site we found on the far corner a nice monument with a little information. 

The monument

The historical site, or lack thereof...

It was a stark reminder that we take for granted many freedoms and beliefs now days.  I hope that someday this site is restored to a more historic area where we can all be reminded of our past and how we can learn from it.

Flaming Gorge Wyoming 2013

In August I was lucky enough to head down to Flaming Gorge for a long weekend.  I went with one of my college roommates, Kay, her family and another family.  It was a great time even though the Wyoming weather was not the most cooperative (but when is it ever?).

The northern side of Flaming Gorge, Buckboard Marina, is out in the sticks where the antelope roam along with sagebrush, dust and jack rabbits.  The campground itself is really quite barren but the spaces are big and the bathrooms and showers are nice.  The Russian olive trees (if you can find one) provide a little shade (sort of) in the heat of the day.  What the trees are really good for is tying down tents and things so they don’t blow away! 

Barren Campground

Antelope roaming...

 Actually there were more than antelope - how about this lost river otter?

One great advantage of Flaming Gorge is that most people go here to fish so there really isn’t much competition for other water sports – which is drastically different than most places in Utah.  The downside is that you do deal with the wind and the weather.  Each day we were sadly blown off the water by about 3pm and as early as noon.  The water is pretty brisk so a wetsuit is advised.  But, when the weather was nice it was a great place to be!

Glass water to ski or wakeboard on

Waterskiing, wakeboarding, knee boarding and surfing were all had by everyone and it was fun.  Max was able to stand up on a knee board while Bridget was getting better every minute on the slalom. Blake was able to do flips and all sorts of crazy tricks on the wakeboard.  Everyone else has a ways to go to catch up to him!  I even tried some surfboarding.  As I’m a bit balance challenged I didn’t do very good but had fun regardless.  Thanks to Abby and Mo for being energetic teachers. 

Blake showing us up on the wakeboard with a flip

While camping I learned a few new tricks.  One is to play glow stick "bocce ball".  After dark you take 3 glow sticks and connect them to create the target ring.  Then, you take 2 glow sticks to make a smaller ring for each individual.  You throw the bigger ring as a target and each person tries to throw their ring the closest to the bigger ring.  It looks cool and all levels and ages of athleticism can do it.  That isn’t to say that skill isn’t involved which apparently I didn’t possess.  It was lots of fun.

 

Another fun thing to do is take pie makers and cook biscuits in them.  I’ve cooked lots of things but never biscuits.  Throw some honey butter on them and it is darn tasty! 

I made some new friends and if things work out maybe I’ll be invited again next year –with hopefully better weather!

Yellowstone 2013 Highlights

In July I went on my family annual vacation to Yellowstone.  Sadly, times are changing and many of the extended family doesn’t come due to distance, cost or just other opportunities.  And, while I greatly miss those fun times with cousins, aunts and uncles it’s always great to be in Yellowstone.  Maybe someday I’ll blog about some of the funny standard (and not so standard) things we’ve done over the years.

Alas, back to present times.  I myself haven’t always made it to Yellowstone but that being said I am officially an expert.  Well, not officially but as my friend Jennie said, “I know a heck of a lot more than those rangers.”  It’s true.  Having gone well over 100 times to Yellowstone over 43 years I know a thing or two about the intricacies of Yellowstone.  On the flip side there are several things I haven’t ever done and I was determined to do them this visit.  So, here’s a recap of some new things I did in Yellowstone.

Great Fountain

I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this geyser before (ok, so the rangers have me on this one).  It’s located roadside on the Firehole Lake Drive.  It goes off every 12 hours +/- 2 hours.  That’s the kicker part.  You might end up waiting 4 hours for it to go off.  We were lucky because it went off just 45 minutes after we got there. 

The geyser goes off for almost a full 60 minutes.  It spurts for 5-10 minutes and then rests for 5-10 minutes and does that 3-5 times.  The wind was slightly blowing so we positioned ourselves to not get hit by steam and waited.  Then, the eruptions started and just then the wind switches and we were totally getting hit by geyser mist.  It was kind of neat but, it made for crappy viewing with all the steam in our faces so we had to move around a bit!

While waiting for the next spew we met this Taiwanese couple who worked at the same company my Dad worked for for 30 years.  They had a great time chatting in their limited English.  I jumped in when I found that they were from Taiwan (having recently been there).  They were nice folks.

Great Fountain Taiwanese Friends

 

After the 3^rd fountain spew interestingly everyone left and it was just us.  It was great to sit and watch it alone and wonder why everyone else left – the biggest spews were at the end!  Definitely a cool thing I’ll do again.  It blows Old Faithful away!

Morning Glory Pool
Sad, but true.  When I was young it was always too long of a walk and everyone kept talking about how it didn’t look as pretty as it did long ago so it wasn’t worth the walk.  Well, now it’s been 40+ years and I’m sure it isn’t looking as good as it did back then but I need to see this iconic Yellowstone pool especially since its named after the stupid noxious weed that I can’t get rid of in my yard. 

The walk out was really easy and it didn’t seem like a full 1.4mile as advertised.  Maybe that’s because there are geysers and pools as you go.  On my way I stopped and saw Giant Geyser go off.  I don’t see that one go off very often but is one of the biggest to see and rather neat. 

I got to the pool and it was quite pretty.  Yes, I know there used to be more colors and such but the yellows and oranges are brilliant.  They look a heck of a lot prettier than the white flower weeds in my yard I had to admit!  It was worth the hike and now I can say I saw it before it changes even more!  I had to wait some time because the first guy who took my picture for me cut me in half.  Really?  Anyway, the second picture turned out much better – thanks random guy who took my picture for me!

Actually at Morning Glory - finally!

Riverside Geyser

On my walk back from Morning Glory I stopped and saw the Riverside Geyser go off.  It is supposedly the most predictable geyser going off every 5.1 hours +/- 30 minutes.  Ya, it was outside the 30 minute window and I had to wait the whole time in the hot sun!  But, it did go off and is rather beautiful spewing over the Firehole River.  I didn’t see the rainbow it produced but it was worth the wait.

Riverside Geyser

Fishing Soda Butte Creek

Soda Butte Creek is on the northeastern corner of Yellowstone.  We have recently started going up into that region more often to see grizzly, bear and wolves.  This year it was just too hot for all the animals but the bison.  To try and make the trip a bit more interesting my Dad and I did a short 30 minute fishing expedition on the side of the road.  Success!  I was able to catch 2 pan fry size fish (no, I didn’t keep them).  The biting flies, horse flies, mosquitos, anything else that flies and bites were really tough though so I was glad to have a little success before we took off.  The water was rather muddy due to a previous rainstorm so I’ll count my blessings that I caught something.  Maybe another day I’ll go in and attempt to catch a few more fish.

Definitely a Pan Fryer

So, there you have it.  I found a few new things to do and did them.  I think the only other “major” thing I haven’t done is hiked in and camped at Shoshone.  Maybe someday.   There will be more adventures in Yellowstone and more good memories created for sure.  I have pictures posted from other things I did in Yellowstone HERE. 

Zion National Park

Ah, I love summer!  I went down to Zion National Park in Southern Utah with my niece, Katie for three days.  It was a great little road trip with lots of sights to see.

The trip started on Sunday with a half day trip. Surprisingly, the line into the park and parking itself was not bad for an end of June weekend.  They indicate that parking is typically completely full in the park from about 10am-3pm.  I didn’t find that to be the case on this day which was nice.  It was a hot one at 100F. We took the shuttle up the scenic drive and did two short hikes.

Weeping Rock

Ok, this is really more of a short jaunt than a hike.  It’s like a 10 minute walk along a paved path up to the cliff overhang where you can get refreshing water blown on you when the wind is right – and it makes it a bit tough to take a picture.  But, it feels good and the view down the valley is nice.  There happened to be a deer right below the walking area and people were going crazy, especially these French individuals (there were a TON of French this weekend for some reason).  It was a small, sickly looking mule deer and there are a ton of them in the park so we didn’t waste much time and moved on.

View from Weeping Rock

Emerald Pools

There are three pools.  The lower pool is an easy 1 mile walk.  The middle pools are a little tougher to get to (especially since there were trail detours going on) and an additional 0.5 mile.  The upper pool is yet another 0.5 miles up and harder to navigate.  Now, none of these are tough trails to follow or do but the first trail is a paved walkway while the last is more uphill stepping over rocks and a narrow trail.  The upper pool was definitely worth it.  There were only a couple of people there and it is right at the base of a sheer cliff so it was much more impressive and definitely worth the extra walking. 

After these two hikes Katie and I were famished so we grilled some brats before driving east through the tunnel (very neat) and hiked one last trail.  One of the neat things was that there were a ton of birds and deer out.  We saw both brilliant red and striking blue birds throughout our trip.  We saw scrawny deer (in addition to the one at weeping rock) but we also saw some healthy looking bucks as well.

Canyon Overlook Trail

I had never hiked this trail but it is one of the neater trails.  I would suggest hiking it in the morning rather than the evening if you want any decent pictures. We were staring right at the sun setting which was pretty, but was bad for any sort of pictures.  There is a short steep climb before leveling out for about a 1 mile walk where you can see into slot canyons from above and then into the main valley of Zion’s.   It was a great easy hike!

See, the sun was in the wrong spot - but you get an idea of how cool the view is.

Narrows
After sleeping on Katie’s floor my body was a bit creaky (maybe I should say creakier) but we headed off to hike the Narrow’s from the Temple of Sinawava.  You take the shuttle bus up to the last stop and then walk a mile along a sandy paved path going up and down hills to the starting point. 

We started at about 10am and while there were several hikers you could still find a little space between people.  On our way back it was like being in London’s Tubes during rush hour.  Ok, maybe not that bad but there were a lot of people!  The water was only calf deep typically so walking wasn’t too tough.   Maybe I should restate that.  It was calf deep for me (I’m rather tall).  Katie is on the shorter side (sorry Katie, but its true) and at times some of the crossings were pretty deep for her.  Being balance challenged, I was glad to have my walking sticks along the way as you are continually walking over rocks.  It wasn’t super hot outside either (the day turned cloudy and a wind storm came through keeping it cool) but with just wool socks and old tennis shoes my feet were never freezing.  I wouldn’t pay for the fancy neoprene socks and shoes unless the water was colder (they said it was like 60 degrees or something). 

We hiked up to the Orderville Slot Canyon (approx. 2 miles from the Temple entrance) and walked up that a ways.  There is a small 3 foot waterfall (again, easier for a taller person to navigate) to step over at the entrance and then it’s easy until you come to a debris area. We stopped at this point and turned around.  This is a great canyon because only a few people walk up it and the walls are much closer together – about 6 feet apart so you feel much more of that slot sheer canyon experience.   Don’t let the small waterfall deter you!

Ordervill Slot Canyon View

My knees were troublesome, and I’m old, so we walked just a bit farther up the Narrows as this is where the walls really start to come together before grabbing a bite to eat and heading back down. 

I was impressed by the older folks I saw navigating the river.  I was afraid some of them would break a hip but they were totally going for it!  We saw another guy puking his guts out about a mile upstream.  That didn’t look fun but it was a good reminder to drink LOTS of water – while at the same time DON’T drink river water– while it looks clean obviously there are other things in there! 

Kolob Canyon

The final day we drove up a 5 mile scenic drive at Kolob Canyon.   At the top is a 1 mile walk to a canyon overlook where you can see for miles.  I actually think that the viewpoint about 200 yards from the end has a better viewpoint so we ate our lunches there before heading back.

Kolob Canyon Viewpoint

All in all it was a great trip and activity packed.  We did see all of the major sites in the 48 hours we were there and I had a lot of fun (i.e. sore muscles, aches and pains) trying to keep up with my college aged niece.  

Check out the new pictures in the Photo Gallery!

Dead Horse State Park and Mesa Verde National Park

I recently went on a spontaneous trip down to Dead Horse State Park and Mesa Verde National Park.  While I have been to Dead Horse State Park within the last 5 years I hadn't been to Mesa Verde for over 20 years (gulp, that's a long time!).  A friend called me up late on Thursday night with the proposition and I had rearranged my schedule by Friday at noon to head on out.  It's great to be spontaneous sometimes!

It took a bit for the group of 6 to get started.  We kept having these issues of, "did you bring?" "who has?" and we either had 4 of them or else none of them.  I was laughing at the zerns we were taking. By the way, a zern is a word coined by Pat McManus many moons ago which is defined as taking exactly twice as much stuff as you need.  My family is at least a 2 zern family (meaning taking four times as much stuff as one needs). 

We eventually got on the road with at least a couple of zerns and made it to Dead Horse State Park at about 11pm.   I'm sure the people in the campground just loved it when we barreled in and set up our two large tents and blew up air mattresses.  I was actually pretty impressed with how quiet we were, especially considering the fact that the wind was whipping and dust and tents and such were blowing everywhere in the dark.  The funny thing was that we found the light switch for the covered table in the morning.  Gosh, that would have been way helpful. 

View of the Campground.  Small Trees with little shade so it gets HOT!

A few of us got up and headed down to Dead Horse Point.  This really is about the only thing at this state park but it is spectacular.  The canyon vista is over a large oxbow of the Colorado River creating a sight to behold.  The morning light was pretty good too.  You can check out the panoramic pictures here and all my best pictures from the trip.

After a scrumptious dutch oven breakfast pizza and before it got much hotter we broke camp and headed on a 3 hour drive to Mesa Verde.  It's not a hard drive but not really exciting either. 

One trick about Mesa Verde National Park is that its wise to get your tour tickets a day in advance during the high season.  The National Park service has a 3$ fee and caps the number of people per tour for many of the major cliff dwelling sites.  We chose Long House for the guided tour because its a lesser known area (i.e., fewer people on the tour) and you can actually go up inside the dwellings (unlike Cliff Palace).  We booked the first tour of the next morning and headed off to camp for another great dutch oven meal. 

All the flowers were in bloom! 

I'll admit, this group I went with are all great cooks and we did NOT go hungry.  We even had Dutch oven cheesecake one night.  Sadly we weren't hiking seriously so my eating intake didn't equate to my calorie expended.  Life goes on!

Long house was a 90 minute tour at the end of Wetherill Mesa.  Going on the first tour of the morning had some great advantages.  One of them being it was much cooler.  The second being you got some good photo ops because there weren't people already in the ruins. 

While Ranger Pete, our tour guide, didn't have a lot of answers for me (I don't know why I seem to ask the hard questions always) and I wonder how much of the talk was speculation it was interesting to learn more about these ancient people, how they lived and to actually crawl around in the same area.  We also walked to the Step House which is a self guided tour.  Between the two of them you get a pretty inclusive idea of the cliff dwellings in that area.  As a side note, my friends laughed at me as I needled (ok, maybe harassed is a better term) the ranger at Step house.  One of the "cool" items is to see a Navajo star.  Apparently the Navajo's came into the area later than the original dwellers and marked several spots by an X on the wall.  They were hard to find!  I was determined to find one and finally (phew) thanks to another lady we saw it.  

Step House

One ancient man's garbage is a modern man's treasure.

The Navajo star is an "X" in the left third center above a white polygon.

We then drove down Chapin Mesa and stopped at the Far View Sites and the Mesa overlook loop to look back into the Cliff Palace area.  I really liked the Far View Sites (unmarked left turn going south) because again you walked around the sites and there was a variety of buildings, a tower, and pit houses. 

Far View Tower Site

It was then back to camp for some serious rook playing and star gazing with the group.  I was soundly beat but I'll blame whomever dealt me bad cards.  However, on the up side I can now spot Scorpio in the sky! 

It was a fun trip with good people, some educational activities, great food and neat things to see.  I would highly recommend it! 

Check out my pictures here.

Lower Calf Creek Falls

My friend Micah and I recently hiked Lower Calk Creek Falls which is located in southern Utah about 12 miles south of Boulder, Utah.  The hike is a level hike approximately 6 miles RT.  We did the hike in the morning when it was cool and fewer people.  As we were on vacation we didn’t do crazy early but were surprised that even with a 9am start we saw one person at the falls.  Coming back out there were several parties.  I’m sure this changes as the temperature heats up – we were at probably 50F that day is all.  But, as someone who enjoys NOT hiking with big crowds it worked out great.

The hike starts at the end of the campground with a trail guide which is a must.  It’s not a must because the trail is difficult to follow but instead because it has some really interesting points on it including geography, history, flora and fauna.  I like knowing the history and factoids about an area.  On this hike you past some ancient Fremont Indian grain storage and pictographs which is really unique.  Not everyone can say that they have seen ancient artifacts while hiking beautiful scenery!  On that note it did help that I had a small set of binoculars.

The hike parallels Highway 12 to the North.  In fact, if you drive North to about the second overlook you can actually see the ravine you hiked up but you just can’t quite see the actual falls.  You have varied rock structures and actually several tree groves which provide some great shade (if you need it – I tend to not need breaks from the sun).  I’m sure in the summer months when it’s actually warm it can get seriously hot as the sun beats down on the rocks into the ravine.  But, today it was really pleasant (ok, it was a bit cold for me but I survived). 

The ravine you hike up to Lower Calf Creek Falls as seen from Hiway 12

  

You gradually follow the actual calf creek and there are some small fish in it if you look careful.  At the end of the trail you come through a grove of trees to a cool semi-circle cliff with the falls.  For those who need the shade (again, not me) you can sit back and enjoy the vista.  Otherwise, you can venture out to the actual beach or pool of water to see the beautiful falls.  With the beach and pool of water it creates a photographic wonder – these falls are one of the most photographed in Utah.  I did my best to follow suite. 

 

We had thought about jumping into the water when it was 90 degrees about 4 days earlier but the water is on the nippy side and the morning was brisk as well so besides dipping my hands in the water there was no way I  was jumping in. Micah and I sat and ate some fruit and just felt the ambiance before heading back.  It was great timing because just as we started to put our packs on another couple came. 

The hike, although 3 miles each way, is flat and very enjoyable.  It took us an easy 3 hours to walk in and out as well as sit and enjoy the sites.  The time also included reading the guide map and looking at things as well as many picture taking breaks.  I’ll put this on my do again list!

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Southern Utah - Burr Trail

Continuing the previous Southern Utah trip:  from Torrey my friend and I drove down via Scenic Highway 12 to Boulder, Utah.  Not, Colorado, Utah.  It has an amazing population of 250 people out in the sticks!  It has 2 gas stations, 3 motels and 3 restaurants all rates probably 1 star to even out the counting numbers.  I didn’t see anything else of note.  And, the motel we stayed at – Circle Cliffs – was rather spider infested so I wouldn’t recommend staying there again.  By infested I mean that I killed 12 spiders and gave up as there many, many more.  Eck!

The Gas Station and Local at Boulder, UT.  You gotta love it! 

Anyhow, at Boulder we turned east onto the Burr Trail.  The Burr trail is quite spectacular and as long as it hasn’t rained you can easily get to the switchbacks in a two wheel drive car.  The first 10 miles or so you drive through Long Canyon which is grandeur at its best.  The sheer rock cliffs following a dry river were just beautiful.  You continue to go through different rock formations and rock types all the while being able to see the Henry Mountains in the distance.  WOW!  Sadly, the weather was not the greatest with threatening rain and serious cold wind so we didn’t do any hiking. 

 The View at the top of the Switchbacks with the Henry Mtns in the background.

After about 30 miles you hit the switchbacks which look pretty intimidating as it goes STRAIGHT DOWN on a dirt road.  But, as long as it’s dry it really isn’t a big issue and there are places to pass other cars coming the other direction.  From the switchbacks we drove south to Hall’s Creek Crossing.  This is definitely worth it as it gives you a great perspective of the Waterpocket Fold.  They say you can see 80 miles worth of the 100 miles of rock formations, including a double arch and of course, Hall’s creek.  I enjoyed the bird’s eye view of it. 

Hall's Creek Crossing - view of the Waterpocket Fold.

We turned around and drove back up the switchbacks (due to threatening rain) and had lunch at the switchback view.  It is indeed pretty.  From there we drove back into Long Canyon with again beautiful views of the various rock formations and took some little walks along the campground area and riverbeds to stretch our legs.  Even though it is along the same route the views are totally different and equally spectacular. 

As the weather continued to get colder and colder we headed back to the little spec of Boulder and ate at Boulder Mesa Restaurant.  This is the cheap greasy spoon place in Boulder owned by a really nice older couple.  In just the space of dinner I knew more about the Ms. and her family than I do about some of my neighbors!  I do love that about small towns. 

Capitol Reef – Cassidy Arch and Capitol Gorge Drive

In April my friend Micah and I adventured through Capitol Reef, drove the Burr Trail and hiked Lower Calf Creek Falls.  You could actually call this our 2^nd annual Southern Utah trip as we went last year having so much fun that we came back to explore other areas around Capitol Reef.

Our trip started off with a hike to Cassidy Arch via the Grand Wash trailhead.  This is shortly after the fee box area (currently 5$ per vehicle) driving the scenic drive in Capitol Reef.  You can actually see the arch to the left when driving into the parking lot.  The sun was shining and the weather was really nice for hiking at 65 degrees F (ok, I’ll admit I can always do warmer).

The hike starts by following the Grand Wash hike along the wash (what else!).  The signage indicates its 0.3miles to the turn off.  We knew to look for a sign on the left hand side.  Now, Micah and I talk…we talk a lot while hiking.  And, needless to say, this can sometimes be a problem when the turnoff is not so obvious.  When the GPS said 0.5miles and we hadn’t turned off we did an about turn and walked back. It turns out that the sign is only 0.2miles away from the parking lot and the sign is up on the mountain side about 10 feet off the trail and only about 2 feet high made of natural stone.  Luckily the wash was flat and easy but it’s never fun to walk a mile further than you have too! 

Once on the real trail you climb like a goat up for a ¼ mile for about 670ft.  There are plenty of switchbacks so it isn’t a thigh burner but I was breathing hard (and probably harder than I should have been).  One then walks along the top plateau with beautiful views of the rocks and valley before turning off to the west to follow cairns the rest of the way to the arch. 

The arch is deceptive.  Upon walking out to the edge it is magnificent with a good downward slope (don’t let anything roll down into the canyon!) which gives you nice viewing.  The arch itself appears to be only a few feet wide.  Being cautiously adventurous I walked around and out onto the arch because one should never miss a creative photo opportunity.  It was actually several feet wide (and at least appeared sturdy <g>).  This perspective of the arch was really amazing because you got the full expansive view into the crevice below – which was many feet down.  Interestingly, when looking back to where the trail ends it looks scarier over there because the cliff is so sheer and the sandstone is on a slope down.  It is definitely worth it to walk around the entire arch to get the different views as each is unique.  I’m sure there is a great Sunday school lesson about perspectives in there somewhere!

The total hiking time with at least a 20 minute stop was 3.5 hours and 3 miles (apparently 4 if you miss the turn off).  I had arthroscopic knee surgery 4 months ago and while my knee was sore it handled it well.  Translation:  This is an enjoyable hike capable for most anyone.

After the hike we drove to the bottom of the scenic drive and followed the gravel road (very nice gravel road I might add) through the Capitol Gorge drive.  This was absolutely spectacular.  It is just a few miles long but it’s basically a slot canyon for cars!  You drive through sheer cliff walls a hundred feet high.  It is one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever taken (albeit short).  It used to be an actual road many moons ago. 

At the end of the road you continue to follow the level road by walking for maybe 20 minutes seeing petroglyphs and also a wall where pioneers carved their names into the walls.  I have no way of knowing which ones were authentic from the 1800’s and 1900’s but it did seem interesting.  It was also ironic to me that there were several signs posted about not carving your name into the stone and yet that is what we were going to see.  I guess old graffiti is ok, new graffiti is not? 
Once done we then drove back north.  There are numerous pullouts and some of them have amazing views of the entire Capitol Reef red rock walls.  Micah and I found one of the prettier stops (in our opinion), pulled out some dinner and watched the sun set over the red rock.  It was spectacular and capped off a beautiful day.

It was then off to Capitol Reef Inn in Torrey for the night.  This is a nice, cheap and clean motel I would recommend.

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Taiwan - Part 2: Top 10 of Taipei

I figured it would be good to sort of do a Top of Taipei list.  There might be more than 10, but then I was there for 10 days so it all evens out right?  These aren't in order, but they are all fun things I would recommend.  I do not list the Chinese New Year's festivals because that was last post but any festival you can go to would be a good thing. 

Night Markets

The night markets are a fun atmosphere of people buzzing around selling everything from exotic underwear to cell phone hello kitty covers to fruit.  The fresh mangos and strawberries with sweet and condensed milk is really tasty.  If you have been to China however, they are not quite as shocking or unique.  The stinky tofu smell still permeates but there aren't as many unique body parts for sale.  That being said its still always a bit adventurous to eat at least one thing from a vendor!  And I still question why Asians, both male and female, like pink Hello Kitty.

Din Tai Fung

Pretty amazing that I'm actually talking about food that I like - it is a drastic departure from the duck feet, pigeon head and frog fallopian tubes I've had to down in the past in Asia.  On this trip I was blessed to eat "regular - American food" most of the time as I stayed with my cousin (thanks Erin).  Din Tai Fung is named one of the best restaurants in the world!  Yes, the world!  I really like dumplings or xiaolongbao and that's Din Tai Fung's specialty.  There is always a wait but it is just yummy.  All the Asian's were looking at us as we ate 4 or 5 dumplings each where most Asians eat 1 or 2 a piece.  At the same time I'm at least twice as big as any Asian so it all works out right?   While waiting you can also watch them making the dumplings.  I couldn't believe how fast they were.  I've made these sort of things before (thanks Akemi) and I am no where near as proficient!  This is definitely a must do.

Watching them make the dumplings - they were WAY fast!

Foot Massage

When my cousin, Jason, talked about foot massages I had envisioned some night market small backdoor sort of thing as he described such a torturous event.  Oh no, this involved going to a local spa in Taipei where you got to put on little robes and sit and watch TV while sipping on your beverage of choice while #26 (they won't give you their name) first gives you a shoulder massage for a few minutes and then a foot/calf massage.  I thought it was great...but not as great as the next cool thing to do:

Hair Shampoo

Ya, you heard me right.  Go to a saloon and get your hair shampooed.  Why we don't do this in the US I'll never know.  You first start with a 10 minute shoulder and head massage.  Then you go to get your hair washed.  In the basin is a soft pad for you to rest your head (hello, US - my neck is always craned when washing there and the edge of the sink is cold!)  The washing then goes for maybe 10-15 minutes.  My hair has never been so clean!  Then, another 10 minutes for conditioner.  These ladies fingers and hands are seriously strong - I would never want to get into a thumb war with any of them.  Finally, you get your hair blown dry and styled.  This was a nice way to relax!

The soft pad your head rests on.

Calla Lily Field

I was fortunate enough to be in Taiwan when the calla lily fields were in bloom, along with many of the plum and cherry trees which dotted the mountain sides.  The intense green on the hillsides with dotted cherry and plum blossoms was spectacular.  Add in a huge field of white calla lily and it created a great photo opportunity.  It was also neat to see the workers harvesting and working in the fields.  You can get a huge bunch for only 100 NT (or about 3$ US) at nearby stands. 

 

She's short - and they are tall!

Amazing Race Confucius Temple

There are many temples throughout Taipei and each have their unique designs and alters.  This one has special meaning for me only because I'm an Amazing Race fanatic and get a lot of my trip ideas from Amazing Race.  This temple was in the Amazing Race (remember when they had to memorize the prayer and repeat it verbatim into the telephone?).  It was fun to be there and replay that episode in my head.  Across the street is another temple worth seeing as well. 

Replaying the Amazing Race

Confucius Temple

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf is a fun area to explore as part of a day trip to Danshui.  Next to the wharf you can head to the beach.  they actually have a decent beach with easy access.  There were a ton of dead blowfish on the day we went which was interesting.

The wharf itself is accessed after a walk across Lover's Bridge.  I'm not sure why they call it that but they sure play it up.  The bridge has a nice sweeping arch with a pair of tweezers over it!  There are a few restaurants along the backside.

Bridge - see the tweezers?

Danshui has a fun old street which again contains a market with hello kitty cell phone covers and a lot of people (we were there on a holiday).  Its fun.

The many people!

Wulai Falls

There are lots of falls you can hike too.  These falls are just outside of town and you can drive to them (careful with parking) or easily walk along the rail line to them.  In town there is a museum about the aboriginal people who live in that area  - the Atayal tribe people - which was very interesting (who doesn't find cannibalism at least a bit interesting) and free to boot!  Their background was very reminiscent of the New Zealand Maori.

Local Hot Springs

The hot springs was a real treat.  These weren't just go pay 200NT for a warm pool.  Oh, no, these were the hidden local hot springs where you had to go through a few fences (with warning signs) and fjord a raging river (um, apparently there 'used to be' a bridge??) before finding the hidden oasis by the waterfall.  There are pools of varying heat which really equates to pools for the "real" locals which are hot and the cool pools for the crackers or white folk.  Locals will bring fixings for tea and lunch and I thought I saw one guy camping out even.  You can also put the mud from the bottom of the pools on your skin and give yourself a facial (my skin felt great for several days thereafter) and you can also do polar plunges in the nearby river. 



Lunchtime for the locals - no, we aren't related

No, I'm not related to this person either but what a stylish hat!

Jiufen

This a beautiful little city with an old market street on a hill overlooking the ocean.  There are lot of fun tourist things to buy and try.  I ate a tortilla with peanut brittle and ice cream (for lack of other descriptive words) which was actually pretty good.   It was a warm day so maybe the coolness of it was better than the taste. 

One of the neater things however was that my favorite temple was here.  Sadly, I don't even know the name of it but just outside of town on the hill (you can't miss it) is a great big temple.  The initial floor and entry way are pretty barren and quite ordinary but as you go up each flight of stairs things become more ornate and interesting.  One can look straight out at the rooftop and see the intricately colored statues within a few feet.  The stone carvings in the walls and columns were amazing and definitely worth some studying in detail. 

My favorite temple near Jiufen

Chinese Culture University Lookout

This was just a few minutes from where my cousin lived so it was fun to quickly pop over to this location to checkout the view of the valley.  You'll notice that Taipei 101 is not on my list. It isn't because it wasn't cool but rather the fact that it was hazy the whole time I was there so I never went to the top.  Erin and I stopped one last time to try to see the whole valley.  What we didn't expect was that the storm which was coming was much worse on the top of the hill.  We literally had to hold onto each other as we were blown down the mountain to the viewpoint.  Trying to walk back up was even harder - I actually lifted off the ground for a bit I think!  It didn't help that we were laughing hard.  I'm just glad that I didn't see one of the sausage vendors with their sausages hanging from the racks in the open air - they would have been flying everywhere!

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