Gibralter Mountain and East Cactus Plains Wilderness Area

Believe it or not we are actually back at hiking in the wilderness areas. November and December were in Moab, UT volunteering for the national parks. Now we outside of Parker Arizona on the Colorado River. There are numerous wilderness areas surrounding us and we plan to get into as many as possible in the month and a half that we are planning on being here.

Arizona BLM has really nice signs for their wilderness areas and not so great directions or maps. We did the ever popular go out, drive around until you find a road that looks right, drive down, realize it is the wrong road and try again. Anyway we found the Gibraltar Mountain Wilderness fairly easy as there was a freaking big mountain to aim towards.

After being in Moab the scenery was amazing different and yet desert beautiful in the same way. Not expecting to see anything or having a specific destination allowed us to just wander and take in the surroundings.

Even though the Colorado River is less then 15 miles away, this is very dry landscape. We saw no wildlife, which is not unusual for us, on our hike thru the area.

We did see numerous varieties of cacti which I love.

We hiked for about 3 hours around the area and saw numerous rock formations while soaking up the sun.

Wanting to get to our second wilderness area we walked back to our car and heading for East Cactus Plains wilderness.

EAST CACTUS PLAINS.

We figured that this was one of those wilderness areas where four wheelers have basically tore it up, traded it to BLM as "wilderness" and got a brand new area to ride in.

There is basically open desert for as far as the eye can see. A power line borders one side and a military bombing area (heard did not see) in the distance. We took a short walk-a-bout thru the area to just look around.

The area was barren and yet pretty in a way that I cant really explain. If you have ever been in the desert, then you understand.

A Canyon in a drop of water

John and I were hiking in the Red Cliffs Recreation Area on the Red Reef trail when we came upon a small drop of water frozen from a log. After taking the picture and viewing it on screen, John noticed that you could see the vague outline of the canyon in the water droplet.





Not sure why this one picture made me think of writing a poem, but it did, so here it is.

A Canyon in a Drop of Water


A canyon in a drop of water
A desert in a grain of sand
Hope in a flowers new bloom
Clarity in a clear blue sky
Strength in an old oak tree

Love in the beat of a heart
Destiny in a blink of an eye
Misunderstanding in a furrow of a brow
Pain in the cry of a small child
A promise from the soft whisper in an ear

Realization in the flash of lightening
Promise in a spring shower’s rainbow
Possibilities in the mistakes we’ve made
The future in the star filled night sky
The past in the friends who’ve always been there

A Wish in the palm of your hand
A Dream………
A Moment…
A Lifetime…….

Great moments measured by the smallest of indications

Darlene Lundstrum; 01-05-09

Beaver Dam Moutain Wilderness, St George, Utah

Okay, I know that is has been awhile since my last post. Lets just say that we have been on hiatus and are now back on our wilderness adventure. For the last two months, we have been in Moab Utah doing volunteer work for Arches National Park. The plan was to stay a month, do some work for the park, see the desert in the snow and move on. Our one month stay turned into two, and would have been longer had the weather cooperated. We met some great people at the park that wanted us to stay on longer and do some additional trail work, but the snow was not very accommodating. Before leaving the area we did however make arrangements to be back in the fall of 2009 after our Alaska trip. We did get to see the desert in the snow. It was amazing, the contrast between the red of Arches and the white of new snow. It is something that I think everyone should see at least once in their lifetime.

Leaving Moab, (we were hoping for warmer weather,_we have stopped in St. George Utah to explore some of the nearby wilderness areas and of course Zion National Park. We decided to explore the Beaver Dam Mountain Wilderness area that straddles Arizona and Utah. It is a small wilderness area that covers a 5 mile stretch on both sides of the BLM road.

We had beautiful weather that day, even though it was a little cold. The area has sporadic sections of brilliant red rock, lava flows and rolling gullies that look flat from far away. We decided to hike out to an area where the wall was red and there appeared to be a balancing rock. In route, we ran across and into numerous Joshua trees, which if you don't know are freaking prickly. We also saw numerous cacti, that someday I will actually learned that names of.

So we are back to our treks through the wilderness and seeing new things.

I hope that I never get bored with this new lifestyle, it is hard to imagine that as possible.

Especially when things like the below picture happen.

In Moab and volunteering for the National Park Service

Short blog to make sure that everyone knows that we are in Moab, UT and planning on stayng here for the month of November, but probably longer. We are volunteering in Arches and Canyonlands as trail roves.

Hiking every day and having the time of our lives. Will post more about our adventures in Moab, but for right now we are off to the Moab Brewery for a well deserved beer.

Black Ridge Canyon Wilderness

Rattlesnake Canyon, the 2nd highly concentration of natural arches in the United States, located in the Black Ridge Canyon Wilderness. One more wilderness to add to our list. It is a beautiful area that few people venture to see. First reason is mainly the location. There is only one road that gets to out to this remote location, one through Glade Park, CO. The other end of the road goes through Colorado National Monument. We had a week pass so went in through the park. It is a mere 13 miles from the turn off of the main road to the trailhead. But be aware those 13 miles took us over an hour to cover. It is probably one of the worse roads that we have driven on in awhile. The last 2 miles were the worse. Once at the trailhead we started down our hike. The whole hike is 3 miles out, not a loop. The first 2 miles takes out around the ridge with some scenic views but it is when you finally get around the ridge that you get the scenery.

One arch after the other in a mile distance.

This is one fantastic area. In the whole time that we were there we did not see another person.

This was probably one of my favorite hikes that we did.

Every time you rounded a corner, another arch or just scenic view awaited you.

If you have an extra day when in the Colorado National Monument Area, definitely do this hike. No People, great arches and classic desert scenery.

Why do bad things happen to good people in a kayak?

Flaming Gorge Reservoir; alias 40 MPH Winds Lake.

It all started out so perfect. Beautiful blue sun filled skies. No winds. Mid 60's. Who could possible ask for more. It was so calm that you could almost see a perfect reflection in the water. We paddled across this pristine reservoir savoring every moment, every sight, every sound.

Flaming Gorge holds many secrets, one of them we would find out about later in the day. As we entered the narrow section that is actually "Flaming Gorge", we noticed a bald eagle high on the wall to our left.

To see this magnificent bird in its natural environment is amazing.

We slowly paddled by the eagle as to not disturb it and also to just appreciate the opportunity.

We paddled on through the gorge and decided that at about 3 miles out, we would stop on a beach and have lunch. We sat on a beach and enjoyed chicken, fruit and a bottle of wine. Just relaxing in the sunshine and appreciating the surroundings.

It is important at this point to let you know that we did check the weather forecast before we left. Winds in the afternoon 8-10 mph in a eastern direction. Even if the wind got harder then that we would have been fine since that direction would simply push us towards the dock 3 miles away.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The wind this afternoon was out of the NW and coming up fast. We decided to start paddling back before the wind picked up worse. In a matter of 5 minutes the wind went from 0 mph to 15 mph i. We ended up pulling into a beach area and putting on our spray skirt because the water was already starting to come in over the sides. As we approached the gorge narrows the wind actually decreased and we had a brief break before entering the open main lake area. As we approached the open water, the wind continued to build. By the time we exited the gorge the wind was at 30-40 mph and blowing northwest. Not towards to the dock, but towards the rock walls.

We paddled to the first area that we could beach the kayak. A small rocky area a good 2 miles from the dock. Once we got onto shore we tried several approaches; trying to walk kayak on the shoreline, nope waves too big. Carrying kayak over land, nope to heavy. Finally I looked at John and went,"Let's just hide the kayak behind one of the big rocks and hike out. We can always come and get the boat tomorrow.

So a 2 1/5 mile hike out to the car ensued. By the time we got to the dock the waves were coming over the top of the dock. This picture does not even begin to show the whitecaps on the lake, but compare this to the first picture. Same Lake!

Anyway the next day we hiked back out, got into the kayak and paddled out on crystal smooth waters.

Again I wonder why bad things happen to good people in kayaks

Fleeting thoughts of retired minds. or I cant remember shit anymore

I know now why I need to blog. Simply because of the fact that I can not remember what we did yesterday, let alone a month ago. So I am going to try and go back through the dusty archives of my brain cells and try to bring everyone (and myself) up to date.





At last posting we were in Whitebird, Id after leaving Spokane 2 weeks later then planned. John's dad needed cataract surgery, so we stayed in town until he was released to drive. Anyway we left for Whitebird and we headed to Hagerman, Id. Why you asked do you go to Hagerman, Id, well hot springs for one reason and to kayak an area called "Thousand Springs".


The water was amazingly clear and we spent the day on the water. About 8 miles down the road is a placed called Miracle Hot Springs, where you can rent your own private pool room. The first night we just stayed in the main pool area, but the next night we rented a private spot.



Highly recommend spending the extra $2.oo.









We left Hagerman, Id for Craters of the Moon National Monument. It is a really interesting place to go to, even if all the time you have is to drive around the park. We decided that we wanted to camp in the back country, so we got our permit for Echo Crater. It is about a 4 mile hike to the crater.

The area was beautiful and quiet. We had spaghetti for dinner and ended up inside the tent at 8:00. The wind had come up and it got freaking cold. We got back out of our sleeping bags at about 1:00 am to see the stars. Nothing like being away from cities to get blown away by the numbers of stars in the sky. The next morning we hiked out and planned on hiking through the lava tubes on our way out. When we arrived at the trailhead there was a HUGE bus of elementary school kids there to hike through the tubes as well. Needless to say, I had forgotten to get my frontal lobotomy performed, so I was not overly receptive to hiking with 50 screaming kids. We decided another time. (For Sarah: Bear Spray is all I have to say)

After leaving Craters of the Moon we headed for Lava Hot Springs. Yep, we were hiking and hot springing our way down to Moab. Seemed like a great plan to us. Unfortunately when we got to Lava, the park that we were planning on staying at had turned there water off, so instead of staying several days, we only stayed on night. We did however enjoy the hot springs.

Next stop, Rock Springs, WY. This was to be our access point into Flaming Gorge Reservoir. We took the jeep out to scout the area and found a rv park in Dutch John, which was about 5 minutes from the trailheads that we wanted to hike. There will be more on that is the next blog.

We left Flaming gorge after spending four days. (again more later) and drove to Fruita Colorado. Spent 4 days in the that area before heading to Moab.

Okay now you know that we are in Moab. I really do need to blog about Flaming Gorge and the Colorado national monument. So read this first and then see if I have actually gotten around to the other blogs. The flaming gorge one will be good.