More Fun in Moab 2019

We enjoy visiting Moab, Utah periodically. One of the big attractions for us is the Moab Trail Marathon/Half-Marathon/Adventure 5K, which is held the first weekend of November. By that time life has usually slowed down a bit and we can escape for a weekend. We had a great time at the 2017 Adventure 5K and also did some fun activities afterwards (with links to previous Moab area adventures).

We left home in the morning and arrived in Moab late afternoon on Friday (many people had left by then, so it wasn't crowded). That was time to go into Arches National Park for a hike. We headed to Landscape Arch.

The kids thought hiking to Landscape Arch (which is only about a mile) was long enough, but I told them they had to experience the true Arches. We needed to continue on the primitive trail.

They grumbled, but we continued, and they found I was right (as usual, lol!). The primitive trail was super fun, with scrambling and steep drop offs. We walked right on top of a big fin. On the way back we explored a little, and had a great time. It was starting to get dark, so we made the most of our daylight!

After dinner, we headed to the motel (hotel points are fantastic for free nights!) and motel pool. Fun!

The next morning we were up early to go to the race. When I had signed us up, I was feeling energetic, and signed myself up for the half-marathon. However, due to travel and sickness, I had only managed a total of eight miles of training in the weeks leading up to the race. I figured I would go ahead and do it, although it might take me 3-4 hours to complete.

I had never been on the half-marathon route before. It had a variety of terrain, from rocky to sandy, from two-track to barely single track (we were sort of just running on ledges at one point), from ups to downs, but throughout the entire course, we had awesome scenery. It was hard because I hadn't trained well, and after the half-way point my body didn't really want to run, but it was so, so much easier than the Tushars Trail Marathon. And I ended up finishing right at 3 hours! I was a bit discouraged when I finished because so many people had passed me, but it turned out I finished 332nd out of 748 finishers. That made me feel a lot better.

My husband and Desert Girl were near the finish line when I came across, but Desert Boy was nowhere to be seen. It turned out he had taken a wrong turn on the 5k and run an extra 3 miles--in jeans. Yikes! He would have been a fast finisher otherwise. We enjoyed the yummy post-race food, then headed back to the hotel for more swimming (a wonderful way to work out some sore muscles!).

We all agreed no hiking for the day, but Desert Girl just had to go to the sand dunes across from the Arches NP entrance. We had never been, so we agreed. I figured I would just stay near the vehicle at the bottom.

 

But eventually she enticed me to go up to the top.

Our next stop was the Bar M Ranch bike trails. The kids couldn't wait to ride at the OK Corral, a free for-all bike part with little dirt hills. But after awhile, they had ridden all the obstacles successfully. It was time for a little challenge. So we went on one of the easiest bike trails. I had a big, fancy mountain bike, but Desert Girl had a street bike with no suspension. She did better than me! It's so great to see them enjoy being outside so much.

I wanted to try the paved bike trail from there back to Arches. It was super, with lots of mountain bike trails connecting to it. How nice to have paved trails so bicyclists don't have to ride on the highway! (We are trying to get one near where we live, but have run into a big stumbling block. Sigh.) I admired the camera post by the Arches National Park sign. People had left a couple rocks there to support cell phones.

Speaking of bike amenities, this fix-it station was in Moab.

We squeezed in church service on Saturday evening. It's always interesting going to churches in different places.

Sunday was our day to drive home, and although we had a long drive, we wanted to make a couple stops. The first was to see some dinosaur tracks at Copper Ridge, north of Moab. We turned off Highway 191 at the Klondike Bluffs sign (between mile markers 148 and 149), and followed the signs for 2 miles to this kiosk. We saw about a hundred people camping, most with bikes, scattered around the area.

The trail is very short to get to the tracks, although it is uphill. Then we were there and could see the giant impressions. It's so cool to imagine dinosaurs walking here.

We also saw smaller, turkey-like tracks.

We had one more place I wanted to stop that was sort of on the way home: Little Wildhorse Canyon near Goblin Valley State Park. We went there several years ago, but the kids didn't remember it.

It's a slot canyon in the San Rafael Swell, and it doesn't take long to hike to the narrow section. It's so much fun.

There are a few minor obstacles to go over. We eventually ran out of time and had to turn back. But we got a lot further than last time, the kids are so much better at hiking, and if it's not a typical hiking trail, they really enjoy it.

We had the canyon almost to ourselves on the way up, even though this is a very popular canyon. On the way back, we saw lots of people.

Nearby is the Temple Uranium Mine, so we took a quick look there. So much more to explore! Then we took a back way back to the Interstate, getting a flat tire on the way. It made for an interesting drive home, as it's really hard to get a flat tire fixed on a Sunday in rural Utah during hunting season! Fortunately we eventually made it home.

I'm sure we'll be back to Moab at some point, there's just so much to do there, and I feel like we've just barely scratched the surface.

2019 Ice Skating on Stella Lake

 We couldn't believe it, but it happened again. For the third year in a row, the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive stayed open into November due to lack of snow. The temperatures got cold enough to freeze Stella Lake, which meant we could go ice skating! We were so excited!

The kids and I went up with my friend Jenny. We had to check the night before to see if the kids' ice skates still foot (they're the adjustable size kind), and fortunately they did.

The ice seemed kind of thin at the north end, so we headed to the cove on the east side. Our first year up here for ice skating, only this section was frozen, and the rest was open water.

Desert Girl did a fair bit of rollerblading this summer, so she put on the skates and was off.
 

Eventually we moved out on the bigger part of the lake and found the south end was good, although it made some weird noises. It was fun skating with Wheeler Peak in the background.

It was warm. So warm that Desert Boy decided to take his shirt off.

 Our friend Meg came and made it look easy!

Desert Girl and Jenny did some more artistic moves. 

 We had such a wonderful time that we knew we had to come back...to be continued...

Day at the Airport

We had seen a Facebook post and a sign at the post office about Day at the Airport in Ely, Nevada on the first Saturday of September. There were a lot of other events going on the same day, but Desert Boy loves airplanes, so we decided to go. The event was from 6 am to 2 pm, with tethered hot air balloon rides from 6 am to 8 am. That sounded so tempting, but the kids have to get up so early for school during the week (5:25 am for Desert Boy), that we decided we would forego the hot air balloon ride for some sleep.

So we arrived at the airport about 9 am, and to our amazement, they were just putting the hot air balloon up. Apparently it had been too windy earlier. Wow, what luck!

We signed up for a ride and observed the test flight.

It was cool looking up into the balloon.

Soon it was our turn!

It was a cool feeling as we left the ground.


We didn't go super high in the air, but it was still exciting.


I would love to go for another hot air balloon ride! It's also impressive how many people it takes to get one up in the air and help put one away (we helped a tiny bit last year during the Ely Air Races).

The we walked around the airplanes that were out. Desert Boy was very interested in this ultralight airplane. He keeps saying he wants to make one, which makes me shudder. He's still a little on the young side, but with proper instruction, he would probably be safe. His grandpa, uncles, and dad all love airplanes a lot, so it might be in his blood.

 

Sitting in one on the ground got his imagination going.

Desert Girl had a turn and had fun being silly.

Then we headed over to Utah Valley University's plane. UVU has a School of Aviation Sciences that is very popular. Apparently Boeing estimates a need for 60,000 pilots over the next few years, so it's a great career field for those who like to fly.

One of their promotional items was a cool pen that had wings and folding wheels.

Next we went over to a hangar and looked at a beautiful Super Cub. The kids were invited to get in.

A helitack crew from St. George was returning from assignment in Elko and stopped by. It was great checking out their helicopter.

Next up was checking out the medical plane, used to take patients from Ely to Salt Lake City for more advanced medical care.

Here's what the instrument panel looks like.

And here's the stretcher for the patient.

An eye catcher was this older plane that was used as a trainer. They were giving rides, and after a lot of deliberation, Desert Boy decided he wanted to spend his own money to go up for a ride. Unfortunately, the plane got a flat tire before he had the opportunity. So maybe next year!

Day at the Airport was a lot of fun. We spent a couple hours there and enjoyed seeing some other planes and also learning more about drones. Desert Boy was so excited to show off his knowledge of planes (he knows far more than me), and he also learned a lot. Hopefully they'll do it again!

A Quick Trip to Mesa Verde National Park

 We were in southwestern Colorado for a beautiful family wedding, and decided to take advantage of being close to Mesa Verde and swing over for a visit afterwards. We started at the Visitor Center, located just off the highway. It took us a little while to figure out what the statue was--an Ancestral Pueblo Indian climbing with a basket.

Then we headed up the steep road. I remembered visiting Mesa Verde when I was 15 years old. On that trip, we talked with a bicyclist who had come up the many switchbacks. We asked how he did it. He responded, "I ate a Snickers at the bottom, and that gave me energy." Funny how I remembered that!

Decades later, the road was steep, but not nearly as much as the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive in Great Basin National Park. And we were there in the hot afternoon, so we didn't see any bicyclists. We did stop at nearly every overlook. Here's one with a great view of the Mancos Valley and the San Juan Mountains in the background:

Next we went and visited the Fire Tower. Desert Boy declared he wanted to be a fire lookout for a summer. He may have changed his mind a bit when we told him usually there's no cell service or wifi at a fire lookout. 

He had a lot of fun using the scopes to look at far away things, like Shiprock to the south.

Next up we checked into the Far View Lodge and rested a bit. It was hot, so it was nice to take a little siesta. Then we got up and headed to the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum and the views of Spruce Tree House cliff dwelling. Due to rock fall we couldn't go down to it, but we did get a nice view.

We found a shady spot and contemplated the cliff dwelling, built about 1200 AD and inhabited for about a hundred years.  Then we went in and watched a video, which was a quick way to assimilate some of the history. The exhibits looked at least 50 years old and were of the pottery-lined-up-along-a-shelf type. I was a little underwhelmed.

 Then we headed to the Mesa Top 6-mile loop drive and stopped at each of the pullovers. Doing it at about 6 pm on Labor Day Weekend worked out pretty well; most people had already left for the day. Plus we got some great light. The Square Tower House was especially striking.

Although there are many cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, there are many mesa top sites, where people lived earlier. Some of these sites were protected under roofs.

But the cliff dwellings really captured our imaginations.

What would it have been like to live so close to your family? 

We visited more places and then headed to the cafeteria at Far View Terrace just before it closed to eat dinner. The soup was especially delicious. And they have ice cream! Desert Girl and I walked back to the lodge from there, seeing the old visitor center and walking under the road to walk up the winding ramp to it. We realized that it looked like an old kiva.

 The lodge was very nice, and we had great views from our room.

We were a few days past the new moon, so a crescent moon was hanging out to the west. Desert Girl and I went out on the balcony and watched Jupiter and Saturn appear. Then we saw Antares, the red star in the constellation Scorpius. And not long after, we could make out the asterism the Teapot just to the east, pouring out the milk into the Milky Way. I tried a Milky Way shot from the railing and found there was a lot of light pollution.


I wanted to do some night sky photography in the park, but all the cultural sites are closed at sunset, so we made do with getting a photo of the kiva-like old visitor center, with Desert Girl looking up to the sky.


The next morning we got up early because we had reservations for the Early Bird Cliff Palace Tour. This was one of the few cliff dwelling tours we could reserve in advance, and knowing it was a holiday weekend and we had limited time, it worked out well for us. The view from the overlook was amazing. Cliff Palace was the largest cliff dwelling in the area, home to about 100 people. We imagined our town in there. Yikes!

While we waited for the park ranger, I noticed this Utah juniper that was barely alive. I went to investigate and found some nice stripbarking, where just a little bit of bark keeps the tree alive. We see it often in the old bristlecone pine trees. 

The the tour started, and we went down some stairs and then up a ladder.

This led us to another great view of Cliff Palace.

We were the first ones there that morning, so it was nice and quiet, and we spent a couple minutes just being quiet and observing. Then the ranger helped us learn lots more about it.

Nowadays oak trees and shrubs border the cliff dwellings, but back about 800 years ago, most of the vegetation would have been cleared for buildings and fires.

Next we walked right next to some of the walls, observing how they used the rock that had fallen in the alcove to construct the buildings. The mortar was made of the nearby dirt, which had an ideal ratio of clay and sand.

We were about to get even closer. The kids were right up close to the ranger!

We looked at some kivas.

And then we looked in this four-story tower.


Way up there, we could see that not everything was monochrome--there was some white and red paint preserved. How cool!

I spent some time looking carefully at the mortar and found at least three different types, mainly due to different restoration techniques.

A parting look through a window.

I wanted to linger longer, but it was time to go.

We walked past the ladder and long grab-it tool to retrieve things that people drop into the dwellings.

Then it was time to go up some steps and ladders to get pack to the parking lot.

The Ancestral Pueblo people had used toe and hand holds to climb out. I don't think climbing out would have been that hard, but climbing down would have been a different story! 

We really enjoyed our brief visit to Mesa Verde National Park. There's still more to do--Balcony House, plus all the sites on Weatherill Mesa. And there are a few hikes that we didn't do. There's no backpacking or cross-country hiking in the park, so it wouldn't take too long to see all the permitted places. But it certainly takes a long time to process the amazing amount of history that the park protects. And it's so fun to imagine a very different way of life than is now in the area. One thing that was repeated to us is that the area used to have many more inhabitants than it does now.

If you have a chance, check it out! We'd love to go back and see the many other cultural protected places in the area.