Capitol Reef can actually be seen very well without ever getting out of the car. Of course, a good hike is a lot more fun, and the Park has many. One went up a stream bed, another to an arch, a third to Golden Throne and a fourth to the Chimney. There was one to an arch that I sort of saw, but it was icy and I really was spooked by the terrain. This place is hard to get to, but if one does Arches and Canyonlands, it ought to be attempted!
Archive for September 15th, 2009
CAPITOL REEF NP, 2007
September 15, 2009ARCHES NP, 2007
September 15, 2009Try to spend a day at Arches, because there are a lot of really nice things to see. Even if you don’t leave the car, you can still see a lot of beautiful arches. If you are willing to hike a little, you will see a lot more. If you are willing to put in a couple of miles here and there, well–you can see Delicate Arch close up.
It had just snowed, and I was one of the first in to the Park that day. The clouds and lighting were superb, the weather not too cold, and I only had to abort one hike at the northern end of the Park, as the rock was just too icy to be safe enough to continue.
Spent the day viewing arches and then did Courthouse at the end of the day. No arches but great rock formations!
CANYONLANDS NP, 2007
September 15, 2009I didn’t have a lot of time between Christmas and New Years’ Day, so I did what I could. Flew to SLC and drove to Canyonlands, arriving in mid-afternoon. Got a good 6 miles of hiking in, with some great views, a lot of snow, saw a coyote on the road, and Mesa Arch just as it was getting dark. It is a long drive in and out of the park, and this is one I definitely would like to come back to and spend more time!
JOSHUA TREE NP, 2007
September 15, 2009As close as it is to the LA area, Joshua Tree has a lot of space and some nice day hikes. I started off with Ryan Mountain and then did two other double digit milers. The Joshua Trees are striking, and there are hikes into Palm Oases that are interesting as well. Lot of campgrounds, but this is not a place one wants to be at the height of summer. Rainfall the year before I came was about two-thirds of one inch. That’s right. Less than an inch.
BIG BEND NP, 2007
September 15, 2009I took the 13 hour drive during June, which is not the best time to visit Big Bend. But it was great, anyway. The South Rim trail has about 2000 feet of climbing and is a nice 12-15 mile hike, depending upon whether one wants to add Emory Peak to it. I did.
I saw both summer tanagers and western tanagers. On the South Rim, one walks for several miles above the Chihuahan Desert below. I saw nobody the day I did it. But what was really neat, to this weather junkie, was the “steam” I saw ahead of me. It was humid air flowing from the south, hitting the cliff walls, being pushed up and condensing before me. This is called orographic lift and is why mountains get more rain than valleys–they provide a lifting mechanism that cools the air and wrings the water out of it, just as making a balloon with water in it smaller wrings the water out of it, too.
I also did the hike to the Window.
Boreal B[l]og 