Utah (Round 2) (Updated 10/28/17) – All those who wander are not lost

UPDATED 9/30/17..

So we have been very busy helping at the bunkhouse in Utah and hiking.

We decided it was time to get away for a little while and noticed that Yosemite, King Canyon, and Sequoia National Parks in California were only an 8 hour drive. (Remember that around here we are in the middle of no where, but in the center of everything.)
The only issue we had was the forest fires. We did not see any but we could smell the fire and the visibility was not so good due to the smoke. This did not slow us down. We stayed at a small inn at the South entrance to the park. It was a 45 minute ride each day to Yosemite Valley where most of the well known hiking trails are located. We had a great time hiking and seeing the wonderful waterfalls.
The first morning we decided to head out early (6:00 a.m.). Along the road in Yosemite we had to stop and wait 1/2 hour because there was a fire truck blocking the road. We could smell and see smoke so naturally we thought there was a fire and we may have to turn around. It turned out there was a bad car accident (we hope everyone was ok).

For the next 3 days we visited Yosemite and all of its wonders.
Our favorite was the Mist Trail – an 7 mile hike to Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls. This hike has been called the stairmaster hike because there are many granite steps you need to climb to get to the top. But once you are there, you realize it was all worth it. The Vernal Falls is 317 feet and is why they call it the Mist trail. You get a little wet from the mist as you are hiking close to the fall. Along the way the river was so beautiful with many smaller falls and rapids and a little friend.

Then you get to Nevada Falls. You hear the roar first and then … there it is – 594 feet of roaring water. The hike takes you near the fall and up to the top. There you can go right up to the side of the fall and see the crazy force of the flowing (falling) water. You can stand right next to it and feel the ground quiver from the rush of the water. There is also a bridge at the top you use to cross right over the falls. (There was a dinner mule pack crossing the bridge after we crossed it – made a nice pic). Truly awe inspiring

One day we drove up to Glacier Point. This is a famous view point where you can see many of the water falls and rock formations like half dome. The view was smokey (near by fires) but it was still so beautiful.

We also saw the upper and lower Yosemite falls, the bridal falls,

some HUGE pine cones, and a little wildlife (pics of falls, bird, deer, and pinecone). The hiking paths were well kept and we really enjoyed our time in Yosemite.

The Mariposa Grove was for a restoration project. This is where you see the big sequoia trees. So naturally we decided we should drive to Sequoia and Kings Canyon 2 1/2 hours south. Hey we had come this far. 🙂

We didn’t have much time to hike at this park but did enjoy seeing the huge trees. These are not the tallest trees, but they are the widest trees, the biggest being General Sherman and then General Grant. When these trees fall, they have such a large trunk that you can walk through them. They were used for schools, etc. by early settlers. Another interesting fact is that they have a bark that is resistant to fires, so most of these trees can live through a dozen or more fires and not die. They do have some damage though (pic here). These trees survive multiple fires because their bark doesn’t burn. It was a nice break from hiking and wonderful to see the beautiful forest.

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It was time to head back to the bunkhouse after 5 days. We were going to stop a Death Valley National Park on the way back, but decided against that since it was over 120 degrees there at this time of year.

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We also took a few days off and headed to Flagstaff and Sedona Arizona. We just went to relax and see a few of the sites (NO HIKING). We saw the “Chapel of the Holy Family”, a small church built into the buttes, the Lowell Observatory, and the quaint town of Sedona.

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Our time at the bunkhouse was coming to an end.

We continued to work at the bunkhouse, meeting great guests each week and working with other workawayers. After the Labor Day weekend (which was busy), it was time for us to head back to CT. We stayed for the Labor Day weekend rush and was sad to leave. Four days before we left a wonderful workaway couple from England came and were able to fill in where we left off. This definately made us feel better about leaving, but the Michelsons had welcomed and treated us like family. It was hard to leave.

We accomplished alot in our 4 months stay and are truely grateful to JoAnn and Jeff for the experience. We painted alot of the rooms and doors, Mike fixed many A/C units, I put curtains up in many rooms, we put up LOTS of pictures, built a firepit, replaced facuets, moved and put up shower walls, made sure the other workawayers were busy during their shifts, general maintence and clean up, and I was busy making reservations and helping with any issues guests might have.
We said a sad good-bye to JoAnn, Jeff, Jenny (their daughter), Josh and Darien, Janson and Cami (their sons and daughter-in-laws. Oh and Patches the cat. We will be back to visit on our way to another adventure some day.

On Sunday, Sept. 3rd we left the bunkhouse and headed for Connecticut for our godsons wedding. But before we left we got to see the “Western Legends” parade in Kanab. It is part of a 3 day event where people can see the cowboys way of life in the old days – wagon trains, barbeque, poets, country singers, street dancing, etc. They even have long horn steers parade down the main street in town.

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We had a wonderful experience in Utah. We meet wonderful people(guests included), got to see some of the most beautiful scenery we have ever seen, and saw a whole different way of living.

As they say… Of all the paths you take in life, make sure some of them are dirt. (Utah is a good place to start).

Off to Connecticut. Before anyone gets upset that we didn’t visit them, please understand Mike and I had to start our next adventure in just a few weeks. We only had time to see Yellowstone, attend the wedding and get back to North Carolina in time to pack and start our next workaway. Where to you may ask? Read the next entry – Race to the Wedding

UPDATED 08/07/17 …

We decided to do a shorter hike last week (our son said we were trying to kill ourselves with the longer hike), so we went on a 7 mile hike on a trail called The Hat Shop in Bryce National Park. It wasn’t a long hike but it was hot and 3 mile uphill. At the end of the trail there are hoodoos (kinda like a chimney with a large rock on top). It was pretty cool.

We also walked along the rim of the park. This is probably Mike’s favorite park because it has such a “neat” geology.

look closely at this tree – lightning took a huge piece of the trunk off

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Other “stuff” –

We caught a tarantula in the bunkhouse. It is the desert out here after all (but this is unusual)…

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We christened the fire pit the other night, complete with weinie roast and smores. It was really fun. We get a lot of workaways at the bunkhouse and they are so fun and nice. At the time of the christening we had 2 boys from Japan, 1 couple from Japan, 1 boy from Italy, 2 girls from France, 1 girl from New Jersey, and 1 man from New York.

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I was driving down the road and saw a motorcyclist on the stopped on side of the road painting a picture of a barn in the field.

I stopped and he said, ” Bet it is weird seeing a motorcyclist stopped on the side of the road painting”. I replied, “Not as weird as seeing someone stopped on the side of road, taking a picture of a motorcyclist stopped on the side of the road painting”. We both had a good laugh. Turns out he is an artist by trade.

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So what’s next..

We are planning to go to Yosemite National Park next week (only 8 hours away). Stay tuned!

Till next time…

We travel not to escape life, but so life doesn’t escape us!

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UPDATED 07/31/17 …

I am sorry I haven’t updated the blog in quite a while. I am going to make a conscious effort to update more often, because I have been working at downloading the pictures for 4 days now. We are so busy either “working” or hiking that time gets away from me. LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Anyway, what have we been working on? We have done a ton of painting (ceilings, walls, doors, doorways). It has added a lot to the look of the hostel. We have also put up partitions in bathrooms, sewn curtains for some rooms (goal is to have curtains in all rooms), general maintenance and cleaning of both inside and outside the hostel, murals on some walls, hanging pictures in all rooms, building bunk beds and headboard, and building a fire pit in the front yard.

When we are not working, we go hiking. So here is our latest adventures…

Arches National Park – this is about 5 hours away so we went for 1 week. It was amazing. So many arches and NONE man-made. Have a look … (Broken Arch, Delicate Arch, Doubles Arch, The Windows (2), Tower Arch(2), Balancing Rock, Wall Street, Sunset.

Half the park was closed due to road construction and maintenance, so we will head back on our way to Connecticut in September.

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2. We went to Corona Arch just outside of Arches National Park. It was really something. The hike to the arch was only about 1 -2 miles, but what a huge and beautiful arch. We had to climb up using chains for just 10 or 15 feet and then a small climb up a ladder. But what was even more interesting and picturesque was the train that ran through the canyon. (LOOK CLOSELY AT THE FIRST PIC AND YOU WILL SEE MIKE AND I STANDING UNDER THE ARCH AND THE MOON NEAR THE TOP).

3. Next we went to Canyon Land. What an amazing place. There are many parts to Canyon Land. We hiked a lot of them and was in taken back by the beauty and different landscapes.

Canyon Land Stop 1- Overlook..

If you look closely you can see a road through the canyon. It takes 2 days to traverse the winding road. At times you have to get out and repair the road just to pass. We choose NOT to rent a 4 wd vehicle and do this trip after talking to a couple who had done it. They said it was brutal. LOL

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Canyon Land Stop 2 – Elephant Rock

We were suppose to take a 10 mile hike to Chestler Park, but someone (not Mike) went the wrong way and we ended up hiking through a very hot canyon down a road that was meant for jeeps. Now when I say that was meant for jeeps, I think anyone in a jeep would be nuts to try to go down these mountains. I do believe the group of 4 that we saw at the end of the trail would agree. They were under their jeep attempting to fix the tie rod and using very colorful language. OUCH

Canyon Land Stop 2 (take 2)

We went back to Elephant Rock the next day and took the correct trail head. We were now hiking in Chestler Park. It was beautiful. First you hike through a huge meadow surrounded by rock formations, then through a slot canyon (Joint slot), and then you begin the uphill climb over rocks and up switchbacks to loop back to Elephant Rock. It was hot and strenuous but we made it.

Canyon Land Stop 3 – Cave Springs

After recovering from this hike, we did a quick little hike to a place called Cave Springs. It is were settlers stopped to get water and rest for awhile. You can see rock ledge areas they used as a kitchen, etc.

Canyon Land Stop 4 – Dead Horse State Park

Legend says that the cowboys left some horses in this canyon and the horses couldn’t find their way out and (you guessed it) died. The river in the picture is called Green River which eventually meets the Colorado River. Kinda looks like Horseshoe Bend.

Canyon Land Stop 5 – Mesa Arch

A nice short hike to an amazing arch

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4. After visiting Canyon Land we went to a few local parks. One had you feeling like you were on another planet. It was called Goblin State Park. You could go down and walk among the weird mushroom like structures. Some kids have a blast here.

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I love slot canyons. So we went to a place called Wild Horse Slot Canyon. The other slot canyons we hiked had smooth walls. This one was different. It had very porous rocks which created hole-like looking walls.

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On our way back to Kanab, we drove through Monument Valley. I took a picture where Forrest Gump stopped his long run.

The pictures are from my phone so the quality is not so good.

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Once back at the bunkhouse, we decided to take some of the “workaway” staff to a rodeo in town. It wasn’t a full blown rodeo but it was fun. They had cattle herding..

barrel racing and calf roping …

The kids got into the act with sheep riding and could get some money if they could catch the sheep with dollar bills clipped on its back (this was the workawayers favorite part)

It is really nice at the bunkhouse when we have guests that like to hang out with us. We had a group of guests that came to the rodeo with us. Here is one of the workawayers with Mica (a guests dog).

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One of the most EXCITING adventures we have every had was up next. We went white water rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Our tour guides were great and so was the group of people we met. The temperature was 100+ in the canyon and the water was 45 degrees.

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We started out at a place called Lees Ferry.

Then the adventure began. We would traverse through the Colorado, getting VERY wet in the rapids. At night we made camp on small beaches in the Canyon. The guides were incredible. When we settled in for the night we all made tent lines and unload cots, tents, chairs, hiking gear, and kitchen gear off the rafts. (A tent line is just a line of people facing both directions and handing stuff to each other up the line).

The food was great but sleep eluded us since it was 100+ degrees even at night. Mike and a few others wet their sheets and slept wrapped up in them.

Some used tents provided by the tour company, but we decided to sleep under the stars. There were no bugs, except for Sakata bugs and scorpions. (Only 1 person got bit by a scorpion – pretty good ration I would say – LOL)

campsite – night 1

campsite – night 2

campsite night 3 (we slept on cots on the side of a mountain (see the cot on the left in the pic)

This was my favorite spot in the Canyon. It looked like a scene from Jurassic Park. It was incredible!!!

We were all tired (this is Jim)…

We didn’t see much wildlife, but did catch a glimps of a few mountain goats getting a drink…

We stopped at an incredibly huge grotto to play a little Frisbee, horseshoes, a cool (very cool) swim in the water.

Kanagroo rat prints

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White water rafting…

I couldn’t get good pictures in the rapids because, well I was holding on for dear life and getting very, very wet. LOL

Looking back on these pictures, it is hard to believe we were there. The beauty was truly overwhelming. Take a look…

Just when we thought we saw all that mother nature had to give, the guides took us to a place called “Little Colorado”.
I still have a hard time believing there is such a place of raw beauty. After a short hike, we stood with our mouths open(literally) and tried to take in the view in front of us.

As we hiked up the side canyon, the Little Colorado water turned from green to a vivid turquoise. Calcium builds up on the river floor and causes the water to reflect a beautiful turquoise color. It was so amazing, it didn’t seem like it could be real.

The Navajo Indians believe they enter into this world through this river. If you visit it you can see why.

We spent a few hours here rock sliding in the water. It was a blast! (first pic is Mike, second is me)

The trip ended with a hike out at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. To put it mildly, IT WAS BRUTAL (ok not so mildly). After 5 days on the Colorado and not much sleep, we had to hike out with full back pack (30+ lbs), in the hot sun, up 7 miles with an elevation gain of 4500 feet. After praying alot and mumbling we finally made it (although Mike almost ran over a few French hikers who didn’t want to get out of our way at the top).
WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!!
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Next update Wednesday.

Thought for this entry..

Push yourself – you just might find you are capable of doing more than you thought possible!

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Continuation…

Since our white water rafting trip we have done 2 other “bigger” hikes.

We hiked the West Rim of Zion National

This was a 15 mile hike. We took 3 of the workawayers with us (all 21 years old). We left at 5:00 a.m. from the bunkhouse and drove to Zion Adventure company. We left our car with them and took a van to the top of the west rim (about 1 hour away).

We started the hike at 7:30 a.m.. The first 4 or 5 miles was through a few fields and tree lined mountains. The next 9 miles were spectacular views of Zion. We descended into the canyon, hiking along beautiful rock cliffs. The last 2 miles we had to go down Walter Wiggles (associated with the Angels Landing trail). It is a 2 part set of switchbacks that will make your toes cry out “NO MORE”.

The few day Mike and I could hardly move. It made us feel better when the young 21 year olds told us they were very sore also. Although I will admit, they recovered quicker. LOL

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Imagine a beautiful slot canyon with ankle/knee deep crystal clear water. Now imagine within the slot canyon are 5 waterfalls you cannot go around. You must turn back or climb up them using crude ladders or just simply ropes. That was our next adventure. It is called Kanerra Falls and it was spectacular.

As you can guess, Mike and I do NOT turn around. We started our hike at 7:00 a.m. and was about the only ones there. The water was very cold and Mike, with his sometimes girly feet, got really bad cramps. After 15 minutes or so he recovered and we went on. We hiked in 5 miles and finally decided to turn around.

Then “IT” happened. As we where starting to hike back, a young couple stopped us and said, “Wow, we are really impressed that you two made it this far”. WHAT !!!!! We realized he meant it as a complement, but whoa, do we look that old. This was the first time someone made us feel a bit older than we thought we were.

This brings me to my thought for today…

You may only be as old as you feel, but others may see things differently. LOL

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UPDATED 07/11/17 …

So we have had a wonderful time staying in Moab Utah and going to Arches National Park, Canyon Land, Monument Valley, etc. I will post pictures and adventures at the end of next week.

We are packing and heading out for a 5 day white water rafting expedition down the Grand Canyon. We have a 10 mile hike back up the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (5000 foot elevation gain).

If we live through it I will post again. PRAY FOR US!

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UPDATED 06/09/17 …

So it has been another month since I last wrote. We have been very busy at the hostel. Memorial day was a zoo. We had people and hotels (some over an hour away) calling to see if we had rooms. We had people in empty staff rooms, every bed in the place, some camping out back, and even a couple in a camper that Joann and Jeff are storing here. I think if we could have hung hammocks from the rafters, people would have used them. It was CRAZY, but we made it through it and most left the next morning to continue there vacation.

Besides that we have been cleaning chairs, hanging pictures, painting kitchens, cleaning rooms, watching over the other workawayers, handling reservations, and meeting lots of wonderful guests.

Currently we have 3 Japanese boys volunteering till August, 1 boy from Germany till July, 2 American girls (not sure how long they are staying). They are all very nice and work hard.

It occurred to me that I didn’t post any pictures of the inside of the hostel last time. So here are a few pictures.

As you can see we have a “guard” cat named Patches

Patches job is to show the guests how to relax and take it easy. He takes his job very seriously and the guests love him.

This is a cowboy roadmap (it was actually designed by none other than Mike Marion). It shows some of the major attractions in the area in the area.

We also have a world map on the wall. It is a place where many guests show us where they are from and where they have been. It’s kinda like the water fountain gathering place. Mike and I figure we have to live to be 150+ years old to see it all (we are working on it)

This is our room (step up from a storage container- lol)…

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So as you can guess we have also been doing some hiking.

We went back to Capital Reef. We loved it there last year but only had 1 day to explore it. This time we hiked for 3 days. It is an amazing place and less crowded then other parks.

One of the hikes led us to the “tanks”. The tanks are just a few pockets of water on the top of a cliff. While we were there we wandered around and found another pool of water that, during certain times of the year, flowed down mountain side and created an arch. It is beautiful.

The park has a fruit orchard…

flowers and a few crawly friends…

Ok, the last 2 where at the visitors center – LOL

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We went to Grand Escalante. The drive was beautiful. We ended up stopping at the Cottonwood Narrows. This a an out of the way slot canyon. We were mesmerized.

Lets play find Mike in the next 4 pictures. The 4th pictures is where we had lunch

The ride out was so colorful. Pictures don’t do it justice.

While we where hiking in the narrows, we found a femur enlarged between a boulder and the canyon wall. I climbed the boulder to look for any other bones, but thankfully found none. We took the pictures to the bureau of land management. We talked to Paul, who sent the pictures to the rangers in the area. We are waiting to hear back from him. We figure it is a femur from a cow that was washed there many years ago.

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Next stop Red Rock State Park. This park is next to Bryce Canyon and is very similar in rock formation. We took a 6 mile hike up a steep mountain. We found the rock formations prettier when looking up from ground level.

But once you get to the top, the view is beautiful.

We stayed at a hotel before the hike that had prairie dogs living in the front. They had babies and were SO cute.

The ride home was nice…

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On another day, we decided to go to the Grand Canyon (north rim). We were very surprised to see that it had snowed there the night before. I know I say I don’t like snow, but really I don’t like driving in it and shoveling it. However, snow in the meadows with deer grazing is more than amazing.

Even the San Francisco maintain range visible at the grand canyon still had snow.

We had lunch at the lodge (with a wonderful view of course)

As we were leaving, we noticed the snow had melted on the east side of all the pine trees. It looked very odd.

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We decided to take the Japanese boys (Juki and Jumpai) to see some sights on their day off. The don’t have a car and wanted to get out and see a little. We went to Lake Powel, Glen Canyon Dam, and Horseshoe bend. Mike and I have been to all these before but they had not.

We did take them to the Toad Stools (there is one in the background). The wind blows the sand away from the rocks and leaves rocks on the top of stakes. They call them Toad Stools. Mike and I had not been here before, but will go back. We did not see some of the area.

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We had a few days off and wanted to get away, but wanted a break from hiking. So we went to Las Vegas (3 1/2 away) for 2 nights. It was 104 in the day and 95 at night. We ended up seeing 3 shows, since it was too hot to walk very far. We saw Menopause the musical (I related to this one more than I want to admit – it was hysterical), a cirque de sole, and a Michael Jackson tribute.

Oh yeah, as it turned out David Cooperfield was at the next table from us at Menopause the musical and the host of the show was Cindy Williams of Lavern and Shirley.

After one of the shows, we decided to walk back to the hotel. If you don’t know the length of the Las Vegas strip, I can NOW attest it IS a hike – 4.3 miles. The show was at the north end of the strip (the Stratosphere) and our hotel was at the south end of the strip (Excalibur). It was 9:00 p.m. and 95 degrees, hot flashes were a plenty (so it was like 125 for me), and we hiked to our hotel. (Remember we went to Vegas because we didn’t want to hike – lol).

It was a nice change, but cured us from going to a big city for awhile.

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Back at the bunkhouse…

Since we worked a week and a half with just one day off, Joann and Jeff decided we should take off this weekend. Since we have Monday through Thursday off already, we decided to go to Moab (5 hours east of Kanab) and visit and hike places like: Arches Canyon, Canyon Land, Deadhorse park, Goblin park, and a few others. There is so much to see here we may have to return to see it all. Just the drive here was jaw dropping.

Since we just arrived in Moab today, I will have more pictures and adventures to post next time.

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Speaking of next time…

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

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UPDATED 05/10/17 …

We enjoyed a lovely 4 weeks in April in Connecticut and Maine visiting family and friends. It did make us realize the simplicity of our new lives. Thanks to all those who allowed us to share their homes and those we chose to visit with us.

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We returned to the Cowboy Bunkhouse in Kanab Utah on May 1st to start our next workaway experience. Some of you may be saying “hey you were already there”, and you would be right. We decided to return to the place we did our first workaway last June and July. We truly enjoyed the host (Joann, Jeff, Genny, and Josh) and the guests at the hostel. We also have SO much more to see around Kanab, such as Arches National Park, Monument Canyon, Canyon Land, more slot canyons and revisit some parks we just didn’t have time to hike as much as we wanted last summer. It was a nice reunion and we have already met some wonderful guests.

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Our job this time around is a little different than last time. We are now helping to manage the hostel, working 1/2 Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We then have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and 1/2 Thursday off. This gives the owners a chance to get some time away and for us to go and visit all the sites we want.

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Monday 5/8 we decided to hike 10 mile on the East Rim trail of Zion National Park. It was our first hike in 6 weeks and we noticed – LOL. But we made it back without too many aches and pains. It helped that along the way we say some very pretty flowers (some living in their own little cave) …

and a 300′ waterfall (Jolley Gulch) leading down into a beautiful canyon.

We were standing on the top of the fall..

300 feet down

beautiful canyon below…

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We have many more hikes ahead of us.

We have just confirmed our next few “workaway” adventures. We will be in Utah till the end of August. We are then taking the long way back to Connecticut in September to attend a wedding and then continue on to David’s house in North Carolina. We will be leaving our car there and heading out to the beautiful island of Grenada (October and November) to live and work on a sail boat doing some maintenance and working as part of the crew for sailing events. After that we will be spending December and January on the island of Tobago working at a small hotel.

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Till next time… It is not about how much you own in life, it is how much you experience in life.