Grand Canyon

 

 “let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But what you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.”  President Theodore Roosevelt on the Grand Canyon 1903

I had to go to the Grand Canyon. President Roosevelt said I should. He is on Mount Rushmore and the Teddy Bear was named after him so his words carry a lot of weight with me. He was right in 1903 and he is right 113 years later. I don't think a photo has yet to capture nor have words been said that convey just what an awesome sight it is. The only thing to say is what Teddy said. You have to see it. Every American needs to see 

We camped in the National park on Monday night. In the park means no hookups,no water and gasp..no wifi. We built a campfire and had a feast that could not be beat.

 

After a lot of walking on Monday and our internal clocks still on New Hampshire time, we settled in to our tent rather early. The night ended up being a bit cold as temps went down to 38 degrees. The nights get cold due to the high altitude but the days are warm at the Rim and the temps down in the canyon are generally 20 plus degrees warmer than at the rim. We awoke early ready to hike the South Kaibab trail. It is one of the most popular trails so again it's best to get there early if you want to hike without dodging people. Even getting on the trail just after 7 wasn't enough as there was a pretty good crowd at the trailhead. But that's ok because we met and struck up conversations with people from Germany, Denmark, two separate couples from Holland along with nice people from Michigan, Colorado and Kansas City and a family from Oklahoma who took a picture of us and I took a family picture for them.  The trail goes to the bottom of the canyon and is approximately 9 miles. Cassie and I are in shape for the 9 miles down, it's the 9 miles back up that we aren't ready for. So we did what must do and  tthat is hike a small section. Most go down 1.5 miles to Ooh Aah Point ( so named because when people see the view from there they say..I think you get it). 

 
We went a little further to Cedar Ridge which is a  small flat ridge that offers 360 views that are just astounding. 

 

 

It was here that I gave Cassie a braclet called a Wandering Braclet. It gives the GPS coordinates of a location and it serves as a momento of trip to a special place. Hence the name of our trip. "To 36.0544 n 112.1401w and back"

 

The Grand Canyon was everything TR said it would be. It is iconic and a bucket list destination for a reason. 

 

Now off to Zion National Park in Utah.

Day 4-Petrified Forest Nat Park

Our bodies must still be on Eastetn Standard Time because we were up at 5:30 Mountain Standard Time full of energy. We grabbed some breakfast and put on our shorts and t-shirts and stepped outside to find it was in the high 40's.,Luckily we are prepared for all weather and I got a long sleeve on and Cassie put on her jacket that she got from her sister Norma just in time for our trip. We thought she might need it in Colorado but not New Mexico. We found out shortly after getting on the highway why it was so chilly in the morning when we saw a sign saying "Elevation 6500 feet". 

Petrified Forest NP opened up at 7 and we were the first visitors. I have done my research and found that most visitors get there around mid to late morning so the Nat Park Srrvice recommends getting a early start to avoid crowds. It's great advice because there is nothing like being around this great scenery and being alone. We took a short hike and we could see miles of magnificent desolation and the most incredible silence.  

 

There are 2 major parts of the Park. The northern portion is the Painted Desert so named because of the array of colors that one doesn't expect to see in a desert. There are blues, reds and purples mixed in with the usual browns.

 

 

The southern portion is where the park gets its name. It is home to largest collections of Petrified wood in the world. These are trees that over millions of years fell and kept its shape while the organic material was hardened due to a chemical reaction with volcanic ash and silica and formed quartz. In short , it appears to be a log but it is rock like and is filled with colorful quartz. 

     

 

It's a large park at over 100,000 acres and 27 mikes end to end. We had a great time and hiked their numerous short trails that combined for about 8 miles walked. Cassie was happy about that. It really is a cool park that gets overshadowed by the more popular parks in the Southwest. One of those we are on our way to now as we are now on our way to the Grand Canyon. 

 

The Final Approach

Yesterday's 17 hours of driving was an exhausting affair. Cassie found the bed and was out the second she closed her eyes. I managed to drink a beer and watch the OKC local news wrap up the Thunder's game 6 loss to Golden State. Then I shut my eyes and  I opened them 6 hours later though it felt like 5 minutes. We quickly grabbed some breakfast, gassed up and hit the road with 8 hours to go until our hotel in Gallup N.M.

The sights we saw today left us constantly amazed. It was non stop "look at that!" "  " oh that's beautiful ". The flat prarie of West Oklahoma and North Texas was  all  cattle fields and hundreds and hundreds of windmills as far as the eye could see. 

 We saw Pampa Tx which is the home town of Cassie's mom Joyce. I can't imagine what a culture shock the east coast must have been for her after growing up in place so sparse. " Wide Open Spaces" by the Dixie Chicks happened to pop up on the trip mix and it will forever make me think of North Texas. 

Did I mention the speed limit is for the most part 75 mph. The roads are so flat and straight though that it doesn't feel fast at all. The cars flying by us at 90 plus made us feel like slow pokes too. 

We made it to New Mexico  by noon and we. Soon found out why it is called The Land of Enchantment. Long stretches of flat land that looks like a lunar landscape and then in the distance you see mountains. They look close but it's deceiving because the horizon is 50 plus miles away so you are driving and driving  and not getting any closer. For those who have been out west this is no big deal, but we couldn't stop talking about it. The drive towards,then away from Albuquerque and the surrounding mountains was incredible. I have never seen anything like it. (Sidebar. We are 3 days in to our trip and I have run out of adjectives for beautiful and amazing. There is a thesaurus on this iPhone right?)

We are now in New Mexico. We arrived at our hotel at 3:30 MST so it is about 50 hours after we left Hudson. Actual driving time was almost 35 hours . The only slow downs were the Mass f ing Pike near Worcester, the windshield wiper fiasco, and a brief backup in Missouri for a tractor trailer accident. Other than that, we cruised and enjoyed every second. I am sure the long haul truckers get tired of straight, flat roadway with the monotony broken up only by the occasional scrum of truck stops surrounding exit 290, but we throughly enjoyed every mile so far.As I write this we are at our hotel in Gallup N.M. I am drinking a beer while Cassie is trying to get some late afternoon New Mexico sun. (Sidebar #2. We only brought Bud Light and I wanted something with a little more substance and thought I might grab a six pack of a local micro brew. But no.Turns out they don't sell beer on Sunday in NM. What century are the citizens lof NM living in? Oh well , Bud Light it is.) We are having a nice relaxing evening and will be asleep early for sure. Tomorrow we begin what we came here for. We will visit Petrified Forest Nat Park in the morning then make our way to the Grand Canyon for late afternoon. We can't wait to get moving and see some sights up close instead of from our vehicle. 

Day 2-The Longest Day

Determined to leave ourselves a modest drive by comparison tomorrow, we were on the road by 7:03 after getting roughly 4 hours sleep. We set a goal of 15 hours on the road and we felt good and eager to press on. This ended up an unexciting day of travel which is ok. Weather was great. Not much traffic except a small back up due to a really bad tractor trailer accident near Springfield Missouri.. No mishaps for us to report. 

Some may find the flat farmland of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois in to the rolling hills of Missouri and cattle ranches of Oklahoma boring but I find the heartland beautiful and full of interesting things to see. Driving through Indiana reminds me of the John Mellencamp song Pink Houses and the lyric." He's got an interstate running through his front yard you know he thinks he's got it so good ". There are homes  built literally right on Rte 70. You would think there would be some kind of natural barrier like trees or a wall of some kind but there isn't. I can't imaging getting up in the morning and going out to the front porch and you are 15 feet from cars whizzing by at 75 mph. Or the sound of truckers all night that must be non stop because this is a major interstate. But if they are happy who am I, and who is John Melllencsmp to judge. 

We followed the old Rte 66 route ( " if your goin to St Louis, Joplin Miissouri, Oklahoma City is mighty pretty")! and there are still the strange Americana sites like "the worlds largest golf tee" and we will be driving by the Cadillac Ranch tomorrow. But a large candy store in central Missouri really made us do a double take. It was called "Uranus Fudge Factory".  Let me say that again. Uranus....Fudge....Factory. I am just happy we live in a free country where a person can give their business a ridiculous and disgusting name and nobody can stop them.Go USA!  They do get points for name recognition I guess. 

As the day went on , we both agreed a hotel and a hot shower would do us good. We will be doing our share of roughing it by camping 9 days straight so I think we can indulge ourselves. A soft bed and a couple beers sounds good after a long day of driving. 

To 36.0544 n 112.1401 w and back

"You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead" Lennon-McCartney 

Off we go. 15 days, 5500 miles 7 National Parks ,2918 songs on my iPhone, and 11 months in the planning. The car is packed with more rations than Columbus carried for the Nina , Pinta and Santa Maria and more electronics than Neil and Buzz had on Apollo 11. Hey they probably would have had a more entertaining ride to the moon if they let me do a trip mix for them because I am sure they didn't have much fun playing the license plate game. 

 It's impossible to explain how excited we are, We have been marking the days off like Christmas for an 8 year old. And now it's here and we are both have a fair amount of nervous energy. 

Did we get started without a hitch? Of course not. Cassie forgot her pot of coffee but thankfully we were barely off Linden St. With that crisis averted we thought we were in the clear. Unfortunately there was a pretty good storm around Springfield Ma. and when Cassie turned on the wipers, the drivers side wiper snapped off. How does that happen? Would it have happened if were just hanging around Hudson this weekend? So we pulled over, I retrieved it from the highway in the pouring rain and tried to put it back on but it was broken. So we slowly made our way through the rain to the next rest area about 15 miles down the road. $6.49 later we are back in one piece and road worthy. 

The rest of the night was uneventful. Hours and hours of Jackson Browne (Thanks Chris!) and being excited for what's ahead. So excited that we didn't really get tired so we just drove, finally stopping at 2:10 at a truck stop.in Burbank,Oh. A little manipulating of the bags and coolers gave us enough room to stretch out and get a little shut eye with a goal of being back on the road by 7. One day down. One marathon drive upcoming tomorrow. 

Acadia Day 2 and 3

 Like day 1 of our trip to Acadia National Park, the weather did not cooperate but like the day before, we forged ahead and ended up having a memorable day.

We planned to hike Cadillac Mountain and it was all we hoped it would be. Well minus the spectacular views and warmth. After driving by it  a couple times we finally found the South Ridge Trailhead. It may have been easier to find if another car was there but we were the only ones crazy enough to get an early start to hiking in bad weather. In fact in the entire round trip hike, we encountered only 6 people. Having such a popular trail to ourselves was incredible and definitely a positive result of the inclement weather. and it made the hike so enjoyable. We dressed warm and for the first 1 1/2 miles or so, sheltered by the trees, we actually worked up a sweat. When we emerged from the forest, the rest of the hike was exposed to the wind and mist. Nothing that our rain gear couldn't handle and we enjoyed ourselves making sure to walk carefully up the pink granite slope. We could not see a thing through the thick fog so I will have to take everyone's word word it when I hearl the stories I about the magnificent views on The South Ridge Trail. We decided we would have to drive to the summit on Monday which was supposed to be sunny , to see what we missed.

 After having a quick lunch at the summit and decending, we were proud of ourselves for enduring the entire 7.2 miles so we decided to try another quick hike to South Bubble Rock. It was a short hike with an amazing view which I can look up on google I guess because we couldn't see a thing as evidenced by this photo. But we were having so much fun it didn't matter and we felt a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

Day 3 was completely different. The weather while still in the high 40's-low 50's , was bright and sunny in the morning. We got an early start to hike the Gorham Mountain-Ocean Path Loop. It is a combination or a short but scenic trail up Gorham Mountain which ends at Sand Beach , then a walk along Ocean Path with its rocky shores leading to Otter Cliffs. The whole loop was close to 6 miles and the views were amazing. 

View From Gorham Mountain.

 Beginning of Ocean Path

  

   We decided we had to drive back up to the top of Cadillac Mountain to see what we missed the day before. The drive up was awesome with several lookouts. The summit was 43 degrees and while it was windy and getting cloudy, the views amazed us considering we could not see 50 feet in front of us the day before.

It was a great way to end our trip and we are so eager to get the big trip out west started. We also couldn't believe that we had never taken advantage of having a National Park like Acadia a mere 4 1/2 hours away. It was one of those things we always said we wanted to do but put off and never got to. 

Video of Gorham Mountain-Ocean Path Loop

Acadia National Park day 1

 

Armed with our yearly National Park Pass we made our way to Acadia National Park. We were well read and prepared for a fun weekend of hiking surrounded by beautiful scenery and fun trails. But what we experienced on day 1 at Acadia surpassed all expectations. 

We arrived under cloudy skies and 50 degree weather hoping that the rain would hold off. The rain never came but fog and damp made for an unusual atmosphere that was no less gorgeous than a 70 degree and sunny day. The cloudy skies also kept many tourists away so most of the day we were alone on the trails which made us feel like we had the park to ourselves.

We were met at the entrance by a Park Ranger named Emily who couldn't have been nicer. She mentioned that she had started at Arches National Park in Utah and I let her know that we would be going there in 3 weeks. Emily was so happy  for us and admitted she was jealous and gave us some inside information about little known sites to see at Arches so I have a few places to add to our June itinerary. 

Our first hike was The Great Head Trail. It started on Sand Beach which is a small patch of , you guessed it, sandy beach but turned in to quintessential Maine rocky shores. It's a very small climb and the entire hike was 1.9 miles and the stormy day lead to larger than normal waves and incredible views. 

 

 

 Here is our video

We then left the beach to go a few miles inland and a different hike altogether at Jordan Pond. It's a small pond , 3.5 miles in circumference, but the limited crowds gave it such a serene feeling. According  to the info signs, it is the clearest lake in Maine with visibility down to depths of 45 feet. To keep it so clear, no swimming , fishing or any activities are allowed. There was no elevation gain and just a little rock hopping so it is an easy walk at 3.5 miles. So peaceful. 

 

 

 

Here is our vid of Jordan Pond 

It was such a great day and we finished it off with dinner and a few selections from

Atlantic Brewery in Bar Harbor at the Thirsty Whale. I had some Clam Chowder that could not be beat and told Cassie she had to have a taste , totally forgetting that she had given up potatos for 2016 for her yearly challenge with herself. After taking a bite she realized what she did and pushed the bowl back at me dejectedly but agreeing it was damn  good chowder. I consoled her with the Robin Williams speech from Good Will Hunting "It's not your fault,it's not your fault!"

Tomorrow the weather should be the same but we are going to tackle Cadillac Mt. the highest peak on the eastern seaboard.  We couldn't be happier here. 

 

The month of National Parks begins.

The big trip out west begins in 21 days and the warmup continues with a trip to Maine and Acadia National Park. Cassie and I left on Friday night so we could spend the night with Amandra, Stephanie and Kyla at their summer home in Wells,Me. 

After a little dinner we drove to the Nubble Lighthouse in York. It's a beautiful place to take pictures or to just sit and watch the watch crash over the rocks. We then stopped and had some awesome ice cream before heading back to put our granddaughter in bed and relax before a 3 hour drive tomorrow morning to Acadia. 

We have a weekend full of hiking to look forward to. The temps are not supposed to get out of the 50's and we will see a little rain but we are undaunted.  These are some of the most popular trails in the northeast as Acadia is the only National Park in the eastern US north of Virginia. And to top it off Monday will be our 29th wedding anniversary.  It is going to be a memorable weekend.