WHIRLWIND THROUGH COLORADO AND WYOMING

Carol writes:  One lesson we learned very quickly when we first started our nomadic life on the road was to have all spring and summer holiday reservations made well ahead of time, because the campgrounds will be full!  

GRAND  JUNCTION, COLORADO

And so, as the 2019 summer vacation season got underway, we headed to Grand Junction, Colorado, for the Memorial Day weekend.  Here, the lower elevation offered a very good chance of warm, sunny days.  

Nothing says Grand Junction like the beautifully  eroded cliffs that dominate the imposing topography alongside the Colorado River at the confluence with the Gunnison River.

   

We were assigned a deluxe KOA campsite, and ours even had its own grill.  Several weekend cookouts immediately entered the planning stages…

For 25 years, Al and I had called Colorado our home, so it seemed somewhat appropriate that our last tourist stop in the Centennial State was at the Colorado National Monument, which joined the park system to preserve the plateau and canyon country that rises 2000 feet above the Grand Valley of the Colorado River.

The Grand Valley

The road through the monument wound upward to the top of the plateau where a grandiose view of the valley below invited one to linger.

Short trails led to sweeping viewpoints of some mighty remarkable Colorado scenery that we have grown to love.

CRAIG, COLORADO

After the Memorial Day weekend stay in Grand Junction, we headed north to Craig, Colorado, located in Moffat County on the high plains of northwest Colorado.  We found Colorado’s Great Northwest to be very sparsely populated, having very few towns of any size… and that included Craig.  

In Craig we closed out our last 3 days in Colorado on ‘Carol’s Court’  

… where there wasn’t a whole lot to do.  In between rain showers, we occupied ourselves by scouting out the town’s booksellers and coffee shops, in addition to antique stores in search of vintage beads for my new hobby.

  

DOUGLAS, WYOMING

Our first of two stops in Wyoming was for 3 days in the tiny town of Douglas, home of the original jackalope.  We even saw jackalopes in the campground!

Like Craig, Douglas was also a bit on the quiet side, but we were setting a fast travel schedule, so we didn’t mind not doing a whole lot besides watching the “buffalo roam”

and the “antelope play.”

SUNDANCE, WYOMING

From Douglas, we continued heading north all the way up to Sundance, Wyoming, along the I-90 corridor.  The town of Sundance will forever be enshrined in folklore about Harry Longabaugh (a.k.a. The Sundance Kid), who was jailed in Sundance for 18 months, then joined up with Butch Cassidy to wage the longest crime spree in American history. 

The opportunity to visit Devils Tower National Monument made Sundance, Wyoming, a perfect stop-off point along our route north.  Devils Tower was designated as our nation’s first national monument in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt.  This geologic wonder in northeastern Wyoming rises 865 feet into the air at the point where Black Hills pine forests merge with rolling prairie grasslands.

The tower was formed when molten magma cooled underground into hexagonal columns and then was exposed by means of erosion over millions of years. 

Devils Tower has become world famous in the rock climbing community and as such draws over 5000 climbers a year.  From the trail around the tower, an historic wooden ladder dating back to the very first ascent in 1893 was still visible in a giant crack between hexagonal columns.

Although I wasn’t a fan of the Circle of Sacred Smoke sculpture, I couldn’t resist the urge to incorporate it into the requisite arty shot of the tower.  This sculpture was supposed to represent a puff of smoke from a ceremonial pipe used by the Native American people who still consider the tower to be a sacred place.

The mystique around Devils Tower made it the perfect location for a movie about extraterrestrials called “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” which was filmed on site in 1978.

From our base camp in Sundance, a visit to the rollicking Wild West town of Deadwood made for a very enjoyable day. 

In 1875 the discovery of gold “in the gulch” of a narrow canyon started the Black Hills gold rush.  This canyon became known as "Deadwood Gulch," because of all the dead trees that lined the canyon walls at the time.

Present-day Deadwood

The story of Deadwood in its early years encompassed a tale of anonymous miners, famous legends, a catastrophic fire, a devastating flood, and a host of log saloons. 

The early history of Deadwood is tied intimately with Wild West legends like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Seth Bullock (Deadwood’s first sheriff).  All three are buried at Mt. Moriah Cemetery, along with many other notable residents of Deadwood.  The entire cemetery showcased the marvelous restoration project that was paid for with gambling profits in the mid-1990s.

The side-by-side gravesites of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, folk heroes of the American West, were nicely restored and stabilized with retaining walls.

Graves of Wild Bill Hickok (left) and Calamity Jane (right)

Internet photo

It was Calamity Jane’s dying wish that she be buried beside Wild Bill Hickok; at Mt. Moriah Cemetery, she got her wish.

Meanwhile, back in town, we peeked inside the original “Number 10” saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was murdered by Jack McCall with a shot to the back of the head.  Wild Bill was playing poker at the time with his back to the door, holding the so-called dead man’s hand—two pairs:  black aces and eights. 

“Number 10” displayed tasteful and appropriate mementos recalling that fateful day.

The storefronts of Deadwood were incredibly picturesque,

and evoked an authentic old western ambience, some with a touch of humor, such as the windows through which ladies of the night advertised their “wares.”

The seated bronze statue of Wild Bill Hickok invited shameless tourist selfies…

Although many of Deadwood’s historic buildings have been converted into casinos, in our opinion Deadwood did not appear consumed with a distasteful gambling atmosphere.  Instead, we felt the town fathers did a very good job of managing gaming profits to pay for the continuing  restoration of this truly historic town straight out of the Wild West.

THE STORY OF WATER AT CAPITOL REEF

Carol writes:  In the past few weeks, we have met many Americans and several Europeans who have told us they are “doing the MIGHTY 5.”  The MIGHTY 5 refers to the ultimate vacation road trip to southern Utah’s five most popular national parks:  Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion.

We did not plan to visit all five parks but instead decided to limit our journey to the two we have explored the least—Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef.  

After two weeks at Bryce Canyon, we turned north and made our next “home” at a small family-run campground in Torrey, Utah, just on the doorstep of Capitol Reef.  Seeing the Wonderland RV Park trees in full bloom in mid-May reminded me of the old saying: “No winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn.”  The weather of the coming week would test that wisdom…

Capitol Reef National Park is located in Utah’s south-central desert.  A geologic wrinkle in the earth’s crust called the Waterpocket Fold traverses the park for 100 miles north to south. Here, geologic forces shaped, lifted, and folded the earth on the Colorado Plateau, creating the wonderfully rugged American treasure known as Capitol Reef.  The park derived its name from the giant rock formations that early visitors thought resembled the US Capitol building,

and from the sheer cliffs that presented a formidable barrier to travel, much like a barrier reef in an ocean.

The geologic story at Capitol Reef was one whose headline would simply read: “WATER.”  The sequence of events required three steps:  deposition, uplift, and erosion.  

During a wet environment period that lasted over a period of 200 million years, sediments were deposited in a massive lake system that existed over the four corners area of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.  This was followed by a period of tectonic plate movement which created uplift of approximately 2 miles, thus forming the Colorado Plateau.  Over the next 20 million years, the erosive forces of water and gravity worked on these sediments of the past and created the serpentine canyons, soaring monoliths, and massive domes of Capitol Reef.

The Mormon pioneer saga was a big part of human history at Capitol Reef.  The park service has nicely preserved the tiny Mormon frontier town of Fruita, which was established in the 1880s at the confluence of the Fremont River and Sulphur Creek.  Here, Mormon settlers farmed the fertile land that was adjacent to the river.  Approximately 3000 fruit trees that were part of the historic orchards planted by these early settlers have been preserved and maintained by the park service.  Oh, how neat it would be to visit when the fruit is ready to pick…

Erratic spring weather played havoc with our visit at Capitol Reef.  We experienced few sunny days and had lots of rain, snow and sleet across the pastoral setting outside our front windshield.

At the first bit of sun, we grabbed the opportunity to explore Capitol Gorge Wash, a popular hike through a narrows used by early Mormon pioneers as the main travel corridor through the Waterpocket Fold.

Some spots were just wide enough for a wagon…

At the Pioneer Register in Capitol Gorge Wash, travelers etched their names high above on smooth sections of the canyon wall.

A short side trail led up to the so-called “tanks,” a term for potholes in the bedrock that have been filled with rainwater and snowmelt.  Not a bad place for lunch and great conversation with other hikers…

At the conclusion of the hike through the wash, afternoon thunderstorms were already starting to build up, which made for a dramatic backdrop with dark clouds towering over red and white sandstone cliffs.

The washes in Capitol Reef appeared to be some of the most popular hikes.  We felt lucky just before we moved on to get a clear morning to hike the Grand Wash.

The “narrows” section really was spectacular.

Blue skies at the start of the hike

turned into threatening clouds at the turnaround.

We heeded warnings to avoid being in the wash during a thunderstorm, in which case the soaring vertical walls would be very unforgiving.

 OTHER HIGHLIGHTS AT CAPITOL REEF

• A very pleasant hike along the Hickman Bridge Trail led to a natural sandstone bridge 125 feet high with a span of 133 feet.  

Without the printed trail guide pointing out a niche high above on the canyon wall, we might have missed a granary that dated back several centuries to the era of the Fremont people (300-1300 AD), the hunter-gatherer ancestors of the modern-day Zuni, Hopi, and Paiute tribes.

• Petroglyphs carved into the canyon wall along the main road through Capitol Reef revealed more evidence of the Fremont Culture.

• The premier jeep trail in Capitol Reef was a 57-mile loop that encircled the northern end of the Waterpocket Fold.

Some of Capitol Reef’s most iconic scenes were on display along this hard-packed dirt and gravel road.  Colorfully striped barren bentonite hills were a strong lure for vibrant shots.

Our destination for the day was Lower Cathedral Valley, one of the park’s most photogenic areas.  This valley was quite aptly named, as many of the freestanding Entrada Sandstone monoliths resembled European gothic cathedrals.

The Temple of the Sun

and the Temple of the Moon

were as impressive as their majestic-sounding names.

Nearby Glass Mountain, an exposed plug of gypsum, was unlike any natural feature we have ever seen before.

The gypsum crystals were quite a curiosity…

A different story played out at the Gypsum Sinkhole where the gypsum mineral dissolved, causing the ground to collapse into a spooky sinkhole.

At the high point on this jeep “loop,” we turned around to head back, but not before taking a few extra moments to marvel at the scenery far below in Cathedral Valley.

Lower Cathedral Valley certainly encapsulated some of the most phenomenal scenery that Capitol Reef National Park had to offer—solitude amid a stark landscape, stunning monoliths, volcanic dikes, and just enough jeep trail ruggedness to evoke an atmosphere of a great adventure.

Carol Galus

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