I never gave Utah much credit – just thought it was a lot of tall white men wearing white shirts, black slacks, and riding bicycles around neighborhoods to talk to people about Ladder Day. I am wiser and more respectful now. At least about the wardrobe.
I got on the road and before I finished my coffee, I saw signs for Arches National Park. It was a detour in the making – and it was well worth the sidetrack from I-70. The park is a gigantic playground for bikers, hikers, and photographers with views that were very similar to the types of pictures I’ve seen from the Grand Canyon. I’ve learned on this trip that all of these parks are part of the Great Basin – an area of almost a third of the united states that captures all water in a unique watershed.
I took the opportunity to hike a couple of different paths to see and visit the Delicate Arch. The hikes were listed as ‘moderate’ but as a slightly out of shape person, I have to say that the mud, the snow, and the altitude caused me to revisit the map after both hikes to see if I had just run a mini-marathon. The hike up to the arch itself was about a mile and a half each way (don’t forget 480 vertical feet), but it was stunning for its view of the arch, which seemed small from other vantage points, and the surrounding vistas. I ended up arriving at the arch behind a pair of guys who were lamenting that they had left their camera in the car. I snapped a few pics of them under the arch, and shouted that I would leave my business card under their windshield wiper because they were lingering and I had to make some miles – when I got to the parking lot, I saw that they had not only forgotten their camera, but left the door of their car wide open. The park was fantastic, worthy of at least of day worth of hiking and snapping photos and gawking at where geology and meteorology meet.
Pics: a) look over my right shoulder and you can see the view of the delicate arch from the upper view; b) single track to the summit where the delicate arch lives; c) the delicate arch and my two buddies, from the peak, so much larger closer; d) the banks of the Colorado river in Utah.
Rather than backtracking to the interstate, I ventured up 128E and found myself driving along the Colorado River and the Big Bend recreational area (I think any park near a bend in the river has this designation). It was a gorgeous drive… pun intended, there were beautiful gorges and cuts along the firey-red cliffs of the park to the west juxtaposed against the ice floes and rapids of the river. Then after thirty miles the mountains seemed to just disappear and were replaced with snow covered cattle fields. The river, however, was a companion for over 100 miles as I ran against its current (I’m telling you, it runs uphill for miles on end!) all the way into the scene from a Coor’s can.
Then it was cannonball time – I have to be in Iowa for work Monday morning – so I headed for Colorado, and despite my plans to get a room in Colorado, I forgot that this is the one place I’m traveling that is actually in season. So I passed through the Rockies all the way to where the plains opened up. I continued my mistake of arriving in town after 8pm where a) it is dark so I can’t get a good idea of the landscape; b) I am tired, my gas tank is empty, and my bladder is full; and c) most restaurants in small towns are closed so I have to scramble from the hotel to at least two different places before I can find a kitchen that is open. After missing a meal at Maverick’s, I ended up at Cable’s Pub & Grille where the host pointed me in the direction of a table with a tip of his Budweiser bottle – and that was the Lobster Bisque of my visit to Fort Morgan, CO.
Today Miles: 500; Trip Miles: 6,986
Probability that mileage will end in 0: 1:10
Probability that mileage will end in 00: 1:100
States visited without Lotteries: WY, NV, UT
Cost for 7 day pass at Arches National Park: $10.00
Probability of winning $100 in CO powerball (sans ball of power): 1:14,254
Probability of any two digits appearing in tandem in a random selected number: 1:100
Probability of useless probabilities in this spot: 1:1
Windshield nicks/cracked received today: 2
Men who coined the term ‘type-A personality’: Friedman & Rosen
I-70, Exit 119: No Name
2 comments:
Bri said: The park is a gigantic playground for bikers, hikers, and photographers with views that were very similar to the types of pictures I’ve seen from the Grand Canyon.
I say: In DC, The parks are a gigantic playground for homosexuals, pedophiles and freaks with views that were very similar to the types of found on ABC's "to catch a Preditor".
There is a new HD commercial which has the arch during the spring of summer and the colors are spectacular. But Bri is not in those images.
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