San Isabel National Forest - August 21-22

After leaving the canyon we drove about 2 hours of the way towards Colorado Springs. We stopped just after the road peaked out at the top near the Monarch ski resort. Our campsite must have been just below 11000 feet located in the San Isabel National Forest.



Just after arriving I caught a lurgy leering at Mina. Yuck. My pocketknife has been equipped in my pocket since. (Ha, like I would actually be able to intimidate anyone.)



It was cold. This is only our second campfire of the trip. Dinner was lasagna and pesto pasta eaten out of a shared Ziploc bag. (Our foray back into civilization provided a prepared dinner for two nights. No beer made it to the second night though.)



Here’s our humble tent amongst the grand trees of the forest. It seems warmer inside with the rain-fly on so we haven’t slept under the stars for quite a few nights. I’d guess it was in the mid 40s based on the comfort level inside my sleeping bag.



The morning of the eighth day after leaving Austin we’re at 1687.0 miles headed off to Colorado Springs.

- Trent

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park - August 21

Some shots of the mountains after leaving Mesa Verde. We spent a night at a hotel in Montrose before heading off to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison the next morning.



We got to the Black Canyon around 11 am on August 21st. This place is awesome. In some parts of the canyon the walls are almost vertical.



At this point the canyon is only about 30 yards wide at the bottom.


At its deepest the canyon is almost twice the height of the Empire State Building.





It was hot.

- Trent

Also, inspired by a couple I saw doing the same, I did the necessary activity pamphlet to become a Junior Ranger and learned a lot in the process.



- Mina

Mesa Verde National Park - August 19-20

Driving from our San Jaun camp to Mesa Verde, we stopped in the Wal-Mart parking lot of Durango for some roasted pepper and avocado wraps. We got lots of gawking from the locals. Just for that we didn’t share.



Our tent site at Mesa Verde National Park. It was so windy we decided to stake all 10 tent loops. The ground was hard as hell too; I bent three of the stakes over sideways trying to pound them into this dry gravel.




Some free horses we found in the park. Jess McC: I'm sorry I missed your birthday. Your present is in the mail. Happy 30th!!!



The road up to the top of the mesa is about 17 miles of winding cliff edges. Here’s a look from one of the photo ops. Here we’re at 8300 feet. The plain in the distance is at around 6000.




Spruce House. We didn’t go in.



Balcony House. This one we visited. Entry required climbing a 32 foot wooden ladder. Cake compared to my rock climbing experience. You can tell these guys liked to burn stuff by all the black char on the overhangs.



The ancestral Puebloans lived on these mesa tops for some 800 years up to around 1300. These cliff dwellings, however, were only built in the last 100 years of their time here. Why did they leave? Nobody knows for sure...



A free mule deer.



Burger and brew for lunch before we left.

- Trent


Also, that night we went to a Ranger Talk about the night sky and the way the Ancestral Puebloans saw the night sky. The air was so clear (except for enough haze from nearby fires to allow the Ranger's laser beam to point to stars) that the sky was so black, making the stars appear so crisply and in such multitude... Trent and I decided Ranger Jim was our hero.

- Mina

San Juan National Forest

Night five spent at a lonely campsite on the Blanco River at the end of a 2.5 mile dirt road in the San Jaun National Forest of Colorado.

The Highways North of Santa Fe - August 19

Cedar Crest NM, August 17-18

Our fourth night was much cooler as we're starting to climb into the mountains. We had our most extravagant dinner yet consisting of sauteed asparagus and red onions. Not too bad for our tiny little camp stove, though I hope to get some more spices as our meals are tasting very similar with salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper being our only flavorings.

Later that night, with a newly purchased bottle of beer in our hands, we rushed back to camp to put on our rainfly after we saw massive thunderheads with lightning a-dancing on the horizon. Very lame though as the storm went around us. Boooo... I love rain.

Today we're heading higher into the mountains so I'm expecting the cooler weather to continue. We'll take the mountain roads up through Santa Fe hoping to get just past Durango tonight.

- Trent

Borger TX, August 17

We left the canyon early to meet my Aunt Edith at the Nu Way Diner in Borger. Thanks for the French Toast and sausage Aunt Edith.

We stopped by Granny and Pawpaw's house to lighten our load. Sadly, but out of necessity, we left behind the guitar, webber grill, and some other items. It sucks not to have those items but the car was waaaaay too full and we're much leaner and happier with them out.

After breakfast we took off for New Mexico on my most favorite roadway in the world: I-40. There weren't many trucks but lots of beautiful plains and red cliff faces visible from the road. A stop at Clines Corners let us pick up some souvenirs and a pecan log (yum).

- Trent

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, August 15-17

Nights two and three here. We decided to spend an extra day organizing and enjoying this beautiful canyon.

Yeah right. This place was beautiful but miserable. Read the thermometer: 107! And man oh man, the horse flies as big as my pinky toe. These guys don't shoo fly, the squat and chew until you smear their guts all over your skin. HorseflyMeter: 113 bites all over my feet, legs, and arms. I learned to wear jeans and a long sleeve shirt because no matter how hot it is, the heat is better than those damned flies.

I took a two hour siesta at 2:00 only to wake up in a pool of my own sweat. Things only got better at 8pm when the sun set. I guess flies don't like the nighttime.

Sooooo happy to see this place in our rearview mirror.

- Trent

San Angelo, August 14-15

We spent the first night of our trip, also the Fifth Anniversary of Our Wedding Day, at our old house in San Angelo. The house is empty as its on the market. We found it with all interior doors open and with ceiling fans installed and turned on in every room. I guess that's supposed to make people want to buy a home. Anyway it was very creepy with echoes running through the house all night.

We got off late around 12 and drove straight through to Canyon in the panhandle.

- Trent

We're Off!

Commitment

We have a goal!  We're going to try and hit as many national parks as possible.   It looks like there are 58, but we will exclude Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine due to distance and time constraints.

An overlay of the park locations on a map of average first freezes will dictate a lot of our path.  Colorado (with four parks) is looking like our first waypoint.

In other news, the POD arrived (on the 8th!?) and our car was egged in my mom's driveway.

- Trent

Lots of Sonic Opportunities in Austin

We Made It

We got into Austin around 5pm today. We probably won't be traveling much for the next week or so. Target departure date is August 14th which just happens to be our five year anniversary!

Two Views from the Texas Highway