So I’ve decided go back and recount the adventures of this year, since I want to put my pictures out there rather than let them clutter up my (now 5) harddrives.
I have my first set from April, when Kadi and I drove to Phoenix to visit her parents. I hadn’t been to Phoenix before, and I love Utah/Moab, so I was excited to have the opportunity to drive through!
We started driving Friday night after work, which put us in Moab around 1:00am. While setting up the tent in the cold spring night (even in April!), we saw a rare kangaroo rat jumping around, but I couldn’t get a picture.
The Ledge campsite was a nice place, not even close to full even in April, which was a pleasant surprise. There was a valley close by with some cottonwoods rustling in the small breeze, housing an orchestra of crickets that would have kept us up if we weren’t so tired from the drive.
Utah is basically Mars on Earth. So many red rocks!
Another reason we chose this campsite was because there was an arch nearby that I wanted to investigate: Funnel Arch. It’s not a long walk from the road, but it does require some class 4 scrambling up a gulley, but once at the top it’s smooth sailing!
Funnel arch is a pretty small arch by Utah standards, but it had some great views of canyons all around! Next time I’m down this way I want to setup a rappel from the top, since I could see anchors bolted in at the top.
As with many things, getting down is a bit more of a challenge than going up, and we butt-scooched our way down for many parts.
After we got back into Moab, I had to take Kadi to a legendary place to get lunch–Milt’s! If you’re ever in the area, Milt’s is a diner-style burger joint that has more character than you can take in with just one sitting. It’s closed on Mondays though, so beware!
Next stop on the way south was Wilson arch, right off the highway. It’s quite a bit larger horizontally than the last arch, but not too much higher vertically. I had rappelled off the side of this arch the last time I was there, so it was fun to reminisce about that!
After this we had a pretty long drive down to the border of Arizona, probably 4-5 hours. On the way we saw Mexican Hat, a fun rock formation that looks alot like, you guessed it, a sombrero. I was driving at the time, so I didn’t get any pictures of it, unfortunately. However, we also hit Monument Valley along the way!
Arizona is also Mars on Earth. Most of it at least, though it’s got more shrubs than Utah. I really never realized how many different types of red rocks there could be until I drove through Arizona, but that makes it a very interesting drive. And I saw a Saguaro cactus for the first time in my life! Once again though, I was driving, so I decided not to endanger the car and pull my camera out.
It was really pleasant in Phoenix, I think the high was around 84F when we were there, meaning we could be outside without burning up! It was really cool to me to see all the dust devils throughout the desert plains surrounding the city, and everywhere was air conditioned (similar to Florida).
We stayed for a couple nights, but since it was just a 3-day weekend, we had to move on fairly quickly. We decided to go back through New Mexico this time, and check out some of the things along the way! This included Petrified Forest NP, which really reminded me of the Badlands of Teddy Roosevelt NP (alas, I’ve never been to the badlands of SD).
I had never driven through Albuquerque, and it was an interesting drive through even more different types of desert! But it was getting late and we had work the next day, so we had to make up some time we had lost by wandering around PFNP, so no more extraneous stops. Except…maybe two more.
The sun was just setting as we were going through Trinidad in Southern Colorado, and it really lit up Fisher’s Mesa, so I had to stop at a conveniently placed rest stop to grab this.
Finally, 30 minutes down the road I had to make one more stop to catch the sunset over the Spanish Peaks. After this we drove to Colorado Springs to grab dinner with family, then finally made it home at 1:00am!
cameronfedde 