Arches National Park, Utah

Arches

For a place called Arches National Park, with a purported 2500 natural stone arches, there seemed to be a surprising lack of arches where we drove.  There was a twenty minute wait to get in to the park just because of an over load of people coming in, so my dad decided to turn on AM 1610 AKA Arches Radio, which was basically saying, “There are wild animals. Don’t climb on the arches, don’t, don’t, don’t, blah blah blah.”

When we finally made it in, as I said earlier, there were a lot fewer arches than I expected.  I imagined that there would be arches all over the park, but no, there were only three or four in sight.  Eventually we decided to hike a trail that would bring us to eight arches. 

1. The trailhead was a paved path that cut through a huge rock. Eventually the pavement ended and turned into dirt.

Tunnel Arch

2. Tunnel Arch was our first arch, so naturally I was excited, but when I saw it I was mostly thinking, “How did that happen.” I also wondered if it was an arch or a bridge. According to “The General Dictionary of Geology” a natural bridge is “an arch‐shaped rock formation produced by weathering and/or erosion.”  I took that to mean that a bridge is carved by water whereas an arch is formed by wind, sand, and anything else that hits it.

Pine Tree Arch

3. On the walk to Pine Tree Arch my mom and I traded ideas about why it might be called Pine Tree Arch.  I was hoping that there would be a pine tree growing down from the top of the arch upside down.  The truth wasn’t quite as cool.  There was just a pine tree growing behind the arch.

Landscape Arch

4.Landscape Arch was a skinny arch that looked like it might collapse at any moment.  
Unfortunately there was a rock wall behind it, so it was a little hard to see.

5. Double O Arch looked a lot like the other arches except that under the main arch there was one little arch that we could walk through.

Double O Arch

6. At the intersection we decided not to go out to Dark Angel Spire and just take the primitive loop back.

7. The Primitive Trail turned out to be a lot of fun. There were some tricky parts in it, but those were the best. The first major obstacle was a slick rock covered in sand that we had to slide down. My dad and I had no trouble at all. We slid down and helped the other people that were trying to get down. There was one older couple who we had to support as they slid down. My mom, who didn't have as good of traction on her shoes, we needed to spot to make sure she didn't slide out of control. The second major obstacle was a large stone wall. At this point the couple we had helped down the last obstacle decided that enough was enough, so they turned around. There was another guy who was already on the wall and wasn't really able to get up or down. If I had to guess I would say he had a major fear of heights, and this wall was 30 or so feet tall. Since his wife was already at the bottom of the wall he needed to get down but was having a lot of trouble, so once again we climbed down the wall a little bit and helped him shimmy across and down. The third obstacle was honestly the most fun. There was a warning at the beginning of the trail saying that one section often filled up with water and was hard to cross when full.  The fact that there was water actually made it more fun for my dad and me.  I decided the easiest way for me would it be too try and run the wall. Although it may look hard, running a wall actually can break down to basic physics. If you can gain enough momentum to create a centripetal force, you can run on a vertical surface until the centripetal force wears off and gravity takes over. If you put a marble in a balloon and blow up the balloon you can spin the marble on the side using the same concept. The only difference is that the marble has a continuous source of motion, that being you. When you try to run a wall you have to make sure you have enough momentum to make it all the way, otherwise you fall and hurt yourself. For me it was a little bit easier. I had a sloping surface to run up before hitting the vertical and a slope to the ground so it was an easier entrance and exit.

After that it was an easy trek back to the car and home to some much deserved Phish Food.

Balcony House and Long House, Mesa Verde, Colorado

Balcony House

The next Pueblo settlement we toured, Balcony House, was a lot more fun than I expected.  It was a lot like Chimney Rock except with 50% fewer rattlesnakes and 100% fewer death waivers.  Oh yeah, and the entire house was situated 50 feet down the side of a cliff - almost forgot to mention that.  If I had to live in Mesa Verde 1000 years ago (and I couldn’t find something like Top Notch resort) I would want to live in the cliff dwellings.  Not only do they have shady spots, they also have a consistent source of water and are easier to defend if they are being invaded.  Besides, the other option is living above ground in the brutal sun, and the sun was awful in September.  Just imagine how hot it would be in July! The alcoves that these houses were built in were formed by water seeping through the porous sandstone and hitting the harder shale. Then when it drained off, a bit of the 
sandstone was carried with it.  Over millions of years the erosion created the alcoves.  The water leaking down also created seeps in the rock that became the water source for anyone who lived there. 

Long House

Long House was very similar to Balcony House except for a few things.  First off it was longer, hence the name

Long House. Long House also was designed to hold about 120 people whereas Balcony House couldn’t hold much more than 30.  Therefore there were many more houses and kivas.  Long House was built in a less eroded alcove so it was more exposed to the elements than Balcony House.  There was also a central meeting place in Long house just like Balcony House except bigger.  In Long House there were also two foot drums.  Foot drums are basically holes in the ground surrounded by rocks with wooden planks over them, so when the Pueblo ceremonial leaders stomped on the planks it created a loud drum beat.

Chimney Rock, Colorado

Chimney Rock was hot.  That was my first impression of it, hot.  My second impression of it was terrifying.  Before touring the ancestral Puebloan village we had to sign a waiver saying that if you hurt yourself, the National Forest Service was not responsible.  People only make you sign things like that if there is a danger of being hurt or killed!  Right next to Chimney Rock there is a slightly larger rock called Companion Rock, together they create a set of pillars. 

Pit House

First our guide took us on a quarter mile interpretive trail around what used to be the village.  We saw a pit house that hadn’t been excavated and a pit house that they had completely excavated, so we could see what it looked like inside.  After that we started up the trail to Chimney Rock.  On the way up our guide told us about the Choya Cactus, also known as the Jumping Cactus. This prickly plant rolls into the path and sticks to your shoe then leaps up and stings you in the back of the leg.  I actually saw one that had rolled in the path since we had gone up, but that happened a lot later.

When we got to Chimney Rock we saw another small village complex that was still mostly intact.  It was a brick work held together by mud and ash.  Inside there were several storage rooms and two Kivas.  A Kiva is a place where people would gather for religious ceremonies and sleep at night when it got cold.  Since the walls are made of stone and it used to have a thick roof, the Kivas would hold heat very well.  There were holes in the top of the roofs for smoke, and ventilation shafts to circulate air.  Fun fact: all of the ventilation shafts pointed south because that is the way the wind would come from most often.

Most of the Pueblo peoples’ clothes were made out of a plant called the yucca.  The yucca has long fibrous leaves that they made everything from loincloths to diapers out of.  Just imagine how uncomfortable a yucca diaper would feel!

Chimney Rock itself had as much significance to the Pueblo people as the yucca that they made their clothes out of and the animals they hunted.  On the spring and fall equinoxes the sun would rise in between the rocks, signaling that the planting season would either begin or end.  When the Pueblo people noticed this they gouged a hole that lined up directly with where the sun would rise, then they built corresponding points much further south that all lined up. In addition every 18.6 years all the full moons for 3 years straight would rise in between the rocks.  This had more of a spiritual use than a practical use we think, but since the Pueblo never had a written language we don’t know.  After all one of the first things our tour guide said to us was, “As you can all see I’m an archaeologist.  That means if we don’t know something we make it up.”

Rainbow Hot Springs, Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Beetle Kill

Rainbow Hot Springs was comforting and relaxing - the hike up to it, not so much.  The hike itself wasn’t all bad.  It had nice views, and the terrain wasn’t too hard, but the spring was impossible to find.  The hike started out on dirt roads that led to an ATV trail through private ranch land.  We walked about a mile through the ranch, and it got to be a little eerie.  There were so many “Private Property” and “Keep Out” signs I was starting to think that a redneck with a baseball bat was going to leap out of the woods and brain us all!  Luckily that didn’t happen.  Once we were out of the ranch a new fear arose.  Colorado is facing a huge pine bark beetle infestation that is killing lots Ponderosa Pines, causing them to fall unpredictably. Lucky us, we were walking straight through a huge swath of beetle kill.  Knowing this, we were worried that a tree might fall on us at any moment.  Since I’m here writing about this it’s pretty obvious that I didn’t get squashed by a tree, as that would mean I’m dead, and last time I checked…. nope not dead.

As we got to where the hot springs should be I started to wonder if we had missed them.  I really started to think we had missed them when we had to cross a river by scooting over a log.  My mom, who didn’t want to scoot over the log, decided to try and find another way over.  The rocks were too slippery, so she took off her shoes and waded through the freezing water to the other side.  Once she was over my dad and I came to the conclusion that we shouldn’t have crossed and we must have missed the hot springs earlier. Then we darted over the rocks to the other side. My mom on the other hand (with much cursing and swearing I may add) crossed again through the water.  On the other side she sat on a rock and nursed her toes until she could feel them again.  While I waited with my mom for her to be able to walk again, my dad jogged back to ask some women we had seen camping if they knew where the springs were.  He found them doing morning yoga at their campsite (don’t ask me…) and they told him that the springs were right behind their campsite.  At that point I had to resist smacking myself in the forehead because before when we had passed their campsite I was thinking about asking them, but I had assumed that there would be a big sigh saying “HOT SPRINGS” or at least after we passed the springs a sign saying “TURN AROUND, IDIOT”.

When we got in the springs they were the nicest thing I ever felt. The river didn’t flow into this spring so it maintained a comfortable 110 degrees and not once did I feel like a lobster being boiled.

Boulder, Colarado

Our time in Boulder seemed to be mostly dedicated to working on the blog.  During our time there we stayed at my mom’s old friend’s house.  Since my mom used to live in Boulder she was exited to show me everything that she remembered.  Our first order of business was to do laundry.  Seriously our "laundry" method so far had been to dive in a river with our pants on, and things were starting to smell really bad.  Also the elevation had given me two bloody noses in a row at night, and my sheets were starting to look like a murder scene. Our next order of business was to find Lisa's house.  As it turned out there were a million Lisas in the phone book. My mom remembered that Lisa used to live in Sunshine Canyon.  Thankfully according to my mom Lisa hadn't changed at all.  We found her in the exact same house as she had lived in 25 years ago.  She also had the same phone number and haircut as when my mom knew her. 

Day one was just getting into Boulder and setting up our camper in Steven and Lisa's driveway.  Eventually I wound up sleeping on the couch because the wind was threatening to blow over our camper. That was fine with me; the Wi-Fi was better inside, plus they had an X-box. Day two we just toured around Boulder and saw what there was to see.  At the end of the day we went to see a hockey game.  My favorite part was this woman who was standing behind us screaming things at the ref things that I can’t put in this blog.  On day three I worked on the blog the entire fre***ng day.  Day four was a lot of  fun.  My dad and I went rock climbing in El Dorado State Park.  I learned how to rappel down the rock, and I learned how to belay my dad, (which was significantly easier now that he didn't lift me off the ground when he fell).

Dinosaur National Monument, Utah

Bone wall

We went to Dinosaur National Monument.  The place itself stretches out into Colorado, but we just stayed in the quarry part in Utah.  The quarry is where there are a lot of bones from a few certain dinosaurs.  There is also the quarry exhibit hall.  This is where a section of the hillside has been turned into one wall of the building, and you can touch real bones that have been half excavated, but still embedded in the cliff so you can see how they died.  There were also a lot of other exhibits on various other dinosaurs that were found there such as the Allosaurus, the Stegosaurus, and the Camarasaurus.

 

Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming

We got into Grand Tetons National Park at the opportune moment.  We got there the day after a huge fire was presumed to be out and under control. Until that day the road we took was closed. The day after we got in the winds shifted, and the fire started back up, closing down the road again. It was pretty funny, almost like a gate opened for us then immediately closed again.

The first day in the Grand Tetons we went on a bike ride on a 6 mile long bike path. Our final destination was a visitor center in the town of Moose.  In the visitor center we watched a movie about a lot of the Grand Tetons’

past. The movie described the first people who came here and what they did.  Originally this place was named Trois Tetons by French explorers. Trois Tetons means the three nipples in English because that's what the explorers thought the mountains looked like.  Later on when it was translated into English people started calling the place the Grand Tetons.

The next day we went on a hike through Cascade Canyon (which was a real comforting name seeing as there were places where it looked like there had been a landslide). It was one of the longest most painful hikes I have been on.  We were originally planning just to go to the intersection, which would be roughly 14 miles round-trip. By the time we got to the intersection we had all agreed that we weren't that tired, so we decided to go an extra 2.5 miles to a place called Solitude Lake. 

On the way back I did something that was really stupid, even by my standards. I decided to jog down the mountain and meet my parents at the car, but that wasn't the stupid part. The stupid part was that I forgot to bring water. By the time I got to the car I could barely talk because my throat was so dry.  I needed to drink about a quart of water before I could form a comprehensible sentence.  The upside of doing the hike was the fact that we got to go out to dinner afterward. That was the best taco salad I've ever tasted. The downside was that I looked like I was drunk hobbling to the bathroom in fuzzy slippers, but that was hardly my fault since I couldn't feel my legs.

Rocky Mountains National Park, Colorado

Rocky Mountains

My first good view of Rocky Mountain National Park was from 12000 feet in the air in the middle of a hail storm. We arrived in early September, but from the weather I would have thought it was end of December. To get to our campsite we had to drive up Trail Ridge Road on the side of the mountain, and it was not that fun. I tried to get out of the car to read a sign and look at the “views”, but I couldn't stay outside for more than a minute. It was freezing and the rain was being blown so hard it hurt. Regardless it was still pretty cool to see snow in September. We almost never get that in Vermont.

Our route is highlighted in green

Day 2 in the Rockies was all hiking because you just can't go to the Rockies and not hike. The morning of day 2 was better than most of the mornings I had spent on this trip. Throughout the past one and a half months my parents, who I love so very very much, have gotten me up at 7 in the morning to go on a hike or do math. I found it a lot easier to get up at 7 back at home because I hadn't been hiking and biking the entire day before. After not getting nearly enough sleep, getting to sleep in until 10 in the morning was the best thing that ever happened to me. My dad had already taken off. He had decided that today was going to be his day, or what my mom and I called a Billy suffer fest. My mom on the other hand was happy to sit in the sun and read her book until I woke up.  When I finally did get up we discussed what we wanted to do. 
 
We eventually decided on doing a hike.  We took the shuttle down from our campsite to the Cub Lake trailhead. We saw Cub Lake them merged on to Fern Trail to Fern Falls for a photo op.  We stopped at Fern Lake for a break, then continued up to Oddessa Lake where we got a snack.  By the way it is pronounced Oh-de-sa Lake.  I spent the whole hike trying to figure that one out.  After Oddessa we continued down to Bear Lake, and took the shuttle back to our campsite. 

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Yellowstone: Day 1 
The first thing we saw in Yellowstone was Mammoth Hot Springs. The hot springs also smelled awful because there was lots of hydrogen sulfide. There were also thermophilic bacteria underneath the crust of the Rock and stone that

were chemosynthesizers.  This means that these bacteria use the hydrogen sulfide to create energy.  There were also things that looked like fuzzy rock mats under shallow water.  Believe it or not these are actually strands of thousands of bacteria linked together, and unlike the ones under the rock these bacteria photosynthesize and would be killed if the other bacteria did not use the hydrogen sulfide. 

As we drove back to our campsite we saw a heard of elk grazing right in the middle of the town.  There were dozens of people watching them, taking pictures, and the elk didn't even seem to notice or mind as if this was an

everyday occurrence.  As we soon found out after talking to a park ranger the elk would come by every few days, and stay there for a while.  Every time this happened lots of tourists would come by to take pictures, and a park ranger would have to come by because there was the occasional idiot who came within ten feet of a elk (you are supposed to stay 25 yards away) and get themselves hurt with a swift hoof in the head.

In the evening we decided to check out a place we had heard about called the Boiling River.  We had heard that it was where an underground tunnel filled with water from the Mammoth Hot Springs spilled into the Gardiner River and created naturally warm pools. At first when we got there it wasn't so relaxing. The air was freezing, it

was raining like crazy, and believe me when I tell you we had very different ways of dealing with the cold. My mom took it slow.  She rooted around in the truck, and found her rain coat. She had on long pants and wrapped a towel around her neck like a scarf. Then she ambled slowly down to the river keeping her head bowed the entire time.  My dad and I went for the minimalist approach.  We put on swimsuits and ran down the half mile streak in the freezing rain as fast as we possibly could.  By the time we got to the river I couldn't feel my legs, hands, or face, but I felt great.  The river was a little inconsistent, but it still felt nice.  Sometimes too much cold water got in, and it was freezing.  Sometimes not enough got in, and I felt like a lobster being cooked, but most of the time it was just right.  We had to leave after about two hours because my mom was getting bored, and we needed to make dinner before it got dark.

Yellowstone: Day 2

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Pronghorn

Today we hiked a trail called Specimen Ridge Trail. As we were going up, my mom and I started freaking out because there was a huge buffalo laying about 20 feet off to the side of the trail.  Since we didn't want to be gored by an 8 inch horn we decided to stay well back, and wait for him to move on. Oh boy did he take his time. We were waiting there at least 10 minutes for him to move about 100 feet.  When he finally moved, and we could start hiking, we kept going up the trail all the while thinking “Is that a bear, is that a bear, is that a bear,” and generally terrifying ourselves. When we got to the top it was well worth it. We saw a place called the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone which I think should be renamed the Not so Grand Canyon, or the Slightly Grandish Canyon , but it was still worth it. On the way down we saw an entire herd of Pronghorn.  They must have a thought we were following them because they started running through the woods down toward where we had seen the buffalo earlier. We continued walking, and by now they were definitely thinking, “Why are these people following us,” because they had run right into the middle of the trail which entailed another 10 minute wait for them to move out of the way.

Yellowstone: Day 3

Day three started out with a lot of walking. We went down several hundred steps to a waterfall. The waterfall was not as exciting as I was hoping. There was no giant waterside, or 20 foot jump into the pool below. It was just a big waterfall. Then we walked back up all of the steps (yay).  My favorite part of day three was the Canyon Visitor Center. There were a lot of exhibits on how the park was formed and on the giant volcano that erupted a long time ago and created the giant caldera in Yellowstone. There was also a giant granite globe that had all of the volcanic hotspots in the world illustrated.  The cool thing about it was how it had a steady stream of water pushing up against the globe on its pedestal. The water levitated the globe about an eighth of an inch above the pedestal, allowing the globe to spin in every direction.

After that we went to see Old Faithful Geyser and that entire area. We got to see three geysers erupt at the same time which was pretty cool. My favorite part of that section was either Anemone or Spasmodic Geyser. Anemone had a lot of cool formations from the bacteria linking together. Spasmodic was a ton of mini geysers that were all constantly erupting, so it just looked almost hypnotic. After Old Faithful we went to see a place called Black Sand Geyser Basin. The name doesn't give it credit because it was one of the most colorful places I had seen while being at Yellowstone. 

Yellowstone: Day 4

Day four involves a lot of tourists. The first thing we did was go to look at Grand Prismatic Spring which was the thing that had been my top priority the entire time at Yellowstone. After finally getting through the mobs of people on the boardwalk we saw Grand Prismatic, and it was nothing but steam. The entire thing was completely covered in steam. After getting back through the tourists, who for some reason wanted to take pictures of the giant steam cloud, we decided to drive a road along Firehole River.  We stopped along the river to go swimming, and it was freezing. Eventually we convinced a few other people that it was warm, so they came in

and immediately said that they had lost feeling in their toes. My dad and I stayed in the river for about a half hour. Then we had to go home,well the popup!
Next Stop: Grand Tetons