After weeks of postponing a trip proposed by Paul the day to leave finally came. The weather for previous weeks had been less than ideal but there was finally a break in the clouds, literally. After school and work on Thursday I met Jake and Paul at my favorite restaurant, Thai Siam where I had an order to-go waiting for me. Jake and Paul pulled up, we organized the packs in the truck and we were on our way. We all held our breath as we drove through "crappy valley" so as not to be stricken with illnesses caused by the intense bagpiping that goes on down there. (if you don't already know what that is, you should consider yourself lucky) We had the usual conversations as we cruised through a late winter storm. We pulled over in Price for a pit stop and driver change. Paul took over the wheel and we cruised on into the dark night. 
After 4 hours in the truck we arrived in Moab. We were all craving some soft serve and decided to pull into adventure's first stop: Maverik. We got our bowls of froyo and Paul impulsively bought the DVD "Maverick". Pretty ironic. Cruising up over the pass to Monticello we hit a brutal hail storm that had Paul and I attentive as Jake snored away in the back. Then like going through a wall it suddenly stopped. The rest of the drive was really chill. We stopped in Blanding at the Canyon Country store to fill up on gas and Jake took over the driving again. 
We soon arrived at the trail head and found a good place to settle down for the night. We all slept pretty well, especially Jake. In the morning we got up and cooked a quick breakfast with cider and hard-boiled eggs. We noticed fresh coyote tracks in the sand within a few feet of the tent, it would have been cool to see them but we snoozed away the night instead. We got on the trail by 9A.M. which is pretty good for us. After 10 minutes of walking Paul's curiosity got the best of him and he dropped his pack to explore some cliffs overhead. He retreated after 15 minutes or so without finding any dwellings and we moved on. Just around the corner we came to the first set of ruins known as "House of Fire". The rock formation above the dwelling looks like giant flames shooting from the roof of the dwelling. This was a must have photo-op and we took our time checking it out and enjoying the sunshine. We moved along on the trial which was really easy going and flat. Paul couldn't help himself to drop his pack again and see if there were more dwellings on the cliffs so Jake and I hung out in the canyon below to allow Paul scout it out. Again there wasn't anything there but that didn't get Paul's spirits down because after another 10 minute hike we ran into some more. This one was in a little worse condition than the first but it was still cool to be able to check 
out up close. Back on the trail for another bend and we spotted some ruins in the trees. We dropped our packs and made out way up to check it out. This ruin is one of the coolest I've ever seen. It was a partial kiva with about half of it still intact. We hung out inside of it and Jake took a nap in the sun while Paul and I discussed important matters. I had to wake Jake up so we could move on and find a place to eat lunch. We hunkered down in some trees to eat because the wind was picking up quite a bit. Luckily the skies were still a gorgeous blue. I filled up on tortellini while Jake made easy-mac and Paul ate granola bars. Feeling satisfied we shouldered our packs again and hit the trail. Around another bend we saw "the fortress" up really high on the cliff. We dropped our packs and headed up the cliff-side to check it out. Once we were right below the ruins we realized that actually getting to them would be impossible because the ledge they were on was just too high and out of reach. We still enjoyed them from where we were and made our way back down to the trail. Another 10 minutes or so and another bend and we saw more ruins perched on the edge of a cliff. 
We walked up to them and Paul noticed some petroglyphs etched into the canyon wall. On the ground we noticed many pot shards and chunks of flint. The Anasazis had definitely hung out here for quite some time. The actual ruins were about 20 feet above our heads and we walked around looking for a way up. I looked up and saw Paul standing on the cliff above us. He had found a place where someone had placed logs in a corner of the cliff allowing us to crawl up even though it was pretty sketchy. There were several existing walls to these ruins but some had fallen down or been destroyed by previous visitors. We drunk in the view from the cliff side then made our way back down the sketchy log. It felt good to be back on solid ground. 
Paul is a true goat
Climbing up
Inside the ruin
After 4 hours in the truck we arrived in Moab. We were all craving some soft serve and decided to pull into adventure's first stop: Maverik. We got our bowls of froyo and Paul impulsively bought the DVD "Maverick". Pretty ironic. Cruising up over the pass to Monticello we hit a brutal hail storm that had Paul and I attentive as Jake snored away in the back. Then like going through a wall it suddenly stopped. The rest of the drive was really chill. We stopped in Blanding at the Canyon Country store to fill up on gas and Jake took over the driving again. 
We soon arrived at the trail head and found a good place to settle down for the night. We all slept pretty well, especially Jake. In the morning we got up and cooked a quick breakfast with cider and hard-boiled eggs. We noticed fresh coyote tracks in the sand within a few feet of the tent, it would have been cool to see them but we snoozed away the night instead. We got on the trail by 9A.M. which is pretty good for us. After 10 minutes of walking Paul's curiosity got the best of him and he dropped his pack to explore some cliffs overhead. He retreated after 15 minutes or so without finding any dwellings and we moved on. Just around the corner we came to the first set of ruins known as "House of Fire". The rock formation above the dwelling looks like giant flames shooting from the roof of the dwelling. This was a must have photo-op and we took our time checking it out and enjoying the sunshine. We moved along on the trial which was really easy going and flat. Paul couldn't help himself to drop his pack again and see if there were more dwellings on the cliffs so Jake and I hung out in the canyon below to allow Paul scout it out. Again there wasn't anything there but that didn't get Paul's spirits down because after another 10 minute hike we ran into some more. This one was in a little worse condition than the first but it was still cool to be able to check 
out up close. Back on the trail for another bend and we spotted some ruins in the trees. We dropped our packs and made out way up to check it out. This ruin is one of the coolest I've ever seen. It was a partial kiva with about half of it still intact. We hung out inside of it and Jake took a nap in the sun while Paul and I discussed important matters. I had to wake Jake up so we could move on and find a place to eat lunch. We hunkered down in some trees to eat because the wind was picking up quite a bit. Luckily the skies were still a gorgeous blue. I filled up on tortellini while Jake made easy-mac and Paul ate granola bars. Feeling satisfied we shouldered our packs again and hit the trail. Around another bend we saw "the fortress" up really high on the cliff. We dropped our packs and headed up the cliff-side to check it out. Once we were right below the ruins we realized that actually getting to them would be impossible because the ledge they were on was just too high and out of reach. We still enjoyed them from where we were and made our way back down to the trail. Another 10 minutes or so and another bend and we saw more ruins perched on the edge of a cliff. 
We walked up to them and Paul noticed some petroglyphs etched into the canyon wall. On the ground we noticed many pot shards and chunks of flint. The Anasazis had definitely hung out here for quite some time. The actual ruins were about 20 feet above our heads and we walked around looking for a way up. I looked up and saw Paul standing on the cliff above us. He had found a place where someone had placed logs in a corner of the cliff allowing us to crawl up even though it was pretty sketchy. There were several existing walls to these ruins but some had fallen down or been destroyed by previous visitors. We drunk in the view from the cliff side then made our way back down the sketchy log. It felt good to be back on solid ground. 
Paul is a true goat
Climbing up
Inside the ruin
We decided we ought to think about setting up camp soon and we found a place with water close by that was a previously used site by other campers. We set up the tent, Jake dazzled us with his flint and steel made fire and we made dinner while the sun set and the temperatures dropped. Jake retired pretty early while Paul and I set up our cameras to get some shots of the night sky. After an hour or so we went to bed as well to rest our bones from an excellent day of backpacking.
Paul ate granola bars? Paul ate beef jerky, as well as fruit bars and chocolate bars!
ReplyDeleteI keep reading this again and again because I can't believe it was real. What an epic trip!
ReplyDelete