Monday, September 14, 2015

Travel Update and a Sand Storm

Our wheels have been turning. 
We spent about a week traveling south through Utah.
Our first night was in Ogden parked on the street near my childhood friend's house. Susan Beem Beery and I have known each other since Sunday school and church camp days. After a nice visit with Susan and her husband, John, we met my cousin Phil Coulter for a breakfast time chat. 
Our first travel adventure was to Timpanogos Cave Nat'l Monument. To get to the cave you climb 1100' in 1.5 miles. The scenery was spectacular. 
The cave formations are great but my iPhone camera does not do them justice so I won't bother with those. 

Moving on we headed to Fremont Indian State Park. 
 A quiet place in a canyon surrounded by gray hoodoos. We explored the petroglyphs etc in this area where the early Fremont people lived until 1300AD. 

We moved on to Cedar Breaks NM. NM = Nat'l Monument, I was corrected on a FB post that Cedar Breaks was in Utah not New Mexico. As I am typing this I see what caused the confusion. We explored all of the overlooks and took a 4 mile hike. 

I love Bristle Cone pine trees. These guys at Cedar Breaks are about 1700 years old! The trail passed through a grove of these ancient beauties. 
 
 The rougher their environment the longer they live. 
Yesterday we drove to a dispersed camping area by Lake Powell. 
We were at a place called Lone Rock. This photo makes it look like we were all on our own, but in reality it was a very long shoreline with mobs of people. 
When we first arrived we were aware of the dark cloud south of us, but didn't give it too much thought... 
 We relaxed near the lake for a bit, then all hell broke loose! Wind & blowing sand like crazy! The first hit blew all kinds of beach toys and gear into the lake all around us. We holed up in the camper and spent the next several hours cleaning sand out during the brief calms. 
 Many gusts felt like the camper would blow over. Between some of the waves of storm a tour group of kayakers launched near us. It was well after dark before they returned. Their laughter sounded as if they had a fun adventure through the storm. 
By morning all was calm and peaceful. 


Advice from a Bristle Cone Pine
"Sink your roots into the earth
      Keep growing
   Weather adversity
It's OK to be a little gnarly
       Honor your elders!"
jb

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