Goulding
Trading Post http://www.gouldings.com/ is in Monument Valley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_Valley. By now we were quite ‘acclimated’
to the unique beauty of arid parts. Our swooning about what we saw should thus
be viewed against the background of gradual conditioning. From the blinding
dust of Southern New Mexico we’ve graduated to appreciate the beauty, sans
dust, which is more often encountered than not. But it is a stark contrast to
the wooded, humid Eastern US. And thank heavens for the contrast that attracted
film makers since the earliest days to Monument Valley. This is quite some
place! The story of Harry and ‘Mike’ Goulding
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765619619/Harry-and-Leone-Mike-Goulding-put-Utah-on-movie-map.html?pg=all
is intimately woven into the fiber of the place http://strangerintown.podcastpeople.com/posts/52113 There we saw history preserved, enjoyed the
‘monuments’, video and slide shows as well as the movie, Stagecoach, of 1939,
starring John Wayne. It would be the first of many for him and many others;
Forest Gump comes to mind more recently. This was a worthwhile stopover at a
remarkable place.
Our initial
plan to also get to the higher upstream location of Halls Crossing on Lake
Powel was amended upon learning that for a pretty long drive we would probably
not gain much over what we already experienced of Glen Canyon at Page. We thus
headed straight to Devils Canyon Campground in the Manti-La Sal National
Forest of southeast Utah at the foot of the Abajo Mountains, north of Blanding, http://www.recreation.gov/camping/devils-canyon/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=70568 . Although we would not have chosen
this location for spending two days, we had exactly that before we could claim our
reservation at Arches National Park outside of Moab, UT. So, as with so many
other instances on this trip, we were in for a surprise. This is a beautiful
place at the foot of Mt LInnaeur, with its snow capped top at 10,961 ft and
Abajo Peak at 11,360 ft. We had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for,
but a steady climb got us to some 7,000 feet at the campground and all of the
white stuff above us seemed a bit intimidating. Even so, although we found
ourselves in a great campground, we were just about the only campers in sight
and to our dismay, found only one spigot with fresh water, after we’ve already
set up camp and unhooked the truck. While filling a water tank, a Park Service
truck pulled up and the driver advised us not to drink the water. The system was
in the process of being flushed and tested for the upcoming season and not yet
approved for use! This probably explained why we had the whole place to
ourselves, notwithstanding sign posts at camp sites indicated they were
reserved for use during the very time we were there; obviously a mismatch of
some kind between the Park Service Reservation System and the wardens on
site. However, the camp host, who meanwhile
joined us, offered us a 5 gallon jug of fresh water and directed us to the
Blanding Town Information Center, where we could get more. We settled for what
we got, enjoyed the campground wealth we did have and decided to prepare dinner
and dig in for the night. It being a dry camping situation, and us being alone,
we were happy to run our power generator unencumbered by time regulations. We
were also thankful for having the catalytic gas heater and recently filled gas
cylinders. The RV was really cozy by bed time and we turned off the heat.
Willem woke up at around 6 am and sensed it was colder than usual. He got the
heater going with proper ventilation and hit the sack again. This ended up
being so comfortable that we all overslept!
The high
point of our stay was a trip to Natural Bridges National Monument http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Bridges_National_Monument . On our way back we stopped for
water at the Blanding Information Center, where we spotted a charging station
with a Tesla http://www.teslamotors.com/ being charged, courtesy of the likes
of the Navajo Nation endeavor across the border in Arizona. A further positive of
Devils Canyon was an excellent WiFi Hotspot signal, which afforded the
opportunity to download a batch of photos to the blog the last morning. This
took some time, so we left for Bridges National Park before placing the
downloaded photos with the accompanying text, expecting to do so easily at the
other end. Mistake!
We drove
non-stop to Arches National Park http://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/index.htm , casting some side glances on
passing through Moab. We figured to return there at least for gas and
provisions when we could do so by truck alone. Arriving so early, we could spend
time at the visitor center where amongst interesting displays and information,
we ran into a music concert in the onsite auditorium. The Grand Valley State
University New Music Ensemble with Director Bill Ryan presented There’s Music
in Our Parks. The music presented related to park-inspirations and are
contemporary. Although unknown to us, it was more than merely interesting and
stimulated our interest to find out more at www.newmusicensemble.com . With this cultural fix under the belt, we headed
for our camp site at Devils Garden Campground, which we fortunately reserved
many months ago. The campground is beautiful, with sites likewise but it calls
for dry camping – literally. Water could not be hosed into the RV tank and
thread on the single fresh water spigot had been destroyed -- officially. We
got the message but filled our coolers by means of numerous containers as well
as subsequently topping up by means of the latter. We thus had ample water for
cooking and washing dishes. However, needs extend beyond these and once again
in the absence of public showers, we soon discovered that a plastic container
with 2 kettles of boiling water on top of cold facilitated a tremendous job in
the RV shower, notwithstanding soaking not coming from above. This approach saw
us through to Hanksville, our next stop.
Arches is a
place with remarkable sights, many of which are accessible by road http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arches_National_Park . Connoisseurs will of course point out that
much more can be gained by hiking, and that is what by far the most visitors
come for. We were amazed at the large number of very young families with kids
as young as a few months and up doing tent camping and especially hiking –
sometimes even overnight away from their tents at Devils Garden. A Park Service
brochure claims Arches is home to more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches. A
desire to get to all of those undoubtedly would call for starting young and do
so mostly by foot! Admitting that we were loosing on that score released us
from any such obligation and offering joints with miles on them in mitigation might
just close our case. However, the kick we got from all we did get to see and
experience was second to none. Especially for Fickie and his camera that left
no stone unturned or undigitized and no desert flower overlooked.
After a very
nippy first night, which had Willem turn on the catalytic heater at about 5 am,
he joined a lady from New Hampshire on her way to the bathroom/dish washing
basin, who was visibly shaking. The cold was rather unexpected, even for a tent
camping New Englander and the rest of her family doing their dishes. More
quivering folks over there. He offered
them blankets for the next night but they were leaving Arches that day,
hopefully for a milder spot.
We, however
set out to stop at a good many of the attractions halfway back to the park
entrance http://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/upload/archmap.pdf
. There was a great deal to appreciate, including other tourists –
especially a bus load of people from France. Now, Willem has virtually no understanding
of French but seeing how they struggled with the English plaques at Wolfe
Ranch, he volunteered synonyms and hand gestures, which proved helpful for one
or the other French tourist’s understanding of English. And between half a
dozen or so of them on about the same level, accompanied by much laughter and
politeness, they appeared better off than they were on their own and seemed to
pass their understanding on to a broader audience. Wolfe Ranch was particularly
interesting and that evening we were entertained on settlers’ history of the
place.
The Park
Service does a great job at providing information in an entertaining way.
There’s a presentation in the camp amphitheater every evening. The theater is
located behind a massive rock structure, which provides some shelter. The
presenters had a fire going in the front, on every occasion, which enhanced the
atmosphere in addition to providing heat for swirling wind gusts to spread. The
first evening had an elderly fellow narrate an engaging story about a family
that settled Wolfe Ranch in 1888. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfe_Ranch http://www.nps.gov/arch/historyculture/wolfe-ranch.htm . The presenter on the second
evening was a true master story teller. He held the audience, which included
visitors from abroad, spell-bound with four different stories. One on Indian
folk lore of the area, the second on the mysterious disappearance of the Hyde’s
http://www.justroughinit.com/blog/murdered_drowned_disappeared_what_ever_happened_to_glen_and_bessie_hyde . A captivating story on Utah native
Butch Cassidy http://www.biography.com/people/butch-cassidy-9240908#awesm=~oDxwCEr2W2K253
was followed by a story about mysterious experiences the presenter had
in Tennessee in his youth.
On his way
back from the second evening’s presentation in the pitch dark, Willem passed
the second campsite from ours and heard Fickie in instructional mode, parting
with wisdom on the Milky Way to the inhabitant, who had a sizable telescope set
up on his campsite. They met one another before dark and were having a great
time in an area reputed for its dark night sky. Not long after Fickie showed up
and we planned strategy for the next day, which had to include getting to WiFi,
because in Arches there was neither that nor AT&T phone service.
We got off
to an early start the next day, got gas and headed for the Moab Information
Center hoping to get a WiFi connection. No go, but Star Bucks in town had a comfortable
table, power and WiFi connection. Coffee in hand, Willem succeeded to get the
downloaded pictures captioned as well as placed on the blog together with the
accompanying text. Also to get some business done and finally, he talked with
Susan and Herine in Chicago. The news from there was good. They were all doing
well and baby Teo making good progress. He still has a long hospital stay ahead
of him but Herine was gaining strength and would be a lot better off coping
without Susan’s help a week later when
she will have returned to us. A particular comfort is the fact of Matt’s
extended family close by and Herine’s colleagues who already were extremely
helpful.
Canyon Lands
National Park was our project for the rest of the day, a 130 mile excursion
along route 313 west of US 191 http://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/brochures.htm . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyonlands_National_Park
This was truly variations on the theme of canyon, punctuated
by views, such as
The next
morning we left for Hanksville, UT
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