Tom's Past Adventures

After the requisite several days catching up on our sleep and otherwise recovering from our 18-day road trip, we spent the better part of the next few weeks at home eating home cooking, getting exercise, and beating back our to-do lists ... getting and keeping our Kenyan friends on track in school, buying a car (Subaru Outback, but no delivery yet), trying to fix the drain problem that caused the basement flooding fiasco, correcting deficiencies in our outdoor gear situation, etc.  But, we did manage to squeeze in some fun ... including an afternoon of golf (par-3), dinner with friends, a Neil Young concert, and 2 hikes.   The first hike was a single-day effort at Mt Rainier (Knapsack Pass to Mt Pleasant to Spray Park).  Fall colors were very nice, with the red huckleberry bushes really highlighting everything.  And it reminded us of just how big that mountain is, and how minuscule we are in the grand scheme of things!! Mt Rainier from Mt Pleasant Fall Colors in Spra...

As rainy weather was moving in for a day or so, we had planned on a rest day ... just put up our tarp over the picnic table, sleep late, maybe hit a hot springs ... that sort of thing.  But, the campground layout wasn't conducive to putting up our tarp, and the roof-box repair precluded sleeping in late.  So we packed up and headed to town for breakfast and a strategy session.  Feeling pretty sleep-deprived, and no great plan for the next day or two of rain, we decided to head for home.  There was still plenty of more exploring in the area (Teluride, Durango), as well as in Utah, but it would just have to wait for a future trip.  We mostly headed straight home, but did a drive-through of Colorado National Monument.  Again, quite the visual delight ... big canyons with very interesting rock outcroppings. In summary, it was a fantastic trip ... met and exceeded our expectations.  3300 miles with no car problems.  Lots of new territory for us, leavin...

From Ouray, we set out on a day-hike to Blue Lakes.  WOW!  Truely overwhelming, stunning scenery.  A VERY blue lake with cliffs and peaks towering above.  Then, following an improbable path up the steep hillside, to middle and upper Blue lakes and even more peaks.  We parked ourselves on a little knoll in the middle of the cirque, and had big peaks surrounding us (except for the little slice where the trail went out).  Very cool.  It was so awe inspiring ... we felt we could keep doing this forever! Ah, but not everything went perfectly.  Our rough ride up the logging road to the Blue Lake trailhead produced a partial failure of our roof-top box ... just in front of the front support bar.  Hmmm.  Not a great situation, since our poor little Subaru was pretty darned full.  Headed to the hardware store the next morning and, with the help of their drill and screw drivers, I managed to put a couple of splice plates on it to hopefully ke...

Leaving Maroon Bells, we were uncertain as to our next destination, but the general plan was to head towards Southwest Colorado.  But, on our map, we noticed another national park ... Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  Sounded good, and camping was available, so we headed there to spend the night.  What a surprise ... a 2000' deep canyon several miles long.  Famous in the climbing world for it's very difficult routes.  We did the tourist route ... drive along the south rim and peer into the abyss at almost every scenic overlook.  And drive down the windy road to the bottom. Pretty impressive.  Beautiful sunset. We also converged on a plan for the next stage of our trip ... head towards a little town in the middle of the mountains ... Ouray, CO.  Quaint.  Did a 5 mile "around Ouray" hike.  We weren't expecting much, but were surprised with some great views of the surrounding impressive peaks, a gorge and a tunnel.  Still, it didn't prepa...

After our post-backpack gluttony (simple things like a shower, a bed, a good meal) in Pinedale, Wyoming, we turned our sights towards better weather in Colorado.  We stayed on back roads (which isn't hard in Wyoming), outrunning the weather and taking in the scenery ... big wide open spaces (yes, including more sage brush), curvy canyons, and open roads where passing RV's was easy!  Hit the corner of Utah, where we almost went into Dinosaur National Monument ... but it was late in the day, so we opted for a short foray and a picnic (and a plan to return on a future trip).  We then pushed on and spent the night in Meeker, Colorado ... a pretty tired-looking town.  But the Lonely Planet book really like the Meeker Hotel (Teddy Roosevelt had stayed there) ... so we headed on in.  A beautiful old building with lots of wood work, and the lobby walls filled with all sorts of taxidermy ... elk, deer, cougars, etc ... most with plaques indicating the statistics of the r...

We headed towards the Wind River Range from Yellowstone on a bit of a mission ... to fit in our backpack before the rainy weather moved in.  After arriving in lovely Pinedale, WY - Gateway to the Wind River Range, we used our motel room to rearrange all of gear from car-camping-mode to backpacking-mode.  We hit the trail on Thursday morning with - what else - blue sky!  While our guide book indicated the 12-mile approach trail was considered boring ... we didn't find that to be the case.  Yes, the first few miles were viewless and a well-worn trail, but after about 5 miles, there were increasingly great views out to mountains and lakes.  We spent a day and a half getting to our basecamp at Island Lake, then spent 2 and a half days dayhiking around a wonderland between about 10,000 and 12,000 feet (Indian Basin, Titcomb Basin, Upper Jean Lake).  And wow, this place is a backpacker's heaven.  Outstanding sub-alpine and alpine scenery, and relatively sm...