Out of the Wilderness- Home

September 5th

We have been home for about a week, now packing again to head to New England.  As we did after our last trip, we have taken some time to gather the statistics of our trip.  We do this, primarily, so those whom we have (hopefully) inspired to do something similar have some planning tools.  So, here goes:

On the road total days:  46
Total miles:  10,550

Gas:
      Lowest price paid-  $2.94 per gallon in Morristown, Tennessee
      Highest price paid-  $4.19 per gallon in Lake Tahoe, California
      Average price-        $3.53 per gallon
   
      Total cost of gas-    $1633.31
      Average MPG-  22.8
      Average cost per mile- 16 cents

Lodging:
      Highest price paid-  $127 at an Econolodge (!!) in Estes Park, Colorado
      Lowest price paid-  $63 at a Comfort Inn in Sandy, Utah
      Nights paid for by Choice Privileges points: 5
      Nights paid for by Wyndham points:  3
      Nights with friends or family:  5

      Total cost of lodging:  $2974.76
      Average cost/day:  $64.66

We did not track the cost of food.  However, breakfast was supplied every day by the hotel.  About 50% of our lunches were picnic-style rather than restaurant or fast food.   Our dinners, for some reason, seemed less expensive this trip then last- no idea why, except we were trying to avoid the weight gain we both suffered in 2009.  So, the best we can do is an estimate, which we pegged at less than $100 per day, and probably closer to $60.

As with our 2009 trip, we remained Choice Privileges members (Comfort Inns, Quality Inns, Rodeway, Clarion, Econolodge...) and would suggest travelers join something similar, as the free nights help a lot with the cost of travel.  We did note some facts about the pricing of hotels- hotel pricing in July is always higher than in August, but the prices this year were definitely higher than 3 years ago.  Of course, 2009 was the beginning of the recession and not many folks traveled that year.  There were certainly more people around this time.  August gets cheaper, as families are preparing for school.  We noted many rental RV's on the road this time, about 80% of those we saw.  We also noted a large number of foreign nationals in the parks, especially the better-known locations, again about 80% in July.  Tim and Kate, friends of ours who were traveling the parks in an RV this summer, connected those two statistics- many foreign nationals come over in the summer and rent RV's to travel!  It was kind of sad to see more foreign nationals in our beautiful parks than Americans!  How come they appreciate those locations more then we do?

It is almost always the case that those attractions close to home are never appreciated as much as the mysterious foreign countries where many of us choose to travel.  We never appreciate the "close to home" as much as the" far away".  I have no explanation for this, and am certainly guilty of the same- we still haven't made it to Congaree National Park, located two hours away in South Carolina!  It is definitely on the list, but it has been for several years.  Message to all readers- get out there and see your country!  It is yours, and one of the most beautiful in the world!  Buy a "Golden Eagle" pass when you hit 62 and get into all of these places for free!

Many people have worked hard, and are continuing to work hard, to provide all of us with an opportunity to see our country as it was before man got involved.  We have talked in the past of Teddy Roosevelt and his role in protecting the parks.  Private citizens such as John Muir and Stephen Mather spent their lives encouraging the protection of these wild places.  Private citizens continue to have a role in ensuring our children and grandchildren will have access to these incredible places, as well as those that have not yet been saved.  Any citizen can contact their representative if they feel a location is worth saving.  Anyone can join the National Parks organization, or other similar groups, to have a voice in this process.

I noticed a new notation on the maps of many of the parks we visited.  This notation was regarding areas that have been designated by Congress for protection in the National Wilderness Preservation System.  The notation is as follows:  "Wilderness is meant to protect forever the land's natural conditions, opportunities for solitude and primitive recreation, and scientific, educational, and historical values as well as watersheds, air quality, and wildlife habitat.  In wilderness, people can sense being a part of the whole community of life on Earth.  Preserving wilderness shows restraint and humility and benefits generations that will follow us."  If you would like to read more about this designation, go to www.wilderness.net.  Don't we all need more opportunities for solitude?

Rocky Mountain Wilderness

We will probably not do another trip as extensive as this and the one in 2009, but we will continue to explore areas closer to home, over shorter time frames.  Maybe we will finally get to Congaree! When we do our explorations, I will put an entry on the blog for those interested.   So, my fellow travelers, remember our motto:  KEEP EXPLORING!

                          "In wildness is the preservation of the world."     Henry David Thoreau

The Road Home

August 26th- 28th

We left Fort Stockton, Texas, early on Sunday morning. Our destination for today was the Fort Worth area.  As mentioned in the previous blog, we had planned to take I-10 to San Antonio and the Gulf Coast.  However, with Tropical Storm Isaac churning in the gulf, we decided to take I-20 instead.  I-10 basically runs along the southern quarter of the Gulf States, and I-20 the northern quarter, so that route would keep us further from harms way and, hopefully, allow us to miss most of the rain.

We traveled primarily through desert (so what else is new?), reaching the Fort Worth area around 5pm.  The next day, Monday, dawned clear and sunny.  Today we hoped to reach Birmingham, Alabama.  This area had a lot of grasslands and grazing cattle- nice to see green!  I-20 takes a northern turn just before Birmingham, which would put us 100 miles further north.  It was a long day, spending 10 hours on the road.  We took a long lunch break where I-20 crosses the Mississippi River into Vicksburg, Mississippi.  For us, crossing this iconic river is always an event to celebrate, whichever direction, east or west, it happens to be.  It symbolizes "west" versus "east for us.  We stopped at a Visitor Center right on the river to ask for advice finding a nice lunch place with a view of the river.  Apparently, only casinos have the right to that view.... She directed us to one right done the street (actually in the middle of a residential neighborhood!) that had a good lunch buffet and a gorgeous view.  After lunch, we spent a few minutes taking photos of a tugboat pushing two barges.

The remainder of this lovely day was spent driving.  At one point, I noticed a lot of power company trucks headed south on I-20.  I have no doubt they were headed for the Gulf coast.  I actually counted 156 trucks from the same power company, and about 25 or so from various other companies.  Amazing that one company would have that many trucks to send!

Bridge over Mississippi River, Vicksburg, MS

Mississippi Tugboat

"Sittin' on the dock of the bay..."

Bananas!

Banana tree next to the house

We had no sooner got the car packed on Tuesday morning when it started to rain, coming down pretty steadily between Birmingham and Atlanta, Georgia.  At that point, we began to get intermittent sun and rain, so the remainder of the trip was not bad.  We arrived around 5pm.  The house, as always for me when I have been gone for some time, felt strange, almost as if the size perspectives were off.  Didn't take long for it to feel like home again- something about the hum of the washer and dryer....  One big surprise (no, the deer did not stop eating all our plants!)- our banana tree has actually produced a bunch of bananas!  Now we just need to find out how to get them to ripen before it gets cold.  Dale wants to set up a fruit stand out front.  Sure the neighbors will approve!

Big Bend National Park

August 25th

I've talked a lot about how remote some of our National Parks are, and that you need to plan time to actually reach them.  Big Bend National Park is surely one of the most remote parks in the lower 48.  We stayed in Fort Stockton, Texas, on Friday night.  This town, with its population of over 8000, is the nearest town to the park with any lodging- and it is a two hour drive away!  The road leading to the park, route 385, has one small town called Marathon located about half way where you can get gas, but that is about it.  Route 385 goes to the park and nowhere else, ending at the Rio Grande river.  Route 385 was built like a little roller coaster- little hill, little dip, etc. In the dips, which are meant to accommodate water flowing across the road from a desert during a storm, are flood gauges that allow the driver to see how deep the water was on the road.  Very reassuring...

The Rio Grande river generally travels south along the border between the U.S. and Mexico.  In Texas, it makes a sudden curve northward.  Inside this horseshoe-shaped bend in the river lies Big Bend National Park.  Big Bend is over 800,000 acres, making it larger than Yosemite.  As you can imagine, with a trip of two hours each way and such a large park, it is difficult to see much of it in one day.  Our main desire in coming here was to see the river.

The park has three distinct ecosystems- the river environment where you may find turtles, fish, and birds that are associated with water and lush, green, vegetation; the Chihuahuan desert which extends deep into Mexico and contains many of the desert plants and animals that have been introduced to us on this trip; and the Chisos Mountains in the center of the park, rising over 7000 feet, with mountain mahogany, Texas madrone, junipers and other species of trees not normally seen in the desert.  Several scenic drives offer the choice of going into the mountains or two different drives down to the river.  On the advice of two different rangers, we chose the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, which takes you by many of the more beautiful geologic features in the park and, once you reach the river, provides a view of the spectacular Santa Elena Canyon.  The canyon, 1500 feet deep, was carved by the river, with the north wall in the United States and the south in Mexico.

We were advised to drive right to the river first, then stop at various scenic overlooks on the return trip.  We did check into the safety issue of being so close to the border, but we were reassured that there have been no problems in the park with regard to safety, but not to leave any valuables in the vehicle if you were parked near the river.  The drive down was about 1-2 hours, with a stop on route for a picnic at the closed-for-summer Castolon Visitor Center.  From there, it was a short drive to Santa Elena Canyon overlook.  We stopped to view the canyon, but wanted to get closer to the river, so pulled in the the nearby boat ramp.  Float trips through the canyon are offered, and would have been fun to do.  The river looked muddy and sluggish.  It actually originates somewhere in Colorado, and so much water is removed by the time it gets this far south, that its appearance is somewhat disappointing.  Most of the water we see is from Mexico's Rio Concho.  Of course, the park has been in a severe drought for the past two years, as well, so I am sure that has impacted the flow.  One ranger told us they had essentially had no rain during those two years until the previous several weeks, when they began getting Monsoon rains and storms.  There had been concern that the Bighorn sheep herd in the park may have died due to the drought, but the ranger had actually spotted a group of seven the previous day.

The Chisos Mountains

The "underwater" desert

Storm clouds over the Chisos

Little arch...

Volcanic deposits near Castolon

Old gas pump at Castolon Visitor  Center

Cerro Castellan Peak

Santa Elena Canyon

Sierra Ponce range in Mexico

Rio Grande River

Flood gauge at dip in road- notice erosion from water in draw

Mule Ears Peaks

View from Sotol Vista

Texas Sky

Because of the time issue, we opted not to do any hikes at this park.  We returned on the same scenic drive, stopping at several locations to view the mountains and desert.  One set of mountains was known as the Mule Ears Peaks- for obvious reasons when you see the photo!  One of the most beautiful overlooks was the Sotol- the view extended for miles and miles, no sign of human habitation in sight.  I'm sure this view has not changed in a thousand years.... In one area just after we entered the park, Dale and I stopped to view a fossil exhibit.  The mountains were in the background, the fossil overlook gave a view across the desert, with ocotillo scattered here and there- it really looked like the bottom of the ocean, with the cactus as seaweed!  We stood there for a few minutes, listening to.... nothing..... the silence was truly amazing.  No vehicles, no planes, no people, no bird calls.

We left for our return drive to Fort Stockton late afternoon- just in time for more rain.  Not so bad this time, we managed to drive between and around the storms, not actually getting wet until we reached town.  This was our last national park for this trip.  We now needed to make a decision- we had planned to travel I-10 across the gulf coast, taking our time and sightseeing on the way.  However, Isaac forced us to change plans.  We decided to drive I-20, a little further north, and try to beat the storm home.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

August 24th

After spending the night in Carlsbad, New Mexico, we drove the 17 miles south to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  As mentioned in the previous blog, we had the opportunity to see the Mexican Long Tail bats leave the cave at sunset the night before. We talked with the ranger about our best option for touring the cave.  Several of the guided tours were already full for the day.   Our AAA guide had indicated that you could rent a self-guided tour tape for several of the walks, and the ranger agreed this was a good option.  The self-guided tours, consisting of the Natural Opening Tour and the Big Room tour, allow you to see 90% of the cave.  The last 10% is the King's Palace, a highly decorated room that is considered delicate, so can only be seen with a guide.

We rented the tour tape, which is like a wand with a speaker on it, that allows you to "dial in" the number next to any display in the cave to hear the information.  Certainly worth the $5 apiece to rent.  We walked to the Natural Entrance, named because this entrance was created thousands of years ago when part of the cave's ceiling collapsed.  This is the entrance to one of the deepest, largest and most ornate caverns ever found.  Will Rogers once referred to it as "the Grand Canyon with a roof on it".  The caves are actually in the same "reef" that makes up the Guadalupe Mountains.  Because they are primarily limestone, naturally occurring sulfuric acid seeped into the cracks, enlarging them to form multiple chambers.  New caves are still being found today.  The" decorations" are formed when limestone-laden moisture slowly drips down, creating a variety of formations.  The decorations consist of stalactites that hang from the ceiling, stalagmites that grow up from the floor, columns- when the stalactites and stalagmites meet in the middle, plus others that look like melted rock in different shapes.

Entering through the Natural Entrance requires you to walk downhill until you are about 750 feet underground.  The Main Corridor into which you walk extends more than 200 feet above your head.  The decorations were beautiful.  We passed several underground pools, where you can hear the water dripping.  The water comes from rain and snow that percolates through the earth.  Now, the area is dryer and only receives about 14-19 inches per year, so some of the formations are no longer growing.  The tape also noted that it has been determined that the buildings and parking lot that has been installed over the caverns by the National Park Service has negatively impacted the growth of the caverns.  In the future, they plan to remove some of the impervious parking material and replace it with material that will allow water to flow through the earth to the caverns.

The Natural Entrance tour is about a mile, and takes about 1 hour to complete (according to the guide).  You can than opt to take the elevator back to the surface or continue on into the Big Room tour, another mile.  Surprisingly, at this underground junction of elevator and two tours, there are restrooms, a snack area, and a shop selling T-shirts!  We decided to continue on to the Big Room.  This is the largest single cave room in the world, (except for one in Borneo that is not decorated)- 1800 feet long, 1100 feet wide, encompassing 8.2 acres.  The tour takes you around the perimeter of the room, which is more highly decorated than the previous cave.  Here, there are columns that extend to the roof, huge stalagmites, and just beautiful walls that appear to be carved from alabaster.  At one point, near the end of the tour, I turned around to look back over the length of the room- it was like looking at a movie set for some strange, distant world.  And here it is- right here on earth!  One of the great things about a self-guided tour is you can travel at your own pace, not needing to stay with the group on the ranger's time-frame.  The two tours we took should have taken 2 hours.  We were underground for almost 4 hours- and enjoyed every minute!  We were happy, though, not to have to walk out.  The 75 story elevator had us back to the top in about a minute.  This is a definite "recommend" to tour if you are ever in the area- you won't see anything like it anywhere else in the country.

We stayed for lunch, then got back on the road.  We planned to stay in a town called Fort Stockton, about two hours south of Carlsbad Caverns.  There is not much between the two areas except desert, occasional ranches, and a few tiny towns without much to see.  The town of Pecos, about half way between, does have a few stores and a gas station.  We also found out it has the only fire department around.  After we had been driving about 45 minutes, we noticed smoke up ahead and assumed it was a wildfire.  As we came around a bend, we realized it was a tanker truck on fire, with the cab completely engulfed in flame and thick, dark smoke roiling out from the fire.  Since we did not know what was in the tanker, we pulled over a safe distance back.  There was a pickup pulled over on the other side with a man and woman watching the truck.  When they saw us stop, the man came over, we were reassured he was the driver and unhurt and that he had called for help.  It turns out the tanker was carrying water- nothing combustible.  Another truck pulled over, and we had a discussion about the flammability or explosiveness of diesel- not very.  We could see something burning on the asphalt, and all decided the diesel had already been accessed by the fire, and if we stayed way over, we should be able to safely pass.

We were there about 15 minutes, we had been watching the smoke prior to that for about 5 minutes.  We drove another 30 miles before we passed the EMS and fire truck- lights flashing and sirens going- headed to the burning truck.  Again- isolated out here!

Natural Entrance- note walkway down

Looking from the inside out...

Cave decorations

Columns

Stalactites hanging from roof

Stalagmites growing up from floor

Almost a column....

Cave decoration called Lion's Tails

Decorations in the Big Room

Looks like a chandelier

More Big Room decorations

Decorations known as draperies

The burning tanker truck

The last piece of "excitement" on this drive was yet to come.  We were about 20 minutes out from our destination when we were hit by an incredible rain storm- the wind was howling, lightning hitting close on both sides, and the rain coming so hard you couldn't see the road.  The big concern was water on the road- these roads have no drainage and flood quickly in low spots.  Hard to see if there is flooding when you can't see the road!  Thank goodness it only lasted about 10 minutes, but what a "white-knuckle" drive!  Happy to reach the hotel room!

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

August 22nd and 23rd

We reluctantly left Tuscson on Wednesday morning, heading east towards El Paso, Texas.  This would put us in position to drive to Guadalupe Mountains National Park the next morning.  The trip was uneventful, with the exception of seeing a rolled over vehicle by the side of the road and several other vehicles parked nearby.  All were on cellphones so, surprisingly, there was a signal, as this was in the middle of nowhere.  We stopped to check no one was hurt and headed on our way, fully expecting to see police, ambulance, or some other emergency vehicle on route.  After driving about 15 miles, we made a turn, having never seen anything.  Just a reminder of how isolated this area is, and not to expect help for awhile if something happens!

Thursday morning we drove about an hour and a half up to Guadalupe.  This park is located almost on the Texas/New Mexico border, about 30 miles south of Carlsbad Caverns.  The mountain range rises up suddenly over the desert, the highest part of the 50 mile long Guadalupe Range.  This range is one of the best examples of an ancient marine fossil reef.  Millions of years ago, this range was a reef under an ancient sea.  Over time, marine organisms and lime precipitated out of the sea water to form a 400 mile long, horseshoe-shaped Capitan Reef.  After the sea evaporated, the reef was covered over by sediment, but was re-exposed when the land was uplifted.  Guadalupe peak, at 8,749 feet, is the "top of Texas", the state's highest point.  There are still remnants of the reef that are buried, but the Apache Range and the Glass Mountains southeast and south of here have also been exposed.

We had been in the car for two days, so really wanted to hike in this park.  The park does not have any "scenic drives" through the area.  The primary road, route 62, skirts the eastern edge of the park.  You can certainly view the mountains from there, but there is more to see.  After going to the Visitor Center and viewing the movie on the park, we decided to take the 2.3 mile hike back into Smith Spring (couldn't do any other, given the name...).  This hike started down the road about a mile, after driving into the Frijole Ranch.  The 1870's ranch house was occupied from 1906 until 1942 by the Smith's.  It became a center for socialization, as the post office and a small school house was on the property.  They sold it to the Kincaid's, who eventually donated it to the park.  The property was special, in that it had a spring, the Frijole Spring, right outside the house, the Manzanita spring, which the Smith's dammed to use for irrigation, and the Smith Spring, located back in the valley.  Being in the desert, water was like gold.  The Smith's had a garden and grew fruit trees, which they took by wagon to Carlsbad, 60 miles away, to sell.

The hike was pleasant- some uphill, which allowed for great views over the desert.  You could spot the location of the spring from some distance away, as there were larger, green trees present.  In the area of the spring, the air was cool and it was shady.  The spring was running, creating a small waterfall.  The growth of trees included the alligator juniper, named for its bark, the Texas madrone, oaks and maples.  The madrone is rare and quite beautiful with its peeling bark, which reveals red skin underneath.  We spent a couple of hours on the trail, then walked a short nature walk near the Visitor Center.  This park has created a couple of handicap-accessible trails, allowing anyone to see more of the park.

Entrance to park

El Capitan 8085 feet

Frijole Ranch House

View from trail into Smith Spring

View of Guadalupe Mountain Range

Another mountain view

Trail entering the area of the spring

Running water at spring

Pool at Smith Spring

Water too cold?

Alligator cypress bark

Texas madrone

Manzanita Spring

Beautiful mountain view

We still had time to drive up to Carlsbad Caverns by sunset, which meant we could see the bats.  Carlsbad Caverns has a large population of bats, over 100,000, that spend the summer in the cave.  Each evening at sunset, the bats leave the cave in large swarms to consume huge numbers of insects.  The evening was threatening (that old Monsoon thing again) and the rangers almost cancelled the "show", but it held off.  From the amphitheater, you could see the opening of the cave.  At sunset, you began to see bats circling out of the cave.  According to the ranger, sometimes they come out all at once and sometimes they come out in smaller numbers over longer time.  That is what we saw, which was nice, but not as spectacular as we expected.  We left after about 1/2 hour for Carlsbad.  We planned to return the next day to tour the caves.

Saguaro National Park

August 19th- 22nd

The compass is saying "east", so guess that means we are on our homeward leg- Indio is as far west as we will go.  On our way out of Indio on Sunday morning, I was looking at our Wyndham timeshare book to see if there were any locations in New Mexico.  Well, surprise!  They have an associate location just outside of Tucson.  Being the off-season for desert vacations, we gave it a shot, and we were able to book three nights.  It was a great spot, just northwest of the city, so near everything we wanted to visit.

We came here to visit Saguaro National Park.   The park was established in 1994 to protect the Saguaro and its environment.  Saguaros (pronounced Sa-wah-ros) are a true symbol of the Southwest and America's largest cactus.  It is often referred to as the desert monarch.  They can grow up to 50 feet tall and large plants may weigh 8 tons or more.  They grow very slowly, taking up to 67 years to grow six feet.Their branches, which allow additional flowers and therefore seeds, always grow upward.  The flowers, which are white and waxy, are pollinated by bats, as well as birds and other insects.  In a 150-200 year lifetime, they may produce up to 40 million seeds!  However, due to the extreme desert conditions, few of these ever even sprout, let alone grow to adult size.

We settled in to our beautiful timeshare unit on Sunday, watching a monsoon thunderstorm come in across the mountains from our patio.  Monday, we decided to start our visit by going to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, located just outside of the entrance to the western section of the park.  Saguaro National Park is composed of two sections- the western district, which is hotter, drier, and lower Sonoran desert environment and the eastern district, which is cooler, slightly wetter, and considered "high desert".  The Desert Museum has a variety of information on desert environment, including cacti, birds, snakes, insects, and animals that might be found in this setting.  It is a great way to be introduced to this environment.

We wandered the museum for the morning, seeing various cacti and other plants.  We saw prairie dogs, Bighorn sheep, and many varieties (too many!) of rattlesnakes.  The hummingbird aviary was fascinating and allowed a close-up look at these tiny creatures.

We spent the afternoon in the western district of the park, driving the scenic road and taking a couple of short walks (too hot to hike...)  The Saguaro are at their best and most abundant in this part of the park.  We were happy to see that some of the cacti were blossoming, including the Fish Hook barrel cactus (the picture will show you why they have that name...), which had a range of colors from yellow to orange to red.  Dale fell in love with them.  We probably have more pictures of those then anything else!  Nothing, however, was as impressive as the Saguaros.

Tuesday morning we headed out early to the eastern district.  Here, after talking with a ranger, we decided to take the 8 mile dirt road that takes you through a Saguaro forest that is up to 150 years old.  The higher elevations of this section, which can only be reached on foot or horseback, have forests of oak, pine and fir.

After a picnic lunch in the park, we decided to do something different and drove down to Tombstone.  This town was known as one of the bloodiest towns in the West during the 1880's, and apparently, that reputation was well deserved.  On one particular corner, there were 17 people known to have been killed at that location.  They had to close the cemetery due to lack of space.  We went to a comedic western show, which was very well done, a lot of laughs, then toured the town on a trolley to learn more of the history.  Storms threatened all afternoon, but we came away rain-free.  The Monsoon season was inhibiting our trip somewhat- never got to use the pool or spa at the timeshare, as there were always storms by the time we got back!

Monsoon Storm from patio

Let sleeping cats lie...

Bighorn sheep

Prairie Dog

Hummingbird having lunch

Hummingbird watching TV- really!

Monarch in Butterfly Garden

Desert View

Desert Monarch

Cactus flower

Fish Hook Barrel Cactus flowers- note hooks!

Another cactus flower

Chain fruit Cholla blossoms

Saguaro skeleton

Another desert view

Triple barrel cactus

Giant Saguaro

Lying down on the job...

View of Tucson

Tombstone "miner"

Two bad guys and the sheriff- Tombstone

Tombstone street

This was a great spot to visit, and we were tempted to extend by another day.  However, we had decided we wanted to try to be home by Friday of Labor Day weekend, so decided to move on.  Wednesday we left for El Paso, Texas, on our way to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.