I can't believe that it has been a week since I left "home" already. Yet, a lot of miles has passed under my feet. I have spent a little time posting pictures on facebook for people to see what I'm doing but people asked me if I was going to journal. My original answer was, yes! I thought that would be easy as I would have all of this time on my hands in the afternoons, and it would be hot, and I wouldn't have anything else to do. Well, let me just say, it is hot and I find myself exhausted about the time I should WANT to write. I guess the only time I will ever get it done is if I have rain, and I no longer want rain! There is too much to do/see. As I type, I am sitting with sweat pants and two sweatshirts on, in the shade, by the swimming pool at my campground. It sounds ideal, especially if I add the fact that I am looking out over the red rock cliffs in the background. However, the mosquitoes are tormenting my hair - does that make you feel any better?
Saturday, June 10th - The long drive to CO.
Really, that is almost all I can say for that day. I left Fergus Falls at 6 AM. I never struggled much with falling asleep while driving. It was VERY windy, so I had to pay pretty close attention until I reached South Dakota. I can't say that the scenery really wowed me until I reached a short stretch in South Dakota - lush rolling green hills. If I hadn't been in such a "hurry" to get down to Fort Collins, I would have stopped somewhere to take a picture. I stopped several times to get gas, use the restroom, and just get out to walk (usually that coincided with go to the restroom). I made it to Fort Collins by 7 PM (8 PM in Fergus Falls).
Debbie, Hayden, Lizzy and Katie were home. We talked some, caught up over the past year, and had a great meal of grilled chicken and salad. It was wonderful. I think, however, after that long on the road I was just fatigued and tired. I didn't feel hungry, but I hadn't really eaten all day. I felt like I had rocks in my tummy, but figured it was all the driving.
Sunday, June 11th - Estes Cone
Debbie and I were up and talking at 7:30. We were going to have church with God out in His creation. The night before we had looked at the forcase and it was supposed to be a hot beautiful day. However, upon waking up that morning in Fort Collins, it had switched. It was windy, cold, overcast, and threatening! It wasn't supposed to improve for Monday either. We finally decided - it was now or never. We loaded up the car, Debbie's car - left Hayden with the girls - and took off for our little adventure.
Once we reached Estes Park, the sky was bright blue without a cloud in the sky! We decided to try Estes Cone after all. It was a short 2.7 mile hike up (and 2.7 miles back). SHORT! I was thinking, what's the big deal? I think I was thinking "cone" - some boring little mound of dirt that we would climb and call good. As we pulled into town and Debbie pointed up at this large MOUNTAIN, I thought, "Oh dear. That's high!" I knew she had mentioned a 1,500 foot elevation change, but thought, "I do that other places. What's the big deal. Besides, I climbed Hallet last year with a 35 lb pack. This won't compare." Um, reality check. It was rough. Last year, I had spent the summer in HEAT of Okinawa and I had been walking or exploring almost every day. This year, I am coming off a very busy school year and rather brisque MN temps. Let's just say, before we had gone a quarter of a mile we had stopped twice for me to remove layers of clothing. It was a WARM day, but not compared to what I have here in Utah. I guess it was good training.
As we accended the first mile I was breathing hard, but doing OK. I still felt as though I had rocks in my tummy. I had awakened not feeling great, and then the windy car ride (which I hadn't even paid attention to) probably didn't help. I just felt off. With the added altitude (we started at 9.000 + feet that morning) I was rather off my game. I kept appologizing to Debbie as I would stop. She told me she would push me off the top if I said "Sorry" any more. :) She's a good friend that way! No, she was very encouraging and happily endured my numerous stops and breaks. At one point, I wasn't sure I would make it, then I caught site of where we were going. "Wait! We are going all the way up there?" Oh dear. Do I cry uncle and admit defeat? No, I've done it before and I don't have a 35 lb pack.
In Debbie's downstairs basement there is a poster of a lighthouse completely surrounded by water. THere is a man standing in the doorway of the lighthouse and a tremendous-storm-churned wave is engulfing the lighthouse. The spray and water is about to wash all around and the man will only remain safe from the power of those waves because he is in the door of that lighthouse. That morning, I had looked at that poster and thought that's life. Jesus is my lighthouse! He is the only secure foundation that we can build on. He is our refuge, our fortress, our strong tower! My home may be shaken by the storms and waves of life, but I will stay safe in His stronghold.
Dwelling on those thoughts from earlier that morning, I thought, press on. I will quit if I can't do it! For now, as long as Debbie is willing to take it slow (and those ominous looking clouds gathering on the mountain beside us, Long's Peak, don't make Debbie hesitate) I will press on. We met some people on the trail who were coming back down already. They were coming up a little stretch that we were going down. I had been breathing hard earlier, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why they looked so exhausted, hot and tired coming down. HA!
Then, we met some more people who said, "Yeah, that last half mile is pretty rough. All you do is go straight up." I was thinking, "That's all I have been doing and it isn't going well!"
We hit it! While I wasn't feeling great, I didn't want to quit. (I am glad I am writing this a few days later because my prediction was true. I told Debbie that next year I won't remember feeling poorly, but I will remember climbing to the top and making it.) We crept,climbed, rested, and breaked out way to the very top where we took in a fabulous an amazing view! It was spectacular! Due to a cloud rolling in, Debbie wanted to get a little closer to shelter prior to eating lunch, however, so we did that. I didn't feel like eating, but knew I needed more food in me to keep going. I ate a piece of beef jerky and decided then and there (and throughout the rest of that day) that I would NEVER eat beef jerky again.
When we started the decent, I thought things were going pretty well until stomache cramping or waves of nausea rolled over me. At one point, we stopped on this fabulous sunny rock outcopping. We just lay down to enjoy the view. Next htink I knew, I asked Debbie, "Wait, was I just snoring?" Apparently I had falledn asleep immediately! We rested a while longer and then continued the torturous treck back down to the parking lot. I made it but poor Debbie. All I thought about on the way down was throwing up, needing a vomit bag in the car for the windy trip home, sleep, shower . . .
Once we made it safely down, I immediately rummaged through my medicine supply in my backpack. I found some antihistimine pills; I knew what they were. I found "Meclizine" and thought it MAYBE was something like dramamine. I also found my Japanese "anerone" - sea sickness medicine. I wanted to be knocked out! I popped the meclizine and didn't even care what it was! Debbie was worried about what I had just taken, but I didn't care. The put me to sleep part of it worked very quickly! I wasn't much help to Debbie on the treck home. I was alert enough to go in and buy some gingerale at a grocery store in Estes Park, but I think I only drank three swallows. I am still carrying that with me in my cooler.
We got home, I immediately went downstairs (with Debbie's blessing) and took a wonderful shower. I felt very good as soon as that was done and crawled immediately into bed. All memories (or almost all) memories of feeling ill were gone. Sleep welcomed me quickly in Carolynne's Den (bedroom). I slept all night!
I don't know if it was all altitude, fatigue, or what. All I can say is I do not really want another experience like that, however, the view and the hike DID make it worth it!
Monday, June 12th
I awoke feeling much better, still not very hungry, but much better. Debbie and I left to go clean house for one of her clients and then we stopped at a couple stores on the way home. I am carting my nephews sleeping bags and pillows with me on this trip and I find that I was always afraid of ripping the bag and then having overflowing sleeping bag in my car. I wanted to buy compression sacks to contain the sleeping bags in a tighter more compact space. I did that at JAX, in Fort Collins. I also bought my first replacement ice for my cooler at Walmart, as everything else had turned to liquid. I was still afraid of my jerky sicks and gave them all to Hayden and Carolynne. I also brought in some cheese that I was carrying with me for lunches. After my episode the day before, I wound up leaving the cheese as well - I don't want to tempt more troubles!
Mid afternoon Debbie let me know that a storm was on its way to us with large hail. There was no place to protect me car, so we consulted a weather map and in a matter of two minutes she told me to go to Walmart again, to avoid the storm. I took Katie with me and booked our way to Walmart. I kind of felt like a storm chaser, only I was going the other way!
While Katie and I sat in the car I tried to put one of the boys' sleeping bags in its compression sack, but it broke! The eyelet was loose and caused it to rip! When Debbie gave us the all clear, I had to turn around again and go back to JAX to exchange the bag. That time in the parking lot at Walmart was good, if only for that reason! Bag exchanged and all was good.
Upon getting home to Debbie's, Hayden was home from work and her parents had just arrived. We were going to have a Norwegian celebration. Debbie's family has connections to the same little community that my dad was raised in, in Iowa. We have similar heritage foods! We made Kumla (potato dumplings) and Kumkakke. We enjoyed an evening of talking and memory food. I was worried on a questionable tummy what the kumla rocks would do, but they were great! It was something I hadn't had in years and loved it! Debbie and I did go for a walk after supper, with Lucy the hound, to help it settle!
Tuedsay, June 13th - Fort Collins to Moab Utah
Debbie and I visited for a while before I left that morning. It was a sweet time of reunion with a treasured friend. I feel very blessed to have been given the opportunity to go to Bethel College. THe friends that I met there, are friends for life! Better still, we all have maintained a close relationship with the Lord, so we can still connect on the items and things that truly matter. That makes for true fellowship!
Then, I loaded the car for the first solo part of my journey. The trip took me through Denver (traffic traffic traffic) and on through the Rocky Mountains! It was absolutely beautiful, but I felt like I always needed two hands on the wheel. There was NEVER any danger of me getting sleepy in that environment.
After I got through Vail, the landscape started to change and got more flat. I felt I could relax a little more. I pulled into the Moab area around 4 PM and had programmed Gerty my GPS with the address of my campsite. I hadn't bothered to look at the name because I had an actual address. I should have questioned more as I drove right past Arches National Park, saw numerous RV parks and actually read one that said "No Vacancy". At that point, I thought, "Glad I have reservations." I drove all the way through Moab and Gerty still said I needed to go 9 more miles! I drove those nine miles and arrived at my destination, a dusty road to nothing. Um....not quite right. I pulled out my paper and pulled the site up on my phone using google maps. I had passed it. I had passed it, according to my phone by 45 minutes!
Well, turns out my phone is no smarter than Gerty. As I came back through Moab, I again saw the "No Vacancy" sign. That was my campground! I turned in and checked in with no issues at all. I set up my whole campsite and then booked it back over to Arches to try to make reservations to go on the "Fiery Furnace" guided hike. They told me the visitor center was closed and that I would need to come back in the morning. Gates would open at 7 AM (they are having major road construction at Arches right now).
So, instead, I settled in here at camp. I charged some electronic devices and learned how to downlaod pictures from my camera to my computer. Tell me, why didn't I do that when I was at home? It took me at least an hour to make that work! By the time that was done, I gave up and headed to bed! The ground is hard, but I was tired enough that I slept fine. (noisy cars on the highway and car doors slamming being just commen background noise)
Wednesday, June 14th
I was up and ready to go quite early. It was chilly in the morning, so I had my jacket and sweatshirt on. I sat in my car for added warmth to do my devotions before driving to Arches! I am only about 2 - 3 miles from Arches here, so it wasn't a long drive. I was one of the first few cars allowed to enter the park and realized that I left without the map I had been given the day before. Oh well, just follow everyone else, right? They must know where they were going, since the visitor center (which I wanted to get to) didn't open until 9 AM anyway. Traffic lead me to delicate arch. Fine by me. I had that on my list somewhere, so I guessed that was as good a place to start as any.
I had already applied my sunscreen at camp, my backpack was ready, so I just locked the car and took off. There were already a SEA of people ahead of me and a larger sea swarming in behind me! I felt like I was in one of my marathons and just wanted some space from all these people. I had no idea where I was going or what the trial would be like, but I took off. I took off, fast! Maybe too fast.
All of a sudden I looked up and saw that the sea of people before me were forming a parade up this crazy steep mountain. What? Again? OK. Buck up buttercup, away we go! I have to say that I shed most of my layers on that steep incline AND found myself thinking about the song that talks about how God hides me in the cleft of the rock. Let me tell you, I LOVED the cleft of the rock. It was the only shelter and cool on those mountain hot trails.
I made it successfully to Delicate Arch and I alone hold the title of being not the first up, but the first DOWN from the arch that day. I was in a hurry to get back to the visitor's center and didn't know that the trail up was 3 miles like that.
I made it to the visitor's center by 9:05 AM and stood in line long enough to learn that the guided tours to the fiery furnace were sold out until Sunday. I could, however, pay $6 to go explore in there alone. I watched a video and decided that it was worth $6 to try it, but couldn't do that until the next day.
I decided that since I had to come back into the park the next day I would go explore and do some of the hikes outside of the park that the people at my campground had suggested. First I took a highway along the Colorado River (Potash Road) and drove to a place where I could hike in to see 2 different arches. The crowds weren't a large there and I really enjoyed the hike. I think the arches were bowtie and ...hmmm, I forgot the name of the other one right now. It was about a 3 mile hike and again had quite the elevation changes. The hike involved some rock scurrying and even climbing a ladder at one point. It enjoyed it!
When I finished there it was about noon and my campground was nearby. I decided to prepare my lunch at that time and buck up for the next adventure. I had some thai noodle stuff that I had mixed up before leaving and decided it was tolerable, but not order worthy ever.
I then adventured out again to go do what was billed as a 5 mile hike, but according to my GPS it was closer to 7. It was morning bridge arch or something like that. It was HOT. It followed a creek and I found that wetting down a bandana and using that to keep me cool was a life saver! All I wanted was something cold to drink, but most of my stuff (even the stuff in my cooler) wasn't all that cold. The hike was beautiful and well worth it!
After that, I was finished for the day. I wanted to go swim at my pool at the campground. I stopped at our little store and bought my 8 lb bag of ice for $3 and then gave up on other beverages - they were too expensive. I jumped into the pool briefly, as it was so full of people that there wasn't extra room for me to even sit. I then went down to my tent, sat in my chair and read a book. That's it. I read a book! I forgot how much I loved to do that! I wound up going to be pretty early.
Thursday, June 15th
I awoke early again and followed my same routine as the day before. I was at Arches by the time the gates opened and drove as far into the park as I could go. This time I had my map with me, so I knew what I was doing. Devil's Garden is currently closed so I could only drive to the Sand Arch parking lot, but according to my map it looked like I could walk all the way over to something called Tapestry Arch and through Broken Arch. That, actually, was my favorite hike of the whole arches experience. I didn't see another person until I got all the way back to sand arch. The birds were singing, the lizzards scurrying, and I even saw a few jack rabbits. It was quiet, peaceful, and a nice morning walk. Beautiful weather. Again, it warmed up enough during the hike that I shed extra layers! :)
Then, let the hoards of people begin! Sand arch was the end of that trail, back near my car. I should have gone to visit that first! There were just line after line of people going in there. It was a very different and unique arch - very sandy, obviouly - but quite easy to reach from the parking lot.
I then backtracked one lot to the fiery furnace. They don't have maps of that fiery furnace area. They just want you to explore and come back out. I wasn't supposed to join any other group or tag along. A ranger guided hike was leaving right as I got there, so I let them get ahead of me. I spent about an hour and a half in there, but explroing that alone didn't seem very safe, or as enjoyable as it could have been. I scurried through a rock hole and got up on top of another vista point, but decided . . .eh? Maybe not. I then shimmied up and through a couple other rocks and then decided that some other time would work. I walked back out to my car and had a snack.
The next area for me to explore was supposed to be windows arches, but there wasn't even a parking place in the lot. There were busses and so many people that I knew I wouldn't enjoy it. I can say I have seen both of the arches from the road and called that good. I got out to explore a few other vista points and the "Garden of Eden".
I decided at that point to go into town and buy some ice from the local "Julie's" equivalent. There was a market, a True Value, and something else all together. It reminded me of Zups - our shopping center area in Silver Bay. I got the things I needed, and cheaper ice!
I then thought I wanted to go hiking on another trail that had been suggested to me. I drove for about 25 minutes to get to the lot for this hike. I made a lunch and ate it in the parking lot. I then walked to the start and though . . .eh? WHY?
I drove back to my campground, put on my bathing suit and had the pool all to myself for almost an hour. Then I visited with a couple from Cloquet, MN. I went back to my tent - took a shower - went to do my laundry - caught up on pictures, and then . . . it was time for supper/bed!
Today
My plan was to just take care of some details around camp (calling my cable company) and packing up. I decided to update this blog, so moved over here near the pool for better service. A lovely couple from North Carolina came and talked with me for about an hour. Turns out the guy was crew on the William A. Irving - the ore boat in Duluth that we can tour. He was telling me all about his experience and then his wife was talking to me about their travels. It was a lovely visit!
I am a bit later in getting on the go now, but oh well. I don't have much on the agenda for today!
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