Pathfinder's Latest Trip Report

Pathfinder's Report on traveling to and from Wild Utah II -

It has become a tradition that after attending a shoot out, Nightingale and I will wend our way home across the Blue Highways, photographing and exploring as we go. We finally get home, spend a few weeks editing the images, and then post a trip report here on dgrin of our experiences along the way.

This year we left home before dawn, with this view to sustain our early morning departure




We rode in the "White Night".

My Ridgeline was crowned with this appellation by Aaron Nelson, after its fine service on the run to Toroweap, and its oficial vehicle color - eg: white.

We tested its mettle again in the Utah backcountry arroyos and creek beds on the way to Hondoo Arch for Wild Utah II

Leaving Terre Haute, we roared across Illinois, Missouri and half of Kansas and spent the night in Dodge City.
The landcape of Kansas is changing rapidly with new windmills going up almost daily. I can remember riding across Kansas just a decade ago and not seeing any windmills other than Aeromotors, and now you find fields of large electric generating windmills as far as you can see -


I like this juxtaposition of the old and the new. Look carefully, as they appear far apart, but the old windwill is actually less than 75 feet from the base of the new windmill in front.

Here is an Aeromotor up close



We saw this sunset as we neared Dodge City



We put our horse away wet, and slept with our boots on, leaving shortly after dawn the next morning. We veered southerly, off the Sante Fe trail, down through Oklahoma and Texas, and found a room in Carrizozo New Mexico.

Carrizozo is the home of Carrizozo cherry cider. It is delicious. Make sure you try it when you are in New Mexico.

Carrizozo is a charming little village, full of qurky, artistic folks. They have lined 12th street with burros from floor to ceiling.







Some one is Carrizozo has a sense of humor also --- or not!




Our first goal was to visit the Three Rivers Petroglyph site, a place I have wanted to see for some time. It is an area of about 500 acres with over 20,000 glyphs of birds, humans, animals, fish and abstract figures. - all carved around 900 to 1400 AD.









After leaving Three Rivers we took a quick tour through the Valley of Fire Recreation area just outside Carrizozo. This is a black lava field with a smooth cement walkway through it. We saw a very nice lizard there




Next we raced to Alamogordo, where we found a large storm passing over White Sands National Monument complete with lighting and thunder. We wondered if we would be allowed entry into the park, due to the lighting danger in the open. Apparently, that is not a concern, as they allowed us to enter in the midst of the inclement weather. But by the time we had travelled a few miles, the storm moved on, and we got to see sunset in White Sands. I recommend it highly!














The following day we had planned on heading north to enter Chaco Canyon, but the distance would not allow a full day at Chaco, so we elected to head up to Santa Fe and then hike through Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument the next morning. Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks was established in January 2001 by President Clinton.


The hike at Kasha-Katuwe begins as a wide slot canyon, and then begins to ascend to the top of the monument 600 feet up higher. Here is Nightingale hiking up in the slot.







Here is part of the view from the top




We now had three major previews under our belts, and were ready to tackle the run to Chaco Canyon early the following morning.

Chaco Canyon is kind of a rite of passage for tourists who enjoy seeing Pueblo Culture sites. It is much larger than Mesa Verde or the Gila Cliff Dwellings. It is at the end of a 30 mile rough, very dusty gravel road that is best travelled by high clearance vehicles. Signs say it may not be drivable in inclement weather, and I am sure that is quite true, as it is in many areas in the south west.

Chaco was inhabited from about 800 AD to 1100 AD. Theories about the inhabitants and their culture abounds, but it seems certain that the major great houses were built for ceremonial purposes, and the full time inhabitants were far fewer than the buildings would house.


This is Pueblo Bonito, which had the rear portion crushed by a very large rock named Threatening Rock on January 21, 1941.



Here is an unroofed Great Kiva - It is amazing in size - maybe 50 yards across



After all the trips Nightingale and I have made in the SouthWest, we finally met our first Western Diamondback rattlesnake on our way through Chaco Canyon




I found this petroglyph quite unique in Chaco canyon



A wall in Chaco with a moon rise



We returned to Farmington for the evening and next morning toured the Salmon Ruins near Farmington NM. There are ruins and a lovely museum with numerous articles and fetishes recovered from the ruins.






Then it was time to head north to Moab, to spend a couple days exploring again. We had lunch in Bluff and wandered by the Sand Island petroglyph panels



Kokopelli was still there.... he looked pretty scruffty, so I dressed him up a bit.



The hunters had been there once upon a time also. Many petroglyph sites are near a campsite near water, where the hunters could peck at the rock after the hunt was over.




We spotted some antelope on the road to Newspaper Rock.





The next morning we began our day exploring Kane Creek Road and its famous petroglyph rock, complete with birthing scene.






We found a few modern 'pictographs' in Moab near the spring at the junction of 191 and 128, where the mountain bikers fill up their water bottles and leave their thanks.





They do resemble some genuine pre-Columbian pictographs we saw in Canyonlands



Later that day we hiked to Tower Arch in the far distant part of Arches.



and saw another great sunset in Arches




These are just the highlights of what Nighitngale and I saw before picking up Sarah ( Photoempt ) in Grand Junction and spending a couple night in Green River before joining Marc and his crew for the workshop in Wild Utah.

Like Joe says MTK

Comments and criticisms heartily encouraged. We have a thick skin.:thumb