(Click Pictures to Enlarge)
Dave and Kialey started the trip from Syracuse, NY and drove straight through to my house. The next morning I showed them around the Prairie that I have been working on for the past 3 years at Citizens for Conservation in Barrington. I love going back there because every year you can observe the change of the land and see that all that hard work is actually worth it and makes progress. It has become another home for me. I'm going to miss it in the late summer when the prairie is at is tallest and most vibrant yellow colors.
We then hit the road and had the excitement of driving through Iowa and Nebraska through the evening and night (about 15 hours), which landed us in Denver at around 7am. We were staying at Dave's aunt's house, which was really nice; but, in the evening we were able to head north to Greeley to visit with some of my dad's best friends whom I consider to be family: George, Tim, and Laura. They were ever so kind to take us out to mexican food, fill us with great stories, and make my friends theirs. I surely would not mind moving out to Colorado for a bit and live with them.
After our visit we went out to dinner with Dave's grandmother who treated us to Southern Indian Food for dinner. I never even heard of such a delicacy put it was delicious. A lot of the food is some sort of special bread, with potatoes, and a special sauce. Very different.
May 23rd.
The next day we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. The road through the park was closed because it had snowed a week prior so we had to drive around to the west side. But on our drive we saw some Big Horn Sheep on some cliffs! Kialey had worked here last summer as a naturalist and knows all the secrets of the park. (Now my friend Mary will be working there this summer). Right as we entered the park we drove by a MOOSE! I've always wanted to see a moose before, and I couldn't help myself and started yelling "Moose! Moose! Mooose!" out the window which ended up scaring the poor thing and the other people parked on the side of the road watching her were more than likely disappointed that I scared it away, woops, so needless to say it was an exciting moment for me, and we ended up seeing like 4 other moose. We then set up our tent and started our hike through a beautiful trail.
After our hike, Kialey took us to her secret fly fishing spot. She wouldn't stop telling us about the ridiculous amount of fish that was at this spot. But when we got there we didn't see one fish. We went to a couple other spots, 0 fish even seen. :-( Well atleast I got to go fly fishing for my first time and can't really complain about the view. Ha.
May 24th [My Birthday]
The next day we left for Grand Junction, CO (western colorado) to go see Colorado National Monument. On our way we saw Pelicans! Who knew that Pelicans live in the middle of the rockies and why they weren't back at the Ocean. We also passed some fresh road kill, a yellow bellied marmot, if only I were home I would've loved to tan the skin and make something beautiful from it's gorgeous bright yellow fur. After passing that up and passing tons of horse corrals with cute ponies running around we ended up stopping for brunch at a great diner called The Glory Hole Cafe. Yes that was the actual name of the place. Giggle as you please.
Then we finally got to Colorado National Monument...
For my bday dinner we stopped at a grocery store and picked up a roasted chicken, garlic bread, instant mashed potatoes, veggies, cookies, and beer. It was a great birthday.
May 25th
We drove to southeast Utah to Arches National Park where more than 1000 natural arch formations are. Here are the Pics.
Then we decided that since it was crowded and there was no camping that we just drive to Crater Lake in Oregon, which would give us more time to check out other things in the Northwest. So we drove 15 hours up through Utah past the Salt Lake and the salt flats (which looked like we were driving by more water at first glance) then through Nevada with a full moon. This was really cool while I was driving at about 3 am because it was a full moon, no one was on the road, and the land was desolate for miles with ocassional plateaus, buttes, and valleys. It had an interesting eerie sense.
May 26th
We arrived at Crater Lake and found out that it was snowing and was very foggy so it was impossible to view the lake. And the forecast as continued bad weather we decided that heading down to Northern California and the Redwoods would be the best choice. And boy was it a great choice. The redwood forests was unlike any other place I've ever been before. You feel like an ant and are in just constant awe with the gigantic powerful redwood trees. On one of our hikes a tree had fallen probably a week or so earlier and the destruction was amazing. There was debris everywhere, I would not want to be around when that thing fell. On our hike we also found Cougar tracks!!! It was one of the coolest tracking moments of my life thus far, to feel the presence of such a big, strong, cunning cat is chilling and surely sends a rush of adrenaline to your head when you know that this cat probably has seen you and if it wished to could pounce and take you out in a heart beat.
May 27th
It had rained in the early morning and most of my things were soaked so we decided to pack up and head up the coast to the Oregon Coastal Dunes. Along the way cliff faces, large rocks carved out by the sea, and strong winds were encountered. We got to the hiking trail that I walked 2 months ago and when we got to the dunes the winds were blowing hard whipping the sand around. I was the only one in shorts so it was nearly unbearable for me to even reach the top of one of the dunes. Every wind gust brought sand with it which pelleted every centimeter of bare skin. If i could equate it to anything it would be as if someone had an automatic BB gun and constantly pelleted every inch of your body. So I stayed on top of the dune to look out at the scenery for as long as I could bare it then I ran back down to the forest.
We drove up the coast further and found another hiking trail where the wind was little to none. There were rough-backed salamanders and slugs every foot along the hike through the coastal temperate rain forest to the beach. As we hiked along the beach we saw some turkey vultures in the distance perched on what appeared to be a rock, but upon further inspection, it was a dead Sea Lion. Being Ian, I started feeling the fur of the big sea creature imagining the rain coat that could have been made, then made it down to the flippers to feel what they were like and how these small fins allow these big beasts to speed through the water.
We continued down the beach to where it met back up with trail and we saw some Snowy Plovers flying by which was really cool. Snowy Plovers are a threatened species which breed along the coast. Anyway we headed back into the coastal brush, took a wrong turn which gave us and 4 miles or so to walk, but allowed us to observe a beaver a long the way.
Since our stuff was wet, Dave called up his friends in Eugene, OR where we were able to spend the night.
May 28th
We drove to Dave's house in Portland and took it easy for awhile. Then is father and step mother took us out to eat and beer, and showed us around the city.
May 29th
We went to Multnomah Falls and hiked about 6 miles.
That evening Dave's mother and stepfather made us dinner and took us to a small bar which had a blues band playing who was very good. After that I took them to my favorite bar in Portland, the tugboat brewery.
May 30th
We went to Dave's cabin in Mt. Hood and did about an 8 mile hike around the mountains.
Then we headed back to Portland and went to some street festival which was the ultimate Portland experience of Hippie and Hipster. Every type of music, lots of art, random crafts, what looked like good food, and in general random things.
May 31st
Kialey and I left Dave behind and started our way towards Boise. We Drove through the Columbia River Gorge, drove down to Mt. Hood stopping for the Ultimate Pear and Cherry Cider, drove through the High Desert Plains to Bend and cut across towards Boise. I recalled that there was an area where Obsidian could be collected along the way; although, I forgot to refresh my memory of exactly where it was before leaving so I was going by intuition and memory of where it could be. (Obsidian is Volcanic Glass that has been formed over thousands of years and can flint knapped into arrow heads). In my mind I though I remembered that it was a driveway around mile marker 73 but when mile marker 73 came there was nothing. Then all the sudden at mile marker 76 there were two bulldozers who had been digging out earth for some sort of construction. So I pulled over to check it out to see if it was the place. At first we only found little shards of obsidian. Bummed that there weren't any large pieces I took one last look at a pile closer to the bulldozers and it just so happened to be the jackpot gold mine of deep unearthed obsidian! Large chunks as much as one could afford to bring back. So I filled up my Large Flat Rate box with as much as I could and after deciding that that was not nearly enough for this rarity that I was going to leave behind my sleeping bag and fill my backpack full of obsidian. (This story continues on later).
So we drove to East Oregon almost in Idaho and pulled over to watch the starry night and sleep in the car.
June 1st.
We drove to Boise, shipped my box, walked around the city a little bit, then Kialey dropped me off at the airport. When I sent my bag through the security scanner, the TSA lady called out "Okay, Who is the Geologist?" I sheepishly yet proudly raised my hand that it was I who had the 80 pound backpack full of rock. She said she had to inspect it further because they could not see clearly what was in it. She opened the bag and noticed all the rocks covered in newspaper, opened one and decided not to open the rest and have me one my way after I continued to talk about geology to her ;-)
And that was my awesome roadtrip. Now I am getting ready to head to Ithaca, New York to work for Primitive Pursuits. A summer day camp for children to get them out in nature and teach them survival skills.
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