I spent the last week traversing the Southwest, from Salt Lake City, Utah to Dallas, Texas to pick up my friend Rachel for some adventures.
Quick plug- If you want email notifications of new blog posts, enter your email in the “subscribe to blog” section to the right, above “archives” (computer only, not mobile). My first stop was super chaotic. I went to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and was hoping to camp on BLM land nearby, but when I got there in the dark it was all farmland and I was having trouble finding where I wanted to be. I ended up just pulling over on the side of a road into a turn off behind some rocks, and slept in my car for safety. It may have been on the BLM land, I wasn’t sure, but it was nearly 9pm and I just wanted to end my day. I slept reclined in the drivers’ seat, and got a few hours of sleep. It was the first time I have done that on this trip! Not ideal, but I figured it would happen eventually. My hike in the monument the next day was awesome, I saw lots of remains of dwellings up high in the canyon walls. They were left from the Chaco people that lived there 800-1100 years ago. Pretty wild!
The next day I drove to Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. I was super excited to visit this park. Some of the largest pueblo remains from the Chaco people exist here. Massive “great houses”, that used to be up to 4 stories tall and house hundreds of people. I arrived at night and drove through the park, without seeing any of the sites, to a campsite that was 16 miles south of the park. I was alone and in the middle of nowhere, it was awesome. The park itself is super remote, making it an international dark sky park. Unfortunately, the next morning I was not even 3 minutes down the road from camp heading to the park, when I blew a tire. I put the spare on, but decided that seeing the park and driving another 40 miles on the bumpy dirt road wouldn’t be a good idea- if I got a second flat I’d be hours from town with no one around. I drove to the nearest body shop, 1.5 hours away. Long story short I got a used tire to replace the blown one, it cost $35, so all in all not too bad. I was just pretty disappointed to have missed seeing the amazing sites at Chaco Culture.
I spent the night camping on Cibola National Forest land, still in New Mexico. The next day I drove to a campground in Santa Fe National Forest, still in New Mexico. Who knew there was forest in New Mexico!? Both were super pretty, especially the Santa Fe area one. Fall colors were in full swing and the temperatures were ideal- highs of 80ish in the day and lows of 50ish at night. During my drive on this day I stopped at two National Historical Monuments- Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque and Pecos National Historical Park in the town of Pecos, near Santa Fe. More info about these monuments in the captions of photos below…
My next stop was Amarillo, Texas. I spent the day in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, which is the second biggest canyon in the U.S., after the Grand Canyon. It was over 100 degrees, welcome to Texas! I did the scenic drive then went on a short hike to experience the area. I landed in a $30 hotel room, which was only $15 more than it would have cost me to sleep on the ground next to my car, so I was happy with that. I got to watch the Celtics game, sleep in a bed, have a shower, and AC! Well worth it.
After Amarillo I headed to the Dallas area and camped at a nice campground on Lake Whitney, just over an hour outside of the city. The next morning (today) I arrived in Dallas.
Traveling through the southwest in the way that I just did was something I never thought I’d do. I’m a mountains girl at heart, which is why it was so cool to see such a wildly different landscape. The desert is nice, I haven’t pitched a tent in days. Sleeping under the stars is always a good time, especially when there is zero light pollution or clouds around! I learned a ton about the Chaco and Pueblo people, and, by extension, the people that live there still today such as the Navajo Nation. I always wonder what people did before smartphones and electric toothbrushes… but from my experience in the National Monuments on this drive, it appears they got along just fine! As I post this blog, I am in Dallas with my friend Rachel. We are headed to Big Bend National Park for the next few days. She is from Texas, with lots of local knowledge, so I am wicked excited to experience this amazing place with her!
It's been a whirlwind 10 days in Utah! The recreation opportunities surrounding Salt Lake are plentiful and and grand. I spent a week with two friends, Jenessa and Landon, from Big Sky, then a weekend with my friend Lily from NCOBS. It was so nice to visit these people that I hadn't seen in so long, and it was especially nice to be sleeping indoors with AC!
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That's me top roping Errant Edge 5.10a in the Little Cottonwood Canyon. To the left one route, was a 5.7 trad lead called Squeeze My Lemon, then we hung the top rope to try the 10. This was moments after my arrival in Salt Lake. I love that- getting out just after arrival. Best way to experience a new area!
The next day, Landon and I went to Maple Canyon, where there is great conglomerate rock. I've never climbed on anything like it in my life, and it was so fun! Maple Canyon is all bolted sport climbs, and offers awesome multi pitch opportunities. This photo is of me at the top of The Dizzy Channel 5.8- which was 4 pitches.
This is Landon, we climbed together all week while his girlfriend Jenessa was working. I met Jenessa in the rental shop at Big Sky. It was so awesome to reconnect with these two and do some summer activities! Landon and I swung pitches all day and did 4 different multpitch routes at Maple Canyon, 13 pitches in one day!
Jenessa, Landon, the dog they were babysitting (Siggy), and I went for 2 days to City of Rocks in Idaho. This was at camp after the first day of climbing. City of Rocks was SO COOL, I definitely will be back. Jenessa brought her camera and got many amazing photos, so below is a gallery of climbing pics! Click on the first photo to see them full size and with captions.
city touronward...
Salt Lake City has been a major highlight of this trip so far. That's because of all the awesome climbing I got to do while here! Next, I head down to Texas (!!) over the next week. From here on out, pretty much everywhere I am going is new territory for me, and that's super exiting. Still about a month and a half until I land in Montana for ski season, and things are going super well.
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Immediately after leaving Breckenridge my first stop was at Dumont Lake Campground. It was 20mi outside of Steamboat Springs, and known for being right along the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) and having great birding. I spent two nights camping there, and on my full day I went for a trail run.
After Dumont Lake, I headed west to Dinosaur National Monument, which is right on the border of northern Colorado and Utah. I camped at Echo Park Campground, which was the most epic place I've ever camped! It was inside a canyon, at the confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers. Right next to my campsite was a 600 foot cliff with ancient petroglyphs engraved about 120 feet off the ground.
I had planned to visit Flaming Gorge in Utah following my time in Dinosaur National Monument. And I did visit- I did some some scenic driving, and went to check out the Red Canyon. While at the Red Canyon, very near to my campsite for the night, I thought to myself "I wonder how cold it gets here at night". So I checked the weather only to learn that a big snowstorm was expected for the area. They were predicting 6-12 inches for any place over 8,000 feet, and I was planning to camp at 8,000 feet. For the second time on this road trip, I had to bail to a hotel. The weather the next day was brutal, I was so happy to have a safe place to be indoors.
I spent a day in the hotel then once the roads were clear I hit the highway to head to Salt Lake City. Currently, I am in SLC staying with friends. There is sweet climbing and hiking surrounding the city, and I'm enjoying this part of the trip after a mildly stressful and lonely trip here. That's all for now! Friendly reminder to subscribe to this blog if you want email updates when I publish a new post. Check out the Polarsteps map below... this trip is really progressing!
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