The desert

We made it back to Maine....4 days of driving the armpit of the USA....hot , sweaty, dull, ...But first let me elaborate on our time south of Montana.



On leaving Big Sky the snow came down and we drove through W.Yellowstone for the last time 10 ft high snow banks Goodbye! Warm sand and sun Hello! Well not exactly... We drove to Logan Utah and spent some time with old friend the Onionman, the days there were cold and snow like snot ...We headed off then to visit Billy 'steakknife' Bentley, Pattie, and Charlie a mini version of Bill. On arriving in Glenwood Springs, Colorado the snow fell as well. On the first day here we fished Woody Creek below Aspen...I caught a few and brrrrr, but the sun was out. Over a few beers we made plans to go to fish the Gunnison on the next day.



Emily and woke to a sunny morning and after coffee we packed Billy's car with rods, , and the dog aptly named Gunnison. Heading to Gunnison river we crossed freshly snow covered mountains by way of a crazy pass. The views were stunning after a whole week of snow the contrast was incredible, blue sky, white mtns as far as one could see.



At the Gunnison river the birds were singing in the bright sunlight, we climbed into our waders and head across the river to make the hike in to the best fishing spots. Its a good four mile hike up the river which weeds out the lazy fishermen before we stopped to air out, rig rods and fish. I tried some nymphing but was rather lax about my focus. I watched Billy catch a few trout from a distance and figured I would find out what he was fishing with. Billy is a great guy to fish with because he very selflessly gives up his own catching to help others 'hook up' . He led me across the river to look for 'risers' and did we find some.



"Greeno" look at that Brown rising! Sure enough a huge 3 or 4 pound brown trout was taking Blue winged olives off the top. Of course Billy had me rigged with the very thinnest tippet and on second cast that brown made Billy chuckle as it took my fly and swiftly broke me off.

We spent the whole day in the sun...a cool wind blew on occasion but other than that it was a warm spring day.



The rest of the time in Colorado we did some hikes, and mostly looked at the weather to see when it would stabilize enough for camping around the canyonlands. We were restless to go so we head off with not the greatest forecast for early week, snow and wind. As we neared Moab the skys were cloudy but it was warm, 60's. We went looking for a place that Billy told us to camp near the Canyonlands. Much of what used to be camp-able places have been closed over time and it was not so easy to find a legal spot. I guess over the years campers have kind of made a mess of the fragile desert environment making it necessary to mandate changes to what was free camping everywhere. Finally we found a spot way down a dirt road ...it was peaceful, and it was legal so we set up the tent just before things got windy.



We did an evening hike around the area, slick rock, agave, tumble weeds and prickly pear. We got out our cook stove, made dinner and turned in. That night the wind picked up and how it roared....our tent was barely standing...we hardly could sleep it was so noisy. By morning the storm system was passing and the sun woke us...we had our first morning coffee in the desert and made a plan of hiking off to see if the cliffs across the planes of slick rock would have a boulder or two at their base we could climb on. The wind was getting stronger throughout our hike and we were being blown with it...Emily and I hiked about the cliffs and took in the panorama of red rocks, desert and sky. We noticed the wind was now throwing tumbleweeds, sand and daring birds about. The boulders were not too climbable, crumbly stuff.



On heading back to our camp the wind now blew so hard that the sky filled with sand. A real sand storm was developing. We had lunch and of course it had sand in it, you get used to eating sand out here. We were getting sandblasted to the point that it was necessary to get into the car. We sat in the car listening to some old '80s tapes, sonic youth, Lou Reed and stuff. Snow began to mix with the sand storm; it snowed 3 inches of wet, red snow. It got cold. To warm up we ran the car on occasion, laughed a lot at our luck and by late in the afternoon the snow stopped...the juniper trees were coated with red snow, the ground became a mess, red mud ...we passed time throwing tumble weeds into the air and watching them flyaway. I cooked bacon, cheeseburgers from the drivers seat. Clouds above kept the setting sun hidden so this night started very cold in the tent.



In the morning we lucked out again, the sun let us warm, and dry our gear hung from juniper branches. We had bacon again, eggs, coffee and sand then head for the canyon lands park. As we approached the Island in the sky, snow showers and sunbeams made the environment seem huge, impressive, and a bit intimidating. We found a hiking trail and head off down it. This trail starts at the top of a mesa and drops quickly by a series of switchbacks down, down 1500 ft in a mile to a bench were it is resistant sandstone rock. The scale of the erosion is unbelievable ...everywhere it looks like slabs of broken asphalt...there is no describing of this place, its beyond words. After a few hours of wandering, lunch, and jumping onto massive islands of rock perched apon-decaying gravel we head back up the Goose eye trail. This is a must do trail for those that like vertigo. On the hike back up snow fell, and blurred our view of the canyon lands.



On this evening the winds came down and it began to look good for the next day, and hopefully shorts. Sure enough I woke to feeling as if my feet were on fire. The sun was really warm already. Emily and I decided to run across the slick rock to the other side of our valley to see if we could possibly climb up onto Big Mesa. We found that this mesa is aptly named...it was so long and actually quite tall...we never made it to the top. But we did find a secluded place where we lay on the sandstone in the buff. Little lizards scampered around, the sky filled with puffy white clouds, and they made us get going again, we ran back to camp thirsty.

The following days became progressively hotter. We hiked, we bouldered, we burned, we looked for easy water, we found showers, and I paid a lot for warm beer in Moab Utah. Finally it was time to leave, we knew it was time when we sat and didn’t know what to do anymore but hide from the sun. Time to make the drive back east….next blog Portland Maine.