Arturo had planned a south trip to escape boredom at home, and nicely invited us to join him. We ended up settling on going to Oklahoma before turning around, and Jennifer and I would go to Dallas to see her parents, while Arturo would return via the south route and we'd use a similar route 5-6 days later after our Dallas visit.
Jennifer thought about using a campervan, which technically seat and sleeps 3, but realistically it's not super comfortable with 3 people in the front, and the 3rd person supposed to sleep on the top would have been a tight fit with the luggage we put there. Luckily Arturo was happy to sleep in his tent, so we used the top for storage (which we ended up needing):
color and decals are not pretty, but oh well
plus side was a fridge, microwave and reasonable kitchen storage (the expresso machine was ours :) )
The electrical system was interesting, it had a big solar panel that would sustain the fridge forever, but the 120V system only worked if you were plugged in 120V power. As a result, no microwave or expresso unless you were at an RV camp site. I however fixed that with some hacking, you can read more about our Kuga Campervan, here
and we were ready for the trip...
Day 00: 8H drive to Kelso Dunes
The trip started with a long drive to Kelso Dunes. We left around 09:00 and stopped at Harris Ranch for some reasonable beef (fine to stop, but not special enough to go there just for that). We ordered takeout and found outside tables:
During the drive, we noticed that Mohave spaceport had lots of planes parked, probably a good amount of 737 Max that have been grounded:
lots of trains on the way
And finally we made it to Kelso Dunes just around sunset:
Interestingly, there was a small burning man gathering there:
Day 01: Kelso Dunes to Sedona
We got up with sunrise, and went to climb the dunes:
we wondered what would fit in there
We then drove towards Sedona. We did the Thumb Butte Trail in Prescott. Nothing to write home about, but a nice stop. We did a sunset hike:
Day 02: Sedona: Montezuma Castle, Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park, Red Rocks, Sedona Airport Viewpoints, Secret Mountain Brins Mesa Hike, Upper Downtown Sedona
Sedona had lots to do and see, but outside of what was closed due to covid, we got to see the highlights. We started with Montezuma Castle which opened at 08:00. Natives (before the American Indians) lived there with ladders between the levels, and the current thinking is that they were wiped out by the apache american indians (although it could also have been the spanish):
lovely woodpecker
multiple birds enjoying the berries in the trees
Then, we went to the Red Rocks visitor center:
Nearby, the chapel of the holy cross in the rocks, is definitely unique:
Great views from there:
After that, we went to the Buddhist Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park:
The Airport Lookout had great views:
Arturo then found a hike at Secret mountain Brins Mesa:
lovely colored clouds
We then had a bit of time in Upper Downtown Sedona and went back to the airport viewpoint for sunset:
Day #3 was a long drive to Albuquerque, so we broke it down by stopping by Meteor Crater Natural Landmark which is the best preserved crater in the US.
early scientists dug tunnels to try and find the burried meteorite, but in fact it was pulverized by the impact
Next was Petrified Forest NP which was quite impressive:
lovely colorful lizard
The area also had beautiful hills and colors:
Soo nice...
They even had petroglyphs:
After a few more viewpoints, we left the park a bit early to get to ABQ. Great park, we could have spent more time there:
Day 04-05: Texas Palo Duro Canyon State Park
After AZ, we drove through New Mexico quickly (which didn't want tourists because of covid), we reached Texas where we spent 2 half days in Texas Palo Duro Canyon State Park:
Cadillac Ranch on the side of route 66 was a fun stop:
Welcome to texas:
Then we finally arrived at Texas Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the local little grand canyon:
We had a bit less than 2H for a hike on lighthouse trail, so we went for it:
we then free climbed the adjacent peak:
it was not a tall climb, but it was technical
we then raced daylight back to the car
We then slept in our campervan and went for another hike the next morning (which in hindsight, was redundant with the one from the previous day):
the rocks had salt in them
With the sun coming out, snakes started getting out. First a small one that went away and let us pass. Later a rattlesnake that got pissed off and didn't leave the trail. We had to find a complicated path around it as it was guarding a bridge that crossed a small ravine:
After getting back to the parking lot, it was time to drive to Oklahoma City with a few stops along route 66:
my cross is bigger than yours!
another route 66 stop:
Day 06-07: Oklahoma City
The last stop of trip was Oklahoma City, which had some nice museums, including the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum to recount the federal building bombing that happened in 1995 and honor the dead. This is what we did on the first day:
We then had a quick drive through town to the National Cowboy Western Museum:
After that, it was time to drive to Texas and end our trip in Dallas. We then parted ways with Arturo who continued the trip back home, while we went to see Jennifer's parents:
It had been a long time since I had Mt Hermon Redwood Canopy Tour:
We got a quick tour to use the safety equipment:
Then we went for the course, taking the hardest elements:
After the tree course, we went to the nearby Henry Cowell Redwoods state park. The plan was to have lunch and go swim in the garden of eden, but we ended up going for a "quick hike", that took a few hours due to terrain and maps that didn't match reality:
there is a redwoods steam train, we took its bridge across the river
we then walked down to the river for lunch
I guess scouts go and practise in the area
the trail maps was incomplete and at times, just a suggestion
We got to the river a few times, and did a dicey river crossing that was not indicated on the map:
the river had crayfish
We then had to hike up to the train tracks, which turned out to be th trail:
After way longer than planned, we finally got to garden of eden, although by then it was a bit late and cold to go in the water:
So, we hiked out and had a nice drive back through hwy9 and bear creek road, with sunset on the way:
Jennifer and I went for a bike ride that was a bit more involved, this time the lock we went to discover was far Los Altos Hills between the freeway and the hills. Lots of up and downs... (actually my GPS said we only did 24 miles in 7h, but we went up 3000ft)
We started by Rancho San Antonio:
a bunch of few turkeys
looking for prey
nice colors
The hills are hilly, lots of up biking (or walking), with views:
For reasons unknown, we found petrified trees on the side of the road:
More nice views:
Once we got to the top of Olive Tree Lane, where I thought from the map, we could connect to Chamise Trail, but no, the residents put a gate to stop people from going to a public road to a public trail. I had to find a pretty painful way around the fence, through the brush:
took 15mn to get around
this doesn't show how filled with dirt and leaves, I got
We then exited the park towards Los Altos Hills and a nice little private lake they don't like to share with others :)
More houses:
rich kids get their own private playground
deer in your backyard (both good and bad)
you can camp in your own yard
toy car
Another connecting path:
nice view of the private lake
we then took another connecting path to another path along 280, and back out to civilization
I brought a few toys, including motor gliders I got for cheap:
Arnaud had bigger toys:
next size up
Arnaud had dolly for ground takeoffs:
This was a maiden (for me) of an old wooden glider I turned into a motor glider (was difficult actually). I just slapped a camera on top to record the result. The soaring was fine, unfortunately the air brakes didn't work well and caused the plane to stall and crash on landing (the aircraft was not trimmed for its first flight, which is why the nose went up and down a lot until I got that fixed).
I finished the day with my fully decked Sky Eye FPV plane to survey the area, and fly to hwy 5 and one of the canals used to water crops along hwy 5.
π
2020-10-02 01:01
in Hiking, Nsnow, Ntrips, Snow, Trips
To finish our trip through Utah and Nevada, we drove through Kirkwood to see it during the summer:
never seen the area outside of the snow season, pretty trees
I've only ever seen caples lake when it was frozen
Then, we went to check out kirkwood. This must have been the lowest snow coverage day I've seen at kirkwood :)
the wall
which button do I push? :)
it was fun to see the magic carpets. They can be raised as the snow level goes higher
the 'temporary' lodges
still stocked
After going around KW a bit, we went around Carson Spur:
avanlache prevention gates and avalanche triggering devices when the road needs to be cleaned
After parking the car, we hiked up from Carson Spur to Thunder Mountain, and back down to Silver Lake/Kit Carson. It was a pretty easy hike up to Thunder Mountain with great views of kirkwood, Caples Lake, top of Cornice lift, and Silver Lake.
nice to see the avalanche gates from so close
these trigger the slides for avalanche safety on Carson Spur
the smaller kirkwood lake
multiple big volcanic rocks
damn, I never hiked that far with my snowboard :)
getting closer to sentinel bowl/cornice lift
nice view of silver lake
We split off with Arturo, he went back to the car, and we continued the other way towards cornice and silver lake:
looks a bit rocky, probably not a big deal that I forgot to bring my snowboard
a sign frozen in time, left as is on the wretched day of March 14th when they closed
path to sentinel bowl
woohoo, I'm a lift operator now :)
never went down this way, but it was the way back to our path
kit carson
From there, Arturo met us on the road, and we drove home to end our 11 day trip.
While on US-50, the loniest road in america, we stopped at the star attraction (the remaining ones were really B or C), the Ely Nevada Northern Railway Museum. It is in no way one of the best train museums I've seen (especially after SCMAGLEV and Railway Park south of Nagoya, or the one in York), but it was still an enjoyable stop. Those trains used to go to a nearby copper mine, from steam to diesel-electric:
found a lovely little kitten
once a day during that time of the season, a train takes passengers to the mine
And that was it for Ely Nevada Northern Railway Museum, it was time to get back on the road...
