Zion

After spending a few days in Las Vegas, we decided to head up to Zion National Park for a while.  We hadn't made reservations and thus had to do the first-come-first-served thing.  We'd left Las Vegas early enough in the morning to make it to Zion by 9AM, so we could get a good spot.  Fortunately, there were plenty of spots and we found a nice view of The Watchman.  The sites were primitive (no electricity) but the campground was quiet and was nestled amongst a stand of shade trees.

View from the back window

Zion makes you sleepy.  After leaving so early in the morning, we were tired and wound up taking some down time.

We'd been to Zion before, hiking a few of the easier trails and then Angel's Landing.  We spent about three days there, and didn't feel like we'd had enough time.  We really wanted to spend some quality time there, seeing the rest of the park and getting some time to relax.

What is this dog doing?

I took the opportunity to do some running.  Zion Canyon is at approximately 4000 feet, which doesn't sound like much, but when you live at 100 feet in Florida, it's a lot.  Running is an entirely new experience, and while I wouldn't say it was one of my best efforts, at least I went out and tried.  I managed a run up the Pa'rus trail and a trail run up to the Watchman overlook - mostly uphill over rocks and up stairs.

We got attacked by caterpillars.  Every vertical surface, including trees, sign posts, benches, and even the RV were covered by Tent Caterpillars.

Tent Caterpillars at Zion, with our RV in the background

At first, it was kind of interesting.  Then we noticed that the sidewalk was MOVING - the caterpillars were making a mass migration between a patch of dirt and a tree, covering the sidewalk to the point that it was virtually impossible to walk past them without squishing a few.  We did a strange version of the hokey pokey dance, trying not to unnecessarily step on any.

Getting our bearings

One morning we decided to hike to Observation Point.  This is an 8-mile round trip hike, with a 2,100 foot elevation gain.  We'd leave early (to avoid crowds) and take our time.

After climbing a few hundred feet along a switchback trail I had a very serious scare.  The trail was a bit wet near weeping rock, and while it was cold out, I didn't suspect we'd be running into any snow or ice on the hike.  I was incorrect.

It was funny before I fell.

As we approached a narrow section of the trail with a stiff drop-off (several hundred feet of vertical drop to the left) I slipped.  Badly.  My left foot went out from under me, across my body in front of me, sending me falling basically face first with a hard twist to the right, slamming into the ground.  I'd managed to find a patch of black ice on the trail.  Fortunately, while the fall was painful, I was able to catch myself on the trail and not come anywhere close to the edge.  I spread some nearby sand all over the ice in the hopes that someone else would not have a spill like mine.  It was still quite scary and my entire body was quite sore from the fall for several days.

The rest of the hike was peaceful and gorgeous.  We wandered through slot canyons and up the mountain for a very long time - 2 hours of the hike was spent hiking up steep hills.  The rock walls supported several different kinds of flowers despite being hot, dry, and precariously perched on the edge of vertical rock features.


We made it to the top and enjoyed some lunch we'd brought with - peanut butter, nuts, granola bars, and some water.  The view was spectacular, and you could easily see Angel's Landing, which was a hike we'd done during the last visit to Zion National Park.

The hike back down was uneventful and even more beautiful since we were able to focus more on our surroundings and not on how difficult the hike was or making sure we didn't fall off the cliffs.

The next day we woke up to a few surprises.  First of all, the Tent Caterpillars had moved in with great authority...

Tent Caterpillar Invasion!

Watching the watchers

Then, we noticed that our RV was in the middle of a bird watching session!  They seemed harmless, but I kept an eye on the crowd anyway.

We decided that it was time for a bicycle trip.  Zion is really set up well for this - bike racks on the busses going up and down the canyon, bicycle trails, and special rules - busses can't pass unless you (the bicyclist) pulls over!  Very nice.  Wish the rest of the world was like this.

Resting at a waterfall

We found a really neat waterfall where we took a break, drank some water, ate a few nuts, and just enjoyed the scenery.  There was no bus stop at this place, so really the only way to get there was to walk or ride a bike to it, so we basically had the hideout to ourselves.

Riding through the canyon was amazing.  The rock faces are hundreds if not thousands of feet tall, and riding through the valley between the rocks was an amazing experience.

That evening we had some nice and quiet down-time, sitting around the campfire and relaxing watching the sun set on The Watchman.

Finally back, working too hard to update...

We made it back a while ago, and I haven't had a chance to update my blog with the final set of pictures and the final few updates.  We got back, unloaded the RV, rested for a day or two, and then I went up to northern Florida for some cave diving for a few days.  After that, there was a week of sitting in the house and being a sloth.  Then it was back to work, and I've been working nearly every day (including memorial day weekend) since then.  I just haven't had the strength to post an update.

I have a few excuses - mostly around stress, sleep, an upcoming expedition with The Cambrian Foundation, and a few other things.  I come home and all I want to do is sit and not look at a computer.

Additionally, my computer has started to really act up.  It's been slow for a while, but the other day, it required some percussive maintenance to start.  Not a good sign.  My new Dell Studio XPS 9100 is on the way, ETA Wednesday.  I'm very excited, and in the process of organizing the stuff on my hard drive in preparation for a computer brain transplant to the new machine.

On a side note, I've had a lot of folks say "why don't you build a machine" or "I figured you for a guy who would buy the pieces and put it together yourself."  I could see that, but I work on broken pieces of software all day long.  When I get home, I just want stuff that works.  I want to be the guy who has his antivirus software malfunction and has to call tech support instead of going through 28 steps of diagnosing the problem himself.  I just don't have the energy for that - I'd rather play stupid and have someone else do the work.

So, this morning, after putting some space between me and the trip + first week of work back one-two-punch-combo, I'm feeling for the first time like I have the strength to start updating the rest of my trip blog.  I think it was inspired by my computer cleanup process - while sorting through some old files on my computer, I found this link to a guy who entered a $500 craigslist car into a WRC race.  It reminded me of our trip in the Winnebago.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  Updates and more pictures coming soon.

Fixing the Fridge, Again!

The fridge broke again.  Sigh.

As I've mentioned before, this is a Norcold Gas Absorption Refrigerator model 6162.  It works by heating a loop of ammonia - pressurized so it is liquid at steady state but transforms to a gas when heat is added.  Our fridge is a 2-way, which means the heat comes in the form of either AC heating element or an LP gas flame.  (3-way versions are slightly more expensive and feature a DC powered heater, typically hooked up to the chassis battery.  This is nice because it means you don't need to run the generator or use LP gas, but it quickly drains the battery.)

Over the past several days while we've been dry camping at The Grand Canyon, we've had to run the fridge off of LP gas.  This is a change from all the other places we've been - the fridge has run well on AC power.  However, after just a day, the fridge failed and we had to quickly either eat the food in the fridge or put it into our backup cooler we'd brought along just in case.

Here's where I got myself into trouble.  The panel to access the fridge guts is easily accessible on the outside of the RV.  There are some aluminum tubing LP lines connecting the main LP gas source to the burner.  Thinking that they were clogged or kinked (which they were) I started to disassemble the lines.  The aluminum was so old and corroded to the brass fittings that instead of coming apart cleanly, the parts folded, bent, and twisted off.  It was a complete mess, and in the end I wound up with a bunch of valves and a whole mess of broken LP lines.  To make matters even worse, based on some previous calls to customer support, I knew I could no longer easily get parts for the fridge, especially on the road.

 

Link to the annotated picture of these parts...

We stopped in Kingman, AZ on the way to Las Vegas and I purchased some parts and tools to try and rebuild the fridge LP system.  The goal was to recreate the aluminum tubing using copper tubing I'd found at Home Depot used for ice maker hookups.  It was a little tricky because the bends were aggressive, nearing the minimum bend diameter of the tubing used.  Additionally, the ends needed to be flared - to fit into a flare fitting.  I'd never done any of these operations, so I made sure I had extra tubing to play with.

Making new tubing parts

After a couple of trials, I was able to rebuild the necessary LP system tubing completely.  Using a toothbrush and some soapy water I checked for leaks and then fired it up. 

Checking for leaks

The size of the flame in the LP chamber seems to indicate that the fridge should work much better now!

The Grand Canyon South Rim

We arrived at The Grand Canyon to find that due to Earth Day, all National Parks were allowing free entry.  Additionally, the next weekend was Easter.  As a result, there were a zillion people at the park and virtually no camping spots.  Sarah was able to negotiate a tent site for us - a small plot of land with no hook-ups.  This was OK - from previous experiences we'd learned to make sure the RV was always ready to go - full of fresh water, gas, and LP, and empty of waste water.  We were all set, and our little Brave fit just fine in a small parking spot designed for large cars bringing tent campers.

After settling in, we went for a hike around the rim.  The views were spectacular.

The following morning we woke up to 43 degrees outside.  The furnace I'd rebuilt had kept the cabin at around 63 degrees, which was nice.  (It could have done better, but if you turn it up any further, it just gets stifling inside in the middle of the night, which is a terrible way to wake up)  I got up, built a fire, and made a pot of percolator coffee.  We had a really pleasant morning.

We decided to hike Bright Angel Trail. This trail went over the rim and down into the canyon.  We went to the 3 mile rest area - descending over 2000 feet.  The walk down was pretty and strenuous on the legs, but the way up was grueling.  We were really tired when we were done, and the mile or so long walk back to our campsite seemed more like a hundred miles.  It was the most difficult hike we've ever done.

The Grand Canyon KOA

After leaving Carlsbad, we decided to hole up in a KOA for the night outside of The Grand Canyon.  After being in the desert basically since Louisiana, it was nice to finally be in a place with real trees - not scraggly Juniper tree bush things.

We found a really neat old-school arcade where we played a few video games - Sarah is quite good at Ms. Pac Man. We also played a game of air hockey before we left.

Getting the oil changed

Getting the oil changed in your car is easy.  Ever tried it with a full-size Winnebago?  Hint - it involves both you and the manager on the phone getting dimensions of the bay doors and the Winnebago to see if it fits!

We had plenty of height to spare, but we were within half a foot on each side of it fitting width-wise!

Simon in his natural environment

The very first thing I saw was green shoelaces.

Seeing Simon in Albuquerque was a really great time.  He was wearing all dark clothes including a dark hat, and hadn't shaved in weeks if not longer.  Very dark.  Except his shoelaces.  Wow.  You could see those suckers coming a mile away.  Apparently there was a long story and these weren't the originals that came with the shoes, but it was really colorful in any event.

The first order of business was seeing Simon in his natural environment.  His loft apartment overlooked downtown Albuquerque and was really amazing.  He made use of his large glass windows to brainstorm ideas and shopping lists for his projects.

We asked Simon to take us to some of his familiar haunts - so we ate breakfast at a Flying Star both days.  This was hands-down one of the best breakfast places I've ever eaten at.  Their desserts were fabulous - I had carrot cake and a raspberry chocolate cake that was amazing and had to share it with both Simon and Sarah.

That afternoon, we walked up the street to the UNM ARTS lab Simon occasionally worked at, and met some of his colleagues.  They made some really good use of a CNC machine to cut wooden parts out and make a projector dome for visual exhibits.  I also got to see some of their past creations - some work with Wii sensors and balance boards to build video games using the domes.  It was really amazing.

For dinner, I suggested we cook Simon a traditional RV supper.  It was a hit - we had chicken and Spanish rice, with a nice salad and some frozen vegetables, along with some mashed potatoes.  After dinner, Sarah collapsed to the rear of the RV to go to sleep while Simon and I stayed up until 4AM playing Ticket To Ride with the 1910 Expansion.  (I personally don't think you can really play the game without the expansion - after a few games it becomes pretty obvious where your opponent is going and the game loses its fun factor)

Breakfast the next morning was more of a "breakfast food for late lunch" since Simon had decided to shave his beard.  I think he was motivated by our visit to get out and do some things he'd been putting off for a while, including shaving.

We were a little sad to leave Albuquerque.

Laundry in the RV

Sarah finds a new place to dry her shirts

Carlsbad Caverns

We visited Carlsbad Caverns almost seven years ago on the trip to New Mexico when we got engaged.  It was part of a trip we made around New Mexico, including Santa Fe, the VLA, Roswell, and Carlsbad.  We stayed in Carlsbad for several days and did one ranger-led tour, which was fun.  Unfortunately, the last time we visited, the rest of the trip wasn’t so fun.  To get some perspective, here’s a summary of our last trip:

• NOT FUN:  We arrived in Carlsbad, NM very late.  The lady at the hotel lost our Expedia reservation and proceeded to argue with us about whether or not we had a reservation – for an hour.  At the time, this was the only hotel in town with any rooms at all, so we really had nowhere else to go.   After 45 minutes of bickering, she looked on her fax machine as I’d asked her to do multiple times and miraculously found our paperwork.  We were rewarded with a smoke-smelling room with a number of roaches frequenting the bathroom.
• FUN:  We went on a great ranger-led cave tour
• FUN:  We saw a great bat flight out of the cave.
• FUN:  We enjoyed the natural entrance.
• NOT FUN:  Breakfast at Denny’s was horrendous.  We both ordered some sort of egg and bacon meal.  The waiter brought us our food after a very long wait.  Her eggs had the imprint of my plate and my plate bottom had remnants of her food stuck on.  The food was cold, and the bacon was basically not cooked.  (I’m familiar with floppy bacon, but this just wasn’t cooked.)  We ate what we could then drove to a grocery store to buy some fruit.

We really had a pretty low bar for this part of our trip.  The cave tours I’d scheduled (Left Hand Tunnel and Slaughter Canyon Cave) were going to be spectacular, but we had low hopes for the rest of the visit.
The RV really came in handy this on this leg of the trip.  Several times we used the RV to cook a hot meal before or after a tour, and it was nice to have a “home base” to fill water jugs etc.

Ready to go caving!

However,  it was a full hour and a half of driving between our KOA and The Caverns.  To make matters worse, the entire downtown section of the drive was under construction and was so bumpy the entire RV puked cabinet contents all over the floor several times.  It wasn’t until the second day we discovered a bypass route to get to the caverns that completely disagrees with the GPS but winds up being shorter.  (likely due to construction)

Despite the driving impediments, we were both really excited to get into the cave.  This is one of my favorite places to see, and the hike into the cavern to the big room (the “natural entrance”) is simply impressive.  It’s 700+ feet down switchback paved trail.  There aren’t many other places where you’ll need to walk down an incline for 700 vertical feet.  They tell you to plan for an hour to walk down, and it’s really strenuous on your knees.  We stopped to assess our situation first.

The entrance looks unimpressive, but it’s huge…and vertical.  The hole here is 2-3 school busses wide, but it’s the part you don’t see (the straight down part) that’s amazing.  The best way to explain it is to show a picture from inside the cave, complete with mist rising up out of the cavern.

The Natural Entrance

The Twilight Zone

The Bat Cave

A little ways into the cave is “bat cave” where the bats roost.  The trail drops pretty much straight down from here.

The trail winds along a path that in some places has followed the natural cave, but in other places has been carved into the rock.  There are some pretty neat smaller side passages we ran into.

Sarah in a side passage

The cave was formed by a very interesting set of geological forces.  Oil deposits far below the cave released Hydrogen Sulfide gas, which seeped up through the rock and combined with water to form Sulfuric Acid.  This is a very strong acid and ate through the rock to form the large caverns you see here.  The cave was also somewhat geologically active – several places in the cave show large cracks and joints formed by movement of the surrounding earth.  Finally, Carbonic Acid coming from above ate through more limestone to form the cave formations inside the caverns.

Sarah in The Big Room

Feed Sarah!

We were a little disappointed that the Bat Flight was not really occurring.  It sounds like the bats hadn’t returned from their winter vacation yet, so there were only about 20 bats flying each night – nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of bats we’d seen on our last trip.

We finished our hike for the day, but Sarah was pretty beat and desperately needed dinner.

The Nightly Bat Flight Area

The next day we took the Left Hand Tunnel ranger-led tour.  It was pretty impressive to see some undeveloped cave like this, but I didn’t take my camera – the lighting was too difficult.  We learned that a 1972 sci-fi show was filmed in the tunnel called Gargoyles. 

The hike to Slaughter Canyon Cave was very steep

Rare Shield Speleothems

On our last day in Carlsbad we took a ranger-led tour to Slaughter Canyon Cave.  This was a 1.5 hour drive to a remote location, then a 45 minute hike up a mountain to a gate.  The cave was impressive because it was for the most part undeveloped.  We took our own lights since there was no lighting system.  (We had a couple of laughs – I took one of my dive lights on this trip which really made pretty much all other flashlights on the tour useless, and the kids behind us complained to their Dad the entire trip that they wanted a “real flashlight” the entire time.)  We got a new maglite for Sarah at Walmart - a 2-D cell LED version that is far and away the best maglite I've seen.  Her light was really good at focusing on far away features in the cave, while mine was really good for lighting up an entire area.

We also saw some very unique Shield Speleothems - disks the size of a large pizza.  These apparently grow differently due to cracks in the rocks and the pressure of water pushing mineral laden fluids out.  We hadn't seen these before and they were really neat to see.

A very neat formation in Slaughter Canyon Cave

Sledding on Sand

If there's one thing I've learned on this trip it's that driving the RV for long contiguous periods of time really stinks.  It's best to do 3-4 hours at most, and if you have to go further, break up the trip.  Also, since it's springtime, we're being bludgeoned by strong winds here in New Mexico.  Leaving as close as possible to sunrise helps too.

The day's strategy was to leave City of Rocks and drive to Carlsbad.  We were basically driving the entire width of New Mexico west to east.  Sarah and I both enjoyed our stay at City of Rocks, and were a bit sad to leave.  We were also a little dismayed at having to backtrack - we'd already driven from Las Cruces once.  In order to break up the long trip, I'd planned a mid-morning stop at White Sands National Monument.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this was a really neat experience.  This park was a close replica to Indiana Dunes State Park, near where I grew up.  We drove from the visitors center along an asphalt road and eventually onto a sand road.  The sand road was very badly washboarded, and the RV shook from roof to tire, including the occupants.

The store near the visitors center sold saucer sleds, which we used to sled down some of the larger dunes.  I wanted to sled near the nature trail parking lot, but Sarah insisted that we weren't supposed to.  I didn't believe her, until we found a sign.  I hate it when she's right.

We had a ton of fun, but had to quickly retreat to the RV when a sandstorm approached.  I took a quick shower in the RV, which was really pleasant.  Unfortunately for Sarah, I was in a super hurry to get back on the road.  She had to finish her shower while I got the RV on the road.  There were some complaints and some loud thuds coming from the shower compartment, but she came out without bruises or bloody marks so I assume all was well.  :)