searcyf@mac.com – Page 110 – Travels with Fred

Cross Country Tour – Day 45

12 October 2016

Today has pretty much been a travel day of six and a half hours, most of it along I-30. I have come to the conclusion that drivers in Dallas/Fort Worth are actually worse than south Florida. I’ve never been cut off so many times in so short of a time.

The consolation was pulling into Capital Hotel in Little Rock. This is really nice. The room isn’t terribly large but everything is first rate.

After relaxing a moment, I called Shawn Leary to see about meeting up with him tomorrow in Memphis. I’ve known Shawn since I first taught at Itawamba Junior College in the early 80’s. Unfortunately, Shawn thought as was arriving in Memphis today and his schedule is full tomorrow. We had a nice long talk and I got to speak with his partner Greg. We promised to stay a little better in touch than we have in the past.

Next I called Stuart Sineath who I’ve known since the late 80’s from BCC. We plan to meet in Memphis tomorrow around noon. It’ll be good to se Stuart again. Unfortunately, I’ll have to meet him at work and miss seeing his wife Nikki and their kids.

Later tomorrow, I plan to head to Hoover, AL to see Lynn and Robert Buford for a couple of days.

I finally added up my hikes and found that I hiked 68.3 miles and climbed 8,896 feet with a range of elevations of 59 feet in Florida’s Broussard State Park to 10,110 feet in Rocky Mountain National Park.

As I contemplate this, I wonder where I got the determination to hike the miles and climb the elevation. I think it comes from my maternal grandmother, Ruby Agnew. She had stamina. I remember one time she was late for church but arrived late and took her place in the church choir. Later we found out she had wrecked her car on the way to church, found out she was OK and the car was driveable and came to the church service anyway. Only later did the wreck affect her.

I don’t anticipate any more hikes, so this is probably my final total. Once I get home, I’ll produce a spreadsheet of the hikes and the data associated with them.

Cross Country Tour – Day 44

11 October 2016

I must have been very tired. I slept 10 hours last night. I was a little late in starting for Mineral Wells but got off around 9 am. It was a little over 4 hours driving time and it went by pretty quickly.

I checked in with the Days Inn just outside of town and found I could get into the room around 2:30pm so I had time to get gas, visit an ATM, and get a haircut.

The haircut was compliments of Coy’s Barber Shop downtown for $13. I no longer look so shaggy. I told him about my desire to see some of the old hotels associated with Mineral Wells and he gave me some directions.

The first I found was Crazy Water Hotel, about 2 blocks from his shop.

Crazy Water Hotel. It's last incarnation was a retirement home but has since closed for good. — Crazy Water Hotel. It’s last incarnation was a retirement home but has since closed for good.

It’s called Crazy Water because the hotel was built at the site of one of the (then) mineral wells and a crazy woman often sat at the well asking visitors to draw her some water from the well. They soon determined her “condition” was getting better and people began to flock to the site. The first two hotels burned but the one in the photo was completed in 1927.

There’s something to her getting better. The mineral water has high concentrations of lithium, the major ingredient in Valium.

Mineral Wells had one of the highest concentrations of mineral springs in the U.S. Unfortunately, they have pretty much run dry. There’s only one left in town.

The most decorative and ornate hotel is the famous Baker, named for the hotelier, opened in 1929 at a cost of 1.2 million dollars. The architect was Wyatt C. Hedrick who modeled the hotel after the famous Hot Springs Hotel (I knew I had seen something similar). It’s 14 stories and had over 450 rooms with an Olympic size pool in front of the hotel filled with mineral water.

Guests had all kinds of amenities like circulating ice water in each room and a laundry deposit that could be emptied by staff without entering the room.

Some of the famous people who have stayed include Glen Miller, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Lawrence Welch and Lyndon Johnson.

This shows the walkway to the pool and fountain at Baker Hotel.

It is considered one of the more haunted hotels since people were generally ill when they came here and many died in the rooms.

The Olympic size pool at the Baker Hotel which used to be filled with mineral water.

Unfortuantely, the springs dried up, penicillin was introduced and Mineral Wells was no longer popular – until a military base opened just outside of town. That helped for years until WWII ended and it finally closed for good in 1963.

Mineral Fountain At Baker Hotel, Adjacent to Pool.

Currently, there are plans to renovate the hotel. All it needs is financing and they have been working on that since 2010. I really hope they do renovate. I love these old classic structures.

Bridge to Olympic size pool at Baker Hotel.

I enjoyed my walk around town. It’s like a time capsule. I did a double take when I saw an auto dealership in the middle of town. In my home town, we had a Ford and Chevrolet and they looked exactly like this one.

This is what car dealerships looked like when I was a kid.

When was the last time you saw a dry goods store? Do you know what dry goods are? We had several in my home town but the largest was Gaddis’ Dry Goods. I even worked there one Christmas rush. They had an old cash register that was big as a wardrobe which individual teller drawers. I liked this one since it had a bar next to it.

When was the last time you saw a dry goods store? In my home town, there were several, but the largest was Gaddis Dry Goods on Main Street.

I then headed to Lake Mineral Wells State Park where I was going to camp but changed my mind. It’s a small lake mostly used by fishermen but there is a extensive trail system and neat picnicking grounds.

Some of the original structures were made by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s.

Stone picnic tables made by CCC at Lake Mineral Wells State Park.

Tomorrow, I’m off to Little Rock for one night.

Cross Country Tour – Day 43

10 October 2016

Originally, I was to camp out at Caprock Canyons State Park at Quitaque, Texas, but as you may have read previously, I’ve given up on camping out for a multitude of reasons and am now ensconced in the Best Western Plus (whatever that means) in Clarendon, Texas, about an hour’s drive from the park.

That hour was enough to discourage my visiting the park even though I have been told by a Texas couple when I was at Lost Maples that Caprock is second only to the Grand Canyon in the size of its canyons.

I did check what maps I could find and it didn’t have any scenic drives shown even though the park says it has them. In any case, I called it a day.

The day started out at 4:30 am (I’m still on EDT) and I read until it was time to go to breakfast at Hacienda del Sol. Mark, who checked me in at 6 pm was already up and preparing breakfast. He did an excellent New Mexican omelet, perfectly cooked, with a green chili salsa.

After breakfast, I hit the road for a 6 1/2 hour drive to Clarendon. Strangely, GPS started me south and then southwest before I finally hit I-40 east. I didn’t make great time since large stretches were through mountainous roads with a 40 mph speed limit.

Those of you who know me know I pretty much follow the speed limit anyway but especially so on trips since police and highway patrol sometime feel out-of-staters are fair game.

The upside of the slow trip was beautiful scenery, especially the golden color of the quaking aspens.

Another upside is that I am in the Central Time Zone and I should be getting more adapted to the time change and may sleep a little later. Or not.

Tomorrow is a short trip to Mineral Wells, Texas, just outside of Dallas/Fort Worth. Mineral Wells used to be the “in” spot in Texas for their curative mineral waters, but like a lot of those places, now out of favor.

Cross Country Tour – Day 42

9 October 2016

Today started with a breakfast buffet at the lodge restaurant. You are always taking you life in your hands when doing the buffet, but this was a good one. The eggs were not rubbery and the view from the window overlooked the valley below.

About 7:45am, our tour director Holley started ushering us to the bus where we met the driver Leonard. Both were extremely competent and well versed in the culture of the area. Leonard was especially good at spotting wildlife which included a buck mule deer, turkeys, and an elk.

We first stopped at one of the earliest Pit houses, so named since they were in essence a pit dug into the ground with a roof. This was on the top of the Cuesta (Mesa Verde is misnamed, it should technically be Cuesta Verde because the whole thing slants southward).

From there we bussed to an overlook of Oak House and Mummy House. Oak because of the presence of an oak tree at the site and Mummy House because a mummified corpse was found inside the house.

Oak House. Notice the steps carved into the rock.

We also had a pretty good view of Sun Temple from the overview and later got an up close and personal view of the place.

Holley Expaining Brick Laying at Sun Temple.

Next was Balcony House which we would get to tour. Drew, the temp park ranger who is in actuality an archeologist, led the tour. He was very enthusiastic about this particular tour.

First, he asked if we were up to a three story climb on a wooden ladder, then a 12 foot crawl on hands and knees through a tunnel, and then two more ladder climbs and a series of steps carved into the rock to get back to the starting point.

We all enthusiastically (some more than others) agreed we were. We were to regret the enthusiasm.

We first left the Mesa and went down by a series of concrete steps constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps to an overhang were Drew introduced us to Balcony House.

Next, was the three story ladder climb to the Balcony House itself, home to about 40 people when it was occupied.

Immediately noticeable were two large kivas or ceremonial chambers. These normally had a roof over them and the roof would be covered and plastered so you could walk on the roof of the kiva.

Drew did an excellent job of eliciting answers from the 49 hardy souls (and one 7 week old baby) who ventured this far (one person took one look at the ladder and went back up the stairs).

We contined to explore Balcony House and then came the tunnel. It was apparently built for defense after the house was constructed and you could see it would have been very effective since any enemy would have to crawl through the tunnel one at a time.

Next came another ladder.

Then came the steps carved into stone.

Lastly, there was a third ladder. Remember the native Pubelos didn’t use the ladders. It was all hand and foot climbing in the rock. The only ladders were down into the kivas through the roofs.

We all managed to make the climb and then return to the bus. The next part of the trip was the main reason for my detouring to Mesa Verde: the Cliff Palace, the largest of the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde and the one I had studied in college.

Unfortunately, it was closed to the public but we accessed two overlooks that gave you a great bird’s eye views of Cliff Palace. It goes 90 feet back into the cliff and has 217 rooms and 23 kivas and housed perhaps over 400 men, women and children.

After bidding Holley and Leonard farewell, I started a six hour drive to Taos through some beautiful country.

I arrived at Hacienda del Sol about 6 pm and found I had chosen the Escondida room with a fireplace, heated floor tiles, and a massive bed.

Upon the recommendation of the B&B, I had dinner at Lambert’s in Taos. It was excellent.

Tomorrow, I head for Caprock Canyons in Texas.

Cross Country Tour – Day 41

8 October 2016

These eight plus hour drives would be getting old except for the scenery you are driving through. I normally don’t stop for photographs but one place was just too nice to pass up.

I also passed through a really neat little town called Pagosa Springs at the juncture of highway 160 and 84. It was quaint and not too touristy and in the center of a national forest so there are plenty of opportunities for hiking.

In any case, I made it to Mesa Verde around 4:00 pm, did the visitor center and then headed out for my lodging for the night, Far View Lodge which really is in the middle of the park, so I had another 15 minute drive along the curvy curvy.

The lodge is really the registration desk with restaurant, and bar but it overlooks the valley below. The rooms are motel-like, each with their own view and they are quite modern with all the amenities except television which I have probably watched all of 2 hours the entire trip with most of that being Hurricane Matthew coverage.

My "cabin" at Mesa Verde Far View Lodge. — My “cabin” at Mesa Verde Far View Lodge.

I’m only here for the night. Tomorrow I have the “700 Years Tour” from 8 am until noon of the park and I’m hoping that will take me to all the major sites, particularly the Long House. If not, I have a little leeway in time to go to any site I miss before I head to Taos tomorrow.

Cross Country Tour – Day 40

7 October 2016

This past March, Nancy, Michel and I snowshoed Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. You drive to the lake and the fasten your snowshoes and follow the guide to the lake up a small incline which nearly killed us. Bear Lake is at an elevation of 9,450 feet. Most hikers tell you elevation begins to affect you at 6,000 feet.

The walk around the lake is a little over 1/2 mile, but two years ago, we climbed up to Nymph Lake, a 255 foot increase in elevation to 9,705 feet. We got to walk on the surface of both lakes which had frozen solid.

I wanted to revisit Bear and Nymph Lakes on this trip. Remember, I’ve been hiking at 7,000-8,000 plus feet of elevation on this trip, so I figured I would be up for it.

In getting to Bear Lake this morning, I ran into a traffic jam of elk. Twice. I parked in the Bear Lake parking lot with about 10 cars already there. I laced up my boots and was immediately out of breath.

I made the loop around Bear Lake and took in the spectacular scenery and then headed up the trail to Nymph Lake.

Bear Lake, elevation 9,450 feet. Notice clouds coming over the mountain.

The trail is heavily used and as a consequence, the snow had been pounded into mush and then frozen over. The trail was like an ice rink. You had to be exceptionally careful in taking a single step.

After making it up the ice trail, I felt The lake looked smaller this time because it was not covered in snow.

From Nymph, you can continue upward to Dream Lake which many consider to be the most beautiful. Again the ice trail. I wasn’t too worried walking up but I had a bad feeling about walking down the same ice path.

Dream Lake is at an elevation of 9,775 feet and even though I was hiking well, taking short breaks; it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I couldn’t get enough oxygen into my lungs.

From Dream Lake, a trail led ever upward to Emerald Lake at, for me, a record busting elevation of 10,110 feet above sea level.

It was windy at Dream Lake. At Emerald, it was like being in a wind tunnel. All us hikers took a couple of quick photos and then retreated to some shelter to defrost.

The walk down was tricky, tricky, tricky. I think it took me more time to hike down than it did to hike up. I immediately decided my first task upon getting down off the mountain would be to purchase ice cleats for the boots. I did later today.

I kept meeting more and more people on the trail and by the time I got to the parking lot, the lot was full and rangers were directing traffic.

The hike up to Emerald Lake was 1.8 miles, so round trip it was 3.6. Add to that 0.5 miles for Bear Lake and I did 4.1 miles at over 9,000 feet. I feel pretty good about that.

Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, Emerald Lake Trail Sign.

I decided to head to the visitor center at the entrance and the traffic was backed up to get into the park all the way to Estes Park. I purchased the ice cleats at Estes Park Mountain Shop where we rented snowshoes in March and they were 20% off! I decided to call it a day for hiking and headed to get some lunch.

Tomorrow is an 8 hour drive to Mesa Verde, Colorado.

Cross Country Tour – Day 39

6 October 2016

For some reason, I couldn’t get to sleep last night. It must have been the drive I was facing the next day. I got up around 5 am and after defrosting the jeep which had a coat of ice and snow on it, I was on the road by 7:40 am.

The clock in the jeep was reading 7:01 and then 7:02 and back and forth between the two. I chalked it down to the cold weather (25F). The GPS routed me through Yellowstone and the Grand Teton which I thought correct. Just as I hit the road to West Yellowstone Lake, the GPS went haywire. It had me driving across Yellowstone Lake, cutting across country, and constantly recalculating the route. It must have really been colder than the 25F reading of outside temperature. Eventually, I pulled over and cut off the engine and restarted the jeep and everything was OK.

As I climbed to the Continental Divide in Yellowstone, I ran into snow and then a sign that said snow tires required. I kept going. Although I don’t have snow tires, they are rated all-weather. I simply put the jeep in “snow” drive and kept going.

I kept passing signs saying if lights flashing, turn back but the lights weren’t flashing.

The drive ended up being 10 1/2 hours and it’s the longest drive I’ve attempted on the trip, yet the jeep kept me very comfortable. Whenever I got too tired, I pulled off and got out and walked around.

I hit snow in the passes all through Wyoming and then I started highway 34 to Estes Park through Big Thompson Canyon. This is a very impressive canyon! I couldn’t stop since traffic was backed behind me and in front and there was construction on the road.

Tomorrow, I want to head to a bear Lake and rehike that. The last time I did it was in the dead of winter with snow shoes!

Cross Country Tour – Day 38

5 October 2016

There is no accounting for the stupidity of humans – especially me. I knew I had not explored Biscuit Basin, so on the way to hike Observation Point at Old Faithful, I stopped in at Biscuit Basin. It looked no more than a boardwalk, but as I got about halfway around, it said Mystic Fall. Well, you know me and water falls! It was only 0.5 miles! Then as I got to the path, it said Overlook 0.7 miles. I stupidly started off without water, without the pack, and most importantly, without the bear spray.

Fortunately, there were two hikers in front of me and I figured they would greet the bear first. All in all, I met 6 hikers on the trail and only one had water and it wasn’t me and none had bear spray. It was like we were out for a Sunday stroll.

In any case, in spite of my stupidity, I’m glad I made the hike which was a little over 3.8 miles round trip at an elevation of around 8,000 feet. From the observation point, you could see the entire lower geyser basin, including Old Faithful. It was a pretty awesome vista.

View from Overlook at Biscuit Basin of the entire Upper Geyser Basin.

It was also a steep climb of over 500 feet vertical to get here. Thank goodness for switchbacks!

I left the observation point and followed the trail upward thinking this was an overlook to the fall. Wrong! It was a loop trail to the fall with various view points of the fall as you hiked ever downward. Mystic Fall is spectacular with a drop of 70 feet into the creek below. Every switchback had a better and better view.

Previous to the Biscuit Basin hike, I walked Fountain Paintpots. It’s a total boardwalk hike and we had a surprise visitor at the paint pots.

Eventually, I made my way to the Old Faithful Inn, had a quick lunch and started out for Observation Point, this time with pack, water, and bear spray!

I was in luck, Old Faithful was to erupt in about 20 minutes after reaching the summit. I needed a rest anyway and so waited with a Chinese family and a mother and daughter from a Indiana. This time, Old Faithful was about 15 minutes late with numerous false eruptions which usually means a pretty powerful “real” eruption. It proved to be true; this eruption was the tallest I’ve ever seen.

Old Faithful erupting as seen from Observation Point.

A bonus to the hike was a few minutes after Old Faithful blew, Beehive erupted. It is my favorite geyser in the park and the force of the eruption reminds me of a firehouse under great pressure. You could also hear the eruption from Observation Point.

Beehive Geyser erupting as seen from Observation Point.

I then decided to call it a day and head back to West Yellowstone. The trip was interrupted several times for bison crossing the road.

I made it back around 4 pm and hurried to launder clothes. This makes the third time I’ve washed clothes this trip and unless I get really messy, it’ll probably be my last.

Tomorrow is a 12 plus hour drive to Estes Park, Colorado and Rocky amountain National Park.

Cross Country Tour – Day 37

4 October 2016

I really do like the Chico Lodge. It’s old, out of the way, and a little tacky but they run it like a class joint. It’s comfortable, the Chico Saloon is friendly with good food, and the staff go out of their way to make sure you are enjoying yourself. I reluctantly bid adieu around 8 am this morning and headed to West Yellowstone.

Normally, the route would be through Mammoth, but that road is already closed for the winter so I had to backtrack to Bozeman and come in from the southwest instead of the north entrance. It added only 20 minutes to an already short travel time of a little over two hours.

I drove into West Yellowstone around 10 am, asked about the check in time at the Stage Coach Inn (3 pm) and headed to Yellowstone.

The inn attracted me via a web page and I thought it looked quite a bit like the Wort in Jackson Hole. It seems the person who built the Wort built the Stage Coach Inn to be like it. The Wort is much classier and far more high end – one of the top boutique hotels in America, but this one is much cheaper to stay.

I toured Firehole Lake road with its geysers, made my pilgrimage to Grand Prismatic Springs among 10,000 Chinese tourists, all taking selfies, and made my way to Old Faithful and lucked out in that it was due to erupt just as I got there. I got a good video shot of the eruption that I posted on Facebook.

Great Fountain Geyser along Firehole Lake Road.

White Dome Geyser along Firehole Lake Road.

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The famed crow's nest at the top of the Inn at a height of 76 feet. I got to touch the ceiling up there in 2013. The crow's nest was where the orchestra was located during dances in the lobby. — The famed crow’s nest at the top of the Inn at a height of 76 feet. I got to touch the ceiling up there in 2013. The crow’s nest was where the orchestra was located during dances in the lobby.

It was about that time it started snowing. It is predicted an accumulation of 6-8 inches tonight. I’ll find out whether I have to rent snow shoes tomorrow when I head back to the park.

I made one more short stop at Emerald Geyser, just right out of Old Faithful Geyser Basin in a snowstorm and decided it was time to head back to West Yellowstone for the night.

I would like to take several short day hikes tomorrow, particularly the overlook of Old Faithful. I did that hike several summers ago and it nearly killed me. I want to see if I really am in better shape this time. It depends on the snow. Continue reading “Cross Country Tour – Day 37”

Cross Country Tour – Day 36

3 October 2016

It’s hard to get used to 80 mph speed limits in Montana, but if you are going anywhere in Montana, you need to pour on the speed. I had Carte Blanche most of the way from Whitefish to Pray, Montana. It still took me 6 1/2 hours.

Pray is the name of the little community that Chico Hot Springs resort is located. This is my second visit here under decidedly different environmental conditions. The last time I was here was January 12, 2015 with the temperature around 20F and snow on the ground.

Buggy ride in the snow - _thanks to a Michel for the photo! — Buggy ride in the snow – thanks to Michel for the photo!

This trip is positively balmy by comparison with an outside air temperature of 52F. However, snow is predicted for tonight. As a harbinger, it rained on me the whole way here.

The hot springs are interesting. There is a large pool of varying temperature with the shallow end somewhat cool and the deeper end somewhat warm. The smaller pool is around 106F.

At the end of every day, the pool is drained, cleaned, and refilled. As a guest, you get access free but if you want a robe, you have to pay $8. It’s worth it. The pool is very relaxing and if you like, you can order from the bar/restaurant right at poolside.

My room tonight is two doors down from my visit in 2015 – part of the old building, but not the oldest part. The rooms are very modern, clean, and very quiet.

Tomorrow, it’s off to West Yellowstone and then Yellowstone Park!