Author: searcyf@mac.com

5 May 2018

My ankle felt OK this morning so I opted to forego the drive to Grand Staircase – Escalante.  It would have been 2 1/2 hour drive there and 2 1/2 hours back and I’ll be doing enough driving tomorrow morning.  I would like to see it and also eventually Monument Valley but it’ll have to wait for another trip.

Some of you know my college French teacher (and good friend) Jack Brown lives on the big island of Hawaii.  He lives off the grid near the town of Pahoa.  That’s were the volcano Kilauea erupted yesterday and then the 6.9 quake.  Pahoa is in direct line of the lava flow.  I sent an email and then eventually called.  He emailed me back he was on vacation in the Philippines and was safe and as far as he knew at the moment his home was OK.  

With that established, I had breakfast at the retreat – buffet style – just OK and loaded up for the trip to Capitol Reef for some more hiking.

I retraced my steps to Capitol Gorge today.  I confess my first trip down to the gorge yesterday I got sidetracked with wildflowers.  I was looking down and not up.  Today, I looked up.  I’m not sure there is a more spectacular drive in all the U.S.  I can’t believe I didn’t see this yesterday.

In any case, I decided to hike to the Golden Throne formation.  The hike is labeled as strenuous and is 2 miles – up – one way.  The elevation climb at 730 feet is not terrible but it is a constant climb.  For the most part, the trail is pretty well marked and after an initial struggle up a steep slope, it levels out for a while.  

I think you hike around three or four canyons to get to the Golden Throne.  You round the corner of one canyon, go all the way back to its beginning and then hike around another canyon, and repeat.

One sight startled me.  A lone pine tree on the face of a cliff.

The final ascent is pretty steep but once you get there, you have a great view of the Golden Throne. 

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However, at first glance, it looks nothing like a throne.  Not far away is another feature that to me looked more like a throne.  It looks like it has two arm rests.  It is also a nice golden color.

The actual Golden Throne is more massive and if you look carefully, there is a large horizontal and vertical piece missing from the formation that gives the impression of a “seat”.  

This was a great hike.  My ankle made it OK and I was able to complete the hike in a little over 2 hours.  I had lunch at the end of the trail looking at the Golden Throne.  I’m more comfortable in trying to do a “strenuous” hike.  I’ve done several this trip (2 at Capitol Reef) and have faired well.  I do take a lot of rest breaks, though.

I met several people along the trail and they were all very nice.  There were two guys coming up as I was leaving and they were in some deep philosophical discussion.   It seemed like one was a professor and the other was a student.  Neither stopped talking the entire hike.  They passed me going down the trail after they reached the top and they were still talking.  I doubt very seriously they saw anything of the scenery or the vistas along the trail they were so deep in conversation.  

As I returned towards the Visitor Center, I stopped at the historic Gifford House (museum and store) and purchased one of their famous pies – cherry if you please – for $6.  I think that will be part of my desert tonight.  Everyone was eating them all around the picnic tables near the house.  They must be good.  

I was going to hike a little along Fremont Creek but as I started on the trail, it was very uninteresting, so I opted to drive to the other end of the park to say I had been to both entrances.  

Tomorrow I have a five hour drive to Montrose, Colorado where I will set up operations at the Quality Inn and Suites for three nights and from there explore the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.  

4 May 2018

What a great day!  The weather was perfect, the sky was blue, and my ankle didn’t bother me too much.  I also think I might have a new “favorite” national park!

As I mentioned yesterday, I ultimately decided to hike the Chimney Loop.  Fortunately, the loop was 3.8 miles round trip, not one way.  I started the hike at 9:09 am and finished 2 hours and 23 minutes later.  This is a spectacular hike.  

All Trails recommended that when I come to the junction of Spring Trail and the Loop, to hike the loop counterclockwise.  That’s the steepest ascent and I wanted to tackle that first thing.  The trail is rated as strenuous but I didn’t have too much trouble.

I did run into an Australian couple and the guy kept wanting to give me lessons in geology and show me his gps.  He is a retired electrical engineer.  I think his wife mostly humored him. He really just wanted was to rest before continuing to climb.  Let it be known that they passed me on the trail but later I passed them and finished the trail well ahead of them.  

This loop is rated as one of the best hikes in the park and I cannot help but agree.  The top of the ridge lets you look down on The Chimney, 300 feet above the floor so the trail at the top was at least 350 or 400 feet.  

There are two gymnosperms dominant here: the two needle Piñon Pine (Pinus edulis) and the Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma).  Both leave beautiful driftwood-like shapes on the landscape.  Most of what I saw as dead was Utah Juniper.

At the top of the ridge, I could look down on two places I visited yesterday: Panorama Point and Gooseneck.  

I also got a different view of Fluted Walls.

After I finished, my gps said I traveled 3.85 miles.  The Australian couple said 5.75 miles and 640 feet elevation gain.  I think they were using kilometers instead of feet and miles.

Next on the agenda was to drive the Scenic Drive.  It’s a ten mile road that ends in Capitol Gorge.  The scenery here is amazing.You drive down a canyon with sheer walls to either side of you and constant warnings to not be in that location during flash floods.  

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One of the formations is known as Egyptian Temple.  What a strange rock formation!

As I drove back the 10 miles to US 24, you got a magnificent panoramic view of Capitol Reef National Park.

As I say, in for a penny, in for a pound,  I headed to Hickman’s Bridge.  This is a 1.9 mile round trip to a natural bridge.  

One part of the trail affords the best view of Capitol Dome.  The white sandstone is known as Navajo Sandstone and it gives the park its name.

It’s all uphill at first and you gain 600 feet in elevation as you hike up.

At mile 0.9, you come to the bridge.  It’s pretty amazing and you can walk under the span.  This is the first time I’ve known the public to be allowed to walk under the span of a natural bridge.  As a matter of fact, the loop requires you to walk under the span.

My last stop of the day was at The Petroglyphs.  How anyone got up on the side of that cliff to do these is beyond me but they were impressive.  I suspect they were about 60 feet off the ground and each petroglyph was probably at least a foot in height.

They were also some of the most well formed ones I’ve seen.  

I ended my day with a shower and an enchilada dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant – Le Cueva.  

I’m up in the air about tomorrow.  I could do some more hiking but I can tell my ankle is sore from the last hike.  I did a total of around 5.85 miles today.  Some of the Hickman Bridge trail was very rough and rocky and it took its toll.

An option is to drive 185 miles south of here to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  This is one of those that the Trump administration is cutting back the size – along with Mules Ears.  I’ll let the ankle decide tomorrow.  

3 May 2018

Breakfast at Hidden Canyon was at 8 am.  The cook made my breakfast to order and then sat down and had a long conversation with me about the park, the retreat, people in the park service, and every other topic we could think of.  What a nice person! I was the only person at the retreat last night.  Even so, the cook prepared me a full breakfast – eggs, beef sausage, toast, home made banana bread with chocolate chips.

Kudos to my jeep.  I was a little leery about a 7 hour drive today and wondered if I would have some kind of engine trouble.  Nary a peep.  The jeep performed like a champ so Sahara Motors did their job well.

I pulled into Torrey, Utah around 2:30 pm.  My GPS led me past my motel for the next three nights, Capitol Reef Resort.  It does that sometime even though I typed in a street address.   The resort is a pretty large place where they even have tepees in which you may stay.  The photos of the insides of the tepees show a luxurious interior.  Glorified tent camping.  My room is a little more mundane – typical motel room but the view out the window is worth the price of the motel.

Instead of checking in immediately, I decided to head to the visitor center of Capitol Reef  National Park, some 6 miles from the motel.  The scenery leading into Torrey was pretty nice but when you enter the park, you are blown away.

Have you ever thought what it would be like to be able to drive through the Grand Canyon?  The drive to the visitor center is pretty much like that.  Sheer cliff walls rising hundreds of feet over you with amazingly vivid colors of reds, oranges, whites, and purple.  

The stop at the visitor center allowed you to view two beautiful formations.  One is named The Castle and I suppose it could look something like one.  

The other is a massive rock wall hundreds of feet high.

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Also, across the road from Panorama Point is an area known as Fluted Wall.  I assume the parts at the base of the cliffs is where it gets its name.

From Panorama Point, you can take a side road to Gooseneck – a deep canyon overlook where a creek has eroded 800 feet down into the canyon.

Next up was The Chimney.  There is a loop trail I may try while here, but it is 7.6 miles.  I’ll have to think about that.

Another striking feature was Twin Rocks.  They are much larger than they seem in the photo and you wonder how long they’ll be balanced there.  

There are a couple of scenic drives I would like to take tomorrow and maybe do a few short hikes.  The following day I may attempt The Chimney loop or some other longer trail.  The section of the park I am in is called Fruita (there was a settlement here at one time with lots of fruit trees).  They have a campground and several areas of interest.  The northern section of the park is called the Cathedral Section and the southern section is called Muley Twist.  

The lower section of the park abuts The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  I hope that I might get down for a drive through to that area, maybe tomorrow.

In 2014, Nancy, Michel and I flew over Capitol Reef with a Tauck Tour.  Flying over the park certainly gives you an interesting perspective but driving through the park is spectacular.  Every where you look is another beautiful rock formation.

Hallelujah!  The jeep was ready this morning.  They sent a car to the motel to pick me up at 9:30 am and I was on the road to Great Basin at 10.  The guy they sent was super nice.  He even loaded the luggage in the jeep for me while I settled the bill.  I said hello to Carl and Heather who I had pestered for two days and thanked them profusely.

The total bill was $388.14. I was stunned.  They drained the fuel/water separator, drained the fuel tank, replaced two fuel filters, ran a fuel pump cycle to clear the lines, added new fuel and ran the engine to check every was good.  If I had this done in Fort Lauderdale, I suspect it would have run significantly over $1000.

I had no sooner turned on the road to Great Basin when the “water in fuel” light came on, dinged 5 times and then went quiet.  I figured I had time to worry about that later.  When I pulled into Great Basin, I pulled out the owner’s manual and they said to drain it immediately.

I climbed under the jeep, loosened the screw to the drain, started the engine and drained the water.  Unfortunately, a lot more fuel came out with it.  I’m afraid I splashed a little on the pavement at Great Basin.  Most got caught in the receptacle I used but there was a little overflow.

Since I’ve done that, everything has run smoothly with the jeep.  I climbed two passes on the way to Great Basin and did 70 mph when it was the speed limit.  I feel more confident that everything is ship shape but I’ll find out tomorrow for sure when I head to Capitol Reef National Park outside of Torrey, Utah, a six hour drive.

My reservation for a 10 am Lehman Cave tour was yesterday but I lucked out and they had an opening for 1 pm.  I lunched in their cafe on site and made the 1 pm tour.

 

At least two people have told me Lehman is their favorite cave. I now see why.  The formations are spectacular and you are very close to the formations, unlike some caves where you view them at a distance.  The interpretive ranger, although an astronomer, gave an excellent tour with much of the history of the cave.  

In the late 1800’s people would dress in fancy dress and then end up crawling through spaces on their hands and knees.  One room, called the Inscription Room, had the ceiling of the cave filled with people initials made with candle soot.  I must have had an ancestor do it since I found F.S. on the ceiling.  

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The tour was about 90 minutes and it was one of the best tours I’ve had on any trip.  The cave is a must see if you are into caves.  I was reluctant at first since my schedule had been thrown out the window for this park but I’m glad I did the cave tour.

I did a short drive in Great Basin that led to two campgrounds and a trailhead.  It was pretty scenic and one spot in particular was called Grey Cliffs.

I stopped the jeep on the way to the trailhead to take a photo of a wildflower and as soon as I got out, I heard turkeys calling.  I was about to get back into the jeep after taking the photograph and I had a curious visitor.

I pulled into Hidden Canyon Retreat around 4:30 pm.  This is an amazing place.  It’s much larger than it seems (384 acres) and very modern.  Chrissy checked me in, I purchased two individual pepperoni pizzas and headed to the room.  It’s motel style but the accommodations are very plush.  

Breakfast is individually prepared for you and I’m scheduled for 8 am tomorrow.  After that, back on the road.  

 

1 May 2018

They started working on my car after noon today.  I hung out in the lobby/breakfast room of La Quinta Inn & Suites listening to podcasts, wishing my sister-in-law Tanis an early birthday, letting my bro know about the jeep and talking with my cousin Jimmie in Greensboro.

It was an interesting way to spend 4 hours.  The phone calls were the best part. I have to say Sahara Motors is bending over backwards to help me out with my problem.  I called at 3:3o pm and asked if I should get a room in town again for the night and the manager suggested it would be a good idea.  Sahara Service Department will probably finish with the jeep right around 5 pm and that’s the closing time of the service department.  The hang up is getting all the electronic gadgets back on line – and getting me to the jeep.  I wonder if they have taxis here? I was told they want to let it sit overnight and then do a test drive tomorrow.  The manager suggested I call them around 9:30 tomorrow morning.

I called Hidden Canyon and let them  know I would be in Ely another night.  They are also very accommodating.  She said no problem.  I told her if she needed to rent the room for the third night go ahead but I really did want to spend one night at the retreat.  She said it would be vacant.  I also said charge me the minimum for cancellation if she needed to but she doesn’t seem to be so inclined.  I certainly don’t mind, but that’s how nice people are around here.

I checked the front desk at La Quinta and they put me in the room next to the one I had last night.  Again, nicety seems to be a requirement to live in Ely, Nevada.  Plus, they offer free cookies later this afternoon.

Last night I walked next door to the local grocery store and had a pasta salad and fried chicken.  Publix’ is better but this hit the spot.  I’ll probably do the same since the only walking distance place is Mickey D’s.

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When I think about it, this has probably been good for me to rest my ankle and rest myself.  The jeep screw-up on my part was bad but the down time has been nice.

I was scheduled for a tour of Lehman Caves at Great Basin at 10 pm tomorrow but looks like I’ll miss that.  I may try to reschedule since this does not seem to be their busy season.  I suspect they had a little accumulation at Great Basin since it is so high in elevation.

One interesting feature of this motel is they are very pet friendly.  I’ve seen quite a menagerie since I’ve been here.

It’ll be another early night.  I went to bed last night at 8:30 pm and waked up at 4:30 am.  Plenty of sleep.  Hope so tonight!

 

1 May 2018

The first towing company arranged by AAA did not come through.  Instead, I called the recommended towing company by Sahara Motors and they showed up 15 minutes later.  The young man worked quickly.  The biggest problem was getting the jeep in neutral without starting the engine.  That’s impossible.

Instead, I called Jeep Assistance and they walked us through how to put the vehicle in neutral without starting up the jeep.  You have to lift the center console of the jeep, pull out a panel, pull a string attached to a lever and shift a lock to the left.  Unbelievably complicated!

He quickly got the jeep loaded and was nice enough to drive me to my motel.  He also helped me unload my luggage and bags from the jeep and took the jeep to Sahara Motors.  I tipped him extravagantly for his efforts.  He really went above and beyond the necessary.

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I’ve pestered Carl for the last two days.  He’s always been courteous, willing to listen, and willing to work with me in any way he can.  I have to admit I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with everyone in Ely, Nevada.  Even the parts guy at NAPA helped out with the loading of the jeep on the tow truck.

The real question remains if there was any damage to the jeep.  There are some horror stories on the internet about my situation so I apparently am not the only idiot on the planet with this problem.  I’ll perhaps know something more around noon.

My plan is to continue my reservations at Hidden Canyon Retreat and do the Lehman Caves tour at Great Basin National Park tomorrow.  Again, keep your fingers crossed for me!

30 April 2018

A semi-disastrous day.  I made it to Hidden Canyon Retreat around 12:00 noon Pacific Time and no one was in the office.  They only open the office between 2:30 pm and 8:30 pm.  I turned around to head to town to buy groceries when either one of the owners or a staff member saw me and stopped.

He said they were still making up the rooms and I told him that was OK, I was heading into Delta, Utah to purchase groceries and Diesel Exhaust Fluid.  He wanted to know what that was.  I explained and he said Ely, Nevada was closer (about an hour’s drive) and that they had a NAPA store.  That was perfect, so I changed my direction to Ely.

I found a grocery store on the way in and marked it to buy groceries on the way out.  I also found a gas station to top off the tank with diesel for tomorrow.  I then found the NAPA store and they had the BlueDEF that I normally use.

Here is where everything went to hell.  I purchased 4 gallons and started to fill the tank with the DEF.  In essence, DEF serves a similar function to a catalytic converter but is used instead of one.  If you don’t maintain the appropriate level, the engine will not start.  I was low but not out and I thought it best to go ahead and fill the system.

Unfortunately, where you add diesel fuel there is also another capped structure for DEF.  In addition to adding DEF to the jeep, you should also add a diesel additive that keeps the system running clean.  The additive is added directly to the diesel tank.  DEF goes in a separate capped tank.  Guess what I did?

I added about 1/2 gallon of DEF directly to the diesel tank.  I at least had sense to stop and fill the appropriate tank.  I even had more sense to not start the jeep.

I used the internet to see what the consequences would be.  The answer is (1) don’t start the engine (2) drain the fuel tank (3) drain the diesel fuel conditioning module (4) flush the fuel system and (5) replace the fuel filters – two of them or you can destroy the engine.

DEF has in it urea and is very corrosive.  It is also more dense than diesel fluid so it sinks to the bottom of the diesel tank.  It has to be removed.

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Next I had to get a tow.  I have the 911 and Assist feature on the jeep (I just renewed it before I left Fort Lauderdale) and I hit the Assist button.  They took it from there and contacted a tow truck and notified the jeep dealership.

The tow truck was going to take 3 hours and the dealership closed at 5.  I wasn’t going to make it.  I talked to Carl in Service and he said the tow company was one they used and they would know where to leave the jeep overnight.

I then remembered I had platinum membership with AAA.  I’ve had this since 2013 and figured I might need it some day.  I called them and they had a different tow truck company that was free as far as costs.  I canceled the other tow and I’m now waiting for Denny’s Towing.  Apparently it is a very busy day in the tow business.  AAA said 1 hour for the tow but the text the tow company sent said 2 1/2 hours.  They are supposed to be here around 4:22 pm Mountain Time (Ely is in Mountain zone, Hidden Canyon in Pacific).

I then needed a rental car.  There are n in o rental car companies in Ely.  They all went out of business a couple of years ago.  I called Hidden Canyon and canceled the night.  They will hold tomorrow and Wednesday for me and she said she would be willing to work with me about tomorrow.

I made reservations at La Quinta Inn & Suites in Ely.  There were cheaper rooms but they were all at casinos and I don’t want to put up with that.  Now, if only the tow driver arrives, if he’ll give me a ride to La Quinta, and if they can service the jeep tomorrow, it won’t be too much of a disaster – except for the repair bill.

On a brighter note, on  my trip down US93 from Wells, I saw a jackrabbit running down the road.  It actually looked like an adult jackrabbit and a baby.  When I got close enough, it was a coyote chasing the jackrabbit.  I think I saved the jackrabbit’s life.

I also saw two bald eagles and a golden eagle.  Hopefully they had a better day than I – except the hungry c0yote.

 

30 April 2018

Yesterday, after publishing the day’s blog, I decided to check the alerts of the next two parks after Great Basin: Capitol Reef and Black Canyon of the Gunnison.   The NPS often tells you any road closures, wildfires, bear alerts, etc.

The Capitol Reef alert took me aback.  It said that as of February 2018 they were taking campsite reservations through recreation.gov.  This was news to me.  When I planned the trip to Capitol Reef, they were not taking campground reservations at all.  Even more concerning is all of my campground reservations with national parks have been made through recreation.gov and you would think that since I’ve made so many reservations through them, they would have notified people who are registered with them of this change. Not so.

In any case, I immediately went to recreation.gov to make reservations and of course, they were booked.  That led me to check Black Canyon of the Gunnison and they had changed also. One campsite did take reservations now and two others were no reservations.  The one campsite you could reserve was also full.

Not wishing to be locked out of a place to stay to see Capitol Reef, I made motel reservations at the nearest place (8.8 miles from the park) and decided to do the same at Black Canyon of the Gunnison even though they have sites with no reservations.  My reasoning is if the site you can reserve is filled, the odds are by the time I get to the park in the late afternoon, all the non-reserved sites will be taken.  Who would have thought the parks would be so filled in early May?
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Best laid plans…. It’s an added expense.  Most of the hotels in and around Capitol Reef (at least those you in which would deign to stay) run $160-180 per night indicating that they are now in season with higher rates.  At least for Black Canyon of the Gunnison I was able to find a motel fairly economical with my Choice rewards package.

The only place I’ve been so far with unused campsites was Craters of the Moon, and I suspect it’s because most people have never heard of it and it’s a national monument, not a national park.

There are other options.  The Bureau of Land Management allows camping and so does the National Forestry Service.  Then there’s always the private campgrounds.  However, at this late date, I opted for the motels for insurance.

That leaves me with only two more parks where I will be camping: Theodore Roosevelt and Isle Royale.

29 April 2018

What’s the saying?  “Discretion is the better part of valor.”  The last two nights were very windy.  It was pretty steady at 24 mph with higher gusts.  If I had know it was in the forecast, I would not have put the big tent up but the smaller one.  There’s too much surface area on the big tent.  A couple of times I thought I might set sail.

The wind was a harbinger.  I waked to a weather alert for a fast moving snow storm for today and tomorrow in the higher elevations above 5000 feet.  The only problem was that I was already at 5000+.  They predicted 8-12 inches in the passes, so I took Falstaff’s saying to heart and packed up the tent and camp and was on the road to Baker, Nevada by 8:30 am.

I didn’t intend to make it to Baker today.  I was looking for some place in between Arco, Idaho and Baker and I ended up in Wells, Nevada – a cross roads between US93 and I-80.  As I pulled into town, I was greeted by billboards touting their houses of legalized prostitution.  You don’t see that on Florida billboards!

The town has, as best as I can tell, two major casinos and several smaller ones.  Every small bump in the road in Idaho and Nevada has casinos.  The locals can’t possibly keep these financially afloat so I can only assume tourist traffic later in the year is where they make their money.  Tourists come for the national parks, forests, recreation areas, monuments, and state parks.  I wonder if the Department of Interior knows they are subsidizing  gambling on a large scale?
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Tonight is a Super8 in Wells.  It’s not really so super – it’s showing its age.  However, the room is spacious, the bath is clean, and as a TripAdvisor reviewer said, “no bedbugs”.  I always check just in case, but for $60 a night, it’ll do.

I really intended to stay and third night at Craters and I did miss my cave hikes, but I just didn’t like the idea of being snowed in.  As I drove south on US93, I ran into rain and snow showers and you could look at the mountain ranges around and see it was getting more than flurries.  Time will tell if I made the right decision.

Tomorrow is Hidden Canyon Retreat in Baker, Nevada.  I have three nights there for Great Basin National Park.  I’m not sure how much of a retreat it is but you get emailed instructions not to rely on GPS.  Instead, you are told to approach via Garrison, Utah, pass through the town and take the dirt road off to the right.  This should be interesting.

There is no phone service but they do have wifi but it is said to be very slow.  I’ll try to get my blog out every night as usual if the wifi doesn’t crash.

28 April 2018

Today marks the half-way point time wise  of my trip – 40 days with 41 to go.  We’ll count it even by this afternoon.  It’s been a great experience so far even though it has been with a little pain and effort and extra expense.  

Today, I waked to 46F after some light showers during the night.  The long underwear came in very handy and so did the extra blanket.  I was eating breakfast (freeze dried eggs with ham and peppers – yum) by 7:30 am and on my first trail by 8:30 am.  I pretty much had the hiking trails to myself except for one young man in a bright red windbreaker.  I met him on the Lava Flow Trail and he either tailed me or I tailed him for the trail.  

Whoever does the interpretive signs for this park is brilliant.  It’s the best geology lesson I’ve ever had.  Usually these signs are quite boring but I stopped and read every one of them.  The interpretive ranger went out of their way to explain what you were seeing in clear, concise language and also made a point of where mistakes were made by the past park staff in trying to protect the park’s features.  There were several places where the signs asked questions of the reader to provoke thought.  For example, how would you prevent people from going off trail? This certainly reinforced the idea of not straying off the marked trail.

There are two types of lava flows in the park.  Pāhoehoe and ‘a’ā.  Both are derived from Hawaiian terms for lava.  Pāhoehoe lava is more liquid and when solidified forms a smoother, rope-like surface.  

‘a’ā is a rougher type of lava.  Both are abundant in the park.

One startling feature of the park are the Limber Pines (Pinus flexus).  One has been dated in the park to 1350 years old and the lava from which it grows is over 2000 years old.  

After the Lava Flow Trail (0.5 miles round trip), I traveled the loop road.  My first stop was Devil’s Orchard.  It’s a rough, rugged looking place and was supposedly named by a local clergyman. You can walk a paved 0.5 mile loop through some pretty startling scenery.

After getting out of Devil’s Orchard, I jumped into the fire with Inferno Cinder Cone.  It’s only 0.4 miles round trip up the cone and back but the hike is labeled as strenuous.  It’s worth the hike.  

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As I was making my way down, I met the guy in the red wind breaker again.  I wondered how he got there since he didn’t have a car in the parking lot.  You might be able to see his silhouette against the cone in the picture below.

My next stop was the Spatter Cones.  According to the film in the visitor center, these begin to form as the eruption of the volcano begins to cease.  They are hollow on the inside.

It was here I figured how the red windbreaker guy got to Inferno without a vehicle.  He had hiked the entire lava flow trail which ends at the Spatter Cones.  Mystery solved.  I assume he had to walk back to the campsites or either retrace his steps on the trail from where he came.

My last stop was Tree Molds Trail.  To be honest, at the end of the one mile trail, there were two unimpressive tree molds – where trees had been captured by the lava and left indentations as they rotted.  However, the hike proved to be quite spectacular with overlooks of the entire valley.

Tonight, I intend to head into town (18 miles one way) and have dinner.  Tomorrow, I hope to do two cave walks.  They are not really caves but simply lava tubes.  They sound pretty interesting. 

I had to get a permit from the visitor center which basically entailed them asking me if I had been in any caves lately.  They are concerned about white nose syndrome in their bats. Since I had been in Carlsbad and in two caves in the Pinnacles, I was told not to wear any clothing from either of those trips.  I’ll take my bike helmet – recommended to protect your head – and my super strong flashlight.  Hopefully, I won’t slip and fall on my sore ankle again.

It’s been a very windy day.  My tent is blowing in the breeze and a couple of tent pegs came out of the ground.  One is missing.  I can only assume a crow or raven decided it was a new trinket.