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.
