#minivanlife 2021

June 19On the road!

On the morning of June 19, 2021, we drove away from our home in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and landed in Columbus, Ohio (722 miles). Our traveling companions included Bubba (a baby gorilla), Buck Fitty (a brown bear), Haywood (a polar bear), and Wally (a walrus). We arranged for a house sitter to live in our home and take care of our cat, Jake, while we were away.

June 20Driving Day 2

On day 2, we drove from Columbus, Ohio to Springfield, Missouri (633 miles). We stopped quickly to see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis from the outside.

June 21Driving Day 3

On day 3, we took a slight detour to visit Carsten's childhood friend Helga in Norman, Oklahoma. Norman is home to the University of Oklahoma, and has the distinction of being the only town in the state to vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Photo credit: http://www.destinationnorman.com/#/historic/

June 22-26Boulder, CO

On day four, we arrived in Boulder, Colorado and started our adventure! Over the next four days, we hiked and mountain biked the Walker Ranch Loop trail (photo 1), climbed the First and Second Flatirons (photos 2 & 3), and hiked part of the Boulder Skyline Traverse trail (photo 4). After starting in a hotel, we had a successful (and cold!) first night of camping in the wilderness near Nederland, Colorado (photo 5).

June 26-27Dinosaur National Monument, CO/UT

Our original plan was to explore Rocky Mountain National Park next, but several days of forecasted rain led us to change our plans. We headed north and west into the desert, and landed in a place neither of us had heard of: Dinosaur, Colorado! This one-horse town borders Utah in the northwest corner, and Dinosaur National Monument straddles the two states.

Over two days, we explored a landscape of metamorphosed sand dunes shaped by wind and water over thousands of years (photos 1-4). We even touched actual dinosaur bones (photo 5)!

June 28-29Nine Mile Canyon, UT

Nine Mile Canyon in Utah is a stretch of road full of petroglyphs (rock drawings) created by the prehistoric Fremont people, then by Ute, Paiute, and Shoshoni peoples in more modern times (photos 1-4). There are also scattered ghost towns and ranches developed by white settlers.

June 29-July 4Moab, UT

Moab is home base for world-famous biking, climbing, and hiking. It was HOT! The highest temperature recorded on our car thermometer was 108 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was necessary to spend the afternoon hours submerged in water or strategically visiting air-conditioned grocery stores. We camped by the Colorado River (photo 2), biked the white-dashed Slickrock Trail (photo 3), and explored Deadhorse State Park by foot and on our bikes (photos 4 & 5). We also explored the northern Islands in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park.

June 29-July 4More Moab

Moab is most famous as the base for Arches National Park, and we spent several days exploring. Highlights included the Delicate Arch (photo 1), Morning Glory Arch (photo 2), the Windows (photos 3 & 4), and a fun climb up and rappel down from Elephant Butte (photo 5).

July 5-6Telluride, CO

After having our fill of the desert, we headed back to Colorado by way of the San Juans (the southern part of the Rocky Mountain range). Our first stop was in the Telluride area, and the mountains did not disappoint. We linked the See Forever, Wasatch, and Bridal Falls trails with a boost from the Telluride ski area's (free!) gondola (photos 1-3). In contrast to the arid desert of southern Utah, the San Juans were full of snow patches at higher elevations, aspens (photo 4), and wildflowers including Columbines, the state flower (photo 5).

July 7-8Ridgway, CO

Buzz reached out to a friend from college, Lisa, whom she had not seen in over 20 years. We spent two lovely nights at their mountain home in Ridgway sleeping in the "guest room" - a Shasta trailer!

Lisa is a designer and metal artist. Her current project was finishing the medals for the X-Games. We saw them being awarded on TV a few weeks later. Her husband Jerry is a retired avalanche forecaster. He and Carsten had a lot to discuss!

July 9-12Silverton, CO

Near the former mining town of Silverton, Colorado, we hiked to the sapphire-colored Columbine Lake and the ridge above it (photos 1-3), and Engineer Mountain (photo 4). Lisa and her dog Django drove down to join us for a hike on the Highland Mary Lakes trail (photo 5).

July 13The Needles - Canyonlands National Park, UT

From the San Juans, we headed back to Utah to the other side of Canyonlands. This national park covers a huge geographic region, and The Needles section is at the southern end. It features a hidden trail called The Joint that follows a deep crack in the rock for over a mile (photos 1 & 2). On the surface, weathered sandstone formations crowd the sandy landscape as far as the eye can see (photos 3 & 4).

July 14Natural Bridge National Monument, UT

What was intended to be a stopover ended up being one of the best surprises of the trip. Natural Bridge National Monument featured striped sandstone bridges (formed by water), arches (formed by wind and rain), and weathered surfaces that resembled cupcakes or mushrooms. Water pools or "tanks" (photo 4) provide a necessary resource for animals and the native people who lived in these canyons.

...and no one was there! We almost had the place to ourselves on hikes and in the campground. This was such a contrast to the crowds at Arches. On the drive out, we were able to see the Bears Ears National Monument in the distance (photo 5), which is sacred ground for native people of this region.

July 15 Capitol Reef National Park, UT

After driving across the rainbow layers of the Grand Staircase Escalante area (photo 1*), we spent one night camping in Capitol Reef National Park, and hiked through more desert sandstone formations (photos 2 & 3). Periodically, we would come across "water tanks" that support wildlife and people in this dry climate (photo 3).

Photo credit: https://capitolreef.org/scenic-byway-12/

July 16-18 Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Both of us had been to Bryce Canyon in Utah, but not for decades. The orange and tan "hoodoos" were just as we remembered them!

July 19-23Mammoth Lakes, CA

Near the city of Mammoth Lakes, we got rained on at Crystal Lake, then drove over to the Devil's Postpile that afternoon when the rain stopped (photo 1). This is a large area of columnar basalt that formed when molten rock cooled slowly under the surface and then eroded into hexagonal pillars.

In the following days, we hiked the Duck Pass/Mammoth Crest Loop (photo 2), Mildred Lake from Convict Lake (photo 3), and scrambled up the steep Mendenhall Couloir (photos 4 & 5) to the summit of Laurel Mountain. After that huge effort, we cooled off in Convict Lake. A bald eagle flew down and grabbed a fish right near us!

While in Mammoth Lakes, we also did some climbing and scrambling at Crystal Crag, and an easy mountain bike from town. A highlight of our stay was the Latin Market next to our condo where we bought authentic Mexican tacos almost every day.

July 24-28 Lee Vining/Yosemite, CA

From Mammoth, we drove north and camped for a few days outside of Yosemite National Park. Construction and traffic made activities in the park difficult. We beat the traffic by parking and riding our bikes one day, then explored the area just outside the eastern border. The highlight was scrambling up Mount Conness (photos 1 & 2), which included some rappelling and a lot of exposure. On the way out of town, we checked out Mono Lake (photo 3) outside of the town of Lee Vining. The lake has no outlet, and contains unique limestone formations called "tufa" that form from chemical reactions between freshwater springs and the salty lake water.

July 29-30Truckee, CA

Truckee is a town on the west side of Lake Tahoe (photo 1), which spans California and Nevada. We explored the famous Donner Pass, where a group of emigrants from the midwest purportedly resorted to cannibalism after getting stuck in the winter of 1846. We also hiked to Dick's Peak (photo 2), Mount Tallac (photo 3), and went swimming in Lake Tahoe (photo 4).

August 1-4Marin County, CA and Coastal Route 1, CA/OR

After weeks of mountains and deserts, we decided to visit the ocean. We drove to Marin County on the California coast north of San Francisco, hiked near Marin Woods, and then and headed north on Highway 1 into Oregon. We stopped at interesting spots including Limantour Beach (photo 1), Shell Beach (photo 2), Natural Bridges (photo 3), and Secret Beach (photo 4). We left the main highway to drive the Avenue of Giants through ancient redwood groves (photo 5).

August 5Crater Lake National Park, OR

Ending our tour of the northern California and southern Oregon coast at Crater Lake National Park (photo 1) felt like a nice bookend from our trip in May. We hiked the highest peak in the park, Mount Scott (photo 2), and swam in the bright blue water (photo 3). It was COLD!

August 6 Mount Shasta, CA

Our plan was to head south from Crater Lake back into California with a first stop at Mount Shasta. We drove past wildfires that were visible from the road, as well as areas that had been recently burned.

We camped at the Bunny Flat trailhead and planned to hike Shasta in the morning, but thick smoke rolled in that evening, and we had to change our plans. The fires were not close enough that we were worried that we'd be caught in them, but breathing was difficult, and thick haze affected visibility (photo 2).

After looking at a map of smoke conditions, we decided to head back north into Oregon and Washington because those were the only two areas in the western United States with clear air.

August 7-8 Mount Hood, OR

From Shasta, we went north again to Mount Hood, where we had just been in May. There was much less snow (compare photos 2 & 3)! We spent a couple of easy days hiking and mountain biking while we figured out next steps.

August 9-11 Mount Saint Helens, WA

After a short lunch stop on the border in Hood River, we entered Washington and headed toward Mount Saint Helens. We had hiked the peak on a prior trip, so we chose to do two nearby hikes where the mountain was visible in the distance as well as Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount Rainier. Spirit Lake, just below the 1980 eruption zone, is still full of floating tree trunks (photos 1-3).

Car camping in the northwest is free and easy due to established "Sno Parks" that are maintained by snowmobiling or XC skiing clubs.

August 12-14Olympic Peninsula, WA

We never expected to be this far north! On the Olympic Peninsula, we hiked up Hurricane Ridge to recreate a photo of Buzz from when she was a baby, but the smoke obscured the view of the glaciers across the way (photo 1).

Down at sea level, the beaches were spectacular. The sun burned through the morning mist, revealing interesting rock formations, starfish, and sea anemones (photos 2-5).

Uncle Stan and Aunt Alyce hosted us for the night in Lacey, and we got to spend some quality time catching up.

August 15-17Salt Lake City, UT

We drove to Salt Lake City, Utah in the rain, and it rained on and off for the next three days. We managed to sneak in some sport climbing in Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons, and did a hike above the Alta ski resort called the Devil's Castle Traverse (photos 1-3).

August 18-21Twin Lakes, CO

After driving across the mountains from Salt Lake City through Aspen and across Independence Pass, we camped for a few days near the tiny town of Twin Lakes, Colorado.

On our first morning, we hiked to Hope Pass (photo 1). This is a landmark on the Leadville 100 ultramarathon course, which coincidentally occurred while we were there. On the way down from the pass, we met llama trains that were bringing up race supplies and equipment.

On day two, we hiked to the highest peak in Colorado, Mount Elbert (photos 2-4), and then relaxed in the mountain town of Leadville (elevation 10,000 feet). The next day, we drove up Independence Pass and did a short hike (apparently, we didn't take any photos there!).

August 22-24Buena Vista, CO

On the last leg of our trip, we took advantage of our acclimated lungs and continued to hike at higher altitudes (10,000-14,000 feet). This included La Plata Peak (photo 1), Cottonwood Pass (photo 2), Mount Yale (photo 3), and Mount Bierstadt (photo 4). The mountain passes in this area have signs warning longer trucks and campers not to drive on them based on risk of getting stuck in the turns (photo 5).

August 25-26 Boulder, CO

WeThe trip ended where it began in Boulder. We were finally able to climb the Third Flatiron, which had been closed for the peregrine falcon nesting season back in June. We ate twice at our favorite restaurant: Avery's Brewery.

August 27Des Moines, IA

Day 1 of the drive home took us to Des Moines, Iowa.

Photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skyline_downtown_Des_Moines.jpg

August 28 Painesville, OH

We found a last-minute, cheap room in a mansion! Dinner at an amazing Mexican taco place called La Cocina de Mamá (Mom's Kitchen) rounded out our last evening.

Photo credit: https://www.booking.com/hotel/us/steele-mansion-inn-amp-gathering-hub.html