[at-l] My weekend in the high desert

[pmags@yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

Wow, I come back this Monday morning, and what do I
see? Trip reports! Hiking trips planning to do! What
to bring for hiking trips!  Could it be that along
with the spring thaw, the cabin fever is abating...and
we are heading outside again?  Excellent!

So, I have a trip report of my own.

A good gauge of what is your true outdoor passion in
Colorado is this:

The month is April.  There is just enough snow up in
the high country for skiing ..but lower elevations are
great for backpacking. What do you do on the weekend?

IF you are a ski bum, you grab your tele skis and grab
some late in the season turns on the remnants of
powder.

If you are hiker trash at heart,  you go to the Black
Ridge Canyons Wilderness  on the Colorado/Utah border
and go backpacking.

So backpacking I did.

This newly designated wilderness area (as of 2000) is
in the high desert. Pinyon pine, chaparral brush, red
sandstone. Little water. Stark and gorgeous scenery.
After a trip to the Grand Staircase-Esclante National
Monument in Utah this past Thanksgiving, I fell in
love with this type of environment.   Most people fall
in two categories when seeing in this type of scenery:
it is worthless, ugly, of no use for anything. OR It
is unique, can see for miles, words can not do it
justice. 

My feelings are the latter. For someone who grew up in
New England,  seeing this type of terrain is
completely different from my normal frame of
reference. Part of the reason why I love it so.
We started off the trip Friday night  a campground  in
Fruita not too far from the Colorado River. As I am
currently reading  _Cadillac Desert_, especially found
 it fascinating. This river, barely a river  by
Eastern standards, is the source for much of the water
for Colorado, Arizona, southern  California and some
provinces of Mexico. It is also the source for much
political infighting among government agencies on the
federal and state level, and much pork barrel
spending, etc..etc.  Highly suggested reading to find
out living out West is really about.

Saturday morning, we drove to the trailhead.  Strapped
on my pack with 1 1/2 gallons of water  and started
hiking.  At first, much of the tread way was BLM roads
that are now no longer used. Easy hiking.  Noticed
many lizards scampering.  Climbed to the top of the
mesa and saw the panorama of Rattlesnake Canyon.
Gorgeous.

We climbed down into the canyon and the plant life
started to change. There were a few puddles with
cottonwoods trees growing next to them, along with the
pinyon pine that have gnarled roots and rough bark.  
Continued hiking on to find a campsite off trail that
was in a valley between two small mesas. One mesa had
the advantage of having rocks that looked west.  Feel
asleep on the same rocks for a nap along with my
friends.  After waking up, set up camp for the
evening. Decided to sleep under the stars, so setting
up camp was rather easy (throw out ground cloth and
pad, fluff up bag. All done!).  Explored a bit off
trail, and found an arch that was not on the map! 
This area we discovered also had another great view of
the canyon below. Hiked back and cooked dinner on the
same mesa where we took a nap.

I must say, watching a sunset over the desert while
eating dinner has to be one of the best things in
life. As mentioned, decided to sleep under the stars. 
The weather was perfect! Not a cloud in the sky and a
ton of stars visible.  Also that night, we negotiated
what time to get up. I was lobbying for 6 AM, as I
wanted to get a move on before it really became hot.
Some others wanted  7 AM.  We compromised on 6:30 AM
with the caveat that if people were not up by 6:45 AM,
I was going to sing Broadway show tunes. All I can say
is that at 6:45 AM, I sang a wonderful off-key
rendition of "Tomorrow" from Annie. :-) (Hey...they I
am only too happy to keep everyone at their word). 
While waiting for people to gather themselves together
(Was up at 6 am, packed and up and ready to go by 6:30
am!) . Three of us went to the top of the mesa and
again enjoyed the view, this time towards the east. 
Saw the early morning sun reflecting on the Colorado
river.  At 8 AM we finally hit the trail, stashed our
excess gear, carried some water and snacks, and hiked
a loop that took in nine arches.   

Along with views into the canyon and out west towards
Utah, made for some scenic hiking.  After the loop,
grabbed out gear, hiked back to the car and made our
way down the highway for a great dinner at a brewpub.

A nice, lollygagging type weekend. Great scenery,
great friends, and a nice 'dry run' of my gear  (and
water carrying capacity) for the PCT later this month
(YAY!). It was also the one of only two backpacking
trips I will probably be going on this year. ;-)

Photos to be posted later this week.

Mags

LT 97,99
AT GA-ME '98
PCT MEX-CAN '02 (with luck, no injuries, and lots of
Snickers!)



=====
************************************************************
The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax
http://taxes.yahoo.com/