My Journey

[Buffalobillcody]

Thank you so much for sharing. Your lifestyle, and many others that are similar draw a lot of my attention. Especially as I scroll through your stories while stuck behind computer screens at work. While my wife, two young boys, and I get out and enjoy as much as we can, we are burdened, yet blessed, to be stuck, and surrounded by a more typical lifestyle.
Our short trips keep us sane, and your stories of your daily life keep me inspired to not get stuck in the day to day, and to keep adventuring.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Buffalobillcody.....I can relate to your story completely as I once lived the exact same lifestyle. I spent far too much time at the office looking out the window and dreaming. Now I have to pinch myself to make sure it's not a dream. Thanks for posting here.....




We spent a good portion of our day exploring those buttes.....





While exploring up there I saw a steep ravine and began to wonder what was there.....we followed the footsteps up the ravine.....



The sandy bottom was lined with animal tracks.....I saw a discarded umbrella and next to it were the tracks of what must have been a prehistoric tiger of some sort.....tracks nearly as large as an umbrella.....that I've never seen.....?



The sandy ravine quickly turned to rock and the slight ascent turned steep.....





We did our best to climb here.....quickly the walls closed in and our ravine that we walked in turned into a colorful slot canyon.....







The day progressed as all days do.....the sun was near to setting.....we stayed here on the side of the secondary road for a second night of peace and a crystal clear sky filled with billions of twinkling stars. The following day was Thanksgiving and we were back on the road.....and we finally left the lands of the tribes and my heart was filled with gratitude towards the people that value their lands over money & profit.....

 

[tgil]

To my knowledge, there is no Native American in my bloodline, but I wouldn't mind one bit to be adopted by them! I've admired their ways since I was old enough to know the difference! Now off to search for images that resemble the rock formation you mentioned so many pages pack! I don't think it was Tut, but I saw something there too!
If I were a betting man, (man dad used to say that a lot when I was growing up) I'd bet you saw a profile of Buddah?

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

tgil.....sorry to have inadvertently ignored your questions from a few days ago. Yesterday was a rest day and I was rereading some of the past posts and saw the error of my ways.....hopefully this is more appropriate than the "thanks" was.....

Regarding Tanner, the problem with him is slowing him down.....on long days often he is on the leash just to minimize his mileage.....(20) miles to him is nothing.....and I'm serious.....

I typically carry a small daypack only if I'm out for most of the day. Inside I have the following: box of wooden matches, headlamp, large hunting knife, bandana, beanie cap, gloves, warm vest or sweater, sandwich, energy bars, lots of dog treats, toilet paper, plastic bags/baggies to haul our waste out, water bowl (it's actually a re-purposed plastic mushroom container). I'll usally add three (17) ounce water bottles before we head out. If it's a half day or less, I typically carry nothing.....

I've never had to be rescued or needed any assistance (except for that time I let my dog Montana drive my Jeep across a river in Wyoming and fisher205 & his friends yanked us out). Yea.....your situation would suck. I'd prefer to die than call a friend.....

.....and no unfortunately, it was not Buddha.....




We arrived at the Walmart in Page, Arizona late that Thanksgiving afternoon.....I spotted two guys walking across the lot with their two dogs and the cardboard signs that the street people are often seen with.....so I decided in the spirit of the holiday that I'd offer them & their dogs food and treats. Oddly the one guy goes on a tirade almost immediately about election fraud and then moved right into the fake Covid-19 thing.....I was not a willing audience.....but I was happy to have helped the dogs on a special day of giving.....



Square Butte had me thinking that I wanted to climb something nearby so next up was POINT 5148 (5,148'). Most often mountain peaks have "normal" names, but when they don't they are often referred to by their summit elevation.....such was the case here. We left Page, Arizona the following morning after purchasing groceries, propane, water, and dumping the tanks.....

We drove south to the Spencer Trailhead.....



Now once again when I arrived here I knew nothing about the surrounding area.....but this area turned out to be amazing.....and actually turned out to be life changing in a minor way.....well, plan changing anyhow which then becomes life changing (I think).....



The trailhead was located along the banks of the Colorado River at LEES FERRY.....



The trail was rocky & mostly unmaintained.....the views were outstanding.....



The entire trail was nothing but switchback after switchback.....a really steep incline.....





Now most people that come here will hike up this trail but when they reach the rim, they turn around and descend. For Tanner & I, the rim was only part one of this hike.....the photo below was our Top of Rim summit shot (I thought).....



.....until we went a little further and took a second Top of Rim summit shot.....a bit higher than the first.....



.....and then we continued further along.....we hiked along the rim while looking 1,500' below us as the cool, clear waters of the Colorado River passed us by. The rim was not flat as I would have expected.....we climbed smallish peak, after smallish peak as we closed in on our goal.....the highest peak on the rim.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The views were everything while climbing here.....no real physical or mental challenges that day.....





The weather continues to cooperate as the days are nice with temperatures near 50 but the nights are really cold.....the weather was perfect that day.....





I'm not sure you can say that winter is here quite yet.....the past few years I'd got into the "Snowbird" way of life and had avoided the colder temperatures of the mountains.....this year thankfully has turned out to be different.....



This year I have chosen to stay in the mountains to hike and climb.....solitude has become such an integral & important part of my life right now.....it's late in the tourist season.....now rare that I see crowds of any significance.....they've mostly moved on to warmer climates.....



We sat on the summit and we took our last summit shot of the day.....



As we descended the mountain and walked along the rim, I spotted this young couple sitting together viewing the Colorado River as the waters flowed by. I took their pictures.....it was beautiful. There was near total silence on that rocky rim that day. I yelled to them from a distance "hey, what's your phone number ? I took your picture !". I was almost surprised that they heard me but fortunately they did and they screamed back their ten digits. Two hours later they texted me "that was so awesome of you ! We love them !". A random act of kindness.....nothing more.....





We finished our day along the banks of the Colorado River.....Thanksgiving had passed.....yet we were thankful that day, as we always are, for all the beauty that still exists today due to the people that came before us and thought to protect these wonderful lands.....

 

[Ace Brown]

The rock image. It wasn’t clear to me but I’m guessing DJT.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[longhorn1]

Awesome views above the river. Sure beats sitting at home. 3 months till we head out again.

 

[longhorn1]

Went back in your posts to your Silverton visit. Reading about your planned hike to Ice Lake, which was a no go due to the Ice Fire Damage. I'm a member of San Juan Mountain Trail Group and the administrator works on the road crew that plows and maintains the roads, trails, including the Million Dollar Hwy. He helped on the fire. Snow was their best friend. Trail may be closed for a year till they get it cleared. Today there was a post that the USFS plans to make the Ice Trail by permit only. Spurred by Covid and the increase of people from 100-200 hikers and campers to 500-600 over Labor Day. Hikers leaving the trail, damaging the fragile land, leaving toilet paper and poop all over. The fire was the last straw. People just don't get the "Leave No Trace".

Permit system on the way to control crowds on Ice Lakes Trail

It appears the time has finally come to put in place a permit system to visit the popular Ice Lakes Trail outside Silverton.

durangoherald.com

 

[ITTOG]

Great views and an awesome thing you did for that couple. I would have never thought of that.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Ace.....yep.....

JD.....travel over home.....yep.....

ITTOG.....initially I was reluctant to do that but I really liked the pictures so I thought it was worth the risk of rejection. Turned out that indeed it was a small act of kindness.....imagine walking down a city street and someone says hey I took your picture, give me your phone number and I'll send it to you.....such a perfect example of life on the other side.....



So there's a campground with maybe 30 spots on a mostly bare hillside overlooking the Colorado River at LEES FERRY.....since
there was so much more here than just a mountain to climb I decided that we would stay at that campground for a single night. The next morning we hiked from the campground down to the river.....the fishermen were out early on the Colorado River.....



.....the waters still had that soft pastel look as the sun had yet to rise above the mountains.....



.....and we hiked along the shoreline and headed upstream to see the homestead that was built along the intersection of two rivers decades ago.....the Lonely Dell Ranch.....







Lots of history to see here.....





.....and I thoroughly enjoy the history of America from time to time.....one of the many benefits of this life on the road.....it's a constant learning experience.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

The Lonely Dell Ranch is built at the confluence of the Colorado River from the northeast and the much smaller Paria River from the northwest.....





The actual ranch is constructed for the most part along the smaller Paria River so it was along that river that we began to explore.....





There's a large orchard here that still produces fruit and you're allowed to fill a 5 gallon bucket.....when in season of course.....





We spent the better part of the morning here exploring all the dwellings along the Paria River.....we literally had the entire place to ourselves.....





As we walked up the riverbed the dwellings soon disappeared from sight and it was up here that we came to the cemetery.....what struck me here, as often it does when I look at headstones from earlier times.....well, it's the young ages that people died at back then. One family had a headstone with three of their children buried there.....not one lived to sixteen years of age.....



Also up the Paria River Canyon were the rusted remains of things once owned.....and beyond here was the trailhead for Paria Canyon Trail.....and that discovery changed our plans.....

 

[longhorn1]

Very Nice. Exploring history never gets old.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

We had roughly six good hours remaining of daylight that day, so Tanner & I decided to hit the trail.....the plan was to head up into the canyon as far we could get in a 3 hour period, then do a 180 and head right back out.....



Almost immediately as we ascended the trail we encountered one of the many river crossings that we would encounter that day.....





Weather wise it was another fairly nice day, maybe even 50 degrees.....perfect blue skies.....so making these river crossings was not such a big deal.....the discomfort of hiking in jeans soaked up to the knees and leather boots filled with ice cold water was far outweighed by the beauty which we were to see.....





If one were to hike the entire Paria Canyon Trail you'd need to spend at least two nights, maybe three, camping along the way.....the entire trail length is 38 miles with 1,100' of elevation change.....permits required to camp here.....acquired in advance.....



We were hiking along the trail when I just happened to notice what appeared to be deer antlers perched atop a large boulder. Tanner & I scrambled up the riverbank and made our way to that boulder.....and indeed it was a nice rack.....



Typically when I'm hiking and I come across antlers I'm excited about my find (I am always looking) and I'll certainly keep them but this time it turned out differently. It was obvious to me that an animal had brought them to its cave at the boulder so had I taken them I would have felt like a thief. Therefore I rearranged the antlers so that they were more accessible and I left them behind.....that was a first for me.....I think that maybe these days and weeks of solitude going on and on have a way of changing a man.....

All we really need to take is pictures.....the rest is not ours.....



We startled a Big Horn Sheep that was having a cool drink at the rivers edge.....she jumped at the sight of us and quickly darted off.....maybe 200' away she stopped to have a look before bounding away into the rocky cliffs.....



Tall multi colored cliffs towered ahead of us.....the river flowed cold & free.....indeed this place was natures playground.....I swear I could feel my resting heart rate drop as the day passed away and we hiked deeper into the canyon.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

I spotted a short slot canyon along the way so we detoured from the river trail to hike into that canyon.....



It took us no more than 10 minutes to reach the end where we found magnificent stone walls and this huge drop off that certainly transforms into a magical waterfall during the rainy season (I sure hope the rains do come soon).....



I literally felt like we had dropped down into a cave as the steep walls wrapped around us.....



We were here for a short time.....I wanted to hike the entire 38 miles that afternoon (which of course we did not).....we were back on the river trail.....





In some areas we encountered large flat areas along the riverbanks and here the trees grew tall & the undergrowth was thick.....signs of wildlife were abundant.....





The sun began to drop and the colors began to soften.....we soldiered on.....





We made it 7 miles into the canyon that day and then we headed down.....this was a 20 mile plus day so I was tired at nightfall.....we spent a second night at the campground and we made plans to return soon.....

 

[longhorn1]

Love the big smile on Tanner's face. You definitely have posted some amazing places.