The Drakes: Trips & Trails

A quick escape before the snow really started to fall in Leadville!

We wanted to make one last trip to the desert before winter really hit the high country so headed southwest to Utah for a week of exploring/camping in the desert.

First stop: Durango, Colorado

Have discovered some GREAT restaurants (Red Snapper, Mahogany Grille) in downtown Durango so decided to stay the weekend before we headed to Utah to rough it . Turns out, our friend Ann was running in the Durango trail marathon that weekend so we caravanned with Ann and her two-year-old son, Kaidan. Had a great weekend eating and playing in Durango. Left just in time to avoid the snow storm!

Second stop: Valley of the Gods

Stopped in Cortez, CO, for supplies and dry ice, and headed west to Bluff, UT. Made it to the Valley of the Gods mid-afternoon with enough light left to make camp. Drove over half-way through the valley before we settled on a place next to a small creek (at left). Seemed to be the least windy spot we could find.

Since it was late, we decided go in search of a cafe we'd been to years ago that served great Navajo tacos. Thought it was in Mexican Hat which was about 15 miles from our camp....ended up driving 60 miles southwest to Kayenta, AZ on the Navajo Nation. Now it was really late so we ended dining at the Golden Arches. Just as we were leaving the parking lot, there it was... The Blue Coffee Pot cafe. Kayenta sure has grown up since the last time we were there in the 90's. The cafe was the ONLY place to eat back then. The town has since sprouted just about every kind of fast food shop and hotel, along with a bunch of strip malls.

Hiking around camp the next morning, we found some old cowboy rock shelters just above the creek. The weather was overcast so decided to drive to Goosenecks State Park and do some 4x4 exploring. Found a great panel of petroglyphs and point-making chips along the road. There were markers for historical spots but we didn't find any ruins.

Woke up the next morning to some really weird whooshing noises. Had beautiful clear blue skies and then we saw them—about six or so hot air balloons whooshing their way across the sky. What an amazing sight. Got warmed up and packed up camp.

Third stop: Grand Gulch

Drove up the Moki Dugway to the Grand Gulch Plateau. Found a great campsite near Coyote Flats—far away from other campsites and nestled under pinon pines and junipers. The perfect place for crazy dogs like ours. Set up camp and headed out to a sandstone bluff where we could catch the sunset. Surveyed the area from the bluff: nothing out there except more bluffs and pinon trees. Decided to hike over the bluff on the way back to our campsite. Walked right into some old ruins (that's Jim standing outside them above) at the top of the bluff. Over the next couple days we kept finding items around our campsite that had washed down from the ruins, mostly arrowheads and pottery shards.

Got up and hiked Bullet Canyon. Lots of vegetation and bushwhacking. Obviously, these canyons don't flood much. Found two of the ruins marked on the map. Jailhouse Ruin (left) and Perfect Kiva. Amazing what you find at the ruins, pottery shards, petroglyphs, pictographs, grinding stones, and most amazing the remains of mini corn cobs. The climate here preserves these perfectly.

Next day, hiked the Grand Gulch. Not as much bushwhacking and again amazing ruins: Junction Ruin and Turkey Pen (photo op of it below). If you look hard enough, you'll find an old ammo canister at each ruin that contains all you want to know about the ruin you're walking through.

Spent the next day exploring the bluff across from our campsite. Expected to find similar ruins to those above our campsite but only came up with some flint chips, a few pottery shards, and some cairns (what they led to, who knows?). So we explored the ruins above our campsite and found a whole lot more to them than we first saw. Below the bluff, there were some granary storage areas below and tons of pottery shards everywhere, mostly the corrugated type. I did spot the painted piece at the top of this page though; a nice find (and I left it right where I found it.)

Last stop: Grand Junction

Time to head home with a stop off in Monticello for lunch (recommend the Peace Tree Juice Cafe; they make a great chai shake) and then on to Grand Junction for a night. A stop in Grand Junction is like visiting the 'big city' for us. Needed to gear up for Costa Rica so stopped at REI. Since we were in the 'big city' also stopped by City Market for some fresh seafood and produce. Then it was back to the high country and back to snow.