Entries about mountains

overview / intro

We just did a very last minute road trip. Thankfully found someone to watch Prudence and then we jumped in the car. Overall, it was 24+ hours of driving over a long 5 day weekend, but packed in a lot of adventure as we saw the southwest US. That included stops in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and native tribal lands.

Mesa Verde has a lot of good history to learn about. We could view the homes, but couldn't go in them. We did get to go through similar cave dwellings at Bandalier Park in the US and some in Capcadocia Turkey and they were interesting. After a quick stop to stand in 4 states at once, we drove through Monument Valley. It's mostly a self guided driving loop to stop and take pictures every once in a while, at the diverse landscape views. Then onto the Colorado river view at Horseshoe Bend and the canyons around Page, Arizona.
Slot canyons develop with erosion quickly cutting down into layers of rock, but not allowing the time to widen across. So some may be only a few feet across but 50 or 100 feet deep. There are some in Spain and Australia, but the largest and most frequent area to see them are in southern Utah and northern Arizona. Antelope Canyon is a famous and photogenic one on Navajo land. It's tough to describe and capture in pictures, but highly recommended. There is an ever changing view of curved rocks, light, shadow, colors, sky, sounds, and sand that should be experienced.

Our Stops:

• Durango, Colorado
• Mesa Verde National Park
• 4 corners location (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona all at once)
• Monument Valley, Navajo Nation land
• Horseshoe Bend
• Antelope Canyon
• Wind Pebble Canyon
• Page, Arizona

Map

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels recent photos

• Utah
• Colorado
• Arizona

Arizona

Horseshoe Bend

Antelope Canyon

4 corners

Monument Valley

Mesa Verde

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

After going through thousands of photos, hours of recordings, and tons of memories, we have some videos to share with you.

Videos:

• Learn about Peru - an overview (~3 minutes)
• Learn about Peru - along the coast (~3 minutes)
• Learn about Peru - mountains and jungles (~3 minutes)
• Our 3 day hiking trip through the Colca Canyon (~8 minutes)
• 1 Year in Peru - all our experiences (~25 minutes)

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

After a year in Peru, which was amazing, it was also good to get back to Colorado. So one of the first weekends back, it was time to head into the mountains for a hike and a sunset. Lake Isabelle in the Indian Peaks Wilderness near Boulder.

A few weekends after that, we went to Fraser and Winter Park to chill in a cabin in the woods. Such a relaxing weekend, we didn't even take photos.

Lake hike:

Links

MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my more current trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my past trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

Looking Back

2020:
Well, that was an interesting year.
There was some things that were new and crazy like the pandemic and my truck getting stolen and totaled. Meanwhile other things stayed the same just like any other year with camping, hiking, biking, running, volleyball, moving, and road trips.

Most activities this year was somehow affected by COVID related news, including working remotely for 41 weeks of the year. I had several concerts, events, and international travel cancelled. The trips would have been to Italy, Croatia, Austria, Canada, and the Cayman Islands.

However that allowed me to take more US based trips. I was able to check out a lot of National Parks included Rocky Mountain, Colorado Monument, Dinosaur Monument, Arches, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons. Plus had the time to see a lot of family, friends, and enjoy hobbies (all at a distance of course).

Well, here's the review:

Activities

Things that happened in 2020:

Big Travels

• Egypt - February
• Israel - January
• North Macedonia - December
• Turkey - November

Quick Trips

• Arches National Park & Moab, Utah - June
• Ashley National Forest, Utah - May
• Crested Butte, Colorado - September
• Colorado Hiking - April
• Colorado Monument and Dinosaur Monument, Colorado - May
• Grand Tetons National Park, Wyoming - August
• Iowa - May and October
• Leadville and Lake Turquoise camping, Colorado - July
• Long Beach visit, California - June
• Montana camping - August
• Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming - August

Challenges

• 14er hike - Elbert
• 14er hike - Sherman
• 14er hike and FKKT - Shavano and Tabeguache
• Ultra run - Rocky Mountain Continental Divide Trail Loop

Events & other activities

• moved to downtown Denver - February
• had 4Runner stolen, along with all my camping and outdoor gear, to be found a week later totaled and trashed by drug addicts - August
• concerts: none
• races: none
• volleyball, biking, running, walking, hiking
• Denver Travel Show
• Prudence turned 3 - August

previous year reviews:

• 2019
• 2018
• 2017

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

overview / intro

For the long Memorial weekend, we decided to get some dispersed camping in. That's where you find federal lands that you can drive over off-road paths to get to primitive camp sites that are far away from others and real close to the natural wilderness.

We headed towards the Utah and Colorado border to get away from big cities and people too. The first couple nights we stayed within the Ashley National Forest. It's in north east Utah with lots to see and do. There were dinosaur tracks, arch hikes, man made reservoir, gorge, recreation area, forest, mountains, and some great views. Also, there was time to roast some marshmallows.

Then we headed to the Colorado side of things. We went through the Dinosaur National Monument for some hiking and camping. On our way back to Denver, we swung by and drove through the Colorado National Monument too.

Recommend:

• Harpers Corner in Dinosaur National Park
• Drive through Colorado National Monument & stop at all the view points
• Drive through Douglas Pass on highway 139
• Red Canyon visitor center - hike and view over Green River
• Moonshine Arch hike
• Red Fleet State Park

Trip Map

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums
USA Colorado album
USA Utah album

Moonshine Arch (Utah)

Red Canyon & Green River (Utah)

State Park (Utah)

dispersed camping site - scenic, quiet, and so peaceful (Colorado)

Dinosaur National Monument (Colorado)

Independence Canyon (Colorado)

Red Canyon (Colorado)

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

Blanca

This peak is part of potentially 4 that one could down in southern Colorado near the Great Sand Dunes. Again, this is a hike that I needed the 4Runner. There's 7 miles of road up to a lake to where the real hiking trail begins. I drove about 4 miles of the road before it got really rough - the truck could have handled it, but my off roading experience isn't quite up for that challenge yet. We camped out overnight in a protected pull off site and starting early the next day.

Even a 6 am start was tough going to cover the 3 miles of rough rock road, and then another 4 miles up what is basically a big pile of rocks. There were definite steep drops off some cliff faces, and exposure to high winds as we climbed up a ridge to the top. One section was pretty much boulder climbing and many minutes I just laid low and hung on to whatever rocks were closest.

The goal for the day was to also do Ellingwood, which shares part of the same approach, and there's a ridge connecting the too. However, we were exhausted, it looked even tougher to climb and we couldn't find where the path split off (remember that it's a pile of rocks with a rock path going up it and piles of cairn rocks to guide your way, so it's tough to spot which are the real rocks to follow). Later, we're glad we headed down early as we got a downpour of water for the last 2 or so miles of hiking. What a fun challenging hike, one of the toughest ones I've ever done.

Relive video of the hikes

Grays & Torreys link: https://www.relive.cc/view/vr63JEV23dO
Blanca link: https://www.relive.cc/view/vRO7GpVG5KO

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels albums
and 14ers album

One of the easier sections of the road to the trailhead. This is after we parked, and didn't see any vehicles after this point.

Chasing the sun up the mountain

One of the many lakes we hiked by

Climbing up Blanca's ridge, with Ellingwood in the background

Proof at the top

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen

sand everywhere

We went down to southern Colorado to check out a strange natural phenomenon. First, there's just this great big pile (30 square miles) of sand sitting in the middle of a circle of mountain ranges. But in May, June, and July, the melting snow runoff creates a temporary river right beside the sand. And there's some 4WD only off-road paths to take, which made the 4Runner happy.

But be warned, the water also brings out the bugs for those months too. and the sand gets HOT during mid day, so the best dune hiking is early morning or late afternoon. We also were lucky to even get a camping spot at the national parks campground. I checked 6 months before our trip and they were all sold out except for a few spots. We even had to move between sites the two nights we were there (luckily they were close).

And it was HOT during our stay (got to 100 degrees), so make sure to have shade and plenty of water. Good time to take a nap in the middle of the day in the tents and then drive around a bit in the vehicle with the A/C blasting.

Recommend:

• bring water to hike up the first peaks of the dunes (will take about 2 hours)
• reserve your campsite as early as possible ... or check out campgrounds that are outside the park
• bring bug spray and sunblock
• enjoy the river during the spring/summer months
• if going off-road, make sure you have a high clearance 4 wheel drive (not AWD) vehicle and a way to deflate and inflate your tires
• cardboard and regular sleds don't work to slide down the sand, but there's a place that rents boards just south of the park entrance

Pictures

see more on Facebook Murk Travels - National Parks album

Links

MurkTravels Vimeo - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Youtube - videos of my trips & entertainment
MurkTravels Facebook page - pictures, posts, and regular updates
MurkTravels Facebook photo albums
MurkTravels Instagram - my attempt at artistic travel images
MurkTravels Travel Map - all the places that I've been and the things that I've seen