4 Wheels 4 Girls

After Canyonlands, we headed to a very nice campground in Moab with lots of things we like-mini golf, a game room, good wifi, two playgrounds, nice showers, (that’s mostly what I like 😉 ) a general store, and lotsa other sweet stuff. We got a nice spot, right next to the showers. I took a nice hot one this morning.

Ellie and Ana are at the playground right now enjoying themselves, playing and watching some horses run. (another plus to this campground)

Here are some photos Ellie and Ana took of their favorite spots:

A good climbing tree

A playground with a view

That’s about it for this post folks. There’ll be more coming!

On Monday, April 19th, we visited Canyonlands National Monument, a really cool place. It’s a canyon, but that’s about the only thing it has in common with the Grand Canyon. It’s a massive hole, but the colors and the width and height and features of Canyonlands are so different. They’re just as cool, but not anything alike. We went to the Needles District of Canyonlands, which is the section southeast of the Colorado river.

So it was super early the morning we got there, (WAY too early for me, being someone who sleeps in in the morning) and Dad, Ellie, and Ana went in to the visitor center to check out the trails and learn about the park. A ranger inside taught them about cryptobiotic soil crust, a kind of dirt that lives in the park and that is very alive. It takes hundreds of years to grow back, so the ranger told them to be very careful not to step on the cryptobiotic crust. When they got back to the RV, the two girls were chanting “DON”T BUST THE CRUST!” and they had badges saying exactly that. We ate breakfast and then tackled the trail- we would be going on a “short” 2 1/2 mile hike through the canyon. At the beginning Stella took a whole bunch of pictures of crazy little things like flowers, rocks, and cacti. The hike was beautiful and the weather was perfect for a hike. We checked out four great lookouts and got to climb up lots of rocks. Here is Stella on one of the lookouts:

That is actually one of the smaller canyons behind Stella

It wasn’t until Lookout #4 that we were even halfway done with this so-called short hike. By then we were almost out of water and my sisters were getting pretty tired. But me.. I was leading the hike with strength, and had quite a bit of energy left. Here I am standing on a faraway rock: ;D

Walking along the Slickrock Trail in Canyonlands

It was a nice hike, one that I actually enjoyed. I’m not sure about everyone else, but I thought it was sweet. I was SOOO thirsty afterward!

Then we went back to the visitor center, filled up our water bottles, and ate lunch.Then we headed down the road to Moab, the city we would be staying in! 😀

Yes, the cows were creepy! But, before that…

Sunday April 17th, we drove from Natural Bridges National Monument to Canyonlands National Park. It was dark, and signs kept appearing that showed a cow and said “open range.” And as we kept driving there were lots of pairs of bright yellow signs with diagonal black lines that signaled there was a cattle gate in between them. Jean drove fast, but carefully around each turn of the road through the canyon, but I kept worrying about the cows. The first cow we saw was about a foot from the road. It was pretty scary. The cow looked peaceful though, and kept munching on grass. The cows kept coming, and I kept worrying. Jean had to honk at one and she and Dad were amused at its started reaction.

I didn't see the startled cow, but this is how I think it looked when Jean honked the horn

As Jean sped around twists and turns I finally asked her to slow down and watch out for cows. She did, but also said the worst thing that would happen was that we would bump into one, so I stopped worrying so much. Ellie was terrified of them though. She kept saying, “Let’s get out of here, please,” really nervously. As she tried to fall asleep on the couch (it was, like, 9:15, by the way), we kept going over cattle gates and stopping so suddenly that I was surprised she ever fell asleep.

We searched for a place to spend the night and found nothing. So we decided we’d just spend the night at the Canyonlands visitor center. I had a great sleep, and I think Ellie did too, because in the morning she asked me where we were.

Natural Bridges, I always mispronounce it because I call it National Bridges, has 3 large bridges. We hiked to two of them. The first one was called Sipapu. (My mom says that Sipapu means “from the underworld, where the the puebloan people believe that humans came from). It was a very, very long hike. We had to go down steep hills and rocks that weren’t very stable and rickety, rickety ladders. Before the path that we used was in place people had to climb across a log and down a really tall evergreen tree to get to the bridge. But it was worth it to go because it was so beautiful.

Sipapu Bridge is the second largest natural bridge in the world, but you can't tell from a picture

Greta is under Sipapu Bridge

We also hiked to the oldest natural bridge in the park. That was a short hike. I did it with Daddy and Stella while Mom and Ellie made dinner. When we got back to the RV, I was very hungry.

Owachomo Bridge is the oldest at Natural Bridges

On April 17th we went to Hovenweep National Monument in Utah. When we got to Hovenweep my dad and Ana went and got our Juiour Ranger packets. We had breakfast and then did our work. After we did our packets we went into the visitor center. We were going to get our badges but then my dad said no and so we started our trail.

Behind us is a little house build inside a boulder. Awesome!

When we got going my dad spoted a lizard then another and another and another. We saw some ruins and then Greta saw a lizard that had a frill on its neck. We saw 17 lizards in all.

A very cute lizard!

After that we did our junior ranger hiking-bingo and looked for birds. Our dad told us that the the ancestral pueblo people who lived in Hovenweep had to put rocks and then mud to fill up the gaps that the big rocks did not cover.

That's Hovenweep Castle across the canyon behind us. It is built using big and little rocks.

After that we got pictures and started our way back. On the way back we saw a beetle that had a turquoise head. My dad said its head was beautiful.

Ana was the only one of us who could fit under this rock on our trail

When we got back we went turned in our juiour ranger packets. After that we got to pick out a certificate. I chose the one with a mountin lion on it. After that we got to pick a normal junior ranger badge or one of the badges that they made. I got a badge that they made. Then we left and hit the road.

After Mesa Verde, we went to buy some groceries and then Mommie told Dad, “yes, you can take the girls for subway sandwiches”. We love subway sandwiches because they are so bacony and mayoney and pickley, and HUGE!! Mom and Dad let us get HUGE footlongs which is great because I am not very big but usually I finish mine before everyone else, except Greta.

We all got footlongs!

And then we went to Four Corners where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico all come together in one place. But we were sad because the gate was closed when we got there so we couldn’t stand exactly at the spot where the four corners meet. Mom and Dad tried to encourage us to be happy and believe that we were already on Four Corners but close enough wasn’t good enough so we were still sad. 🙁

Four Corners was closed. And, we are standing on a... cattle gate!

On April 16th, we visited Mesa Verde National Park. I was really excited to go there because I had read part of a great book about it, so I had high hopes. Even when I saw the visitor center I knew it would be a cool park. We checked out the displays in the visitor center, and then we explored another museum. Then we ate lunch and had to race to our ranger tour at 1:00. The guide talked about what we would see, and then he led us down some steep steps in the mesa leading to the big pueblo in an alcove called Cliff Palace. He taught us about the culture of the Basketmakers, the people that lived in the pueblo, and he told us great funny stories. In the middle of the tour we met another family doing a big trip like us. They were very nice, and we hope to run into them again!

The pueblo ruins at Cliff Palace

After the tour, we went back to the museum and met a very nice park ranger named Scott. Then we prepared to go on our last hike to another pueblo called Spruce Tree House. It was really neat, and we got to look in some of the rooms and go in a kiva, too (Ana and I even got lost in one!). It was really fun.

With Ranger Scott in the Chapin Mesa Museum

Finally we headed back up, happy with our fun day at Mesa Verde.

I saw my first coyote! It was crossing the road as we drove up onto Mesa Verde on April 16th. It was gray and brown. All of a sudden he pooped and then he kicked dirt over it and trotted off.

Mom took this picture of the coyote on the side of the road. If you look closely you can see it behind the bush.

We woke up early on April 15 and hit the road. It was a beautiful, snowy drive up and over the continental divide at Wolf Creek Pass.

Lots of snow up at Wolf Creek Pass, CO

We were excited to spend the day in Durango, CO, a town about which we had heard many good things. It was beautiful. We walked Main Street and explored some of the shops. The girls have been reading like crazy, so we picked up a few more books for the journey. We were very impressed by all the bikes and bike-racks on every block.

The mountain peaks over Durango, CO

We eventually moved on to a campground closer to the next day’s destination (Mesa Verde). Unfortunately this second night was just as cold as the previous, dropping down into the low 20s, so we bundled up and took care to keep the RV pipes from bursting.

The hike into the dunes was exhausting, but really fun and a very unique experience. I’d never seen anything like it in Colorado before. I was so glad to explore even more of my favorite state ever! (Hawaii is my second favorite.) There was a really sweet display in the visitor center with a model of “safe lighting”, rock erosion, hematite-collecting station, and two real bullfrogs! The dunes were super awesome! 😀

The night of April 14th (my friend Julia’s birthday! Happy birthday Julia!), was our coldest night so far on this trip. We camped in South Fork, CO because it was the warmest place we could find along our route in Colorado. We turned on the heat and bundled up in our multiple blankets, sleeping bags, and layers of clothing, prepared for the below-freezing temperatures of the night. Surprisingly, I did just fine, and so did the rest of my family! Now we’ll know how to survive another super-chilly night if it comes!