Yep, today was one of our shower days. Though, honestly, we didn’t really need one yet, but the showers at the Lazy Lizard Hostel were just too good to pass up. By now we are so efficient that even after “sleeping in” until 7 AM we still made it out of camp by eight. I told you we’d turn Sarah into a morning person!

We made a brief stop at the Fiery Furnace, which did not look particularly fiery in the clouds and headed out on a quick hike to the Windows, where we hung out in North Window and watched several elderly photographers attempting suicide by climbing onto that last ledge to get that perfect shot. Sarah did so not look forward to trying out her brand-new wilderness first aid skills. Technically this wasn’t all that wild anyway. We were about a quarter mile from the parking lot. So some poor real EMTs might have come to our rescue pretty quickly – maybe.

Afterwards we went into Moab for showers and supplies.The showers were as awesome as always, and the Starbucks in City Market slower than the guys at Mather Hall.

After lunch we filled  our water jugs at Maternity Spring (no joke) and drove out to Fisher Towers where we did not get a campsite :-(. Luckily the group campsite at nearby Lower Onion Creek was available and we camped in style: shelter, plenty of space, and a nice campfire as usual. We returned up to Fisher Towers in the afternoon and went on the obligatory trail to the Onion Creek overlook.

A couple of guys were climbing one of the towers, and we almost lost Adam who was more than ready to abandon us for his new-found climbing buddies. At the end of the trail dark clouds and thunder made us beat a hasty retreat. We got back to the parking lot staying dry. Those dark clouds were more thunder than real rain.

In camp, after dinner, we listened to a few campfire talks and had a nice campfire with s’mores and the works.

back to day 3
onward to day 5

 

We got up early – really early – about 90 minutes before sunrise to see Delicate Arch. Despite our early departure we were certainly not the first at the trail head, but we were close.

We had plenty of light on the slickrock and arrived just as the first rays began to strike the arch. For the very first time I saw Delicate Arch with nobody standing under it, posing and ruining the arch for the rest of us. It was definitely a photographer crowd. After hiking across nearby slickrock we returned back to camp for a lazy breakfast of pancakes. Later that day we headed out on to see the arches of Devil’s Garden. The old “spot the German” game was as entertaining as ever and by the time we reached landscape arch we stopped counting.

We did the entire loop, all the way to Double O Arch, returning via the primitive loop trail. In the evening Sarah, Cassia and Christoph headed back to Broken Arch to capture some star trails. It was a dark warm night, and we spent maybe an hour at the arch taking pictures and trying not to annoy some guy from Indiana too much.

back to day 2
on to day 4

Today we head into Price where we stock up on some food items we forgot to buy yesterday and meet Mike, a geologist working for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Mike agreed to take us to the famous Cleveland Lloyd dinosaur quarry.

Our first stop is in Price canyon, were we admire some thin coal seams and read up on the local mining history (including famous coal mine disasters).

The dinosaur quarry is a few miles south of Price and on our way out to the bones Mike explains the local geology to us. We are looking at old stream terraces and plenty of pumpjacks. These pumps don’t pump oil but remove water from the top of a coal bed so methane has an easier time to escape and can be collected as natural gas. The dirty water …  gets injected back into the ground elsewhere.

At Cleveland-Lloyd Mike tells us that most fossil bones come from predatory dinosaurs, they are all single bones – no complete skeletons, and thanks to  decades of relatively poor excavating techniques it is really hard what got all these bones into such a tight space.

We look at one of the excavation sheds before we go on a nice hike through the Morrison formation. Mike points out fossilized clam beds, plenty of dinosaur footprints, hoodoos, fossil remnants, the relics of uranium prospecting and plenty of other stuff. We planned on having lunch at the quarry, but some dark thunderclouds and a return trip over dirt roads makes us leave early. We end up having our sandwiches in a gas station parking lot in nearby Wellington.

Soon we are on our way to Arches National Park, where we set up tents and head out for a little pre-dinner hike along the broken arch trail.The group quickly splits up into a slowpoke photographer group and a fast-paced explorer’s group. The slowpokes take amazing pictures and drive hungry Sarah almost to despair as there is yet one more clump of sagebrush to photograph. The explorers return to camp early and cook us a delicious dinner.

back to day 1
onward to day 3

 

Yes, it’s  been a while since we returned from this summer’s trip to Utah, but the weeks since our return have been a bit busy, and only now do I really have the time to put the blog posts together.

We left Hartford at the crack of dawn, well actually BEFORE the crack of dawn, and headed out to Salt Lake City where we picked up Allen, our (at this point still shiny, white) home for the next ten days. Heading southwest, towards Price, we stopped just long enough to pick up the best buy of the trip: Kong Corn.

Initially ridiculed by many, it turned out to be the perfect popcorn: slightly salty, slightly buttery, but never in excess, and in a bag large enough to last us at least four days. Not bad for a three dollar purchase! Price Canyon Recreation Area was pretty empty, pretty cold and waterless. So Joan and Hadley went back down into the valley to find us some drinking water.

In the meantime Kong Corn did a pretty good job holding down Allen’s back seat.Soon the crew was setting up tents,, collecting firewood, and exploring the area. Christopher proved to be a man of many talents, and soon we had a nice fire going. Joan and Hadley returned with 10 gallons of water and it was brats for dinner.

Dinner took a while and it was pretty late until we all turned into our tents for our first (cold) night in Utah.

on to day 2

Just before he went off on his (very well deserved) vacation to Maine and New Hampshire, Christoph managed to get most of his pictures organized and put them on-line.

Go and check them out here.

If you would like to share your pictures – either send them to me (and I’ll turn them into a web gallery) or, even better in this cloud based day and age: add a comment to this post which includes a link to your images.

Back in Reykjavik we have a full day to buy presents, wool sweaters, watch soccer games (surprisingly Columbia is still in the World Cup) and do laundry. Funny enough, even without a program or schedule we still run into most of our group while they are enjoying the city. It’s a small place after all. Very small indeed, on his way back to the campground Christoph runs into yesterday’s bus driver. Jon Cameron and Christoph catch the early bus into town and head to the Laundromat Cafe for breakfast and doing laundry.

After spending three hours on breakfast, extra coffee, and two loads of laundry Jon helps Sarah and Lauren to find the sweater of their dreams. Otherwise the day passes without any great calamities, disasters or excitement.

However, on our way to the bakery Jon and Christoph discover two additional hotdog places near the swimming pool and an entirely new dog: Tröllapylsur – Glútenfríar – gluten free troll-sized dogs. Cameron where are you when we need you…

The dogs were brats in a hot dog bun, with sauerkraut and hot mustard. Not bad, not bad at all. However, Pylsuvagninn í Laugardal still reigns supreme!

We also discovered a slushie brand that is unlikely to make it in the States.

On our way to the airport we made the obligatory stop at the Blue Lagoon. The water was great, the silica peel did wonders for our skin and Puffling’s diving exercises almost got Cameron and me into trouble. in the locker rooms…

From the Blue Lagoon Puffling, Cameron and the students headed back to Boston, while Jon and Christoph took a gigantic plane to the town of Höfn, where they endured a few more days in rain and cold to plan our next Iceland trip.

back to day 10

For more about Christoph and Jon’s trip to the wilds of Ljónsoræfi stay tuned for the epilogue.

Throughout the hike Cameron brought a stuffed puffin along. Despite sharing a tent with Cameron for the past nine days Christoph hadn’t really noticed – until now. The little guy’s name is Puffling, and let’s just say Puffling’s life turned quite a bit more exciting today when he went on a few photo shoots with our expedition photographer. Too bad Cameron was keeping a close eye on Puffling during our last day in Reykjavik. Just imagine the possibilities…

 

Our bus was expected to pick us up at 3:30, so there was plenty of time for some hikes, exploring the surrounding areas or some more hot spring soaking.

Well, turns out the bus was supposed to pick us up at noon, so after our hikes, trips to the Mountain Mall, naps etc. we quickly broke camp and off we went, back to Reykjavik. Good ol’ Puffling made sure we didn’t get lost and Lauren enjoyed the numerous stream crossings.

We did the obligatory photo stop at Hekla, had a few hot dogs and Icelandic chips and arrived in Reykjavik later that evening.

Soon afterwards, most of us head to the English Pub (to watch the World Cup, of course), while Christoph meets his old friends Alex and Sieglinde and does what he does best: talk, talk, talk.

back to day 9
onward to day 11 and 12