Uinta and Wasatch Hikes

We arrived in Heber City, UT, for our month's stay at Mountain Valley RV Resort. It's about 45 minutes from two of our nieces. The resort makes a very nice base for us. We are treated to scenic mountain views and all the amenities. When we visit our nieces, we drive through the very scenic Provo Canyon. 

Our first hike this year was a repeat of one three years ago - Stewart Falls. This time we completed the trail with our niece, Andrea, and her husband, Justin. The trailhead is off the Alpine Scenic Loop that leads to Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Both the loop drive and Timpanogos Cave were closed for the winter by the time we arrived. We'll have to try again another year. 

On another day, we took a short walk along a small stretch of the Provo River Trail. It looked like a good paved bike trail that we may have to try. 

We wanted to get a scenic drive or two in before they closed the mountain roads for winter. Our first drive was the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. The last time, three years ago, we had stopped at Mirror Lake and returned. This time we drove the full length into Evanston, WY. It's a beautiful drive, despite the seemingly large number of dead pine trees.

Giving ourselves, ok, Harold, a break in the byway driving, we took a short hike to Wall Lake. It's just over a mile each way and is relatively level. We ran across a few slick, packed snow areas. We were glad that the ground was partially frozen though. We could see where melted snow had made some areas quite muddy before they refroze. We didn't see anyone else on our hike, unlike our hike to Stewart Falls. Cooler weather and weekdays make a big difference. 

Harold giving Andrea the low down on Silverleaf

P-51 Mustang on takeoff

Stewart Falls - Aspen Grove Trailhead

Stewart Falls

Provo River Pkwy Trail

Approaching Wall Lake

Wall Lake Contemplation

Love the sign

Wall Lake

Mirror Lake Byway Overlook - Bald Mtn Pass area

Where Are We Going Next?

Grand Sites in Grand Junction

It's been awhile since we've stopped in Grand Junction. According to my national park passport book, we were last in this area in 2016. Grand Junction touts itself as a less-crowded-but-still-pretty-spectacular area of Colorado. We agree. Of course, we're here at the end of October as opposed to summer. There's plenty of off-roading and mountain biking opportunities around here in addition to the usual hiking. In winter, there is downhill and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, etc.

We spent one afternoon driving Grand Mesa Scenic Byway. We were a little nervous about road conditions. While our campground did not receive any snowfall the previous evening, just some rain, the higher elevations certainly had snowfall. It turned out to be a beautiful drive and the roads were clear for the majority of the trip.

The next day we took the Rim Rock Drive through Colorado National Monument. It is ever so pretty. The drive is rather steep though. You don't quite realize how much you've gained in elevation until you look down and see the entrance station. We saw more bighorn sheep up close here than we ever have elsewhere. They were beside the road and not too fearful of vehicles. We so enjoyed the smell of the junipers, quite refreshing. Again, we were glad to not be here in peak season with lots of bicyclists on the narrow, two-lane road and lots of vehicles fighting for parking in the small turnouts. 

We were saying how we'd like to come back to this area for a longer time. There's plenty to do. Hey, there's only one Mike the Headless Chicken Festival. Yes, Mike, the headless chicken, really did exist.

Grand Mesa Scenic Byway -- October snowfall

Spot the picnic table?

Note the balanced rock on the right

Balanced rock from the top

Balanced rock in the shadows on the right

Where Are We Going Next?

Colorado Springs Again

We decided to get a little more sister time in Colorado Springs this year. So we spent another six days in the area visiting with my sister, Kathy, and her family, and Harold's sister, Annette. We had planned to spend a full week, but the weather forecast prompted us to leave a day early. We had no desire to cross the Rocky Mountains with a winter weather advisory in place.

We spent a morning hiking up Pulpit Rock. As many times as we have been to the Springs, this was our first time for this nice little hike. 

Ready to hike

Can you spot Kathy waving?

Harold caught us taking a selfie from the outcrop on the right

Pike's Peak in the background

Lunch time!

Easy afternoon with Annette

Where Are We Going Next?

Dry Beans

Sometimes stopping by visitor centers in small towns can yield unexpected things. Often, they will have small give-away items such as hand sanitizers, lip balm, sunscreen, stickers, postcards, and the like. Dodge City in Kansas had decks of playing cards from the local casino. No longer used in the casino, they were still in very good shape. They marked them with a marker and cut off a corner. Kind of a unique way to remember Dodge City.

In Goodland, KS, Jessica at the visitor center gave us stickers and postcards of the Big Easel. Not only did she provide a number of dining options, she let us know that 21st Century Bean just down the road in Sharon Springs would give tours if asked. You can guess what we did with our extra day in Goodland. 

It was interesting to see just how much the beans were cleaned before making it to the final packaging. Gravity tables, shakers, optical sorters - all worked to separate visually appealing whole beans from splits, skins, stones, weeds, etc. 

Those little bags in the grocery stores are pillows. The Sharon Springs facility dealt primarily with bulk packaging - 20, 50, 100 lb bags. 

Most of the beans are grown within a 2 - 3 hour driving distance. Perhaps the most uniqe one was the Fremont bean. The Fremont is an heirloom bean currently grown by the Worden family in Beaumont, Colorado. We bought a couple of bags to try. Time to make some soup or....

Getting weighed, typically 40-45 thousand pounds

Shaker

Optical Sorter

Fremont Beans

Where Are We Going Next?

Geocache Goal

Kansas might not be at the vacation forefront for a lot of people, but for geocachers, Mingo, KS, is most likely on their bucket list. Why? Mingo, KS, is home to the world's oldest active geocache. Placed on 5/11/2000, it is still going strong. I can't remember how we found out that Mingo was the oldest. But, once we found out, it was definitely on our radar. 

Well, there was a plaque

Mingo geocache

swag time

Here are some more fun geocaches: As you can see they vary greatly in size and type of container.

Travelbug hotel

Where Are We Going Next?