In preparation for upcoming travel (Kansas, Thailand, British Isles) I fired up my GPS unit this weekend to load some new maps. It reminded me that I have some interesting tracks from trips during the last years. I wanted to share some of these unusual perspectives on past travels. Many of these tracks were surprises--I forgot that I was being tracked, or that the GPS was even on. I encourage you to read the descriptions, then click on each map to see the landscapes in greater detail. Enjoy these random snapshots of our travels!
My friend Pat Brown likes the idea of telling stories through media, and he also really digs gadgets--especially GPS. He convinced me to buy a handheld GPS a couple years ago. This post is for Pat!!
With the Upper Colorado River flowing at 5000 cfs, we figured it was as good a time as any to explore the long stretch of water from Pumphouse down. Sean, Kelly and I put on for a wild couple days. The normally mild whitewater of Pumphouse picked up a bit, and the Yarmony wave was pretty impressive. The major hazards during that trip were the bridge pylons. We had a great time of it and made a nice last camp in the rain under a huge juniper. In the map above, the tighter canyon of the Pumphouse section is visible to the east. The terrain opens up below there, flowing through broader valleys and agricultural land. Of note is our speed, which is around 5-7 mph during most of the float. We had a surprise at the takeout, where only a foot or two of clearance remained between the surface of the fast moving river and the bottom of the railroad bridge across the river. We pulled for the shore before spotting a narrow higher clearance section at the edge of the bridge.
Two weeks after our trip on the Upper Colorado, Kelly's cousin Ben came down to visit. In our previous trip, we'd spotted an idyllic campsite a mile below our juniper camp. We made a plan to float again and to layover there and explore the big drainage above camp. We climbed a seriously steep grade to the ridgetop, and descended down a fascinating gulch with massive inclined rock slabs. In the map above, our camp is in the southwest corner, opposite the large inside bench, where the arc of the railway appears. We climbed up to the east, then made our way back to the river at the top of the map. Instead of re-tracing our footsteps, we crossed a railway bridge--our track turns purple (7 mph) as we decided to run across the bridge and minimize our time walking on the busy tracks. We hiked back on the road. I swam the river, brought the boat back in the large eddy above camp, and ferried Kelly and Ben back to camp. It was a truly epic day and and a treat to explore the area we'd scouted two weeks prior. I was also impressed how Ben stepped up for a taxing bushwhack!
Chris and I traveled to Florida to watch the second-to-last launch of the storied Discovery Space Shuttle. It was an American pilgrimage, and we joined the thousands at the Cape. On our first evening, we walked among the Redstone and Atlas rockets of the rocket garden at the Kennedy Space Center, then headed down the coast to find a campsite. With every available site taken, we ended up sleeping under an overpass. I must have fired up the GPS at the site, as a few points appeared at our campsite, which is under the mid-causeway bridge in the southwest of this photo. To the north, the rocket pads of the early space program dot the landscape.
Kelly and I floated Northgate Canyon (southeast of this map) on the South Platte, then made for our truck at Six-Mile Gap (center of the map). I had just bought the Tacoma, and the first leg of the shuttle was performed by a friendly stranger we met at the put-in. It gave me a moment's pause to hand over the keys for my new truck to a guy I'd just met. We did find our truck at Six-Mile Gap, but not before finding our friends Adriana and Steve. They had failed to find an available campsite on that busy weekend, and so we all piled into the boat and ferried across to the far bank. We romped around with their dogs and made camp, then ferried back across the next morning. In a favor which I have yet to repay, they shuttled our truck down to the next takeout, and Kelly and I continued our float. Our ferry across the river was recorded in the center of this map. Just to the west, the campground, parking lots, and trail to the river can be seen.
Thanksgiving is a holiday for friends, family... and big wilderness trips. In 2010, Kelly and I met Lars and Leah in the Swell, then drove deep into Canyonlands. We pushed our trucks to the limit and navigated a seriously rough road. On the evening before driving the crux--Teapot Canyon--we hiked the road and doubted if we'd make it. Troublingly, we also questioned our ability to turn around if we decided to bail. We did make it, which was a confidence-boosting achievement that I would be reluctant to repeat! The map above traces our return trip. Lars and I dipped into the Maze (northeast) for a quick hike in the deep, knarled canyons, then met Leah and Kelly at Lizard Rock down the road. Much of our drive out was still slower than Lars and my hike in the Maze. The Colorado River cuts diagonally across the southeast corner of the map.
During that Thanksgiving trip, we camped at the Dollhouse rock formations above Spanish Bottom on the Colorado. We fulfilled a dream of mine to hike to the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. The confluence appears in the northeast of the map, and our track takes us along the tremendous cliff above the Colorado. Spanish Bottom is the large sandbar on the west bank of the river. Our track also shows a small fork, where we explored the pink and white rock formations of the Dollhouse.
One great desert trip was based at the head of Crack Canyon. We camped under the butte to the north, and had some of the best Easy-Star flights of my life off a cliff in front of camp. We hiked down the the shallow wash toward the deeper canyon where Crack cuts through the Swell. By the time we got to the cut, the sun was in full force, the dogs were running from shade patch to shade patch, and we were all pretty baked. We dipped in a bit, but retreated to camp before long. The GPS struggled to fix our position in the deep canyon--some signals were blocked, and others reflected off the canyon walls and confounded the device. The effect was like an echo, which misleads the listener as he tries to determine the source of a noise. The wonky tracks appear as forked legs into the canyon walls. I broke from the group and hiked on the ridges back to camp--my track can be seen as the east branch of the loop. Kelly and I returned last year and explored the lower section of the canyon, which held a sculpture garden of hoodoos.
The ski trip into Polar Star Hut was a highlight of last winter. This GPS track brought back some great memories. The tracks shown here are from my laps at the hut (northeast) and our big downhill ski to the car (towards the southwest). Before leaving, I was able to buy some bunk slots at the last minute, which meant Max and Matt O. could join on the trip. The skiing above the hut was nice, with some interesting high terrain and a good overlook into a neighboring cirque. The edge of the cirque can be seen at the northeast corner of the map. Although much of the terrain was wind-scoured, a sheltered region off the ridge actually held onto great snow. Back at the hut, we celebrated Max's birthday, split a serious quantity of firewood, and watched an albino and a normal squirrel play on the deck. One morning, we spotted a pine martin stalking around the hut and got a really great look at this awesome predator. We had some nice jam sessions in the nook on the deck, with the trip anthem probably ending up "Me and My Uncle."
James brought an enormous wheel of Brie, which was a famous success and also quite challenge to finish off. The Judson crew (Kelly, Max and I) made yeast-risen cinnamon rolls and hashbrowns with salsa. The cinnamon rolls smelled so incredible, it was a torment to our fellow hutmates. In true hutster spirit, our group broke down and shared our rolls. On the ski out, I lost my groove and hit an aspen, then pinballed down the icy slope, thumping off other aspens. That was a bit of a wakeup! Our route out quickly dumped us onto a logging road, and we burned down to the car at a pretty good clip. From the GPS track, you can see we had some long sections travelling 20-30 mph. Nice!
Thanks to all the friends who joined in these great adventures!
