Travels with Suzi

RETIREMENT TRIP #6

BLACK AND BLUE

September 2015

At the Defiance House Lodge overlooking
Lake Powell the morning
dawns bright and clear.

We sat on the balcony and sipped our coffee at the Defiance House Lodge early this morning as patches of blue sky popped through the dark clouds.

“You’d hardly know it rained,” said Andy.

But there was a little water in the dry wash when we set out along Route #276, and the world smelled fresh and clean.

“We found most of the furniture,” said the desk clerk, when I checked out.

Still in the shadows, Maidenwater Spring has no other
early morning visitors.

But the radio reported at least 12 deaths in Utah from flash flooding. And we learned later that seven hikers died in Zion.
Clouds had cleared Mt. Holmes and Mt. Ellsworth, but the “big guys” were encased in a gigantic puff of white almost to the desert floor base. Everywhere else the sky was friendly blue with cumulus accents.

Burr Trail was out of the question. “It’s that dangerous red clay,” said Andy, “and I think we’ll still see more rain.”
But it was a lovely beginning to the middle of September.

The Egyptian Temple formation in
Capitol Reef rises majestically
in the momentarily clearing sky.

We pulled over at places like Maidenwater Spring for scenery pictures. The clouds shrouded the higher peaks and cast interesting shadows on the landscape.

“The mountains are definitely getting pounded,” said Andy. “It’s not nice up there.”

“And that means the dry washes down here will be running,” I added.

At Old Wagon Trail pullout in
Capitol Reef, foreign
visitors marvel at the grandeur.

Andy selects Chimney Rock Trail
as our hike for the day.

Clouds dominated as we headed into Capitol Reef National Park on Route #24. The Fremont River ran fast and muddy, and the roadside of slick, wet clay threatened any driver dumb enough to pull off the pavement. Temperatures here had cooled into the mid-60’s at 11 a.m., much cooler than the pleasant high 70’s and low 80’s of Lake Powell at 9 a.m. when we left.

By noon we arrived at the Capitol Reef Visitor Center. People were dressed in long pants and jackets. We had come directly to the park with only a side drive to Notom, because rain dribbled periodically and many of the mud washes ran with water.

The climb to the top of Chimney Rock
is a steep and strenuous four-mile trek.

When the sky momentarily cleared and the sun broke through, we snapped pictures.

“It’s just a sucker punch in the weather,” said Andy, stopping at the Egyptian temple formation, “but from your pictures in a million years you’d never know the weather was crappy.”

Nearing the top of Chimney Rock Trail,
the surface evens and hiking gets
easier but scenery is no less spectacular.

He was right. I caught the one tiny patch of blue sky. Capitol Gorge was closed due to flash floods and the road just before the parking area was coated with mud, but the blue patches steadily increased as wind shifted from southwest to north. The reprieve didn’t last long, but it served us well.
At Old Wagon Trail hikers parking pullout we turned around to retrace the route and hopefully catch more patches of sunlight and blue.

From the top of Chimney Rock,
we have a beautiful view of the
Waterpocket Fold.

Sure enough. The peak at Pleasant Creed Road was silhouetted in blue with nary a cloud, even though the road was impassable red mud. In and out popped the sun, and with each successive burn, the blue increased.

Skies turned dark as we circle the top
along a four-mile loop trail.

Sue adjusts to the altitude and
keeps pace for the mileage.

Protected from the sun, Andy
carries water for our two-hour climb.

At 2:15 p.m. we took the Chimney Rock Trail, a four-mile, semi-strenuous climb to the top of the formations, all the way around and back down. The views were magnificent. It took us two hours--half-hour miles—pretty good for two old sea-level farts climbing at a more than 6,800-foot elevation. We stopped often to snap pictures but definitely didn’t linger because of the huge black clouds in the southwest.