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Colorado (Plateau & Rockies) June 9-19
Utah near sunset on Hwy 24
It was 107 in Ridgecrest the day I left and 117 in Death Valley. I left too early and the heat caused me to have to stop the Jeep twice on the grade from Panamint Valley up to Towne Pass overlooking Death Valley. (Never turned it off but had to take the stress off and let it cool some). Had a few beers with an Irish tourist at the Corkscrew Saloon at Furnace Creek, and spent the night short of Death Valley Junction. The second night found me by the Vermillion Cliffs near Kanab Utah. The third was north of Cortez Colorado. (two nights I slept in the Jeep, one I put a cot up next to it). The next day I checked out Mesa Verde National Park. The following two nights were in a tent at 10,000' near Silverton. (Out of the heat at last)      I ended up going north to Montrose and over to check out The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. From there my dog and I went up the Gunnison and over Monarch Pass. (11,xxx' Continental Divide). We had a snow squall at the pass and there were still some snow banks for my Husky to play in. We ended up spending the night up some unmarked dirt road east of Salida. The next two nights were spent at my friend Ted's place in Colorado Springs.      Leaving Colorado Springs we followed 24over Wilkerson Pass to the Collegiate Range and north to I-70 north of Leadville.( I had been planning on aspen over Independence Pass but missed the turnoff) After Glenwood Canyon the winds were horrendous. I finally turned south on Utah 24 after Green River where visibility was a few hundred yards. Found an area out of the wind to camp. The next day it was Capital Reef National Park, Escalante National Monument, a 9600' pass in the Dixie National Forest, the tunnel in Zion and finally a quick camp west of Baker off I-15. I was home the next morning by noon.       I had originally planned a longer trip from the southwest up to Banff/Lake Louise in Canada and back down through Seattle and the west coast. The 2500 miles I did in 10 days was enough. Besides I'm boycotting Canada for two reasons. When the recession hit Las Vegas a lot of the strippers went up to Vancouver for work. Canada decided to stop issuing stripper work visas. The other was when a friends son tried to go to Vancouver for a wedding he was told he wasn't allowed into Canada because he was a convicted felon. A misdemeanor DUI in Iowa was considered a felony in Canada. (That should exclude millions of Americans from wasting their tourist money in Canada)
Vermillion Cliffs, Utah	Utah
A Navajo ranch at Monument Valley	Monument Valley Utah (Navajo Tourist trap)
Kaiser Wilhelm, Inspector General   2003-2014  (Died June 11, 2014)
Two days into my trip, Kaiser who had been suffering for months passed away at home with Jackie who loved him dearly (so did I)
Mesa Verde National Park
Cliff House	Part of Cliff House
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
The Painted Wall, the tallest cliff in Colorado at 2300' in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison
The Front Range
Pike's Peak from Colorado Springs	(left) Ted Galloway & Myself (old friend is why I went all the way to the front range) (right)  Tocayo Louis (our wives are Tocaya  Jacqueline)
Capital Reef National Park
Capital Reef from the east (Pioneers call blocking obstacles reefs. The White Navajo Sandstone formed domes which reminded them of the US Capital Building)
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