National Parks & Monuments

Scout Climbs a Volcano and Gracie Turns Brown: Christmas at Mojave National Preserve

I think the member of our pack who is most pleased that we’re taking our time through the wilds of the desert is Gracie. This girl does not love being stuck inside.

In order to spend more time playing outside, we took I15 one small stretch at a time, enjoying the weather and the dispersed camping along the way. When we arrived in Mojave National Preserve, we hadn’t planned ahead to see what there was to do in the area, as is our usual way. So far it’s worked out brilliantly for us, and we didn’t share the concern we received from others when we told them we had no idea where we’d spend Christmas. We had decided months ago that in order to cover a little more ground this year, we’d skip the usual family gathering and just celebrate outside somewhere.

It was still about a week before Christmas when we found a great dispersed spot on the north side of Mojave National Preserve. The moment I opened the door, Gracie hedgehogged herself into a ball and just started rolling happily in the dirt.

The next loosely-planned stop on our journey was going to be Joshua Tree National Park, so I kind of thought that would be the first time I’d see a “forest” of Joshua trees. Nope. We were surrounded!

I think that’s one of the things I love best about not planning ahead—we get to be surprised on a regular basis. And a back yard forest of desert trees was a really fun surprise!

I continuously had to remind myself that it was almost Christmas. We had our wreath hung on the spare tire on the back of the Turtle and our string of lights hung inside, but in this environment it felt deliciously more like summer vacation.

We’re reminded that it’s winter only by the early hour of the sunsets, which come too soon, but make up for it by being magnificent.

We watched the colors until they fell into darkness, then went inside to make dinner. At one point Andy looked out the windows up front and pointed out a strange light in the sky. At first we had no idea what we were looking at, but I was totally convinced it was a UFO while Andy was sure it was literally anything but that.

Even I had to admit it looked maybe like a (human-made) rocket, but why would one be launching out here? I took a video so we could watch it later, then we went inside to look it up. Sure enough, a rocket had just launched in San Diego. If we had known, we probably would have driven out to go see it up close! But as it was, we were excited about yet another awesome surprise.

The next day we decided to drive right outside the preserve to pick up a few groceries since we loved this spot so much we thought we’d stick around longer than originally planned. We drove up to Baker and stopped first at this unexpected shop.

Then after picking up a few supplies, we headed back into the park, not realizing that the Turtle had relatives out here.

I found a good-looking dispersed camp site on one of our apps farther south than our last overnight stay, near a lava tube that is apparently a big attraction for visitors of the preserve. We decided to stay the night there and visit the lava tube the next day. After slowly driving the washboarded dirt road to the site, we parked next to an inactive volcano, apparently one of many around the area.

Gracie wasted no time leaping outside to try on some of the new local dirt.

I know cats like to take dust baths, but she takes it to another level. She loves it so much that she is turning semi-permanently brown! We just decided to say she’s a calico now.

The next day, we got our bikes out and rode with Scout by our sides down the bumpy road a few miles to the lava tube.

Scout waited outside for us under the shade of a Joshua tree with his water dish surrounded by rocks so he wouldn’t tip it over, and we went down into the lava tube.

There are a few holes in the lava ceiling where the sun shines through, and we’d been given a tip by some friendly passers by the evening prior that light is at its best angle for around noon or 1 p.m. It was around noon when we arrived, so we hung out in the cave watching the light move and change.

Soon a strong narrow beam emerged.

And it grew wider and brighter.

Another beam shot in from a hole in the main dome of the cave as well. It was magical.

After the bumpy ride back to our spot, we were all feeling pretty spectacular about what a nice place this was to live for a bit. Even though cars drove by periodically, it felt like we had the entire desert to ourselves. Which was so exciting for our little adventure cat, who doesn’t get to go for walks when we’re in the city like Scout does. And all she wants in life is fresh outdoor air and a little space to explore.

She’s been loving the desert terrain so much that even when she comes inside she brings some with her.

Every time she comes back in, it looks like this:

We’re not bothered by it, though, as we spend our fair share of time outside getting dirty too. It’s just part of the life. And so are breathtaking sunsets. It’s a give and take, really.

We realized as we watched the sun go down that it was Christmas Eve! I guess we know where we’ll be spending Christmas.

On Christmas morning as we drank our coffee, we discussed how we wanted to spend the day. Scout chose to spend his morning trying to convince Gracie to throw the frisbee for him. He followed her around for some time, waiting for her to sit down and then gently tossing the frisbee to her just as he does with us.

She wouldn’t go for it.

So I did for a little while, as a consolation, even though we knew he’d be coming with us on the outing we decided on for the day: a hike up the volcano!

It was much, much more difficult than we’d anticipated. The entire face of the volcano was loose pebbles of lava rock, and it was so steep it required crawling on hands and feet. It was like being on a stair stepper. Every other step we’d hit a patch of gravel so loose it was a wonder it had stayed where it was in the first place, and we’d slide down a few feet. And because it was lava rock, when we’d grab out to catch ourselves, our hands would get sliced and shredded. It was exhausting, and since we had no intention of giving up, we took breaks every ten minutes or so to keep our energy and morale high enough to continue. I told Andy at one point, “I didn’t come here to climb to the almost-top of a volcano today.”

Here is the view from one of those breaks. See that little speck right off the road? That’s the Turtle! And at this point we were barely a third of the way up.

Even though it was a challenge just perching ourselves on the hill (one that does not look even remotely as steep in the photos as it truly was), Scout tried the entire time to get us to throw sticks for him. The OCD is strong with this one.

Here’s another view from a break. Can you spot the Turtle? We’re a little over two thirds of the way up at this point.

We scrambled and panted our way up this bizarre surface for much longer than we’d guessed we’d take making it up the 500′ climb. And then suddenly, we were at the top!

We earned our ecstatic victory photo!

We got great reception up there, so we called our families to wish them all a Merry Christmas, took some photos and admired the view of the desert far below.

Then we began the descent, which took like three minutes. We basically just walked down, each foot sinking down into the gravel and carrying us a few feet every step. It was like being a giant, which I now believe would be really fun, if it truly was anything like our speedy jaunt down the volcano.

That evening’s sunset was another beautiful one. We’re getting spoiled out here.

We were quickly growing fond of this site, and decided to stick around for a few more days to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Gracie got right on the job.

I spent the time finishing Andy’s belated Christmas gift, a tool holder for the driver’s side door, which took a little longer than expected since I had to hand stitch the whole thing. It turned out pretty nice, I think, and he loves the convenience it.

Andy had his own project going as well, constructing a temporary custom storage box from cardboard, and when Gracie heard the word “project”, she quickly responded by inserting herself in it—literally.

Between the fun day trips and the relaxing time all to ourselves, we weren’t sure how many days longer we’d stick around and where we might be for New Years Eve, but we were in no hurry to ruin the surprise.

A Sun Story: Canyonlands National Park

Both Andy and I grew up in Montana, and later lived in Seattle and Portland for the better part of our adult lives. This was mostly a coincidence, as we didn’t meet until we were both living in Portland, though early on we discovered that our paths had crossed many times over the years. We joke that our first concert together was The Pixies at Bumbershoot years ago, despite the fact that we didn’t know each other at that point.

We love Montana and the Pacific Northwest dearly, or we wouldn’t have stayed so long! But I think we can all agree that none of these places are known for an abundance of warmth and sunshine. Which is why, as we get farther and farther south, we’ve been amazed at the effect the sunshine has had on us. We’ve been infused with energy and feel so ready to take on the day each morning, and it only occurred to us after a few weeks in Utah that the sunshine may have something to do with it. We’re not used to all this vitamin D and the great feeling of sunshine warming our toes in their flip flops.

Luckily, we made it out to some seriously wide open spaces that can accommodate our ebullient sunshine-infused energy. After exploring Arches, we stayed one last night at our great BLM site north of Moab, then drove the short distance to Canyonlands National Park.

It’s big.

The park is divided into four sections, with no continuous road connecting them due to the paths of the Green and Colorado rivers.

The districts are:

Island in the Sky
The Needles
The Maze
The Rivers

They each have separate entrance points and every area offers a unique park experience. We were closest to the Island in the Sky, which is one of the more developed portions of the park, with hiking trails and a designated campground.

Right away we decided to drive straight through to the end of the road, at Grand View Point.

There’s an overlook with an incredible view, and an easy walking trail that follows the rim of the Island in the Sky for about a mile out one way.

The viewpoint at the end of the trail is 360 breathtaking degrees of, well, canyonlands! It’s hard to grasp the scale of it.

On the walk back we wandered off the main trail to check out the landscape a little farther from the rim. It’s a great playground, and we ran and climbed around the smooth rock formations under the sunshine.

When we got back to the Turtle, the sun was beginning to go down. We drove out to the Green River Overlook to watch it slide like melting butter across the rolling hills below.

The view in the other direction wasn’t bad either! The saturated evening sun lit the rocks and bushes, painting everything in rich golds.

Near the Green River Overlook is the Willow Flat Campground, where we decided to stay for the night. There’s a lot of room to walk around there too, so we took Scout out to explore while we watched the rocks change colors. (As we walked he was on his leash per park rules, but I liked the backdrop so I took it off for the photo. He’s getting a lot better at having his picture taken and didn’t move an inch the whole time. Good boy!)

The sunset was as grand and spectacular as the canyon views.

The next morning we got up before the sun rose to walk up to Mesa Arch, which the ranger recommended we see at sunrise. Apparently it’s the most photographed spot in the park, as the rising sun illuminates the underside of the arch beautifully.

He was right!

We drove around the park afterwards as we drank our coffee and looked at the map to find one more hike before leaving. We decided on Whale Rock, which was a moderate hike with a cool name. I loved this hike.

The views were expansive from way up on the huge smooth rock dome that actually did feel like walking on a whale’s back. We played with shadows in the crisp morning light and tried not to blow off the edge as the wind picked up.

We left the park glowing with happiness and moved west until we reached a dispersed camp area outside St. George. Scout and Gracie were ready to get out and play too, and this spot was perfect for us all to hop out and run around.

I looked out the back window after the animals had been out for a bit and caught them in a sweet moment.

I guess all this sunshine is really working wonders for everyone! I think we’ll stay down here a while.

Catching Some Rays at Arches National Park

Living in a van comes with its own set of challenges, which are made increasingly more difficult when the weather is freezing. We’ve spent many months living in icy climates in the Turtle, and while the learning experience was necessary and helpful, we’re ready to put the cold temperatures behind us for a while. Everything is so much simpler in the sunshine. We don’t have to worry about tanks and water lines freezing, running out of propane so quickly, and water and dump facilities closing for the season. We don’t have to insulate the windows, making the interior a cave without a view. Andy doesn’t have to do maintenance under the hood with gloves on. Everything just works better in warm weather.

We discussed this while we were up in Alaska, dreaming up ideas and plans for the winter. Last winter we spent most of our time in the snow, and this winter we decided we’d be crazy not to follow the other snowbirds down south to enjoy a little sunshine!

As we left the snowy weather behind us in Spearfish, we decided to break our self-imposed rule to not travel more than a few hours a day in order to get out of the cold as soon as possible. We made quick time through a few states and finally slowed down once we hit sunshine in Utah. We could hardly believe it was December as we drove out to some BLM land outside of Moab and parked the Turtle in the sunny desert.

Scout and Gracie were pretty pleased too. One of Gracie’s favorite pastimes is rolling in the dirt, and she got right to it. That little beast was so covered in dirt she didn’t even look like the same cat. Scout and I played obstacle course Frisbee between the grasses and shrubs and ran around the flat landscape. Andy got his tools out and turned some wrenches under the Turtle. Everyone was feeling spectacular.

The best part was that we were this joyful and had only made it to our campsite. We still had a bunch of places to explore just down the road from us.

The first was Arches National Park. Yay!

Arches contains more than 2,000 natural arches, many of which are visible by car if you’re making a quick trip, and the rest can be seen along the myriad hiking trails that could easily occupy a few days in the park.

The first day we spent time in Moab before going to the park, resupplying and running errands, so we just popped into Arches as the sun was descending to drive through and see a few things before it got dark. Among other great rock formations, we saw the Three Gossips, Balanced Rock, and walked the short distance to the upper viewpoint where you can see Delicate Arch from afar. (That’s the iconic one you always see in pictures of Arches and on the Utah license plates.)

We went about halfway in, and after the sun went down we drove back north to our wonderful campsite on Willow Springs Road for the night.

The next day we arrived earlier so we could spend the day in the park.

First we took the very short walk back through tall rock walls to see Hidden Arch.

It seemed like the kind of place someone might pose like this, so I did.

Then we drove to the end of the road at Devil’s Garden Trailhead and walked in to see Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch. There were a bunch more to see farther down the trail, but that hike can take a full day and we definitely wanted to do the 2-hour hike to Delicate Arch. It’s famous!

The Delicate Arch trail is a lot of fun, and I’d go on that hike even if there wasn’t a gorgeous natural formation to see at the end. At first it’s a just a nice walk on a dirt trail surrounded by neat rocks and a pretty view.

Then midway through the hike, the trail suddenly stops at a huge smooth rock dome that you walk up-up-up and over, with incredible views from the top! Somehow, the only pictures I took faced away from the view. No one knows why.

Once you reach the top, you walk through little areas of desert bushes and juniper trees for a bit.

And suddenly you turn the corner and are walking on a rock path winding around a huge sandstone wall on your right. Andy climbed right up the side of it to peer through the little arch at the top, so I followed.

And what a view!

It wasn’t very busy that day, so by the time we walked over to the arch nobody was photographing it and we got to take our time getting some nice pictures.

On our way back we took a side trail to go see some petroglyphs.

As the sun began to set, we made one last stop at Double Arch. It was our favorite of the day! We climbed up a bit until we were underneath the arches, lay down on the ground and watched the shadows move across the rocks until dusk.

A quick trip to Moab Brewery rounded out the day perfectly, and soon we were back at our Willow Springs site. It was completely dark by then, but still warm enough to spend a little time outside before going back in for the night. Happily tired from a day full of hiking, we could just walk in and put our feet up. No insulating, no buttoning up to be done, no wet clothes to hang, no layers to put away.

It feels like summertime in the desert, and the living is easy.

Jasper National Park and Banff, AB

Happy Halloween everyone!

If you’ve been in touch with us over the last month, you’ll know that despite what the blog might lead you to believe, we’re not in Canada anymore! We got back to the states about a month ago, and are currently visiting my family in Bozeman, Montana after a really fun few weeks in Great Falls visiting Andy’s family.

But so many people had told us how much we were going to love Jasper National Park and Banff, Alberta, and we really, really did. So I’ll catch up with a quick photo-heavy post to share the beauty! It was cold and overcast as we drove through, but that couldn’t stop the views.

Neither of us knew that the town of Jasper was right in the middle of the park, which was a fun surprise.

We stopped for pizza. . .

We stopped to watch this handsome fellow for a while. . .

And admired these sweet little deer until they hopped back into the forest.

The sun set before we made it through the park, so we stayed the night at the only spot that was still open for the winter on the south side of the park. The Columbia Icefields National Park Centre keeps the lower parking lot open for overnight campers, which was around $15 a night. A little spendy for a parking lot, but we really didn’t want to miss the views!

When we woke up the next morning, we discovered that we’d been parked right across the street from two glaciers!

The rest of the drive was so beautiful that the $15 camping fee seemed like a really good investment.

After exiting Jasper National Park, we were immediately in Banff National Park. Another gorgeous drive! One of my favorite things about this stretch of the highway was the wildlife bridges. There are fences all along the road to prevent animals from wandering out into traffic, so in order to allow safe crossing they built these tunnels covered by dirt and grass so the animals can access the whole park safely.

Soon we’d passed through Banff as well, and by mid-afternoon we were back in Montana.

When we got to Andy’s dad’s house, we were exhausted from three months of nonstop action. We slept like logs, relaxed, and visited with Andy’s dad and mom over some IPA’s and home-cooked meals, ate Howard’s pizza more than once, and slept some more . It was exactly what we’d been waiting for.

We also took some time to reorganize and assess the state of the Turtle. Andy looked in one of the compartments and found that it was filled with hunks of the Dalton Highway! Hilarious.

We got the famous vacuum sealer out and sealed things up for winter storage. . .

Andy fixed up our front brakes. . .

And then we slept some more!

On Top of the World: South on the Dalton Highway + Gates of the Arctic National Park

We felt a lot more confident on our return trip from Deadhorse back down to Fairbanks, for a few reasons.

We knew we had enough gas in the tanks to get us all the way to Coldfoot and then Fairbanks without using our reserve fuel, which was a load off our minds.
We were more familiar with the terrain and knew what to expect.
The weather forecast showed no snow on the Atigun Pass.
Our trip began with a good omen—an Arctic Swan crossed our path on the way out of town, and that’s a well-known sign of good luck that I just made up.

We had decided ahead of time that on the drive back we’d take three days to travel the highway, so that we could camp outside Gates of the Arctic National Park and hike in the next day, and then boondock somewhere south of Coldfoot to break up the long drive after the park. So when we came across a small herd of musk oxen in the distance, we knew we had plenty of time to stop and watch them graze for a while. They were just little brown blobs gliding around in the distance at first, but they slowly made their way toward us so we could make out their features. It was surreal seeing these animals that I knew existed but never expected to see in my lifetime, just munching grass across the road from me!

The whole day seemed to be in our favor. The sun was shining and the roads were snow-free and muddy, which actually made for a (slightly) more comfortable ride. And since the snow had melted a bit on the side of the road, we could see the turnouts, which we utilized to stop and enjoy the view and play with Scout.

The farther south we drove, the more amazed we were at how much of the scenery we’d missed on the first trip. Now that it was clear, we saw the myriad mountains surrounding us, many of them blanketed beautifully under new snow.

I know I’ve said it before, but this time I mean it more emphatically than ever: the pictures don’t do the experience any justice whatsoever. It wasn’t just the view; it was the exhilarating sensation of being a teeny tiny dot in the middle of a vast and expansive wilderness, almost completely isolated from any human fingerprint. The mountains were towering, the valleys stretched endlessly in all directions. I tried over and over to take one photo that could get close to depicting it, but I think you’ll just have to go see for yourself. And then I’ll want to talk to you about it afterwards.

The campground we’d planned to visit for the night was at Galbraith Lake, just north of the Atigun Pass. This also was the spot we’d pulled over to chain up on the way to Deadhorse, and this was when we realized how much we’d missed.

Remember, this was what it looked like before:

And this is what it looked like without snow and fog all around:

(See if you can spot the difference!)

We got to the campsite, and to our non-surprise we had the whole place to ourselves!

Shortly after arriving and getting everyone outside to play, the sun began to set. It was so perfect all we could do was “ooooh” and “ahhhh” and take picture after picture with every minute’s nuanced change.

The next day was the much-anticipated hike into Gates of the Arctic National Park!

Neither of us had ever walked on the lush tundra before, and what looked like a pretty straightforward hike was in fact a full-blown workout. The ground was made up of 8″ of soft spongy mosses sitting on top of supersaturated earth, so every step felt like walking through a memory foam pit and on a stair stepper at the same time (somehow). It was bizarre, and very fun. When we got tired, we’d just sit down and suck on arctic snowballs until we were ready to go again. It was so beautiful we didn’t mind sitting for a bit anyway.

When we got to a good viewpoint, we stopped to make a snowman.

Scout saw Andy collect sticks for the arms, and from that moment on he was convinced that we’d procured them just for him, and he did his very best to retrieve one so we could throw it for him.

We named our snowman The Gatekeeper of the Arctic. He had mossy hair, lichen eyes, a stone for a nose, evergreen shoots for a mouth, mushroom buttons, and a scarf of red bearberries. That’s too many words to put to the tune of “Frosty” I think, but if you can do it, we’d like to hear it!

Scout had been the picture of patience, but toward the end of the photo session, he began talking about the injustice of it all.

Then he completely stopped posing and began licking his chops while staring at our poor Gatekeeper’s arms.

We left our friendly snowman, and right as we began our descent Scout ran all the way back for his long-awaited stick. We called to him to “leave it” and he did, even from that far away! What a good boy. I found another stick on the ground and threw it for him as we hiked down, so don’t worry, his patience was rewarded.

We drove back to Coldfoot, gassed up, and drove on to Greyling Lake for the night.

We also got to enjoy more of the scenery on this leg of the journey, due to clear skies and sunshine. We watched the landscape get taller and fuller as we continued south, and it began feeling more like fall and less like the early winter we’d been experiencing in the far north.

The last day of our journey, we stopped once again for another photo at the Arctic Circle, as the day was sunnier than our first pass. A few BLM volunteers were there, and when they offered to take our photo for us, I waved my Crazy Cat Lady card in the air and insisted we get a photo with Gracie too, since she’s probably one of very few cats who have traveled into the Arctic Circle!

The remainder of the drive was stunning, and happily felt very uneventful compared to the excitement of the last few days on the Dalton Highway! We just enjoyed the scenery as it passed by us smoothly, as we waited to feel the pavement under our wheels again.

The Road to Alaska – Part 8: Feelin’ Fall-y in Denali

Our adventure of a lifetime was in full swing by the time we left Anchorage for Denali National Park, which was our second park in Alaska so far.

Alaska has 8 National Parks:

Denali
Wrangell St. Elias
Gates of the Arctic
Kenai Fjords
Glacier Bay
Katmai
Kobuk Valley
Lake Clark

Due to the terrain and undeveloped nature of the state, however, only two are accessible by car: Denali and Wrangell St. Elias. We’d stopped at Wrangell St. Elias on our way to Valdez, but didn’t spend much time there since we were working with a bit of a deadline and the park is so huge that it could take hours just to see a small portion anyway. We did take a little walk through the park and saw both the namesake Wrangell and St. Elias ranges, and had even camped out with a beautiful view of the mountains the previous night.

Denali was the next on our list, and we couldn’t wait to get in there and see some wildlife and hopefully Denali (a.k.a. Mount McKinley) itself. They say on average only 1 in 3 visitors gets to see the mountain, as it’s often socked in by clouds or fog, and we had a cloudy forecast. So we arrived with fingers crossed and bought our tickets for a bus tour the following day. I didn’t know this before we went, but Denali National Park is only accessible to the public for 15 miles of the 92-mile road into the park. You can drive in as far as Savage River, but after that all tourists—other than those staying at Teklanika Campground—must pay for a bus tour in order to access the remainder. Some of the tours can last as long as 12 hours, but we went for an 8-hour ride since we had a doggy at home who would need to go out. It was a chilly morning, and the windows were steamed up for the beginning of the trip, but soon they cleared and we could all sit back and watch the fall colors roll by.

It’s been startling how quickly the season has advanced as we travel north! It has accelerated the timeline, but luckily I love fall and I’m exactly in the mood for it.

On the way to the Visitors Center that would be our turnaround point, we stopped a few times and got to hike around, use bathrooms, and take pictures.

Along the drive we saw ptarmigan, Dall sheep, moose, Arctic ground squirrel, and a mama grizzly bear and two little cubs in the distance running along fast! There was much speculation as to why they were running, since they’re so close to hibernation that they should be conserving calories. Our guide guessed that the mama could smell a male grizzly nearby and she was trying to protect her cubs. We stayed and watched for a long time, and still they ran and ran until we lost sight of them.

We continued on to the Visitors Center, and had a little time to walk to the lookout and admire the view.

Then back onto the bus, where we had fewer people since many had started hikes and would take another bus down later. So for the whole trip back we had great views on both sides of the bus, which really came in handy when a big male grizzly was sighted on the opposite side of the bus. We hopped over and I took some pictures that are grainy, but still fun to see.

We’d found a nice spot to park for the few nights we’d be in town, so we went back and settled in for the evening, taking the animals on a nice walk and even snapped our first 4-person selfie with the pets.

The next day we went back to the park and took a walk around Savage River, which was moody and cozy in the drizzle and fog.

During the summer the park has three daily demonstrations with their sled dog team, which we had timed our hike’s end to attend. I was so excited to see the dogs. They are actual working dogs who spend the winter helping the rangers get around and haul supplies to the cabins and outposts around the grounds. Since the park is a designated wilderness area motorized vehicles aren’t allowed anyway, but additionally the dogs are part of the history of the park and actually much more reliable than vehicles.

They are bred not for appearance in any way, but for their athleticism, double coat, closeness of paw pads (so ice doesn’t pack between them), bushy tail (to keep them warm when they sleep outside with tail over face, creating a warm pocket of air), and a trait where their arteries and veins are very close together which helps keep their blood warm as it travels around their bodies. But their appearance is still pretty darn cute too.

They were so sweet and eager to run. The trainer told us that they harness two fewer dogs to the summer “sled” for the demonstration than they do for the winter sleds, because if they didn’t she’d end up in the ditch!

Andy of course loved the sled.

We would have loved to stay extra days to climb all the mountains and watch fall continue to move in, but we’d planned a trip up to the Arctic Ocean and every degree counts when you get close to freezing. So we pressed on Northward for what was to become one of the greatest adventures yet!

A Busy Few Weeks: The VLA, ABQ, Boise, The Bisti Badlands, Four Corners, & Mesa Verde NP

Our current location is generally a mystery to anyone trying to keep track of us—including us—mostly due to the fact that we’re so busy having fun that I forget how long it’s been since I last updated the blog or Instagram! I promise that by the end of the next post both you and I will be completely caught up.

As I type this, I’m sitting at an adorable cafe and sweets shop in a town that, I announced immediately before consulting anyone else in the Turtle, we will one day live, even if just for a season. This place is a dream. But we’ll get to that next time. We have so much to cover right now!

We left our last story outside the Very Large Array near Socorro, NM, having a delicious evening treat of a pie sampler from Pie Town. We found a great pull-out to stay the night just a few minutes from the VLA. That night before bed, we watched Contact with a view of the VLA right outside our window! It was awesome. In the movie, the VLA plays a prominent role in Jodie Foster’s research and makes a really dramatic background. And it’s just as impressive in person.

The VLA is an astronomical radio observatory made up of 27 antennas that are each 82′ in diameter. They’ve helped with the investigation of black holes, quasars, pulsars, planets, and loads more. It’s astonishing to see them up close.

(Not quite sure what I was up to in this photo, but it’s the only one I’ve got, so you’re stuck with my unexplainable dance number.)

After getting our science on, we made our way back to Albuquerque where I had a flight to catch in a few days to Boise to visit my girlfriends Beth and Lexie.

But first, Andy and I had a mission: to get poolside as soon as possible. I’m not sure how we got the idea in our heads, but suddenly we couldn’t live without a swim. So we headed to the only RV park in Albuquerque that had their pool open before Memorial Day—American RV Park.

We came for the pool and stayed for the lovely park, yummy continental breakfast, clean showers and laundromat, and beyond-friendly staff. We really did stay another day. It’s a great park that I can’t recommend highly enough! We realized that it had been over a year since we had stayed in an RV park, which was fun because we’ve really gotten the hang of boondocking and have saved lots of money by not going to parks unless we need to take advantage of their amenities. Turtle power!

We stayed two nights, and the next day I left this guy:

To hang out with these guys:

It was a bunch of fun. We painted the town red, and even got dressed up to go watch the Kentucky Derby.

After a whirlwind few days, I was back in Albuquerque and the four of us were back on the road. Andy and I went to a fantastic mining museum in Grants called the New Mexico Mining Museum, which has a replica uranium mine underground. The man at the front desk had worked in mining for about 35 years, and had worked his way up from the bottom to be the head of his mine and even got an award for safety, with the longest time without a death in the mine or serious injuries. He had lots of information, was adorable, and gave me a goldstone to remember the mine by.

Outside of Grants, we stayed at the Joe Skeen campground near El Malpais.

I was happy to be reunited with this guy:

And this guy:

We drove to the Bisti Badlands wilderness, where you can stay overnight in the parking area for free! It was especially appreciated that we got to stay after we climbed for hours over the crazy hills that changed in appearance every few minutes. It felt like a walking tour of 10 different planets.

It was a hot day, and when we got back to the parking lot, we relaxed in our chairs and read books with Scout and Gracie. Gracie has become a real champ with her harness and leash these days. I think she’s figured out that sometimes it’s her only ticket outside, so she wears it without any problem, and even comes to my feet meowing when she hears me get it out.

The next day we made it to Four Corners with beautiful skies above us.

Then we drove on toward Mesa Verde National Park. The landscape on the way to the park was a destination unto itself. I swear this is not a painting.

In the last year, we’ve been to two other cliff dwellings sites: Bandelier NM and Gila Cliff Dwellings NM. We really enjoyed both, but agreed once we made it to Mesa Verde that this is our favorite site so far.

In the park are 600 beautifully preserved cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo people, many of which you can tour or see clearly from various vistas. Depending on the site, the tours are just $5 or $10 each, which gets you 1-2 hours of information and a walk right through the dwellings. You can see petroglyphs and pictographs, the different styles of construction each group used, and the actual tools they used to grind corn and make food. And the views are so vast and unreal that we both said more than once that we’d pay just to hike the trails on the mesa! There are also self-guided tours you can take, so we did all of those too.

Our second day there, as we parked at Balcony House for our tour we noticed another van that could be the Turtle’s long-lost cousin, so we parked by it as we often do when we see a van we like. After traveling around for the last year and a half, we’ve found that we can usually tell by someone’s van if they are kindred spirits, and our track record is pretty good so far. This time was no exception! We ran into Gary and Kiki as we returned from our tour, and found out that they’re just starting out on their full-time vandwelling adventure (though they’ve already been on many, many adventures of other sorts). We’d all already purchased tickets for the same tour the following day, so we got to hang out even more during the Long House tour.

We super enjoyed getting to know you guys, and I’m certain that our paths will cross down the road. (When they do, we’ll let you know what Turtle theme song we came up with; hopefully one as cool as Birdy’s.) You guys were a pleasure to hang out with. Stay in touch! 🙂

After the tour, we did a quick 6-mile loop on top of the mesa to check out the other cliff dwelling overlooks.

We would have loved to stay and visit (both the park and the new friends) longer, but the storm clouds were rolling in and the skies were getting darker. Our first rule of overlanding is “Never Drive at Night”, which is comparable to driving in terrible weather, so we hit the road to make it to Durango, CO to find a spot before the weather hit.

We hung out in Durango for the evening, a town that I already loved and knew Andy would too. The weather was unfortunate, with frigid winds and constant cloud cover, but we had a great time anyway. If you can involve pizza in the plans, Andy is a happy camper.

If you can also include a free trip to the coolest railroad museum ever, Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, he will be even happier.

And if you really want to make his day, cap it all off with a little performance testing at the highest altitudes the Turtle has ever attempted. . .

Which, unbeknownst to us, was the next leg of the trip. And one that would bring us to where I sit now, in my new very favorite town of all time! But that’s up next.

We Love NPS: Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, White Sands & Gila Cliff Dwellings

It’s no secret that we love the National Parks System. In fact, part of our five-year plan (or as close as full-time wanderers get to a plan) involves taking occasional breaks from the road to work at National Parks and Monuments as we travel around. Not only will it be soooo fun to live at a park, but we can also make a little extra travel money while giving back to the Parks System that has basically been our landlord for a good portion of the last year and a half. We’ve boondocked on NPS land at National Parks, campgrounds, and dispersed camping areas. And not only to we get access to astonishingly beautiful and unique gems around the United States, we’ve also been provided at many sites with potable water, RV dump stations, showers, bathrooms, and garbage services. Oh, and a surprise favorite—ranger talks around campfires under the stars! At Wind Cave the fireflies were flying around us as we walked to the amphitheater to hear a ranger tell us all about the history of bison in South Dakota, and another ranger sang us a song on her ukulele that she wrote about Native American folklore. Pretty fancy, right?

Immediately after hitting the road, we got our NPS annual Interagency Pass and it’s no surprise that we’ve gotten our $80 worth and feel pretty happy about it! The last few weeks have been especially National Parks-y.

We began the streak at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, hiking down to the Big Room from the Natural Entrance.

There were some beautiful intricate formations on the way down, but the real thrill was the 1.25 mile loop around the Big Room at the bottom. We’ve been in a bunch of caves, but never anything like this! The photos do it no justice, but the scale of these stalactites and stalagmites is staggering.

We were thankful for the railings along the path, which made it possible to just stare upward with our mouths hanging open, pinballing our way down the walkway. It’s Andy’s Favorite Cave To Date, and for me it’s Tied For First with all the other caves I’ve explored. (I just really like being in caves.)

We stayed the night somewhere outside the park, and then the following day—Easter Sunday!—we arrived at Guadalupe Mountains National Park for a holiday hike.

Of course we had to investigate the potable water situation, and they had a nice spigot near the RV camping area, so we made a note of it and hiked on into the hills. This park is home to El Capitan, which is a celebrity rock, and Guadalupe Peak, which is the highest mountain in Texas. We didn’t hike either of them; it was 90 degrees with full sunshine, so neither of us felt bad about choosing a less strenuous trail.

After the hike and a water fill, we proceeded to El Paso for a Costco run and then on to Alamogordo and saw. . . well, look.

That’s right; it’s the World’s Largest Pistachio! It’s a sculpture at the McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch, which is a really fun stop if you’re in the area. There’s a lot to see and eat there. We sampled dozens of flavored pistachios and pistachio candy, bought some bags to take home, and got some pistachio ice cream to eat under a pistachio tree by the huge pistachio sculpture.

I’ve never written the word “pistachio” so many times in my life combined.

Then another stop in Alamogordo at the Alameda Park Zoo, recommended to me by my buddy Daren who used to live in the area. And I’m so glad he did; we wouldn’t have thought to stop by this tiny zoo in a park in the middle of town, but it was one of the coolest zoos either of us has ever visited! It’s only $2.50 to get in, the grounds are lovely and nicely manicured, and the animals are happy and well-cared for in their clean and green enclosures.

We left the zoo while we still had plenty of light so that we could make the big climb up to Cloudcroft, an adorable town 19 miles outside of and 4,000 feet higher than Alamogordo. And our little Turtle made it! We may have been going 2 mph, but we made it! We stopped at the scenic train trestle outside of Cloudcroft, and then found a cool dispersed campsite nearby to stay for the night.

We stayed two days, and drove back down.

. . .Don’t get me wrong, lots of fun things happened in Cloudcroft, but I promised you a National Parks post so I’m going to try to stay on topic here. 🙂

A lot of National Parks that we go to feel like being on another planet, which is a shared characteristic of all the parks I’ve liked best. So you can probably guess my approval rating for White Sands National Monument! This place was bizarre in the very best way.

It was magical. Hills and hills as far as the eye can see of gypsum sand.

It played tricks on our minds, as hills of white usually mean snow and winter, but it was 85 degrees and we were roasting! I made a sand angel anyway. Also strange was the sensation that we were walking on sand in that heat, but it wasn’t hot on our feet at all.

Before we began walking back to the Turtle, Andy joked that we should fill our bucket with water and make a white sand castle. We both got quiet and looked at each other, and then went to get the bucket.

The next day we went to Hatch, NM to get ourselves the epic green chile cheeseburger at Sparky’s that some hot springs friends had told us about a few months ago.

It was legitimately one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Thanks for the recommendation, guys! On our way out of Hatch, we got some green chiles from a roadside market, Andy hassled one of the locals, and then we hit the road for Spaceport America.

Spaceport America is incredible to see, even though it’s not open to the public right now. We’d read that there was a visitor’s center, but it’s in nearby Truth or Consequences (actual town name) so we just got a long-distance view of “the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport” and some really neat info from the hospitable guard at the gate. The sci-fi nerd in me was already picturing the next time I drive out there, this time with my flight ticket in hand. To infinity and beyond!

That night and the next we stayed at Elephant Butte Dam in Truth or Consequences. We swam, read by the water, got some sun, and threw Scout’s frisbee into the water a thousand times before continuing onto the next leg of our journey.

Which was Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument! Another new favorite, and another great NPS spot to visit at the top of a very windy road that tops out at about 8,300 ft. The Turtle was wheezing, but we made it up this one too! And the reward was worth it.

There are free campsites all around the monument, as well as an oasis just right outside—a privately-owned hot springs with three pools and camping available. If they hadn’t been booked up, we would have gladly stayed the night too!

But we already had a site we’d found the night before that we loved, so we were happy to return to our little house by the river.

It was a great place to relax and catch our breath before moving on to the next National Park! It was also a great place for catching other things too.

After returning our new friend to his home by the river, we returned to the road—the Turtle’s natural habitat! And on to the next National Park—the Turtle’s second home.

Bandelier National Monument: Freakin’ Awesome

We LOVE Bandelier National Monument. And a day before we went there, we didn’t even know it existed! We happened to see it in our New Mexico Atlas while we planned our route to Los Alamos, and were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived. Even the Visitor’s Center is awesome.

Here you can see the abandoned cave dwellings of the Pueblo people, who lived here for hundreds of years in Frijoles Canyon.

You even get to climb into a number of the dwellings. It’s incredible.

The ring you see down below is the ruins of other dwellings, in what was basically the town square.

I’ve been known to surreptitiously piggyback on nearby tours, and here we were lucky enough to be right behind a small group with a very knowledgable tour guide. I’m pretty sure once we started asking her questions they were on to us, but the whole group was nice enough to let us follow them around and learn a bunch more than we would have from the brochure alone. I was especially amazed when she told us that the smallest indentations in the rock were carved to serve as ladders! These 3″ round holds would go straight up a vertical rock to reach other ledges. In the above photo, you can see the littlest dents running up the left side of the furthest-back rock wall, which gave access to the upper shelf, where a number of petroglyphs were carved into the rock. Crazy!

You can also continue past the main trail to the Alcove House, where you climb three ladders and some stone stairs up 140′ to a cave that houses a kiva and has a great view of the canyon.

We loved it.

Afterwards, we stayed a few nights in Los Alamos, where we went to museums and took tours, learning about the Manhattan Project and the old Ranch School in Los Alamos.

On our way to Albuquerque, we stopped at Spence Hot Springs for a soak, which is an easy hike to a not-hot-but-warm natural springs with a gorgeous view of the valley.

The weather began to get chilly, and the springs felt just all right enough to stay. The source of the springs is in the cave, so when the sun went behind the clouds, we crawled in and warmed up a bit in the cozy sauna.

Then right before sunset, we stopped at the Jemez Historic Site to check out the old mission ruins.

We drove through the red rocks of Jemez Valley into Albuquerque at sunset, right past the sign pointing us to the Ojito Wilderness, where we’d return to spend a week just a few days later.

Great Sand Dunes National Park: Climbing Up & Sliding Down

With our compass pointed south we continued our quest for some sunshine, and found it as we neared Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Andy was happy to channel The Dude with his sweet Lebowski shades as we pursued the sunny weather.

We were a little surprised to see how much snow was covering the ground, but it made for some dramatic views of the Greenhorn Mountains as we approached the entrance.

We found a little pullout along the road into the park, and stopped to admire the view. We noted that it would make a great spot to stay the night, in case the campground was closed for the season. We had found conflicting information about whether or not any campsites would be available this time of year, so we had our feelers out in search of potential real estate in the event that we couldn’t stay in the park.

As we drove on, the snow-covered dunes came into view, and every direction we looked was just stunning.

A quick stop at the Visitor’s Center saw our water filled and our questions answered about where we could stay the night in the park (nowhere). We had to assuage the concerns of the rangers who told us it was going to get “reeeal cold” that night if we were staying in our “car,” and we felt pretty pleased with our setup as we reassured him that we had heat, a warm bed, and a stove to cook a hot meal for the night. Ah, Turtle life.

We decided we’d return to our pullout to spend the night, but in the meantime we had an hour to two to run around on the dunes! Dogs are even invited, and Scout was so happy. His two favorite landscapes are sand and snow, and he couldn’t believe his luck in getting to play on both at once. A great day for everyone! (Gracie was sleeping in a sunbeam back in the Turtle, so she was happy too.)

I think Scout inherited my posture.

That’s better.

Pictures could never quite capture it, but as the sun shone on the snow it created an explosion of rainbow fragments flickering across the surface as we walked along. I’ve never seen anything like it.

We parked near the amphitheater to explore a bit, then had to head back to our overnight spot as the sun was beginning to set. (We have a list of rules we’ve compiled for successful overlanding, and the first rule is Never Drive At Night. We break it now and then, but life is much easier when we don’t.) One obvious benefit to traveling only during daylight is that we don’t miss the scenery, and I was very pleased we made it in time for sunset so we could admire the view.

The next morning we woke up and drove right back to the parking lot outside the dunes for a long hike to the top. We packed a lunch and set out, and as we walked across the snowy dunes, Andy reminded me of a conversation we’d had earlier this year. . .

When we were visiting the Badlands, I was in such awe as we walked across Door Trail; I’d never been in such an incredible place before. It seemed so otherworldly and dreamlike, aside from the distraction of those other humans roaming around. I told Andy that I wished I could have the Badlands all to myself, for my birthday or some special day—just once. Always the voice of reason, Andy responded, “Well. . . I think that restricting public use would kind of defeat the whole point of the National Park System.”

Ok, ok, I know. But it would be SO COOL, right?

Well as we ascended the first rise at Sand Dunes National Park, Andy pointed out that there had been no cars in the parking lot, and that there was not a soul anywhere. My birthday was a just a few days away, and he asked, “Is this close enough?” Yes, it was.

For over an hour, we were the only people on the dunes. It’s pretty exciting to accidentally have a wish granted.

I’d like to point out here that these pictures give no sense of depth; I was actually so high up on this dune that I was a little nervous to be standing that close to the edge!

We hiked up, up up, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet. I’m telling you, that air is thin. And the last dune was a real doozy! There was some vertical hands-and-knees climbing there at the last ascent.

So we were thrilled to reach the top!

There we ate our well-earned cheese and crackers, with olives for me and onions for Andy.

After our picnic, I had a surprise waiting for Andy: a trick up my sleeve that I borrowed from my dad, who was endlessly creative when it came to having fun. When I was a kid, on a family outing in the mountains of Montana, we happened upon a steep valley covered in snow. My dad grabbed some trash bags out of the car, and we had instant makeshift sleds to fly down that mountainside. So when I saw the dunes covered in snow, I squirreled a few black garbage backs into my pack before we left the Turtle, and once we were at the top, I handed one to Andy.

After a few trials, we learned that they worked brilliantly on the snow, and when we’d hit the sand it would slow us down quickly and stop us. So we stuck to the good patches of snow, and rode those garbage bags all the way down the dunes.

It was a short two days at Great Sand Dunes, but by the time we left we felt like we had really made the most of it. As we travel from one National Park to another, it never fails to amaze me how diverse and beautiful this country is. We can’t wait to see more!

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