To the Back Cave!

August 30, 2016 was a rest day, a hang-out day, for me. I deliberately inserted a number of these into my schedule. What I ended up doing that day was heading to the Anasazi Heritage Center about 30 miles east (as the raven flies) of Hovenweep just outside the town of Dolores.

There is a nice museum there and I arrived just as one of the local experts was starting a tour.

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Making the Cut

The day after visiting Painted Hand Pueblo I decided to visit Cutthroat Castle. You may recall that from the parking lot I headed east (and north) while Cutthroat Castle was in the other direction, north. However, I wanted to do something a bit more challenging and I didn’t want to repeat myself driving to that parking lot.

So I did something else.

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Painted Back

On my trip Out West, August 28, 2016 was the day I started exploring the Canyons of the Ancients. As a reminder, this is a very large, fairly new, National Monument managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

This was the day I was going to learn if my bushwhacking skills from Ohio transferred to the desert Southwest.

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Petroglyph Program

One of the really nice things about going to National Parks as opposed to other federal locations like National Forests is that the National Parks have educational programs that they put on pretty regularly. These are almost always worth going to (and well-worth the price of admission).

On the late afternoon of my last post I made sure to attend the “Petroglyph Walk” at Hovenweep.

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Holly and Horseshoe and Hackberry at Hovenweep

Continuing with my trip Out West, on August 27, 2016 I was starting my first full day at the Square Tower Campground at Hovenweep National Monument.

It was time to head out exploring.

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And They Hove Into View . . .

On my trip Out West, I left the Grand Canyon on August 26, 2016 and headed for Hovenweep National Monument. What? You’ve never heard of Hovenweep?

Before I planned this trip, neither had I.

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I’m Movin’ On Up

After spending the night of August 23, 2016 at the Bright Angel Campground, it was time to head back up to the top. While heading up is a change in elevation of about a mile, in some ways it’s not as hard. For one, you’ve eaten some of your food so your pack is lighter. For another, you don’t have to carry as much water, since you can refill at Indian Garden (and then at the 3-mile and 1½-mile Resthouses).

On the way up I did get quite a few people asking how my bare feet were doing. My answer: “They’re just fine; it’s my hips that are hurting. I’m used to hiking barefoot; but I’m not used to carrying this pack uphill all the time.”

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I’m Going Down

In writing up my trip Out West, it’s now time for my backpacking trip down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, where I camped at the Bright Angel Campground (after getting a permit).

This was on August 23, 2016.

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The Grand Canyon: Bus-ted

Continuing blogging about my trip out west this summer, I’m now up to August 20. In the morning I left Chaco Canyon. In the afternoon, I arrived at the Grand Canyon.

And in the evening I got an all-expenses paid, free trip in the back seat of a police cruiser.

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Gee, Wijiji

I know I’ve been quite slow updating here. But I am (slowly) moving along. Now I’m up to August 19, 2016 at Chaco Canyon. That day I hiked out to the Wijiji ruins.

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On the (Chacoan) Roads Again

Let me continue from where I left off describing my trip Out West. I’m now up to August 18, when I hiked the Pueblo Alto trail. I’ve hiked it in every time I’ve been to Chaco Canyon (twice before), and written about it in Pueblo Alto and Getting High.

This time let me emphasize the Chacoan Roads a bit.

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Chaco Canyon—Tsin Kletsin

Later in the day (August 16) after seeing Una Vida, I hiked the South Mesa Trail to Tsin Kletsin.

This was a trail I’d hiked before.

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Chaco Canyon—Una Vida

One of the reasons I stayed at Chaco Canyon for a fairly long time was to visit some of the sites that I had not visited on previous visits. (Also, I just wanted to take my time and enjoy the whole experience.)

One of the sites I’d never bothered visiting was Una Vida, so I went there on the morning of August 16.

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At Chaco Canyon

On August 15 I left El Malpais and headed up to Chaco Canyon. This was my third time there, but every visit is always fascinating.

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Opening the Window

It’s still August 14, since after leaving Lobo Canyon (around 1:00pm) I stopped at La Ventana, which was along the drive back to my campground.

You may recall that I’d seen La Ventana from across the grand curve when I’d hiked the Narrows Rim Trail. This was my chance to get up-close-and-personal.

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