Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky

A couple weeks into our trip, and about a month before arriving to Daniel Boone National Forest, we got an email saying that our reservation had been cancelled due to flooding. Spotty phone service in the southwest prevented us from seeing the email right away, and then from getting in touch with the park. Once we called, we were told there was a mixup and our site hadn't actually flooded (although there was severe flooding in the rest of the park), and we were welcome to rebook the reservation through them directly rather than through the online system. We gave them our info as someone on the other end scribbled it down quickly, and we crossed our fingers that we'd actually have a place to stay when we showed up later in the trip. 

When we arrived at the campground last week, it was relatively deserted and thankfully not underwater, as we had feared.  Not only that, but we were the only people camping in our loop except for the campground host, which was a first for us on this trip. So far, we've been camping in pretty popular parks during peak season, so the peace and quiet was a welcome change.

We spoke to a ranger after our first night there and got an explanation about the flooding. Cave Run Lake was created by the US Army Corps of Engineers as a flood control reservoir in the 1960's, protecting the valley below. When there are especially heavy rains, they trap excess water in the reservoir, and then slowly meter it out over the following days to prevent the rivers downstream from overflowing. Right before we arrived, the region had a couple months of extremely heavy rain. In order to protect the valley and houses below, they allowed the reservoir to rise 40 feet above its normal level, right to the edge of spilling over the dam, and the highest it's ever been. This resulted in extensive flooding of the campground, situated right on the lake. By the time we got there they had drained a lot of the water and cleaned up much of the damage, but we could still see signs of recent flooding. The lake was down to about 10ft over its normal height, and they were spilling water through the dam as quickly as they could.

We weathered a few more scattered thunderstorms in our tent on this leg of the trip.  It feels like we've been driving under the same thundercloud since Bryce Canyon, way back in Utah.  Matt thinks this is Mother Nature's way of preparing us for Seattle weather, and we are slowly getting used to it.  In between rain showers, we explored the trails and wildlife in the northern part of the park and took a drive through several picturesque farming towns in the area.

Our campsite in the trees - the best campsite separation we'd seen yet!

Midwest Round-Up

After Boulder, we drove down out of the Rockies and into the midwest. We were immediately struck by the change in the landscape; it was flat, it was green, and it was humid. It felt foreign after being in the southwest for so long with so many stunning canyons and spires of red rock, everything dry and sandy. At the same time, though, this new terrain was immediately familiar to us, with deciduous trees and humid air like home on the east coast.

The physical transition was also accompanied by a new phase of the trip. While the first month was almost entirely camping in the southwest, our second month will mostly be spent staying with friends and family in the east. For our first stop, we visited Lawrence, KS. Matt's uncle, Ed, was out of town at a conference, but he graciously let us stay at his place, do much needed laundry, and explore the town while he was away.

 

Colorful houses along Tennessee St

Rocky Mountain National Park and Boulder, CO

From Mesa Verde we headed to Boulder, CO. The plan was to stay in an AirBNB for 3 nights, then move to a campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. However, planning the trip from CA, we sort of forgot about that whole thing called "altitude," and "mountains," and "winter." It turns out that the Rockies in May are still quite cold, and quite snowy (29" at one campground). We opted to extend our stay in Boulder at a new AirBNB, and do day trips rather than camp.

For our entire week in Boulder the daily forecast was 100% chance of scattered thunderstorms. We did our best to get out and explore, but if we're honest we also spent a lot of time enjoying the creature comforts of staying in an apartment rather than camping: aka watching TV and eating ice cream... Also a lot of photo editing!

When we did get out to see the town, there was a lot to see. Being huge nerds, we started at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), where there is a cool little science museum about climate and weather. That same morning the weather was clear and sunny, so we also took a stroll through the Pearl Street mall, a shopping district with lots of restaurants, pubs, and stores. Later in the week we walked along the Boulder Creek bike path, which follows some gentle rapids through town. We saw lots of families, bikers, kayakers, and fisherman enjoying the space.

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), designed by I. M. Pei

Mesa Verde

At the end of our 2 hour drive from Moab to Mesa Verde, we were welcomed to the park with a wintry mix of slushy snow/rain. Wet weather seems to be the theme of our time in southern Utah and Colorado so far:

We checked into the campground, where we had our pick of the 267 sites (ok, three or four were taken). The whole place seemed pretty deserted, and several sites looked like they'd been left in a hurry before the storms blew in. We graciously scavenged abandoned firewood from a couple sites for our fire pit. After waiting out the weather for a bit in the car, we jumped out at the first break, set up the tent, and unloaded our gear. Immediately after pounding in the last tent stake, the rain picked back up. Pretty good timing!  

While we were mostly hunkered down for the first day, the second day brought blue skies and allowed us to explore the area a bit. We started off with a quick hike, then a 10am tour of the Balcony House.

Arches and Canyonlands, Part 2

Since Matt was still recovering from his MUNI ride on the first day in Moab, I decided to head out early on our final day for a long hike. Devil's Garden trail is about 7.2 miles, not including side trips to a couple of nice overlooks and arches. The trail leads to 8 different arches with some scrambling over big rock fins and boulders. The park service put up a number of warnings that the trail was primitive and not well-signed, but I didn't find that to be the case for the most part.

I got up before sunrise and headed out to the trailhead at the end of the park road. I knew that this was a popular trail, so I wanted to get out early to avoid the crowds. As I parked at the trailhead, the sun had just risen above the horizon. I was the third car to arrive for the morning, but I soon discovered that the other two visitors had only come for sunrise and I encountered them both heading back to their cars as I started the trail.

The first big arch on the trail is landscape arch, the longest arch in the world. This first mile of the trail is well-developed and sees lots of visitors. After this point, hikers have to scramble up a pretty steep and long section of boulders which is probably the least well-signed part of the whole trail. I wondered if this was done on purpose to keep un-prepared hikers out.

Landscape arch

Arches and Canyonlands, Part 1

For the first time since starting our trip, we camped in a private campground while we were visiting Arches.  All the sites in the park had been claimed by early January when we started booking our trip, so instead we camped in the town of Moab at a small tent-only place called Up the Creek Campground.  It was quite a luxury to be able to take a hot shower anytime you wanted and to wash your dishes with real soap in an actual sink! The downside was that our encounters with Cottonwood trees were far from over.  The campsite was beautifully shaded with Cottonwoods, however the wafting fluff was everywhere, much more so than Zion.  Here's a video from the parking lot:

Cottonwood fluff aside, we enjoyed our stay in Moab.  The town has billed itself as a sort of extreme sports adventure Mecca, with off-road jeep tours, mountain biking, zip lining, sky diving, and canyoneering guide companies almost everywhere you look.  There are also a lot of cute shops and restaurants, too, so it was nice to be just a short walk from it all.

Matt went out to explore the trails on his unicycle when we first got to Moab.  On our second day, we decided to drive the main road into Arches to get oriented and do all the short hikes that we could fit into our first day.  One of the things we noticed immediately about Arches was the crowds.  We waited in a long line of cars to enter the gates (for the first time on this trip, remarkably), and there were lots of people out enjoying the park.  We made our way north through from the entrance, stopping for hikes at the Windows Section and up to Sand Dune and Broken Arch.  We skipped the 3-miler to the park's most famous Delicate Arch after seeing huge crowds there from an overlook.   We explored lots of other less-famous arches in relative solitude.

MUNI Moab

On our first day in Moab I decided to check out the bike trails I'd heard so much about. After being confronted with an overwhelming number of options online, I decided to just head to the world famous Slickrock Trail, (link 2). It's a ~13 mile loop of steep ascents and descents over undulating sandstone, which gives amazing grip even on the steepest of slopes. Renowned for being incredibly difficult on a bike both from a technical as well as cardio standpoint, my goal was simply to go out and have fun, riding whatever I could, and walking the rest with my unicycle.

Unfortunately, I didn't come super prepared for taking pictures, so I just have some stills from my iPhone below, no action shots :(  Stacey and I were going to head back out again before leaving the area to get some pictures/videos of me riding, but my legs were totally shot for ~3 days afterwards, so we weren't able to go back for pictures.

The ride was a blast. I did the 2.3mi practice loop, continued along the main trail to where it splits into the main loop, went out maybe a mile, then turned around and headed back since it was getting late. Probably ~7 miles round trip and ~2 hours of riding. A bit slower than the ~5mph Roland and I seem to average in Skyline Open Space, Russian Ridge, Monte Bello, etc. 

As always, the unicycle drew a lot of attention. As I was gearing up in the parking lot, people were amazed that I was going to attempt the trail on a unicycle. Once on the trail, I got nothing but positive comments cheering me on. At one point a group on expensive full suspension bikes bowed down saying "we're not worthy, we're not worthy!" I got a laugh out of that. 

Despite not being super prepared (headed out late in the day, hadn't ridden in ~2 months), I had a great time and would love to go back. Moab isn't thaaaat far from Seattle, right?

Nimbus 24" mountain unicycle