Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Two Roads Diverged in a Yellow Wood: Fall Color 08

It's not more than 1300-1400 feet all told. Tom Harrison marks the Lake Sabrina TH at 9080ft, and Blue Lake at 10,400ft. Most of that happens at the south end of Sabrina, when you walk to switchers up the rock faces. It's a nice trail, though, and some of the views off the rock are gorgeous!



Hmmm. Kinda workin' on it! I've downloaded the software, at least. Now I just need to sit down and sort through my pics!

MC: That was a beautiful poem! Thanks for sharing it. I like the thought of harkening back to days of my youth. I often feel like a kid in a candy store out here, wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the wonder of it all. Kurt gave me some of the best advice about that: "Don't ever lose the WOW factor."

-L

Hey there Laura,

Your pictures are great.I'm so sad that I'm missing the fall colors for the first time in like 25 years.And the fish you called me on Saturday evening to brag about is real nice too.I would say "I'll be up there before the end of the month if it kills me" but we all know that wouldn't be a good idea.My cuts,scrapes and bruises are all but healed,I'm not limping around,the ribs are almost tolerable and the cast on my arm will be off in a week and a half so I'm coming up anyway so Laura can show me the finer points of catching fish.Have a great time in Yosemite this weekend.

Thor

Steve: You just described one of my most beloved drives. I was out there in 2004 exploring Capitol Reef/Grand Staircase/Bryce at the end of a 2-week loop through the four corner (last two weeks of October). I remember the aspens against the red rock of canyon country, especially coming up on 12 throught Tropic and into Bryce. It had just snowed for two days and the colors alone of burnished rock, brilliant aspen, and crystal sky against the white snow are burned in my memory.

That pass into Cedar City has magnificent aspen groves, and a number of aspen split-rail fences as well. Did you get into Cedar Breaks National Monument when you came over? Ah, I miss that part of Utah so very much. Hmmm... maybe I'll head back there for Christmas again this year...

Thanks for the memories!
-L

Thor:

It was great to talk to you Saturday night! I'm really glad you're healing (again!) and hope to see you up here soon! I'm taking the rod/reel with me this weekend to Yosemite so hopefully I'll have a little luck there, too!

-L

M.C.--thank you for sharing this beautiful poem. I think you have captured brilliantly a theme that Thoreau touched on in Walden, "The day is an epitome of the year. The night is the winter, the morning and evening are the spring and fall, and the noon is the summer." You have translated our personal relationship with this wonderful and constant shift and cycle.

Brent

Laura, Oh, that Capital Reef area is very impressive without the 'people pressure'. The 'Waterpocket Fold' geologic phenom. runs for many a mile. We were introduced to the area by my wife's folks, who used to vacate Grand Junction, CO., for Torrey Utah at the height of the hottest weather for a altutude induced cooler respite. The Capitol Reef Inn & Cafe has the greatest wheat pancakes I've found, but you might get a bit tipsy negotiating the floor of the patio eating area as it greatly slopes to the south.
There IS A WAY to get from I-70 over un-marked, un-shown on the map DIRT ROADS to Ut 24, although there are numerous signs advising against traveling during inclement weather, as the road continually dips into dry washes. WELLLLLLL, we negotiated that area about 4 yrs ago in a '93 Pontiac Bonneville, while it was sporadically raining, on clay roads, lol. Oh boy, every time I looked over at my wife I could see the smoke coming out of her ears. I found some really great places to stop and explore, but didn't dare try.
Another great venture is to go south and east on the Burr Trail (it's a road, mostly paved), and arrive at Bullfrog, Utah and take the ferry over Lake Powell to Halls Crossing Marina, and continue east on Ut. 276.
My Father in Law, now deceased, led us on at least 4 trips trying to locate Butch Cassidy's hideout (one of them), that he
and 3 friends found in the '50s while rock-hounding. We were never successful..........................steve
p.s. we don't have that car anymore
p.p.s. forgot to mention the black lava fields visible from Ut #12, with the botanicals trying to cover up the lava, w/o much success.

Dangit, Steve, now you've got me bustin' out the ol' maps! You guys know what happens when I get a map in front of me! My route a few years ago ran through Blanding and up Hwy 95 past Natural Bridges National Mon. Skirting the Blues and then the Henrys after crossing the Colorado River. I remember marvelling at the colors of the hills, then being 'trapped' in Torrey for an extra day due to the weather. I then cruised over the Hogsback west on Hwy 12 through Escalante before coming into Bryce, seeing it with a fresh coat of snow on the hoodoos.

Dang! Now I have to get out the ol' pics! Dang!

-L

LAURA, Yeahhhhh, the H O G B A C K,,,,,, on UT 12. My family has made me PROMISE NEVER to take my niece over that road, she would be screaming with her eyes closed....lol
p.s.
If in the area, it is really worth the time to go into GOBLIN VALLEY, I arrived there last summer solo at sunrise and drove around the barricade where they want you to buy a ticket (too early for them to be manning the toll) and got lots of pics of the Hoodies, will look for some pics to post.
This is re. Goblin Valley,
http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/goblin_valley/state_park.html

My experience is that the small campground is nearly always full.
Another thing to explore is THE GREAT WESTERN TRAIL,
http://www.gwt.org/

HOGBACK, included here:
http://www.scenicbyway12.com/

Doug ~ the fact that you would want to read my poem many times makes me proud that I spent the 5 minutes to write it. Btw, be looking for a package from the NW in the coming week.

Moosie and Brent N ~ thank you for your kind and encouraging words!

I also was up Bishop Creek that friday and I saw the Moose Mobile parked at the trailhead and I felt priviliged.

We gotta be careful about all of this (albeit well-deserved) praise of Laura. Her head is gonna swell too big for her summit antlers!

I'm off to meet Moosie for the first time this evening. Looking forward to our hike tomorrow, as long as we don't freeze

I'll be taking SPOT along if anyone wants to check on our progress. Please don't be alarmed, but I use the Send Help signal as a poor-man's tracking mode, since I did not pay the extra for the tracking service.

For those who don't know my sarcastic wit, I stating up front that this is all in fun:

Maybe we need to knock her down a notch, or two. Two recent quotes:

- You little bastard...
(When she found out I was on top of Half Dome and hadn't invited her.)

- Three Dicks going hiking together...
(Her comment about Mike (how's he a Dick), Rick Graham and myself heading off to do HM to WP.)

All reports about my being an angel have been grossly exaggerated! It was really funny to get the text from Gigs saying, "Hey, Richard's on HD right now!"



I'll let the real Dick comment on who actually came up with that one!

Moosie kinda reminds me of Shreve at The Daily Coyote, more in common than just wonderful photography.