Well, there was labor in the form of backpacking, and there was Labor Day. And there was my birthday.
This post is about the fantastic trip Matthew, Leslie and I took in early September. We drove to Sawtooth Mountains (Redfish Lake Lodge) via Dubois, Wyoming where we were able to visit with Leslie’s mom and stay for a couple nights there on the way to Wyoming.
The story is told here: https://markpastor.com/september-vacation-2021
My outing choice for Father’s Day was to hike Bear Peak in Boulder. I wanted to do something that would help get me in shape, and I know this hike to be good for that.
Matthew, Leslie and I took off from the Erie at around 6:30am, and we were on the trail from NCAR parking lot at about 7:20am. As expected it was a grueling hike, but fun and I was in better shape than I thought I would be after a year of COVID isolation and a not-too-active summer last year because of all the fires in this part of the country. We took a break on the peak to take in all the scenery, and then we found a shady spot just below the peak to stop and eat the delicious sandwiches Leslie prepared for lunch. With all that said, the 8 mile hike took us about six and a half hours total. We were certainly ready to pound down the large lemonades from Wendy’s on our way home.
A small, Covid-careful group of us decided we would rather not be stuck watching news media during what we predicted would be a crazy election week. So we loaded up the cars and moved (temporarily) to a home (well, a house boat) on Lake Powell. We were indeed isolated from the media, but so wonderfully connected to nature’s beauty. What a wonderful week it was.
After spending the night of November 1 on the boat in Bullfrog Marina, the morning of November 2 was filled with hours of waiting for the Marina to open and then get us oriented and trained on the boats.
We piloted the boat to the mouth of Slick Rock Canyon where we anchored for two nights.
After a delicious-as-usual breakfast, the group took off in the speed boat for a 3-hour tour up Escalante Canyon.
You can see from the inset in the map above that we did have an incident (see “stuck in the mud”).
The photo to the left shows a partially disrobed Leslie jumping back into the boat after heroically dislodging us from our grounded state.
We beached and picnicked at the end of Clear Creek Canyon where we saw some incredible views along the way.
And then we went back ‘home’ for a relaxing evening. These pics are from the drive.
Several of us took a small hike around Slick Rock Canyon…
… then we moved the houseboat from Slick Rock Canyon to Hansen Canyon.
The next day we ventured to Forgotten Canyon in search of the Defiance House Ruins.
Here are pics from the hike…
… and here are pics from the ruins.
There is a storage room and a Kiva.
At the entrance is where the petroglyphs are.
After exploring the ruins, we hiked back to the speed boat and explored some of Moki Canyon.
On the last day of this adventure, each of us relaxed in our own way in the morning. Leslie went paddle boarding, I took a hike along the canyon, and Cynthia and Lou took a stroll along one of the fingers of the canyon.
Leslie and I conquered one of her bucket list adventures… Mount Sneffels. It was a tough hike with a long very steep scree field followed by an even steeper boulder field, followed by a slightly technical passage with enough exposure to make it interesting. The hike took us a lot longer than I thought it would – about 9 hours, because you just can’t rush progress, up or down, on that scree field. Now I know why most of the hikers I saw were wearing helmets. Well… we did it! And lived to tell our tale. The vistas were spectacular.
