Christmas in the San Juan Mountains

One of the downsides of working at Goblin Valley is that we have to work holidays.  The other ranger and I are pretty good about swapping holiday duty -- I went home for Thanksgiving this year, so he gets Christmas.  It's definitely a bummer not seeing family during the holidays, but Jordan and I managed to sneak away for a couple days for a great consolation prize -- visiting Diana and Jerry in the San Juan Mountains near Ridgway, CO!

12" of new snow = guaranteed white Christmas

I love Christmas in the San Juans.  The mountains are coated in snow and the tiny towns are decked out with lights.  It's definitely a cheeseball-classic winter wonderland.  Jerry and Diana have a house up in Elk Meadows with a killer view of the Sneffels Range and loads of snow for us to play around in.  We didn't wander very far from their place all weekend, but we still managed to squeeze in loads of snowy shenanigans -- sledding, snowshoeing, riding ATVs, and building an igloo. Diana and Jerry are a blast and it was great to spend the holidays with such great friends.

redneck-style sledding!

Jordan and I have been talking about snow camping this winter, so we decided to test our igloo-building skills.  Fueled by copious brandy mixed with hot chocolate, we piled up a huge mound of snow and misted it periodically with a hose.  We let it set for a couple hours, then came back to hollow it out.  It took the better part of an afternoon to finish, but it was surprisingly cozy inside and totally bombproof.  Seriously, spraying it with water made it an ice bunker -- I bet it'll be there until next spring!

On Christmas Eve day, we rode the ATVs up to Top of the Pines to snowshoe.  The Top of the Pines building is still under construction, but eventually it's going to be an outdoor education/recreation/event center.  There were also 8 kilometers of groomed cross country ski and snowshoe trails, which we tooled around on for a couple hours.  Really pretty.

After hoofing around in the snow all day, we drove a couple miles down the road to Orvis Hot Springs for a soak.  Orvis is a natural hot springs resort near Ouray, CO with water that ranges from 98-112 degrees.  It also naturally contains lithium, which makes you feel super relaxed and loopy.  They have a couple big pools, the "lobster pop," a sauna, and two massage yurts.  There's nothing better than soaking in steaming hot water surrounded by falling snow.

That evening, the big storm rolled in!  While a foot of snow fell, we drank wine, belted out Christmas carols around a bonfire, unwrapped presents, and danced around all night.  Yay Christmas!

Diana at Top of the Pines

 

Skiing @ Powderhorn

Oh man, we finally went skiing!  How have I lived in Utah for almost 5 years and never gone downhill skiing?  No excuse.  We finally had decent snow this week, so we drove 40 miles east of Grand Junction, CO for the opening weekend of Powderhorn Mountain Resort!

So much fun!  Honestly, Jordan and I are both terrible skiers (the last time we both went was in high school, where a ski trip to *Iowa* was considered pretty awesome,) so we stuck to the beginner slopes, biffed a lot, and had a great time.  I really like the vibe at Powderhorn.  It's a nice mountain with good snow, but it's not really expensive or pretentious.  Even though we live near some world-class skiing (Park City! Telluride! Aspen!) it definitely doesn't make sense to blow a bunch of cash on those places until we get better.  Powderhorn was a great place to build up our non-existent skills.

We stayed a couple nights in the teeny-tiny town of Mesa, CO at the Wagonwheel Motel, which is only 4 miles from the slopes.  Mesa doesn't have much going on, but the motel was nice (in the elk-head-on-the-wall type way,) and we had some great food at Blink Twice.

On our second day out, we decided to snowshoe way up on the mesa.  We rode the West End lift up to the top, where Snow Patrol told us that no one had done the trail yet.  But the path was well-marked with blue blazes, so we decided to push on towards the Take Four lift anyway.  SWEETBABYJEBUS...  busting new trail through 3 feet of powder at 10,000 feet was one of the toughest things I've ever done (not gonna lie, Jordan led the way 99% of the time.)  But it was totally worth it -- it was gorgeous up there!  Lots of spruce, aspen, blue skies, and pure white snow.  It was totally quiet in that way only a snow-covered forest can be.  Perfect.

 

Map credit: www.powderhorn.com

White Wash Sand Dunes

Brrr … winter is finally here!  It was windy and in the 40s, but we bundled up, hopped into the truck, and drove out to White Wash Sand Dunes Open OHV Area.  During the busy season, White Wash is swarming with ATVs and dirt bikes, but on this chilly December day, we had the place to ourselves.  The whole desert was really silent and surreal -- we hiked around orange sand dunes blown up against Entrada sandstone bluffs.  Sand dunes always remind me of scalding desert summers, so the contrast between its appearance and the icy wind was really cool.  Tenacious cottonwood trees branch out interspersed among the dunes, relying on underground pockets of water to grow.

On the drive in, we saw a studly bighorn sheep, who stared us down for a few minutes.  We found out later that the BLM installed a water guzzler for a small herd that lives east of dunes.  Sweet.

To get to Wish Wash Sand Dues, drive 13 miles east of Green River on Interstate 70 until you reach the "Floy" exit 175.  Drive south for about 12 miles, following the signs and making sure to bear rights after 4.5 miles.  Park at one of the large parking areas just west of the dunes.

La Sal Mt. Christmas Tree

It's officially December -- time to find a Christmas tree!  The temperatures are still hovering in the 50s down in the desert, so we drove up to the LaSal Moutains to have our first semi-snowy excursion of the winter.

50-degree red rock desert doesn't look like a promising start, but ...

During the week, we stopped by the US Forest Service office in Moab to grab a permit, which only costs $10.  They're open weekdays from 8:00am - 4:30pm.  For that price, you can cut down a tree up to 8 feet tall.  Pretty sweet deal.

On Sunday, we started the drive up into the mountains.  The LaSals aren't really that snowy yet, which was a little disconcerting.  It was 56 degrees down in the desert and there wasn't a speck of snow on the red rocks, so it was hard to feel super-Christmasy.  But as we started driving up the mountain, things got better.  We saw patches of snow and were surrounded by juniper, pinyon, and ponderosa.  There are a couple spots that the USFS recommends for Christmas trees, so we took the northernmost road that heads towards Gateway, CO.  The roads were still in pretty good shape-- we ran into a couple icy spots and had to toss rocks in the back of the 2WD Ranger, but it wasn't too much of a problem.  We passed the dinosaur tracks and pulled out on a tree-covered peninsular.  Jackpot!

 

We found what looked like a cute little pinyon and loaded it up in the back of the truck.  But here's a thing I learned about Christmas trees:  they look way smaller out in the woods than they do in a living room.  Our tree looks huge in our house, which was kind of awesome until it toppled over!  Jordan was a pro and decorated if for a second (and hopefully last!) time.

Decorated Tree II -- following the monstrous faceplant of Decorated Tree I.

Klondike Bluffs Mountain Biking

True story:  I'm a wimp in the winter.  Despite my best intentions, when the temperatures drop, the adventure momentum starts to wane.  It's a combinations of things:  the cold, the lack of light, and the holiday distractions.  It also doesn't help that we had no snow last year, which meant that all my good intentions to ski and snowshoe fell through.  And seriously, if it's going to be cold and dark, it might as well snow.

Unfortunately, so far this late fall/early winter has been just as dry as last year.  It's sunny and warm, with only a handful of half-assed flurries.  Don't get me wrong, I love the unseasonably warm weather as it's happening, but two mild winters in a row is going to turn southern Utah into a dry, dusty, drought-ridden mess.  Yikes.

So if we can't whip out the skis quite yet, it's time for Plan B:  keep biking.  It felt weird loading up the bikes with the sun at such a low, slanty angle, but we had a great time riding around the Klondike Bluffs mountain bike trails.

This was our first time riding around Klondike Bluffs, so we started on the Agate and Jasper loops.  These were super fun, easy trails.  I wish I would have learned to mountain bike here -- the trails are smooth and the hills are tame, but you still get some great views of the LaSals and surrounding desert.  On the Jasper Loop, you'll run into fields of the eponymous red stone, which is supercool.  Okay -- I've never been able to write this before -- but the trail was a little too easy.  Definitely check it out if you're with kids or true beginners, but I'm itching to head back and try some of the tougher trails.

To get to the Klondike Bluffs Trail System, drive on Highway 191 8.5 miles south of I-70.  Watch for the "North Klondike" sign, and turn east (left.)  Keep to the right as the road winds south around a small hill.  Follow the signs to the trailhead.

riding through red jasper

map credit:  http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/agate-jasper.htm

Sego Canyon

In the spirit of finding cool places near Green River, we drove a couple miles down the road to check out Sego Canyon.  Sego is a dense hub of cultural history with three distinct rock art styles (Fremont, Ute, and Barrier) and a well-preserved ghost town.  It's really easy to find -- you only have to drive a couple miles off I-70 and you can see everything from a good dirt road.

This is some seriously cool rock art.  The canyon walls are coated with images created by people who lived thousands of years apart.  The alien-eyed Barrier Canyon anthropomorphs are up to 8,000 years old, while the historic Ute drawings date to the 1800s.  Somewhere in the middle, the triangular Fremont figures show off their snazzy necklaces.  It's amazing to see so much diversity in such a condensed area, and it really makes me wonder.  What about this place drew all these people here?  Sometimes it's really easy to image the lives of ancient people, but in some ways it's always going to be perplexing.  I guess that's what keeps it interesting!

Barrier Canyon rock art

Fremont rock art

After checking out the rock art, we drove a little further up the road to see the ghost town.  On the way, you'll see the little Boot Hill cemetery on the right.   The simple graves have some intriguing headstones, and it's fun to imagine the lives of the people who lived out here.  A little further down the road, you'll see Sego ghost town.  The company store and boarding house are still in great shape.  They were built in the early 1900s to support a coal mine, but the town ran into trouble when the water supply started to dry up.  In 1947 the mine was closed and the property sold at auction.

old company store

 

 
To get to Sego Canyon from Green River drive 25 miles east on I-70. Take exit 187 and drive north on the main road through the town of Thompson. Take a paved road 3.5 miles north of Thompson to reach the three rock art panels.  To find the Sego Ghost Town, drive 0.5 miles further up canyon on a good gravel road.  You'll reach a fork, where you turn right (east.)  The cemetery is immediately to the right.  Keep heading up the road 0.8 miles, and you'll see the ghost town.

The Big Move

Okay!  After hemming and hawing for a couple months, we finally decided to make the big move to the buzzing metropolis of Green River, UT.  I'm still working at Goblin Valley and Jordan is still at Dead Horse Point, meaning we each have an hour commute each day in opposite directions.  Driving so much sucks, but after four years living in the middle of nowhere and two years dating long distance, it'll be nice to live in town together.  If there's one things I've learned about rural Utah it's this:  civilization is relative!

Honestly, Green River (pop. 973) is pretty dumpy.  It had its heyday as a military base back in the 1960-70s when it was an annex of the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range.  But when the base shut down, Green River almost turned into a ghost town.  The main street is lined with boarded-up businesses and the average yearly per-capita income hovers around $11,326.  There are a few hotels for the I-70 truck/tourist traffic, but most people push on after one night.

Of course, if you look hard enough, there are some great places in town.  You can grab burgers and beers at Ray's Tavern -- a river rat mecca.  The John Wesley Powell Museum tells the history of the famous explorer and the rivers he mapped. Our new house is right along the Green River Golf Course (as you can tell by the holes in the siding.)  Swasey's Beach is a great place for a lazy Sunday swim.  The grocery store finally carries tofu ...

beers at Ray's

Ghost Buster ambulance!

But honestly, Green River's real attractions start once you leave town.  Green River State Park is the put-in for the Labyrinth Canyon flatwater trip.  Up river, there's the Green River Daily whitewater stretch.  Green River is also a great hub to explore the northern San Rafael Swell and the Book Cliffs with loads of hiking, rock art, and mountain bike trails.  Moab is only an hour away.  I hope we don't end up in Green River forever and ever, but I think we'll have a good time while we're here.  :)

Green River from Nefertiti Rapid to Swasey's Beach

Labyrinth Canyon