Out of the Maze ALIVE!

[Veronica]

Any funny stories?
Was it just the 6 of you on your tour?

There was a lot of talk about poo, booze and good calves.

We were joined by Charlie, a friend of SK's and Bubba's. Nice guy. Maze tours have a limit of 7 people at a time, so it was nice to know everyone.

We had a group meltdown on the 3rd day. We had already climbed one freakishly steep hill - 20% of loose stuff for about 2 tenths of a mile. Our campsite got changed and we had to climb several additional freakishly steep, but shorter hills to get to it. And it was hot - 81 degrees according to my Polar, with no wind. That doesn't sound so bad, but none of us were heat acclimated.

By the time we were done, I announced to the guide that my legs were more tired from this than from my double. And Thom added, "Yeah and she's much b*tchier too!"

But a solar shower perked us all up and it turned out to be a much better campsite, with less 4 X 4 traffic.

V.

[yellow]

OK, I'll start...

Day 1: we drove from Green River, Utah, home of the fabulous Green River Coffee Company, to the trip starting point at Hans Flat. From here we followed the road for about 17 miles to our camping spot for the night, the Golden Stairs. Along the way we saw Bagpipe Butte:



And it was just purty (SadieKate & Bubba here):



We rode down the Flint Trail, described by Edward Abbey in his book Desert Solitaire. This is the road where he (Abbey) got out of the jeep and directed the driver down. It's been fixed up a bit since then, but it still got the best of some of us (DH did his first ENDO here; look for the snaking road):




After we got to the campsite and DH and Thom failed to get the little kite SadieKate brought into the air, DH and I hiked down the Golden Stairs a bit (not all the way to the bottom). Here are some more of those purty rocks we saw there:





(this second one is obviously a piece of a former ocean floor...the ripples were made by wave action on mud/sand and then they just stayed as the rock formed).



I'm trying to recall what we had for dinner, but can't. I do know that we kept the alcohol to a minimum this first night. It was a little windy and chilly, but the firepan from dinner kept us warm for a while.

Next Episode: Day 2-- we rode from the Golden Stairs to the Maze Overlook, where we camped, and also did a hike down into the very depths of the actual Maze.

[Veronica]

Salmon and steak for dinner, with baked potatoes.

V.

[maillotpois]

Salmon and steak for dinner, with baked potatoes.

V.

Oh MAN. Now I am hungry. That sounds fantastic!!

[SadieKate]

Both baked and sweet potatoes.

Loosing weight is not one of the options offered by the tour companies.

[maillotpois]

Both baked and sweet potatoes.

Loosing weight is not one of the options offered by the tour companies.

LOL!!

We did a Backroads epic tour in France - climbed Alpe d'Huez, Ventoux, Galibier, Izoard and came back even fatter than when we got there. You think you're being so active you can eat anything. D'oh!

[SadieKate]

About the elephants. Here is the view from the groover at the Maze Overlook. Those are the Chocolate Drops off in the distance.