Slog Alpinismo: Great Plains and Colorado Plateau Roadtrip

I hit the road, and the skies, during late May, originally planning on ~2 weeks of storm chasing in the Great Plains. However, Mother Nature had different plans as an upper ridge developed over the western U.S. and troughing occurred over the east. This eliminated tornadic supercell potential for the most part over the middle of the country. So, I made the best of the situation and headed west from Oklahoma City toward the Colorado Plateau. First, however, I made an intermittent stop at Great Sand Dunes National Park, which is located in the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado. Photography paid off big time at this location...I captured some fairly impressive scenes as the sun rose over the Southern Rocky Mountains and slowly bathed the dunes in warm light. I also discovered a cheap bare bones restaurant in Alamosa called the Lamplighter Restaurant. The bacon and French Toast were perfect after slogging across massive sand dunes during the morning.

I left Alamosa after my breakfast at the Lamplighter, and headed west on highway 160 toward Durango. There is a magical valley I encountered along the way, roughly between Pagosa Springs and South Fork. Forested volcanic cliffs rise above a grass valley, waterfalls cascade down the cliffs, and the entire scene is framed by rugged mountains. I think this area has high photographic potential during the fall. Anyways, after gassing up in Durango, I headed south into New Mexico and toward Ship Rock. I was going to spend the night in the area and photograph Ship Rock in morning...but after reading about how limited the access to the rock formation was, due to various concerns by the Navajo nation, I decided to skip north into southeast Utah. I spent the night in Blanding, UT, which doesn't have a whole lot going for it, but at least the lodging was cheaper than what I would encounter in Moab the next night.

Early in the morning, I drove south of Blanding and into the Valley of the Gods. This area is very similar to Monument Valley (which is only a short distance farther south), with large eroded mesas dotting the landscape in every direction. The morning sun turns these structures blazing red and orange...a landscape photographers dream. After photographing Valley of the Gods, I drove up a road called Trail of the Ancients, which ascended 3000 feet up to the rim of a plateau, twisting and turning next to thrilling drop offs into the valley below. I tried to take a photograph that depicted just how amazing this road is, but all attempts failed to convey the sense of exhilaration. Trail of the Ancients leads to Cedar Mesa, which is where Fallen Roof Ruin is located. After paying a small BLM fee, I parked, hiked down into a canyon, and after a mile or so, came upon an ancient ruin embedded within the side of the cliff...the so called Fallen Roof Ruin, which is named due to slabs of rock falling from the cliff surrounding the ruin. I spent hours here watching the reddish glowing light change around the structure, and also pondered what kind of life the ancients must have lived in the adjacent canyon eons ago.

Unfortunately, my next stop was Moab, which is a busy touristy town that is full of high priced lodging that I grudgingly paid for out of desperation and exhaustion. Luckily, the sleep was good, and after eating breakfast at Pancake Haus, I drove an hour south to the Needles section of Canyonlands and hiked the Chesler Park Loop trail. This trail was a great way to experience a less-visited portion of the park. The scenery included up close views of needle like spires, long expansive vistas atop rock outcroppings, and a slot canyon that surprisingly did not form due to the erosional forces of water. I highly recommend this hike...though I can't imagine doing it during the hottest times in summer.

After my hike, and after finding another over priced room in Moab, I headed to Dead Horse Point. While every other photographer safely congregated at a state sanctioned overlook of the canyons below, I walked to the edge of a 3000 foot drop and obtained some spectacular pictures of the setting sun illuminating the adjacent canyon walls. I recommend people continue photographing this location at least 20 minutes after sunset, as the sandstone rocks take on an red/orange glow beneath the cooler blue colors of the sky.

My time in Moab came to an end quickly, and I departed east bound on I-70...past the Colorado Monument in Grand Junction, up the Colorado River through Glenwood Springs, across the crest of the Rockies, through Denver at rush hour, eventually taking I-76 to I-80 in Nebraska, then east along the Platte River to Omaha. I spent the next several days photographing downtown Omaha during the evening, and obtaining few good results in my attempts. I also had a good time reconnecting with family and old friends. After 5 days in Omaha, I headed back to Oklahoma City, completing a gigantic loop. My road trip was complete. On a side note, I had a layover in Los Angeles, and I am 99.999% certain that rock climber Kevin Jorgeson, famous for climbing the Dawn Wall in Yosemite with Tommy Caldwell, was sitting across from me at an airport bar.