Typed at the free access in Durango, CO public library, chilling a day waiting for Mesa Verdes main ruin attractions to open for the season tomorrow. Most of the internet access I have paid for so far is about $15 an hour - the most expensive in the world (or what I have seen of it) . It was cheaper on 20 miles up a dirt trail at Namche Bazaar in the Himalayas.

I was hoping to leave Tuesday March 26th but getting out the door took longer than expected. It was 11:30 AM when I decided to wait another day. I knew I'd need at least eight hours driving time to get over the Sierras at Truckee, around Reno and down an hour or two past Carson City, Nevada...where there are many state campgrounds near the main road down the Owens valley.

The next day was a little better and I left SF by 10 AM, reached Reno by 5 PM and Carson City by 6 PM. At dusk I turned off the main road to a campsite near a lake. The campground was closed for the winter but I found a spot in a vacant parking lot behind a little snow covered sheltering ridge.

The next day I drove further down the Owens valley road to just past Lone Pine, where I headed east to Death Valley. I stopped at an overlook into the first valley and was buzzed by an F-16 on a training flight. It came up the gorge from the valley below and headed straight for the overlook, passing a couple hundred feet above. This wasn't unexpected though - about fifteen years ago I went on a car camping trip for three weeks in the areas around Death Valley and had many days of fighter overflights.

I wasn't sure this time if I would stop and camp in Death Valley or continue on toward Las Vegas and a campground about an hour north of LV that I had found 6six years ago on my first trip to the southwest. I reached the decision point in mid-valley at about 3 PM and decided to travel down the valley and find campsite in the main camping area. Later that evening I would drive up to Zabriski point for the sunset .

Unfortunately, the wind was blowing hard in the valley, kicking up a lot of salty dust. All the campsites were well exposed and not worth spending the night at, even though all I really need to venture out of my vehicle for was to cook dinner. I took another road out of the valley towards Vegas and at least was able to stop at Zabriski Point near sunset for the view.

There weren't any good campgrounds on the way to Vegas so I was hoping to find a cheap room in Vegas that are often offered by casinos to get you in their door. I was also looking forward to the cheap all-you-can-eat buffets they have as well. Nearing Vegas I saw a sign for $29 rooms at a casino and stopped there, only to find that they had no vacancies - even in the middle of the week. After a Wendy's meal, I eventually found a $34 room at Motel 6 near the main strip. I was tired and in no mood for exploring and went to bed after I scoped out the next day's route and destination - northeast to Zion National Park.

The next day I arrived at the main valley of Zion at around 4 PM and after driving around the available campsites and finding a nice site in the back next to an open meadow, I had time to take the five mile Watchman trail hike up to a rim above the campground .

Unfortunately, a group teenagers from some volunteer service was in the site next door to mine. They seemed to revel in the way their shouted voices carried across the campground and out into the valley because they communicated at max volume the whole evening. At 10 PM, when I was bedding down, they were still at it. I considered asking their adult leaders to quiet them but decided against it - they were teenagers and this is what teenagers do when they go camping. Luckily they were replaced by a more sedate couple the next day.

The next day, before I left the campground for day hikes, I called the reservation number for tours of Carlsbad Caverns. The side trip there would be an extra drive of 1200 miles and twenty hours out of my way over some unremarkable country, but I had once spent an afternoon with some high school buddies climbing and crawling through about a half mile of a cave in West Virginia and it was a blast. Since then I have always wanted to do some more spelunking. I had read descriptions of two guided, but long and strenuous tours in Carlsbad Caverns that involved climbing and crawling. Just what I wanted. They were: The Hall of the White Giant and Spider Cave. Unfortunate they offered only one tour a week (of 8 people max) of each of these, on the weekends, and all weekends were booked for a month at least.

After the disappointing call, I day hiked trails in the valley all day. The first "River Trail" wound up the canyon for about a mile before the canyon walls grew too steep to continue.

The second was a 5 mile hike up 1500 feet to an overlook called Angel's Landing on the tip of a prominent spire above the valley. The last quarter mile out across and up a narrow spine (sometimes a yard wide) to the landing was exciting - sheer drops to the valley below. It made me realize I'd never be a true mountain climber like my friend Julian.

The last hike was a three mile hike to lower and upper Emerald pools. The latter was at the base of a 400 water fall.

The next day I drove up and out of the valley passing through a mile long tunnel cut through solid rock. After exiting the tunnel the landscape changed from red steep canyon walls to smooth rounded striated tan slickrock . I forgot that there was a one mile long lookout trail I wanted to take after the tunnel exit and had to drive back six miles through this weird landscape.

I eventually had another decision to make that day - whether to spend a couple days on the north rim of the Grand Canyon where it was higher, cooler and much less crowded but further away from the chasm or….. skipping it and heading further, to the south rim. I was leaning towards skipping it because the views would be less spectacular, especially with the sun in the south, and the hiking longer and less spectacular as well.

The decision was moot as the road to the north rim was still closed for winter. After several stops driving west along the south rim I finally reached the south rim campgrounds at 5 PM and after driving around and finding a quiet secluded site, I drove back out to Yaki Point overlook for the sunset . I was initially thinking that I would try to see if there were any cancellations for backcountry camping permits so that I could backpack down into the canyon for two days.... but after reading descriptions of several trails into the canyon in the park material handed to me at the entrance, I decided that day hiking down and up was not only feasible but preferable (hot showers and an excellent campsite at the end of the day). I believe that my brother Larry did the same type hike during the summer he came out to visit me.

Had it not been for reading the visitor info material after dinner the first night I would have probably chosen a lesser quality trail as well for the day hike. The info-paper had a relief drawings of the various trails and I spotted one that ran along the side and top of a ridgeline that descended into the valley - likely to have good views most of the way

The next day I began descending the South Kaibab trail at 10 AM (later than I planned). I was carrying a 2 liter Camelback and a quart canteen, a fleece sweater (that I'd never need) and a hiking pole for the descent. The trail description said it was a 4-6 hour trip to the three mile halfway spot at Skeleton Point. I figured I'd see how long it took me to get there to decide if I would venture down any further (another 3.5 miles to the river).

I reached Skeleton Point by 11 AM passing many scenic overlooks on the way down as I figured I would appreciate the rest and stops on the way up. It was a long way down and it figured to be longer and hotter on the way up. The way down also looked long and hot....but I figured I'd see how far I got by 12:30 before I turned around. At 12:30 I stopped for lunch in the shade of a big rock about 500 feet and a half mile of trail above the river. I was tempted to go the distance just to say I'd done it, but I was unsure how long it would take to get all the way back up and so decided that discretion was the better part of valor.

It was long and hot on the way up with many stops for the views (and rest) but I made it to the top by 4 PM. After showering I used the very expensive internet terminal in the laundry building ($15 an hour) to find emails of several caving groups (called grottos) in southeast New Mexico and emailed asking if they had any upcoming trips I might join.

The next day I planned on taking the shuttle bus (the only transportation allowed) to the western most rim point and hiking the rim trail the 8 or 9 miles back... and then doing some laundry late in the afternoon. As it turned out, after boarding the bus and hearing that it made about 10 detours to stops along the rim on the way out but only two on the way back, I decided to get off at the second stop and hike out and then take the bus back.

The hike along the rim was spectacular (what did you expect) and I ended up back at my truck at 4 PM. A check of email resulted in a lead (telephone number) for some guy who climbed with a grotto near Carlsbad. He supposedly caved several days a week including weekdays.

The next day I drove 6 - 7 hours to a youth hostel in Albuquerque, all the way trying to decide if I would drive 1200 miles and twenty hours out of my way over some unremarkable country to Carlsbad to go spelunking with the guy from the grotto and hope for cancellations for the tours to Spider cave and Hall of the White Giant.

The next day, after doing some free internet stuff at the University of New Mexico library, I called the Carlsbad Cave tour reservation number to see if they had cancellations - they didn't. I spent another half hour trying to decide if I would still go spelunking with that guy. I ended up deciding that I might probably find some caves elsewhere on my trip and still be able to do some caving. After calling him to tell him I was not coming, I was glad I had made the decision. Even though it was about 11 AM he sounded disoriented, very old or drunk or all of the above - not someone you would want to crawl into crevasses with.

I drove to Santa Fe by lunch and, after a quick walk around the old town and a half hour of the library computer, I left for Taos where I spent the night in another hostel in Arryo Seco - a little way out of town on the way to the ski area.

The next day I drove to Durango and spent two days hanging around the old town section and using the library computer to do a lot of online research for the remaining 3 - 4 weeks of my trip...stuff that I couldn't find in the good book I have Hiking the Southwest's Canyon Country. I was waiting an extra day for one of the main sites at Mesa Verde to open for the season - Cliff House Ruins.

After this it's the Needles area of Canyonlands National Park and BLM lands, then mountain biking and maybe rafting (if it's hot enough) in Moab for a couple days, then a couple days camping and day hiking in Arches (it was too hot to do much the last time I was there) and then more camping and day hiking on the Island in the Sky....the the Capitol Reef area and Goblin State park, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and then home.