May Monthly Review

Monthly Review May

Places visited:

• Warhawk Air Museum Nampa, ID
• Highlight, personal items bring a personal touch to this Air Museum
• Lowlight, limited number of airplanes here
• The volunteer docents added so much value in sharing information on the exhibits
• Great Basin National Park Baker, NV
• Highlight, it is a calm place to be in the Snake Range mountains
• Lowlight, the Lehman Cave tours were halted due to CoVid19.
• We hiked several nice trails here; it is a very isolated park and quite peaceful.
• Capitol Reef Torrey UT
• Highlight, the proximity you have to the features of this park, it is gorgeous, and you feel submerged in it.
• Lowlight, no real grocery store in the area so come prepared.    
• I loved Capitol Reef, small and easy to manage, great trails, constant views.
• Mesa Verde National Park Mancos, CO
• Highlight, the 2 trails we hiked were great, rock scrambling, climbing the canyon like the Ancestral Pueblo People.
• Lowlight from park entry its 20 miles to the dwellings and trails.
• It is a lot of ancient dwellings so there is repetition in places you see.  
•   Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park Montrose, CO
• Highlight, You are right on top of the canyon with several overlooks on the drive, the North Rim is very bare bones making you feel like the first one there discovering the canyon.   
• Lowlight, the road down into the canyon was closed for construction
• It is a nice small canyon that you can see from the top and its beautiful.  A permit would be required to go down to the river and that looks very challenging.

Our overall favorite place was Capitol Reef it is so accessible and easy to get inside and explore.  The rocks are gorgeous.  Jim appreciated the pie from Fruita.  If you go to Utah don’t skip this park.  

My favorite trail the loop of Spruce Canyon and Petroglyph Trail in Mesa Verde.  We went down into Spruce Canyon along the canyon wall then deep in the canyon with cliff walls on both sides then we hooked up with the Petroglyph Trail on rock stairs going up and walking right on the edge of the canyon wall scrambling over rocks, great views and a fun active hike.

Jim's favorite trail was the Sulphur Creek Route in Capitol Reef.  Hiking in the creek and along it's sides in the canyon was a unique experience.

Our favorite day in May was our first day in Capitol Reef National Park, I had no expectations for this little-known park and was just blown away by the multi-colored hills.  The scenic drive takes you right in and up close, then we drove on the unpaved Capitol Gorge Road and it really felt like we were down in a canyon and got to hike further in.

My favorite picture is one of Jim and I on the Mesa Creek trail in Curecanti.  The winding creek made a trail of turns where you did not know what was around the next corner.  It is like this trip traveling together and experiencing all the National parks.

Jim's favorite picture is of the prickly pear in bloom that he spotted at the end of the Sulphur Creek Route.