Monday, October 13, 2014

Chimney Rock Trail, Capitol Reef NP

 

October 10th and 11th.

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This 3.5 mile loop trail is just a few miles from our camp, and it is one we didn’t do when we were here the first time. Mark and Bobbie decided to join Maikel and Susan for a longer hike since it was their last day here. Jim sat it out since his ankle was bothering him from our previous days hike. So it was just me, Debbie, and Jim and Allison.

For some reason none of us were expecting too much from this trail, but it turned out to be a great hike. There is quite a bit of climbing in the beginning so it’s a good workout, but there was so much to see.

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We could just make out the RVs at our campsite.

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The trail is named for this formation, Chimney Rock.

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But the best part of the trail was coming down the backside where huge boulders have broken off over time.

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Impressive layers.

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On Saturday  Maikel and Susan packed up their tent and headed back to Colorado, while Mark and Bobbie and Jim and I were in desperate need of dumping our tanks and getting water. The road going into our site was pretty rough, and we really didn’t want to drive off to dump and have to drive back in so we decided to move a few miles down the road to a new area we found while mountain biking and where kB (formerly known as Boonie) had moved the previous day.

Camp Lazy Daze.

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A new backyard.

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We are much closer to Torrey and have a stronger signal but apparently there is only 1X Verizon service in this area, so in order to post and read blogs we have to get wifi from one of the local businesses or the visitor center. A good excuse for a pastry at the bakery or a pumpkin shake at Slackers, right Mark?

8 comments:

  1. I just love the colors in those rocks. I can see why you may never be back to the Rio Grande Valley! Lol.

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  2. Ooooh, ahhhh ..... What beauty! What fun!

    I'd like to hear more about that whole pastry thing.

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  3. More fabulous photos - those two extreme colors on the one canyon side are beautiful. Love the new back yard - does that rock.....rock?

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  4. Boy that is some gorgeous backyard! This is a hike we had to cut out due to our forced turn around. I am really glad to see your fabulous pictures of it. Sure am sorry we missed it. I'd love to know where you are getting wifi in Torrey and if you get it at the visitor center. They told us there was no public wifi there and we'd have to go into town but we couldn't find any there either except at the bookstore which seemed unfair if we weren't buying a book.

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    1. We have been getting wifi at Castle Rock Bakery next to Subway, the visitor center in Torrey also has it, as does Slacker's (burger and ice cream joint) and the inn at laundromat. They are all secured but you can get the code from any employee or other customer. Worth the price of a cup of coffee, pumpkin shake or a pastry to use it. Actually we've sat in the car across from Slackers a couple times as theirs seems to be the fastest. Suzanne arrived yesterday and she has both AT&T and Verizon since she was working and needed to have internet. There is 3G AT&T here, but since most RVers only use Verizon that doesn't help us.

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  5. Great pix. Seems you've been there a long time. Be careful and enjoy!

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    1. We've been here 12 days and will probably hang out another week. The weather has been good and it's still pretty hot around Zion where we are headed next. After a summer of moving too fast we are enjoying staying in one place for awhile, especially one like this!

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  6. This is a nice little hike. Hopefully you saw all the petrified tree parts on the trail!? Also, a beautiful trail, Spring Canyon, leads off this path. The rocks and walls in Spring Canyon are gorgeous. We walked for about three miles and then had to turn around for a dinner engagement. The trail is so different out and back with views.

    The weather certainly has been perfect for hiking. We hiked up on Kolab Terrace yesterday in search for the area with the balanced rocks that Mark took you to on your first day in Zion last year!!! Well, we did finally find the huge area of slickrock you had in your blog that I so wanted to find. It was just amazing! However, we did NOT find the balanced rocks. After looking at your post again when we got home, I think we need to go a few feet further into the tree area at the bottom of the slickrock. Darn!!! Now I have to do it again some day. Watch for our up coming blog soon:)

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