2 week vacation... outside of Michigan.. Long read.. Read at your own risk..

You all must know how I really do have my heart on MICHIGAN. It's my home. there is another state that has my heart as well. Utah. Utah is packed with natural parks. and BLM areas that can't be beat. i can't say the people are good or bad i don't have much interaction with them when there.  and that is okay with me. The few i did interact with are no longer there. They lived a life i dream of. and they keep it moving.  not naming names but she gave me a quote that i still live by and love. i took a photo. check it out.

Now that image is from a few years back the last time i was in UTAH. that was the trip I did fall into love with UTAH.  so many rocks i had collected in some awesome views and awesome people. and that was a great trip. but i'm not here to talk about that trip. This last trip out west. for 2 weeks we drove. 

We started at  home getting out of work earlier than normal. to take advantage of the time we hit the road by 1-2pm we make it out to some place called Rochester Minnesota. I never been this south of Minnesota Always towards ely or duluth .  BWCA (second favorite spot on earth)  We stayed there  the weather wasn't ideal we had a hotel and just slept it off to get back on the road.. We need to get to South Dakota badlands area for our campsite.  As we pull up the rain has suspended a little but we know it's going to rain soon.  We got there i'm not sure when as it's a bit blury to me. but we had two nights there and did one hike. Sucks the weather wasn't the greatest. so we didn't get to see the best part of the lands. and with snow coming to the area that we were planning to go we ended up skipping out on mount rushmore :( .. ( a lot of changes happened on this trip all for a reason but a lot of it sucked) We did make the best of it and had a wonderful trip anyways. Not wanting to drive in snow we high taled it to salt lake city.  well a town on the outskirts called Ogden..  (Wow i'm in love with that place)  there were some hills and we had a nice hotel room we got to hike some local trails see some waterfalls and drove some wonderful roads with very wonderful visuals. 

Went out to Antelope island we had a night to camp there. ended up not following with plans it was really open. But we did spend the day there as if we had the tent up. It was great and I need to go back. Some of the images I have are WOWERS i just have yet to process those so you will get phone photos on this post.  i will most likely go more indepth with the sections of my trip in detail on those post. but for now here is the highlights. with phone photos. 

after the island we drove out to the needles district near moab at the needles outpost ( a private campground outside cayonlands) Since we were hitting the trail really early  we got a pre set up tent. so we only had to pack our backpacks and head out. Now we were told there is NO WATER out on trail and staying 2 nights and 3 days you will need to carry your water.  Let me say this. WATER is heavy. no it's really heavy. the weight of the pack alone had me in tears.  watching leggs shake as they CLIMB up a rock with death over my shoulder. oh no i'm not fit for this. ran threw my head more times than i can count. (but idid it)  it made me over careful becuase i just don't want to use the inreach if i don't have to. slowly i stepped up this mountain to do this slow grind in the hot sun at the end. My body aches i'm hot i didn't sleep because it was like Chirstmas morning too excited to make it out there. oh my back.. something else that was new to me on this trip is a thing called a poop bucket. i normally carry a food bucket and it's larger. but this poop bucket was hitting my lower back as i climbed up rocks and each step it wanted to bounce. my pack didn't fit right. i just want to get to camp like now!  5 hours later we did make it. hiking at a 1mph or less. it was only 6 miles up a mountain.. on loose rock and a hardly marked trail.  thank you everyone who places cairns around. it helped just odd looking up for them.  and not like up a hill like up and around the rock that i'm too climb up with out rope and with 60 lbs on my back. Half my body weight!  

well we made it and got everything set up made dinner and enjoyed our first night away from people!!  only seen like 7 people that whole day. 

 we made it to camp by after noon and took time enjoying camp. seen a snake and a little kangaroo mouse we named the mouse Hoppy  because kangaroo's hop.. and i like to make u pwords. lol he really staid around camp for a soild 24 hours  i knew where his home was and why he was where i was.. the snake. not a rattle snake but you know snakes and mice do not get a long. after some time the mouse made it back to it's hole and that was the last time i seen the snake so i hope nature didn't play out on that. 

we start to plan our day hike for the next day. NO PACKS on we say.. well im taking my day pack its really light. and i brought it for that reason. I'm not going threw this pain NOT to take it plus i need something to put my camera in because this trail isn't one i just wear that large heavy necklace.. it woudl of broke. No hiking sticks this time either as i feel they got in my way.   around 5 mile day hike we got this one way? i think...  hey what level of trail did that one app say it was? "i  think they said moderate to hard" oh okay thats my i'm dying right now. My goodness. this isnt easy druid arch trail much respect to you. we got back and found out it was a black diamond trail Hear say but for me it was harder than angles landing some what physically but mentally as well. Finding the trail realizing you get to free climb up 20 ft. Getting to a point you can't go any further and needing help from strangers. i coudln't make it up a 30 ft sheer rock face my shoes got wet and they are not new. soon as i stepped on the last 10 ft of this rock i slide down into a puddle repeat .. i almost just said i'll stay here. i'm beat anyway. but someone my sweet angle helped me get up. nothing my partners could do for me. but i did i made it up. and thatw asn't even the scary part.  They even say in reports taht if it's wet it's a larger challenge for most. 

the scary part was the 40ft climb up rocks and some of them moved i swear.  here is someone elses photo i'm linking too.. https://www.trailrunproject.com/photo/7053969  we had to scramble up these rocks.  if you look and zoom in on that photo you can see a person on the right of the photo  and two people in the rock mess. the larger rock above the tree line you see one person crawing (was that me? lol) and another person walking with a black shirt on.  no more trail markers at this point our view point is right up those rocks to your right. and oddly you can't see this arch until you do this. so a lot of people miss out. 

you can tell it was a place where rockfall had happened. not sure when but those rocks did move. and your betting yoru life on them. scarry yes i'd say so. as i'm walking this trail 

i notice a personal movement coming over me. I'm balling my eyes out as i walk the easy part of the wash on the way back. its not nearly as hard going back maybe because i sort of know what to expect.  butt after my good healthy cry i realized that i love this crap. and i'm not fit as i'd like to be and I smoke and i'm out of breath and having a really hard time. well that all stopped today is day 5 of not smoking. if i have the strength in me to get over the needles on the few times i "felt" like i was dying smoking or lack of is easy pease.. yet i had to go to the gift shop and buy me a token so when life gets hard i have something to help remind me of the strength i do have weather or not i feel like i can or can't i know i can. my inner strength amazes me .. And i love pushing myself to my limits. so i got a little arrowhead that i'm going to make into a necklace to be my reminder so on my weak days. i can remember my own personal will!  

so we did make it out fine just some minor sours and bangged up knees and shins from over stepping or bein lazy when moving feet. nothing bad happened and i prayed at every step that no one would get hurt. and we did it bruised up from our packs sore from packs. but we did it. and made it out safely and headed to moab. 

Moab. well my heart goes out to moab really all of utah.. Utah is an AMAZING STATE.  to sum up the rest we went to arches we wanted to see the night sky out there. and it's an easy trail they say. we have done it more than one it is easy. but at night with head lamps it's easy to over look a step and twist an ankle. sorry for one of my partners who did that.. Ice back at the hotel and pamper treatment for the rest of the trip looks like we won't get much more hiking in. 

soooo whats the next best thing to do drive around and go to look out points. we did that and during that we found ssomething magical to me. it's amazing to me free water!!  

free SPRING WATER... 

really water pouring out of a rock a rock the size of detroit.  found out the water drips slowly down threw the lasal mountians. i'm a bit of a hoarder.. so needless to say i'm still drinking today!  :) best tasting water i ever had in my life yeah some rocks and dirt might be in it but figi water dont' have anything on this water. even with it being in a new bladder tasting slightly like plastic it's still better then tap water. 

I wish i could share it with the world.. Oh wait i can go to moab right by Matrimony springs it's on the side of 128 near 191 next to the colorado river. some stories on line about it to as the town shut it down once. but people have been drinking this water for years.. you can't shut water off the one guy says .. he was right. you can't and i'm so happy i get to drink it. 

as it has helped me quit smoking! 

It was a bitter sweet exit of moab. stopped off filled up the rest of the water and off we went heading towards Grand Junction CO.  to meet up with some family a very pregnant sister in law her partner and 2 children. We stayed at a campground outside of the area in fruita super close to the Colorado momument. for 2 days we had this sweet camp site. 

I love camping. it's one of my or is my favorite thing in the world to do.  this campground was well awesome. They had these tent sites where you didn't drive you car to. but they did give you these cool plastic wheel barrow like  things to cart your stuff. so that was super cool. They also proved a metal roof shelter with picnic table  and they had these cool D ring things on the side. Seen one guy had a hammock up with out using tree's it just was hooked to the back of the shelter thing. So cool I want to make one. 

We got their firewood it was 5 dollars for a bundle. and wow it helped me apperciate fire wood from up north or even here home. They gave me some un treated (i hope) boards like from lowes or an old fence. no paint but i hope it wasn't treated. but their wood was so dry it burnt super fast. an i don't think people out there have fires like we do out here.  maybe forest fires scare them into only using it for fuel for a stove or heat. sort of a different mind set i suppose. interesting and i want to know more.  i learn only first hand so i guess i need to spend more time out west. 

We took the morning of our first full day at this campsite to check out the momeumnet. With a hurt ankle we did the easy trail... devils kitchen.  we made it to where the stairs started to show and the rock stairs not really machine made stairs man made with rocks around the area! so we made it to that point and turned around.  at first during the start of this mini hike we heard people mocking a cat. Meow..  or was that ouchey  who knows by the time we made it to turn around point we realized it wasn't a human making that noise at least not the first one. just a few humans after. 

then a louder meow.. well i think there is a cat in this little area where we are. Not thinking me and jacki go looking for it. here kitty kitty kitty.  it sounded in pain maybe we can help it. Here kitty kitty kitty. oh this can be our new pet we drove out here we can drive this cat back home come on find the cat. 

no luck and felt bad frank had to wait for us. so we walked back to frank and headed back to trail head (not too far mind you)  as we get up there we talked to the ranger who was parked right there .. Hey what sort of cats do you have in this area. We heard a meow.. The ranger oh it could of been a house cat. Yeah it could of been. it was loud tho. the ranger (who btw ignored the question) if it is a mountain lion we would have to take care of it. Did you see anything.. or only hear it. 

like one question to the ranger he was drilling us with other questions. Then Drove off. 

the way he drove off has me making assumptions that it wasn't a house cat...   really did me and jacki go look for a mountain lion like for real that wasn't safe. but what a great call on the ranger dude. We just past 5 small children with only 2 parents ... can't be too safe. so they would have to remove the lion out there.. saftly .. 

I was reading because i want to know more about the types of wildlife in that area. But since the fires have been so much lately there is talks that these wildlifes are moving into cities.  so it very well could of been a mountian lion or a bob cat. 

funny thing is i googled sounds of a baby mountian lion and it wasn't it. I heard the sound of a normal adult mountain lion. And said yep that's the noise i heard. 

so i'm 90% sure i was looking for a mountain lion. Crazy right. 

so much of this trip i am leaving out. but i wanted to leave on that note looking for a wild kitty cat.. not the safest thing to do. 

Now on to photos from the phone... 

Best Popcorn Ball Ever.. really really tasty.. this photo is to remind myself to get some online shopping done!! 

These two photos are of the BADLANDS they were bad. and so was the weather. Still wonderful but we need to go back.

Our site at the badlands

Evening Primrose

who says advertisements don't work. after seeing the 35th Billboard i mentioned we have to stop 5cent coffee. .. We did stop coffee was for dine in only.  we just wanted to check it out. This drug store was HUGE  the rockhound shop was in there...

Thanks Google for taking the photos and making this cute animation..  and yes i'm 100% a dork. life is too short not to be a kid!!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful little hiking option north of SLC..

Well that sums up my rainbow trail.. lol  not sure if the one below is from there but i'm assuming so.

this is antelope island.

this is us eating at our camp site :( at least we ate there. Now to go back and sleep there. I guess you get locked on the island. Cool! 

Bye bye  wasted opportunity.. yet a future campsite for sure.. 

Now i'm not sure what this is. I don't see claws on top of the print so i'm thinking cat. as they can hide their nails when walking. unlike dogs.  however we did see a fox and a coyote or something chasing some antelope  i think we ruined that dogs dinner. 

and this massive print. this is what buffleo or bison HUGE 

Right before our backpacking trip at needles outpost. i had some extra fuel to use so we had a tiny fire to keep warm it was a cold night.. 

 i loved this little easy part of the trail we backpacked. we almost didn't fit with our packs on!! 

outdoor kitchen check!!  

Hoppy!!  camp pet.. for the day or so

first guess to our camp.. i think it was a gopher snake no rattle so i'm sure it wasn't going to get me. i do think it wanted hoppy tho.. 

This is our site we hid behind the rock to protect us from the wind a bit colder but  worked.

When your out in the wild in a place your not sure about you do start to see patterns and you start to see things in rocks like one would in clouds. but the rocks don't move. the rock in the back poking up is a male body part that we named. Oddly you won't see that photo  but is it weird i can tell it's that rock behind the big rocks. some times patterns just won't leave my brain! 

This is Druid Arch.. This trail kicked my butt!  all that work for this. Yepp 100% worth it!  just look at that arch!

These photos above is to show you how far this wash slide was... going down (fun times) going up.. well the section closes to these typed words was about 10 feet of steep slick rock. I couldn't do it with out help from strangers  that little lip closest to these typed words had water in it. once your feet hit water and your with that sand. NO WAY  was my shoes going to make itup. But i did get a look at the girl who helped me shoes. I want her shoes.

Bye needles CP  hiked out in half the time it took to hike in.

is that water? umm lets see what the fuss is all about

Moab spring water.. don't mind if i do.. (do this at your own risk i did not filter the water out) just drank it straight from the rock.  as i sip on some now!! 

Colorado river in utah

okay those snow peaks you see in back.. Thank you for the best taking water ever!!! that mountain is where the spring comes from. takes a long time but we get water free!

Random homes in side of rocks. with trailers and personally i'd live in anyone of these... how do i get a hole in a rock to live in?

Big tree.. looks small.. 

big grill still looks big. 

big tree from other angle. still looks semi small. 

I do want to camp here. can't wait till i do. i want to sleep next to big tree!

I think someone said the above photos are a part of a ghost town. just not your typical ghost town.. 

These are the plastic wheel barrows  

Here is my lumber fire

Campsite that was soo sweet can't wait to rock it out again

didn't post about this town but down town Grand juction did a lot of things correctly! 

the above 3 photos are from a rest stop out side of Vail CO.   A REST STOP can we please take notes.. and copy please! 

go on vacation to not have snow be done with... ummm not sure how i feel about this but i had such a great time maybe it didn't get in my way as much as i think. 

but wow snow. and it was 50 degree's mountains are cool likethat. 

Denver the only city i know to hang airfreshiners in their alley

this photo is for Scooter.. love you!! now i'll take another coffee bro!!

On our way home. we seen and hear about this flooding. they are not kidding driving over a bridge and realizing it's well flooded a bit. most water ways are locally so i'm sure on larger rivers it would be the same. 

Well thats enought for me took to long to write one of these days i'll get it down. Still so much to share.