Utah & Durango/Silverton Rail

[ScottFromUtah]

Making me homesick. DW and I have a second home in St. George, Utah, and hang out (er, used to hang out) a lot in Zion, Bryce, and Arches NPs. We are right now living in Peru, in the High Central Andes, after FIRE. We'll return to Utah next April and spend a lot of wonderful time in Southwest Utah.

 

[Culture]

What you can see of you get of the train at Needles and walk about 15 miles and 4000 feet up with no trail. We are at about 12,500 feet here. In the background in Monitor Peak.

 

[Culture]

If you pile on the clothes, and head for the top, you can get this. September and about 40 degrees at about 13,000 feet.

 

[Culture]

On a lazy day, we ride to the top where permitted. This is my 14 yo old at Imogene pass between Telluride and Ouray. We rode over Black Bear pass to get there, which my son says he will never do again, all because of one minor 200 foot section of ledge.

 

[deserat]

DH and I hiked both Bryce and Zion - our Xmas card picture was of us on Angel's Landing at Zion - and then in Bryce we hiked two days, three hikes all the way through the park - it looks very different as you walk through the park - total of about 35 km or so.

I grew up in the Southwest US, so those colors and geologic formations are normal to me - what was fascinating is that when we went to Iceland for Memorial Day this weekend, the geological formations were similar to those I saw in AZ/NM, only the ground was a different color (more reds in AZ/NM and quite a bit colder, wetter, windier).

Glad you enjoyed the trip - beautiful area of the USA.

 

[TromboneAl]

You were at Zion, Bryce and Arches about 10 days after we were there. On our next trip, we plan to spend more time in Utah.

 

[RunningBum]

This was my laptop background for awhile, taken on a ski trip to Durango a few years ago, from the lodge we stayed at north of town.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

LOL, everyone wants to go live/visit the US Rocky Mountain region. That is not surprising because you are an outdoor buff with any interest in cycling, hiking, camping, kayaking, or even motorcycling, the opportunities and like-minded people in that region isn't replicated anywhere else in the country with maybe the exception of Northern California. The only down side is that the culture can get kind of monolithic. After my first belt test, the TKD instructor who is from Philly wanted to take us out to a Korean BBQ only to realize that closest Korean BBQ is in Denver, so that's why it would be handy to have a) lots of free time, b) access to a private jet, or c) at the very least be close to DIA.