Where’s Nico?

Okay… let’s go with kind of a ‘deep cut’ for this week’s post title. “Moon Rocks” was on the Talking Heads’ wonderful ‘Speaking in Tongues’ album. By why name this post ‘Moon Rocks’? Well to answer that, let’s start with another question…. “where’s Nico?”

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument!

Since we last chatted about our travels, we left sunny California to head up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and then on to Utah, where we’ve been staying since the 7th of May.

But before I get to Utah, we had a really nice time at the Grand Canyon. The visits with friends and family (and rattlesnakes) over the previous week were a ton of fun, but we did miss getting out on the trails. The Grand Canyon only allows dogs on one trail, but it’s a fun walk along the rim of the canyon. The whole thing stretches quite a ways, but we only hiked about eight miles of it. We parked at Yavapai Point – it’s a little easier to get a parking spot there, and Kristen and I love watching sunsets from that part of the canyon. We had a wonderful pre-Nico trip to the canyon back in 2021, where we got to see an amazing storm come down from the north side of the canyon right around sunset. I have to share a couple pics of that, because it was super cool!

On that same trip in 2021, we had another sunset at the same point a few days later, and this lady approached us after sunset to share a picture she had taken of us. It’s still probably my favorite photo of Kristen and I.

Anyway, the weather was great while we were there this time, so no big storm for Nico to get to see, but we had a really nice sunset together all the same.

The next day, we drove up to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Here’s where the moon rocks finally tie in to this post – there are places to go around here that feel like you’re on a different planet. This is an amazing park! It’s very close to three national parks – Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef. But you can tool around Escalante and Dixie and other national forests and state parks and such in the area and encounter a fraction of the other people that you experience at the national parks. That’s not to say you want to miss any of those national parks – they’re fantastic, and we did spend some time in Bryce – but as with most national parks, if you want a little more space to yourselves, make sure to go explore the other protected lands in the area.

We boondocked on open land in the National Monument, about fifteen minutes from the town of Escalante. Our front yard was a view that went out for dozens on dozens of miles. There have been a lot of highlights from this stop that I want to share:

Uncle Bob

Well, let’s start with the legend himself! I mentioned my uncle Bob in a recent post – after he retired, he took a volunteer gig doing search and rescue at nearby Bryce Canyon. We had the chance to spend several days out on the trails with Bob, who Nico now considers one of his closest beefeefees (BFF’s as mispronounced by a chihuahua and his odd owners). Many of the days ended either going out for dinner together or having a few beers and a bite to eat back at our trailer. Kristen did most of the food prep for those nights, and Bob brought some great IPAs and porters that he had amassed.

Narrows and Slot Canyons

There are some amazing hikes in this area of the country. Several of them involve “narrows” or “slot canyons”. I don’t know if there’s a hard definition of what qualifies as a slot canyon, but you sure know it when your in one. Some, like one we did called “Spooky’, was maybe only eight or nine inches wide at times. It was tight enough that as I tried to navigate it sideways, I got slightly stuck and had to kind of force my way through at one spot towards the end. Slot canyons are some of the most beautiful hikes you’ll ever encounter, and a super fun adventure – it’s like a grown up version of a kid’s playground! We did Willis Creek Narrows with Nico a couple of times, Peekaboo and Spooky slot canyons (my favorite slots hike of this trip, but we had to leave Nico back in the trailer for that one because it’s not one you could really navigate with a chihuahua, even a mountain dog chihuahua like Nico), and slots along the Bighorn Canyon Trail, which we did with both Nico and Bob.

Waterfall

Another trail we did was recommended by an old co-worker/friend named Roy, who now lives in Utah. He also recommended some of the slots we hit. The trail is called Lower Calf Creek Falls – it’s a nice, eight mile out-and-back hike without much elevation gain, and a really beautiful waterfall at the turnaround point. Bob joined us for that hike as well, and I highly recommend it if you find yourself out this way!

Ranger Nico

Bob works with some fun folks at Bryce. One of those folks is Ranger Paula, who runs the Bark Ranger program at the park. Nico did achieve Bark Ranger status when we were back at Petrified Forest National Park a few weeks back, but when he achieved the status at Bryce, it included a full swearing in ceremony! Nico was quite honored!

Goats? Yes, Goats

This was a bit of a surprise for us! When you boondock, you never really know if anyone is going to set up near you – you usually end up with a ton of space to yourself, which really beats setting up in most campgrounds. We set up in a lovely spot that was all ours, until some folks set up nearby. Sometimes, that makes you feel a bit cramped, but in this case, it was a blast! We met a very sweet guy named Al. Al brought a group of his friends, a wolf dog, and a couple dozen goats. They had set up near us, because it was near a trailhead along the Escalante River that they were looking to take the goats on for a week-long adventure. I have to say – these guys were a delight! They ended up giving us some fresh goat milk and some wonderful chevre cheese they made, and we reciprocated with some homemade granola we had made. The wolf dog was super sweet (and yes wolf dogs are half-wolf), but I will say, he does kind of come up on you so quietly that he does give you a bit of a start when you turn and realize he’s standing right by you. I must say – that chevre is delicious!

Anyway, it’s been another fun week on this adventure! We’re still at Escalante at the moment, and will probably stick around here until Monday, when we’ll head off for…. well, for something you’ll have to read about in the next post!

– Ken, 5/18/24