Four Corners - 1979

Start - On Friday morning, August 31, part of the group met at Vip's Restaurant at Newcastle for breakfast and to hit the road. Lew and Adrianne Barnard drove their International Scout. Rick Root also drove a Scout. Les and Vicki Cobb drove their Toyota SR-5 pickup. Following the first group by an hour or so were Bill, Willie, Kevin, and Ben Yoder in their Jeep Wagoneer.

The first day's route was over the hill to Reno then a jog down to Fallon to pick up Highway 50 to Ely. At Ely, Lew, Adrianne, and Rick patronized Best Western while the Cobbs and Yoders spent the night at the Ely KOA.

On to Bryce - The second day was the first day with the entire group traveling together. We looked forward to arriving at Bryce Canyon while campsites were still open. We left Highway 50 near Lehman Caves (no stop) and crossed desert land to Milford, Utah. Les described some of the local "attractions" from having lived there when 10-11 years old. We pushed on to Panguitch where groceries, ice, and gas were purchased. From there it was an easy drive to Bryce Canyon where we found adjacent campsites in Sunset Campground.

After setting up, we all took a hike from Sunset Point which took us down into the formations. Excessive talk about ice cream and junk food on the trek back up brought about a stop at the park store.

Utah back country - That night we looked at the possibilities for the next day's travel and decided to go directly east despite (or because of) the lack of pavement.

Leaving Bryce Canyon Sunday morning, we had pavement for a good distance. At Escalante we stopped to look at the Petrified Forest. Continuing on, we finally ran out of black top at Boulder. A sign there told us it was 75 miles to civilization. We dropped in and out of various little canyons and passed a few rock hounds. After our lunch stop, we passed through the southern end of Capitol Reef National Park, where the entrance station consisted of a post with a box dispensing park leaflets.

Finally, we had the option of going east past Starr Springs or south to Bullfrog Marina on Lake Powell. Both routes came out on Highway 276. The east road gave a shorter total distance but the south route came out on pavement sooner. Les and Vicki took the Bullfrog turn and were drinking cokes at the Marina while the "Lost Patrol" was still looking for the right turn. Everyone finally got together, crossed Lake Powell at Hite, and entered Natural Bridges National Monument.

The campground being full, we found a place to camp back in on the Bears Ears road a half mile.

The Four Corners - Next morning (Labor Day) we reentered Natural Bridges and viewed the sights. Most of us hiked down to one bridge where several of the group were photographed on top. We hit the road and after zig-zaging through Ute and Navaho reservations, arrived at the Four Corners. This has a flat mosaic showing the four states coming together at this common point. We were surprised to find ourselves surrounded by indians, selling goods from their late-model pickups and vans.

Our lunch hungered crowd finally arrived at Shiprock, New Mexico, and stopped at a Col. Sanders / hamburger / taco conglomeration. We called ahead to Chama for rooms and arrived there at 5 PM. The Cobbs, Barnards, and Rick shared a large efficiency unit which was next door to the one occupied in 1972 by Lew, Les, Vicki, and Mike Keller. The '79 cabin was, in fact, the one occupied earlier in 1972 by Dean Martin while filming a movie. The Yoders shared another cabin.

That evening featured the traditional visit to Foster's Hotel for "Chama chili" and other Mexican food.

Cumbres and Toltec - The next day was our day to ride the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad's narrow gauge. We pulled out of the Chama station at 10 AM and all proceeded to poke various cameras out of the open windows at the passing view. At Cumbres Pass, an open gondola car and a souvenir car were added on which you could take more pictures and buy more film. Lunch at Osier was barbeque beef or a mexican plate. The train then went through the Toltec Gorge and eventually stopped in Antonito Colorado at 4 PM after crossing the state line 11 times. A bus took us back to Chama.

The Yoders went ahead that evening to Durango, while the others stayed another night in the Dean Martin cabin for a morning departure.

Durango - Wednesday was a day for getting settled in at the usual Ponderosa KOA north of Durango, and a lot of shopping in town. A severe junk food attack was answered by a pizza lunch at the Via Roma immediately followed by sundaes and banana splits at Baskin-Robbins.

The traditional Durango evening planned was partially spoiled by the previous closing of the Villa Restaurant, but the usual lively evening was found at the Diamond Belle Saloon in the old Strater Hotel.

Mines and Pueblos - Thursday we split into three groups. Lew, Rick, Bill, and Les took the two Scouts to try Colorado's 4WD trails. They left black top north of Silverton on the Ophir Pass trail which took them east to Ophir. They then went through the ghost town of Alta (photo) to Telluride. On the Imogene Pass 4WD road they stopped for lunch in Tomboy. While the others climbed up to a lookout point at Imogene Pass, Les struck up a conversation with one of the many dirt bikers that they had been sharing the roads with all day. Les found that they were on an annual week-long invitational ride around Colorado and that they were all big-time auto racing drivers and mechanics such as Parnelli Jones.

Vicki, Willie, Kevin, and Ben took the Toyota and went to Mesa Verde for the day. They took a tour of a cliff house where they crawled up and down through the ruins.

Adrianne took the Wagoneer and went to Durango. Since her time is not fully accounted for, it is suspected that she had another junk food attack. She had already had some sips of a restoring beverage before her breath could be checked for pepperoni and hot fudge.

Silverton - Different ways were used to travel from Durango to Silverton on Friday. Vicki and Willie got in line at 6:30 AM for standby tickets on the train. They did get on and took Kevin and Ben with them. The others broke camp, packed, and headed north on the highway. Les drove on into Silverton to meet the train riders at noon. The remaining members, Bill, Lew, Adrianne, and Rick stopped at Purgatory to ride the Alpine Slide.

Once we got everyone into Silverton and had lunch, the remaining problem was to meet John. John Robinson, an ex-Sacramentan, train nut, and friend of Lew, was to have left Denver that morning and meet us at 2 PM on the main street of Silverton. He was the only one that knew where our room reservations were. At 2, the train pulled out, reducing the population on the street to almost nothing. Soon afterward we had John in hand and we checked into the Grande Imperial Hotel.

Later that afternoon we drove out of town a short distance to find the trail-head for the following day's ghost town hike. That night we turned in early for our hike but we were serenaded until 1:30 AM by the Texas Blind Salamander playing downstairs in the hotel bar.

Silver Lake - Rick took leave of our party the next morning (Saturday) since he had to be in Sacramento Monday for work. John then led Lew, Adrianne, Les, Bill, Willie, Kevin, and Ben to Silver Lake. The lake sat in a bowl at the head of a high canyon near Silverton. Surrounding the lake were the remains of various mine buildings. The number and condition of the buildings and the elevation of 12,200 feet made the trip quite interesting. (Silverton's elevation is 9302.) Although the ground was covered with bottle fragments, no intact old bottles were found.

Kevin, Bill, Ben, John, Lew, Adrianne, and Les at Silver City buildings.

That evening featured another electronically boosted serenade from the T.B. Salamander, encouraged by a pack of oxygen-starved hang-gliderists.

On to Canyonlands - Sunday morning we said goodby to John and headed north. Montrose was our supply stop where sharp-eyed Adrianne spotted jalapino hot dogs in the gourmet section of the local Safeway. With fresh eats on board we headed through Grand Junction and across to Green River, Utah. Here we had to top off gas, drinking water, and junk food for our push into the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park. From here it was 36 miles of pavement and 46 miles of dirt to the Ranger Station. There we were told of an area 14 miles further in at the head of the Flint Trail where we could camp, so we did.

Golden Stairs and Standing Rocks - Monday we started down the 4WD Flint Trail, heading for the standing rocks area in the remaining Scout and the Wagoneer. Adrianne and Willie decided to hike down the Golden Stairs foot trail, bypassing a 16 mile loop in the road. There was some problem finding the trail and there was some flashing going on at the time the two parties were trying to find their relative positions. They eventually made it down an hour after the vehicles arrived. The reunited group paused for lunch, then drove past Lizard Rock, Standing Rock, and Chimney Rock. Picture stops took in these plus distant views including Dead Horse Point, 25 miles away. At the end of the road, we looked down to the Colorado River, then drove 30 slow miles back to camp.

Home - The problem on Tuesday was getting Bill's Wagoneer out to civilization and a gas pump. He ran out the first time just short of the Ranger Station. Les' hand pump hose could not reach gas in Lew's Scout until he put two wheels up a bank. We then pumped out 4-1/4 gallons for Bill before the pump again struck air. The next gas attack was 10 miles from Hanksville and two more gallons were abstracted from the Toyota. At Hanksville everyone topped off and headed home.

Lew and Adrianne pushed on without a stop and arrived home about 1 AM.