Drive Home

May 21, 2018

Tuesday May 22, 2018

I packed up the bike for the last time and pedaled a mile to the Enterprise Car Rental office in Cortez to pick up a 1-way car rental. It took me 3 days to drive nearly 1500 miles from Cortez, Colorado to Oakland, Oregon.

In the morning I had a rewarding stop at Hovenweep National Monument where I hiked 2 miles through the ruins. The bike tour passed only 10 miles from Hovenweep but it wasn't possible for me to visit without camping there.

I hiked all the trails through the ruins.

Pueblo Indians built the tower ruins from about 1230 to 1300. This canyon had 100-150 inhabitants during that period. Many small checkdams were built to collect rainfall.

View across the canyon to Twin Towers and Rim Rock House.

The Hovenweep inhabitants migrated to this canyon from higher mesas and only stayed a couple generations before moving down to the Rio Grande river valley. Nobody knows why.

Hovenweep Castle was having some tuckpointing work done. The walls would continue to fall down without maintenance.

The ruins are all roped off. Visitors are not allowed to touch or climb on the ruins.

Hovenweep House on the left. Hovenweep Castle on the right.

Most of the ruins are on the cliff edge at the top of the canyon. For some reason Square Tower was built inside the canyon.

Square Tower ruin on the left. Hovenweep Castle on the right.

Twin Towers. Stronghold House across the canyon on the right.

After wrapping around the rim of the canyon the hiking trail descends and ascends 80 feet to cross the canyon and return to the visitor center.

Hovenweep is a great place to visit. Never crowded because it's so far off the beaten track. Free admission, with water and a campground.

Wednesday May 23, 2018

In the morning I soaked at two Utah hot springs that I had never visited. First is Meadow hot spring which is only 6 miles from an I-15 exit. Easy access and free camping is allowed at the parking area. 4 camper vans were in the parking lot when I arrived at 7 AM. I soaked 1.5 hours and never had the pool to myself.

Meadow Hot Spring at 7 AM when the sun was shining.

Meadow hot spring is very deep. The middle of the pool is too deep to stand up in. It's a cave filled with hot water. The pool was 99F (37C) while the air temperature was 50F (10C). Sunshine shouldn't heat the pool very much because it's so deep. You can stay in forever without overheating. An outstanding user friendly hot spring.

Meadow Hot Spring at 8:30 AM after the sky became cloudy.

Baker hot spring is much more remote. It was once a commercial soaking resort. Now just 3 tubs in the high desert. Far down a gravel road in an unpopulated area. I soaked for 1.5 hours and had the place to myself except for a guy on an ATV who turned around while 200 yards away.

The tubs are about 4x6 feet, about 2 feet deep with a shallower step. Each tub can easily accommodate 2 adults.

The source at Baker hot spring is extremely hot. The source is about 200 feet from the soaking pools. A trench allows some of the hot water to flow quickly to the source pools. That is the hot flow that was about 120F (49C) while I was there on a cool morning.

Much of the hot water disperses into a big shallow wetland that surrounds the source. The large surface area allows the water to cool quickly. Water from the wetland is piped at ground level to the pools to supply a flow of warm water. The warm flow was about 85F (29C).

The temperature of each pool can be adjusted by choking the two flows with towels or socks. The adjustable hot and warm flow make it easy to control the temperature of each tub. Both sources are cooler at night and warmer on a hot afternoon. The ratio varies significantly between day and night.

The super-hot source at Baker hot spring.

Thursday May 24, 2018

In the afternoon I stopped at 3 places along the McKenzie river in Oregon.

I took short photo stops at Sahalie falls and Koosah falls. The time exposure waterfall pictures ended up with the water washed out. Previous photos were much better.

Sahalie Falls, where the McKenzie river plunges 100 feet over a lava dam.

The McKenzie river plunges 70 feet at Koosah falls.

Then I soaked 1.5 hours at Deer Creek warm spring. The pool was 98F. Body temperature.

Deer Creek warm spring on the bank of the McKenzie river.

After a long time in the desert it was a great way to get reacquainted with western Oregon.

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