Canyonlands and Grand Junction

Well we finished Canyonlands, but not without some stress. It was about a 1.5 hour drive to the Southern section of the park this morning... everything was going well until we turned off the main road. Snow. Snow on the road. Can't really see all of the pavement when there's snow on the road and that means waiting... waiting for snow to melt... similar to watching grass grow. We kept driving though... I was thinking well shout, not gonna be home Sunday, Monday? Tuesday? Is it gonna get sunny to melt this?

Plus while this was happening the problem we had yesterday with the grade sensors was still not fixed. Things did not look good... The happiness of getting so many parks done so fast and ending cycle 4 on a high note... well it was falling away from me quickly.

Here's a map of the drive and a picture of the roads as we saw them...


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Well don't mean to keep you in suspense... but as we descended in elevation so did the amount of snow. By the time we got to our route, it was tough to find the fluffy stuff except on the surrounding mesas. I honestly couldn't believe it...

We pulled over to try a new strategy on the grade sensors. The snow fixed itself; we had to fix the grade sensors though... decided to take out a grade timer card in our main computer. Well our magic worked... not another grade sensor error the rest of the day.

The scenery around the Southern section wasn't quite as spectacular as the Northern, but we didn't get much of a chance to check things out. With this park being with a days drive of Denver, it's one I'd like to come back to at some time. Here's a pic of what they call "Wooden Shoe Arch." Pretty fitting I think...


So we finished the rest of Canyonlands by 1pm or so and got to Grand Junction around 430. Onto Colorado Monument tomorrow... and with that the end of Cycle 4! Denver Sunday... Hopefully in time for Vikings/Packers...