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Telluride and its mountains
Less than 200 miles away from Moab, landscape is fully different.
1. Telluride, small mining town founded around 1870.
2. Most of the buildings are original and façades are maintained around what they looked like then.
3. Main street.
4. In the side streets, small miners houses have become prized.
5. They are jealously kept in owning families.
6. Overview of the city that became famous ski resort, while VLV starts the track that will lead her to Imogene Pass.
7. Another example ofwhat was created by the gold fever: a carved into the cliff road that crosses a pass at over 13’000 feet above sea level, not less!
8. VivaLaVida sometimes seemed well wide on the narrow track. Would recommend as therapy for people suffering from vertigo..!
9. There is even a small tunnel to cross a rocky outcrop.
10. The road rises amid the still green aspens.
11. The tree limit stands between 9,500 and 10,800 feet elevation here.
12. The mountain is gorgeous with alpine tundra and large screes.
13. The rise is endless but VLV climb valiantly despite the altitude.
14. The last section is cutted in a 45° scree.
15. And here is the pass!
16. Altitude is on the GPS: 4029 meters or 13,218 feet! Impressive!
17. There are no more than loose stones up there.
18. Clouds arrived…
19. Mineral oxides are ubiquitous, coloring the mountains…
20. The trail near the pass.
21. Red Mountains through which VLV will sneak tomorrow.
22. Snow showers changing landscape…
23. Constrasts…
24. Mineral desert…
25. Down the other side.
26. The track is not of every rest but nothing to stop VLV!
27. Last section before the arrival in Ouray, another small mining town to discover in the next update.
Sorry for the long update, follow of the journey in a few days. 😉
Western Colorado
It’s been awhile that I wanted to explore Colorado mountains and as I have to cross the Rockies to go East, I took the opportunity to make a few detours.
1. Nice valley West of Uncompahgre Plateau.
2. The edge of the plateau is sometimes abrupt.
3. “Western” but actual building…
4. Small church in Gateway.
5. Beautiful mesa over Gateway.
6. The Dolores River has a particularity. To bring water to gold mining, in 1883, a company created a 15 miles canal which was suspended in the cliffs for 5 miles. Some vestiges remain clearly visible…
7. Here in closeup. It’s crazy what the search for gold and silver generated as work in the American West!
8. Typical saloon in a small hick town…
9. Wildlife is still abundant. Here a troop of deer not far from the road.
10. VivaLaVida approachs the mountains and leaves desert with altitude. Here the Lone Cone Mountain which looks like a volcano with this storm cloud.
11. Quiet camping in National Forest…
12. Of course with the campfire to cook the diner! 🙂
13. One of the symbols of the American West: artesian wells…
14. Pastures…
15. Highlands…
To be followed with a small glimpse of Telluride, a small town in the foothills of mountains.
Sandstone du Colorado…
J’ai décidé de faire quelques détours sur la route de l’Est, en commençant par la découverte de quelques arches naturelles. J’ai traversé le “Colorado National Monument” qui n’a rien d’exceptionnel à mes yeux puis emprunter une piste assez rocailleuse sur une vingtaine de kilomètres.
1. Colorado National Monument, de hautes falaises de sandstone.
2. N’ayant pas trouvé la piste alors qu’il faisait nuit, j’ai dormi sur Grand Mesa, à 2’680 mètres d’altitude.
3. General Store perdu…
4. Ela Natural Bridge, non loin de là.
5. A défaut de puma que je n’ai toujours pas vu, j’ai aperçu une espèce extrêmement rare : un jeune éléphant d’Amérique ! 🙂
6. La rim que je découvre comporte cinq arches naturelles, ici celle de Hole in the Bridge Arch ainsi qu’une autre sans nom.
7. Sandstone…
8. Aérienne Centenial Arch.
9. Le vente et la pluie ont sculpté la sandstone.
10. Et au bout du sentier, voici Rattlesnake Arch, l’arche du serpent à sonnette (que je n’ai pas vu là…).
11. Un rocher en équilibre sur le flanc du canyon…
12. Ayant découvert une autre curiosité à découvrir (dont j’ignorait l’existence jusqu’à un panneau au trailhead), j’ai dormi sur place. La couchant m’a gratifié d’une lumière très inhabituelle, le grand feu de forêt sévissant actuellement au Wyoming envoyant sa fumée dans le ciel…
13. Couchant…
Voilà pour aujourd’hui. Découverte de l’une des plus grandes alcôves du continent nord américain dans la prochaine update… 😉
VLV is back in action!
It is on September the 7th in the morning I found my “home on wheels” back for the coming weeks. Significantly cleaner than when I let her since Fullservicestorage that housed VivaLaVida for more than one year has cleaned her!
1. Dashing!
Having installed the track rod with new ball joints and wired the oil cooler fan installed the eve of leaving VLV in 2015, I took the road to visit Hans and Madeleine in Moab, hosted by high températures: 98F at 5 PM! I slept near some bentonite hills North of Moab.
2. Boondocking
3. This clay, often colored by inorganic oxides in different sedimentary layers, is always spectacular.
4. Late afternoon light.
5. Quiet Wake up…
6. Silhouette of La Sal Mountains in the morning.
7. Castle Valley…
;
8. Fisher Towers in front of La Sal Mountains.
9. Along Colorado River…
10. Not sure that in case of gas failure, it is of great ease..!
11. Colorado River North of Moab.
VivaLaVida is then passed in Colorado, discover some interesting spots. To come in a few days.
VivaLaVida is hitting the road again!
Here I am in Salt Lake City after 26 hours of travel.
I’m gonna find VivaLaVida back in two hours, more than a year after leaving her in a storage. So excited!
Next to come soon about this reunion… 😉
Happy New Year 2016!
To all of you who regularly followed VivaLaVida’s journey, it’s time to give you some news…
Back to Switzerland in early June, the life surprised me with a beautiful encounter that changed many things in my life and my future. Thus VivaLaVida’s journey has stopped and will not resume, at least in the same way. I’m still thinking about how to reinstate me, socially and professionally, in a world where I wasn’t supposed to come back anytime soon!
VivaLaVida is still stored in Salt Lake City, he hasn’t moved since late May. However, it’s well sheltered in a warm storage and should not suffer from this extended stay. I’m currently evaluating the possibilities for exporting and registering it in Switzerland. Nothing is done yet but it seems that this should be possible without major works. It would please me to be able to keep it to travel in Europe. I will keep you informed. 😉
It’s high time for me to wish you all the best for 2016, with many travel in all shapes, health and an open mind to all the positive experiences that life offers!
Way to salt Lake City and…
After waiting on a workshop that told me they could do the work on VLV and which finally didn’t, I had little choice but to join a big city to find a workshop that can do the job “on measure “on VLV.
Anyway, before leaving Moab, I went to visit Hans and Madeleine who had so warmly welcomed me at the end of last fall. I found them in their new home in town. Madeleine having been operated of her shoulder four days before, she has no choice but to wear a harness supporting his arm for four to five months at least. But she seems to take it philosophically. Hans was kind enough to advice me a workshop in Salt Lake City, that really helped me.
I therefore took the northbound road and met some nice thunderstorm clouds … Sorry, the pictures of this page were made with my iPhone, the quality is poor…
1. Large thunderstorm cloud.
2. In a few moments VivaLaVida will cross the thick curtain of rain.
Arrived at SLC, VLV wouldn’t start the next morning. It seems there was quind of aa short circuit in the starter system. I finally managed to crank it switching on house batteries and to reach the Ford dealership. They diagnose a bad alternator, only the third in less than two years ..! Above all, I was surprised by the diagnosis because I do not understand why this would prevent VLV from starting since the batteries were ok. After more than 6 hours of waiting, they tell me that everything was ok. I left, stoped less than a mile awayr to buy something and when I turn the key to start again, the symptoms were the same as in the morning! I decided to control the main engine ground and once cleaned and squirt in WD40, VLV starts without worries… I will returned the next day at Ford to request a refund of more than $500 of repairs that wasn’t the issue..!
The next day, I worked in the Advanced 4×4 Vans workshop to relocate the new oil cooler and add a motorcycle fan to enhance cooling when traveling at low speed on the trails. Arrived at 8 am, left at 18h, a big day of mechanic but a positive result with the oïl cooler now vertical on the passenger side allowing cool air to reach the tranny and water coolers.
3. A quind of oldschool workshop with competent people…
4. Relocation of the new oïl cooler, vertical in left side of the picture..
Here is a breaking news which will undoubtedly surprise some of you. For family reasons, I’m gonna interrupt VLV’s journey and return to Switzerland for an indefinite period. This blog will thus stop with this update and will reanimate when I will find VLV back, probably not before fall. I found a storage where I can leave VLV sheltered and safe not far away from SLC airport. While you’ll discover this, I’ll probably be on the plane that will take me back to Europe …
I want to thank you all for your loyalty during the almost two years I tried to animate this little diary, sharing quite a few images that the places VivaLaVida went to explore inspired me. Your regular comments constituted a kind of friendly link that kept me company throughout the trip. Thank you all for your loyalty…
Hikes in Utah…
During Memorial Day Weekend, I held waiting for mechanical work on VivaLaVida discovering some surrounding canyons.
1. Going up Mill Creek canyon in a rainy day…
2. … I discover this pretty small waterfall.
3. Higher in the canyon, is a cave whose traces of soot on the vault attest that it served as a shelter for Indian people years ago.
4. The next day I went discover the Negro Bill Canyon, renamed since with an unpronounceable name for “political correctness” reasons. The unusually wet spring in this region provides more water and greenery than it’s common here.
5. Arriving near Morning Glory Arch.
6. It’s a place where tourists offer some thrills rapelling from about 120 feet.
7. There is quite some air with a second portion away from the overhanging cliff.
8. Giant arch.
9. Hiking higher in Negro Bill Canyon, widely flowery.
10. Cacti offer many yellow ar roses flowers.
11. Small waterfall down the cliffs.
12. This one looks like a lys…
13. Not far from the mouth of the canyon, water runs on the sandstone.
14. The place is wild and desert despite the crowds of Memorial Day.
15. Last compo before going back to VLV and heading to Salt Lake City to do the work on VLV.
To be followed soon. 😀
The journey resumes…
Thank you for your latest messages triggered by the long rest of the blog. Vivalavida received important works, including the modification of the entire oil system to try to improve cooling. The oïl to water exchanger has been removed and replaced by a large oil cooler controlled by a thermostat. I hope that recurring heat problems will be if not solved at least reduced.
After the long break period, VivaLaVida has hit the road again.
1. Heavy thunderstorms dot the plains of New Mexico.
2. Some dump hail..!
3. I make a stop at the Overland Expo West, South of Flagstaff, where I see John & Mandi again who started their journey since two weeks for their Pan American: from Alaska to Patagonia…
4. Camping stop with Chris and Jennifer on the shore of Lake Powel.
5. V4 with the “Sherpa” installed, the Chris’s very special van going up the Grade Kelly on the Smoky Mountain Road.
6. Camping at Deer Creek, along the Blurr Trail. The Sherpa is a base station for group camping. It offers a double bed in the upper part once lifted.
7. Fantastic view over the north of Capitol Reef and the Water Pocket Fault.
8. View toward South.
9. VLV in the Upper Muley Twist Canyon.
10. V4 going down the Blurr Trail.
11. A few hundred feet below, it is only a small point…
12. Temple Mountain Under thundersotrms.
Vivalavida is gonna stop again for some technical changes, the oil cooler mounted recently needs to be repositioned. If it significantly lowers the oil temperature, the hot air flow is building heat in the transmission. We must find another solution.
So expect a few delays before new updates… 😉
D5 Creation