The day after hiking New Mexico's Wheeler Peak, the girls and I contemplated where we should go next. Would it be Utah or Nevada? Utah's Kings Peak is a backpack, not a dayhike; we'd need to hike in 8 miles or so, camp, do a 10-ish mile roundtrip hike the next day to tag the summit, then hike 8 miles or so back out to the car on Day 3. The pictures of Kings Peak we found on the web were gorgeous, and we all wanted to see the area. However, we weren't sure we wanted to deal with a backpack. Dayhikes are much more convenient.
Nevada's Boundary Peak can be done as a 7-9 mile dayhike. However, it's in the middle of nowhere and I'd read conflicting reports about the nature of the trail up Trail Canyon. Some reports stated there was a clear trail and the footing wasn't too bad, others said the trail disappeared here and there and the footing was awful.
In the end, we decided on Nevada's Boundary Peak. I spent the next couple of hours mapping the highest driving route possible from Taos Ski Valley, NM, to Dyer, Nevada. I discovered that if I was careful, I could keep us around or above 8000 feet most of the time on the way to Nevada. This altitude was lower than I felt was optimal...so far, we hadn't been much below 9200 feet for over a week...but it was the best I could do.
Our first stop en route to Dyer was Mesa Verde in southern Colorado. Mesa Verde isn't all that high (6000-7500 feet or so), but it was something I thought the girls should see.
Cliff dwellings of the Ancient Pueblo Peoples...
We had to climb this ladder to get to Balcony House, one of the dwellings...
View of the ladder from Balcony House...
View from the main area of Balcony House...
The "interior" of Balcony House...
Kiva...
We slept at Mesa Verde's campground, then headed into southern Utah the following day.
The drive along Utah's Route 12 was gorgeous.
Curiously, much of it traversed open ranges. One had to watch for cattle and horses in the road...yet the speed limit was almost always 75mph.
We crossed the Colorado River...
...saw some cattle...
...and drove along one of the scariest roads I'd ever been on in my life. Notice how there's a sharp drop-off on both sides.
One side of the road...
The other side of the road...
Eventually, we made it to Brian Head, the highest town in Utah (elevation 10,000+ feet). We drove up to the summit of Brian Head Peak and hung around for a bit.
View from Brian Head Peak, Utah...
Unfortunately, there was no place to camp in the town of Brian Head. Just expensive ski lodges...and cows...
We kept driving after the sun went down; we made it into Nevada...
...before stopping for the night in Salida. We continued our drive toward Dyer the next morning.
The desert has its own beauty...
We took the Extraterrestrial Highway (of course!)...
...where we met even more cows...
...eventually, we approached Boundary Peak...
...and I'll continue this story tomorrow. :)
Come back tomorrow evening for Highpointing 2012, Part Six -- "Highpoint: Nevada. Boundary Peak, 13.141 feet. September 11, 2012."
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