Hiking and picking fruit!

The temperature changed during the night and both Phil and I woke up cold.  So at 4 am we were digging out the electric blanket and at 6 am decided to turn on the furnace to get the chill out of the air.  I think it was in the 50's last night.  Today we hiked 8 miles on Chimney Rock and Canyon trails.  We had an elevation change of 810 ft but again it didn't feel too bad.  At first we were wondering if this hike was going to be "pretty".  The first 2 miles was drab scenery.  Once we got into the Spring canyon, the views were as awesome as yesterday.  The hike started at 8:30 and we were off the trail around 1:00.  There was a cool breeze blowing most of the time and we were shaded in the canyon.  On the Mesa it was hot, around 90.

Lots of gray and green for the first 2 miles



Chimney Rock



What a view!

Break time



Sometimes a challange



We ate lunch on the trail and when we had finished we drove a short distance to the Fruita Orchards.  Early settlers planted the orchards in 1880 and the last resident moved away in 1969.  Today the orchards are preserved and protected as part of the Fruita Rural Historic Landscape and maintained by the national park.  U-pick as you go: grab a bag, pick the fruit, weigh the fruit, and place your $ in a locked box.  So we have peaches, quite delicious and juicy, plums, apples, and one pear.  We weren't to sure about the ripeness of the pear.  Of course we sampled all the rest in the orchard before buying.  At $1 a pound we thought it was a good deal.   Needless to say, we have eaten our portions of fruit for the day and have lots to eat in the days ahead.  Although we just might have to have some peaches with ice cream this evening. 
 

Apples



Plums



Peaches



The honor system!

Anyone remember this?  Horse pulled hay mower!

Since the orchards are inside of the park, we drove the 20 mile scenic drive. We were lucky as the road had been closed for repaving and just reopened yesterday!! Again views that are just indescribable.


Just one view of the drive

As we were driving home to the RV park we come to the top of a hill and saw a trailer on it's side in the middle of the highway (still connected to the truck).  Phil thought the guy had a tire blowout that caused the trailer to flip.  No one was hurt and the motorcycles ahead of us and behind him all were very lucky.  We thought we would be stuck for hours.  But that didn't happen.  The driver got out his chains, attached them to the trailer, and slid it off of the highway. We drove on!  Makes us thankful that we have had nothing like that happen.

Lucky no one was hurt!



This has been our park the past 2 nights.

Tomorrow we head to Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park. On the way we will stop at Calf Creek for a 5 mile hike.    That's about all for the day.  Still have to pack up and get ready for bed.  Hope you had a good day.


Stretching the back!