Wilderness Adventure

It's that time of year - the season of roadtrips! Mine started this past weekend. My old roommate Amber planned a fun-filled weekend of physical adventure. She and I wanted to go somewhere and do something together this summer...but I wasn't interested in planning anything. It was just taking too much effort! In order to prove to me and to herself that she can in fact plan a weekend adventure, Amber took it upon herself to do her homework and make a plan. I was along for the ride! She did an awesome job of knowing just where to go and what to do.



On Thursday afternoon, I popped in some tunes and drove up to Flagstaff, AZ to meet up with Amber. We took her Rav 4 to Monticello, UT where we stayed with her sister Thursday night. On Friday morning, the three of us drove to Grand Junction, CO to stay with another of Amber's sisters and her family for the rest of the weekend. Friday afternoon, we hiked to Hanging Lake.



It was a good hike but not too tough. Only 1 1/4 mile pretty straight up. There was always a river flowing along beside us.



Hanging Lake is a gorgeous lake with twin waterfalls cascading into it. Amber and I hiked up to Spouting Rock (stay tuned for the photos from that) and sat atop the falls of Hanging Lake.



After hiking down, we were ready for dinner and an evening of relaxation...so we played at some natural hot springs pools in town. The hottest pool was a comfortable 104 degrees :) The one just cooler than that was probably 90 degrees or so. What a perfect way to end the day!



On Saturday, Amber and I headed out with borrowed bikes for an afternoon of biking along the river. There is a bike trail that runs along the river, beginning at Grand Junction and continuing for 16 miles. We started at Grizzly Creek and biked for a few miles before the trail was closed. Unfortunately we had to turn around. Meanwhile a raft had capsized and a guy asked to borrow my bike. They raced down the trail collecting people and rafts. Amber and I ended up walking the rest of the way back to our car...I found my bike near the rafter's equipment.



We went back to Hanging Lake and picked up biking from there. The wind was strong and against us the entire way back! What started out as a leisurely bike ride for the first few miles ended up as quite the work-out on the return trip :)





Later we hiked a bit more on a random trail we found with some cool rapids.

After dinner, we decided a bit of TLC was in order. We headed to the Yampah Vapor Caves and Spa! Each of us decided to get a body wrap - Amber had an Herbal Wrap and mine was Chocolate Bliss. Yep, scrumptious! Before the wrap, we went to the vapor caves. According to the website, "The Yampah Spa Vapor Caves are natural underground hot mineral water steam baths located in the historic hot springs mountain retreat of Glenwood Springs, Colorado."

The vapor caves made us really sweaty and ready for pampering! Our room looked much like the one above, which I found on the website. Here's a description of my wrap: Chocolate Bliss Wrap - A detoxifying and stimulating treatment. This blissful wrap starts with a steam in our Vapor Caves. Then a body masque of healing clay, chocolate, cream, and honey is applied to your body. You relax, wrapped in cotton blankets. The aroma therapy of the chocolate is soothing for your senses. You emerge feeling and smelling great.



It's true that I smelled blissfully like chocolate the remainder of the night...but if you don't wash very well right after, that oh-so delicious chocolately smell will quickly change to a sour milk scent :) Not attractive! Not that I know personally - that's just what they told us. I was thorough with the lavender shower body wash so generously provided by the spa :)

All in all, a fun-filled weekend! It was great to get out of town; I loved being active for two days with hiking, biking, and swimming; the spa treatment was a new experience...one that I hope to try again in the near future; Amber can rest easy with the confidence of being able to make and carry out a super-fantastic plan!