Yet another great hike with our hoodoo buddies.

Back in the Stone Age of photography, Kodak marketed two different slide films. Ektachrome tended to bring out the blues and greens. Great for water and sky shots. Kodachrome was warmer and shaded toward the reds. In 1940, National Geographic sent an expedition to the basin where we are camping. They saw the red cliffs and hoodoos surrounding a large bowl and named it Kodachrome Basin. National Geographic knew film.

Just 2 miles from our campsite, sits Kodachrome Basin State Park. It was perfect timing for us to visit the park. V-Jer has a 30 gallon fresh water tank. We carry 20 gallons in reserve in a bunch of water jugs. I had just drained our last drop of reserve water into V-Jer’s belly. We needed to refresh our reserves. The park was just the place to fetch a new batch of reserve water.

Kodachrome Park was well named. The interesting formations are red. Our first trail was recommended by the Park Ranger at the gate. It was Sentinel Trail. On the outskirts of the Park stands a large red blob sticking up out of a valley. The trail wound up and around the blob. Up close, the blob is made up of intricate hoodoos that often look like heads watching over the surrounding area.

Scenes from the Sentinel Trail. I call the big red rock “The Red Blob”.

After replenishing our water jugs at one of the three campgrounds in the Park, we drove up another road. We stopped at several scenic spots and then hiked two more trails. In all, we clocked about 5.5 miles and 10,000 photos, although I felt like I was cheating using digital film. I guess I’ll just digitally shift the white balance a little to the red spectrum to simulate Kodachrome slide film.

We left the Park around 4 pm and drove into Tropic. Tropic has ultrafast cell signal. I was getting way behind in sending out my journals. We just don’t have any signal out in the boondocks.

The colors from chocolate brown to orange to white to Kodachrome red, and shapes from jagged to round to smooth are just amazing.

The Twisted Sisters motorcycle gang. These three ladies are from Monroe Wisconsin. Two are sisters and the third has been a friend for decades. They take a lot of trips together.

Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town.

Dave and Wanda

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