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Scott and Rob - Road Trip 2026
  • Scott Kline
  • Scott Kline

Scott and Rob - Road Trip 2026

Follow along with Scott and Rob as they drive from Austin to Utah and back. We are gonna hit some National Parks, State Parks along with some towns and sites along the way! Read more
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  • Trip start
    May 7, 2026
  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler
    1

    Drive to White's City, NM

    May 7 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Left Austin this morning, with a 8 hour drive to White's City (with several stops along the way. The total drive time today was about 11 hours. Had to make a stop in Mason, Texas. Seaquist House is there and is one of my favorite examples of Victorian architecture in Texas! Tomorrow starts the fun activities, with two hikes in Guadalupe National Park!Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Hiking Guadalupe National Park

    May 8 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    Today was a busy day of hiking. We started out with the Devil's Hall Trail. It seems simple at just about 4 miles, but it is not. The trail is not a loop, so it's out and back on the same route. The first mile was the normal rock-covered trail down through the walkways between the high hillsides. Then... The trail turns into boulder hiking and scrambling with figuring out your own path through the 'wash' of huge boulders and scrambling over and around them. Good thing we had our trekking poles to help, along with good hiking boots. Once we made our way through the wash, there was a vertical wall of striated rock that you had to climb up on the individual narrow ledges. And then finally to the deep cavern of the Devil's Hall. It is a narrow chasm over a hundred feet high of more striated rock and carved out by the seasonal rains that flow through Devil's Hall into the wash of huge boulders. Was a very different 'hike' through the boulders in the wash and then up and also down the very steep wall.
    Then on to our second hike, also within the park, which seemed much simpler compared to our earlier experience. The Smith Spring and Manzanita Spring Loop starts at the Frijole Ranch, which has a natural spring that helped the family grow an orchard in the harsh terrain. The hike was over slightly rocky terrain in a loop from the house to the spring that flows from the underlying limestone rock into a small stream that the people around used as their water supply. It was only about a 3 mile circular loop with views of the park as far as you can see. It's mainly small trees and cactus plants along the trail and native lands around the park.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Carlsbad Caverns, NM

    May 9 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    Today we visited Carlsbad Caverns, and it was an other-worldly experience. We opted for the mile walk down from the Visitor's Center to the natural main entrance. It was a lot of switchback path that slowly winds down to the huge cave entrance. Once inside, the main attraction is the Big Room full of all the different rock formations, stalagmites, stalactites, popcorn stalagmites, transparent pools of water that forms from drips of water filtered through the overhead rock. It is next to impossible to describe how quiet, dimly lit and full of formations that you have never seen anywhere else on the planet. We did not take the shortcut and walked the entire path through the cavern - about a mile and a half, stopping all the time to read the signs and take in each new and interesting type of formation.
    After the tour through the caverns, we did take the elevator back up. It was just over 800 feet, or 70 stories.
    In the afternoon, there was a ranger scientist lead bat discussion to educate us on the way the bats live in the caverns, what they eat, how they hibernate. We were able to see 3 different types of live bats up close. One was the same type of bats that live in Carlsbad and also under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin.
    Our last event was a viewing of the nightly bat viewing as the exit the caverns to forage and eat during the night.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Guadalupe Mtns NP - McKittrick Trail

    May 10 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 72 °F

    Today was an 8 mile round trip hike on the McKittrick Trail. It was 4 miles out and 4 back along the same trail. About halfway there was a stone cabin built in 1931 for Wallace Pratt. It was built from native flat stone for the walls and even the roof was stone. It had a living area 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. There was a guide stationed at the house to give a tour and explain the history. The Pratt family donated all their land to the national parks service to help expand the park in the 1960's.
    We then hiked another mile to the grotto. This is a rock formation that they explained was similar to those in Carlsbad Caverns, just above ground. It is a small cave under a rock cliff that had many formations from the ceiling and ground, just like the caverns.
    The last mile of the hike was up to a hunters cabin built for the local hunters to stay in when out for extended hunting expeditions. Since it was built for just the hunters, it was not nearly as nice as the Pratt family 'cabin'.
    Then we followed the same trail back to the trailhead and into the town of Carlsbad for a BBQ dinner.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Travel to Taos, NM

    May 11 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Today was a travel day from Carlsbad to Taos. Overall it was about 6 hours of travel with stopping along the way. We left in the morning and the drive through central New Mexico was straight highway with really nothing to see but scrub brush trees and cactus along the highway. We stopped in Roswell, NM and then Vaughn, NM for some lunch. Unfortunately in this tiny town there is only one diner and it was closed for an event....so we ended up eating hot foot from a quicky-mart and gassing up the car. About 2/3 of the way the landscape turned into hundred foot pine trees and national forest. We spent the rest of the way to Taos winding up and through the highway meandering through the Carson National Forest. It was a much needed change from the flat, straight highway previously. Then we arrived in Taos, a small, quiet town where people actually stop to let you walk across a crosswalk. Very surprising compared to Austin, where we would have been road kill...Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Sightseeing in Taos, NM

    May 12 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Today we had a sightseeing trolley car reserved to take us around the city and out to the Taos Pueblo Indian site. It is over a thousand years old and was never conquered by the Spanish or American army's, so it has remained with the Indians forever. A few hundred native Indians still live in the hand-build pueblo house structures. They do this to maintain contact with their ancestry, heritage and language. Their language is not written down or recorded. It is taught to the children. The structures are build with adobe brick made from the native clay and straw. There is not electricity or running water in the pueblo 'city'. Many of the Indians live in the pueblo city part time and in Taos the rest of the time. Since the land is owned and controlled by the Indian nation, they have all their own police, fire, court house, jail, etc. separate from Taos. We bought a really colorful bowl from a Pueblo tribe member artist. Also got a Christmas ornament, with horse hair heated into it to cause a unique design. We also got to taste Fry Bread, a Pueblo staple. It was made by a tribe member in her adobe home. Fried Bread is kinda similar to funnel cake as far as the cosistancy and airiness, but it is made is a cast iron skillet. It was very good, mine had a local cherry jam on it and Rob got honey on his.
    We then proceeded to an outpost named La Hacienda do Los Martinez. It was a trading outpost from 1804 until the 1960's. It has 22 rooms and is now a museum demonstrating the life and methods that the early pioneers used to live and thrive in the Taos area. Last stop was the San Francisco de Asis Church. In their gift shop we got a pretty metal angel ornament.
    Then we spent the rest of the day shopping for walking around downtown Taos, having lots of coffee, ice cream and yummy chocolate!    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Hiking Tour near Taos, NM

    May 13 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    Today we had a guided excursion for hiking and sightseeing in the area.
    Our first stop was a hike in the Rio Grande Gorge. It is in a park near where the Rio Grande River flows near Taos and has carved a huge gorge in the surrounding rock over time. The hike was not difficult and just about a mile out and back. Along the way we saw a lot of rock formations that were caused when the area was volcanic millenia ago. The flat rocky outcroppings are home to Longhorn Sheep. We did see 2 adult and 2 young sheep. They have long curved horns like a ram and are adapted to walk all around the rocky cliffsides that make up their home. At the end of the trail, there is a cliff overlooking the Rio Grande River hundreds of feet below. It was nice, quiet and we had the trail all to our group.
    Then we made another stop at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It is one of the tallest bridges in the US and is made of steel construction. It was completed in 1965 and is 600 feet over the Rio Grande River. You cannot walk out onto the bridge for safety reasons. The state of New Mexico is going to install new railings to make it safe to walk across.
    Our last stop was about 20 miles outside of Taos and is called 'Earthship' It is a completely off-grid community of homes that grow their own food, filter their water, use solar and wind energy and all the construction is from discarded products. The walls are made of discarded tires filled with adobe, stacked and filled with more adobe to form the walls. Some of the walls are make of can 'bricks' that are stacked and also covered with adobe. Bottles are used in the adobe walls to allow light in. The first Earthship was completed in 1972 and others have been build one by one ever since. As new Earthships are build they can be purchased starting at $400K. As of today, there are over 100 Earthships built and habitated.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Mesa Verde Hiking

    May 14 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    Today, we drove about 6 hours to Mesa Verde National Park. Along the way we stopped in Pagosa Springs, CO for some great coffee. Then a drive through Carson National Forest and the windy roads, then through the San Juan National Forest with even more up and down winding roads. The scenery was different and lots of flat valley areas between the mountains covered in pine trees. In the valleys there were a lot of horse and cow ranches where the land is more flat.
    Once we arrived in Mesa Verde we drove up and took a short hike to the tallest outlook point in the park. It is used for wildfire and monsoonal rain lookout from the ranger station at the top.
    Then we traveled back down by car and hiked up a short trail that is just over one mile in and one mile back out. It is short but the elevation change was 650 feet and the summit was 8,500 feet (according to my GPS). The views of the park from the top and all along the way were just incredible. Parkland as far as you can see. The pictures describe it far better than any words...
    Then back to the car for our lodge in the park and dinner.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler
    1

    Mesa Verde National Park, NM

    May 15 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    Today started out with a ranger guided tour of one of the largest cliff dwelling people in New Mexico. They lived in Mesa Verde for over 700 years at what is now called the Cliff Palace. It had 150 rooms and 21 kivas, which are round underground structured with an adobe roof that were used as meeting places, religious ceremonies and community gatherings for the people that lived in the city. It was abandoned in around 1300 BC and no one knows exactly why. It was very interesting going down to the city built under a huge rock outcropping. The pathways were narrow and you could also see ancient adobe cities in the other rock overhangs. It was an area of many inter related cities and farming along the river.
    We then took a drive around a loop at the end of the park with 10 stops, each describing the Pueblo Indian housing over the many centuries and how it evolved. Each stop had an evolutionary theme and our audio guide we used was narrated by a native Pueblo Indian ranger at the park. Some of the stops were overlooks that had views across the canyon to the Pueblo cities built into the caves in the walls.
    Next was a hike through Petroglyph Trail. Along the trail is a wall of ancient Pueblo petroglyphs carved into the rock wall. It was a difficult hike with many sheer stairsteps of carved stone. There were many views along the way of each side of the canyon and up-close views of the giant boulders that have cleaved off and fallen down over the centuries. Even though it was just about a 2 mile hike, the vertical change was 600 feet. It was a very scenic and beautiful hike, just a little difficult due to the terrain. The people that lived here must have been really good at traversing the ledges and boulders to move from on Pueblo city to another.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Moab, UT - Hummer Adventure

    May 16 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    Today we drove to Moab, Ut for our first day visiting the Moab/Arches and Canyonlands area.
    We arrived and stopped by our place to stay for 5 days at a nice house outside of town with a wrap around porch with great views of the Arches mountains / petrified sand dunes. In the evening we had a sunset Hummer tour booked. The tour drives through an area called Hell's Revenge and it's good that these are actual military Hummer vehicles. We climbed up and down 45 degree hills and over huge rocks to traverse the 'road' that is marked for only certain vehicles to use. There were also some offroad motocross bikes on the road / trail also.
    Near the end we were able to see some dinosaur tracks and the sunset before returning back to town.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler
    1

    Hiking Arches National Park - Moab, UT

    May 17 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 77 °F

    We started super early this morning, drove into Arches National Park just in time for the sunrise, unfortunately it was overcast so the colors were not great. First activity of the day was hiking Devil's Garden. It is very highly rated as one of the best hikes in the park. There is some rock scrambling involved as well as some narrow 'trail' paths across some very high rocky portions of the mountain path. The hike started easy enough with some outlook hikes to view various arches. Landscape Arch was really beautiful. Then we came to the more strenuous part of the hike. It started out easy enough over some rocky steps, and then we came to a portion of the hike where we and another hiker thought we had gotten off trail because we were looking up at a steep hill of rock with some boulders about halfway up. It was a fairly narrow passage and after checking out maps, decided that this was the path for the trail. We made it up and past the boulders in the middle of the path and up the steep boulder scramble incline. Past that difficult part were some great arches ( Partition Arch was amazing). The path continued to get more strenuous and difficult. At this time of the morning the winds were picking up. We came to a section where we basically had to climb up to a narrow ridge that went between two canyons. The rock path was pretty narrow. Scott tried his best but his fear of heights got the best of him and we decided to not continue and turn back. We only missed one arch. It was the right decision, better to be safe and not have a really serious incident. On the way back we visited the rest of the arches and overlooks in this area of the park. It's a good thing that we had our hiking poles and good hiking boots because this was not an easy hike and difficult on the body.
    After lunch we drive around the park road and visited more lookouts and arches. Each lookout has a parking area and you then hike to the overlook area to get a better view, or up to arch itself. This took a while since there are quite a few arches in the park.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Grandstaff Trail and Canyonlands, UT

    May 19 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

    The day started with a hike in Grandstaff Trail in the Grandstaff National Recreational Area outside Moab. It was 5 miles round trip, but had 8 stream crossings back and forth across the same stream. There were meandering trails, some short sections with rocky up and down areas. Trail followed the steam the whole way. The views were beautiful along the way and at the end of the trail was a huge arch called Morning Glory Natural Bridge (often classified as an alcove arch), it is the 6th largest natural rock span in the US, stretching 243 feet. The arch is close to the rock wall next to it, so it is best viewed from just below it. An outdoor group was repelling down the rock wall next to the arch wile we were there.
    We then took a short drive from Moab to Canyonlands National Park. The park is so large, there is no way to see it in a single day, so we chose one area to drive the outlooks and short hikes to the overlook areas. We stopped at a few and had great views of the park. It is a very different type of park since it's made up of huge canyons of eroded rock over the millennia. The overlooks are not always a fenced off area. Sometimes they are just a flat rocky area that ends at the cliff over the canyon. It's not dangerous as long as you don't wander around too much without paying attention to where you are going. Again the views were beautiful and the blue skies were perfect. We could even see the show covered mountain peaks in the distance.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Moab - BLM Jeep Tour

    May 20 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    This morning we went downtown and walked the shops, surprisingly we didn't buy anything! Had lunch at Milts, an old historic burger stand. For the afternoon we booked an offroad Jeep tour through the Moab Bureau of Land Management (BLM) area. It was an open top jeep designed to go through the rugged terrain of this area. There were sites for camping, off-road vehicles, motorcycles and mountain bikes along the road. We also saw rock climbers in the high cliffs and repelling down the mountain side. At the end of the drive was Hurrah Pass with it's 360 degree view of all the canyonland, cliffs, stone vertical walls and the Colorado River below.
    We took the tour to better understand the indigenous people who left carvings in the rock faces, the topology of the huge gorge and the history of the area. It was really informative. You can drive through this area admiring the beautiful scenery and never understand the history and science behind everything you are viewing. We really enjoyed better understanding the area and it helps make a lasting impact of the journey.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Durango & Silverton Railroad

    May 21 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 48 °F

    We got up very early in Moab this morning and drove 2.5 hours to Durango Colorado. We then boarded the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge Railroad. It is a 3.5 hour train ride from Durango to Silverton since the train only goes between 5 and 20 miles per hour. Our car was built in the late 1800's and is still covered with lacquered wood, antique lights, wallpaper and an open railing at the back since we were the last VIP passenger car.
    It is a real steam train with 9 passenger cars. The route winds through high mountain peaks following the valley and river that carved it. There were sheer rock walls, tracks along sheer rock cliffs, beautiful views of pine covered hills and perfect blue skies.
    The train stopped twice along the way for more steam engine water and once to let off some hikers and campers in the mountains.
    Once we arrived in the small town of Silverton we did some walking, shopping and sightseeing. There are just a couple of main streets in the small resort town. We took a tour of the original jail where they kept 6 prisoners in each cell, so times were very different back then. Next was a tour of a mining museum which covered the evolution of mining methods and technology used over the decades past. The railroad we took was built to service the mining in the surrounding area back in the mining days.
    Then back to our hotel, The Grand Imperial Hotel for just one night before our adventures tomorrow...    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Silverton & Durango

    May 22 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F

    This morning we started out with on open air jeep tour to get some history and local perspective about Silverton, the mining, mountains and history of the area. After leaving town we were winding through narrow roads leading to the old abandoned mining camps and houses the miners stayed in 100 years ago. The years, weather and snow have just about destroyed all the wooden mining cabins and mine structures. A few are still standing and there is still one cable trolley with metal bins used to haul the ore from the mine down to the mill for processing.
    Then we went further up the mountains through narrow switchback roads, past 2 waterfalls, across the river where it was just a small stream that far up into the mountains. The weather started getting cloudy and it even snowed on us a little. We finally made it to the end of the gravel 'road' for our final stop at 11,400 feet. The views along the way were incredible and beautiful with nothing around but nature and the one marmot that we saw. They look like very large guinea pigs and live high up in the mountains.
    Back in town we met the same train as yesterday for our return trip from Silverton to Durango. We found our room and got ready for our Durango Ghost Tour.
    The Ghost Tour was just us and our local guide that has lived in Durango for over 30 years. She took us to 10 places all over town (walking since it's not too large) where gunfights, brothels, hangings and accidents have left ghosts all around town. We'll have to notice if we see any of them in town tomorrow.    Read more

  • Scott KlineScott and Rob - Road Trip 2026Traveler

    Durango, CO - Shopping and tourist stuff

    May 23 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 70 °F

    Today we spent all day wandering through the main street and side street shops. Stopping for coffee, pastries and baked goods when we found them. It was just a lazy day to get ready for our trip back home. We did manage time to visit the Railroad museum for the Durango Silverton Railroad. While we were there we did not run into or have a visit with either of the 2 ghosts that we were told 'live' there from yesterday's tour.
    We did find a very nice piece of glass artwork that we purchased from a local artist.    Read more

  • Trip end
    May 25, 2026
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