Monday, July 27, 2009

Our US Holiday

It was a long one - 3054 miles - but we had a pretty good time on our latest US fly-drive holiday. We flew in to Las Vegas on a Virgin Atlantic flight, which was pretty good if long, and immediately picked up our (Dollar) hire car. I'd seen Chrysler Sebring's before, and thought they looked OK, so when we were given a choice of cars (all lined up) I went for the silver one over any other make. Rachel seemed OK with that choice, and although we had our obligatory argument pretty much as soon as we left the hire car outlet (after missing a turn), the car seemed comfortable and we were on our way.

We made it to St George that evening, with the outside temperature reaching 113 degrees fahrenheit at one point. Sadly, we couldn't get the cruise control to work, and also we hit some tumbleweed while driving through the Virgin River canyon (at 70mph) which damaged (cracked) the front fender a bit - I was watching a "dirty devil" at the time, so didn't see it at all, but I certainly felt the impact! Next morning, we arrived at Zion (left), and we had a whole day to jump on and off the shuttle buses and explore the canyon and hike various trails. Rachel bullied me into being active, and we hiked a long stretch of one trail that took us along rivers, and up to the small waterfalls and pools. It wasn't very busy at all on the trails, so we saw deer, squirrels, and chipmunks all over the place. Sadly, two women had been hit by a rock fall at the end of one trail (the riverside walk), and they were awaiting medics to treat their shock and flesh wounds.

We drove out of Zion through the tunnel that was blasted through the rock about 80 years ago, and did another good hike to the canyon overlook. Then we drove on through some cool countryside - spotting buffalo on the range - to Bryce.

I'd not been to Bryce Canyon before, so on arrival, we took a back road to the Fairyland arena, and Rachel had first look at the hoodoos - rock pinnacles - that stood before us. It was an amazing sight! We then drove down to the lodge, but it seems I got my bearings wrong and we were not staying there. Suitably chastened, we wandered along the canyon edge, and then walked down one of the trails - the Navajo Trail - through the "Silent City" and "Wall Street" that takes you down amongst the towering hoodoos. We then wandered along the bottom of the path through the Queens Garden and back up to the sunrise overlook about a mile from where we started. The hoodoos make all sorts of shapes, and using your imagination, you can see all sorts of faces and objects; Thors Hammer, one of the stand-out hoodoos, seemed to look more like ET to us, but there you go! We in fact stayed over the road from Ruby's Inn (in the Bryce View Lodge, which has NO view at all!), and had a nice meal at Ruby's that evening. The next morning we drove along the scenic route that takes you the length of the Bryce Canyon, and did a couple more short hikes along the edge. It was really quiet mostly, and we could do and go where we wanted, and take any picture we fancied too without worrying about other tourists! We did view a massive storm heading down the valley before us, with lots of thunder and lightning; as the town it was raining on in the valley was called Tropic, we named the storm Tropic Thunder! Bryce was wonderful, but after a time, you do get a bit bored with staring at more and more hoodoos. We did go to the local rodeo that evening at Ruby's, which was fun - after the adults had their turn being thrown off stallions and bulls, the kids took their turn on small calves and even sheep!

Leaving Bryce, we did one last hike the next morning along the man-made Tropic Ditch, which gave me a chance to climb up to some windows on a ridge high above the other side of the stream. It did mean getting our feet wet, but at least that cleaned our smelly trainers a little!

We turned on to the Scenic Byway that is Highway 12, and took a short detour off to Kodachrome Basin NP; here are more arches and windows, but we arrived just prior to a lightning storm, so I was keen to return to the car while Rachel wanted to take photos of the desert being rained on. She won!

Highway 12 is just fantastic - it weaves along the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument over hills and mountains, and down gullys and canyons. It was pretty quiet too, so a pleasant drive. We arrived in Escalante - our overnight stop - quite early, and as it was Independence Day, we hoped we might find some country life that night. Sadly, everyone was pretty laid back, and we joined others in the only establishment selling beer (called Esca-Latte no less); after a shared pitcher, we had some food (in our motel restaurant which didn't sell beer!) then shared another pitcher at Esca-Latte, before being told they were shutting at 9.30pm.

One of my pre-holiday highlights was to drive a road out of Escalante called Hell's Backbone - the dirt road is pretty much as its name suggests, with big drop offs on either side. Sadly, a big storm in the area the previous day left the 30-mile road too wet, and the ranger station advised us not to attempt it. Instead, we drove 10 miles down a flat back road to the Devil's Garden, spotting Golden Eagles on the way. This area was almost deserted, and we had great fun clambouring over the rock formations, surprising the local wildlife (a big buck rabbit surprised me too!), and taking silly photos. After the disappointment, this cheered me up a bit, and we got more pictures of the golden eagles on the return to Highway 12. Then we arrived at the Calf Creek Falls trailhead, which required another hike. This was the number one "Wow" sight in the whole of south west USA according to our guidebook! Sadly, my luck that day was completely out, as both of my boots practically disintegrated before reaching halfway along the 2-mile trail, and we had to turn back. Why they chose that moment to fall apart I do not know, but the hot sand and wear and tear just caught up I guess...it would have been dangerous to carry on. We completed our run along Highway 12, crossing the Hogsback, driving up and over Boulder Mountain, and arriving in Torrey quite early (due to the aborted hike to Calf Creek Falls). Our B&B was lovely, though not too close to town so we had an early dinner, and then drove to one of the Capitol Reef NP overlooks as it was a lovely evening and a terrific sunset. We viewed a small goosenecks type river deep beneath the plateau and then watched the sun set with bright red sunlight playing on the canyon walls. Back at the B&B, we had a few beers and watched the full moon rise over the spooky desert.

With my boots superglued together (thanks to the B&B owner), we tried to do some serious hiking next day, but in the end, the heat got to us and we had to cut short some of our plans. We did see the pioneer's register (left), where early travellers down the only road that crossed southern Utah had scratched their names into the rock face from their wagon trains as they passed through the canyon. As we walked, some of the canyon walls towered over 1000 feet above you but were less than twenty feet wide at the base - you could get neck ache looking up!

We really liked the Capitol Reef NP, and could have spent a lot more time there, but for fatigue, boot disintigration (they barely lasted the day despite the repair work...), heat, and the thought of climbing up 1000 foot cliff faces - maybe next time?

Leaving our B&B the next morning, we had a visitor to the car park as we loaded our bags - a 4 foot Gopher snake (below). It obviously wasn't a rattle snake, as it didn't have a rattle, but we didn't know if it was harmless or not until later on. Interestingly, the owners were not sure, but they were excited enough to get their two kids out of bed to come see it as it was the longest they had seen locally. They thought it was a rat snake of some kind, as it did seem to have recently fed on something - happy it was harmless, we posed and took pictures, and then it slithered off into the desert undergrowth from whence it no doubt came.

It's always a highlight for me to see a live snake - it took me years to see my first, and now I see them all the time it seems!
From Torrey. we drove through the Capitol Reef NP and across the Waterpocket Fold, a large fold in the earth's crust, which made for stunning scenery. We then followed the San Rafael Swell for fifty-odd miles before turning off the main road for another side trip, this time to Goblin Valley. This crazy place was found by a guy looking for stray cattle about fifty years ago, and used to be called Mushroom Valley - the small "valley" contains hundreds of shaped rocks most of which look like mushhrooms or, with a bit of imagination, goblins.

We had a terrific time wandering through the formations, climbing on top of them, and doing whatever we wanted with few other poeple around. You really can see lots of images and faces in the rocks if you want... It might seem a bad thing to be able to climb on these rocks, as you know that you are doing some sort of damage to them long term, but the authorities are carrying out a study into the effects that we humans are having by comparing areas where you can clambour to areas where you are not allowed; I suppose that one day others will not be so lucky as we were and will have to view from a distance?

We drove onwards, and eventually found ourselves on the freeway (I-70) before turning off south toward Moab, a road we drove five years ago. We stopped off at the Arches NP visitor centre to book our hike for the following day, but to my dismay there was a sign up saying the next available hike was on Thursday afternoon, two days later. Rachel was undaunted though, and she pursued the matter with the ranger who was happy to tell us that she had just had a cancellation, and we were booked for the following afternoon! We checked into our motel in Moab - The Apache, where John Wayne, Richard Widmark, and latterly, Sharon and Tracy from Birds of a Feather have stayed - but for some reason, Moab did not meet our expectation and it seemed a lot less busy and buzzy than on our previous trip.
With our hike in Arches booked for the afternoon, we just about had time to revisit Canyonlands, and to reprise our photos and walks from five years beforehand. I made sure I had my picture taken on top of Mesa Arch once more (as per my profile pic) - it really does have the most fantastic view from up there! - and even Rachel ventured up onto it this time around. With a ten foot drop on one side and a 1500 foot drop the other, you know which way to fall if you trip! It was windy this time too, but busier as well. A ranger was seated there and giving out info so I did ask if it was OK to climb on the arch, which she confirmed. Of course, once I'd got up there, a whole host of others followed me and Rachel, but at least I was the first that day according to the ranger! The ranger showed us the difference in temperature depending on what clothes you were wearing - shade was 92, white 94, black was 105! Luckily I was in light green, so maybe about 96? We drove along down to Grand View, and hiked quickly to the end (worried about time etc), and we saw many wonderful canyon views like the one just above.
Then we returned to Arches, and after a sandwich lunch beneath the Balanced Rock, we drove along to the Fiery Furnace for our guided hike. This hike was another of those events eagerly anticipated, and unlike some of the others on this trip, it did not disappoint! The Fiery Furnace is a relatively small area (third of a mile by half a mile square) of rock fins; the hike takes you down in amongst them, and to our general surprise, there was much more to it than we thought.

It was great to be down on the desert floor, with a knowledgeable ranger telling us all about the crypto-biotic sand, fauna, and flora, but once amongst the fins, the whole area came alive. We had to climb up ladders, along small ledges, and best of all, scramble and pull ourselves along small gaps between canyon walls where you had no footholds - just your feet on one wall and your hands and back on the other, edging along to the end. The wins at the end were some lovely arches - Spectacles Arch, Kissing Turtles Arch and Surprise Arch - that made it all worthwhile. There were about 30 of us on the hike, including some young kids who just took it all in their stride, and we all followed each other in single file most of the way. We got to scramble through an arch or two, and look up at high fin walls with just blue sky beyond. After the best part of three hours, it was over, we had walked around in a big loop and made it back to the car park; a terrific experience!

We then had time before sunset to drive over to some of the other accessible arches and take a few photos, including a view of Delicate Arch from the lower viewpoint that we hadn't been to before (even though it was along way away...).

We drove south from Moab and turned off the main road toward the Natural Bridges NP, an area with three major natural bridges, including two of the world's largest. All three can be hiked, and the first had the hardest descent (and, therefore, climb) so we only went about half way down to Sipapu Bridge, but from where you can get a very good view. We did hike all the way down to Kachina Bridge (the longest hike), and we didn't pass anyone on the way there or back; in the mud at thebottom, paw prints were visible but I don't know what animal they came from (nothing too big...). At Okonchomo Bridge, we merely viewed it from afar, before driving on.
Our route back to our next overnight stop had two options; a long return along the road we had originally driven to the main road and then south, or a much shorter trip that would take us to Muley Point and, if we deemed it driveable, the Moki Dugway. As I really wanted to go to Muley Point, Rachel begrudgingly agreed to drive that way, though she let me know how unhappy she was. The Muley Point turn off is just prior to the Dugway, and requires driving about five miles along unpaved roads in each direction.

The view from Muley Point was simply unbelievable (left), and the photos we took simply do not do it justice. Stood at the end of a cliff, you look down onto the plateau below which has the goosenecks of the San Juan Roiver carving through it; then, beyond that, is the spires and buttes Monument Valley, standing serenely on the horizon about 50 miles away. Then, to the left, along the cliff edge is the Valley of the Gods - more spires and buttes. It was just beautiful, but as we were both now in a pretty foul mood - Rachel for having to drive the dirt road and me for having to listen to her moan about it - we didn't stay very long. But with our luck, Rachel did manage to scrape the bottom of the car at the back while turning around, and that popped one of the pins that held the back fender in place by the wheel arch.
Rachel had refused to drive the Moki Dugway on our previous trip but being here at the top she had little option other than a 120 mile detour; this unpaved section of road slithers down the side of the cliff face for a 1000 feet or so. Our guidebook had painted it in a very dangerous picture, especially if you met a lorry coming in the opposite direction. Now it seemed that oversize lorries were banned, not surprisingly! We tentatively started down and in actual fact, it wasn't that bad; you are never very close to the edge going down (as opposed to coming up when you are at times), and we didn't have any trouble at all driving down slowly. Hardly any traffic was coming up (I think we passed one other car?), so we could take our time as we wanted. All that fuss about nothing really! We stopped for an hour at Goosenecks SP, one of our favourite stops previously, and Rachel calmed right down as she read and I explored the canyon edge for an hour.

We had a good night at Bluff, eating in the local steakhouse where we had previously, and where Robert E Parker (Butch to his mates) is still reverred. Then we drove on to Page, for a two night break by Lake Powell.

The main reason to visit Page these days is to take a boat trip to Rainbow Bridge, a beautiful natural arch (left) that has only just been left visible by the rising waters of the dammed Lake Powell. Still an important ceremonial place for the local Navajo indians, you are asked not to walk under the bridge, or appraoch it, so we had to behave here. Quickly hustled back on our boat, we then undertook a series of short side trips up very narrow canyons, some of which you would not believe the boat could travel up. It was great fun, inching along these narrow waterways, bumping the side of the boat, edging back and forward to get past corners. Back in Page, we had a nice drink in a wild west type saloon bar, listening to a band play and watching locals dance (excellently!) but the service when it came to the food was appalling!
Back on the road, we drove past Horseshoe Canyon (which is possibly better than Goosenecks) and then Marble Canyon where there are two bridges over the Colorado, one built in 1929, and the other in 1995 (which now takes all the traffic). We then drove up onto the Kaibab (or Kebab as we called it) Plateau, and eventually arrived at the North Rim of Grand Canyon.

Rachel hadn't really enjoyed our previous visit to the Grand Canyon, as it is an awesome sight and difficult to take in sometimes. As we relaxed with beer in hand, sat on the lodge balcony though, it all made sense, to me anyhow. We watched the sun set from Bright Angel Point, had a lovely dinner in the lodge restaurant, and then got a early night as we had a busy day planned. Sadly, I didn't sleep that well (maybe it was the altitude - 9000ft plus?), and I was a bit down all the next day. We did drive round to Point Imperial, and Cape Royal, and hike some trails there, but I was tired, and after driving back to the lodge for lunch, I crashed out while Rachel hiked down into the Canyon itself. She got down about 1500 feet it seems, in about 1.5 miles, before she decided to turn back. This was a great effort, especially the return, further than we thought she might go, and I'm proud and pleased that she did it!

We both agreed that evening that we could quite happily fly home after the busy and wonderful two weeks we had had on this trip, but we did still have another week to go and a thousand mile detour to take in Michael and Sandy's wedding. We set off early from the North Rim, and pretty much made schedule with a return to St George for lunch (and a chance to watch Mark Cavendish win a stage of the Tour de France live on TV). We then cut across the north part of Las Vegas and headed out into the Nevada desert flanked by Area 51 and the Nevada atomic test site at Frenchman's Flats.
The plan, if all went well, was to get to the town of Beatty, and so we did, but instead of staying where we planned, we stopped at the first motel in town (there were three in total) which seemed brand new. It was so new it had no WiFi, and nobody else staying! We even had to walk around to motel number three (part of a casino) to get dinner (in Rita's Cafe), but at least they seemed happy to serve us beers when we asked.
Leaving early, as there was nothing to hang around for, we drove up along the desert, and then cut across the mountains toward the Sierra Nevada, spotting lots of snow still on the mountain tops. We arrived at Tioga Pass, near the east entrance to Yosemite NP that afternoon, and had time to venture into the park for sunset and some nice photos at Tuolumne Meadows.

Yosemite that evening was lovely (left), even though it was a lot busier than anywhere else we had been (bar Grand Canyon). Sure enough, our drive next morning from the east side to Yosemite Valley was longer than expected, in part due to the extra traffic. Rachel got upset when some big 4x4 got too close and beeped her even though we were doing more than the speed limit and couldn't be faulted for not pulling over. This put her in a bad mood again, so our time in the valley, and with the other hundreds of tourists wasn't then best. Sure, the waterfalls are spectacular and beautiful, and we did have a good hike up to Vernal Falls amongst the crowds. But after dropping off the car, the local shuttle bus system around the park seemed over complicated, and we didn't enjoy ourselves that much. We left earlier than expected, and missed out the Bridal Veil Falls and the giant Sequoia trees area, preferring to poodle back to Tioga Pass in our own time without a rush.
From Tioga, we drove up to Lake Tahoe, hitting awful traffic around South Lake Tahoe and the lake itself, and we struggled to find anywhere for lunch. We made it to the Donner Pass SP that afternoon and watched a half hour film about the party that got stuck in snow here in 1846; amazing how they really do quickly skip over the cannibalism that the survivors undertook, but I guess it is a dark area for them to cover.

We arrived in Nevada City very tired, and although we met Annabel, Andrea, and Michael and Sandy at their rehearsal (two doors up the street from our B&B) we declined the offer to attend dinner in Colfax with them that night. Instead we went out and got drunk, with beers in a bar, and then two bottles of champagne over dinner that finally relaxed Rachel!
Wedding day dawned bright and sunny, and it was hot too! We dressed late, and sat at the back of the church during a lovely service. It was interesting that some guests dressed down a very long way (that would be unacceptable at a British wedding) but, hey, this is California! The reception was OK, with lots of buffet food, and bar drinks, but for some reason, many guests didn't stay very long at all. Sandy mentioned us in her speech as guests of honour which was lovely, and we stayed on to the end, after everyone else went. It was terrific to meet Andrea again - it's been about 12 years I think - and also Sheridan and her husband Mitch. Annabel, of course was on top form on her birthday, and I even forgive her for getting me to open her bottle of water that was fizzy when I didn't know and which fizzed up, out, and over my suit! Still, it dried pretty quick...
We all went back to the B&B (Michael and Sandy were staying there that night too) and got changed, then headed back into town for more drinks and food. It all finished about 10.30 when Annabel had to drive back to Colfax, and Rick and Ginger had to go too, leaving just the newly weds and Rachel and I standing. We didn't want too late a night as we had a long drive the next day, and I guess Michael and Sandy had other things on their mind too!
In fact we made it all the way to Las Vegas (540 miles!) the next day, arriving about 7pm, and headed for the one hotel you could see from anywhere (all 109 floors of The Stratosphere). The biggest problem on the drive was the back fender flapping around all the time - we tried fixing it with duck tape but it didn't always hold... We got a decent room and had a lovely (expensive) dinner 108 floors up. After sorting out the suitcases next morning, we packed up, checked out, had a brunch in the diner, and drove down to the airport (after going the wrong way briefly). Dropped off the car (without any comeback, despite the damage...), and hopped on our plane home.
Tired after a bumpy flight, we got home safe. A terrific trip, but possibly too long - must do better next time I plan one!

Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Enter your email address below to subscribe to Shouting from the Hop!


powered by Bloglet