Canyon Country - Utah and Arizona

To begin, we apologize for taking such a long break from posting. Perhaps we were procrastinating because the next section of our trip was chock full of amazing vistas and we didn't want to take on the task of sorting through pictures.

In Southern Utah and Arizona we hit Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Kodachrome Basin State Park, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Basically, starting from the Colorado Plateau the land is broken up into a series of steps ("The Grand Staircase") decreasing in altitude all the way to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was a phenomenal landscape, as you will see, and there are lots of pictures in this post, so let's get right to it.

A handsome lizard in Zion.

The view from Angel's Landing in Zion. In the bottom right corner is the road

we started hiking from... the tiny white spot is a double-length shuttle bus.

Happily at the top of Angel's Landing.

We hiked across that rock ridge and up to where this picture was taken.

Surprisingly the trail was crowded!

The rocks were once huge sand dunes. Check out the cross-banding where

the winds shifted and laid down new sand.

Zion Canyon

One of many amazing views in Zion.

Bryce Canyon. The native legend is that the pillars are bad folks

that were turned to stone.

A different view in Bryce Canyon.

Looking up out of Bryce Canyon. The bluest skies ever.

Looking up from below. The hike down from the rim was easy,

but then we had to go back up.

A slot canyon in Bryce Canyon National Park called "Wall Street".

We took a short hike out to see some ancient bristle-cone pines.

Kodachrome Basin State Park

The Grand Canyon

More Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon again

Don't step over the edge!

The Vermillion Cliffs - in the Colorado River drainage just north of the Grand Canyon.

Lee's Ferry on the mighty Colorado River. If you were rafting on the Colorado

through the Grand Canyon you would start here.

Wind erosion. The wind also tried to erode our tent the night before -

had to tie the tent to the car.

The Colorado river as seen from Navajo Bridge.

Nevada

Viva Las Vegas! We had no desire to stop in Las Vegas, but we decided to drive The Strip, just to be nosey.

Welcome to FABULOUS Las Vegas Nevada

Shiny, shiny money.

Hey, New York!

The MGM Grand

We don't know what this was, but it looks cool.

And you thought the Eiffel Tower was in France...

Don't worry Mom and Dad, we didn't get married at Denny's.

By the time we arrived in Valley of Fire State Park it was quite dark. Imagine our surprise when we woke to find we were surrounded by wind-carved red cliffs, blazing in the morning sun.

Evidence of things that scuttle in the night.

Petroglyphs on a nearby cliff.

Delicate wind carvings.

A whiptail.

A fence lizard?

Death Valley

What better place to vacation than a valley called Death Valley! The second hottest temperature on the planet was recorded in Death Valley (57°C), and even in October the average daily temperature is 33°C.

The drive into Death Valley National Park was spectacular.

We saw Joshua Trees, which are actually large yuccas.

This Tarantula was just leisurely crossing the road.

Apparently the males go looking for hot ladies this time of year.

It's easier to see the rocks without all that vegetation getting in the way.

This is the the Panamint Valley, west of Death Valley.

One of our first views in Death Valley - massive sand dunes.

We arrived at the campground in the early evening and set up camp. The night was hot, windy and dusty. It felt like a hot summer night when you can’t get to sleep and every time the wind gusted, it blew dust under the fly of the tent and covered us. There were times in the night when we had to breath into our pillows because it was so dusty! Needless to say the next morning we were gritty and our eyes were crusty, but we still got up early to see the sunrise over the valley.

We got some great photos and then went for a hike in the Golden Canyon before it got too hot.

We also visited a broken up salt flat known as The Devil’s Golf Course, went to a natural arch, and visited Artist’s Drive, so-called because of the multi-coloured rocks.

By mid-morning it was uncomfortably hot and by the time we made it to Badwater, the lowest point in the western hemisphere, it was well into the mid-30s (Celsius). After a short walk on the salt flats we went back to Furnace Creek to find an ice cream and a cold beverage. We saw a roadrunner while we were eating lunch and then (sweaty, gritty and feeling hung-over) we made for higher ground and cooler temperatures.

Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra

Yosemite National Park is one of the most popular National Parks in the world, with over 4 million visitors a year. Up to now we have been some of the only people still tenting in most of campgrounds we stay at, and since it was October and some parts of Yosemite already had snow, we didn’t think we would have a problem finding a campsite in the park. Well, we were wrong and after an entire afternoon of trying to find one of the hundreds of campsites in the park with no luck, we left the park to camp in the nearby National Forest. Oh well, next time we will know to reserve a site!

We got to see the main attractions, including El Capitan and Half Dome, but we wanted to do some hiking so we headed up the “mist” trail to Bridal Veil Falls. We would of hated to visit in the summer because even though most services in the park were closing for the season the following day, the trails were jammed packed with people!

The falls were nice but apparently they can only be fully appreciated during the spring run off.

We did get to see a praying mantis that was using the fire pit in our campsite as a place to feed.

The next day we left for the more remote northern end of the park so that we could cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains before an incoming snowstorm. The northern end of the park was colder and less populated and we made it over the pass just before they closed it due to snow. We also did a short hike up the side of a granite dome but couldn’t make it to the top because we would have needed ropes for the last little bit.

Once we crossed the Sierra Nevadas, we ended up in a desert like environment and stopped in Mono Lake, which is an extremely salty lake, with calcium pillars that form where springs flow up into the alkaline waters of the lake. There were lots of volcanic rocks in the area, as well as the great smell of abundant sagebrush in the surrounding desert.

The area we were hoping to camp at was expecting torrential rain/snow and there was a flash flood warning because the Eastern Sierras are essentially a desert and rarely get rain. To escape the worst of the rain, we drove south as far as possible but still ended up with some very strong winds. The area also had warning signs that the local rodents could be carrying THE PLAGUE!!!! It also happened to be Canadian Thanksgiving, so we braved the wind (and plague) and made a meal on our one burner stove that resembled a festive feast. It is best summed up in a photo...