I left Zion NP at about 9:30 in the evening and headed toward california, figuring i'd stop in las vegas for an hour or so. I got there a bit after midnight and found my way to the Vegas Strip.
There were tons of cars on the strip at 1 in the morning with people walking around all dressed up for night clubs and exploring the city at night. Lots of lights and confusion. I had decided to try $10 in a casino to see if i could win anything, thinking that i could get $10 in quarters and just spend til they were gone, keeping whatever i might have won, and leaving.I drove the whole way down the strip, then turned around and drove back until i could make my way into a parking garage. I ended up at The Mirage casino, happy to see that parking was free. I walked inside and took in the whole atmosphere, watched the people play the slots, tables and lose lots of money. i asked some old woman to explain the slots to me, cause they're all computerized now.right...... to make a long story short, it wasn't what i expected. all computerized. i put in $10 and got this piece of paper with how much CREDIT i had. Then i could go the games that i wanted to play and just stick it in. the slot machine "arms" didn't work. they're just there for looks. all push button.
yep. sad.
i walked around a little more, checked out another casino that looked about the same and walked back again. i did spend like 10 minutes watching these guys at a table each lose hundreds of dollars. enough vegas for me.
I drove the hour or so from Bryce down to Zion National Park, arriving when it was already dark, there were no park rangers at the gate, and i was starting to worry about the funny noises that my car was making. I ended up driving on route 89 through the canyon, not knowing what would come, but just hoping for a campground somewhere. i drove on the windy canyon road with tons of switchbacks and a couple long tunnels. I found myself looking up out my window and the huge silhouettes of the canyon walls besideme. All I saw were the tons of stars above and huge looming black objects towering above me on either side. I knew I was driving into something spectacular.The second campground that I arrived at had space, so i put up my tent in the dark and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning to go register and there were mule deer walking through the campground. I ended up staying 3 nights at the campground.Zion Canyon is narrow and used to be really congested when visitors were allowed to drive their cars into the canyon. so years ago the park decided to start using shuttle buses to take visitors back into the canyon, stopping at trail heads and interesting things to see. I can understand why they do it that way, cause there were lots of tourists around. I spent a few days in Zion, going on different hikes and just enjoying the nature and incredible views. It's at a lower elevation that bryce canyon, so it was alot warmer.
On the first day, I hike up to the Emerald Pools, then the second day I hiked up to Angels Landing, which is a spectacular view. The hike it's the hardest, but you have to hike along a narrow ridge for a while... It's one of the best views in the park. You standing on a penninsule of rock, way above the canyon floor with a great 360 degree view.Then the last day I hiked back into the Zion Narrows, which is basically a stream hike back into where the canyon gets narrow, further towards the source. I had blisters on my heels from hiking with my boots the day before, so i couldn't wear my tevas.I ended up wearing my flip-flops, which is definately no to be recommended. most people had special shoes and socks and hiking poles. I had neither. It took alot longer, but i was definately respected for my accomplishment.I thought the river would get narrower right away, but it took a while. I kept going and going........ it ended up taking almost the whole afternoon. I was walking in cold water for at least 5 hours, though stopping often to take pictures along the way.
It was just incredible to see how the rocks were carved out and the different shapes along the river. just an incredible walk.In general, Zion is just beautiful. I just love that the canyon has such massive rock walls, but that there's normal vegetation along the bottom. I wish I could have spent more time there to do a couple more hikes into other parts of the park, but i'll have to do that another time. The views in the park were just breathtaking.
I left friday night at around 9:30 and headed towards California, planning to stop at Las Vegas for a couple hours........
I remember riding a mule in Bryce Canyon when i was a kid. i think i remember correctly. the rest of my family each got a horse, but i got a mule. surefooted they said. oh well.I'm back again for round 2. Bryce is just beautiful in it's own way. the rock formations are wild and the tourists very international. i got here a couple days ago and have spent parts of each day hiking around the different trail loops that they have here. it's just amazing. the weather has been great as well. blue, cloudless skies with a light breeze. the rough part comes at night when it drops below freezing.... I stopped at the visitors center and bought a backcountry pass so that i could camp out in nature. it cost $5 for up to 7 nights i think. i'm just using 2. I then checked out the view from sunset point and hiked down into the canyon with the rest of the tourists. the blue skies were just so amazing from down in the canyon. the contrast between the red rock and the deep blue sky was great. i really wish i could have captured it in a picture.
i hiked down into this canyon for the night.it was a mile hike, downhill pretty much the whole way. the camping site doesn't look like what bryce is famous for, but it was nice to get away. i cooked dinner and settled into bed at 8, then realized how cold it would be. i slept.... but not really really well. i hiked several miles yesterday and came up from the canyon for a little break. i decided to take another blanket in with my to keep me warm for the night. it worked well, i slept well, and all was well.this morning i packed everything up and hiked back up out of the canyon, which wasn't the easiest thing in the world. i'm enjoying the internet connection at the country store before i head over to zion canyon this afternoon. hope you enjoy the pictures.oh...... about the tourists. there are so many german and french tourists here. i love getting to sit here and listen to it. yesterday i asked an elderly woman if she needed help with something, because she looked confused. she responded with "ich verstehe sie nicht." so i happily responded in german and showed her how to get coffee from the machine.
I had seen that there was a "shortcut" from Powell Lake up to Bryce Canyon National Park. Cottonwood Canyon Road wasn't on most of the maps that i'd seen, but there was supposed to be good hiking off of it and it was direct. the morning that i wanted to head to Bryce, i stopped at the visitor's center and the woman said that they she didn't know if it was passable because no one had come down the road yet that day. She said that any car could go through if the road were dry. so i decided to take it and turn around if it got too slippery.Soooooooooo.......... it turned out to be a beautiful road. 40 miles worth of sand, dirt, rocks, and BUMPS!!!! the road wouldn't have been that bad, but it felt like they used a bulldozer to make the road and left the bumps from the tracks in the road. it felt like driving on rumble strips and my little golf, whatever her name is, shook like mad!!!! so i could either drive 10 or 40 mph, anything between the two was unbearable.But despite that, i had a great time driving the parts that weren't bumpy and stopping to hike a number of the trails along the road. my car made it all right, but now it makes some funny noises when i turn really hard...... i have to say that i'm a little worried. the hiking was incredible though. i hiked an hour back a narrow canyon, following the stream that flowed through it. climbed over rocks and followed backcountry roads where ever they led me.
i made it through in time to check out the town before Bryce Canyon and hide my car before sleeping in it for the night.
So after leaving Albuquerque, I headed south-west through the desert towards Tucson, Arizona to visit fellow happy camper, Jon Horst, passing through Truth or Consequences and lots of red chili stands. Tuscon was beautiful!!! I spent 2 nights at jon's place. we hung out the first evening and tried to get my computer online. I spent the next day driving around tucson, going hiking on tucson mountain, and visiting Joel and his new bride. That evening I played on jon's team in the tucson ultimate frisbee league. i sooooooo wish i had brought my cleats along, just for that. notice that my muscle is bigger.I left Tucson the next morning, heading up to Flagstaff, where i spent the night in a hostel while it rained and hailed outside. the next morning i headed out early for the Grand Canyon. The weather wasn't best, but it was still incredibly huge. I had been planning to see the southern and northern rims, but decided that the northern rim was too much out of the way, so i stop in at Powell Lake, which my family discovered on a vacation long ago when my father made a wrong turn. i wanted to sleep on the beach ,but it was like a sandstorm, so i enjoyed the view and spent the night in my car. OH OH...... after gettting my oil changed!!!! just so my brother tom know that i'm trying to take care of my golf. oh yeah...... i haven't heard any good name ideas........
I'm presently in Bryce Canyon National Park and will be leaving tommorrow morning. it's sooooooo beautiful. i've taken lots of pictures and will put them online soon.
well, i made it over the rockies. i woke up sunday morning to grey skies and the radio saying that the road over the mountains was closed. i decided to drive up and give it a shot anyway. so when i got to the park entrance, the nice park ranger woman told me that the pass was open. sooooooooooo.. everything worked out. i had my nice drive up to the top, singing hymns and enjoying the scenery on the sunday morning. God definately provided me with an awesome gift that morning. i really didn't want to have to drive around the park after waiting 2 days to go through. it started getting foggy at the top and i was going about 25 mph most of the way. it wasn't the most scenic day for the drive, so i kinda just kept more through. i stopped at a couple towns along the way out of the mountains, but since it was raining, i just kinda kept moving south towards NM. once i got out of the mountains, the weather was still sporadic, but it got really beautiful. i drove down this road through wound between the mountains and had some incredible views. once i started getting into southern colorado, i drove into the middle of a plain that runs down between the mountains. i was seriously on the flattest straightest road i've seen in sooooooooooo long. it would rain , then the sun would come out, then it would rain..... but it was beautiful driving down there and seeing the sun shine on the mountains while i was getting rained on. i stopped to buy gas at this place called Loaf n Jug, which has the same logo as Turkey Hill now does. I was shocked, but i guess it's some national market chain.I arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico to a warm welcome from my old bud Rus and his roommates. They put me up for 2 nights, showed me around the town and just made me feel at home. Cooper is also about the sweetest pitbull that i know.last night rus, luke and i went up to the mountain outlook over Albuquerque and just took in an incredible view. it's definately a place to get to if you have a chance.we stopped at Burger Boy on our way back into town. I'm not one to exagerate, but i seriously need to say that they Green Chili Cheese Burger was about the best I have ever had in my life. that's sayin alot folks. I'm leaving in a couple minutes to head down to Tucson, Arizona to visit Jon and hang out there before heading to Grand Canyon.
OH, this needs to be mentioned. this was in Grand Lake, Colorado, just outside of the national park. i have never seen an "anti-dumpster diving" sign before, but here it is.
Well i guess it's not that bad to be stuck here, but i was hoping to have gone through the mountains on Trail Ridge Road, but it's been closed the last 2 days because of weather. they're getting snow and ice up there. i drove up to rainbow curve today, but that's as far as they let you go. i'm seeing this as a test for my VW, which did wonderfully. i'm thinking about naming her, but i'll come back to that later. i'm gonna wake up early tommorrow morning and see if they have it open. if not, then i'll have to skip it and start heading south another way. bummer, but oh well.the whole things not bad though. i probably wouldn't have gone hiking around here today if the road had been open, but i ended up taking it easy and hiking back to some lakes, which ended up being beautiful, even if the weather was really sporadic. sunny one minute and then pouring rain the next. it was great, but i can only imagine how wonderful it is on a clear day. to top the weather keeping me here, it turns out that there's a scottish/irish festival here in town for the weekend. there was a parade this morning and i've been seeing lots of white legs in kilts. it's a fun atmosphere for everything though. i slept in my car in town last night and will probably end up doing the same tonight to save money. i might see if i can shower at one of the camp grounds around here. i'd camp in the park, but that'd cost me $20, so i'm not doing that. i'll wait till i'm in another park for a longer amount of time and when it's dry.
i realized that i didn't post any pictures from my driving....... so here are a few pictures of the middle of america.
this is where i slept in my car my first night on the road
this is what towns in the middle of america look like. the hardware store was great. i bought batteries.
my view from the road, complete with dead-bug smudges.
the awesome mennonite couple that put me up for the night, fed me and made my week, even though i only called 2 hours before i got to their house in Denver.
david schrott told me that i had to go to breakfast king. i must say, the interior was incredible, the service was hilarious, and the coffee changed my outlook on life.
that's all for now, but there's more to come.......
I drove the whole way down the strip, then turned around and drove back until i could make my way into a parking garage. I ended up at The Mirage casino, happy to see that parking was free. I walked inside and took in the whole atmosphere, watched the people play the slots, tables and lose lots of money. i asked some old woman to explain the slots to me, cause they're all computerized now.
right...... to make a long story short, it wasn't what i expected. all computerized. i put in $10 and got this piece of paper with how much CREDIT i had. Then i could go the games that i wanted to play and just stick it in. the slot machine "arms" didn't work. they're just there for looks. all push button. 
