So, I know I still have one post to finish writing but in the mean time go check out Mr.Js photos!! He has very high standards as I think the select few which made it on to his Flickr page account for around 5% of all of the photographs he took (although I am taking credit for taking some of the ones which made the cut!).
It was a bit cooler in the bottom of the canyon when we set off in the morning, which meant that when we stopped at Grizzly Falls I was not only wearing a fleece but doing shuttle runs and jumps along the path to keep warm. I am ashamed to say that it didn’t take much before I was out of breath 😦 I blame the altitude….. The falls were rather pretty though; not a huge drop but quite wide and powerful and plunging into a pool. There were some pretty big boulders just downstream though; yet more evidence of glaciation.
We stopped a little further along the canyon floor at another waterfall. This one was less volumous but had a bigger drop, but it was also a bit more tucked away so I was on bear spotting duty! The drive back up to the rim of the canyon was very spectacular – and scary – as the road wound up and up with views across (and down!) the canyon.
The drive to Yosemite was fine, mostly through the Sierra Nevada. We stopped off for some food (groceries) on the way and to combat my lack of exercise I developed car-obics. That’s aerobics in a car. So, mostly just arm moves really but it was fun for 5 minutes!
We arrived in the park too early to check in so we headed straight into Yosemite Valley. I read the two leaflets on hantavirus along the way so we now know what to do and not to do in order to minimise our chances of catching a potentially lethal virus. As we reached the tunnel I got my first view of the valley and I have to say that even after seeing images before we set off, and after seeing all the other amazing things we’ve seen, I was not disappointed. The scale of the vista has to be seen to be fully appreciated I think. El Capitan seems to stand guard on the left hand side somehow with half dome clearly visible and no less impressive on the right.
I drove the 16 miles of road which leads up to a brilliant vista – Glacier Point. We saw a coyote in the road near the summit. From what I read in the park newspaper, they get used to being given food and so hang out by roads to beg. Not good; especially as the chances of being hit by a car are probably pretty high. For instance, 17 bears have been killed in the park this year from being hit by cars.
But I digress. The view from Glacier Point was awesome; we saw Vernal and Nevada falls, most of the valley and across to Half Dome. We watched as the sun set and the light on the sheer face of Half Dome changed from a clear, transparent to a warm, orange glow. We enjoyed our first Ranger talk of the trip too – a short history of Yosemite. Although we knew a lot of what was said, the ranger spoke really well and was so passionate about Yosemite that it was quite emotional, especially when she said it was her last ever talk too.
We decided not to stay for the stars because there were some specific “Stars over Yosemite” talks on Friday and Saturday, and we wanted some tea!
Mr.J couldn’t resist the opportunity to drive a mountain pass so we headed along the Tioga road and across the park to explore the high sierra and to take a peek at Mono Lake, just outside the park. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to Mono Lake, which like everywhere we’ve been was hot! We watched another film about the area, which although had some atrocious acting and “special” effects, was a very good intro to the history and geology of the area.
As a bit of background, it’s a very saline (and alkaline) lake which provides a pretty narrow ecological niche for a variety of birds. A while ago, the rivers above the lake were dammed to provide water for LA which resulted in a drop in water levels at the lake. Ultimately, this created a land bridge which predators used to access the islands and eat the birdies and also caused the salinity of the lake to increase. Bad times. But, thanks to some campaigning, an agreement was reached a few years ago to ensue lake levels are returned to a minimum height. Not quite the previous height, by a way, but enough to protect the islands at least.
As well as the birds, there are some rather unusual features at the lake too. they’re called tufa and are columns of deposited calcium carbonate, which are created at hot springs beneath the water and then existed as water levels have dropped. There are also sand tufa which form below sand but we didn’t see those.
We headed back into the park from there, reaching 9945ft at the east entrance. We passed several small lakes and a lot of granite monoliths, some smooth domes and some sheer cliffs. We stopped for lunch near one such monolith, which people were climbing and walking around. I struck up a conversation with a local bird – I have no idea what kind of bird but if was a bluey-black and it had a spike hair do which reminded me a little of a velociraptor (sp?). It was very friendly, but I think it just wanted some of my lunch crumbs.
We also made a stop at pothole dome for a little wander. It’s not a big dome but scampering up its smooth surface gave us a great view of the surrounding peaks, including Cathedral Peak – a Matterhorn peak created by multiple glaciers running in several directions. We made another stop at a lookout where we saw Half Dome from the other side and Clouds Rest (a very aptly named peak in my humble opinion).
We made a quick pit stop at our apartment before I we once again drove up to Glacier Point, except this time it was to see the stars… We caught the end of the sunset but the main reason for being there was to hear the ranger talk. It was really good and I learnt quite a bit! The ranger, John, like all other rangers we have heard or overheard, extolled the virtues of being a ranger and doing his dream job, which I completely believe! He told us the Greek stories behind some of the major constellations and did his best to point them out. This was definitely tricky as at first it wasn’t dark enough to see his laser and then it quickly became so dark that there were tons of stars, making it hard to see one from another!
He told us about Ursa major (the plough) and Ursa minor, Draco, Lyra (I was very excited about that one!), Pegasus, Andromeda, Perseus, Cassiopeia and her husband whose name I have forgotten, Sagitarius and Capricorn. I think I could show someone the first four I listed plus Pegasus and Cassiopeia. I also learnt about the summer triangle and that Polaris, the pole star, has not always been the pole star. The only thing that would have made it any better is if we had not been sat directly by the French people. I don’t have anything against them but it seemed at least one of them needed the talk translating which at times made it difficult for me to hear John. Somehow, in almost every talk/film we’ve seen, I’ve been in close proximity to someone translating!
After the talk we took a few photos of the stars looking out over Half Dome, which itself had a few stars – by the looks of it 3 climbers at various heights up the sheer face. I have to say that although it was still amazeballs, the sky didn’t seem quite as impressive as Bryce. I don’t think it was as dark as there were some buildings nearby but it was still totally terrific. I only saw the one, small shooting star though. It was quite eerie being up there and all alone though. The only sounds we could hear were the feint whoosings of Vernal and Nevada falls. But this did mean that every rustley squirrel did put us on bear alert!
We had cereal, with milk this morning. I know that does not sound at all unusual, or indeed exciting, but I have barely had any milk for 3 weeks. Even in hot drinks, actually especially in hot drinks, where there is only ‘creamer’ which I think we would call powdered milk. To be fair, it doesn’t taste bad but it’s just not British! In fact, its only now that we’re in an apartment (condo) that we have tea making facilities and I’ve had my first cup of tea in at least 2 weeks.
Anyway, there are much more interesting and impressive things to talk about than tea! We started the day with a lovely knackering walk. There are really only two types of walks in a valley – flat ones along the valley floor (or ridge) and ascents and descents up and down the sides. We did the latter – starting at the Happy Isles Trailhead and heading up to Vernal falls. It was up, up, up and.. up! I honestly think that the only flat parts of the walk were the bridges. Even though we set off fairly early, it still got pretty toasty.
The first part of the walk was hard pavement, but once we crossed the river it became a proper path. And then it became a very steep proper path as we reached the bottom of Vernal falls. The most noticeable thing about them was the sound they made – for a modest amount of water, they packed a punch. I suspect this was down to a combination of the large boulders the water was pummeling and also the pool it was pouring into. There was a very jolly rainbow at the bottom as we climbed alongside the base. This serenity didn’t last too long though as we had more climbing to do!
Although the path was windy and narrow, and had a pretty steep drop off into some huge boulders, I had no fear whatsoever as we climbed to the top of the falls. I think it’s because I’ve done lots of walks and things like that before so my conscious brain told my subconscious to stop worrying about death cliffs as this was easy peasy. Actually, I have just realized that the top of the falls also had a plateau. I even walked right along to the edge of the falls (there was a handrail) and peered over the edge.
It would make the best waterslide ever in my opinion. The glaciation above the falls had created such a smooth surface for at least 150-200m above the falls that it would have been the perfect run up. Clearly it would also be suicidal as the drop wasn’t insignificant and the pile of huge boulders greeting you at the bottom would also be painful but aside from that it looked so inviting and cool! Obviously there were barriers to stop people (crazy fools) doing this, and signs to tell you of fines (a much better deterrent than the prospect of serious injury or death!).
From here we decided to climb a bit higher in order to take an alternate route – the John Muir trail – back down. This also gave us a better view of Half Dome (the route we did was the start of the walk up Half Dome, but only a teeny bit of the way), but it did mean we had to tackle a series of switchbacks with no shade. We eventually made it to 5400 ft, from our starting point of about 4000 ft, before the path made its way “down, down, down, down, down” as Mr.J sang.
What made it all even better was the fact that Mr.J trogged all of his camera stuff with him and yet only used one lens. And I carried all our food, which we didn’t eat as it only took us 3 hours to get up and down. Just a typical JenkinSunts walk then.
We rewarded ourselves with a cold can of pop (I think I am addicted to pop now) and an ice cream. But due to a distinct lack of picnic benches that was before lunch. We explored the visitor centre – very informative indeed and I was very happy to gawp at the relief map. We also saw a film about Yosemite – the narrative was very cheesy but the images were stunning and gave us a feel for the park in spring when the waterfalls are in full flow. Sadly, as we expected, Yosemite falls dried up some time ago along with a few other major falls.
We also went to the Museum where there were some wonderful hand woven baskets made by the native American tribes women who lived in the valley before Euro-Americans bullied them out 😦 The baskets were so beautiful though. The Ansel Adams gallery also had a lot of amazing photographs too buy sadly Mr.J wouldn’t let me buy anything 😦
We stopped at Bridalveil Falls on our way home. There was only a trickle of water dribbling over the edge but it was being blown off into a fine sheet of water – hence the name. I also liked this very much as it is a classic example of a hanging valley and because I’m a nerd I love hanging valleys.
After a rather restless nights sleep (it was just TOO hot even for my zombie-esque sleep), we set off into Death Valley. I had a shower just before we left and put my wet hair in a pony tail. I think it was completely dry within 2 minutes of being in Death Valley! The scenery was such a contrast; unbelievably stark and completely quiet, but with a rather surprising wind. We didn’t explore too much as this was mostly a detour on our way to Sequoia but we did get out and wander on to the dunes briefly. Naturally, Mr.J was on the lookout for snakes and scorpions but he did walk on the sand so he is facing his dislikes!
We think we reached the lowest point either of us have been – about 50ft below sea level (obviously not counting any under water experiences here). It was also the first time either of us have been in a desert. What I didn’t expect were the mountains – within the park, and en route, was a mountain range with peaks around 5000ft. The views from the windy pass back down over the sands and salt flats were awesome. We reached Lake Isabella and stopped for lunch there, where the highlight for me were some pine cones about the size of a child’s rugby ball!
It is at this point that our biggest mishap of the holiday happened I think. Essentially, from here, we could get to Sequoia via two routes. The first option was suggested by the satnav with an estimated journey of 3 hours along main (paraphrasing Mr.J, “boring and not scenic”) roads. Option 2 was a route which Mr.J forced the satnav into producing, the same distance as the other route but a 5 hour journey on what were obviously minor roads (and therefore more scenic according to Mr.Js logic).
Obviously we opted (I don’t honestly think I had a choice as he had shown me the alternative so many times it was clear which way he wanted to go) for option 2. In fairness, it started off very well and it was a very scenic road through some national forest. We climbed and climbed and saw some massive trees (yay!) But the downhill was so windy that I got pretty car sick. I didn’t chunder but apparently I looked pretty green. Thankfully I got distracted by the fact Andy Murray’s match was starting so I focused on sending positive thoughts to the East coast and just randomly shouting “Come on Andy!”. More on that in a (long) while.
Once down the hill we got to a junction where we could go back to the boring road, or carry on along the minor road. Minor road it was, of course. Now, for two grown adults, when we got to the point the road turned into non marked, not really paved, single track we should have perhaps turned around. But, we had only 20 miles to go so we carried on. Up and up and up and up the road which was decaying faster than something with a very short half life, and where the drop off the road became what I have come to call a “death cliff”. No explanation needed.
Mr.J turned off the air con. “Hrmmm – it’s 32 degrees” I thought, why on Earth would he do that? Oh, that’s right, its because we only have 40 miles of petrol left and neither of us think this crazy mountain track is going to get us to our destination!! Still, we ploughed on. Yes, we’re crazy/stupid/idiotic/or any other synonym you wish to use. We eventually got to the top – where numerous satellite dishes and transmitters were precariously balanced. Although we only had 17 miles to go we finally had enough sense to turn around. The downside of this (literally) was that I was even closer to the death cliff edge. As it happens, I think that most of this trauma happened during Murray’s 3rd and 4th sets. I’m not sure if it was simply a coincidence that I was too distracted by our potential doom to send positive thoughts or not.
We did make it to our hotel just in time to see the last 2 games of the match. I was very excited indeed, albeit a bit gutted not to have endured the whole match. Thanks to Dmytro though for keeping me up to date with text messages. These were doubly helpful as some came through on the stupid mountain track so I felt a bit safer by the fact that we might have phone signal when anything happened!
We had a lazier start today as we were a bit pooped after the mountain death drive yesterday. But, Sequoia more than made up for it! The drive into the park is a safe mountain road, which winds its way up through the valley. We stopped off at Hospital Rock and looked at some more petroglyphs; these were more colourful than those we saw in Capitol Reef but it was harder to make out the shapes.
We then drove to Moro Rock, a large granite dome with views across the valley. A lot of concrete steps with railings have been added here to help people get to the top of the dome. But when I say people that did not include me as I saw the “death cliffs” sign (a picture of a person falling off a triangle, which I presume is meant to represent something steep)and I saw a picture of the top of the dome – a narrow railed walkway with sheer drops on either side. I did start to go up but with those two images in my head, along with the actual views of death cliffs on either side of me I totally chickened out. Mr.J got some good photos though, and I got only about 1/3 of the way up. I think I might have got up to the top eventually, once I’d acclimatised myself to the view a bit and reassured myself the railings were secure, but it was narrow and relatively busy so couldn’t easily just sit and do a Peggy (see Grand Teton post).
We stopped at the Giant Forest museum, where The Sentinel stands outside. Its a 2,200 year old redwood, but with a diameter of just 28 feet is only an average sized tree for that species. We then drove to Auto tree, a giant redwood which fell in the 50s which people used to drive up to (I don’t really know why), and on to Tunnel log. Tunnel log is also another tree which fell, but this one blocked the road so instead of removing it, someone cut a hole in it big enough to drive through! We did consider having lunch nearby at Crescent meadow but Mr.J was worried about bears and since it was a bit secluded we drove on.
We did stop at the Pinewood picnic area, just off the Generals Highway (the road between General Sherman and Grant trees). We had just got out all the picnic food, when Mr.J said “There are some bears over there”. His constant vigilance had paid off as they had only just come into view; yes, they – Mummy bear and teenage bear, just casually strolling through the picnic area. Within milliseconds (I do think its the fastest I’ve seen Mr.J move in a good few years), Mr.J was up and to the car with one picnic item. And since you’re not meant to leave anything out, that left me to carry the rest. They were still a way off, and heading above us, rather than towards us, but still.
After they’d sauntered off, we did resumed our picnic and I got a lecture about not mocking Mr.J in future as he was right to be on the lookout and I was also given my own section of view to monitor for safety purposes in case they looped back around. Yes sir!! The thing is, I wasn’t scared or worried about the bears as I knew the car was very close and they were still far enough away for me to make it, and yet I was too scared to walk up the rock – go figure. For info, I have seen a bear running and had it been any closer I might have been more worried about which of us would have got to their target first. I’m not totally crazy (I hope!).
After the excitement of the bears it was time for another big living creature – General Sherman, the biggest tree in the world!! Biggest by volume, not height, but regardless he is HUGE! The car park is above the section of giant forest where he lives but even though you have to descend 212ft, the top of the tree is still above the height of the car park. The top of General Sherman is dead 😦 but that means he is growing outwards. There were so many similarly sized trees nearby though that I was simply in awe of nature and the fact that most of them had been around for 1,500 to 3,000 years. Lots of them have burns from forest fires but they just heal around them and maybe grow a little differently. Totally incredible.
What was less incredible is the weirdo I saw hanging around the back of the tree with a paper bag on his head. I had to do a double take and ask Mr.J if I wasn’t seeing things but, nope, he was there with a bag on his head. I might not have minded so much but we actually got a photo of me in front of General Sherman with no one else in (trickier than it sounds), and he’s blurrily in the background. We walked past him a little later, still avec sac, so I loudly mumbled “Photo spoiler”. Take that bag head man!
Yet another humongous tree beckoned, General Grant. A mere 1,500 years old, Grant has the biggest diameter. Thanks to the helpful sign, it would take 20 people to encircle it with hands stretched out. We also saw the remnants of the Mark Twain tree – this is the tree which the Natural History Museum in London has a section of (above the stairs opposite the Darwin statue).
From there we made our way to Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon. The views into valleys and through the canyon were awesome. The canyon is actually deeper than the Grand Canyon, but it’s a very different view. We’ll hopefully do a bit more exploring of Kings Canyon tomorrow but a lot of the park can only be explored on longer trails so we’ll barely scratch the surface but what a surface to scratch!
Today has been a mostly driving day. We had a yummy breakfast of pancakes and bacon to start the day off in style so we were a little later hitting the road than usual but it was fine. I think the pancakes might have had drugs in though as I suggested we took a slight detour to see the Hoover Dam, which took our 6 hour drive to an 8 hour drive. This in itself wasn’t horrendous as it made the day feel more worthwhile, but what I hadn’t factored was the heat. After about 4 hours driving, when we arrived at the dam, it was 40 degrees! I thought my face was going to melt and slide off!! I did think it was a very good example of engineering but I’m sure that if it had been just (ha!) 30 degrees I might have found it 100 times more interesting.
I feel I should also admit at this point that getting to the Hoover Dam from where we were meant that we got to within a couple of miles of Las Vegas, but we didn’t stop or even drive through. I don’t even feel bad. Sorry. The rest of the journey was just through miles and miles and miles of semi dessert. At one point Mr.J just said “America is frodo-ing* massive”. I found it quite amusing that he only thought this now given everything we have seen so far (including a Walmart which could have fit Wales in).
We made good time though and arrived at the Atomic Inn, Beatty, Nevada just before 6pm here. We went to a local diner for tea and really embraced America culture as we drove there. It was about 200m away. In my defence, I thought it was further away, it was still 36 degrees which is far too hot for walking AND Mr.J had just told me the reason the hotel is raised up is to keep scorpions out :s
Total mileage: 2403
Music: A perfect spy (am)
Generic MP3 player shuffle megamix (pm). Highlights included Queen and Michael Jackson. We’re so cool.
* Mr.J didn’t use my version of the f word. Tut tut.
After a bit of pre-trip research, we’d opted to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, which was about 1.5 hours from Kanab. The drive there was very scenic, looking back across the white and vermillion cliffs before coming to meadows and grassy plains. After all the sandstone and semi dessert we’ve been used to, and having our own expectations about the Grand Canyon this was definitely a surprise.
We stopped at the Visitor Centre first, filling up on water as it was yet another hot day, and familiarising ourselves with the topographical map. We took a short trail to Rainbow Point, which is the most stuck out place (apologies for my poor vocabulary, it’s late…) at the visitor centre. It was yet another tummy flipping moment as I slowly walked out to the end, all the while holding the railing, as it was a very, very, very long way down! I know everyone knows its really big, but to try and align the fact that the canyon has been carved by a river and is up to 18 miles wide in placed, or just looks far away, is very tricky.
We drove to Cape Royal next, where there was a 270 degree view of the canyon, and a view of the Colorado River (in fact, it’s the only place in the North Rim where the river is visible). We had lunch on a bench, very close to the edge as all the picnic tables were in use, so I didn’t eat too much due to nerves! We did see a lot of pretty big birds gliding around though; not condors but we weren’t sure beyond that. We walked across the Angel’s Window, a promontory with a natural arch in it, which I eventually made it to the edge of with some trepidation. The views were magnificent though so it was worth it. We also wandered to Cape Royal itself, using the helpful signs to identify all the features in the panorama.
We stopped at Point Imperial on the way back, where some crazy dudes had a curly 4 foot horn thing which they insisted on blowing. I don’t think they grasped the fact that being at the top of the canyon did not result in an echo…. From here it was most obvious that the North Rim is higher than the South rim (c. 1000ft).
We were pretty wiped put by this point (partly due to heat (I may have got a tad sunburnt) and also because we hadn’t noticed the alarm inour room was on – and so it went off at 5.30am) so we headed to our hotel. When we went for tea our waiter asked where in England we were from. We’ve been asked a few times so far but clearly none had any idea where Sheffield was, but this guy did as he had spent 2 years around the North West. He was quite funny when he said he hadn’t had a keee-bab since he’d been back ad he said “ta ra” when we left.
The weather forecast was for clouds in the evening so we just chilled out (literally; air con on!) for a bit in our room. But, on looking out later it was clear so Mr.J took a few more photos from our balcony. I didn’t stay out too long as the building roof obscured some of the view and it wasn’t pitch black (and therefore not as good as Bryce) but it was still about 50 times better than I see at home.
Total mileage (I’ve been forgetful with adding these on): 2050
Music: A pefect spy (I’m getting more into it and also less confused)
Today has felt like a loooooong day. But, yet another good one 🙂 Although I didn’t set my alarm properly (der me) we were up in good time to set off on what, according to the Bryce Canyon NP newspaper, is the “best 3-mile hike in the world”, a loop combining the Queen’s Garden and Navajo trails in the Bryce amphitheatre. It being a canyon and all meant that the first part was downhill – yaay! I was a bit worried that the trail might have been narrow and/or have sheer drops but it was either wide or only had gentle, short drops so I wasn’t overly worried about plunging to my death 🙂
The views were just as good in the morning, if not better, than the afternoon and it really didn’t take too long before we were up close and personal with the hoodoos. It was also at about this point that I looked up and saw where the start of the walk was, and therefore how much we had to climb back up! Mr.J wasn’t worried though – that’s because he began a train analogy (Mr.J Snr may be the only person to understand some of these references but I’m going to share anyway), likening us to a pair of Black 5s powering up Shap. Yes, it is at these moments that I wonder what the Frodo I’ve got myself into.
The trail continued down, and we were very glad of the shade provided by the tall fins as it was already getting pretty hot. The trail took us through a couple of arches/tunnels too which was cool as you cold really see the erosion. When we reached the start of the climb the train analogy continued. My highlights included “we’ve got 12 coaches and we’ve picked up water at Tebay” and a Thomas reference on a very steep part “I think I can, I know I can”. I especially liked that one as that made me Percy, the small, naughty, stubborn engine 🙂
The “Wall Street” part of the walk, on the Navajo loop part, was amazing. In the shady areas between the giant fins, there were a couple of pretty tall Douglas Firs and just looking up and up to the tops of the rocks was ace. The walk was most definitely worth it and I’m not sure I can think of any other 3 mile walks which are any better.
From Bryce we drove a couple of hours SW to Zion NP. I have to say I didn’t really know what to expect but I was not disappointed. In contrast to a lot of the recent parks where we’ve been at the top of a canyon, we were in the canyon bottom. The cliffs either side just went up and up and up – stunning. They’re also pretty varied rocks and a lot more striated (if that’s the correct term) than the mostly orange sandstone we’ve seen so much of recently. It was excruciatingly hot though; temperatures peaked at 36 degrees, which is about melting point for me and Mr.J!
Apart from in Winter, the scenic drive is only accessible on a shuttle bus so we hopped on one and sat gaping at the beautiful scenery! We did a short walk up to the lower emerald pool, which seemed a little on the dry side, but the meager flow of water from adobe provided a refreshingly cooling spray! It was waaaay too hot to do much else though so we drove to Kanab, where we’re staying tonight. I was tempted to make an early run to the Grand Canyon for more star gazing but it’s cloudy so our viewing in Bryce seems all the more kick now!
We took the scenic drive through Capitol Reef this morning; a fairly short road into the canyon through a variety of geological sights, most notably Capitol Gorge. As we’d expected from the day before, the landscape was uber-Martian with clumps of deep red rocks and cliffs and some holes here and there and some low laying sage. We also stopped to see some petroglyphs which were really interesting. Somehow, it got to 11.30am before we knew it though so I took the controls of the car and headed to Bryce. Incidentally, no t shirt was purchased here or in Canyonlands as we only drove around them and I didn’t do any proper walking or investigating so that’s my new rule.
The sat nav said we’d get to Bryce at about 3.45 (!!) so naturally I saw this as a challenge, and I wanted some lunch. For anyone familiar with Mr.Js lunch rules the boot was on the other foot today as I drove past lay by after lay by after lay by as they did not have benches, but this did mean I was a little grumpy when we finally arrived in the park at about 2.20pm for a late lunch! I should also mention that the drive was mostly very lovely, and included the grand escalante national monument area. This was yet more stunning canyon country, but again it was slightly tummy-flipping inducing as at one point I seemed to be driving along a mountain ridge along a very windy section so I headed toward the middle of the road for safety!
We spent all afternoon driving the scenic road through Bryce Canyon NP, along the rim of the canyons. It was a very clear day but not as warm as it has been elsewhere which was perfect. The views of the hoodoos and fins and across what seemed like most of Utah were stunning. The stop offs around the Bryce amphitheatre area in particular were super. I did hang back from the edge as Mr.J started one of the ridge trails to get a better photo though. We stopped at the visitor centre on our way to our hotel and watched a really interesting film about the park and the geology and the wildlife and the seasons here. We saw some prongers (our new slang term for pronghorned deer) but no mountain lion sightings yet. I also grabbed another t shirt – this time opting for a black one with glow in the dark stars and some phrase relating to seeing lots of stars….
This couldn’t have been more appropriate really as we have just got back from some star gazing and star-based photography. I am so excited right now and I think even if I was calmer I could not properly desrcibe how amazing the night sky I have just seen was. In.Cred.I.Ble. I think if I were to cumulatively sum up all the stars I have ever seen in my almost 30 years of life so far, it would not add up to more than I have just seen. We saw 6, yes 6!! shooting stars in about 45 minutes – I’ve only ever seen one in my entire life before! One was really really bright too and clearly someone photographing/stargazing folks at another lookout saw it too as there was a loud woop! Mr.J got a couple of photos which looked great from the image on the back of the camera but they still don’t do justice to what my eyes saw. Truly amazing.
Tomorrow, it should be an early start for us to squeeze a walk in before driving to Zion National Park and then on to Kanab in preparation for the Grand Canyon the following day. I think I might need a holiday after all this 😉
JenkinSunts' Latest Adventure! 