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It’s no secret I ain’t a fan of casinos, cities, large groups of tourists, and warm weather. So Las Vegas at night when it’s still 92F at 10p.m wasn’t how I’d describe a perfect evening, but even after 4 miles of walking all the way from downtown casino district to the bottom of The Strip, it was still pretty cool! We’re staying in The Four Queens Hotel & Casino which is the fanciest hotel I’ve stayed in for $35 a night! Even when we’ve paid $40-$45 on motels recently some haven’t exactly been in the most desirable location or state of upkeep, but this has brand new plush carpets, king-size bed, and 32″ LCD TV

Driving over the Hoover Dam on our way to Vegas was a huge let down - you only got to see the arse-end of it, as the highway then wound back up the mountain on the other side and away from the front side view. Maybe the only way is to take a hike from somewhere to somewhere I couldn’t find, or go on a river trip from below the dam. But, our interagency national park annual pass got us into Lake Mead National Recreation Area so we had an hour or so down on the beach and I swam in the lake for a good while too. Was pretty warm actually and very freshing!

Into Las Vegas, and after dinner right next to the Stratosphere we looked at going up until we found it was $10 a piece. But too much on this trip, but maybe next time. Treasure Island looked cool, but we’d just missed the pirate show and didn’t fancy waiting an hour and a half for the next one! The white tigers and dolphin display at The Mirage both closed around 5.30p.m, so that was 4 for 4 thanks to the Last Vegas Events website Still, was nice seeing all the casinos lit up such as The Rivieria:

We caught a full fountain display at The Bellagio, which I got video of from right in the middle of the lake which turned out quite okay, to the tune of ‘Luck Be a Lady Tonight’. This was from the show just before and is definately worth watching as it’s very impressive, especially the enterprising guys wandering around with coolers packed with ice and bottled water selling them at $2 a piece!

The Parisien section was pretty cool all lit up. Guessing there was a nice charge for going up the Eiffel Tower so we were content to look at it instead!

Kat really liked The Excalibur, mainly as it was a big fairytale castle! They also had a horse drawn carriage statue which Kat sat in and gave a really nice view with Excalibur in the background, but as with most of the photos, they just didn’t come out too well in the dark

And at the bottom end of the strip, the pillar of light visible from pretty much right down The Strip was thanks to the Luxor:

Only thing we didn’t get to see was the volcano eruption which was meant to be at The Mirage. Maybe we just weren’t looking in the right place or had the completely wrong casino! Kinda sucked that some of the stuff inside such as the animal displays at The Mirage or Roman soldiers at Ceasars weren’t going on an evening and that it cost quite a bit for going up the Stratosphere tower (and probably the Eiffel Tower) as they would have been cool. Both of us have pretty sore feet now, so think an evening seeing the sights is probably enough for now, and at least we know where things are, and times + costs of things if we come back

After a month of traveling and only receiving a few spots of rain yesterday, the heavens opened this evening in Williams, Arizona! Pretty much everyone from the motel was sitting outside watching the lightning (partly because the air con in the rooms is crap!) and I thought it was really cool.

Not quite lucky enough to get some of the fork lightning, but still the sky was light up with awesome blues + purples! Freshens things up a bit, and must be a relief to fire and forest crews in the area as there’s some huge forest fires in Utah and northern Arizona. One fire raging for a few days just north of where we were in Cedar City has burnt over 300,000 acres, and if conditions hadn’t improved by Friday there were planning on closing the Kaibab Forest which surrounds both the north + south rim of the Grand Canyon due to the devastation that would be caused in those areas by a forest fire.

Although the time zone changes are kinda confusing, we got to the south-east entrance of the Grand Canyon fairly early to make a start on the scenic drive starting from Desert View where they have a pretty cool Watchtower built in the 1930’s to provide a good vantage point for early tourists:

It was designed to fit in with it’s surroundings using natural rock, and the inside was painted by a local artist with native images and glyphs:

Carrying on along the scenic drive we came to Lipan Point which gave some impressive views of the Colorado River flowing through the bottom of the canyon:

The Grand Viewpoint was certainly pretty cool, and a little further along past Yaki Point was a little pull-off that wasn’t receiving a great deal of visitors but it should have. Was weird that people in all the National Parks we’ve been to only seem to pull off and signposted view points that are detailed in the brochure rather than simply stopping at various points along the way:

Coming into the Grand Canyon Village it went crazy with scores of people and packed car parks. We managed to slip into Mather Point by chance, but then spun back round and might check it out first thing tomorrow morning.

Around the village section, everyone was crowding round one or two viewpoints meaning it was near impossible to appreciate the views without someone’s head in the way - the amount of times we’d be reading an information board and have someone walk in front of us and at one point stand right in the 5 feet between us and the board was crazy. The shuttle buses which serve the Hermit’s Road and Yaki Point road only run every 15 minutes at peak times during the summer - that’s just ridiculous. At least at Zion National Park where you had to ride the shuttle bus they were every five minutes, but there’s no way we’d stand around for quarter of an hour each time to get on what were likely to absolutely packed buses! Glad we’re done with the Grand Canyon as it although the majority of the North Rim and South Rim scenic drive were pleasant, the crowds of people were too much! We might head back first thing in the morning as it’s only three hours or so drive to Las Vegas and check out parts of the Grand Canyon Village without the crowds, but there’s no way I’d recommend visiting in the middle of summer again

When you think of the Grand Canyon, you probably imagine the vast deserts of Arizona and the canyon itself cut into the rock whilst you look at it under the scorching sun. We drove through miles and miles of dense ponderosa pine and aspen forests in the Kaibab Forest before arriving at Bright Angel Point and getting a view of the eastern end of the Grand Canyon under a cool canopy of trees:

Although it wasn’t the picture-perfect views of those that appear on the postcards and travel shows from the South Rim, the North Rim was still pretty impressive. Maybe slightly down-played as we’ve seen so many impressive parks in Utah, tomorrow when we head to the South Rim we might really get knocked off our feet when we can see huge sections of the Grand Canyon. From Point Imperial, the highest point in the whole park, we could look out over the east of the canyon and towards the Navajo reservation:

Roosevelt Point gave a nice little half-mile trail looking out over the Nankoweap Canyon:

Further down at Walhalla Point was a well-hidden viewing platform everyone else seemed to be missing but gave some nice views of the Unkar Delta where the Ancestral Puebloan lived + farmed between 900-1200AD. Some ruined buildings across the road also gave insight into their way of life:

I can see why the North Rim isn’t anywhere nearly as widely visited as the South Rim as it is quite a hike to get there. We’re staying in Page, Arizona (where we’ve an hour behind the rest of Arizona since the Navajo land doesn’t recognise daylight savings time…) and it was a good two and half drive to get here, and about two hours south of Cedar City, Utah. I don’t think the views are quite going to match up to the South Rim (at least I hope it’s impressive tomorrow!), but is worth a visit if you’re checking out the area.

But, Page is right on the shore of Lake Powell, a huge man-made reservoir providing all sorts of water sports. The Glen Canyon dam itself is pretty impressive, especially the road bridge that spans the canyon just in front of the damn!

Hopefully we can get a good night’s sleep before an early start to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, then tomorrow evening we’re staying in Williams in a motel on Route 66

This turned out to be a real surprise, much better than I expected From everything I’ve read, I never got the impression that Zion was a high-walled canyon which actually rates as second most popular for rock climbing only to Yosemite! We also toured the park at the right time, getting there by 8a.m, as coming out around 2p.m all the car parks were packed and lines of a dozen or more cars in both lanes waiting at the ranger stations to get in.

First stop on the shuttle bus along the scenic drive was the Court of Patriachs. Due to their immense size, you couldn’t get all three into one shot! However, this is Abraham (on the left) and Isaac:

A short distance along and we came to the Emerald Pools area, and some of the most popular hiking trails. Bizzarely, it seemed like although all the shuttle buses were packed, very few people were getting off and walking any of the trails. That’s not such a miss in other parks such as Crater Lake or Lassen Volcano, but you really had to get out and explore in Zion to really get the views + experience. We took the right way in heading to middle pool first as the ascent was much easier than going from lower to middle then upper! This was lower pool though, with the water from middle pool tumbling onto the rocks:

Middle pool was fairly low on water due to it being middle of the summer, but still very scenic:

And a few reeds growing right on the edge of the falls down to Lower Emerald Pool:

The hike to Upper Emerald Pool certainly was quite a hike up a steep, rocky and sandy trail - it was rated as moderate and I’d hate to see a strenuous trail! But it was worth it - photos don’t do justice just how steep and high the cliffs surrounding it were. The pool also had plenty of tadpoles, water boatmen and water nymphs:

In total, it was a good 3 miles or so from the Zion Lodge to lower, middle and upper Emerald Pools before carrying on to the Grotto for lunch:

Weeping Rock was a nice very, cooling area where water that has seeped through the sandstone before hitting solid rock drips out across a ledge. Plenty of plants and ferns grow on the ledge supplied by the water that has been tested as being around 1,400 years old - I’d never have imagined it would take that amount of time for the water to seep through the sandstone!

At the end of the scenic was the Temple of Sinawava which was packed with people sitting having lunch before simply getting the shuttle bus back to the visitor center. It acted as a hub for various trails up around the canyon, however the temperature was up to over 100F so we didn’t fancy the 2 mile or so round trip hike along the Virgin River. After riding the shuttle back to the museum of human history and then the visitor center, we drove along the road outside the canyon ourselves and through the Zion/Mt. Carmel tunnel - over 1 mile long and one hell of an engineering feat back in the 1930’s!

Certainly a very impressive National Park given how everything is so compressed together! Although the shuttle buses clearly had to be implemented given the 5,000 vehicles a day in peak season with only 400 or so parking spaces along the scenic drive, the buses got pretty busy even early in the day and got very hot too due to the very slow speeds they travel at. I also like having my own space and time going through the parks without having a set of 7/8 pre-determined stops I can get off at. It’s also much more peaceful like that as you’re not stuck with a family of 7 pushing a baby stroller with a couple of screaming kids running around and some eating ice cream before dropping the wrapper. As much as I loved the Lake District back in England, I also hated all the stereotypical day-tripping tourists. Kinda ironic maybe given Kat + I are only spending a day or two in each park and aren’t backcountry camping in remote areas, but seeing so many people in flip-flops or clean white socks coming back to the visitor center when even the shortest of hikes would get a good amount of red dust on you seemed like they’d wasted their trip. Different people go for different reasons I guess.

But, at least we’ve also got a 1-year inter-agency pass for free admission to as many more national parks as we want to visit The admission to Zion would have been $25, but some quick arithmetic meant for $15 we could trade in the receipts from the last five paid-admission parks and get the yearly pass! We looked at getting one at the very first park, but $80 seemed a lot of money. Now we’ve gone through seven national parks and with at least five or six more (including Grand Canyon and Yosemite charging $25 per car), it works out a lot more cost effective. Those over 62 get a great deal at $10 for a lifetime pass, which probably explains the number of older people enjoying the parks we’ve been to!

I’d really been looking forward to Bryce Canyon since I first saw a photo of it in National Geographic’s “Guide to the National Parks” (an awesome book!), and it didn’t disappoint when we finally got there. A lot of people had described it as simply being breathtaking and easy to understand why some people believe the idea of God creating the Earth. This was the Bryce Amphitheater from Inspiration Point:

Stunning was the only way to describe it, and I could easily have spent all day here! Here’s the amphitheater again from Sunset Point:

There were plenty of trails winding through the base of the amphitheater along with mule rides. A helicopter buzzed overhead a couple of times too which kinda spoilt the tranquility, but there were no others the remainder of our time there so it’s not like they need to implement restrictions as with the Grand Canyon. The base of the amphitheater let out into a valley to the south which runs down onto the same plateau that forms the North Rim of the Grand Canyon:

Along the scenic drive along the ridge to Rainbow Point were a few awesome viewing spots into the different canyons all made up of the same hoodoo’s (standing rock formations) as in the amphitheater, along with Natural Bridge:

The trail ends at Rainbow Point where a short trail led to Yovima Point which clearly looks south to the North Rim plateau. On a clear day (and usually in winter), it’s meant to be possible to see for 200 miles as the air in this area is so clear due to minimal commercial and residential development:

On our way back out the park, one final stop was at Fairyland Point which we’d completely missed on our way in! Worth the short drive as we also saw a couple of mule deer wandering right along the roadside. There were plenty of other deer wandering around the area along the scenic drive too which was nice, even if it did make an interesting drive when a mother and two young deer ran across the road a hundred yards in front of us!

With the temperature not really getting above 95F as we were in + out of shade and up around 6,000-8,000 feet in elevation it made for a nice trip through the park, and we both feel Bryce Canyon is one of our favourite parks we’ve been to The shuttle bus system didn’t quite make sense as they didn’t seem all that regular and didn’t wait at stops for people which would have been annoying if we had taken the shuttle. The fact there’s an extra charge to then go on the scenic drive to Rainbow Point didn’t add up - it seemed like it would have cost a lot more for the two of us to take the shuttle bus than our own car, and we’d be waiting around shuttle stops. At Zion National Park tomorrow we have no choice, but an early start to avoid the crowds and plenty of short hikes in Zion mean it shouldn’t be too bad!

Leaving Moab to head west to Capitol Reef National Park didn’t bring much of a drop in temperature - was still around 102F everytime we stepped out the car. The area around the Freemont River which runs through Capitol Reef was probably more impressive than the 20 mile round-trip scenic drive along the reef itself. 19th century Mormon pioneers set-up home around here creating the village of Fruita. But, you can easily see why they thought it looked like a coral reef in the sea:

The Freemont Valley itself where the village of Fruita was established seemed pretty intimidating from high up the rock face, but the lush green fruit plants growing thanks to the irrigation ditches they dug yielded a lot of fruit for them.

The old school building which would have allowed up to 26 kids to be educated was pretty small, and the inside reminded me of the old school buildings at Beamish back in England:

Climbing up to the Hickman Bridge was slightly more demanding than the self-guide trail signs indicated! It was over a mile climb up there and pretty steep in places. It was worth it when we got up there, and nice to get right up under a big natural arch like this:

Down along the Capitol Reef scenic drive, an unpaved road led to the Grand Wash area and Cassidy Arch, so called as Butch Cassidy apparently once used the canyon as a hideout. Pretty smart place to hide out as I can’t imagine anyone going looking for him along there!

Although the scenic drive was only $5 and the rest of the park was open without admission much like Redwood National Park, up close to the cliffs and rock formations heading south really wasn’t all that impressive. Heading north on the way back out the park gave some cool views, but exploring the area of Fruita, and the petroglyphs carved by the Freemont Indians around 600AD, were just as good. Unless you fancied hiking more of the trails in the area, it was a nice few hours and that was it. Bryce Canyon tomorrow should be a whole lot better

A fairly early start got us to the south east corner of Canyonlands National Park, the Needles area, with hardly any other visitors there. It was quite a scenic drive out there, and we were definately still in canyon country - Big Spring Canyon was at the end of the main road, and if it hadn’t already been 95F, a nice place to hike:

The Needles themselves looked cool from a distance, but the graded dirt road described as being suitable for a standard 2-wheel drive car certainly wasn’t too good in our Prius so we couldn’t get to the Elephant Hill area for some closer views:

A 700+ year old granary used by Indians to store corn gave an indication that the area had seen people living off the land, though it’s thought they were nomadic rather than making they’re permanent home here. Makes sense - either that or invent air conditioning!

Back to Moab, we found a cool little road just a few miles from the hotel that has ancient Indian petroglyphs from 700AD-1200AD. They were pretty cool, though unfortunately the second site seemed pretty defaced by people carving their own names into the rock or drawing they’re own images.

And right across from the rock face with the petroglyphs, the Colorado River looking slightly more serene that a few miles downstream where it roars through the canyons:

Unfortunately, my camera really seems to be dying Guess it’s not just my body that doesn’t appreciate the temperature swing of -35F in the middle of the Alaskan winter to 107F in the middle of summer in the Utah desert! Out of 87 photos today, only 37 came out. The zoom error has developed further, requiring the 3x optical zoom to be maxed out before rolling back to 1x as before otherwise it won’t focus. With the sun so bright, I’d been using the optical viewfinder rather than the LCD screen when taking photos as it’s very difficult to see the screen. It means the optical zoom is basically out of action, and the digital zoom isn’t perfect. Kat brought her camera even though she never uses it, so I’ve commandeered that as a replacement - just means I need a to get a ton of AA batteries tomorrow!

An early start got us into Canyonlands National Park before 8.30a.m, though temperatures were already around 87F (30C)! No prizes for guessing why it’s called ‘Canyonlands’ - this was Shafer Canyon just inside the park:

Photographs struggle to reflect just how stunning the whole area is, especially in terms of it’s size. It’s definately not an area I’d like to get lost in! A little further was Mesa Arch, equally as impressive as those we saw in Arches National Park yesterday:

Looking across Buck Canyon, the Colorado River cuts a canyon at the far end, and it’s this river that merges with the Green River from the west to create the island of rock we toured. The Colorado River then continues down to Lake Powell before running through the Grand Canyon.

The Grand View Point which looks south to where the two rivers merge gave an awesome impression of the power the rivers have in carving out the landscape. With clear visibility of over 15 miles, it was just canyons cut into the landscape as far as you could see:

On the west, the Green River winds through the area having flowed right down through Utah from Idaho, and was equally impressive with the Orange Cliffs behind. Looking out across such a desolate area, lush green vegetation grows along the banks of the river in an area that only receives an average of 10 inches per year:

Holeman Spring Canyon showcased towers of rock eroded by the wind rather than the river, with only a spring running through it:

Tucked away in the north east corner of the park lies Upheaval Dome, which is actually a crater. Debate as to whether this was originally a salt dome that collapsed on itself or a crater caused by a meteor is still continuing. At over 2 miles wide, again it was just an awesome sight that doesn’t quite come across on camera:

We managed to start heading back out the park by 12.30p.m, though by 11a.m the temperatures had got back up to 104F (40C) again - early morning starts seem the right way to go as it was both more comfortable walking + driving this morning, and also a lot quieter. Only the last hour or so did we find other cars dotted in the car parks or meet more than one or two people whilst walking around. Later on this afternoon we’re thinking of heading back into Arches to see the Windows section, and having been inspired today, the Needles section of Canyonlands tomorrow

After a couple of pretty boring days driving through Nevada and northern Utah, we headed to southern Utah where the national parks are clustered. As a nice bonus, the Motel 6 we’re staying at for the next 3 nights has wi-fi, plus a very nice pool!

Today we toured Arches National Park, and boy was it hot! Stepping out the car, it was always 104-106F (40-41C) which just zapped you on even the shortest of hikes to check out the rock formations or aches. At the first walk around Courthouse Towers, one guy joked it was only half a mile so wouldn’t take water - everytime we saw him after that he did!

Further on, petrified sand dunes caused by rock and other sediment forming over the top of sand dunes before being eroded created an eerie landscape of nothingness:

Balanced Rock was pretty cool, caused by different types of rock resting on top of each other and so being eroded by the elements at different rates. There was small balancing rock just to the lower right of the main one which collapsed a number of years ago, but the main 140ft or so high section still towers over the area:

We decided to leave the Windows Section for another day since we were too tired on our way back. Onto Delicate Arch, the 3 mile loop to get right up to it was too much in that heat, so we took to a couple of the viewpoints instead!

The Fiery Furnace area is a collection of high spires of rock and canyons, requiring a separate permit for hiking. I didn’t really fancy heading in there anyways, so made do with the viewpoints again:

Finding some shade was a nice relief, and Sand Dune arch was a fun little 1/4 mile hike or so. The arches are all created by the soft rock being weathered by the elements, and this was a weird arch simply as it was so shaded and I thought it would have been protected by winds.

Skyline Arch was another arch nicely just off the main road. At least at Devils Garden they had taps for drinking water as it was getting a bit too hot for us! It was still a cool view though:

And finally we headed to the Devils Garden area for a hike down to Landscape Arch taking in Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch. Although the park service claimed it was only 0.8 miles each way to Landscape Arch, it certainly felt like a lot more in mid-afternoon sun! The trail up to the arch has been closed since 1991 when part of it collapsed, but from a distance you got a good impression of the size of it at over 300 feet base to base:

Considering Arches National Park is meant to have the largest concentration of natural arches in the world at over 2,000, quite a lot are on remote trails or buried in canyons, as although the overall scenery and rock formations were very impressive, it wasn’t packed with arches as we were expecting. Definately worth a visit for others planning a trip through Utah, but don’t expect arches every hundred yards!

Tomorrow we’re going to head into Canyonlands National Park which is only half an hour’s drive from Moab, though we’re looking at getting an early start of 7a.m to try and avoid the worst of the sun. Early morning should also give some excellent landscapes and be quieter too. Tuesday we’ll either head down to The Needles section of Canyonlands and hour or so south of Moab and/or head back into Arches to check out the Windows section