That's one grand canyon!

Okay, we're in the home stretch here people. Let's finish strong. I'm having a blast writing on this thing but sometimes it proves difficult to find the time - especially while taking 2 MBA classes this semester, it being football season, all the new fall TV, and oh yeah, work and personal life. I don't see how some people do it (*cough* tripjax).

Anyway, at the end of the last post, I was tooling around Canyonlands NP wanting to pull a Bear Grylls and just walk forever (but without the film crew and the misleading notions of isolation) and believe me, this was the place for it. But after Canyonlands, I had about a 3 hour drive to a little town called Richfield, UT where I was staying the night at some crappy Quality Inn (and yes, I'm aware of the irony). There wasn't much to Richfield - just a small town right off the interstate - but they did have a Home Depot and a Wal-mart (don't they all).

A quick/funny story about the hotel. I remember the front desk lady being all excited that she was able to give me a room by the stairs. I didn't think anything of it but this turned out to be the worst thing possible. Seems that at 4 in the morning, I was awakened by numerous jackasses running up and down the "great to be located next to" stairs. Although, I guess it could've been the same jackass...just over and over. Since I was "awake", I figured I'd fake a trip out to the car and find out what was going on. Here's a slightly paraphrased conversation held in the dark of a bad hotel parking lot :

Me - So are you guys a construction crew at the hotel?

Guy (apparent leader of crew) - No, we're a seismology team taking readings south of here.

Me - Oh, that's cool. Because I thought with all the noise you were remodeling some of the rooms.

It went downhill from there but I couldn't go back to sleep so I guess I was able to get a jump on the day. From Richfield, I was driving south to Bryce Canyon NP and then on to the Grand Canyon. I had a good friend tell me to be sure and hike down into Bryce Canyon but after spending the previous two days in Arches and Canyonlands, I thought I knew what was coming. Then I came to this.

Heck yeah I was going down there! Seems that the canyon was formed due to erosion (like any other canyon) but also because ice freezes (or is it already frozen?) and then expands in the rock to form the cool spires. It's science. On the way down, I came across this - Thor's Hammer (say it like the movie voice over guy). No joke, that's what it's called. But cool too.

And this is the trail down to the canyon floor. I should note, this is a vertical panorama (2 pics put together) but you get the idea of how far down it was.

Here's a few pics in the canyon and from the way back up.

Check out the person in this pic compared to the tree.

This is the opening in the canyon you come out of before the trek back up.

And this is what you have to hike up - back and forth and back and forth some more.

Finally, the pic from the top looking back down.

After getting back to the top, there was still plenty of the park to see. So once I made it back to the car, I continued south on the main park road and had planned to head all the way to the southern most point of the park. However, the rangers in the middle of the road thought differently. It seems they were doing some controlled burns in that section of the park so the road was closed...and so was my Bryce Canyon experience. I guess it was okay. I had to drive to the Grand Canyon anyway.

Speaking of that, I was coming from the north driving south to the south rim of the Grand Canyon (by far the more visited rim) which seems easy enough, right? Well, before the trip I was looking at the map and doing some simple calculations, I figured it would take about 3 hours just to get around the Grand Canyon. Turns out I was right. Seems pretty unreal that something is sooo big it takes 3 hours to drive around. Anyway, here's a quick video of me losing my mind driving in the wide open.

Once again, before the trip, I had picked out a spot I wanted to check out and the below video is from that spot. It's actually at the "start" of the Grand Canyon with the Colorado River below. Let me tell you, I've experienced hot before but getting out of the car and walking across that pedestrian bridge was probably the hottest I've ever experienced. During the video, I leaned over to show you the river below and my arms touched the metal railing. You're lucky you didn't get a few choice words in there.




Eventually, I did actually make it to the Grand Canyon. Like most people, I stopped at the first lookout just because I was so anxious to see it. My first reaction was, "this is one big *bleepin'* hole." After a disappointing stop through the ranger office and a couple stores, I decided to check out some of the more popular lookouts. Then for the first time on this entire trip, it rained (but only for about 20 minutes). The rain cooled things off but because it was so cloudy, it messed with the light/shade of the canyon which can be the best part. I should mention that one of the most interesting things in the ranger station was a series of pictures of exactly the same view at different times throughout the day. None of the pictures looked the same because the shadows made it seem like you were looking at an entirely different scene. Anyway, here's proof I was actually there.




Here are some more pics of the canyon. This first one is the view of one of the overlooks from the one next to it. Gives you a good idea of the initial drop from the canyon ridge (about 800 feet or so).




This is the view from the same overlook as the previous picture but more centered in the canyon. Keep in mind, the Grand Canyon is 10 miles wide at its farthest point and 1 mile deep from canyon ridge to the Colorado River.











Suffice it to say, I was completely blown away by this thing. So much so that I think everyone should see this for themselves at some point in their life.

It was starting to get a little late in the day and I still needed to check into the campground before they closed. After that, I wanted to find a decent place to eat. But first, I found a lounge and enjoyed the crisp, clean flavor of a few Fat Tires (beer only available west of the Mississippi). Because the chair was so comfortable (*cough*), I stayed and had a burger (and a good burger at that). So once again, after a fairly exhausting day and a little fire I made, I laid down my head on my make-shift pillow consisting of a sweatshirt stuffed in my sleeping bag bag. Ah, vacation. As I went to sleep, I looked forward to getting up well before the sun and watching it rise over the canyon.

Venture on, venture in a high MPG vehicle.

She Blinded Me With Silence

So now it's day...whatever. I don't know. It's been 3 weeks since getting back from my trip and I'm trying my best to remember everything given limited documentation. It's weird because at work or whenever, I try to hold onto an image in my head of somewhere I've been on this trip. It's proving quite difficult and I hope that I don't lose those over time. It's pretty cool when I can make it happen though. Like sitting at my desk and all of a sudden I'm on that trail in the Grand Tetons staring at the lakes below. Interesting how the mind works.

Anyway, after a full day at Arches and a restful night once again in a hotel, I was off to Canyonlands. This post could very well also be called "Driving, Hiking, Sitting, Staring" because I certainly did a lot of all of those. Today was booked with a huge hike down into and around the Upheaval Dome (as previously posted in real time). All told, the hike was over 12 miles round trip and if I truly thought about it beforehand, I would've been crazy to try this.

As I mentioned, this hike was "not advised" during the months of July and August. Of course, I found this out at the trail head. Oh well, another bad sign but I was doing it regardless. Everything was going fine (sort of) on the trail. I mean, it was severely sloped but not too bad. That is, until I came to this point. And I hope you enjoy the commentary (throat was a little dry).

I'm really glad I decided to stop there and turn around. But before I made the trek back up, there was a perfect natural chair in the rock immediately behind me where I shot that video. Given this, I decided to sit for about 30 minutes and have some really good inner conversations. But in just sitting there eating my Clif bar and drinking my water, I noticed something really, really weird. There was no sound. I mean nothing. Try this out...next time you think it's really quiet where ever you are, pay close attention. It seems there's aways crickets or an air conditioner kicking on or a dog barking or even the wind. Worse yet, we have cars and planes and all that other stuff that contributes to the noise of our daily lives. But imagine nothing. It's hard, yes but still imagine the loudest thing being your body exhaling or your foot hitting on the trail. It was something that I've never experience before but for all its weirdness I hope I do again. And for the record, there were no other people on this trail. Usually I would see people coming and going and milling about but this hike there was nobody...and that made me smile (given my increasingly introverted notions).

So here are some pics of the Upheaval Dome from up top since my trek to get pics from inside the thing didn't work out. For a sense of scale (something I always like to point out), the dome itself is over 3 miles across. Of course, there were these overlooks where I could've stood with the masses so I chose instead to find a quiet spot away from all that and chill with my thoughts. Chill, of course, being merely an expression...yeah, it was hot. Here's some info on the dome if you're interested...http://www.nps.gov/cany/naturescience/upheavaldome.htm

And then there's wiki too...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upheaval_Dome

(These shots below are intended as a panorama going from left to right.)

For the remainder of the day, I just hit some of the pull-offs and soaked it all in as best I could so here are plenty of pics from the rest of Canyonlands. I tool a lot more but you get the idea. Pretty amazing, huh? I can honestly say I've never seen so far in my life.

Finally, I'll leave with the front of my tattered rental car.

Venture on, venture in awe.

Fade to Orange

After a not so great night's sleep (stupid gravel at the campsite), I had to drive all the way down to Moab, UT which I expected to take about 10 hours. I got all packed up and headed off saying goodbye to Wyoming for more than likely the last time ever. Thankfully, the drive was pretty uneventful but I was already getting sick of fast food (although that biscuit was pretty dang good). Thank God for XM radio. Best part of the trip was a bit from the XM comedy station. Mitch Hedberg (one of the greats) said, "I once applied for a job at an insurance company. The manager asked me, 'So where do you see yourself in 5 years?' I said, 'Hopefully celebrating the 5th anniversary of you asking me that question." I almost wrecked the car.

Anyway, I was able to get into Moab around 7 and after checking into the hotel (finally, a hotel!) and getting a much needed shower, I wanted to check out the Moab Brewery/Restaurant. If you ever find yourself in Moab (and you like local beers), this is the place for you. The food was great too. Anyway, I wanted to get a good night's sleep in a hotel bed but I ended up watching the Olympics until about midnight. Stupid national pride.

So the next day would be spent in Arches National Park and I have to tell ya, it's amazing how the landscape changed. The day before it was nothing but greens and blues and now being in southern Utah it was all orange and browns. And you could see for...ev...er. Absolutely amazing.

When I made it into the park, this was the first thing I saw at a little turnaround. Looks like something out of the Road Runner. More balanced rocks to come.

Before the trip, I had decided to include the Devil's Garden trail which had several cool arches to see along the way. Well, about a week before I left, one of those cool arches decided not to be so cool anymore and collapsed. Because of this, the main trail was closed but the "primitive" trail was still open if you wanted to get to the Double O arch (at trail's end). I didn't think it was going to be that big of a deal so I still planned on heading out that way.

Shortly after starting, I discovered that this trail was like walking on the beach. And not the hard compact sand kinda beach. I'm talking about the soft and fluffy sand kinda beach. For the lack of a better word, it sucked but incredible scenery. Enough of my whining, here's the goods (and keep in mind, I didn't come near taking pictures of all of them).

Tunnel Arch (not that spectacular)

And here's Pine Tree arch. At first I thought I was ruining these pictures if someone was in them but it actually gives it some scale (which is severely lacking in some of these pics).

Landscape arch - which looks like it can go at any moment.

Here's just a cool rock formation along the way...no official name but I call it Cool Rock Formation.

Here's a few pics from the top of what can only (and non-scientifically) be called a big, long rock. Notice the people in the first one. They eventually left the top and I was up there all by myself looking down to the hikers below. Of course, I had to go all the way to the end. The last one shows a couple on the trail and how high this "big, long rock" was.

Here's a shot of the "trail." Seems the primitive trail is just that. You can see the trail marker there. Notice how there's a slope of the rock and the wear pattern where all have walked? Yeah, that's the trail. Fairly high up too.

Finally, the Double O arch. This one was worth the hike. For a scale, the bottom arch is probably 12 feet high so the big one is probably big enough to fly a small plane through. Also, check out the guy on top.

Funny story about that guy on top. As I sat way high up on this little ridge overlooking the arch, that guy set up a camera on a tripod far over to the right on top of the whole thing. I'm watching this wondering what he was up to then all of a sudden, he takes off running to the left and went all the way to the end, turned around, and started jumping up and down. Seems that he set his timer and wanted a picture of him on the complete other side of the arch. Quite the entertainment. A few groups came through but I must have sat there for about 45 minutes before making my way to Dark Angel. Not all that spectacular but this thing was just all by itself. And this pic was taken at least 500 yards away.

I'll end this post with just a couple more pics and then I better go. Here's probably the best trail marker I saw all trip. See, when the trail runs on rock (as a lot of these did) and you can't tell which way to go, you need to mark the trail somehow. What better way than with the unnatural stacking of small flat rocks? You get the idea. It's also good luck to contribute.

And finally, Balanced Rock. Called so for obvious reasons. And can you believe the sky that day?

Venture on, venture with sunscreen.

Trent, We're Not At Pilot Mountain Anymore

Once again, I woke up to a cold morning and it was still awesome. I forgot how much fun it was to camp. I think what I like best are the sounds...the random zipper, a cough, a muted conversation, a pot clanking. All of this, of course, amongst the silence. Anyway, I wanted to get going early because I had to get out of Yellowstone and get to the Grand Tetons. Packing up and leaving pretty early, I was able to see more of that wildlife I kept hearing so much about. Not to mention just awesome sights along the Yellowstone River. Follow the steam along the river.

And then I came across a couple of bison making their way across the road. After a slight delay, they moved off and I was able to get this pic as I drove past. I still chuckle to myself every time I see it. The best part is I really didn't line it up or anything. Remember, although I was going pretty slow, I was still driving when I took it. I consider it a lucky shot.

Being out of cell service for the better part of two days (and having a rather large coffee from the gas station), I wanted to/had to stop to take care of a couple of things. So I came across a bathroom at a little picnic area and took care of that. Then I called some folks and let them know that I was still on the planet. After about 45 minutes of conversation, I had to revisit the bathroom before I headed out. I'm sure you're wondering where I'm going with this so here's my point. The second time out of the bathroom, I opened the door to see a bison about 15 feet straight in front of me. After a slight freakout, I made it back to the car to get this pic.

That's the bathroom awning on the left and the bison in the middle. That stupid car pulled up when I was "going" and it may have startled the bison back a little. I guess I should've said thanks.

So after a short 2 or so hour drive (remember, it's all relative) to the Tetons, I actually didn't have a place to lay my head that night. I went to one of the smaller campgrounds hoping I could find a spot. Turned out they had an area for hikers and bikers (of which I was neither) but the lady let me pay the meager $7 as long as I parked my car at the nearby visitor's center. No problem. I set up the tent and then had to make a decision. See, before this trip, I did a lot of map studying (thanks to Google Earth) and reading on the national park's websites about trails and such that I should try. There was one that was about 5 miles up one of the Tetons to a couple of hidden lakes called Surprise Lake and Amphitheater Lake. Before my trip, I wanted to try out my gear and test my conditioning by hiking up and around Pilot Mountain here in North Carolina. There was a trail that was about 4 miles round trip up and back down the mountain and it was not difficult at all but I knew this day's hike would be different.

Anyway, my decision was to either bag the hike and find something else to do or suck it up and make the trek. It was about noon and I knew that 10 miles up and down a mountain would take about 5-6 hours. Still uncertain, I wanted to check out one of the possible activities which involved taking a ferry across Jenny Lake and hiking over there. But taking one look at the masses assembled at the ferry (and with me having a serious bout with introversion), I made the decision to take the trail less traveled.

Here's a picture of the map and trail I was about to take - my trail is the one with all the zigzags (which usually means switchbacks which usually mean elevation change).

Here's a couple of pics of me on my way. It's hard to tell from the shots that the trail is going up and up but trust me, it was. In fact, I actually counted 14 steps that were downhill on the way up so yes, it went up and up (and then up some more). You can also tell the slope of the mountain from left to right.

This hike was rough. It was probably one of the hardest things I've done in a while. But somewhere along the way, it got a little scary too. Yes, I was hiking by myself but there were plenty of folks coming down the mountain from a morning ascent so I never really felt alone. Anyway, at this one particular time, I found myself alone and then a heard something exhale...something big. I stopped dead in my tracks. Usually, that's just an expression. In my case, it was an actuality. Turns out just over the small ridge next to the trail was a black bear about 20 feet from me. You know, they tell you to make noise while you're hiking by yourself so you don't startle a bear but they don't tell you what to do when you're so close you can smell it. Do I make noise and announce my presence or do I silently creep away and hope it doesn't have a cub with it? I decided on the latter and creeped away about another 20 feet. Then I noticed a girl walking up the trail by herself. Keeping with my mode of silence, I made the motion for "you better stop walking, there's a bear right there." Somehow, she didn't understand my random arm motions. So as she approached, she asked, "Hey, what's going on?" I slowly and softly said, "There's a bear right there." And her response was classic..."Oh, let me get my camera." Huh?? Pause for a moment.

Bear with me for a second (pun intended), I think everyone knows that I'm a fairly big movie guy so let me describe the tone of my response. Remember Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? Sort of near the beginning when Indy and Shortround were trapped in that room with the ceiling coming down and all the spikes? And Willie had to wade through all the bugs and stuff to get to them to pull the handle to unlock the door? Do you remember what Indy said to her when she was hesitating? Well, that's the tone of my response:

We...have got to go...now!

In hindsight, the bear didn't really seem to care that we were there or not. But when you realize you're not at a zoo and there's no wall or fence separating you from at least *cough* a bad day, it can be a bit scary. Plus, before I left, I happened to watch a documentary about a guy that was attacked by a bear. Yeah, that didn't help things. Anyway, all was well and I continued on. Let me tell you though, the trail got rather rocky the higher I went and when you have to think about where you put your foot with every step, not to mention the steep slope and the high elevation, it can be exhausting. In fact, there was one point where I would count out 150 steps and then stop for a few seconds then do it again.

But fear not, I made it to the lakes. Actually, I made it to the first one, sat for a while, enjoyed the view, took plenty of pictures and then started heading back because I was dead tired and couldn't go higher. After about 5 minutes (and I took a picture of the exact spot), it was eating at me that I didn't make it to the top lake so I turned around and went back up past where I was at Surprise Lake and continued on to Amphitheater. I'm so glad I did. That would've bothered me if I didn't see that higher lake. I'll shut up now and show you some of the pictures. First, check out this one with the ice in the rocks (in August).

Here's Surprise Lake - elevation 9540. And keep in mind, most of the pictures I took up at these lakes are intended to be put together for a larger panorama. Still working to get those completed but at least you get the idea from the ones below. I'm not sure if you can tell but that water was crystal clear (and very cold).

And here's a few from the higher Amphitheater Lake - elevation unknown but at least a couple of hundred feet higher than Surprise. This first one is a manufactured panorama of a couple of shots put together (plus very Ansel Adams-ish). Looking at the picture now, the scale is completely lost. Trust me, that peak back there is pretty high and far.

Here's the spot where I had previously made myself turn around and make it to the top lake. And that's me giving (once again) the thumbs up.

The "ride" down was much easier and I don't recall stopping much except to take a few pics to illustrate how high up I was. I believe the overall elevation change for the hike was around 2500 feet over 4.8 miles. That's the same lake in both pictures taken from different heights.

And finally, a victorious hiker back at the parking area near the trailhead just as the sun is peaking behind a teton.

Venture on, venture up (and then thankfully back down).