Saturday Sept 3rd: Flew to Albuquerque and took a bus to
Gallup and met up with my sister.
Sunday: My sister and I visited Canyon de Chelly. In Canyon de Chelly there are old ruins of Puebloan dwellings in large cliffs of the beautiful Canyon. Only one trail is open to the public (the White House Trail to the White House ruins), but there are many scenic overlooks.
White House Ruins
My sister and I at Canyon de Chelly
Spider Rock
Monday: My sister showed me around Gallup, NM Window Rock, AZ, and Red Rock State Park, NM . I think all the states in the southwest have a red rock state park (since there are a lot of red rocks) , but I visited the one in New Mexico, just east of Gallup.
On top of a mountain in Red Rock State Park overlooking Gallup, NM.
Monday Night: Left on my own. Took a Train to Kingman, AZ. Then a
van to Las Vegas Airport. Arrived at 2:30am. Picked
up my rental car. The car was a Chevy HHR. Then drove to the first rest stop in Utah
and crashed for a couple hours of sleep in the car.
Tuesday: Visited St. George. My grandparents once lived there. Then I stocked up on supplies.and went to Zion National Park. Took an afternoon hike up Angels Landing. It was a hot day. The first part of Angels Landing is not too difficult, but the last half-mile, you are climbing on a narrow ledge with thousand foot cliffs on both sides on you. It was fun.
Camped Overnight at South Campground.
On the top of Angels Landing overlooking Zion National Park.
Looking back at the path. Note that there are cliffs on both sides of the trail.
Looking up at Angels Landing (what I just climbed).
Wednesday: Hiked the Narrows (16 miles). The Narrows was a great experience. I was dropped off at Chamberlain’s Ranch at 8am in the morning with 4 other people. After 10am, I did not see anyone for five and a half hours. It was nice hiking alone in the Canyon. The first half I hiked fairly quickly. The water was never above my knees. Then I passed the first campsite and the waterfall and it started getting more difficult. The water was a little high higher and the water was up to my neck in some parts and once after campsite 2, I had to swim about 10 feet. While the previous day had been really hot, this day, it was cool in the narrows and the water was freezing, but the sun warmed me up. I was trying to hike fast to keep warm. I did not know whether I would be able to hike the whole narrows in one day so I reserved a campsite at the last campsite and brought all my gear to stay overnight (tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad) so my pack my heavy and every time my pack got wet, it felt very heavy. However, in the narrows, there is an elevation loss (so I did not have to worry about going uphill and my pack did not bother me as much as it would have if I were hiking uphill.) When I arrived at the last campsite and it was only 2:30pm, I felt ready to continue. The park rangers had warned me that the hard section was the five miles from the last campsite to the finish so I packed my camera and other valuables in the dry bag and continued on my way. After the last campsite the Canyon narrowed and the cliffs seemed higher blocking out the sun and the water rose. A few sections the water raised above my head and I had to swim 20 or 30 feet. Fortunately I was traveling downstream. Taking the advice from a person who hiked the narrows a couple days earlier, I took my pack off and let it float next to me as I swam down some sections of the narrows. One of those times, I realized I lost my grip on my hiking pole and the pole flew downstream traveling further away from me. I quickly swam to where it was shallow and stood up. Swung my pack (which was soaked with water) and started running after my pole before it drifted out of site. Fortunately, I caught up to pole and was on my way. After an hour and a half after I left the last campsite, I saw two guys coming up from the other direction. The first people, I have seen since the morning. They had on small daypacks did not look like they had done any swimming. I chatted with them with for a minute and they said the rest of the way the water did not rise above the head. Then they took off hiking upstream. Ten minutes later, I saw them hiking downstream and they said the water got too deep. It made me feel better about my accomplishment and I knew I would make it the rest of the way at this point although I knew that I probably could not swim those sections going upstream. Then for the last hour and a half a very warm breeze entered the canyon and while it had been cool, it was now getting quite warm. And I continued to the finish, I passed more and more people coming upstream. I chatted with some of them and made my way to the sidewalk and then the last mile to the bus stop finishing at 5:30pm. While I may have spent 5-6 hours alone, I was not alone at this point. There were hundreds of tourists who had just come up to see the narrows from the southern end, but as I stood there soaking wet waiting for the bus to me back to the visitor center (where my car was), I realized that I was probably the only one to have just completed the full 16 mile journey and it made me feel good. The narrows was very beautiful and while it may seem from this description that I raced through the narrows, I would recommend that people try to enjoy the narrows and not take it too fast and remember to look up and see the beautiful cliffs. While I finished it fairly quickly in 9.5 hours, I did stop to look around and look back. It is also very important to look at the water for signs of flash floods. If it starts rising or starts to look murky, head for high ground. Also, you should continuously look for high ground and places where you can get up if a flash flood occurs. I had no problems. Also, I rented wet socks and shoes, a dry bag and a hiking pole, which I believe did help me.
Camped Overnight at the RV Campground (just outside of the Zion National Park) where there was a much needed shower.
Waterfall in the Narrows
The trail in the Narrows
Looking up from the Narrows
Thursday: Drove to Bryce National Park. Beautiful and Amazing are some of the words that came to my mind descriping Bryce Canyon. My knees were a little sore from the narrows hike so I took a couple short hikes.
Took The Navajo/Queens combination hike starting and ending at Sunset Point. (3 miles)
Then I took the bus to Bryce Point and hiked along the rim back to Sunset Point (2.5 miles)
I drove back to Sunset Point at Sunset and stayed there for a couple hours watching the sunset and the moon come out. It is amazing how much you can still see at 9:15 at night.
Camped Overnight at the Sunset Campground in Bryce National Park.
Friday: Drove the scenic route 12 and then continued on to Canyonlands with a couple excursions. Hiked a two mile
loop in Escalante Petrified Forest State Park near the town of Escalante.
Then drove to Calf Creek Recreation Area and hiked a 6 mile round trip to Lower Calf Creek Falls.
Then the weather turned. Drove through thunder,
lightening, hail, (there was an inch of hail on the
road for a short while). Then the weather cleared by the time I reached Capital Reef National Park. I stopped only at the scenic overlooks at Capital Reef and then continued to Canyonlands.
The campsite was full so I pitched my tent a few miles north of Canyonlands outside of the national park where there was a campsite sign. At Canyonlands, it seems like you can see forever and I watched as a big lightening storm was making its way to my campsite.
A Lake near Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
Trail to the waterfall
Lower Calf Creek Falls
The view just before the weather turns.
That is hail on the road and yes it is early September in southern Utah
River after the storm in Capital Reef National Park.
That is what I call a campsite.
Saturday: I visited the Island in the sky district at Canyonlands. I hiked several short hikes.
Mesa Arch (<1 mile), Aztec Butte (2 mile), Grand View Point (2 mile), Whale Rock (1 mile), Upheaval Dome (2 mile)
Then I drove to Moab and stayed in a hostel overnight.
Mesa Arch
Upheaval Dome. Some people think a meteor created the dome and others think slow moving salt deposits pushed the layers of sandstone upwards and others think of extraterrestrial means.
Sunday: Visited Arches National Park.
Devils Garden Loop (7+ miles). Visited Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch, Wall Arch, Partition Arch, Navajo Arch, Double O Arch, Private Arch.
Windows Loop (1 miles) Turret Arch, North and South Window Arch.
Double Arch (<1/2 mile) I highly recommend seeing Double Arch (not to be confused with Double O Arch). It’s a really short hike right next to the Window Arches.
I left Delicate Arch for last since it is probably the most famous..(3 mile roundtrip).
Stayed in the same Hostel.
Partition Arch. I saw dozens of Arches and this one was my favorite.
Devil's Garden
Unknown Arch. I saw this Arch and I do not know the name of it (it was not on the map.) If you know its name, let me know. It is on the primitive trail in Devil's Garden between Double O Arch and Private Arch.
North and South Window Arch
Double Arch (Notice how small the people look compared to the Arch)
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch (that is me in the middle)
Monday: Drove about 480 miles from Moab to Las Vegas (only stopped twice briefly for gas).
Spent the night in Vegas. I did not hit it big, but I
also did not lose it all either.. Stayed at the
Flamingo.
Tuesday: Flew back to my place.