Day Four: Zion Revisited

Yesterday was pretty intense, between the heights, the heat and just processing the sheer beauty of what I was seeing.  Getting a late start yesterday, I decided to get going at 7 this morning, which at least helped with the heat.  There were many things that I didn't get to see the first trip and, today, I filled in the blanks.

First stop was the Narrows.  This is a winding, level trail that follows the river back into the upper canyon, eventually having you cross the river several times before basically having to trek in the river through the narowing areas of the canyon walls closing in on you.  I didn't bring shoes that could get wet so I actually went barefoot, which proved difficult stepping on the slippery river rock.  I crossed several times before I gave up and went back, as the water deepened and the rocks became more harder to walk on, not to mention the water was very cold.  Along the way, more squirrels and chipmunks and great views of the river and the occasional unique flower that I took a picture of since I am trying to be more creative in my photography, as you may, or may not, be able to tell.

From there, back-tracking down the canyon, I stopped at Big Bend, aptly-named for it's big bend in the canyon and not much else.  If you recall the pictures yesterday when I was very high at Angel's Landing looking down at the bus station... well, that's where I was today, but looking up.  Tiny little specks were the people up on top as I stood at the bottom of the 3000+ ft ascent up the cliff wall.

Next stop was the Weeping Rock, which basically has a natural spring somewhere in the cliff that the water finds it's way out at this waterfall.  Next to that was the steep pathway up to the Observation Deck and the East Rim trail.  Climbing 850 feet in less than a mile, this proved very strenuous and I was soaked.  Fortunately, with the heights issue again, a very fit English guy hiked with me and took my mind off of falling and/or screaming like a little girl out of fear.  I didn't go all the way up (it started thundering and the sky got dark), but far enough to get a good view across the canyon of not only the starting point for Angel's Landing ascent, but a little ways over on the ridge, another view of the people who made it to the top.

After a stop at the museum for a history lesson, I ate something at the lodge and headed back to my car to take the scenic car tour off to the East entrance.  Passing by the Zion Arch (a part of a cliff wall that gave way and formed the shape of an arch), I winded my way up to the tunnel, where they had to dynamite through one mile of solid stone and blasting through, making 7 windows in the tunnel to look out as you drive through.  On the other side of the tunnel, it was a totally different landscape.  Hard to explain, it was rich in texture and vegetation, with erosion and shifting rock evident with every glance.  Sandstone, changed by the wind and rain, looked as though the whole area was cemented.  The most famous example was Checkerboard Mesa, a rounded rock with traces of erosion that formed the shape of a checkerboard (See below). 

Today, I took 215 pictures of, yes, rocks.  When I look through them, I can't help put myself in the place of someone viewing them, thinking "holy shit, how many rock pictures did he take?".  I think when you are experiencing it in person, you can't wrap your head around the scale of everything, the unbelieveable beauty and the detail that you see, so you keep taking more and more pictures hoping to capture eery bit of it.  Then, when you look back at the pictures you took, it doesn't translate and it's frustrating.  No matter how many points of reference I try to make or things to put it into perspective, I simply can't come any where near it... you just have to experience it for yourself.  This is the most beautiful place on earth, as far as I'm concerned.  "Zion" is a Mormon term meaning 'place of refuge', and it is.

Tomorrow, I drive three hours to Bryce Canyon, where it'll be significantly cooler at probably 80 degrees dry heat, compared to 105 degrees today and, again, a whole different type of landscape.

Day Three: Zion

This morning, I went to Zion National Park.  I can safely say that this is the most beautiful, incredible place on earth... or at least that I've seen so far.  Words can't begin to express the stunning views... I'm not even going to try... and, sadly, the pictures don't do it justice.  Again, it's impossible to convey the sheer size of the rock walls and beauty.  In some of the pictures, you might find a speck that's a person, a car or a bus that I put in for perspective.

I usually love traveling by myself, but today was the first time that I wished that someone was with me.  Not being able to convey the beauty in words or pictures, I needed someone there with me to mark the moment.  The experience was unbelievable, and I just wish that I could have shared it with somone. I got really sad.

I started up one of the paths towards Angel's Landing.  Before I knew it, I the path led us to narrow walkways with no railings, winding up towards the top.  My instinct was to turn back (with my fear of heights), but decided to just have faith in the experience and I kept climbing and climbing.  Finally, after about an hour, I reached the top of the mountain... probably thousands of feet in the air... to Scout's Lookout... positioned so far above the canyon floor it made my head spin. 

At the top, I sat down to reflect on the trip up and the many vistas along the way and started to talk to an earthy-crunchy couple sitting close to me, Christie and Nicholas, from Texas and Sweden, now both livig in the west village in New York City.  Turns out they have been on a trek across the country for a month or so in their 1979 camel-colored Lincoln Town Car, freelance writing for a classic car blog (Petrolicious.com (due to be up and running sometime soon)) where people with older cars go on these adventures with their cars and blog about it and take pictures.  Starting out in NYC, they headed down to Key West, the across through Texas and on to Vegas before ending up sitting right next to me, then heading to north rim Grand Canyon and back through Vegas to go up the west coast to Oregon and then back home again.  I was in awe of them, being that traveling like that has always been a dream for me andbecause they were so cool... very outdoorsy and anti-establishmentarianistic... we had an awesome time talking and walking back down off the mountain and then to the adjacent town for dinner, where I learned more about them and the story of how they met.

You never know why people come into your life.  These two made me day.  At a moment where I was so sad about being alone, they helped mark the moment for me and made it one of the most fantastic journeys of my life... one of perseverance, overcoming fears, experiencing phenomenal beauty and taking charge of my emotions.  What a satisfying experience.  Some of these pictures mark the challenges of the path up to the top and back down again.

Tomorrow, I am going back to Zion because there's so much I didn't get to see.  In the pictures, see if you can find the people, cars and buses that are mere specks against the huge backdrop of rock mountains. Click twice for the large picture.

Waterfall

See the people?

See the people on the facing wall?

These people climbed out with only a chain to hold

Looking down from the top... see the double bus?

The winding path up/down

                                                    

Day Two: And Tho I Walk in the Shadows of the Valley of Fire...

This morning, I left Vegas and headed for my next base of operation; St. George... a small town two hours away in Utah right in the center of Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park.  I stayed here overnight 4 years ago during my move to Vegas.  The last time, there were terrible fires that we drove through, and you couldn't see 5 feet in front of the Uhaul... and couldn't have the windows open with the smoke... and it was 110 degrees outside.  Ugh.  About halfway between St. George and Vegas is Valley of Fire State Park, which is the oldest state park in Nevada, dedicated in 1935.  With temperatures anywhere from 75 degrees in Winter to 120 in summer, today it was only 107, which actually was bearable.  I spent about 5 hours there, exploring the different rock formations created by great shifting sand dunes of red sandstone during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago.  Complex uplifting, faulting and extensive erosion carved this valley, and inhabitants have been dated from 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D.  (see pic of hieroglyphics below).

Coming from a lush area like Pittsburgh, it's hard to get a perspective of the size of these rocks, mountains and valleys.  With so many trees covering everything, you can't stand back and get true scale, unlike here where a tetonic plate shift compressed and pushed rock hundreds of feet out of the ground, exposing the layers of sediment that you wouldn't normally see when it's underground.  To take pictures of these rocks and try to convey to someone else, the crags and crevices carved from wind and water erosion, or the sheer size... is very difficult.  You are constantly reminded that you are a guest in this world.  And while every picture looks the same, they're not.  It's impossible to convey the sense of spatial realness, mystery, desolation and isolation in this area... and the emotion that you can't help feel.  With the warm, dry air wrapped around you and the wealth of history of the area, you not only feel like you're being watched, but being watched over, as well... especially as you are sitting out in the middle of nowhere with the civilization that we have all come to know, no where in sight... like you're plopped right down into the middle of another world.  Knowing of those that passed before you, including dinosaurs... it feels like you're part of a movie set of Land of the Lost.  When someone looks at the desert and say's 'there's nothing there'... I tell them it's all about what used to be there.  You constantly have to remind yourself that, for instance, the buttes that appear to be shooting out of the ground are actually the reminants of what used to be around them but have eroded away... that the whole area was filled in... and was probably an ocean at one time.  What I really like about this area is that the people who visit here really want to be here, and the idiots who don't appreciate and take for granted nature and this earth... are back on the Vegas strip trying to be the player they aren't.

Today, I crawled over rocks, saw petrified wood, natural arches and the remains of an old movie set, worked my way through crevices and caves and even saw a desert squirrel (see below)... and I can't imagine any other place I would have wanted to be.  Double click on the pictures below to see some of the detail.  I posted about ten of the 175 that I took.  Tommorow morning:  Zion National Park.

This photo is of the remains of a movie set for the

1965 production of "The Professionals"

Rapunzel.... Let Your... Guard... Down

Growing up a little girl in a small village, I always had this dream of a prince saving me from from my imprisonment in the castle by riding up on his white horse and I, with my unually long, flaxon-blonde hair, would cut it loose from it's tie and it would unravel to the ground and my prince would climb... ugh... nevermind... that wasn't me, that was that bitch one castle over... Rapunzel.

Anyway, in an effort to overcome my fear of heights, I decided to go up into the Eiffel Tower at Paris Casino today, something that I've never done.  When I was in Paris, France years ago... I, stupidly, didn't go up in that one and I've regretted it my whole life.  This one is half scale... only 541 feet high (because with the airport nearby, the FAA wouldn't let them build it to scale as they wanted to), but quite scary, nonetheless.  With the whole thing caged in at the top, I still felt like I was going to fall... or worse... I couldn't get the images of the whole thing falling over (seen too many apocalyptic catastrophe movies) out of my head long enough to actually enjoy it, despite having taken some great shots.  I could feel the thing swaying in the wind the whole time and this stupid little kid (too dumb to have no fear) kept bumping into me.  It was a great view... you can see everything from up there.  Maybe the Stratosphere's needle next week? 

Day One: Vegas

I arrived in one piece here in Vegas... it was a great flight and we actually got in really early.  I'm always shocked by the desert, coming from the lush and vegetative hills of Pennsylvania.  Is hard to fathom how much of the U.S. is actually desert.  I've said this before, but you can't help but be aware of the environment out here and conservation of resources, especially water, comes instinctively. Is 81 with little humidity here... feels like Spring.  As I told my friend, Robin... the heat out here is like getting a gentle hug and a pat on the head by a cute boy... compared to the humity at home, which is like being back-handed about the head and neck by a moustached cafeteria worker named Helga while listening to Michael Bolton's greatest hits CD... in other words, it's painful and nasty.

I leave tomorrow via a short two hour car ride to St. George, Utah where I'll be staying for the next 5 days while I check out the surrounding canyons, particularly Bryce and Zion and we'll see after that.  I rented a Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, which they pushed on me but, hey... it gets 45 mpg which will make a difference on a trip like this... last year's total was 1,200 miles driven in a week. 

While in Vegas, I've never went to the top of the Stratosphere or the Eiffel Tower at Paris Casino... so I'm off to do that now, then meet up with some friends I have here at the local country gay bar.  I don't really gamble (although I did win $5.00 in the airport waiting for my luggage), but I'll probably check out my favorite sites at a few casinos... and definitely Del Taco... my favorite.