Aug 25 2017

Death Valley

Death Valley is so incredibly hot that I have no desire to stay longer than we need to. It went up to 49C at one point during our visit… The hottest temperature on record is 57C on July 13, 1913.

Driving into Death Valley

That says it all..

We arrived at the Stovepipe Wells Village to spend 3 nights but stayed only a night. It’s too darn hot. The Visitor Center advise against staying outside for more than 15 minutes during the day – so it pretty much means we have nothing to do after driving around the park to see the major points of interest.

118F. Approx 46C, in other words too darn hot

We checked in at the hotel’s registration desk for the RV spot with full hook up, there was only one other trailer in the whole area – and they were not expecting anyone else. The other park campground was empty – closed during the Summer… Hmm, somehow I felt that we must be crazy or hardcore to spend a night in Death Valley at Stovepipe Wells…

Just us in this barren place

Gravel road out of Devils Golf Course with Artist Palette in the background

We did the obligatory scenic drive around Death Valley. Stopped by Badwater Basin which is the lowest point in North America at 282 ft below sea level.

Badwater Basin. Lowest point in North America

Our highest elevation for this trip is about 10,000 ft at Yellowstone, so this is quite the difference. We also drove to the Devils Golf Course, which is the largest protected saltpan in North America.

Devils Golf Course

A visit to the desert is not complete without going to the sand dunes. We stopped by the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes and we did not want to stay out there for too long.

Posers at Mesquite Flat Sand dunes

Artist Palette. The colours on the rock will change depending on season and rainfall

The landscape here at Death Valley is quite barren. If you’re looking for a tree to stand under for shade, you are out of luck. No trees around except at Furnace Creek which is in the middle of Death Valley. Someone or some business at some point must have thought that it was a great idea to plant all these palm trees to give it that oasis feel. Well, trees or no trees, oasis or not, it is still pretty darn hot in Death Valley in August.

Palm trees at Furnace Creek

During our drive to and around Death Valley, we noticed quite a number of vehicles with some form of black cover/wrap. Those of us who are car enthusiast know exactly what they are – they are road testing pre-production vehicles under extreme heat conditions in Death Valley.

Pre-production vehicle testing in Death Valley

At 7:30pm, we were still trying to cool down, the temperature read 45.9C for outside and 33C inside the 5th wheel with the air-conditioning at full blast. The water coming out from the cold tap is warm – we can’t even take a shower to cool down. When we turned in for the night, the duvet was warm. We pulled off the duvet and the mattress was warm too! Ugh! How is someone supposed to sleep on a warm mattress in the desert? It took a while before the room and mattress cooled down, I guess by that time I had fallen asleep.

The adults woke up at 4:30am as we had planned an early start. The sky was still dark, there were so many stars above and we saw lightning in the distance. Quite incredible to see so many stars but it was at a balmy 34C early that morning! We left just before 5:30am and headed in the direction towards Yosemite. The road in/out of Death Valley is full of dips. We climbed from sea level all the way to about 4000ft with a 10+C change in temperature.. We have no reservations and had to find a spot somewhere. We stopped by Mammoth Lakes and that turned out to be too rich for our taste… We are now settled at June Lake in a Forest Service campground, our base until we get to Yosemite on Saturday.

Heading towards Yosemite. The Sierra Nevada mountain range

Aug 22 2017

Las Vegas

After visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, we weren’t too keen to drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon as it would mean going in the opposite direction of where we are heading towards and also some back tracking.

We saw a rainbow on our way to Las Vegas

We cancelled our reservations at the Grand Canyon and headed west towards Las Vegas. I figured that we can see the solar eclipse in Vegas… more on that later!

On our way to Vegas, I had to Google for a place to stay – fortunately for us we came across this place call Oasis RV.. well, it is an oasis for sure. It’s on the South end of the strip and it is very clean and well maintained. There is even a swimming pool with a sandy beach! The price was right at $21 per night for full hook up. They have a promotion, otherwise it would have been $50+ per night. This place is quite fancy, they even have mobile services to have your RV and vehicle washed right where you’re parked. And of course someone had to get his new truck washed (which cut into my shopping time).

After getting everything set up, we made our way to the Strip. The kids have never been to Vegas – well, Caroline has but she was too young to remember. We went to the restaurant that Jeff and I frequent each time we’re in Vegas – Strip Burger. Ah, a juicy burger and a really good milkshake. What’s there not to like? After lunch we checked out the nice hotels and interesting sights along the strip. It was really hot that day, so hot that we had to pop into a store to buy sunscreen and water, and relief from the heat. It was 43C, the highest temperature for this road trip thus far..

Strip photo

The next day was solar eclipse day… well, that turned out to be a bust. Of all the places in North America, who would expect rain, lightning and cloudy skies in Las Vegas? So much for those glasses we bought.. I guess they can save them for Oct 2023. Since there is nothing to see outdoors, we decided that it was time for some shopping and we drove to the factory outlet shops.

On our last day here, we ventured out to Red Rock Canyon which is a popular sight-seeing spot close to Las Vegas. It was a 30+ minute drive and once we got there, there is a 13 mile scenic loop drive. The rocks were interesting, especially when you see the different layers and colours.

Driving towards Red Rock Canyon

Panaroma of Red Rock Canyon

 

Red Rocks.

As we began the scenic drive, we saw a sign that we did not expect to see – Tortoise crossing. Hmm, tortoise? Here in the Mojave Desert? Yeah, we would really like to see a tortoise.. And on our way out of the park we did! In fact we made a U-turn just to see it, pretty sure it will still be there when we get there..

Tortoise Crossing. Really?

A tortoise is crossing the highway!

I guess we can consider Las Vegas the training grounds for the next location – Death Valley. I checked the website today and there is an extreme summer heat warning, temperatures ranging from 43-49C and no hiking after 10am. Fun. Why did we sign up for this?

 

 

Aug 20 2017

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is the first National Park in Utah and also the busiest. It is one of the greatest geological wonders in the world. It is an oasis in the desert and a homeland for generations of native people and pioneers. The canyon was created by erosion over a few million years. Canyon cutting is still happening today. The Virgin River flows through the canyon and over the centuries it has sliced through seven layers of sedimentary rock, including 2,000 feet of solid sandstone to carve this canyon. It carries an average of 1 million tons of sediment a year, mostly during flash floods. The flash floods are so powerful that they move boulders and rip trees from the riverbank.


Since we approached Zion from the East, we had to go through the Mt Carmel tunnel. The tunnel has 2 lanes and is only 13’1 at the highest point and 11’4 along the sides. The tunnel was built in the 1920s (I think) when vehicles were much smaller then. Since we’re oversized, traffic in the opposite direction had to be stopped to allow us to drive down the middle. For that “privilege”, we paid a $15 permit fee. The drive through the tunnel was kind of strange – the tunnel is about a mile long with a few curves and it is completely dark! The tunnel is lit by the headlights of vehicles driving through. I think that there are about 2 spots along the tunnel where they blew out the rock to let natural light in, but that doesn’t really do anything to light up the tunnel because you can’t see light around a bend.

Approaching the Mt Carmel Tunnel, driving down the center

We stayed right in Zion at the Watchman campground. The campground is not far from the Visitor Center where the free shuttle service starts. Zion is a small park and since it is so busy private vehicles are not allowed on the main road to prevent congestion. Visitors must take the free park shuttle to visit the different areas. The shuttle service is very efficient and the wait is never longer than 10 minutes, perhaps 15-20 minutes if it is very busy. It takes 40 minutes to travel from the Visitor Center to the Temple of Sinawava – which is the end of the road.

One of the must-do activities in Zion is hiking The Narrows. The Narrows is a 13 mile river trail. You’re not hiking along the river, but in the river. We arrived at the start of the Narrows just after 8am and hiked up river. It was strange hiking in the river, but that strangeness quickly turned to enjoyment, it was a different experience. The water wasn’t too cold but Marcus felt cold at times as he had more of his body in the water compared to the rest of the family. Every now and then Jeff had to carry him across deeper sections.

Jeff carrying Marcus along the Narrows

Weeping rock with plants growing along the rock wall

We hiked for just over 2 hours until we reached a point where the water was too deep for walking and decided it was time to turn around. On the way back, the closer we got to the Narrows trailhead, the more people we saw. It was no longer the calm and magical place we experienced earlier in the morning, it became a zoo. There were just so many people in the water, it was like a waterpark! And of course you have many fools with inappropriate footwear just waiting for an accident to happen. We were glad that we had an early start to the day to avoid the crowd.


We also did a few normal hikes in Zion. An interesting hike (more like a walk) was to a place called Weeping Rock. It is called Weeping Rock because water seeps out from the rock and naturally you have plants in the area, some even hanging off the rock. The water has been carbon dated to 1000 years old and in another area of the park, 4000 years old. It takes water (rain or snow) a very long time to move its way down from the very 7 layers of rock to eventually flow out of the cracks.

Marcus getting sworn in as a Junior Ranger by Ranger Lauren

A few times on the trails we saw an animal that looked like a squirrel but we weren’t too sure if it’s a squirrel because it was quite big. Then we saw a poster on the shuttle bus, and yeah, it’s a squirrel alright, a fat squirrel.

Most of the attacks by wildlife at Zion are by squirrels.

There are many mule deers roaming in the park and campground. They are not as skittish as deers normally are since there are no predators in this park. We also saw more of the Merriam turkey – or wild turkey.

Too close to wildlife! But those deers just don’t care

We’re supposed to be off to the Grand Canyon – we have reservations at the South Rim. But when we looked at the map, we realized the we would be travelling back east and then west again, so the trip to the south rim doesn’t really make sense from a driving perspective. We cancelled the reservation and will be heading to Las Vegas instead! Yay! I can get some shopping in!

Aug 17 2017

Kanab, UT

After a short (3 hour) drive from Monument Valley, we arrived at Kanab. Another small town in Utah with the same naming convention for streets. The main roads are usually called Main Street and Center Street, the streets North of Center Street are 100 North, 200 North… The streets West of Main Street are 100 West, 200 West.. The street address of a location ends up with some permutation like S 100 E. I find it confusing but I’m sure it’s quite logical.

Kanab is not too far away from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and that’s what we decided to do – a day trip to the North Rim. The North Rim only sees about 10% of visitors to the Grand Canyon, mainly because it is remote and there is no close airport.

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon

The North Rim is quite different from the South Rim, it is much greener (similar to our forests) and much cooler. Let’s just say we were a bit cold when we arrived in our shorts and t-shirts. It was around 52F / 11C. Since we’re Canadians, we just went about our business like it’s not really that cold. We went on the short and scenic Bright Angel Point trail, the view was quite phenomenal. It was at the Angel Point scenic overlook that Jeff got down on one knee…

Grand Canyon, North Rim

Overlook along Bright Angel Point trail

We did a couple more short hikes in the area. We hiked on the Kaibab Trail to the Cococino Overlook. All I can say is that when you’re hiking to the overlook, you’re not breathing the fresh clean air – you’re smelling mule poo and pee! This is a shared trail with the mules and their human customers who are likely too lazy to hike.

Cococino Overlook

Another day was spent at Bryce Canyon National Park. By now we have been to Arches and Canyonlands and we think we’ll see more of the same plus hoodoos at Bryce. I have to say that we were quite blown away by the landscape at Bryce. Seeing photos of the hoodoos is not quite the same as being there. Each time we came to a different stop we would go “wow”.

Bryce Point

Natural Bridge. Apparently it was named incorrectly, it should be an arch

We did a very enjoyable loop hike right into the canyons and hoodoos. The sign at the trailhead said that it would be a 340ft descent into the canyon and so down, down, down we went. The trail lead us through many different formations and we walked through a few tunnels and met a few chipmunks too. Eventually we had to work our way back to the rim from the floor of the canyon. I was hoping for an elevator at the other end, but nope.. The trail leading back up is called Wall Street because of the towering hoodoos – just like the skyscrapers on Wall Street. We were switching back and forth all the way up to the canyon rim. We enjoyed this part of the hike a lot because it was so different, but could tell many others were just struggling…

Up the trail called Wall Street, switch back after switch back. Saw lots of people huffing and puffing up

Wall Street, looking down at the switchbacks

We are off to Zion National Park for a short stay. We have been spoilt by the full RV hookups and having our showers. There is no shower facilities at the campground, just electricity. Well, at least we can stay cool..

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