Blogging on the road when you have access to limited internet and not great cell reception, is hard!
Leaving Vegas was a relief. The city is
awesome, don't get me wrong, but it is also very taxing on the
senses. I felt over-stimulated on Sunday and was very relieved to see
the steering wheel of my car again. Before my Vegas vacation
concluded, I'm happy to say that my quartet, Drive, did very well in
our first international appearance and Vocal Revolution continues to
make strides as a repeat international competitor.
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| The view of the contest venue, Planet Hollywood, from my hotel (Marriott Grand Chateau) |
The southwestern corner of the US has a
characteristic that was unbeknownst to me – beautiful landscapes.
I've taken a myriad of photos while traveling through interstates and
scenic byways, somehow finding ways to catch my breath before the
next mountain ridge takes it away again. If only there weren't so
many 'scenic view points,' I might actually have made it to my
campsite when I planned to!
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| The colors are a bit untrue, but the storm in the distance made some sweet landscape love to the sun rays |
First stop out of Vegas was the Grand
Canyon. I learned that there's a South Rim and a North Rim, and the
latter is only open during the summer months. Paired with a strong
recommendation from a former BHS society president, naturally I made
my way to the North Rim. I stayed 45 miles north of the park, in a
little piece of civilization known to locals (and Google maps) as
Jacob's Lake. Arriving on a Sunday, I had a pick of the available
sites that had been deserted by the weekend warriors before me. In my
infinite wisdom, I chose the site that had 3 spotlights from the
adjacent gas station in clear view. I built a fire, but I didn't need
it.
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| From the North Rim |
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| The bridge inside the Grand Canyon, in between Supai Tunnel and Roaring Springs |
The Grand Canyon, in a few words? A
big, fancy hole in the ground. The view points were pretty cool, but
I figured the real story was waiting in the hike down into the
canyon. I chose a route that targeted 2 spots – Supai Tunnel and
Roaring Springs. If I felt good by the time I got to Supai Tunnel, I
was going to press on. Because the route to Supai was downhill, I
felt great; I pressed on.
The funny thing about canyon hiking is
that there's nothing funny about it – turns out, I don't prefer it
at all, because the hard part is getting out of the canyon (uphill)
and I had already finished 3 out of my 4 sandwiches by the time I
made it to Roaring Springs (I think I missed something, because
Roaring Springs was incredibly disappointing) I was in the canyon a
total of 11 hours, about 4 hours down and just over 7 hours back out.
The views were incredible, but I found that the real treat of the day
was being able to complete a very difficult hike. I'm weird like
that. I also slept incredibly well that night.
The original thought/plan was to visit
the south rim after the north, to get a full scope of the oversized
pot hole. However, there were too many people (including a previously
mentioned society president) that recommended Bryce Canyon as a
'must-see.' From the north rim, it was something like 3 hours away on
wheels. New plan: Bryce Canyon.
Which, (spoiler alert) was absolutely
the right decision. I'm sure the south rim is nice, and I'm sure I'll
see it at some point, but Bryce is just too cool for school.
Approaching Bryce from the south, I got
to revisit highway 89 through Utah once more, but instead of going
west on 9 to Zion like before, I kept traveling north to route 12 and
banged a right.What I like about the roads down here is that if you
have even a small sense of direction, the road signs make the GPS
obsolete. I followed every highway marker to the front gate of Bryce,
and was able to snipe a campsite within the park for 2 nights. After
setting up my tent, it was mid-afternoon. I knew I wasn't going to
make any real progress on foot, so I saved the hiking for the next
day and instead took to the roads within the park. There are plenty
of places to stop, hop out, and snap a few candids. After about an
hour of that, I headed back to my site, thinking it would be
absolutely terrific to set up a fire and cook some hot dogs. The
weather pattern had other plans in mind. It rained until about 10pm,
leaving me with little energy to try and whip up some heat for a pair
of franks. Better luck next time.
Illness has slowed my spirits a bit –
I had a bit of chest congestion paired with a sore throat since
leaving the Grand Canyon. I slept in a bit, out of necessity, and I
think that helped. After breakfast, my daily puttering, and a cup of
coffee from the general store, it was about 10am and I finally
started to tour Bryce Canyon.
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| It's not even fair how cool this looks in person |
One thing I've been thinking about,
when comparing the 2 canyon national parks: Bryce is far more
glamorous and (I think) easier to tackle with limited time. If I had
a week in the Grand Canyon, I would most certainly have hiked all the
way to the Colorado River, a place that I'm sure has its own secrets
and grandeur. Only having one day there was tough, but I got the
point.
Bryce opens itself up as soon as you
walk to the edge. I felt like I could see the entire attraction in
one panoramic shot! I started at the Sunset viewpoint, as the sun was
nearing the high point in the sky. I wanted to wait for the sun to
start angling in the afternoon to catch some shade during my hike, so
to get started, I decided to trek an approachable 1.3 mile loop known
as the Navaho Trail. The immediate switchbacks were reminiscent of
the last canyon excursion, but were far more populated.
Halfway through, the Navaho Trail meets
up with 2 other trails. I told myself I would take it easy in the
middle of the day, but I'm also quite good at not taking good advice,
even when its my own. The Peek-a-boo Trail was an additional 3-mile
loop that ended back where it started, so I decided to tack it on. I
was nervous about the sun, but turns out there were plenty of spots
to stop and enjoy the shade before moving on. Tackling this in the
middle of the day, was not as bad as I thought it would be.
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| Clouds incoming |
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| Thor's Hammer |
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| And then a hail storm wildly appeared. It was CRAY-ZEE. |
The brilliance of Bryce can be seen
from the rim, but being up close to the rocks inside the canyon is
absolutely where the magic is.
After 4.5 miles of canyon spelunking, I
found myself out of the depths with impeccable timing. The clouds
started to threaten the day, and thunder began to sound off the
incoming storm. Within minutes, I found myself running for cover in a
hail storm! Ice pellets larger than the average pea came storming
down with limited warning, and I swear the temperature dropped 30
degrees in less than 20 minutes. I found myself outside one of the
park lodges, underneath a roof awning. The storm eventually tapered
off and I made my way back to my car, to check my belongings and get
my mind wrapped around what just happened.
Which brings me to about now! I'm
showered and ready for a second attempt at an open-flame hot dog.
Coming up – ML comes to town and then
it's Red Rock, Lake Tahoe, and San Francisco.
