Road Trip Part Three: Wyoming to Washington

After doing laundry and getting a good nights rest in Salt Lake City, we headed on to our next stop: Grand Teton National Park.  Just outside Grand Teton we stopped in Jackson Hole and it was freezing!  Well, a lot colder than SLC was.  I think we left at around 90 degrees out and it was about 40 or 50 in Jackson Hole.  At a visitor's center we had to sit in our car for a bit to wait out a hale storm that blew through. 

We entered Grand Teton and drove around in awe of the amazing Teton mountains.  All the campsites were full for the night so we found a site just outside the park on a small lake.  The next morning we woke early and went on a hike up to see the tallest of the Tetons.  On the drive there we saw a bunch of Bison along side the road grazing.  It was like we were on a safari. 

We read that it's a good idea to make noise every so often to prevent startling a bear.  At first we felt silly, but it paid off when just a few minutes into the hike Josh saw a bear and her cub right on the path.  We backed off a bit and waited until they moved on.  You definitely don't want to get in between a mother bear and her cub.  After 40 minutes or so of waiting and making noise (the line of hikers was backed up and about 15 people waited with us) we all decided to make a ton of noise together and force the bears to run off the trail.  It worked and we continued hiking. 
 

The veiws along the way were amazing.  Right near the top we saw a couple glacial lakes: Surprise Lake and Ampitheater Lake.  Just before the first lake we saw snow packed off to the side of the trail.  Snow... in July!  Well, we were quite high up in elevation.  We rested at Ampitheater Lake enjoying the nice weather and the view of the top.  On the way back down we ran into the same bear and her cub close to the trail.  Josh made a bunch of noise and we passed back warnings to a family who were not far behind.  We think they were black bears and not grizzly bears.  I'm glad we read up on how to handle bears if you encounter them while hiking.  After the hike we found a campsite up at Lizard Creek near Jackson Lake.  We took a quick dip in the fridgid waters of the lake and went to dinner. 

The next morning we got up early and headed on North to Yellowstone National Park.  We grabbed a campsite at Lewis Lake early since they normally get snatched up pretty quick.  There was so much to see and we knew we wanted to start with Old Faithful.  When we arrived we had just missed it.  Good thing there are tons of hot springs, small geysers and pools to see.  After following the boardwalk through the small geysers we grabbed a good seat for Old Faithful.  We waited and the crowds filled in.  After waiting about 30 minutes (Old Faithful was a little later than they predicted) it started with a small sputter, then a blast of hot water shot into the sky.  It was pretty cool to see, but we expected it to be bigger. 

The next place we stopped at was the Grand Prismatic Spring.  Driving up to it there was a rainbow hued mist lingering over the spring.  We could barely see the entire pool since it was so foggy and misty, but we caught a few glimses.  The heat and smell of all these springs and pools are so strong.  Sometimes it felt nice to be warmed by the heat, but you have to be tolerant of the smell.  We continued driving in the massive caldera of the park and saw more geysers shooting off.  We stopped at the Fountain Paint Pots too, which are mud-like bubbles that form clay looking pots.  It was a long drive that day and we made it back to our campsite to rest up for the next day of driving.
 









In the morning we hit the road early and headed out of the park.  First we hit Montana.  Then we kept driving and went through the top of Idaho.  Idaho was quick to drive through and then we hit Spokane.  Tempted with the idea that we were now four hours from Seattle we decided to keep going.  We arrived in town around 11pm and found a hotel.  Finally, we made it to Seattle on July 30th!

Road Trip Part Two: Utah Rocks!

Our first destination in Utah was Bryce Canyon National Park.  The park was not very big but it was unlike anything we had ever seen before.  The main feature in the park are the canyons filled with Hoodoos.  These hoodoos are pillars of rock eroded over time to form crazy shapes.  The pictures do not even do it justice.  By far one of my favorite parks we visited on this trip.  We hiked down around the hoodoos and wandered through the maze of pillars.  As the sun was setting it illuminated the hoodoos and looked amazing.

We played with the idea of staying at Bryce and extra day but finally decided to move on to Horseshoe Canyon in Canyonlands National Park.  On the way we drove through Capitol Reef National Park.  The road was a little sketchy but Josh maneuverd through it like a pro.  Can you see the road winding up the cliff in the picture below?

We saw parts of the Waterpocket Fold which is a giant wrinkle in the Earth's crust that stretches for about a 100 miles in Utah. 

After getting out of Capitol Reef we made our way to Horseshoe Canyon.  We knew we had to camp in a parking lot outside the park since it is not allowed in the Canyon.  We took another unpaved, bumpy road for about 25 miles to the lot where there was only one vehicle, the Park Ranger's truck.  We set up camp on the edge of the canyon and enjoyed a vibrant starry night all by ourselves.  We were blown away by how many stars we could see.  It was a picture perfect night that would be hard to recreate.  We were many miles from the nearest city, so no lights, the parking lot was barren of any trees to obstruct our view of the night sky, it must have been the new moon of the month and we were the ONLY people in the lot.  We didin't even see the Park Ranger until the next day in the canyon.  We had a private viewing of the night sky and the canyon below.  It was so clear we saw tons of shooting stars and a few satellites pass by.

The next morning we woke early to hike down into the Horseshoe Canyon.  Josh read the book by Aron Ralston "Between A Rock And A Hard Place" and we wanted to see where Aron hiked through after freeing himself from a boulder crushing his arm and wrist.  He was stranded out there for more than 6 days until he severed his arm with a pocket knife.  Just knowing of the incident we felt a little creeped out, but still enjoyed the beauty of the canyon.  On our way in we crossed paths with the Park Ranger who camped down in the canyon.  She was cleaning up a vandalized dinosaur footprint fossil.  Now that's something you don't come across every day.

 

Deep into the canyon there are places to see Rock Art from thousands of years ago.  Some looked as if it were telling a story.  Just to imagine the situations people had been in that long ago is mond boggling.  Yes, we have all read about cavemen in our history books, but it's interesting to actually be faced with a piece of work they created.  To be where they have stood.  Or to see the same beautiful canyon around them that we had been in at that moment.

 

Can you see Jinger in this picture below? She's the tiny white spec towards the bottom. This was so massive and the picture does not do it justice.

After an awesome hike in and out of Horseshoe canyon we moved on to Arches National Park.  When we got there the campsites were full so we stayed a night in a cabin in Moab, just outside the Park.  The next morning we woke early and signed up for our campsite for the next two days in Arches.  Just as Bryce Canyon was overdosed with Hoodoos, Arches was filled with well arches, hence the creative name for the park.  So many amazing formations that we lost count on how many we saw.  The two most famous in the park are Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch.  The names were accidentally switched and you can see why below.

Delicate Arch    

Landscape Arch

We had an amazing time in Arches after two days of exploring.  Along the way up north we stopped in Salt Lake City for a night to get some rest and do some laundry.  That night we met up with our friend Amy and her son Aidan who were in town visiting her brother.  It was so nice to see familiar faces from Hawaii.

The next morning we packed up and hit the road again.  We enjoyed Utah so much and know we want to go back someday and explore a little more.

 Up next: Wyoming to Washington!

Road Trip Part One: LA to Arizona

After two weeks of visiting family in Florida and New York we landed in Los Angeles to start our Western States tour.  During our visit east, our Xtrerra took a cruise with Horizon Lines from Honolulu to Long Beach.  We reunited with our vehicle on July 15th and prepared for our trip. 

That evening we stayed with Maybelle and had dinner with cousin Sara and Steve. 

Bright and early the next morning we hit the road to our first stop: Las Vegas. We stopped at a Best Buy and got a Garmin to guide us and a Sirius radio to keep us entertained on the open road.  On the way tempartures rose and the humidity plunged.  We arrived in Las Vegas in the afternoon and we were amazed to get out of the car at 110 degrees and 5% humidity.  It was a sauna!

We checked into the Excaliber and then explored the strip.  We weaved in an out between crowds, slot machines, tables and more crowds.  The heat forced us to take a few stops to soak up some A/C.  It was exhausting!  We stopped to watch the water dance shows at Bellagio and the pirates at Treasure Island.  Aunt Lucille and Uncle Carl had recently moved to Las Vegas so we met up with them for lunch one day too.

Our favorite of the resorts was the Venetian.  We rode the gondala and had dinner at a cute little indoor street cafe.  The interior lighting was perfect for making you feel like it's still daytime. Then we took a cab up to Fremont Steet.  I think I got whiplash by watching the show on the overhead screen, but it was worth it!

We bid farewell to Las Vegas and continued our trek.  Next stop: The Grand Canyon.  But before we arrived we made a checked out the Hoover Dam.  It is way bigger than I expected. 

That evening we set up camp and planned our hike for the next morning into the Grand Canyon. 

We woke up to a gorgeous sunrise over the Canyon.  Then we began our hike early enough to make sure we finish before the hottest part of the day.  Naturally it was easy hiking into the Canyon.  The morning air was still cool and the views were expanisve.  Almost too much to take in.  We stopped after 3 miles in and took a break.  We felt great and even tempted with the idea of continuing down, but we played it smart and started back up.  It turned out perfect since we finished around 11am, just as the sun was steaming up the Canyon.  We relaxed a bit when we got back to camp and then began planning our route for the next day.

Up next, the Slot Conyons in Page, Arizona.  We had not originally decided to go here, but after talking with Lucille and Carl it sounded pretty awesome.  So we arrived around noon or 11am (their time change is weird) and got a hotel room.  You can only see these slot canyons by hiring a guide to get onto the Indian Reservation so we booked a tour with Antelope Slot Canyon Tours.  We felt like cattle being hearded in the back of a truck and the ride was super bumpy.  A storm was brewing in the distance and it made us a little anxious.  They said that flash flooding is common when storms enter the area. Where we were headed was one of the worst spots to be in for them.  We wandered through a naturally carved path through the canyon.  The features were so beautiful and when the light hit it right it looked like those Peter Lik peices.  Our pictures didn't come out quite like his, but it was still beautiful.  We were rushed out of therre as the rain started falling and we just braced ourselves till we got back to the main road.  The heavy rain lingered the rest of the day and we were happy we choose to stay in a hotel instead of camp.

Up next: Utah!