Navajo National Monument/Monument Valley/Four Corners

Ah, monument Valley! Oh wait...

November 30th, 2013

After visiting the Grand Canyon, I made my way East. My next BIG stop was Mesa Verde, but I had a few places picked out along the way.

The first stop was Navajo National Monument. After stopping at Zion and the Grand Canyon, this place looked tiny. There was a small museum, which explained the history of the area and a few trails.

A lot like the other canyon areas I had stopped, the clouds liked to settle in the canyon. It provided a very cool effect early in the morning.

Navajo National Monument provided me with my first look at cliff dwellings. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The benefits of making such a place your home a clear: shade, protection from the wind/rain, and protection from predators. There is something distinctly human about this place, even though no one has lived there for a long, long time.

The snow was also unlike anything I was accustomed to in Michigan. There were large crystal formations. As you walked on the trail you heard a crunch, as they broke beneath your feet. I never thought snow would capture my attention, since we always had plenty of it back home.

I also had a visitor pop out of the trees to say hi on my way out of the park!

The next place I wanted to stop by was Monument Valley. Unfortunately for me, the weather didn't want to cooperate.

You could tell you are at the base of something massive, but you can't see what it is. I guess I will have to add this to my trip next time. ONWARD!

I continued heading East until I came across one of the oddities of our country: Four Corners. This is where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico all meet at a single point.

And I had to get my picture taken with a part of my body in every one of the states!

You can see some stalls in the background. I assume during the summer they are absolutely packed for the tourists. Today, not so much.

It was starting to get a little dark, so I made my way past Mesa Verde to Durango, CO for the night. I would cycle back and hit it in the morning.

Click here for all my pictures of Navajo National Monument, Monument Valley, and Four Corners!

Grand Canyon

You can almost take a ruler and lay it across the top.

November 28, 2013

*Sidenote: Holy crap blog post! So, life got a bit busy (my friend James and I did a thing!), and I got a bit lazy. But I am shooting to finish up my 2013 trip blog posts by March. Hard to believe it has been over a year since this trip!

So when I last left you guys, I was still at Zion. My next stop was the Grand Canyon.

I decided I would take a chance and enter the North Rim. I was told by a few people in Zion that if the North Rim was still open, I had to stop. Unlike the South Rim, the North Rim will close after the first heavy snowfall of the year. As I was driving there, I heard news reports that a big storm was rolling in. If I didn't get down there that day, it would likely close and I wouldn't have a chance to see anything.

There wasn't much to see in the North Rim park itself. All the offshoots from the main road were snow covered, deep enough that they didn't look the least bit inviting. I was pretty much alone there too. I never saw another car until I reached the camp right next to the rim.

But when I did get there, the timing couldn't have been better. The sun was just starting to set, and I saw the familiar color changing magic that was happening to the rock face.

I was a little spoiled here. There was a rock just above the trail that I climbed on top of to watch the colors dance. I am glad that I had this almost entirely to myself. It was awesome!

As the last bit of sun crept below the horizon, I made my way out of the park to find a place to stay the night.

I made my way east, since the park was closed to camping. Not that I would want to camp anyway. It was cold here, much colder than what it was in Zion, so I didn't feel like testing the limits of my sleeping bag. However, there really isn't that much going on east of the Grand Canyon. I did find the oddly named Tuba City, and stayed the night at a hotel.

After dropping off my stuff, I was getting hungry. I didn't have much food left after camping at Zion, so I went to the only place in town that was still open: Denny's.

Now, something I forgot to mention was that this was Thanksgiving Day. So here I am, thousands of miles away from family and friends, eating a breakfast sandwich at Denny's in Tuba City. It was a little depressing, being away from everyone. However, I got to thinking about my trip. How lucky am I, to be out here, exploring the place that I call my home country? How many other people get a chance to do this in their lifetime? Freaking sweet, right? Nothing quite like an egg sandwich with a side of self-realization for Thanksgiving Dinner.

The next morning, I set out for the South Rim. I was refreshed, and ready to look at some more awesome sights!

Unfortunately, mother nature didn't so much agree. Remember that storm that I mentioned was headed for the North Rim? Well, clouds tend to sink into the Grand canyon. This is very similar to what happened in Canyonlands.

There was an observation tower on the east side of the park. The observation part is apparently optional.

I was surprised at how many people were at the park! I mean, I understand that it was Thanksgiving weekend, but there were sections that were shoulder to shoulder just to get a look at the clouds! I felt a little bad, since it there were people from all over the world coming to see the Grand Canyon, but only saw clouds.

I was about to give up hope of seeing anything. When suddenly, bam! The clouds cleared!

Pictures don't really do this place justice. You can see a little bit of the detail, layers, peaks, valleys and colors. Try to imagine that being the only thing you can see; your entire field of vision filled. There is a reason this place is a world heritage site.

 Some people were a little braver than I for the sake of a photo. So I took a photo of them instead!

I even saw someone at work painting the view. I tried to be quiet so as not to disturb them.

The Grand Canyon was pretty cool to see. There wasn't much to do in late November, but I would love to go back again and try the Rim to Rim sometime!

Click here for more Grand Canyon Photos!

Zion National Park

Taken from Angel's Landing

November 26, 2013

I woke up early and hit the road. It takes about 5 hours to drive from Moab to Zion National Park. This is without the pit stops, including pulling over at the only food in miles just after a team bus stopped to order. It was either wait, or have another round of canned chili. Nothing against the canned chili, but I waited.

The road I was driving was the same one I took back in September. That took longer to sink in than you would expect, preceded by the "This looks really familiar" feeling. The main difference between the two trips down I-70 was the temperature. It was fairly chilly this time around.

I arrived around 3pm that night and was surprised at how drastic the temperature changed once in the canyon. It went from the mid 40's to upper 60's. I had to take off my sweatshirt and swap for my jacket.

The river responsible for the canyon. I went from ice to this in 5 hours!

I was really impressed by all the greenery in the canyon during late November. I can only imagine that during the summer this looks like paradise. The other astonishing thing was the amount of people here! It was absolutely packed. During the prime months and weekends throughout the year they require people to take the bus. The only place that had more visitors during my trip was the Grand Canyon.

The pictures above show the sunset in the canyon. It was so cool! You saw the shadows stretch on through the length of the canyon, but the peaks began to glow bright yellows and oranges.

That night I made my way to the campsite. With so many people, which I was in no way expecting, I thought I was going to be screwed into an expensive night at a local motel. I was lucky, and they had openings at two separate sites for the nights I wanted. Victory! I even got to have a nice little fire while I started listening to Game of Thrones (super good!).

Fire, how can you be so awesome!

Because it was so warm during the day, I wasn't expecting the temperature to drop so quickly after the sun had set. I switched back to my sweatshirt and inched closer to the fire. This worked out well until I ran out of things to burn and retreated to my warm sleeping bag.

Overnight, the temperature plummeted and I was greeted by the familiar feeling of wanting to stay in my warm cocoon rather than get up to make some coffee. Now, until this point I hadn't really made coffee during the trip. Today with it being so cold, I wanted some nice warm coffee. I started to heat the water over my little propane stove. In addition to it being 33 degrees outside, the wind was blowing. My little propane stove could not compete with the wind wicking every hard earned degree added to my coffee pot. In the end, I gave up, added some instant coffee to 80 degree water and had myself a nice big pot of sad brown water (or sadness Joe, if you will). Off to a good start today.

Another little fun task was moving my tent from one site to another. Instead of taking my tent all the way down then reassembling it at the new site, I just unstaked it and carried it down the road. I could tell that the other campers thought I was hot shit and was getting looks of admiration for my cunning! With my campsite readjusted, I set off for the Emerald Pools and Angel's Landing.

The Emerald Pools are formed by waterfalls along different levels of rock. There are two smaller ones (in the lower pools) and a big one (the upper pool). The pools allow for a lot of animal and plant diversity that wouldn't be possible in the area due to water scarcity.

Waterfall that feeds one of the lower pools. Not terribly active at the moment.

Bigger pool in the lower pools.

The upper pool. Taken from a giant bolder I was relaxing on until it sapped all the warmth from my butt.

Looking straight up from my boulder seat.

After talking to another group up that was braving the boulders, I made my way back to my car. I was planning on moving it closer to the trail for Angel's Landing, but there were zero parking spots available. I drove my vehicle to the next closest spot which was probably a half mile down the road on the opposite side of the river. After having my car broken into, this nearly made me turn back...

My blue car. Please don't get broken into again!

The path up to Angel's Landing is a beast. The first half of it is called the West Rim Trail. It takes you up the side of a cliff before taking you back away from the main canyon. It is a pretty dramatic shift in the sounds as you had away from the main canyon. All the sudden, you really notice how quiet it has become. It is comforting, and a little eerie.

You only notice the sound when it is taken away.

After you go a little ways back, you begin what I call the switchbacks from hell. They are hard when you go up them, and by the time you try and make your way back your legs are exhausted and it hurts to walk down.

Almost as evil as stairs. Almost.

After you have passed hells switchbacks, you come to a nice little landing. This is the safe rest point of the trail. From this point onward, you will be walking out onto this finger cliff that reaches out into the main canyon. There is a drop on either side of you, and you hold onto chains so you don't fall. There is also only one path for both coming and going, meaning you climb over people. If you are afraid of heights, do not, DO NOT, do this part. You will scare the crap out of yourself, or worse. If you can handle it, however, the views are worth it!

This is the path out there. The first leg anyway.

You are crazy high up.

More of the path.

Crappy phone camera didn't do too bad.

Not too bad at all.

Did I stress how beautiful this is?

Maybe I did.

Doesn't hurt to reinforce it...

After that days hikes, I was wiped out. I had hiked somewhere around 7 miles with 1700 feet of elevation change. I decided I would walk into town and have a beer from the local brewery (only so-so), make another fire, then get to bed.

The last day I woke up, tore down my campsite, and made my way to the last hike before moving towards my next stop.

I wanted to do Hidden Canyon trail the prior day, got about 3 minutes into it, and my body said " NOPE!". So I was determined to complete it before I left. I am really glad I did.

Taken just before entering the Hidden Canyon trail.

Looking at the main canyon from the trail.

Standing water from the last storm. I think the trail may be a river bed when it rains.

Little arch at the end of the trail.

I made my way back to my car to leave the park. There are two halves of the park, connected by a tunnel blasted through the rock. I did a few short hikes (much shorter on this half of the park) before heading out.

Much bigger arch.

Looking back on the road up to the tunnel.

Crack formed by the river on the east side of the tunnel. I don't think there is an official trail down there, but I heard people hiking it.

This side of the park looks very different than inside the canyon.

This is one of my favorite stops of my trip. I am definitely coming back here for another visit!

Click here for more pictures of Zion National Park (over 150 shots!).