Day 18 - So Much More than Just Arches at this National Park

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Panguitch is about four hours away from Arches National Park, so when my watch woke me up at 8am I didn’t want to waste any time. It was cold outside, really freakin cold, especially considering the fact that my Triple Threat Canyon Experience had all taken place in the mid to high twenties on the Centigrade scale. I was all bundled up in a hoodie, and was sporting long pants as I hit highway 89 in search of an eastward I-70. For most of the time that I spent heading north on the 89 I was moving across some of Utah’s quiet farm land. The drive was quite calm and peaceful with the low level clouds bringing the skyline down. I was a little worried as I moved into the mountain range near Richfield and found heavy rains, because there were vehicles heading in the opposite direction that had snow covering their roves. I missed out on that action though, because the closer I got to Arches the clearer the skies became.


























I made it to the park gates by 1pm and began my tour of the area. The Arches roadway carries you passed the many sites of the National Park as it heads north. I doddled for a while stopping at different viewpoints and exploring some of the scenic turnoffs. The south end of the park is protected by massive rock towers that stand overlooking the road. Near the beginning of the roadway is a collection of these rock towers that have formed a canyon called Park Avenue. This picturesque site reminded me of Zion’s Garden of Eden setting, so I was an instant fan of Arches.



















As I drove passed a large assembly of the red rock towers I found a great viewpoint that looked out over a field of Petrified Sand Dunes. My stop was brief at the Dunes, because off in the distance I could see a precarious balancing act that they call Balanced Rock. This fragile formation was made up of a narrowing cone-shaped base that held up a very large bolder. My bet is on glue, some sort of industrial style glue that the park has concocted to keep this balancing act alive. All this took me close to forty minutes, and I still hadn’t reached the arches yet, so even though there were more viewpoints along the way I prioritized and drove to the end of the road where the Devils Garden Trailhead began.



















The Devils Garden was littered with huge sandstone slabs that stacked up like giant dominos on their side. The trail found its way around these piles of rocks to Landscape, a 300-foot-plus Arch that stretched out across the sky. This was a sight to behold; my first arch, and it was the largest natural arch in the world. A ribbon of rock extended further then the length of a football field. Go Big or Go Home right?





















It’s amazing to think that these strange rock formations not only exist but are created naturally. The red arch cutting through the deep blue sky; my arch dreams were fulfilled, and I had only just begun the hike. This was the end of the ‘Easy Trail’; queue the strenuous Double O Arch path (like Bond it has a license to kill and is super cool… or maybe there are just two ‘O’ shaped arches hiding in the same rock face, which ever you prefer). The trail was now less of a path and more of a general direction that found its way around narrow ledges. I tip-toed and danced over the rocky terrain and climbed up and down the rock slabs to Double O Arch. It was over 2 miles to this point in the trail, and after just over an hour of hiking, while I marveled at the wall with the stacked arches, it started to rain. Typical. Perfect timing. Of course my only real worry is my camera, my precious, my precious. Luckily it was a quick little storm that was forced out by more sun, and the hike continued. On the way back, with more of a familiar step, I got caught up working on my Parkour over the rock layout. It was way too much fun, and far less dangerous than you might suspect. Three more impressive arches waited for me on my return; Navajo Arch was a thick stretch of rock that nearly formed a cave, Partition Arch acted as a porthole opening up to a great view of the park, and Wall Arch was just that, a huge arch stuck in a wall along the trail. After two and a half hours I had crushed the Devils Garden Trail and was loving this park.


















Each arch was significantly different from the last, making my return trip down the park roadway very exciting. I had three more stops planned. The first was a short run to Skyline Arch which had been significantly smaller half a century ago, but after a large chuck of the rock broke off and doubled the arch’s size, it is now an impressive monument. The day was starting to slip away from me, so instead of walking the Delicate Arch trail, I settled for the Upper Viewpoint of the Arch that many know as ‘the One from the Utah License Plate’. It’s not as long as Landscape, or as neighbourly as Double O, but it is the Archiest of the Arches. The formation stands alone on a slanted rock face, open to the world and standing tall like the frame of a door. The trail leads you right to the arch itself, I on the other hand was a valley away, still impressed beyond belief. The final pit stop was at the Window Section where the North and South Windows and the Turret Arch are gathered in a short 1 mile loop. These are big arches that act as frame-work for great landscape shots of the park beyond. An excellent finale to my Arches National Park experience.

I was on the go for over eleven hours, but when I check into the motel in Green River it felt like the day had flown by. Tomorrow I will be moving on from Utah in search of more of Mother Natures Miracles further north. Physically and mentally I am starting to fade, but when the sites are this good, it doesn’t matter; I can’t get enough of this trip.















Day Eighteen: I want an Arch in my backyard.












Just over a month after my trip to Arches National Park, the Arch Family lost one of there favourite Sons. On August 5th, Wall Arch could no longer be found. During the night the 12th largest arch in the national park collapsed and left nothing but an open gap and a pile of rubble along the Devil’s Garden Trail. I received the news while at my desk at work. It was tough to take in. Not quite a tragedy, but a serious enough shock to sit back and reflect on. Visitors to Arches know that there’s an expiration date on all the amazing structures, but for one of the Greats to disappear just a few weeks after I had walked beneath it put things in perspective for me; the world won’t wait. I was one of the lucky ones. One of the last to see Wall Arch before it became Fall Arch. Sure there are thousands of other arches that can still be admired within the parks boundaries, but it’s not the same park that I saw in early July. It just goes to show that opportunities need to be exercised. Wall Arch has shown me that there is no time to waste, I have to make sure I continue to explore this world, and pursue the adventure. There is too much to see to put it off for another day; a day when things may have already collapsed for you.

Day 17 - The Amphitheatre at Bryce, it's Worth Singing About.

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

After a sweltering evening, it finally cooled down last night around 1am. I had been sleeping but woke up cold and needed to roll myself up into a blanket. After that it was sound sleeping right through until 8 o’clock. Going from sweating to shivering in a matter of hours; just some of your average ups and downs when tenting it.












I back tracked down highway 9, driving through the 1.1 mile long tunnel to Zion’s east end. I took my time leaving the park, stopping at several look outs. It’s strange how the landscape from Zion’s west end changes so dramatically by the time you reach the east end. The massive tunnel is the divider that separates the park’s two scenes, meaning that when you emerge from within the dark, underground route there’s a whole new side of Zion waiting for you. Again it was tough to say good bye to such a great National Park after only a day’s visit, but Bryce Canyon was the next stop, and I was eager to see another side of Utah’s wilderness.


Bryce Canyon’s pride and joy is its amazing gathering of hoodoos found within the Amphitheatre. Because of the extreme weather changes experienced in the region, the canyon is continually eroded and worn down creating the unique rock formations. It’s a picturesque bowl with hundreds of hoodoos varying in size and shape staring at you from below as you stare at them from the upper rim. The hike of choice for Bryce Canyon was the Queen's Garden/Navajo Loop.




















The park ranger at the visitors center told me it was the perfect trail to give me the complete flavour of Bryce’s beauty. The route began with the Rim Trail that offered a number of different angles from which to view the Amphitheatre. At this point the day was warm with a slight overcast and a gentle breeze. I reached the start of the Queen's Garden loop at 1:30 and descended in amongst the hoodoo jungle. It was eerie to walk between the soaring towers of rock as they crowded around the trail. To anyone who considers viewing the Amphitheatre from the outer rim and only the outer rim, I warn you that you are missing out on an extraordinary experience; let the Hoodoos scare you a little. As I made my way through the Queen's Garden the temperature moved from warm to hot, and enormous gusts of wind threatened to steal my hat, my pack, and my glasses, even my freakin hair was at risk of getting torn from my head. The Navajo loop met up with the Queen's Garden circuit and allowed me to fade away from the intense collection of fire red hoodoos and venture into the Ponderosa Pine woods of the canyon. It was a flattened portion of the trail that provided relief from the sun in the shade of the trees. The last stage of the combined loop hike was a scenic ascent through slot canyons and rock stands back up to the ridge of the Amphitheatre. It was a fun two hour hike that allowed me to see Bryce Canyon from all different perspectives.




















At the end of the trail I jumped onto the Bryce Canyon Shuttle and made two viewpoint stops, first at Bryce Point and then at Inspiration Point. The two overlooks gave additional angles of the canyon. I spent as much time staring into the Amphitheatre as the weather would allow, because unfortunately as I finished the hike, dark clouds rolled in, the temperature plummeted, and the warm winds that had howled along the canyon floor became frigid gusts preparing the area for rain. The rain started just as I got back on the shuttle. It was just after four, and it was all the time I needed to fall in love with Bryce Canyon National Park.



















I just finished watching the Detroit Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in the sixth game of the Stanley Cup finals, courtesy of the small colour TV in my room at the Horizon Motel. Zion, Bryce, the Stanley Cup presentation, and shelter from the storm; it’s been a good day.






















Day Seventeen: The Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, or Bryce Canyon National Park: Which one is the best? Just see them all… it’s a must.

Day 16 - Finding Peace in Zion

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008


My head popped off the pillow and I was out of the Motel 6 before nine o’clock. I was anxious to get to today’s adventure and I knew there were a number of tasks that I needed to take care of first. Checking out was easy, in fact I kept the key card (a nice little souvenir of my visit to Page, Arizona). Next on the list was groceries. Priority number one on this trip has been to ‘Find the Adventure’, a close second to that is to ‘Survive the Adventure’, which meant that since I knew my destination for the day was Zion, I needed to get food, to survive and what not. It was great, mainly cause I love food. There’s something different about grocery shopping when you’re on the road, and trying to ‘survive’ as oppose to the trips to Safeway back home when it’s more of a burden to go and buy the groceries at a store because it’s a longer trip than just wandering to the fridge. I felt like every item I tossed in the basket was a luxury; a jar of jam to upgrade my Peanut Butter Sandwiches to a PB&J status. I went for the Chunky Campbell’s Soup instead of the tiny cans with broth and some small veggies (living large). New box of cereal, more apples, milk! It was all good stuff. I didn’t want to leave, I just wanted to hang around with the food all day. But the road was calling me.

I was out of Page by quarter after nine. The drive to Zion was a smooth one. Unfortunately as I crossed the Arizona-Utah boarder I lost an hour. Just like that, gone. I guess it had to happen sometime. Silly Arizona, although they are categorized as being in Mountain Time, they simply ignore Day Light Savings and for a good part of the year are running on their own scheduling, ignoring the happenings of the rest of the world. Whatever, that’s old news for me now, I’m back to good old Mountain Time.



Zion National Park sort of snuck up on me. Unlike the Navajo Monuments which you could see from miles away, with Zion I basically turned a corner and notice that the landscape had significantly changed. I entered the park from the East side and found that all the mountains seemed to have been spending the last couple millennia melting away. It looked as though the large hills that formed the boarder of the narrow valley had not only been burnt red by the sun but had actually started to flow down towards the Virgin River (a pitiful little stream believed to have caused all this torture in Zion). It was tough to simply drive the road and not stop every ten feet to try and capture the entire park, but I knew I would be leaving Zion tomorrow along the same stretch of twisted road that I was currently trying to stay on, so there would be time for a little one-on-one-on-one with me the SLR and Park before long. My initial impression of the park was that it was spectacular. To me this canyon is the real life representation of the place those little dinos were trying to get to in the Land Before Time movie. The huge Red mountains held the scene together with the river providing the essence of life for all kinds of plants and animals. It seemed that the trees and plant life were trying to claw their way up the mountains, spreading away from the river basin. It was beautiful to see the sharp contrast between the scorched red rock of the Zion canyon walls and the fresh green of the sprawling vegetation. It was a natural sanctuary.















I can only imagine when it was discovered by people, it was probably a mix between ‘Dude are you f#$kin kidding me?’ and ‘Thank God, I thought that desert garbage was never going to end!’ With that said, in my opinion the most impressive part of the Zion National Park is the fact that there is a road that runs through it. There is no way a road should be able to make it through this canyon. Aside from the crazy twisting and turning that it needs to do just to avoid crashing into the canyon walls, the road actually needs to tunnel through part of a mountain to get through to the next section of the canyon. And when I say ‘a part of’ I mean several kilometers straight through the centre of said mountain. It’s as though the mountain melted over top of the road and formed a natural tunnel, because there is no way people actually decided that that was the easiest way to access the western part of the valley. Oh and remember my love for tunnels, yeah this once rocks!

Zion’s South Campground is a popular spot, much like the Mather Campground at the Grand Canyon. I was able to set up shop in one of the last sites just after one o’clock. It was a cozy little area with plenty of trees where both tents and RVs could hide under the canopy and try and escape the hot sun. I have the whole camping thing down to an art. Just like that the tent pops up, my bedding gets spread out, and I’m ready to attack the trails. I put together my hiking pack complete with food, drinks, my little survival kit (to make me feel intense… and safe I suppose), binocs, camera (plural), and sunscreen to protect my poor fragile exterior.

Word around the campfire was the Angels Landing Trail was the hike of hikes, the one that must be done, the path that would let you truly experience Zion. Not sold yet? Well in the Park Guide it is described as: “Strenuous. Long drop-offs and narrow trail. Not for anyone fearful of heights. Ends at summit high above Zion Canyon. Last 0.5 mi (0.8 km) follows steep, narrow ridge; chains have been added.” I was like YESSSSSS! Drop-offs, summits, narrow ridges, these are all very attractive qualities, qualities I happen to look for in my hikes. And Chains. What the–. I don’t even know what that means, but I like it. So the decision was made. I caught one of the Free Shuttles that hauled me north through the park to the Grotto area where the Angels Trail began.

I will break this hike down into five components, each with its own unique appeal and challenge. From the trail head the path ascends ever so slightly as you follow along the Virgin River and dodge in and out of the woods. It’s a nice intro. As you come to the end of this first leg you see your final destination, of course at this point you don’t realize it yet because it seems impossible to access that part of the canyon. The second section of the hike involves a pretty good climb spread out over large switch backs. It gives you a great view of the western end of the valley. Part three of the Angels Landing adventure takes you into almost complete darkness as you travel along an ever narrowing canyon path. I was blown away by the Flintstones style rock that made up the canyon walls.

















At the end of the canyon walk you begin another ascension that makes use of very small, tight switch backs. This takes you to a landing that could and should definitely be the end of the hike for those that didn’t like the sound of ‘summit’, ‘long drop-offs’, ‘narrow trail’, and of course ‘chains’. For those who stare fear in the face and laugh, push on to the final climb. This last section is some of the craziest scrambling I have ever done. The layout of the path is so ridiculous that had I not seen people in the midst of making the climb and had it not been categorized as an official trail, I never would have imagined going anywhere near it. Picture the most dangerous climb that can be done without ropes and harnesses; yeah that’s the final pathway to Angels Landing (which I discovered got its name due to the fact that it is the first thing Angels see when they descend from heaven, yeah that’s how high up the place is).















I hesitated ever so briefly, then noticed a nine year old girl on her way back down. I also caught wind of a troop of boy scouts half way up. Well, if the boy scouts can do it, then so can the Jackson MiniTramp. I can’t describe how amazing the views were from the top of the ridge. The camera will try to tell the story, but it won’t even come close. I’ll leave it at this: At the top of Angels Landing I may have found one of the most beautiful locations on the planet. This is where National Geographic visits, this is why they created cameras, this was heaven on earth. I couldn’t get enough of it, and yet at the same time I was steps away from total disaster; there was no room for error up there. Part six of the trip was the descent. It was the whole experience in reverse and I really appreciated the second look at everything. This was such a great hike that I am prepared to say it is one of my all time favourites. If I had another day to hike in Zion, I’d be hard pressed not to return to Angels Landing.














Day Sixteen: It’s experiences like this one that make this trip more then ‘good’… My Great American Adventure continues.

Day 15 - Navajo Monument Valley and the Red Sands of Arizona

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

It was difficult for me to let go of the Grand Canyon today. I drove the scenic Desert View east along the South Rim of the Canyon stopping at half a dozen viewpoints. Grandview, Moran, Lipan, Navajo, and Desert lookouts all allowed me to continue to experience the magnitude of the valley. The route took just under two hours as I gave myself time to explore the different vistas at each stop. I also checked out the Tusayan Ruin, which dated back over eight hundred years, it’s aged, but still looks pretty good for vintage 12th century; strong rock foundation and what not. And that was it. I climbed the watch tower at Desert View and gave one last look at the Grand Canyon, then continued down highway 64 onto my next adventure.

I cut eastward across the northern edge of the state while the sun was at its highest point. The red sands of Arizona formed distant mountains that created a backdrop for the wide open desert plains. It was hot and the wind was blasting sand against the truck as I drove from the Arizona 64 to highway 89, north and east along US 160 and finally up into the Navajo Tribal territory on highway 163. A relatively high percentage of the land in Arizona is devoted to Native American Reservations, which made today’s trip unique from my explorations of neighbouring states. Before entering the Navajo Monument Valley Park, I could see the famous buttes and mesas that gathered at the Four Corners intersection (like giants battling over the Arizona-Utah-Colorado-New Mexico collision. The huge rock formations soared up from the ocean of red desert sand and ruled the horizon. For five dollars I was granted access to the park and the 17 mile scenic drive that ducked around the towering monuments. The route brought you up close and personal with the monstrous buttes and lead you passed the many mesas into areas not visible from the highway. With the various stops and the twisting of the dirt road, the round trip ended up being about two hours. It was definitely worth navigating the truck over the uneven and rocky roadway to get right into the thick of the park. I felt like I’d wandered on to an expansive movie set and was going to team up with John Wayne in a Wild Southwestern showdown. Yet another piece of American wilderness that left me wondering if I was dreaming. To be able to say that in one day I took pictures of the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley feels greedy, but the timing worked perfectly as I left the Navajo Park just after 5pm.

My stop for the night was a town called Page. I’m about an hour and a half from tomorrow’s destination of Zion National Park, and in the comfort of a Motel 6, so Page was a pretty easy choice. I got the TV on just in time to catch the end of the first overtime in the Pittsburgh-Detroit game. Game five of the Stanley Cup Finals and it’s a championship if the Wings score and a game six at home if the Pens can pull it off. In between the first and second OT I raced out and grabbed Jack in the Box. It was a fast food night because I know that tomorrow I will be heading back into the wild and returning to the Coleman stove. Plus I need to take advantage of the American Chains while I still have the chance. Oh and It’s amazing, so there’s that working for Jack in the Box too. The Penguins scored in the third segment of overtime, on a power play, and kept the series alive. I was fist pumping and jumping around like a lunatic. Not to worry though, I could feel the energy of Pens fans everywhere in celebration, so I wasn’t alone. It was a good way to finish off the day. I find that playoff coverage provides a nice familiarity to balance out the new and unknown that my trip has been all about. And I also had a nice chat with the Mommas and the Pappas back at home about the status of the Jackson MiniTramp and his Great American Adventure. Hearing from home gives me that nice ‘tucked in’ feeling, leaving me all ready for bed and a new day of exploration.

Day Fifteen: Arizona’s Natural Wonders fight for my affection; everyone is a winner.