Snow in Arizona?

Our last National Park destination was Grand Canyon National Park.  It was about a three hour drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on Tuesday morning.  The North Rim is the less-visited side of the canyon, so the crowds are few and the view is better because the elevation is 1000 feet higher.  We set up camp and set out to enjoy an express visit of this park since we only had one day.  We took a nice drive to several different overlooks at the edge of the canyon that allowed views from 9000 feet above sea level.  The size of the canyon was amazing, but I think our biggest surprise was that it was COLD!  We were not anticipating Arizona in May to be so chilly, but we never took into account how high the elevation was.  It was also a nice surprise that the North Rim is in a pine forest and is much more scenic then we had thought. 

We called it an early night knowing that we were going to get up early and start our long drive home.  On Wednesday we drove 900 miles and made it all the way to a Texas State Park East of Amarillo.  While driving through Texas that night we saw one of our favorite BBQ places (Rudy’s) and decided to stop and get some dinner to go.  The warm Texas night, Texas country music, and of course the amazing brisket was a great welcome home for us. 

Today we woke up and headed out to complete the final portion of our drive home.  We are about three hours from home and planning one final blog entry to summarize the trip.  Stay tuned for our Top 10 moments of the trip!

 

Zion Canyon

We’ve been in Zion National Park for the past four days.  On Saturday, we explored Zion from end to end and did a couple of short hikes just to get the lay of the land.  Zion is a huge canyon lined with sandstone cliffs that reach over 2,000 feet above the canyon floor.  The canyon was carved by the waters of the Virgin River that continues to run through it today.  We stayed at Watchman Campground with electric hookups…for us this is like living in luxury!  We don’t have to worry about running the generator or conserving the battery, and we can use the electric outlets in the camper to charge our phones and laptops. 

The next morning we were feeling very ambitious.  We chose one of the most strenuous hikes in the park and decided to go for it.  Our destination: Observation Point via an 8-mile roundtrip trail that gains 2100 feet of elevation.  We started from the canyon floor and climbed switchbacks all the way to the top of the steep canyon walls.  At times the trail led us on the sides of cliffs with long drop-offs.  Between the 50-mile per hour wind gusts and the thousand foot drop-offs, we were hugging the cliffs all the way up.  The views from the top were absolutely amazing, albeit windy and sandy.  Much to Jack’s delight, at the very top of the point was a rattlesnake sitting right on the edge of the cliff.  This was the last animal on his checklist, so he was very excited to see it (Megan would’ve been okay without the rattlesnake encounter.) 

 Hiking through a canyon

 The trail drops off hundreds of feet on the right

The rattlesnake

 We made it!

 View of Zion Canyon... we started our hike from that little road at the bottom of the canyon

After enjoying a lunch at the top, we began our descent.  It turns out that descending 2100’ in elevation is not kind to one’s joints; our knees, ankles, and toes were hurting pretty bad by the time we got to the bottom!  We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the campfire.

  

The hike back down

 View of the Virgin River on the hike down

On Monday, we took a short hike on the Pa’rus Trail along the Virgin River.  We spent a couple of hours in the afternoon getting some work done at an internet café in Springdale, the little town outside of the park.  We ended the day reading by the campfire and cooking s’mores.  

Today we are en route to Grand Canyon National Park, our last destination of the trip.  We’ll be staying on the North Rim, which is more remote and less visited than the South Rim of the Canyon.  We’ll have the day to explore and then we’ll be headed back to Texas tomorrow! 

Utah...It's not just for Mormons

Getting into the warm sunshine of Arches National Park on Wednesday night was a nice feeling.  After getting settled into our campground we realized that the only water available had to be filled up into jugs, carried to your camper, and funneled into your water tank.  Since we needed water for bathrooms, showers, dishes, and drinking this required some water gathering trips…but I guess that is part of being in a desert. 

On Wednesday we took a long 7.2-mile hike through Devils Garden that led to Landscape Arch and Double O Arch.  The hike was one of the better we had been on and went through diverse landscapes and challenging elevations.  Seeing arches that had formed over millions of years was fascinating; it’s hard to wrap your mind around all the forces required to form these arches.

                         Double O Arch

 

 Turret Arch

Double Arch

On Thursday morning, we went on a Park Ranger-led hike through the Fiery Furnace area.  This is a maze of rock formations that without intricate knowledge of the area most would get lost in.  The hike was about 3 hours long and required some scaling of boulders, shimmying through tight crevasses in canyons, and of course breathtaking arches along the way.   

Crawling through the Fiery Furnace

 Surprise Arch in the Fiery Furnace

 

 A view of the Fiery Furnace with the LaSal mountains in the background

Later that day we drove to Canyonlands National Park about 30 minutes away.  We decided that since this park was so close, we should check it off our list while we’re in Utah.  It had some nice scenic views and Jack went on a 1 hour hike, but mostly it was just right for a quick drive through and we were glad we didn’t waste a whole trip going to see it.   

 

A view from the rim of Canyonlands

On our way back to Arches we stopped in Moab to hit up the Moab brewery (along with seeing every National Park we are trying to visit as many micro breweries as we can).  After a quick drink we headed back to the park and got ready for a 2.5-mile hike to Delicate Arch at sunset.  Though we had seen many pictures of the arch, it is much more impressive in person.  We watched the sun set on the arch and let our feet rest before descending down what was a steep climb on the way up.  After all of that we were exhausted, but had successfully done everything we had wanted in the park.  

 Delicate Arch

On Friday we drove about six hours to Zion National park.  When we arrived in the afternoon we set up camp and enjoyed relaxing outside in the warm weather.  We have some pretty strenuous hikes planned the next few days so a little rest and relaxation is well called for.  We’ll be back home in Texas in less than a week!

From Trailer Park to Ski Resort

The magnificent views of the Tetons would leave anyone speechless, or so we have heard.  Four straight days of rain, snow, and cloud cover pretty much ruined our plans for Grand Teton National Park.  Since we’re never ones to let the weather ruin our day, we came up with plan B:  to spend some relaxing time wining and dining in the ski-resort community of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Delicious food, cold microbrews, rooftop hot tubs, television, and WiFi helped make up for not being able to see the majestic mountain tops. 

The best pictures we could get of the mountains

We spent the first two nights in the campground on the shores of Lake Jackson despite 5 feet of snow surrounding us.  Luckily, our campsite had electric hookups so the heater kept us nice and toasty all night long.  On our third night, we moved to the swanky town of Teton Village at the base of the Jackson Hole Ski Resort.  We enjoyed the hot tubs and delicious cuisine at Teton Mountain Lodge.  We were able to score some good deals since ski season is over and the summer tourists have not yet flocked to the park.  On our last night, we moved again to the Rustic Inn in the town of Jackson.  We drank some cold beer at the Snake River Brewery while watching a heavy snow fall outside and then did some shopping around town. 

We made several trips into the National Park to see what wildlife we could find.  We spotted several moose, bison, and elk and also got to see coyotes hunting for ground squirrels by pouncing on top of the snow.

 

Today we continue our journey south.  We are headed toward Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.  We’ll be there for three days before continuing onto Zion National Park.    

Mammal Extravaganza

I guess we were in a hurry to get to Yellowstone…we drove 16 hours straight and didn’t get to our campground until after midnight.  But as we discovered, one can never spend too much time in Yellowstone.  Our wildlife sightings were better than we could’ve ever imagined and the weather was beautiful.  Luckily, May is considered off-season in Yellowstone and we were able to miss the crowds of tourists that flock to the park in the summer and fill the park with traffic jams.

                         Yellowstone traffic jam

Tuesday was our first full day in Yellowstone.  In the morning we recovered from the hard drive from the day before.  At first we were so excited to see a herd of elk walking through our campground, but we soon realized that wildlife is everywhere you go in this park.  It turned out to be a daily occurrence to have an elk or bison walk through our campsite.  That afternoon we decided to go out and look for some more wildlife.  The park ranger had told us that Lamar Valley was the best place to see wolves, black bears, and grizzlies, so we set out on this 1-hour drive.  We were excited to see newly born bison calves nursing and herds of bison walking down the streets.  

We decided to do the typical tourist activities on Wednesday.  We drove to Old Faithful to watch it explode and toured several other geysers and hot springs in the Upper Geyser Basin.  These were cool to see, but we were reminded that the typical tourist attractions just weren’t our thing.  So we decided to take an evening drive to Lamar Valley to look for more wildlife.  We set out just before sunset and within minutes, we saw a herd of elk running across a hill in front of us.  We looked behind them to see a lone elk sprinting for his life with four wolves chasing it!  The wolves jumped on the elk’s back and took her down, but she got back up and made a run for it.  Within seconds the wolves had jumped back onto her, took her down, and killed her.  The wolves immediately went for her belly and ripped out an unborn baby elk.  It was a sad day for the elk and her baby but an exciting kill for the wolf pack, who would be sustained by this kill for days.  We were so excited to have seen the kill happen!  Apparently others noticed our excitement (we were standing on top of the pickup truck looking through binoculars), because soon we had attracted a crowd.  For the next few days, we heard people talking about the kill and felt very lucky to have seen it all take place!  From this point on, we were addicted to wildlife spotting and couldn’t get enough.  We spent the next few days driving the valley, getting to know professional wildlife chasers, and becoming self-proclaimed wildlife spotting experts.

 

                      The wolf pack enjoying their dinner

We woke up at 4:30 the next morning to drive out to the Valley by twilight.  We had gotten a tip from one of our colleagues about a recently deceased bison.  Apparently, it had died of natural causes near a river right off the main road… a perfect location for wildlife spotting.  It was only a matter of time before either wolves or a grizzly bear would come to feed on the bison.  We waited with several professional photographers and although no grizzlies came to feed, we did take some pictures of a lone wolf feeding on the bison. 

                                       Lone wolf with the dead bison

Later on in the day, Megan spotted a wolf stalking a herd of bison with her eagle eyes.  We pulled over on the side of the road and within minutes, we spotted three other wolves surrounding the bison herd, searching for vulnerable bison calves.  There was no kill, but it was still exciting to watch the wolves.  And once again, we attracted a crowd of professional wildlife spotters and our reputation grew.  That evening, we spotted our first grizzly bear.  We watched him walk along a creek and over a ridge and were able to take some great pictures.

                                 The GRIZZ

Again on Thursday, we woke up early to check on the dead bison.  When we got there, part of it had been eaten by a couple of grizzlies overnight.  The wind was calm and the smell was strong, so we knew it was just a matter of time before something came to feed on it.  There were about 50 professional photographers lined up waiting to take pictures, so we had slight camera envy (our $200 zoom lens was much inferior to their $6000+ lenses).  Soon we heard that someone had spotted a grizzly on the road working his way toward the bison.  We watched him as he came over the ridge, followed his nose to the bison, and cautiously approached the dead bison.  Then he started to feed and the photographers went crazy.  Watching him feed at close distance (we were about 80 yards away) was an absolutely amazing experience.  After gorging himself on bison meat, he got a drink from the river and laid down near the carcass for a nap.  It’s typical for grizzlies to stay by their carcass for days, guarding it from other predators, until the carcass is gone.  Soon the crowd had attracted a host of Park Rangers who determined that the carcass needed to be moved so that the grizzly didn’t get used to eating close to humans.  They described to us that they were going to scare off the bear with noisemakers, move the carcass further from the road (but still in view), and let the bear return to feed on it.  This put an end to our photo extravaganza, but we were satisfied with the experience we had gotten.  

The variety of wildlife we saw in Yellowstone was amazing.  We saw black bears, grizzly bears, wolves, coyotes, elk, bison, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, red foxes, marmots, moose, and black-tailed deer.  Yellowstone was definitely one of our favorites and we can’t wait to return again. Today we are in the Grand Tetons, just south of Yellowstone in Wyoming.  The weather has turned sour and the views of the Teton range are hidden.  We are taking it easy and enjoying some time in a nearby resort lodge.  Hopefully the clouds will clear and we’ll be able to take some shots of the beautiful Teton Range.

                            Black bear walking through the snow in Yellowstone

Sunburns in the Snow

We’ve spent the last four days in Olympic National Park and the weather has been beautiful.  On Thursday we stayed right on the beach and spent the day exploring Ruby beach and other areas along the coast.  Our campsite was perched on top of a bluff looking right down on the ocean and beach.  Jack was tempted to steal the hundreds of huge mussel clams he found at low tide, but since the season was over and taking them would likely be some kind of Federal crime, he resisted temptation.  Megan was able to take some great pictures of the Pacific Ocean and the sun setting over the horizon. 

On Friday we moved campgrounds and explored another portion of the park: the Hoh Rainforest.  Olympic National Park has a variety of ecosystems and believe it or not, one of them is the rainforest we spent the day in.  A rare break in the rain allowed us to enjoy sun and warm weather while going on a couple of hikes.  We got about 20 feet from an elk feeding on grass, watched countless black-tailed deer feed, and after watching an owl for about ten minutes, we watched him swoop down and try to catch a frog out of a pond.   

Spirits were high and we were loving life when, while leaving the road from the rainforest, we heard a popping noise and the low tire pressure alarm started sounding.  When Jack got out he could hear the air hissing out of his front tire, but when he noticed that both of the driver side tires were punctured it became a much bigger problem.  Since we only had one spare tire and were towing the camper, we had some problem solving to do.  Luckily we actually got phone service where it happened and there was a place to pull over so no damage was done to the rims.  Unfortunately, according to emergency road side service, the only option was to leave the camper and have the truck towed…..that wasn’t going to happen.  We called the closest town which amazingly had a tow company and a tire shop in it.  A tow truck had to come out and get one of the popped tires and bring it all the way back into town, have the tire shop patch it, and bring it back out to us.  With that fixed tire and the spare on we were back on the road in a couple hours.  We were able to go get the other tire patched and put the spare back so we were operating at normal capacity again.  This was a rough and expensive little incident but we felt very lucky that it happened where it did because it could have been much worse. 

On Saturday, we needed a little rest and relaxation so we stayed in a campground inside the park that is connected to a hot springs lodge.  The idea of sitting in the 106 degree thermal pools sounded like a good way to put the tire mishap behind us.  Before becoming completely lazy we went to a nearby glacier-fed lake, rented two kayaks, and spent the middle part of the day paddling around and enjoying the views.  When we got back it was time for the springs.  Much to our surprise, the hot springs was a strange and awkward experience.  The springs were not the rock pools of relaxation we dreamed of but more like shallow pools with European tourists lounging in them and staring blankly at newcomers.  The sulfur smell did not help the situation and we never really managed to “relax”.  Later that night Jack tried it out again and found it to have a better crowd of people, however after going from a 106 degree pool to the 60 degree pool a couple times, he almost passed out and decided to call it a night.  

                                       Lake Crescent

On Sunday, we moved again to yet another region of the park that is all mountains.  We camped at a lower elevation but spent the day up at the top of Hurricane Ridge at 5600 feet where 13 feet of snow was present.  The sun was shining and we even got a bit of a sunburn so weather was not an issue.  We played in the snow, soaked up the rays, and just sat back and enjoyed the scenery.  After that we spent the rest of the day in the town of Port Angeles at a coffee shop using the internet and then cooked a Creole shrimp boil dinner and sat by the campfire.  

                     On top of Hurricane Ridge

We both agreed that Olympic was our current favorite park because of the diversity, wildlife, and stunning scenery.  Although we were sad to leave this morning it was necessary to get up early and head out because our next destination is Yellowstone National Park (850 miles away!).  We are currently driving through the beautiful mountains of Montana and looking forward to Wyoming.