Hello all, one last time. We are finally home safe and sound, and are writing this last post together.
First of all, we would like to thank all of you for taking the time to follow us on our adventures across America. We started this blog mainly to console our worried families and to entertain any other friends and family that felt like checking in on us on a lazy summer afternoon. As the trip progressed, we were shocked and flattered to realize just how many people were reading the blog every single day. To date the blog has been viewed over 1,200 times throughout the last seven weeks. So again, thank you all for reading our stories that were sometimes boring, sometimes outrageous, and sometimes ramblingly long. We hope you have enjoyed reading this, because we have certainly enjoyed writing it. It has been the trip of a lifetime, and we savored every moment of it. We are, however, thrilled to be home again with our family and friends, and are excited to find jobs and start the beginning of our "adult" lives.
In closing, we have compiled a list of lessons that we have learned during our travels. We thought we would share them with you all, they may come in handy some day. So here they are:
1. Always carry cash.
2. Never trust rock squirrels. They may be cute, but they really just want your lunch.
3. Never get gas at the first place you see.
4. A long hike down is just as long of a hike back up.
5. When hiking, always bring a wallet. You never know when a good snack stand is waiting on the other side.
6. If your neighbor uses a bear bell, don't laugh - there's probably a good reason for it.
7. There is no such thing as too many beans.
8. There is such a thing as too many jelly beans.
9. Find the best enchiladas in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. For the best all-around Mexican food, go no farther than Blackfoot, Idaho.
10. Never take a good shower for granted.
11. Not much is better than a cheap place to stay. Nothing is better than a free place to stay.
12. Deodorant melts. Make sure it's standing upright.
13. If Laura says she isn't hungry, pull over at the next place to eat anyways. She'll be starving by the time you get there.
14. When you're in the desert, sand will eventually end up everywhere. Accept it and move on.
15. Just because you're on summer vacation does not mean you should leave your winter wardrobe at home.
16. If the Ragu looks bad, just shake it around a little. It'll be okay.
17. When you're far from home, everyone who sees your license plate will be sure to remind you of it.
18. If a hotel is $35 a night, don't expect that price to include towels.
19. If you're going to do something dangerous, wait until you've survived to tell your mom about it.
20. Apparently air mattresses can only be inflated or deflated between the hours of 10pm and 6am.
21. When budgeting for a vacation, always bring twice as much as you think you'll need. Those gift shops will get you.
22. As difficult as it may be to accept, there is life outside of Gilmore Girls.
23. If you are going to spend two months with the same person, make sure you really like them.
24. Never take oxygen for granted, you'll miss it at 10,000 feet of elevation.
25. If you are thinking about taking a trip, do it.
That's all folks! Good night, and good luck.
Laura & Elijah
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Colorado
Hey everyone! Laura here. I am currently laying on the couch at one of my relative's house enjoying my last night in Denver. It is amazing to realize how much we have come to appreciate the little victories on this trip, such as sitting on a couch, or washing your clothes in a functional machine rather than a sketchy stain-producing laundromat washer. Needless to say, we've been having a great time in Colorado. We spent our first two nights out of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, and after finding the cheapest priced motel we could find, we each took long, hot showers for the first time in weeks. It was glorious. What was even more wonderful was that before arriving, I did my research and found out that Colorado Springs is home to a Dunkin Donuts, one of two Dunkins we have found since leaving the east coast. I had two gift cards, and so we dined for free both mornings. The first morning was a rather stressful experience, since apparently the Thursday morning shift is the least important shift of the week, and is therefore put in the hands of a polite but completely incompetent man at the register that doesn't know what a wheat bagel looks like, and an Asian woman that speaks the absolute minimum amount of English needed to get through her Dunkin Donuts interview. Her co-worker couldn't communicate with her, and we certainly couldn't either. Elijah spent a good five minutes trying to convey to her that he wanted one six-piece order of hash browns, rather than six nine-piece orders of hash browns. It sounded like a regular comedy act, but early in the morning while watching the silly guy manhandle my cup of coffee, I wasn't laughing. On the upside, we did eventually get everything that we asked for, and since the cashier was incapable of running my giftcard through the register properly, he finally gave up and gave us our breakfast for free. This was all fun and games after I was happily fed and caffeinated, but at the time I was in no mood.
After our eventful morning, we drove around to many of the small towns surrounding Colorado Springs, all of which were lovely and full of charm. We had one box of pasta left from camping, and we planned on cooking it up for lunch in the park in Old Colorado City to save money. As with an unfortunate amount of our cooking plans over the past weeks, just as my stomach began to growl, the rain began to fall. So instead of going out to dinner, we used our restaurant budget on lunch, and were left to cook the pasta for dinner. It was actually rather convenient because Old Colorado City was having free blues music in the park that evening and I thought it would be nice to cook up our pasta to eat during the concert. Of course, it didn't go quite as poetically as that. As soon as we parked on a side street right in front of a house full of construction workers, Elijah insists that he is not comfortable cooking in the park at a picnic table. So what do we do? We set up camp right there on the curb in front of the construction workers, and cooked our pesto pasta right there. Elijah filled up his pot with water from the library, and we sat like hobos on the curb with our little camp stove humming away. Once our food was done, we carried our pot of pasta, a blanket, and my bowl to the park and had a lovely dinner while watching a one man blues show on stage. Despite the absurdity, it was actually a very pleasant evening.
The next morning we hesitantly returned to Dunkin Donuts, warring between the prospect of having to deal with the same employees but still wanting a meal covered by a gift card. With a stroke of luck, we found that Friday mornings are host to a bunch of completely capable set of workers, and we got our breakfast quickly and seamlessly. While eating breakfast, I surprised Elijah with tickets to the Colorado Rockies game that night for his birthday, which he had been whining about going to since Arches. So after breakfast we headed to Denver to stay with my Aunt Patty's brother and his family, with Patty arriving the next afternoon. We made a bee-line for the washing machine, and enjoyed a lazy afternoon eating cereal, watching tv, and doing laundry. That night we went to the baseball game and other than ten minutes of rain, it was a great game. On Saturday we went to get an oil change, and since of course it couldn't JUST be an oil change, we had to get our serpentine belt replaced as well. As far as car problems go it wasn't a horrible problem, and shortly after we returned back to the house Patty arrived and a raucous party ensued.
We had intended on leaving Colorado this morning, but the World Cup final was on and we were easily persuaded into staying another free night with fun family and good food. We are leaving first thing in the morning for Kansas City to get ourselves some delicious barbeque before heading out to Cincinnati the next morning. We will blog once more in a day or two.
Happy Birthday mom!
Laura
After our eventful morning, we drove around to many of the small towns surrounding Colorado Springs, all of which were lovely and full of charm. We had one box of pasta left from camping, and we planned on cooking it up for lunch in the park in Old Colorado City to save money. As with an unfortunate amount of our cooking plans over the past weeks, just as my stomach began to growl, the rain began to fall. So instead of going out to dinner, we used our restaurant budget on lunch, and were left to cook the pasta for dinner. It was actually rather convenient because Old Colorado City was having free blues music in the park that evening and I thought it would be nice to cook up our pasta to eat during the concert. Of course, it didn't go quite as poetically as that. As soon as we parked on a side street right in front of a house full of construction workers, Elijah insists that he is not comfortable cooking in the park at a picnic table. So what do we do? We set up camp right there on the curb in front of the construction workers, and cooked our pesto pasta right there. Elijah filled up his pot with water from the library, and we sat like hobos on the curb with our little camp stove humming away. Once our food was done, we carried our pot of pasta, a blanket, and my bowl to the park and had a lovely dinner while watching a one man blues show on stage. Despite the absurdity, it was actually a very pleasant evening.
The next morning we hesitantly returned to Dunkin Donuts, warring between the prospect of having to deal with the same employees but still wanting a meal covered by a gift card. With a stroke of luck, we found that Friday mornings are host to a bunch of completely capable set of workers, and we got our breakfast quickly and seamlessly. While eating breakfast, I surprised Elijah with tickets to the Colorado Rockies game that night for his birthday, which he had been whining about going to since Arches. So after breakfast we headed to Denver to stay with my Aunt Patty's brother and his family, with Patty arriving the next afternoon. We made a bee-line for the washing machine, and enjoyed a lazy afternoon eating cereal, watching tv, and doing laundry. That night we went to the baseball game and other than ten minutes of rain, it was a great game. On Saturday we went to get an oil change, and since of course it couldn't JUST be an oil change, we had to get our serpentine belt replaced as well. As far as car problems go it wasn't a horrible problem, and shortly after we returned back to the house Patty arrived and a raucous party ensued.
We had intended on leaving Colorado this morning, but the World Cup final was on and we were easily persuaded into staying another free night with fun family and good food. We are leaving first thing in the morning for Kansas City to get ourselves some delicious barbeque before heading out to Cincinnati the next morning. We will blog once more in a day or two.
Happy Birthday mom!
Laura
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Rocky Mountain National Park
Hello all, this is Elijah.
It was nice to be at such high elevations, away from the desert heat for a change. The drive from eastern Utah to northern Colorado on I-70 was actually quite interesting. We drove on what is apparently the section of interstate that the U.S. Department of Transportation is most proud of, as it wound along canyon walls, over rivers, and THROUGH mountains. Some parts of the highway passed by huge open fields that housed several pieces of fracking infrastructure. What was incredibly frustrating was that every piece of fracking equipment was powered by a solar panel.
We just left Rocky Mountain National Park today, the last of the parks on our tour across America. As to be assumed, we loved it like all the rest. It is a beautiful park high in the mountains, full of blooming wildflowers, fantastic wildlife, and of course incredible views. Each park we've visited has had its own unique features. The Rockies, as one can guess, has elevations like none we've ever experienced.
The first full day we started out by taking a hike from a trailhead that started at almost 9,500 feet. The trail took us up farther to three lakes, each surrounded by snow-capped mountains. When we arrived at the third lake, the temperature was in the low 50's and there was snow all around. That was quite a shock for us, especially since we had been in the desert just one day earlier. Next we took a hike that started from a little lower, just under 8,500 feet. This trail was much more level in comparison to the first one. We stopped by a pond and saw little mallard ducklings swimming with their momma, plus a female ring-necked duck. We continued on the trail a ways, only to find ourselves not feeling the need to go any further. We decided to turn back and make for the pond again to watch the ducks. Just as we watched a garter snake in the water take a snap at one of the ducklings, a family came down from the direction we had just turned back from. They asked us if we had made it up to the lake they had just visited, and we said no. They were extremely excited as they told us that there was a big bull moose wading through the lake, nibbling on the water lilies. We immediately dropped everything and ran up the trail as fast as we could. It took us about 10 minutes to run up the steep, rocky 3/4 miles to get to the lake. I timed us taking only 6 minutes to get from the point we had originally turned around to the lake with the moose. We rounded a corner when we finally came to the lake, and quickly realized that as beautiful as the small lake looked surrounded by mountains, it was moose-less. Feeling defeated we slumped down on a rock in hopes to catch a glimpse of the moose maybe coming out for one last nibble. No such event materialized.
The next day we took a nice, leisurely stroll up to another mountain lake. This was another very steep hike, and the altitude really started getting to us. The lake was beautiful, of course, but by the time we got there we were beat. We weren't used to hiking with so little oxygen. It was amazing how much more difficult it is to perform the same way with such an increase in elevation. When we got back down we decided to have a nice, slow evening at our campsite. We were going to have chicken noodle soup on a brisk night, our last night camping. With all the outstanding weather we have been fortunate enough to encounter the entire trip, of course it was drizzling when we went to make our dinner. Nevertheless, I surprised myself by actually starting a fire in the rain. When the soup finished, there was still a light rain, but everything was pretty wet. So we spooned ourselves some soup and sat in the dry car. As we ate we were listening to the radio, and happened to catch a weather alert, which described a huge storm with flash flood warnings pushing its way north from the Denver area. If anyone isn't a real whiz in Colorado geography, we were north of the Denver area. However, the rain around us had since stopped, and it looked like the clouds were breaking. We were able to sit and enjoy the fire for a while. Afterwards we got ready for bed, looking to turn in early for a good night's sleep. As we got back to the car after changing into pajamas and brushing our teeth we heard low rumbles of thunder. A slight drizzle started up as we packed our things into the car. All of a sudden the drizzle turned into an ever-increasing downpour, and we were only half way between our car and the tent. As I mentioned earlier, we had had such great luck weather-wise all trip, but this night, when it was raining mountain lions and coyotes on us, the zipper on the tent's rainfly was stuck. It took me a while to un-snag the zipper between Laura's screaming at me and getting soaked, but I finally was able to break the zipper free and we dove into the tent. As we dove in, we saw intensely bright flashes of lightening, quickly followed by huge crashes of thunder. The storm itself lasted only about 30 minutes, but it rained just about the whole night.
After waking this morning, somewhat wet and desperately needing a shower, we made ourselves a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausage to finish off our time camping. We are now in Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver. We'll be here two nights, then spend two nights in Denver. It's looking like we might be home a couple days earlier than we had originally anticipated, due to a combination of fatigue and dried-up funds. Laura will work on getting pictures onto Facebook later this evening.
Take care.
Elijah
It was nice to be at such high elevations, away from the desert heat for a change. The drive from eastern Utah to northern Colorado on I-70 was actually quite interesting. We drove on what is apparently the section of interstate that the U.S. Department of Transportation is most proud of, as it wound along canyon walls, over rivers, and THROUGH mountains. Some parts of the highway passed by huge open fields that housed several pieces of fracking infrastructure. What was incredibly frustrating was that every piece of fracking equipment was powered by a solar panel.
We just left Rocky Mountain National Park today, the last of the parks on our tour across America. As to be assumed, we loved it like all the rest. It is a beautiful park high in the mountains, full of blooming wildflowers, fantastic wildlife, and of course incredible views. Each park we've visited has had its own unique features. The Rockies, as one can guess, has elevations like none we've ever experienced.
The first full day we started out by taking a hike from a trailhead that started at almost 9,500 feet. The trail took us up farther to three lakes, each surrounded by snow-capped mountains. When we arrived at the third lake, the temperature was in the low 50's and there was snow all around. That was quite a shock for us, especially since we had been in the desert just one day earlier. Next we took a hike that started from a little lower, just under 8,500 feet. This trail was much more level in comparison to the first one. We stopped by a pond and saw little mallard ducklings swimming with their momma, plus a female ring-necked duck. We continued on the trail a ways, only to find ourselves not feeling the need to go any further. We decided to turn back and make for the pond again to watch the ducks. Just as we watched a garter snake in the water take a snap at one of the ducklings, a family came down from the direction we had just turned back from. They asked us if we had made it up to the lake they had just visited, and we said no. They were extremely excited as they told us that there was a big bull moose wading through the lake, nibbling on the water lilies. We immediately dropped everything and ran up the trail as fast as we could. It took us about 10 minutes to run up the steep, rocky 3/4 miles to get to the lake. I timed us taking only 6 minutes to get from the point we had originally turned around to the lake with the moose. We rounded a corner when we finally came to the lake, and quickly realized that as beautiful as the small lake looked surrounded by mountains, it was moose-less. Feeling defeated we slumped down on a rock in hopes to catch a glimpse of the moose maybe coming out for one last nibble. No such event materialized.
The next day we took a nice, leisurely stroll up to another mountain lake. This was another very steep hike, and the altitude really started getting to us. The lake was beautiful, of course, but by the time we got there we were beat. We weren't used to hiking with so little oxygen. It was amazing how much more difficult it is to perform the same way with such an increase in elevation. When we got back down we decided to have a nice, slow evening at our campsite. We were going to have chicken noodle soup on a brisk night, our last night camping. With all the outstanding weather we have been fortunate enough to encounter the entire trip, of course it was drizzling when we went to make our dinner. Nevertheless, I surprised myself by actually starting a fire in the rain. When the soup finished, there was still a light rain, but everything was pretty wet. So we spooned ourselves some soup and sat in the dry car. As we ate we were listening to the radio, and happened to catch a weather alert, which described a huge storm with flash flood warnings pushing its way north from the Denver area. If anyone isn't a real whiz in Colorado geography, we were north of the Denver area. However, the rain around us had since stopped, and it looked like the clouds were breaking. We were able to sit and enjoy the fire for a while. Afterwards we got ready for bed, looking to turn in early for a good night's sleep. As we got back to the car after changing into pajamas and brushing our teeth we heard low rumbles of thunder. A slight drizzle started up as we packed our things into the car. All of a sudden the drizzle turned into an ever-increasing downpour, and we were only half way between our car and the tent. As I mentioned earlier, we had had such great luck weather-wise all trip, but this night, when it was raining mountain lions and coyotes on us, the zipper on the tent's rainfly was stuck. It took me a while to un-snag the zipper between Laura's screaming at me and getting soaked, but I finally was able to break the zipper free and we dove into the tent. As we dove in, we saw intensely bright flashes of lightening, quickly followed by huge crashes of thunder. The storm itself lasted only about 30 minutes, but it rained just about the whole night.
After waking this morning, somewhat wet and desperately needing a shower, we made ourselves a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausage to finish off our time camping. We are now in Colorado Springs, about an hour south of Denver. We'll be here two nights, then spend two nights in Denver. It's looking like we might be home a couple days earlier than we had originally anticipated, due to a combination of fatigue and dried-up funds. Laura will work on getting pictures onto Facebook later this evening.
Take care.
Elijah
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Arches National Park
Hey everyone! We have finally finished our ten day visit in the desert. This morning we left Arches National Park, and are now in Colorado on the way to the Rocky Mountains! We had a great time in all of the desert parks, but we are both looking forward to a change of scenery, and especially a drop in temperatures. Even though our last three parks were all desert climates, each one had something different to offer, and Arches was no exception. The landscape was relatively flat, with large rock formations scattered around. It was not a canyon in the same way the Grand Canyon was, and the peaks were not as mountainous as Zion. The formations were relatively easy to climb, and it was fun to hop up to the top of a rock and see a great view of the surrounding land. As the name implies, the highlight of the park was the rock arches that were formed by erosion over time. There were arches in the middle of rock structures, arches that stood on their own, and arches that stood on top of other arches. Each one was unique and quite a sight to see. We spent the two days hiking the trails to visit the arches scattered throughout the park. Since Arches is a relatively small park, we were able to see almost all of the highlighted attractions. The most famous arch in the park is Delicate Arch, a free standing structure that is best seen by taking a steep mile and a half hike to its base. After walking around a large formation, the arch appears quite suddenly, and its sheer size is breathtaking. It is much larger than either of us expected, and it is absolutely beautiful. My favorite part about the arches is how much prettier the landscape looks when seen through an arch. Each hike was interesting and above all very rewarding.
While the temperatures did soar well into the 90s, it also rained about twice a day, like clockwork. We would go on a morning hike, eat lunch, and within an hour of returning to our campsite it would rain. We would then go out for a late afternoon hike, come back and eat dinner, and it would rain again. For an area that complains about only getting a few tenths of an inch of rain per month, it seemed like plenty of rain to us. The nice part was that the rain kept the temperatures down, and the majority of stay was almost pleasant.
On our last day we planned on having mac and cheese for dinner. We had found a box at a supermarket that only required water, and so we picked up Western Family's finest shells and cheddar for a break from beans. We were super excited all day for dinner, myself in particular. Because of all the strenuous hiking we had done, I was starving by five o'clock, and so we started cooking. When the shells had finished cooking, I took Elijah's pot over to the shrubs to drain the water through the little collander in the lid. When most of the water had drained, I gave one last shake, and the lid slipped off the pot, dumping all of the shells out onto the sand. I let out a shriek, and looked over at Elijah's horrified face. Not thinking clearly, I started grabbing handfuls of boiling hot shells off the sand and putting them back in the pot, determined to save our dinner. I was so absurdly distraught that I plunged my hand straight into a prickly pear cactus, and came up with a handful of needles rather than a handful of noodles. After that, Elijah brought me out of my insanity and I left the shells where they were. Luckily, we had another box of pasta that we had been saving for pasta salad, and so all was not lost. We still got our mac and cheese, and some desert critter had a nice feast of macaroni that night.
After the mac and cheese debocle, we hiked back up to Delicate Arch to watch the sunset, and had a very nice last night in the desert. We will be in Rocky Mountain National Park for the next three nights, and then we will be done with camping for the remainder of the trip. Once we are in towns again, I will catch up with the backlog of pictures from our two weeks of camping. We will blog in a few days when we get to Colorado Springs.
Hope you all had a nice weekend,
Laura
While the temperatures did soar well into the 90s, it also rained about twice a day, like clockwork. We would go on a morning hike, eat lunch, and within an hour of returning to our campsite it would rain. We would then go out for a late afternoon hike, come back and eat dinner, and it would rain again. For an area that complains about only getting a few tenths of an inch of rain per month, it seemed like plenty of rain to us. The nice part was that the rain kept the temperatures down, and the majority of stay was almost pleasant.
On our last day we planned on having mac and cheese for dinner. We had found a box at a supermarket that only required water, and so we picked up Western Family's finest shells and cheddar for a break from beans. We were super excited all day for dinner, myself in particular. Because of all the strenuous hiking we had done, I was starving by five o'clock, and so we started cooking. When the shells had finished cooking, I took Elijah's pot over to the shrubs to drain the water through the little collander in the lid. When most of the water had drained, I gave one last shake, and the lid slipped off the pot, dumping all of the shells out onto the sand. I let out a shriek, and looked over at Elijah's horrified face. Not thinking clearly, I started grabbing handfuls of boiling hot shells off the sand and putting them back in the pot, determined to save our dinner. I was so absurdly distraught that I plunged my hand straight into a prickly pear cactus, and came up with a handful of needles rather than a handful of noodles. After that, Elijah brought me out of my insanity and I left the shells where they were. Luckily, we had another box of pasta that we had been saving for pasta salad, and so all was not lost. We still got our mac and cheese, and some desert critter had a nice feast of macaroni that night.
After the mac and cheese debocle, we hiked back up to Delicate Arch to watch the sunset, and had a very nice last night in the desert. We will be in Rocky Mountain National Park for the next three nights, and then we will be done with camping for the remainder of the trip. Once we are in towns again, I will catch up with the backlog of pictures from our two weeks of camping. We will blog in a few days when we get to Colorado Springs.
Hope you all had a nice weekend,
Laura
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Zion National Park
Hey-o everybody, this is Elijah. Here we are on our last night in Zion, and getting strangely good reception. We've had an awesome time here. When we first arrived on the 4th of July we quickly learned that our desert campsite had no shade in the afternoon, when it's typically about 100 degrees. Great. To cool ourselves down we went into the nearby gift shop to get our Zion shopping done. The desert here hasn't seen rain in about a month, and it's so hot and dry that there are no campfires or fireworks allowed. So to celebrate the U.S.'s Independence we cooked rice and beans over my small backpacking stove, and later treated ourselves to a bottle of beer each, tortilla chips and salsa. The next day we got up early and went for a treacherous hike up to Angel's Landing. It was a very steep hike, about 2.75 miles one-way. The last half mile or so followed a narrow, almost completely vertical edge, with a clear view of the canyon floor thousands of feet below. Our only chance of keeping our balance was entrusting our lives to a chain railing that was provided for at least most of the cliff-scaling. The view from the top was totally worth the climb, though. We had an awesome 360 degree view of Zion Canyon, a sea of red/orange rock cliffs dotted with a surprising amount of greenery for a desert, and the Virgin River meandering along the bottom. The climb down, however, may have been even tougher because we were now facing the long way down, just inches from where we placed each careful footstep.
After lunch and a quick cool-down session we took a walk on the Emerald Pools Trail. It was a nice hike that took us passed some cool green pools of water. They were green because of the algae that grows in them. To treat ourselves and cool off that night we went to a nearby store to get ice cream for dinner. We both had peanut butter fudge ice cream and it was glorious.
The next day started off with a bang when Laura and I both saw summer tanagers when we were in different places in the campground. We headed out to Weeping Rock, a cliff of sandstone that has a constant flow of water pouring out of the cracks. On that short walk we saw a bright orange, black and white black-headed grosbeak. Once we got to the rock it looked and sounded like a jungle because it was so lush and wet. The rock was covered with hanging gardens that included western and golden columbine.
From that trail we headed up the Hidden Canyon Trail. This was another steep climb, with more cliff's edge chains to hold onto. It wasn't as dangerous as Angel's Landing, but still provided great views of the canyon. When were done with that hike, however, we were just about out of desert clothing. So we collected our dirty clothes at our site and brought them to a laundromat in the nearby town. Besides the dryer eating one of our quarters, it was pretty uneventful.
Tonight the weather has cooled down, and it looks like there's a mighty storm brewing. Sleeping has been difficult when it's been so hot at night, so hopefully a little rain will drop the temperature some. We're off to Arches National Park in eastern Utah tomorrow. What's another 3 nights in the desert?
Until next time.
Elijah
After lunch and a quick cool-down session we took a walk on the Emerald Pools Trail. It was a nice hike that took us passed some cool green pools of water. They were green because of the algae that grows in them. To treat ourselves and cool off that night we went to a nearby store to get ice cream for dinner. We both had peanut butter fudge ice cream and it was glorious.
The next day started off with a bang when Laura and I both saw summer tanagers when we were in different places in the campground. We headed out to Weeping Rock, a cliff of sandstone that has a constant flow of water pouring out of the cracks. On that short walk we saw a bright orange, black and white black-headed grosbeak. Once we got to the rock it looked and sounded like a jungle because it was so lush and wet. The rock was covered with hanging gardens that included western and golden columbine.
From that trail we headed up the Hidden Canyon Trail. This was another steep climb, with more cliff's edge chains to hold onto. It wasn't as dangerous as Angel's Landing, but still provided great views of the canyon. When were done with that hike, however, we were just about out of desert clothing. So we collected our dirty clothes at our site and brought them to a laundromat in the nearby town. Besides the dryer eating one of our quarters, it was pretty uneventful.
Tonight the weather has cooled down, and it looks like there's a mighty storm brewing. Sleeping has been difficult when it's been so hot at night, so hopefully a little rain will drop the temperature some. We're off to Arches National Park in eastern Utah tomorrow. What's another 3 nights in the desert?
Until next time.
Elijah
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Grand Canyon National Park
Hey everyone!
WOW. So I had heard rumblings about the Grand Canyon being pretty deep, but on foot, with a huge pack on your back in the blazing heat, wow. It's REALLY far down. But we made it, and even though it was the toughest hike either of us have ever done, it was also one of the most amazing experiences we've ever had. So to start at the beginning, we set our alarm for 3am on the first morning so that we start our hike by 4 and hopefully beat the heat. Elijah's watch alarm went off at 3, he turned it off, and all of a sudden it was 3:45. Whoops. We finally got up, broke camp, drove to the trailhead, and finally started our hike around 5:30am. The trail was wide and well kept with rocks lining the cliff edge of the trail. About a quarter mile down, Elijah spots a nest of Mexican Jays. Most of you know that Elijah is unnaturally obsessed with birds, and so this took over our attention for a good couple of minutes. Finally he put the binoculars down and we continued on our way. After a few moments, the trail began to narrow, and the rocks that provided a barrier between us and the cliff's edge disappeared. Very quickly the trail became outrageously perilous and difficult. We found ourselves trying to climb over waist high rocks, sliding down slippery slopes trying to catch ourselves before sliding off the edge, and weaving under and over trees, all terrifyingly close to a steep drop off the canyon wall. We started muttering to ourselves, "hmm, didn't expect this," and "yikes, I wonder how the mules carry people through this." We had been told this was the easiest trail (if any hike down the Grand Canyon could be easy) and the most hiker friendly, and it was certainly not turning out to be such. Finally, the "trail" turned down a very steep rock, and appeared to simply drop off the edge of the canyon. Finally Elijah turned around and I said, "I'm not sure, but I don't think we're going the right way." We looked off in the distance and saw the beautiful wide trail with families walking down together with their children, and we looked at the bleak "trail" ahead of us, and finally came to the conclusion that our path was probably not going to cross with theirs, and we turned around. We wound back over rocks and under trees, grabbed onto tree roots while shuffling across the slanted path. After about a half an hour, we came out onto the trail where we had stopped to look at those damn birds. Apparently, we had gotten so distracted by the birds that we didn't see the very first switchback in the trail, and just blew straight ahead off of the main path. What the heck, we're just a couple of kids from New York, how were we supposed to know how to get down the Grand Canyon? So now we had not only slept in, but had just lost an hour in our treacherous detour, and so we hurried on our way. The main trail now felt like a cake walk, and we reached the 1.5 mile rest house easily. We continued on to stop at the 3 mile rest house, and then onto the Indian Gardens Campground about 4.5 miles down the trail. It was about 9am at this point, and we decided to stop there for the afternoon to wait out the heat. While hiking, we had to be constantly eating salty snacks and alternating between water and gatorade to keep our body temperatures down. By the time we stopped at the campground, it was already pretty hot and we found a shelter to pass the time in. It was very pleasant in the shade, and we had a nice relaxing afternoon. I read a book while Elijah napped, until he woke up and stared at me until I agreed to play with him. We played cards, had lunch, fought off the feisty ground squirrels that tried to burrow into our packs, and went to a ranger program about rattlesnakes. Finally around 4pm when it was slightly cooler, we put our packs and boots back on and finished the 4.7 mile hike to the bottom of the canyon. As we got closer we began to see streams that flowed down to the river, and all we could hear was rushing water. Then out of nowhere we rounded a corner and the Colorado River was in front of us. It was absolutely huge with a very fast current. We hiked alongside it until we saw an amazing silver bridge for hikers to cross. After the surprisingly long walk across the river, it was only a short ways to the Bright Angel Campground where we would be spending the night. The campground was located along a gentle stream with large rocks that formed perfect little swimming holes. We ate our dinner, set up camp, and went to bed. Even in our mesh tent with plenty of ventilation, we were sweating. It must have been in the mid 80s, and Elijah decided to cool down by sprawling out, squishing me into the tent wall. It was not the most comfortable of nights, but the stars were incredible.
The next morning we woke up around 8am, and it was already hot out. At about 9, we walked to the rangers station to look at books to check out, and we happened to walk past a thermometer. It was nine o'clock in the morning, and it was already over 100 degrees. We didn't look at the thermometer anymore after that. We spent the day at the creek in the shade either swimming, playing cards, or dreaming of the Wendy's frostys that we were going to get as soon as we got out of there. You might wonder why we always seem to have obsessive food cravings on every hike we take, but when you are sitting in a 120 degree pit eating hot pasta salad out of a ziplock bag, your mind has to go somewhere. Those frostys were the only thing that got us out of that canyon, let me tell you. As a matter of fact, we are sitting in Wendy's right now, fed and happy. (Side note: WE FOUND CHACO TACOS TODAY!! We've been searching since Yosemite) Anyways, we had a pleasant day despite the heat enjoying the incredible scenery, and around 4pm we started our 4.7 mile hike back up to Indian Gardens for the night. It was a steep, difficult climb, but we finally made it to camp in time to watch a beautiful sunset from inside the canyon. We went to bed early and woke up at 3am the next morning (we actually got up this time). We were hiking by 4, and sweating by 5. The climb was steep and never ending. At each rest stop we collapsed in exhaustion. At the final rest stop with only 1.5 miles to go, we saw a Bighorn Sheep laying down on a giant rock near the rest house. It was awesome. What was not awesome, was the last 1.5 miles. Apparently, this last stretch is called "heartbreak hill." Well no one told us about that until we had reached the last quarter mile, and it got to a point where we could not walk 100 yards without collapsing on a rock to catch our breath. It was getting hot, and we could barely move. Finally, FINALLY, we reached the top and collapsed onto a bench at the bus stop. Unfortunately, we still had a 10 minute walk to our car, and the slightest incline made our eyes water. Upon arriving at the car and finding that our fuel canisters had not blown up in the heat while we were gone, we were giddy with happiness. We still cannot believe that we actually hiked the Grand Canyon, it is surreal and amazing that we had this opportunity. We have now showered, eaten, and are heading to the North Rim of the canyon for the night before heading to Zion National Park tomorrow.
I hope you all have a great 4th of July!
we will post again in a few days,
Laura
WOW. So I had heard rumblings about the Grand Canyon being pretty deep, but on foot, with a huge pack on your back in the blazing heat, wow. It's REALLY far down. But we made it, and even though it was the toughest hike either of us have ever done, it was also one of the most amazing experiences we've ever had. So to start at the beginning, we set our alarm for 3am on the first morning so that we start our hike by 4 and hopefully beat the heat. Elijah's watch alarm went off at 3, he turned it off, and all of a sudden it was 3:45. Whoops. We finally got up, broke camp, drove to the trailhead, and finally started our hike around 5:30am. The trail was wide and well kept with rocks lining the cliff edge of the trail. About a quarter mile down, Elijah spots a nest of Mexican Jays. Most of you know that Elijah is unnaturally obsessed with birds, and so this took over our attention for a good couple of minutes. Finally he put the binoculars down and we continued on our way. After a few moments, the trail began to narrow, and the rocks that provided a barrier between us and the cliff's edge disappeared. Very quickly the trail became outrageously perilous and difficult. We found ourselves trying to climb over waist high rocks, sliding down slippery slopes trying to catch ourselves before sliding off the edge, and weaving under and over trees, all terrifyingly close to a steep drop off the canyon wall. We started muttering to ourselves, "hmm, didn't expect this," and "yikes, I wonder how the mules carry people through this." We had been told this was the easiest trail (if any hike down the Grand Canyon could be easy) and the most hiker friendly, and it was certainly not turning out to be such. Finally, the "trail" turned down a very steep rock, and appeared to simply drop off the edge of the canyon. Finally Elijah turned around and I said, "I'm not sure, but I don't think we're going the right way." We looked off in the distance and saw the beautiful wide trail with families walking down together with their children, and we looked at the bleak "trail" ahead of us, and finally came to the conclusion that our path was probably not going to cross with theirs, and we turned around. We wound back over rocks and under trees, grabbed onto tree roots while shuffling across the slanted path. After about a half an hour, we came out onto the trail where we had stopped to look at those damn birds. Apparently, we had gotten so distracted by the birds that we didn't see the very first switchback in the trail, and just blew straight ahead off of the main path. What the heck, we're just a couple of kids from New York, how were we supposed to know how to get down the Grand Canyon? So now we had not only slept in, but had just lost an hour in our treacherous detour, and so we hurried on our way. The main trail now felt like a cake walk, and we reached the 1.5 mile rest house easily. We continued on to stop at the 3 mile rest house, and then onto the Indian Gardens Campground about 4.5 miles down the trail. It was about 9am at this point, and we decided to stop there for the afternoon to wait out the heat. While hiking, we had to be constantly eating salty snacks and alternating between water and gatorade to keep our body temperatures down. By the time we stopped at the campground, it was already pretty hot and we found a shelter to pass the time in. It was very pleasant in the shade, and we had a nice relaxing afternoon. I read a book while Elijah napped, until he woke up and stared at me until I agreed to play with him. We played cards, had lunch, fought off the feisty ground squirrels that tried to burrow into our packs, and went to a ranger program about rattlesnakes. Finally around 4pm when it was slightly cooler, we put our packs and boots back on and finished the 4.7 mile hike to the bottom of the canyon. As we got closer we began to see streams that flowed down to the river, and all we could hear was rushing water. Then out of nowhere we rounded a corner and the Colorado River was in front of us. It was absolutely huge with a very fast current. We hiked alongside it until we saw an amazing silver bridge for hikers to cross. After the surprisingly long walk across the river, it was only a short ways to the Bright Angel Campground where we would be spending the night. The campground was located along a gentle stream with large rocks that formed perfect little swimming holes. We ate our dinner, set up camp, and went to bed. Even in our mesh tent with plenty of ventilation, we were sweating. It must have been in the mid 80s, and Elijah decided to cool down by sprawling out, squishing me into the tent wall. It was not the most comfortable of nights, but the stars were incredible.
The next morning we woke up around 8am, and it was already hot out. At about 9, we walked to the rangers station to look at books to check out, and we happened to walk past a thermometer. It was nine o'clock in the morning, and it was already over 100 degrees. We didn't look at the thermometer anymore after that. We spent the day at the creek in the shade either swimming, playing cards, or dreaming of the Wendy's frostys that we were going to get as soon as we got out of there. You might wonder why we always seem to have obsessive food cravings on every hike we take, but when you are sitting in a 120 degree pit eating hot pasta salad out of a ziplock bag, your mind has to go somewhere. Those frostys were the only thing that got us out of that canyon, let me tell you. As a matter of fact, we are sitting in Wendy's right now, fed and happy. (Side note: WE FOUND CHACO TACOS TODAY!! We've been searching since Yosemite) Anyways, we had a pleasant day despite the heat enjoying the incredible scenery, and around 4pm we started our 4.7 mile hike back up to Indian Gardens for the night. It was a steep, difficult climb, but we finally made it to camp in time to watch a beautiful sunset from inside the canyon. We went to bed early and woke up at 3am the next morning (we actually got up this time). We were hiking by 4, and sweating by 5. The climb was steep and never ending. At each rest stop we collapsed in exhaustion. At the final rest stop with only 1.5 miles to go, we saw a Bighorn Sheep laying down on a giant rock near the rest house. It was awesome. What was not awesome, was the last 1.5 miles. Apparently, this last stretch is called "heartbreak hill." Well no one told us about that until we had reached the last quarter mile, and it got to a point where we could not walk 100 yards without collapsing on a rock to catch our breath. It was getting hot, and we could barely move. Finally, FINALLY, we reached the top and collapsed onto a bench at the bus stop. Unfortunately, we still had a 10 minute walk to our car, and the slightest incline made our eyes water. Upon arriving at the car and finding that our fuel canisters had not blown up in the heat while we were gone, we were giddy with happiness. We still cannot believe that we actually hiked the Grand Canyon, it is surreal and amazing that we had this opportunity. We have now showered, eaten, and are heading to the North Rim of the canyon for the night before heading to Zion National Park tomorrow.
I hope you all have a great 4th of July!
we will post again in a few days,
Laura
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Why stop at the top?
We're going down!! We're spending tonight at the south rim of the Grand Canyon, waking up at 3am, and beginning our descent to the bottom! We spoke to a ranger today, and while it is definitely dangerous, we are confident that we can make this hike safely. We will only hike during the nighttime hours when it is cool, and will spend the hours of 10am - 4pm in the shade. We will have access to plenty of water, and there is a ranger station at the bottom. We will take one day to hike the 9 miles down, and two days to hike back up. Well we're off to bed, and in less than six hours we'll be up and outta here! Wish us luck!
Laura
Laura
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