National parks pt. 2

So unfortunately I wasn’t able to write as much as I hoped seeing as the trip itinerary was so physically demanding and I was just tired every day… so here’s the retrospective of the whole trip, as I’m writing it on the final day. I will write a separate thing for my experiences in Vegas later since that necessitates something of its own. shudder…

If you plan on doing something similar, please do note that for almost all of the length of this trip there was exactly zero cell service. Plan accordingly and bring lots of water+ sunscreen.

Zion

Zion National Park as stated in the previous post was the first park I visited on the trip. It’s right in south-central Utah which means the drive from LV isn’t too long. Accomodations there were pretty good, having stayed at Springhill Suites. There was a neat fire pit right outside the breakfast area and it had a great view of the surrounding terrain.

Overall the scenery was beautiful with a real Mediterranean feel that reminded me of things I’ve seen in Lebanon or something. (makes sense considering the name of the park.) Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go and hike Angel’s Landing since I didn’t get the permit but I did go the entire length of the Narrows and went up a couple other trails which I can’t recall the names of.

I would definitely recommend going. The trails I went on were pretty manageable and I think would all be suitable for families or beginners, save maybe the Narrows. Even that one is easy enough if you have enough grit to get through the thing.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon National Park was a highlight since I had more time there and got to experience more of the park. The whole shtick with Bryce is the high concentration of hoodoos, pillar-like rock structures formed by frost and water erosion over long periods of time. There were definitely a hell of a lot of them! Views were very beautiful and the hike down and back up was manageable even if it was about like 8 miles or so.

I woke up early the second day to go watch the sun rise, and it’s something I would recommend you do too. The temperature was perfect and the views were impeccable.

Add in the deer and you’ve got a pretty nice spot!

Capitol Reef

I only spent an afternoon here so there isn’t much to say exactly. Of course the scenery was very nice, especially around Panorama Point and the other spots, but I can’t exactly go into detail about the trails since I didn’t do any of them. :(

I do hope whoever died here found peace though.

Arches

Another highlight of the trip! Both the stargazing and the natural terrain lived up greatly to expectations. Starting with the former, as a city-dweller, it was captivating to see the night sky that I’ve seen so often in photos but so rarely in real life. Light pollution is inescapable for most people and unfortunately it’s now the case where most people will never truly see the night sky as it really is. To finally see the Milky Way, all the constellations, and even some other galaxies was something I will never forget.

Now the actual arches! To think that these windows are all caused by natural erosion is a little hard to comprehend. The timeframes that these landforms are forming on are incredible and many of these rock layers date from way before the age of the dinosaurs. These arches are no exception. I am told that they are reaching the end of their geologic lifespan before they erode away completely, but by that they’re probably talking several tens of thousands of years. EIther way, it’s good that I was able to see them in their heyday.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how nice Moab is. Even though it has such a low population it doesn’t feel like a typical American small town with the Dollar General and the McDonalds on Main Street. Rather it seems oddly cosmopolitan, I guess owing to the tourism industry being its main economic lifeblood. I got some decent shaved ice from this nice lady operating a stand.

Rocky Mountain

Rocky Mountain National Park was I think the longest or second-longest drive of the trip. It went from a desert to a cold mountainous forest environment that you would picture when thinking of Colorado. Quite scenic.

I stopped by in Eagle to get a quick bite and was mildly surprised by the fact that they not only had citywide WiFi, but also… bus service? After doing some research I found that the population was about 7,500 and that the median income was about $100,000 for a family. Wow…

The hikes at Rocky Mountain were considerably more difficult than the others so far and were in fact the toughest of the whole trip. But seeeing Lake Haiyaha and all the amazing views from the mountains made up for all the lack of feeling in my legs and feet and my incredible sunburn. The chipmunks were even so kind as to pose for the photos!

A brief mention too, at the cabin where I was staying I got to have front-row seats to a wedding from the hot tub, and then the next day I saw a double rainbow after a thunderstorm while in said hot tub. What a life.

Going up past the treeline, I found a landscape that was pretty reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands in my mind’s eye. It was full of these rocky hillsides and low-lying alpine plants. I can see why some people call this reigon the Switzerland of America, since it does resemble the Alps quite a lot.

Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde was a place I’ve been wanting to visit for a while since I’m interested in anthropology and history so there was a bit of academic interest in the site. However I arrived too late to get a tour into the place, which was very unfortunate. Nevertheless, the scenic drive is pretty interesting too, and you can get a good view of all the different buildings without having to walk much, which makes it probably the most child-friendly of all of these.

Seeing all these cliff dwellings really makes you wonder how life must have been for these people. I found myself thinking about how it must have sounded when this place was still populated. Maybe there was some random kids crying? Dogs running around and being a nuisance? Fascinating stuff, and I definitely wish to learn more about this place and the history of the settled natives in general.

Antelope Canyon

Definitely was a very hot tourist destination considering all the people there! There were lots of Europeans and Orthodox Jews in the other places too but this was on a whole new level, the entire visitor center was packed to the gills. This was the only guided tour I took and it was decent enough.. My tour guide told me all the best photo spots.

It’s a bit hampered by the fact that there’s not much to see within the canyon. I’m no geology expert so I couldn’t exactly dissect all of the various formations and it all looked pretty similar to me.

Lake Powell

This was my first time ever kayaking and to be honest it was pretty nauseating but otherwise it was a good experience. I got one of the kayaks with the foot pedals so the only paddling I really had to do was when getting close to land or if I was stuck. The currents were pretty weak but I get very easily seasick and I hurled twice, once when going to the canyon and once when heading back to the marina. There were lots of powered watercraft too which made a lot of wake and worsened the situation. As for the kayak itself, the foot pedals ended up getting extremely hot and there was no sun protection, so all the parts of my foot I didn’t manage to get sunblock on got very badly burnt. It still hurts as I’m writing this. Stlil, it was fun to experience something new.

Closing thoughts

All in all these destinations were all pretty nice, and of course if I was able to spend more time in any of the places I would probably have had an even better time. I will definitely go and visit more of these parks in the future, since as you know, America’s park system is under threat and many of these places will begin to deteriorate from now on.

Also fuck Vegas, but that’s for next time.

[This post was written while listening to Mayhem - Live in Leipzig]

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