USA National Parks - May/June 2007

This was an Exodus trekking holiday visiting six USA National Parks in the states of California, Utah, and Arizona. The day references match the Trip Notes for this trek.

It was a camping trek. The trek leaders were Ron Prince and Dave Patrick. The trekkers were as follows:
. . . Edna Robinson, Margaret Richardson, and Derrick Holmes, from Derbyshire
. . . Peter Patton and myself from SW London
. . . Peter and Sue Davis from Watford
. . . Ian and Ruth Boam
. . . Paul Bancroft from Basingstoke
. . . Jo Prosser from Glasgow

Click on any picture to enlarge to full screen.

Trek Summary
The trek objective is to introduce the trekkers to some of the best in the USA's National Parks. The trek started in San Francisco. We then headed East for Yosemite, then Cathedral Gorge, Zion, Bryce, the Red Canyon, Arches, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, and finally the Grand Canyon, before spending our last night in Las Vegas, and returning home. This required us to drive some 2,200 miles, but it was a camping trek, with all but the first and last night spent in tents. The weather was fine to hot, reaching 100% F in Arches National Park. The opportunities for taking photos were extremely good, and it has been hard work limiting this slide set to 250 pictures. We had shorter walks each day, with two full day treks, Half Dome in Yosemite, and the descent to the Colerado River in the Grand Canyon. A very good time was had by all. My thanks to the other trekkers.
May 27 - San Francisco and Yosemite
Having travelled out on Saturday May 26th, Sunday May 27th starts with two sights in San Francisco, then we hit the road for a pleasant drive over to Yosemite, where we set up camp, and then pay a short visit to the park.
We stop by to see the Museum of Arts			And we take a short walk onto the Golden Gate bridge.
At Yosemite, first sight of Half Dome in the distance.			Yosemite has many high water falls. This is Ribbon Falls.
This is Bridal Veil Falls ..			named so, as the wind often sprays the fall, to look like a veil.
The famous profile of El Capitan.			The beautiful river Merced which flows through Yosemite Valley.
An evening view of Yosemite Falls,			and a view of Yosemite Valley.
May 28 - Yosemite
We go first to the Mariposa Grove, home of Yosemite's giant sequoia trees, and then to Glacier Point, from which we walk down to Yosemite village.
Sequoia trees are totally majestic. These splendid trees have most of their leaves at the top.			Their trunks are massive, and can easily withstand the odd bush fire.
Many of the trees have names. This is Grizzly Giant, and is thought to be 2,700 years old.			And this is the California Tunnel Tree.
This is the Faithful Couple.			And this is the Clothespin Tree.
What a secure place to live.			This fallen giant is called the Fallen Wawona Tunnel Tree. The trunk is hollow now.
The squirrels here could have come from home.			For the afternoon, we drive up to Glacier Point to take the Four-Mile Trail back to Yosemite village. First a group photo at Gacier Point.
The views all round are stunning. This is Half Dome looking decidedly sinister.			Half Dome, and a view to the North of Yosemite NP.
Half Dome at the head of Yosemite Valley.			We get many superb views of Yosemite Falls. Here, we look down on them.
Later, we look up at them.			A view down Yosemite Valley, El Capitan is on the right.
On the valley floor, we are surprised and delighted to find two black bears quite near the road. One was in the tree, the other was impatient, at the bottom of the tree.			So many classic views in Yosemite. This is El Capitan in the evening light, from the Merced river.
May 29 - Yosemite, the Half Dome walk
We walk to the top of Half Dome. It is a considerable climb of 4,600 feet from Yosemite Valley to the summit at 8,842 feet, but is well rewarded with some spectacular views of Nevada and Vernal Falls. We use the John Muir Trail to ascend, and the Nevada and Mist Trails coming down.
After an early start, we get our first view of Vernall Fall from the John Muir Trail.			Quite a bit higher, and we see across to Nevada Fall.
This is the river Merced, just above Nevada Fall.			The bridge at the top of Nevada Fall.
At Nevada, the water tumbles out of sight.			A good spot for elevenses, at the top of Nevada Fall.
Steller's Jays also enjoyed this spot.			Having walked round the back of Half Dome, our target is now close.
This is the last section. Look carefully, and you can see people clambering up the bare rock, using twin steel hausers to help the climb. Edna is ready to go.			One of the rewards at the top. You can look down directly onto Yosemite Valley.
A close up on the very top of Half Dome, and it doesn't look that secure either.			Edna starts on the way down.
This bit shouldn't be too hard.			Some of the group are waiting there just below the top, including Dave, and a trekking friend, Jenny.
We go down the other side of Nevada Fall, and hear and see the full force of these majestic falls.			There was a great deal of noise, and much spray.
Below Nevada Fall the river Merced transforms into an extraordinary 'race'.			Then the river sweeps over the perfectly formed Vernal Fall.
And a great deal of mist blows over the path beneath Vernal Fall. Not for nothing is this path called the Mist Trail.
May 30 - Cathedral Gorge
This day is mostly travel. We cover 410 miles before we arrive at Cathedral Gorge State Park. The first part of the journey remains in Yosemite, as we drive through the high Tuolumne Meadows, and exit the park to the west.
From the Tuolumne Meadows, we can look back to Half Dome, showing the final route to the top.			Last view of Half Dome.
Picturesque May Lake in Yosemite.			And a rather well fed marmot.
Next we pass Mono Lake, which is a salt lake.			Into Nevada, and we hit Rachel, best known for its large number of UFO sightings, which can be turned to tourist advantage.
And I make friends with a dinosaur.			Finally ariving at Cathedral Gorge State Park. Where we soon see a slippery customer.
It was sunset, and a good time to photo the strange erosions which form the gorge.			The scale of the gorge is quite small - thanks Derrick.
The erosions come in many varied forms,			such as these ...
and these,			and these,
and these.			The bird seems to be enjoying it too.
In some places the erosion forms complete cliffs from the bottom to the top.			If you walk into such a slot canyon, it forms a chimney about you.
Time to get back to camp, as the moon is up ...			and there's a cracking BBQ being put together by Ron. Well done Ron, best steaks ever!
May 31 - Zion
After a short journey to Zion Park, we walk to the Emerald Pools, and then back to camp.
As we enter Zion Park, a typical view of the massive granite mountains framing the valley of the Virgin River.			Many of the cacti are in flower.
The walk to the Emerald Pools has a few narrow passages.			Photo call - Dave (leader), Ruth, Derrick, Edna, and Margaret.
These are the Twin Brothers.			We return to camp following the Virgin River.
Ahead is The Watchman. Camp is just the other side.			Peter and I find an ale called Polygamy Porter.
So we get ourselves photoed enjoying our booty. (The Watchman is behind).
June 1 - Zion, Red Canyon, and Kodachrome camp
The morning is spent doing the fine walk up to the top of Angel's Landing. In the afternoon we drive to Kodachrome campsite, passing by the Red Canyon.
This is our destination, Angel's Landing, as seen from the valley. We approach it from the left.			This zig-zaggy ascent is known as "Walter's Wiggles". He is said to have 31 wiggles.
We reach a saddle. From here on it is precipitous, and we need the steel chains, provided to make the walk easier. (via ferrata).			Our first close-up of Angel's Landing.
Margaret, Jo, Peter, and Paul enjoying a pause, and the view.			We get terrific views down into Zion Canyon.
Margaret uses the steel chains, (and doesn't look down).			That's where we have come from.
Joie de vivre takes over.			Jo is there too.
Take care, Dave !			Shucks, anyone can do that !
Tough choice, walnut or hazel nut ?			Actually I prefer the dried cranberry. The cheeky chipmonks scampered around the precipitous ledges.
Derrick, Ruth, Margaret, and Edna (Angel's Landing).			Paul, Jo, and Dave (Angel's Landing).
If you go up Walter's Wiggles, you have to go down them too.			We have left Zion. The landscape is exotic with many wind eroded rocks. This rocky face is called the Checkerboard Mesa, for obvious reasons. The vertical erosions still have the experts puzzled.
Also, on the road, we pay a short visit to the Red Canyon, featuring these eroded cliffs.			Still the Red Canyon, but Bryce can not be far away.
Being May, there were plenty of colourful wild flowers to enrich the scenery.			More flowers.
We reach our destination, a campsite called Kodachrome. Here the local scavengers are chuckars, very well turned out.			In case you were wondering, these columns of whiter sandstone, which seem to burst through the redder sandstone, are called geysers.
Kodachrome has good scenery, full of these geysers.
June 2 - Bryce, and Arches
Bryce National Park is nearby, and the morning is given over to walking the park, and photography. This must be one of the most photgraphed places on the planet. The afternoon we have to ourselves. In the evening we pay a short visit to Arches National Park.
Most of the party elect to walk in Bryce. Pete and Sue look very comfortable in the saddle as they do it by horseback.
We stop first at Inspiration Point. This is the full panoramic view, almost 180 degrees of viewing out from the point.
Here is just the left (north) piece with more telephoto.			We drive on to Bryce Point, where we start walking. This view from Bryce Point.
We start down into the canyon, the views are superb, and changing all the time.			We join the aptly named Peek-aboo Trail,
where many a strange peek-aboo may be found.			Sometimes the view may be surprising !
But the backdrop is always superb.			Onward the trail.
All these pinnacle things are called Hoodoos.			This chipmonk was a true professional, and posed easily for his photo.
Well - tipping is accepted in America.			Endless variations in the scenery.
More views ...			More views ...
The hoodoos are often capped in white. One last view.			We have the afternoon free. I do a local walkabout, and see more geysers. This one is Mama Bear Geyser.
This is another flowering cacti.			And this is simply a bunny.
We enter Arches NP about 7:00 pm, and drive to the walk-off point for Delicate Arch. The walk is 1.5 miles. The arch is well-proportioned and delicate, but large too.			There are plenty of people here, gathered for the sunset. As you can see it is quite overcast.
On the return we see some petroglyphs, refer next photo.			See the photo.
June 3 - Arches
This is our main visit to Arches National Park, home to 1,700 arches. An arch, by the way, has been defined to require at least a 3 foot span, and you must be able to see the sky through it. We take a longer walk, and a few shorter walks, in the morning. The day is very hot, so we take a bit of a siesta in the afternoon, and enjoy a restaurant meal in Moab in the evening.
Near the entrance to Arches you find this trio, called The Three Gossips.			Much of the rock in the Arches has been turned vertical, and water has caused the rock to form "fins", as in this photo. Further erosion can produce arches in fins such as these.
Our walk takes us to Landscape Arch, widest arch in the park, with a colossal span of 306 feet. It became thinner in 1991, when a significant portion of the arch dropped off.			Worth a group photo, I would say. Thanks, Ron.
We followed an interesting trail into the Devil's Garden.			This arch is called The Double O, being one arch on top of another.
This is a look back through the larger arch.			That looks to be Devil's Garden scenery.
More strange spires.			All the pines here seem more dead than alive, but they cling on, a touch like Derrick - sorry !
Well, I was never going to get to the top of this spire.			Our route is now called the Primitive Trail, quite exciting.
And this arch is known as The Double Arch, two, side by side.			Next, we call on a pair called the North Window and the South Window.
And, on our way out of the park we take another good look at Ron's favourite, Balanced Rock.			And as you walk round it, it certainly appears more unlikely than ever.
June 4 - Monument Valley, and Canyon de Chelly
Both these parks are in the Navajo Indian Reservation, which is in Utah, but is owned and managed by the Navajos. We don't stop in Monument Valley, which is good for making films, and horse riding, but it is a bit large for walking in, so we just take a few photos from the Navajo Visitor Centre. Fyi, rocks which are wider than they are high are known as mesas. Those which are pillar-like are called spires, and those which are roughly as wide as they are high are called buttes. In Canyon de Chelly we walk down into the canyon to see the ancient Anasazi Indian dwellings close up.
Classic buttes, spires, and mesas in Monument Valley, (and a very straight road).			More buttes and spires. You can see why the film companies love this place.
These mud huts are at the Navajo Visitor Centre. The huts don't look that impressive, but take a look inside.			This is the female home, on the right, where the family spent most of its time, made totally robust using stout wooden poles to line the inside in a very systematic way.
And this is the male home, smaller, and using a different architecture inside.			For variety, every now and then there are spiky dark rocks. These are actually deceased volcanoes. The crater has long eroded away, just leaving the spike of risen lava.
In early afternoon we pitch our tents in the camp site near Canyon de Chelly, and there were some strong winds. I don't think 6 people were really necessary, but it was windy.			Canyon de Chelly is very scenic, a broad canyon with some very sheer sides.
Another view into the canyon.			This striking rock is called Spider Rock.
And these are the Anasazi ruins we have come to see, looking down from the rim of the canyon,			and now from directly below. Clearly dwellings which were difficult to attack.
However, the local goats seemed to be quite at home on the rock face.
June 5 - Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon is our last National Park. It takes half the day to do the journey. The camp site is very central. We have a 45 minute helicopter flight arranged for 4:30 pm, and we make a point of visiting Yavapai Point to see the sunset.
Ron and Dave enjoyed this. They insisted we walk to the canyon brim at Mather Point blindfolded. I will guess that Dave took this one.			Of course, it's a terrific view, whether you look down river,
or up river,			or straight across. This well-known formation is called The Battle Ship.
Next is the helicopter flight with Maverick Helicopters.			This one was taken by Maverick, to sell back to us. The helicopter party was Luke (the very young pilot), Jo, Peter, Paul, and Derrick (back row); Roland, Sue and Pete in front.
In the helicopter back seats, Paul, Derrick and Peter.			And in the front, I keep an eye on Luke, the pilot, who is very young!
You get a different sort of view when the canyon is completely beneath you.			The helicopter travels at 100 mph, so the view is changing all the time.
Wonderful panoramas of the Colerado River below.			We go up the river some way
The flight also passes over the Little Colorado River, which flows through a large side canyon to the main canyon.			Further down the Little Colorado River.
The helicopter rises to go above the canyon.			Another aerial view.
Back in the main canyon, as we start our return trip.			Now, it is near sunset, and we have come to view the canyon from Yavapai Point, one of the most renown points for seeing a Canyon sunset.
The view is constantly shifting, so many photos were taken.			All these are looking generally eastwards.
And more ...			Not so much left in the sun now.
The sunset continues.			The remaining rocks glow a little redder,
and redder,			and redder.
While the top layer of limestone goes rosy.			Finally it is done. One last view to the east.
June 6 - Grand Canyon
Our final day on the trek, and we make it a good one. There has been plenty of discussion in the last few days over whether we could reasonably expect to achieve the full descent, down to the bottom, and then back up again, all in a day. Trek leaders Ron and Dave felt obliged to advise us against it, and duly made us sign an "Independent Travel" document to take us out of their care, while we did this walk, but brave hearts were well rewarded. The weather was comparatively cool for June, and the 4 of us who undertook the walk each had one of our best walks ever. The walk is very special, and so different to any other walk one is likely to do.
So, this is what we intrepid 4 had to sign. The signatures show that Peter, Edna, Roland, and Paul absolve Trek America from any consequences of their foolhardy actions.			We get to the start of South Kaibab Trail at 7:40. The sun is up, and it looks like we shall have a fine day.
Prominent at the start of the walk is this rock, called the O'Neill Butte.			The views are terrific all the way down.
O'Neill Butte, and Cedar Ridge,			one of the two stations where mules are kept.
We continue down. The path can be seen ahead.			It's basically a ridge path. See the path in the foreground.
Group photo under this rather fine cactus. Roland, Peter, Paul and Edna.			We were rather excited to see several American Condors. Seems they were not quite so excited to see us!
All these condors were tagged by a number. That's no 4 having a rest.			Being early in the day, most of the condors were resting.
But they did take flight every now and then.			And that looks like no 4 again.
If you are sitting comfortably. This one is a movie, but it won't win any prizes. (NB: for broadband only - the file is 12MB).			We are 2/3 down, called the Tonto Plateau. This is the other place where mules are kept.
A mule train approaches from below,			so we step aside.
The path continues on another ridge (foreground)			At last! First sight of the Colorado River.
Another view.			The river is clearer now, and we can see the lower bridge, and the path along the base of the canyon.
And this is the last stretch of walking down, leading to the upper bridge.			Down the bottom, there are plenty of rafters taking a break.
One raft is on its way.			We take a break by the rushing stream in Bright Angel Creek.
Very refreshing.			We continue along the base of the canyon, to the lower bridge.
Plenty of desert flora here.			Last one of the rafts, and the river, looking back upstream.
This is now the Bright Angel Trail, and much of it is in the valleys.			A mule train heads towards the bottom.
No worries. Not a real bandit.			Another mule party is on the way down.
Now we can look down on the lower Bright Angel Trail			Another view down the trail.
We are approaching Indian Gardens, and see a mule deer feeding in the shade.			We get a temperature check at Indian Gardens, 1/3 the way up. 80 F was very comfortable walking. We were ready for it to be much hotter.
This amused us. We didn't see one of these on the South Kaibab Trail.			It is now onwards and upwards to reach the canyon rim.
Still, plenty hot enough for the cacti.			It's not at all clear where the path will go, as we continue up the valley.
We begin to get wider canyon views again.			Still a bit to go ..
As we near the top, I'm beginning to feel very pleased about it.			Victory pose. The walking is done. Mission accomplished.
June 7 - Las Vegas
Last holiday day. We drive 300 miles to reach Las Vegas. We take an early dinner at an amazing buffet restaurant at about 6:00, and then check out the famous city, and some of us dabble at the gambling tables. Words can hardly describe Las Vegas, and these pictures only show a fraction of it, but anyone who has been there before will immediately recognise where they have come from.
This is inside the Belagio Hotel and Casino. All the large hotels are most extravagently decorated.			And outside, this is Belagio Lake, looks peaceful,
until it errupts. It is now Belagio Fountains, a great display of water fountains wrything in sync with rock music pouring from every lamp post!			Next is Paris Hotel Casino, which of course has a copy of the Eiffel Tower!
and a hot air balloon!			Next comes Monte Carlo Resort and Casino.
Then it is the New York New York Hotel and Casino, which of course is shaped like the Empire State Building, and has a copy of the Statue of Liberty outside.			This next is from inside the MGM Grand Hotel Casino, trademark the lion, so what better than to have a free show with a lion and lioness and their handlers behind plated glass.
And then the Excalibur Hotel Casino, beautifully made.			After this comes a photo from inside the pyramid complex of Luxor Casino.
And finally two photos from inside Ceasar's Palace. This is one of the lobbies.			And this is a great board showing betting odds for all the major sporting events of the day.
And that's the lot. Next day we were on the flight back to Blighty.