Day 2 - Valley of Fire

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth? Valley of Fire: http://youtu.be/s2GQR-Os2uc

The advantage of camping over hoteling is that you start close. I awoke just before dawn and drove to the sunrise at Calville Bay on Lake Mead (pic). The drive around Lake Mead is simply breathtaking through the desert mountains. I felt like I was in a movie about a desert road extending to the horizon. Photos didn't do it justice. I wound my way around the large lake through the mountains and in to each bay in order of appearance. A sea plane was banking around the moutains and landing in the last bay just when I arrived.

On to Valley of Fire, a Nevada State Park known for it's red canyons and geological formations. 45 movies have a scene shot there every year. I hiked six trails in the park, seeing a huge iguana on one trail (pic, for bill). The trails were sandy and hard to walk (many people were in flip flops), but the ending views were sensational. The video capture the feeling best, but i threw in three glamour shots from different trails (Mouse's Tank, Rainbow Vista and Prospect Trail).

I learned from my mistake last night and left the park well before sundown so I could find an appropriate camping spot or hotel. I decided to camp as there was Bureau of Land Management land (free camping) just outside the park with the Valley views (see black van and right middle of the last photo). I managed to shower and shave at this secluded spot and awoke to an owl cooing.

I'm in Vegas now and am going to buy the van from Hertz at 10am and then pickup Roman and Page at Noon from the airpot. Then on to Zion.

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Day 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park. A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view. Yes sir!! The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reef...

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site. Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint. And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...

Day 67 - Badlands

Badlands means very difficult and dangerous to travel through-- Badlands lived up to this name. I began my eight mile loop hike by climbing up a steep canyon side to the mesa wall on top. From here I travelled east towards the popular window, door and notch trails via a wet, muddy and slippery Medicine Root trail that left me covered in mud up to my knees. Of the popular trails the notch was my favorite because it involved a wooden ladder climb and then a hill scramble past crumbling rock up to a six foot "notch" step that required a almost-rock climbing move to ascend. The views up at the top cliff were sensational. Even more fun, two girls from New York-driving to Portland and a young couple saw me up there and followed the path up-- with a bit of my help at the notch. I love helping people get a bit beyond their comfort zone. We all enjoyed the view then descended safely to find that this notch was not actually the trail but a side canyon-- haha. I then hiked ...

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