Okay, so it’s really called Kodachrome Basin State Park, so named by a bunch of National Geographic boffins who thought it so captivatingly photogenic in 1949, but whatevs, it really is just a state park full of phallic rocks.
The Panorama Trail gives you plenty of opportunity to see these giant, erect formations that some giantess would probably get her rocks off on. Yes, this post is extremely vulgar, but if you want a giggle, check out the slideshow (although not the type filmed on Kodachrome, printed at the photo shop and shown with a white pull up screen and home slide projector, even though that’s probably how the Nat Geo guys showed the park off in the first place).
At the Capitol Reef National Park Visitor Centre, I wasn’t so sure about the 9 mile (14.5km) Navajo Knobs trail that hiking buddy Brian was so keen on.
For starters, the weather was grey and rain looked imminent. I didn’t quite have the heart to tell him then that if it was raining, there was no way I was climbing the slickrock and no way I’d do it for 9 miles. I was fully prepared to pike out like I did on the sunset.
The threatened rain appeared as I was pitching my tent in the beautiful Fruita campground. My enthusiasm waned substantially. I suggested we go on the scenic drive “in the meantime”, and so we got in Esmeralda and travelled along the not overly scenic road. At the end of the bitumen, I decided to turn around because the last thing I would want is to get Esmeralda bogged in the sticky red dirt.
As we headed back to the campground, lo and behold, the grey skies parted and showed their blue cousin.
So I found myself ascending 2400 feet (730m) over the undulating trail. However, the views were totally worth the climb and my inner petulant child that creeped out a few times during the hike. Thanks Brian for suggesting it and thanks blue skies for making me keep my word!
This photo still puzzles me. I have no idea how those two eggs got on the ground like that. They must have somehow jumped out of the egg carton that was sitting on top of the table. Yet they are nestled so closely and aren’t cracked. If I catch the chicken that did it, I may have to eat it.
It seems that all the National Parks here are teeming with visitors. All the trails are well-worn, cars spill out of carparks and it’s hard to get away from the crowds.
That’s why I was so happy to go to Canyonlands National Park just outside Moab, Utah and find fewer people. On one particular walk to Upheaval Dome, I took the longer trail to the second viewpoint and seemed to be the only person doing so. I pulled up a comfortable rock and laid down and watched the clouds push and pull across the blue sky and jets flit from east to west.
I couldn’t hear or see any other people. No crunching footsteps. No conversations. Just the quiet. And it was wonderful, a half hour of recharging in the warm sunshine with incredible views.
I spent the day at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah hiking with Brian who I’d met at the campsite.
Brian is one of those people whose passion is hiking and who is also very enthusiastic about photography. He is so keen he got up at 4:45am to capture the sunrise at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park before breakfast.
Whilst we started our day at Arches fairly late with our first hike at 11:30am, I just couldn’t make the sunset at Delicate Arch that Brian was so keen to capture. I know that I need to take the time descriptions on the trail information with a big flake of Murray River Pink Salt, but I wasn’t keen to come back down the moderate-strenuous trail in the dark when I’d already walked about 15km.
So I elected to stay in the car for the 2 and half hours it took for Brian to get there, watch the sun set and get back. Sounds kind of boring, but it gave me time to plan the next few stops on my road trip, and you know, the sun sets every day.
Last night I stayed in a dingy hostel with what I shall crown the worst bed ever.
The rickety bunk bed creaked and squeaked as I looked for a way to clamber atop. As I searched for footholds, it was revealed that this is the kind of bed you would find at your grandparents’ place that hails from the fifties or sixties. You know the type with the metal mesh that is suspended trampoline style in the frame. The type that can’t do anything but sag really.
Atop the saggy bed was a very sad mattress. It had clearly seen better days, but now, after much tossing and turning of backpackers upon it, it is so mean and bitter as to stab you with the springs inside it. I will even go so far as to say there is nothing soft about it, not even the covering. Just tired metal coils to stick and poke as you lay like a banana and will sleep to come quickly.
Each tiny move you made, be it bodily or adjusting the position of your foot, caused the bed to squeal and rock, creating more metallic creaking sounds.
You know when you make a plan to do something, stop somewhere, and all of a sudden you find yourself in a vortex of white line fever (or here in the US it is yellow line fever).
I had one of those days. I wanted to stop off at a couple of places along the way to Monument Valley, but that didn’t happen because I was just too comfortable driving and sitting in the car.
The view from Esmeralda
I had also planned to camp at Monument Valley, but after a look-see, decided to press on to Moab. I didn’t stop to see anything else along the way and had to content myself with taking photos through the windscreen. I was in a drive frame of mind and crunched 350 miles.
Pretty spectacular view of the Grand Canyon's North Rim
Unfortunately that wasn’t me. It was the Grand Canyon getting her payback for me saying I was underwhelmed by her after my rafting tour.
You see, no one ever told me it snows at the Grand Canyon. I have never seen any photos with snow in them. So I never expected to have my views of the canyon from the North Rim snowed in.
Perhaps the moral of this is if you diss nature’s beauty, nature will hide it from you.
Corn chips, I’ve found, are a great way to meet other campers.
After a wander around Kanab, Utah where I popped in to a documentary screening during a local festival (incidentally where I was asked very seriously by one lady if we have popcorn in Australia) I came back to my campsite to find I had neighbours.
The guy running the campground intercepted me on the way back and said “You have some neighbours, I thought they might be able to entertain you.” He’d said something similar to them when allocating their site that he’d put them next to the Australian girl.
Anyways, the three Swiss guys next door turned out to be great company, something that was cemented as we were sitting around having a drink and I pulled out a bag of corn chips. As one thing leads to another, so the corn chips led to us cooking chicken curry and rice together for dinner and then pancakes in the morning.
Food is meant to be shared and I’ve learned that corn chips are made for sharing. So now every shopping list starts with a bag of corn chips.
I started out on the hike slash climb to Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park, Utah not sure if I would make it.
It was rated as difficult in my guidebook and on the trail map from the park and I’m not at my fittest, nor am I very good at climbing things like this 1000ft height to get to the top. They also wrote that many people don’t go all the way because the narrow path with steep drop offs puts them off. I was surprised at how easy it was.
Okay, so it wasn’t a cinch, but the huffing and puffing up to the overlook point wasn’t a killer either. The steep switchbacks were punishing, but nothing that a few stops and gulps of water couldn’t fix.
The canyon from Angel's Landing
I then continued along the rocky ridgetop to the very top. At least three times along the way, it could have been the end of the trail as there were amazing views from everywhere along the ridge. One older lady commented that I was like a mountain goat, which I only fully appreciated after I got to the top with a fairly nimble stride. I think it’s just because I like scrambling over rocks and picking a path.
At the top I was rewarded by amazing views over two sides of the canyon.
Even with the stop to eat my lunch in a scenic spot with squirrels trying to get into my backpack, it was well under the 4 hour round trip suggested in the guidebook.
So now I’m going to take those times and descriptions with a grain of salt, because I must say, this trail made me feel like a hardcore hiker.
a little cameo 