Tumbleweed

Tumbleweed

Back on the road, listening to Michael Palin reading his book Pole to Pole. As we drive from Denver to Dallas he is going from the north pole to the south pole. The only place that he goes to and that I’ve been to is Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. I listened to his “Round the World in 80 days” whilst I was preparing for this trip. I like both his reading and writing.

I’m typing this in the back of the car as we drive towards Wichita Falls. This road trip is 900 miles long and takes in cloudy Colorado, snowy New Mexico and warm Texas. We’re currently passing though oil country – there are lots of nodding donkeys. We’ve passed cotton fields – surprising this late in the year, maybe a second crop? It is so flat, it’s hard to judge just how far we can see. 21 to Wichita Falls. The railway follows the road, we measured one train as 1.3 miles long. Hey, there’s a herd of camels!

So far we’ve seen signs for Las Vegas and Miami both in New Mexico. Also an Ardmore!

It’s pretty windy so there is lots of tumbleweed blowing across the road. The landscape changes after Wichita with more trees and more hawks around.

Back home at the Cabin with only a day before I fly to Los Angeles for the next part of the trip.

Firey Hills

Firey Hills

Returning to Texas by road, with the excitement of a winter storm front between Dallas and us. We’ve already had to change our route as the road from Raton to Clayton has been closed by the weather. Now trying to make our way to Amarillo – looking ominous ahead.

The snow promised for Golden did not arrive, but the tops of the Rockies were covered in cloud as we made our way south through Colorado to New Mexico. We stopped in Trinidad for lunch, before crossing into New Mexico and finding our way ahead blocked.

The change in route was actually very good, we took 39 south along a very quiet road which initially was grassland but suddenly changed and we were at the top of an escarpment - I think this was the Canadian River basin. The view where we were going was tremendous - flat as far as the eye could see. The sun was very low - giving the land a glow. The sunset then proved to be firey, so we stopped by the road for some photos.

We stayed overnight in a small town called Vega, which is in Texas, just west of Amarillo. We didn't get as far as planned but will get back to McKinney today.

Rockies

Moon setting over the Rockies

Staying in the east side of the rockies in a place called Estes Park. It's pretty quiet at the moment but gets really busy in summer (I'm told!) The scenery is gorgeous and the weather lovely - cold and clear. Yesterday we drove up to Bear Lake and walked around it - a short walk, slippery but with great views. The loch is iced up. We then walked around Sprague Lake, more great views.

Today is thanksgiving, we took a walk around Lily Lake before having lunch at Aspen Lodge. The American Football game today is between the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos so there will be some family rivalry!

Red Rocks Park

Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Found our way to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which seats 10,000 and hosts all sorts of concerts. It's an amazing place, hewn from the rock with magnificent sandstone all around and views across the countryside to downtown Denver. The park also has a number of trails, we walked the Trading Post trail. This trail is a loop which takes you 1.4 miles around lovely rocks and across a meadow. We saw blue jay, hawks, deer, squirrels and a rabbit.

Castle Rock

After yesterdays daylong snow, a lovely clear day today. Castle Rock is on South Table Mountain which lies between Golden and Denver. There are two table mountains, north and south which have their own website, from which I found the starting point of the trail. It was an easy climb (similar to the Conic Hill in length), remnants of snow made it slippery but the path was well made. From the top of the hill the views were tremendous. Downtown Denver was clearly visible.

Unfortunately the sun was in the wrong position for good photos of the Rocky Mountains. Right down below was Golden, and of course the Coors Brewery.

Returned by the same route.

Moon

And after the sunset the moon rose, brilliant in the sky.

Rockies Sunset

Rockies Sunset

The sunset last night, beautiful, look at the pink glow on the snow.

Lots of Snow

Went for a lovely walk this morning in the slippery, slidey, snowy place that is now Golden, Colorado. After getting down the hill without falling I walked beside the Clear Creek as far as the track went. There was ice floating on the river and the white M was harder to pick out from the coat of snow on Mount Zion. The trail was dotted with statues which were covered in snow too. Came back the same route and had a coffee in Golden. The owner thanked me for not going to Starbucks which had ruined her trade, it's a shame to see this happening, soon everywhere will look like everywhere else.

Snow in Colorado

Snow3

Yes it is snowing, since this photo was taken by Joanne (my niece) there has been a lot more, would be nice if it was still around in the morning. I thought that I was going to avoid winter for 18 months! Looks as though it has found me.

Golden, Colorado

This is Golden, it is a pretty little town between Denver and the Rocky Mountains. It is home to the Colorado School of Mines and the Coors Brewery. I've visited the tourist info and picked up lots of leaflets for the area.

I've also been able to video conference with home which is great. It's amazing what can be done.


The weather has suddenly changed, from what was a bright but cold morning a rain storm has arrived... and now thunder, pleased that I stayed in.

In the top photo, the M on the hillside is for Colorado School of Mines. It is made up of stones from the hometowns of all the students. There is a stone from the River Clyde in Scotland in the M, my niece collected it when she was last home and placed the stone when she started at the college.

Golden, Colorado

I've left Texas for a couple of weeks and I'm now staying with my niece at her college sorority house. It's pretty luxurious, better than I remember from University! It's a lot cooler here than Dallas but quite nice today. Flying up I got a good view of the Rockies.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Next stop on the itinerary, Bryce Canyon, a park which keeps its secrets well hidden. Until you reach the rim there are no indicators that there is anything special in the area, but once you get to the rim all is revealed, a geological wonderland of canyons, hoodoos, pinnacles, turrets and much more.

The Walks


There's a good variety of walks in Bryce, from 'round the rim to hiking amongst the hoodoos. I did a fair number of the trails, linked together in two walks.



Around the Rim and up and down to Sunrise Point

Starting at Bryce Point a two mile trail leads round the rim to sunset point where a trail leads down Wall Street and joins the Queens Garden Trail which winds around between the rocks, eventually returning up to the rim at sunrise point.

Walking around the rim is easy and gives good views into the canyon. It tends to be rather busy as there are frequent carparks and people don't venture far from their car. It's strange to have made no effort and to be looking down to something spectacular, a different experience to climbing munros!

A steep descent takes you down to Wall Street, here runoffs from the rain have created a narrow canyon in which a path has been built. It was rather busy (it is Wall Street after all!) but at the bottom it got quieter, amazing tall trees grew in the narrow passages, growing tall to try to catch sunlight.

At the bottom of Wall Street a number of paths go in different directions, I took the Queens Garden Trail, which would eventually lead back up to the rim - the hard work would be at the end! This is a glorious walk, in an incredible location - out of this world! I'm sure that I've said this already on this trip. I walked around listening to Ludovico Einaudi's I Giorni on my iPod - bliss. (Thanks Liz for introducing me to Ludovico.)

Zion National Park

I took a two week trek to the southwest USA with Exodus. It was a really good trek. Exodus organises treks all over the world, this was my fifth trek with them. I met up with the tour leader, Jen and the other 8 trekkers in Las Vegas. For two weeks we would travel together across the southwest in a minibus (named Cadwgan) staying at hotels along the way.

The first journey, from Vegas in Nevada to Springdale in Utah took us across the desert, the scenery tremendous, the landscape very bare except for shrubs and Joshua trees, the geology amazing with lots of mini grand canyons.

Springdale is a lovely village, situated at the entrance to Zion Canyon surrounded by high red canyon walls.

Geology

Zion National Park is home to dramatic canyons, with walls stretching to 600m (2000ft). My first feelings were of awe at the magnificent geology, absolutely stunning and the reason I had chosen this trek - how could it get any better? Zion Canyon is formed by the force of the north fork of the Virgin river, which continues to erode at a rate of 3cm per hundred years. The river has eroded its path through the red Navajo sandstone which gives the canyon its red walls. Below the sandstone is a different rock - the Kayenta Formation, which is made of siltstone and mudstone. This rock causes rockslides as it is easily eroded and undermines the Navajo sandstone, which eventually slips.

Trails
I went on three hikes at Zion, the first fairly short was to the Emerald Pools. This is a series of waterfalls and pools and provided a good introduction to Zion NP.

The next trail was Angels Landing, this is described as strenuous, takes about 4 hours and has long drop-offs. It follows a well marked trail and ends at a summit high above the canyon with great views. The last part is narrow and has handy chains. We started early, which meant that the route was fairly quiet and in the shade. The path is very good, it's difficult to see at first where it's going, but soon it can be discerned going up a steep cliff. It then goes through “refrigerator canyon” before ascending Walters Wiggles. Initially I wasn't sure about the chained section but decided to give it a go and see how far I got. It was great fun (I don't suffer from a fear of heights) and I got right to the top.

The views were stunning, right down into the canyon and across to the other side. It was a good spot to have lunch, watch the chipmunks and enjoy the sun. It was easy to get back down, thankful that we had started early because the late starters were having to climb in the sun. I went really slowly, taking lots of photos.

The final trail I took was the Riverside Walk, which was easy and followed the Virgin river from the end of the road at the Temple of Sinawava to the narrows, the point where the river enters a narrow canyon and to continue you have to get your feet wet. I didn't, happy to boulder hop to takes some photos.

Wildlife

October was a good time to visit because of the cooler weather and relatively less people. The wildflowers were good because there had been a lot of rain, but I'd like to return in the spring when there are a lot more. There were lots of butterflies and damselflies along the river, chipmunks everywhere and lots of lizards.

Zion National Park Amenities

The park is very well organised with free guide leaflets. There are also two free shuttle buses, one from Springdale to the park entrance, the other from the entrance to the road end at the Temple of Sinawava. There is also a very good gift and book shop.

Impressions

A wonderful place - out of this world! Dramatic red sunsets, red sandstone cliffs, great trails and wonderful scenery. One to return to.

Here is a link to my Zion photos on flickr