Utah Trip, July 11 - 15
Day 1
We left at 6:30am on Tuesday July 11, 2006. The first stop was Zzyzx Road (me on the overpass at Zzyxz) in California. There was an open area out there that appeared to have absolutely no rocks and was eerily flat. The first dumb thing Michael and I did on this trip was here. We climbed a hill to see what the view was like from the top. This doesn't seem very unreasonable except that the climb was a steep one. We estimated that the hill was over 500 feet tall. We didn't take water with us nor did we put on sunscreen. Michael brought his camera and I brought nothing. The temperature spiked once we started reaching the top.
The city of Baker is the next exit east of Zzyzx. When we arrived there the temperature was 113 degrees farenheight. That was the hottest temperature I've ever walked barefoot in. It was also the only time I've walked around in a gas station barefoot (speaking of gas, a street called Lamb in Las Vegas had the cheapest gas on our trip). After a long day, we arrived in Zion National Park around 17:00 PST.
Day 2
The first place we went to on the second day was Weeping Rock. It was much cooler than the surrounding places because it was shady and water was falling from the ceiling (hence the name). After that we went to the Emerald Pools. I climbed the rocks and waded in the water in the upper pool.
After a day of walking we pakced the car with some food and drove to Lava Point to watch the sunset. The drive to Lava Point is beautiful and the road there is mostly void of cars.
Day 3
We started off the third day by hiking up The Narrows. The Narrows is a trail up the Virgin River. Most of the hiking involved is in ankle to chest-high water. The hike was an enjoyable one even though the rubber soles of my boots fell off. I remedied that problem with duct tape. After heading back to camp we drove to Bryce Canyon to get a head start on the rest of our trip. After arriving there we watched the sunset at Sunset point and went to bed.
Day 4
Michael woke up early to see the sunrise and walk around in the canyon. After I woke up we drove to Mossy Cave. This may have been the coolest place we went on the whole trip. We saw the waterfall in the man-made river there and then headed over the the cave. Water drips through the ceiling from a spring and thick carpet-like moss grows all over the walls and ceiling of the cave.
After leaving the cave we drove to Bryce Point and Inspiration Point to get a good view of the area. We met some nice crows on the way back. I think they were locals.
The second stupidest thing we did on this trip (possibly the stupidest actually) was go for a hike just before sunset. Going for a hike wasn't the stupid part actually... not bringing a map was the stupid part. We intended on hiking from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point and watching the sunset from there. Instead of the short less-than-a-mile hike we intended on taking we managed to hike all the way to the opposite side of the canyon and ended up at Bryce Point. I still don't know which trails we took exactly but I think the hike was around 5 miles. Once we ended up at Bryce Point it was 21:20. Michael was exhausted and can't see as well at night so I ran 5 miles to the Visitor Center before hitchhiking a ride to the car at Sunrise Point with a group of college kids that liked Weezer and Johnny Cash. The rest of the details are lengthy and somewhat unimportant. Basically, we made it back to camp alive, ate Ramen, and slept.
Day 5
Michael and I were both exhausted when we woke up. I was somewhat sick of Utah at this point and I think Michael started to catch the cold I had. Instead of driving to Arches Park we drove home. A highway patrol officer followed me for a couple miles in Utah but turned around as we approached the Arizona border and I was still traveling the speed limit. The needle on the car engine temperature gauge was all the way at the top at one point. I pulled over the side and let the car coast with the heat all the way up to cool the engine off. The car odomoter reached 100,000 miles somewhere in California on the way back. It was 122 degrees farenheight in Baker on the way back. After arriving in San Diego I took a nap. That was an amazing trip.
We left at 6:30am on Tuesday July 11, 2006. The first stop was Zzyzx Road (me on the overpass at Zzyxz) in California. There was an open area out there that appeared to have absolutely no rocks and was eerily flat. The first dumb thing Michael and I did on this trip was here. We climbed a hill to see what the view was like from the top. This doesn't seem very unreasonable except that the climb was a steep one. We estimated that the hill was over 500 feet tall. We didn't take water with us nor did we put on sunscreen. Michael brought his camera and I brought nothing. The temperature spiked once we started reaching the top.
The city of Baker is the next exit east of Zzyzx. When we arrived there the temperature was 113 degrees farenheight. That was the hottest temperature I've ever walked barefoot in. It was also the only time I've walked around in a gas station barefoot (speaking of gas, a street called Lamb in Las Vegas had the cheapest gas on our trip). After a long day, we arrived in Zion National Park around 17:00 PST.
Day 2
The first place we went to on the second day was Weeping Rock. It was much cooler than the surrounding places because it was shady and water was falling from the ceiling (hence the name). After that we went to the Emerald Pools. I climbed the rocks and waded in the water in the upper pool.
After a day of walking we pakced the car with some food and drove to Lava Point to watch the sunset. The drive to Lava Point is beautiful and the road there is mostly void of cars.
Day 3
We started off the third day by hiking up The Narrows. The Narrows is a trail up the Virgin River. Most of the hiking involved is in ankle to chest-high water. The hike was an enjoyable one even though the rubber soles of my boots fell off. I remedied that problem with duct tape. After heading back to camp we drove to Bryce Canyon to get a head start on the rest of our trip. After arriving there we watched the sunset at Sunset point and went to bed.
Day 4
Michael woke up early to see the sunrise and walk around in the canyon. After I woke up we drove to Mossy Cave. This may have been the coolest place we went on the whole trip. We saw the waterfall in the man-made river there and then headed over the the cave. Water drips through the ceiling from a spring and thick carpet-like moss grows all over the walls and ceiling of the cave.
After leaving the cave we drove to Bryce Point and Inspiration Point to get a good view of the area. We met some nice crows on the way back. I think they were locals.
The second stupidest thing we did on this trip (possibly the stupidest actually) was go for a hike just before sunset. Going for a hike wasn't the stupid part actually... not bringing a map was the stupid part. We intended on hiking from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point and watching the sunset from there. Instead of the short less-than-a-mile hike we intended on taking we managed to hike all the way to the opposite side of the canyon and ended up at Bryce Point. I still don't know which trails we took exactly but I think the hike was around 5 miles. Once we ended up at Bryce Point it was 21:20. Michael was exhausted and can't see as well at night so I ran 5 miles to the Visitor Center before hitchhiking a ride to the car at Sunrise Point with a group of college kids that liked Weezer and Johnny Cash. The rest of the details are lengthy and somewhat unimportant. Basically, we made it back to camp alive, ate Ramen, and slept.
Day 5
Michael and I were both exhausted when we woke up. I was somewhat sick of Utah at this point and I think Michael started to catch the cold I had. Instead of driving to Arches Park we drove home. A highway patrol officer followed me for a couple miles in Utah but turned around as we approached the Arizona border and I was still traveling the speed limit. The needle on the car engine temperature gauge was all the way at the top at one point. I pulled over the side and let the car coast with the heat all the way up to cool the engine off. The car odomoter reached 100,000 miles somewhere in California on the way back. It was 122 degrees farenheight in Baker on the way back. After arriving in San Diego I took a nap. That was an amazing trip.
4 Comments:
Wow.. nice. Sounds like it was tons of fun. The pictures are amazing, props to Mike for those! :-D (I tried rating them, but I don't think it saved my ratings.)
I recognized actually a number of the places in those photographs as places I've been before, which was really weird. I'll tell you about that later though.
For now, back to installing Visual Studio 2003 on a kid's computer, and programmin Uno.. lol.. At 1:40 in the morning.. I must be crazy.
Glad you guys had so much fun on the trip & it's great to actually get a good post w/ details & pics of places along the way.
By Taylor, at 1:40 AM
Sounds like fun. I just went on a huge roadtrip with a bunch of my friends.... 4,444.4 miles of it. I accidentally deleted my coppermine database, so the photos aren't up at the moment, but it was fun. We hit LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City (mormons!), Fort Collins and Boulder, CO, and Lake Ute, New Mexico in a span of 12 days. It was completely awesome. It was also about half of my summer earnings- the other went to my laptop (happily running SuSE 10.1). Now, with the school year starting, I am broke XD
By Zeke, at 11:47 PM
how lovely.
By Anonymous, at 10:56 PM
I still say Zzyzx was the stupidest thing we did.
Oh and i am using an accelerator on my gallery so ratings only show up after a week or you can hit Shift Refresh to see the changes.
By Michael, at 5:16 PM
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