We were sad to leave Becca, but we repacked the car and headed out. A few seconds out of the parking lot we heard a clunk and saw LeeAnn's water bottle rolling in the middle of the road. We went back and got it, and Becky realized her phone was missing as well, so we drove back to the gas station and found it destroyed on the ground. Sadly, it did not make the fall (though all the photos were saved!)
We continued along 70 W to 89 S to 12 E, through some pretty Red Canyon (though it was a bit dark to really see) and onto 63 S into Bryce. It thankfully didn't take too long, and after driving through the very confusing North Campground, a few times, we found an open spot and went straight to sleep.
The next morning we woke up, Becky made us oatmeal, and after a slow start we drove outside the park to Mossy Cave Trail. (Becky and LeeAnn had been trying to figure out where we should hike, and found a list of trails outside the bathrooms. This one sounded like one of the best)
Just around the first bend we found a small river and used it to cool off.
As we continued on, we could see the waterfall we were there for, but made a quick detour to the cave the place is named for.
Then since there were so many people in the water already, we decided instead to hike up to where we saw arches. We jumped across the river (LeeAnn got nervous and took a little while to work up the courage) and headed up. It was a bit steeper than anticipated (which came back to haunt LeeAnn on the way back down) but totally worth it.
We took a short break at the top before heading back down to finally go in the waterfall.
Becky and Meir sneaking behind
As usual, Meir goes in
When we decided we were hungry, we went back to town.
The first thing we did was drop our car off to hopefully get the AC fixed.
While the car was in the shop, we brought food and had a picnic in the little "town" area.
Soon into our meal, we got a phone call from the car shop and went back in. The man there wasn't sure what was wrong with the air conditioning and didn't want to mess anything up, so he didn't charge us and sent us on our way.
We knew the Bryce Canyon shuttle came right there, so we moved to a parking spot and got on, finally ready to explore the actual park.
The driver was great, giving a pretty good tour. Before heading into the park we drove around town a bit to pick up other people, and drove through a ranch (where they sometimes have rodeos but sadly not the day we were there). He pointed out that one of the bulls looked different than the others, and they weren't sure what he was, but the closest thing they had found searching online was an African bull. After looking that up, it sounds like it could be right.
We entered the park and made a plan.
We got off at the very end, Bryce Point, and thought we would walk to Inspiration Point, the next pick up spot via the Rim Trail.
Possibly Inspiration Point?
"I'm on top of the world, eh"
We had no clue how far a hike it was supposed to be, and we never quite figured out which was Inspiration Point. We also never found a way to get to the shuttle, so we continued on to Sunset Point and took the shuttle from there.
When we got back to the car, we headed back to the campsite for dinner. Unfortunately, we realized we were just about out of propane, so LeeAnn jumped into the car to go to the park general store. She accidentally ended up at the lodge, where a woman told her that the store closes in 10 minutes, but is only three minutes away, so she jumped in the car and headed there. At the store, LeeAnn couldn't find the right propane, so one of the guys who worked there went into the back to see if there was more. While he was back there, the other guy working there said that LeeAnn could take as many leftover hot dogs as she wanted, since otherwise they were throwing them out, so she went and took one for Becky, and collected as many free condiment packets as she could.
In the end the guys weren't able to find any propane, and told LeeAnn to check the bigger store outside the park, so off she went again. There she quickly found the propane and went back to camp.
In the meantime, Meir and Becky finished the propane and tried to move the pasta onto a fire but ended up with weirdly mushy almost cooked AND overcooked pasta (which Becky opted out of eating). Becky was excited about the hot dog, and Meir and LeeAnn put tomato soup to mask the taste of the pasta. They took the entire pot, we all jumped in the car, and went to sunrise point to see the sunset (sounds counter intuitive, we know, but that's where we were told you could see the best sunset). Now we'd been to all the major points in the park.
People gave us weird looks for bringing the whole pot... but we were proud of our genius idea
As we drove back to the campsite, we saw these gross deer that looked like they were shedding. We kept driving so as not to hold up traffic, but then realized everyone else was stopping to look too.
Back at the campsite we went straight to sleep, since we wanted to see the sunrise (we're getting good at seeing sunrise the night after we see the sunset). Becky decided she wanted to sleep in if we were going to hike that day, so Meir and LeeAnn got up and headed to Bryce Point for the sunrise. Glad we got there so early, because it started getting crowded but thankfully we had good spots. It was cool watching how the light affected the canyon differently on different sides and as the sun rose, so we constantly walked back and forth to see how the light was changing the view.
After sunrise we went back for a nap, then woke up for our hike, this time within the canyon instead of along the rim.
LeeAnn and Becky starting the hike
Fake tunnels
Bridges
The way up was incredibly hot and tons of switchbacks, so we started getting bored. Becky made up the cheese game, where we each had to say the name of a cheese and the first one who couldn't come up with a different type had to lay on the ground and say something like "I'm not worthy". Becky lost. She said cow cheese. Sadly that doesn't count.
When we finished the hike, it was time to move on. We called LeeAnn's cousin, Zach, to find out if there was a Nissan shop near where he lives in St. George. We found out there was, so we headed out to get there. We got back on 12 W to 89 N to 20 W to 15 S.
Thirsty anyone?
That's all dirt
We got to the dealership a bit before they closed, and despite the rude guy there, went into the waiting room as they took a look at the car. Meir watched out the window and realized we paid a ton of money for them to put a machine that checked the problem without anyone around. What a ripoff. To feel better about it we took all the free snacks that we liked and had a few of the free drinks as well. Unfortunately there were no fresh donuts that were promised on a sign...
They finally told us that the air conditioning compressor was broken and needed to be replaced. They said they could get the part by the next day, but they were rude and we hoped we could get another price, so we decided to hold off until Los Angeles.
We left and went to Zach's outside the city. As we were driving, we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, but it did have a beautiful view, and the house was beautiful. It was great seeing Zach and we showered and helped make dinner, and Becky took his roommate/landlord's pug for a walk (her dream come true!). Dinner was amazing, lots of veggies.
Sadly after dinner we had to leave so as not to set up camp too late, since we wanted to start our hike early the next morning, but Zach told us of a free campsite near Zion.
Sunset from Zach's
Zach's house
We drove in the dark along 15 N to 9 E up 17 and back to 9 E then looked for the road. We realized we probably missed it and went back and found Mesa Rd. It was dark and windy and we started climbing a mountain. We were all a bit nervous on the narrow winding road, and just happy we didn't pass other cars, since we could tell at points we may be on a cliff (we couldn't see so we had no clue how high). We weren't sure how far the campground was and we'd been driving for a while, so finally we just saw a small area to the side (toward the cliff) that seemed big enough to pitch a tent, so we just pulled over and set up camp. It was pretty windy and a bit warm, but we went to bed quickly.
Watching the sun come over the horizon into the tent
When we woke up we saw how high up we were and took a second to enjoy the view.
We then packed up and drove down the mountain. This time we actually passed a car, which was a bit nerve-racking, but it turned out in daylight it wasn't as scary a drive as it had been when we couldn't see how high up we were.
We continued along 9 E, made a few quick stops for some snacks, and finally made it to Zion.
We parked by the visitor center and hopped on a shuttle (a little later than we originally planned). We got off at The Grotto stop for our hike, called the Angel's Landing hike, and began. We didn't know what we were in for. The hike had been recommended by LeeAnn's friends, and she had been talking about it from day one. She was so excited about a hike with drop offs on both sides. What she didn't realize, was that there would be so many switchbacks along the way. People who were already finishing the hike kept teasing us and saying we were close... we had barely begun.
We finally finished the flat hike, and began the switchbacks (there was supposed to be 39). Here's where the torture began. We were hiking near a couple, and heard the girl tell her boyfriend that there were supposed to be switchbacks with walls (or something like that). We weren't positive what counted, so we all tried counting differently, but lost track.
We finally thought they MIGHT be over, when we came upon this.
Switchbacks on switchbacks
We ended up continuing to hike with the couple, Samantha and Dave, and finally came to the fun part. There was a chain to help scramble up the rocks, and at some points a drop off on either side. It also kept going higher whenever we thought we were close.
When we finally made it, we stopped for pictures and snack with our new friends. Dave, like Becky and Meir, was a bit afraid of heights, though he got pretty close to the edge for someone with that fear.
Meir, Dave, Samantha, Becky, LeeAnn
At the bottom we got back on the shuttle, headed back to the visitor's center to get lunch out of the car before our afternoon hike. Dave and Samantha joined us again when they finished their lunch (in their air conditioned car) and we all hopped back on the shuttle for a nice tour until the last stop, Temple of Sinawava.
We got out and started walking toward the river hike. We noticed that the squirrels there got oddly close, and were clearly not afraid of humans. It was pretty creepy and annoying. There was even a sign about them on the shuttle!
We finally made it to the second hike, where you walk IN the river between two cliffs. It was so cool. Becky, Samantha and Dave all did it smartly with water shoes. Meir and LeeAnn, however, were in flipflops, so it took them much longer and was much harder. We noticed looking around that a lot of people must have rented shoes and walking sticks, since everyone's looked the same. Maybe it would have been better if we had also.
Becky walking up the river
Dave and Samantha helping each other out
We went into the visitor's center once again, this time to ask for recommendations for dinner. The ranger told us she wasn't supposed to give recommendations, but then told us there was a small town, Springdale, right outside the park with some good options. We didn't end up finding the place she told us about, but we found a little place to stop which had funny signs and shirts.
We started the drive, which was beautiful but hot. It only took 20 minutes to drive through Arizona (but hey, means we made it to all four of the four corner states!).
The only state with two good welcome signs
Another time change!
The second we entered Nevada, there were casinos. As we drove, we decided that we'd rather just get to Los Angeles if we could, since even at night the drive was hot, so we would rather not do it during the day at all. We thought it wasn't that much further. We were wrong.
We drove through Las Vegas, and by the casinos that were next to the border with California, just before leaving Nevada.
The drive in California was long, straight, boring, and hot. We could feel the heat rise when we drove by Death Valley, and despite it being the middle of the night, there was traffic. Not a great intro to California. We had to pull over a few times since we were getting tired (though it was only 1 am, it was actually 2 am our time, and we had woken up pretty early.
We played ridiculous car games and blasted music to keep the driver awake. We bought Coca-Cola and gummies as extra incentive. Finally, we made it.
We had left NJ (the second time) on May 26, and got to LA in the early morning of June 25. It took us 1 month to cross the country.
We got into Meir's mom's house in Venice, brought in our stuff as quietly as we could, and finally went to sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment