What a wonderful world

Got up early this morning to take one last shot at Zion. I headed to the Visitors Center, which is where one of the most popular hikes in the park starts - Watchman Trail. It's not a particularly difficult hike - the books say 2.7 miles and almost 400' of vertical. But it puts you on a plateau right below the Watchman, where you get great views of it as well as down Zion Canyon.

Early morning light, May 2012

By getting up there early in the day, you get the wonderful early morning light - not as harsh as midday, and much redder.

Zion Canyon, May 2012

The side lighting of the sun low in the sky also creates great shadows on the rocks, giving a lot of depth.

It's a wonderful world. And I love taking pictures of the beauty and majesty of these places.

While I didn't want to leave the plateau, it was finally time to hike back down and pack up. Today we drove to Vegas for three days of over-the-top luxury and glitz. The suite the wife arranged (through some clever discounts and upgrades), overlooks the Strip, and one can get lost in it.

Dinner at the SW steakhouse in the Wynn was similarly fantastic, except that we clearly got no discounts. But it was worth a splurge. The food was just a teeny bit better than the stuff Xantera serves in the National Parks.

Louis the Frog?, May 2012

But the topper was a giant frog that appeared over the man-made waterfall and sang a rendition of "Wonderful World", sounding suspiciously like Louis Armstrong.

What a wonderful world, indeed.



 

Heavenly shades of night are falling

It's twilight time.

Watching over the Virgin as the sun sets, May 2012

 

Big & Small

Yellowstone is all about thermal features (and bison, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone). The Grand Tetons are about majestic mountains majesty (not that we saw much of them). Bryce is all about hoodoos.

Zion is about many things. An earlier post showed some of the massive granite and sandstone mountains that were created by the waters of the Virgin River. Interestingly, the majority of the sediment washed out by the Virgin happens on 15 days a year, after a rain storm up on the plateaus or when the snow melt hits.

Entrance to the Narrows, May 2012

But it's also about the river itself, and about smaller spaces and things you can see in the park. At the end of a paved path along the Virgin, the path ends and the trail continues in the riverbed itself as the canyon wall press in to the river, forming the aptly-named Narrows. While we didn't do it, we saw many people starting the hike upstream. Some were wearing special rubber shoes they rent along with walking sticks, others were in sneakers, or hiking sandals, or waterproof boots. All were (I hope) expecting to get wet at least up to their waist. Because the people we saw coming down later were.

Virgin River Waterall, May 2012

A little further downstream we saw this nice waterfall. It's hard to imagine how this calm little river carved the massive canyon, but it did.

The environment close in to the river, and even up the cliff walls, is not the desert that Zion is surrounded by.

Wildflower, May 2012

Growing out of the rock walls we saw orchards and other plants. They find the water that is seeping through the sandstone from the plateau above, and thrive. Another example is the Emerald Pool, where water coming out from the face of the rock cascades down to form several marshy pools. This is the water cascading into the Lower Emerald Pool (there's also a Middle and Upper). You can see the overhang created by the water eating away at the soft rock. This natural canopy will probably not last very long (in geologic time).

Lower Emerald Pool, May 2012

The pool itself isn't very interesting to an Easterner; it looks like a mosquito breeding ground on someone's lawn where there is poor drainage. But the surroundings and apparently impossible way the water is collected is really interesting.

 

The Promised Land

Which is what "Zion" means, of course.

After waiting about 20 minutes to get through the famous 1-mile long tunnel on Rt 9 (which is now restricted to one way at a time in deference to the number of RVs in the park, which occupy more than one lane of the tunnel), we checked into our suite at Flannigan's Inn. Quite nice. The wife picked a great room again.

We walked i to town for lunch, then I rented a bike and rode up the Canyon. Another change since we were last here: the Canyon Drive is now closed to cars, and you must take a shuttle up the Canyon. Which is great if you're on a bike; the road is now an 8 mile bike path with an occasional shuttle bus. Although this dramatically reduces the risk to bikers, it doesn't completely eliminate it. I was glad to see the Geico Gekko watching for problems.

Gordon the Gekko, May 2012

One of the signature sights in the Park is the Watchman - a 6,545' rock overlooking the canyon.

The Watchman, May 2012

Dinner was great at the Spotted Dog, which is about 100' from our cabin. We took a walk after dinner, and this sunset view from the sidewalk was terrific. You don't even need to go into the Park itself to be amazed.

Evening in Springdale, May 2012

While it was warm today, it promises to be hot tomorrow. The forecast posted in the reception area at the hotel says 89F, although AccuWeather is promising only 80F. We'll head up there in the morning and probably spend at least half the day shuttle-hopping and walking.



 

Morning Delight

I just couldn't resist going back to the Park before we left for Zion this morning. This is Rainbow Canyon, a bit north of the Amphitheater. I like the glow of the morning light coming through the hoodoos.

Rainbow Canyon in the morning, May 2012

 

Bryce & Ruby

There are two things you need to know if you visit Bryce Canyon: the Bryce Amphitheater is the place to see, and Ruby is the man to see.

Ruby & Minnie, 1940s

Ruby first. In 1913 Ruby and his wife Minnie came down to settle in this area, bought a ranch, and soon thereafter started hosting tourists to "Bryce's Canyon" at an inn and restaurant. One thing lead to another, and now Ruby's family runs Ruby's Inn, Ruby's Diner, the Best Western Grand Hotel, the gas station, the horseback rides, the ATV rentals, Ruby's Campground & RV Park, Ruby's General Store, Ruby's Art Gallery, Ebenezer's Cowboy Show & Dinner, the Hertz outlet, the Photo shop, the Rock Store, ... . You get the picture.

They actually do a fine job. They also, as befitting any good monopolist, have a very good pricing structure. For Ruby.

Now for the Bryce Amphitheater. This is the main and most beautiful section of the park, and is a large bowl-shaped area filled with hoodoos, canyons, cliffs and other wonders - all in the red rock that makes Bryce Canyon, Bryce Canyon. I took three outings there today.

At 5:00 I awoke and headed to Bryce Point to watch and shoot sunrise. It was about 28F, but I was wearing all the clothing I packed, so I was pretty warm.

View from Bryce Point @ 6:30am, May 2012

After breakfast, the wife and I took a hike into the Amphitheater, following the Navajo and Queen's trails. About 3.5 miles round trip, and about 600 of vertical climbing to get out. The big difference between mountain and canyon hiking is that you usually climb up the mountain, then come down when you're more tired. With canyons, you often climb down from the rim then have to climb back out after you've been hiking for a while.

Hoodoo watching, and being watched, May 2012

After lunch, I returned to the Amphitheater for a longer hike around the Peekaboo Loop. It's a 3 mile loop, which means it returns to where you pick it up. Unfortunately you pick it up after climbing down into the canyon. So you climb down, do the loop which involves about 1,100 feet of ups and downs, then climb the 600 feet back out. A lot of effort, but well worth it. It seems like every 10 feet you look up and there's another unique feature to wonder at and/or photograph.

Guitar Man after 2,300 vertical feet, May 2012

Befitting the general tenor of Bryce Canyon City (not much of a city - it consists mainly of Ruby's establishments), we had lunch at Ruby's Buffet & Steak Room, dinner at Ruby's Canyon Diner, gassed up the car at Ruby's American Car Care Center, and bought a few odds and ends at Ruby's General Store. We're now relaxing in our room at the Best Western Grand Hotel (owned and operated by Ruby's), which is also where we had breakfast.

So it was truly a Bryce & Ruby day.

 

Hoodoos and Numbnuts

Bryce Canyon - one of the most unique and beautiful places I've ever been to, May 2012

The weather hasn't been cooperating for days now. While SLC was nice yesterday, it was hit or miss in Grand Teton (mostly miss) and didn't start well today. On the way down it rained periodically and really didn't look at all appealing. Until we went over a mountain pass and the wind blew all the clouds away. And kept on blowing. By the time we got to Bryce mid-day, opening the car door was a challenge and I had to steady myself while unloading the car. After checking into a great room at the Best Western Plus Grand Hotel in Bryce Canyon City, we went to see the Canyon.

The way you do Bryce by car (since it was way too windy to do any hiking) is to drive the 18 miles to the end of the park road, then drive back stopping at the various viewpoints. Here's one:

Arch, Bryce Canyon NP, May 2012

Since it was windy, I had to brace my tripod against a railing and wrap my leg around one of the tripod's legs to keep it stable. The wife ran out of the car at most stops, took a quick look, then got back in the car. She doesn't have her hood up and face half covered because she's shy:

@

Cold enough for you?, May 2012

As you can see, she's standing in front of another beautiful view, that of the Bryce Ampitheater - probably the most famous section of the park. Here's a better shot:

 

Bryce Ampitheater, May 2012

One of things that amazed me when I went to Yosemite two years ago was how some people think these parks are just like Disneyworld, and basically very safe. They're not, of course; they have many moderately dangerous sections and post signs to that effect every ten feet. The danger at Bryce is that you're on the edge of a cliff and, if you're not careful or if you're stupid, you could fall off. So here's the setup: it's really windy - steady winds of 20 mph, gusts over 40. I'm bracing myself and holding my tripod down so it won't blow over. I saw one woman put her camera on a rock to take a self-timer picture of her group, and the wind almost blew it off the rock before she caught it.

Now look at this:

An accident waiting to happen, May 2012

They look like teens or 20-somethings. We can only hope they haven't yet reproduced and Darwin will win this one.



 

Shopping and Spiritual Matters

Today was three things: driving to Salt Lake City, visiting Temple Square, and shopping.

Before you start imagining that the wife dragged me along while she shopped on this big outdoorsy vacation, let me set you right: it was me. So far this trip I've managed to loose three things: my fav Tilley hat (bought in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada); my fav Maui Jim wire frame sunglasses (bought in St. Martin), and one of the feet from my Gitzo tripod (bought somewhere on the Internet). I ordered replacements for the Gitzo feet and Tilley hat from Amazon, and had them delivered here to the hotel in SLC. They were waiting when we got here. I lost the sunglasses yesterday; they fell out of my pocket when I was shooting the Mormon Row barns. We stopped in Jackson on the way down here from Grand Teton and I bought new ones.

Peery Hotel Room 335, May 2012

The drive down was one of our longer ones and we actually got "lost" at one point, despite having GPS in the car. How, you ask? Well, some genius decided that US 89 and WY 89 should intersect at some point, and the GPS lady was yelling "Take Route 89" at me. I took the wrong one. It added about 20 minutes to our trip.

Anyway, we got here, the hotel is great ($109 for a huge room a few blocks from Temple Square), and we went out to have a look.

Megachurch, May 2012

The Church offers docents to guide you around the Square, which is a walled compound that is their headquarters. We were escorted by two young ladies, one from Korea and the other from the Ukraine. As proselytizers, they were pretty inexperienced, so they really didn't even annoy me too much. But they did show us a few interesting things, although you're not allowed inside the mother Temple.

Religion being the theme of the day (after shopping), we found this plaque on the outside of our hotel:

Plaque, May 2012

Who knew that SLC was such a hotbed of Judaism as well as Mormonism? The plaque is right outside the hotel bar.

You heard a couple of days ago that the hat was an offering to the fire gods in Yellowstone. And the sunglasses were lost photographing an old Mormon settlement. If I can just figure out a religious link to loosing the tripod foot, this really is a religious-themed day. Maybe I lost it on the Sabbath? I have a 42% chance ...



 

Nightfall

As the sun was setting last night, the weather gave us the best show we've seen thus far from the mountains.

Moonset over the Grand Tetons, May 2012

The moon didn't actually change phases as it set, but the exposures got so long the the earth's illumination of the dark portion was enough to fill the disk.

The last time I did star shots was in the Owens Valley in eastern California last fall. It involved standing out in the cold for hours and eating a sandwich for dinner in the dark, while wearing all of my clothing. Last night I set up on the deck outside our room and ran back in while the long exposures were cooking and while I was waiting for the sky to darken. The wife gets a +1 for selecting this room!

May have pulled it off

You know what they say about the weather in _________ . Just wait 10 minutes and it will change. Well, that certainly has been true here today in Grand Teton. We woke up to heavy, wet snow falling and pretty much no visibility. But after breakfast it eased us, stopped snowing and the clouds thinned a bit. So we decided to hit the car and see what we could actually see.

The first stop was the Oxbow Bend in the Snake River, only a few miles from our hotel. It's a beautiful spot, with Mt. Moran (barely) visible in the back. Notice the reflections in the water. While there's apparently lots of wildlife in the marshes around it, we didn't see anything but a couple of small birds.

Oxbow Bend, May 2012

From there we continued south on the highway until we came to the abandoned Mormon Row community. In the 1890s this area was settled by what eventually became a community of 33 families. By the middle of the 20th century it was mostly abandoned. These barns are among the structures that remain standing, empty.

Mormon Road Barn 1, May 2012

Mormon Road Barn 2, May 2012

The Grand Teton National Park is, of course, ultimately about the Grand Tetons. They have been playing hide and seek with us since we arrived; one minute one can't even tell there is a mountain range there, the next they peek out from the clouds and storms. After many tries, I finally got a few shots of the two tallest peaks in the range, Grand Teton itself and Mt. Moran.

Grand Teton & Mt. Moran, May 2012

They are magnificent.

We still have some hours of daylight left and early tomorrow before we head on south, so I may be able to do better. But at least I can prove I was here.

 

Woke up this morning ...

Snow!

Jackson Lake Lodge, May 2012

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night ...

Well, we've had two of these - rain and snow - along with hail, sleet and fog today. But before we left Yellowstone this morning, I went for a walk around Upper Basin - the area near Old Faithful - and took a few more snaps of some thermals.

Yet more unbelievable stuff, May 2012

They are truly out of this world.

We arrived at Grand Teton around noon, checked into the Lodge, had a tasty but complicated and overly lengthy lunch (something about somebody's hamburger having to be redone delaying our lunch 15 minutes ...I don't get it either). The wife then decamped in the beautiful lobby by a fireplace to read, and I attempted to take an afternoon hike. The weather wasn't clear and sunny, but cloudy, and I thought it would be ok as long as it didn't rain too hard.

Well, a few minutes into the hike it started snowing and sleeting. I wasn't even sure I was on the right trail, so I turned around and headed back to the car. After sitting a bit with the wife in the lobby, I tried another hike. Although Grand Teton has some of the most magnificent scenery in the world, and it's frustrating to not be able to see it.

A view of the Tetons, May 2012

And here's what I saw on my hike:

A gloomy day in Gand Teton, May 2012

I really hope the weather is better tomorrow; it's showing as cloudy with a shower. Since everything there is to do here depends on being outside, we need some passable weather.





 

Rainy day in Yellowstone

We've been watching the weather forecast for days now, and it has been consistently predicting that today would turn colder and have periods of rain, continuing through tonight and tomorrow. Well, for once the weatherman is right. It's around 50 degrees, very windy, and raining on and off since late morning.

I went out early this morning before the rain to do two hikes. The first was cancelled on account of bears: the trail was closed because the momma bears are nursing the baby bears. The second was cancelled because it started raining before I got there.

Catching some early morning rays, May 2012

Instead I took some pictures of my favorite subjects, bison and moving water.

The Firehole River, May 2012

I came back to Old Faithful when the rain got heavier and I couldn't even jump out of the car for a few minutes to take some shots. It wasn't raining here, so I repacked my gear and went off for a tour of the Upper Geyser Basin, which is the area immediately around Old Faithful. I got some good shots of Old Faithful from Observation Point up on the hill beyond the geyser, and also saw some features and geysers I hadn't seen the other day. Then it started to rain again, so I went inside.

Upper Basin, Yellowstone NP, May 2012

Tomorrow morning we leave for the (relatively short) ride down to Grand Teton National Park.

Water, Earth & Fire

Well, not exactly much fire today. We did quickly peruse some thermal spots, but today was mostly water and rocks. Although sitting here on the deck with a glass of wine watching Old Faithful smolder is really pretty cool.

We also saw bison, of course. We've actually become accustomed to seeing them ... "oh, bison blocking the road again ... ". I would say you can't drive around for a day and not see them.

Absaroka Range across Yellowstone Lake, May 2012

But back to the water and rocks. The Yellowstone River flows north out of Yellowstone Lake in the southeast quadrant of the park and eventually hooks up with the Missouri River. Yellowstone Lake is a basin created when the great volcano which underlies much of the park last erupted 640,000 years ago, and it is a few miles on the Mississippi side of the Continental Divide. About 20 miles north of the lake, it drops about 500 feet, mostly in two falls: Upper Yellowstone and Lower Yellowstone Falls. Below the Falls it has cut the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone , which is truly magnificent. We walked along part of the south rim, and I descended down a metal stairway called Uncle Tom's Trail, dropping about 300' just below the Lower Falls. The metal stairs sound primitive, until you find out they replaced the rope ladders Uncle Tom used originally.

Lower Yellowstone Falls, May 2012

People use all kinds of techniques and technology to record their visit to the Canyon. We saw cheap cameras and expensive cameras. We saw phone cameras and one guy using an iPad (it has a really bad camera, and was acting like a sail in the gusty wind). We saw camcorders, and people just looking and seeing. Towards the end of our loop on the North Rim, I found this lady who was trying to record her memories of the Canyon in a more traditional way, with paper and pencil.

Inspiration @ Inspiration Point, May 2012

Near the end of our loop today we stopped and I went to look at the West Thumb Thermal Basin, which is right at the shore of Yellowstone Lake. As I stood looking at it, a gust of wind came along and blew my hat into the hot pool, making it an offering to the fire gods that live below this land.

I really liked that hat.

Chip Chat

Another beautiful day here in Yellowstone. We're getting ready to head up to Yellowstone Falls and the Yellowstone Canyon.

You all know what SD cards are: those tiny, thumbnail- sized chips that go into you phone, camera or other computer-like gear and store data such as photos or songs. For a camera, in particular, they are critical and reliability is crucial. If you take 100 pictures and your card fails, you loose the pictures. On a trip like this where the pictures are a big part of the enjoyment for me (and maybe all of it for you?), it becomes that much more critical.

The good and the bad, May 2012

So I bought a bunch of new brand-name cards a few weeks ago to take with me. My main camera has a really slick feature: it takes two cards in two slots, and you have a choice of how to use them. Some people put still photos on one and movies on the other; some use them sequentially to get twice the storage capacity in the camera for stills; others put "Raw" images on one (the digital equivalent of negatives) and "jpegs" on the other (the digital equivalent of prints). Being an old database guy, I use them so one backs up the other: I have the camera set to write each image to both cards at the same time. Extra security, in case one fails.

Well, yesterday, one of the cards started giving error messages ("bad card"). It seems like the images on the card are ok, but I can't reliably take new ones. So these cards both go into the Used folder this morning and I put two new fresh cards in the camera. The main down side to this is I'm loosing half the total capacity of these cards for the trip, but I can always buy new ones somewhere if I need them.



 

Thermal City

Yellowstone is a huge place, with many different types of areas and sights to see: lakes, canyons, forests, wildlife, waterfalls, and of course the thermal sights. Today we focused on the thermal stuff. Along the way we couldn't help but see the other stuff as well.

Selected Thermal Features, May 2012

The thermal features are all over the place, especially in the southwest section of the park. They get whimsical or fantasy names, none of which have much of anything to do with anything: Fountain Paint Pot, Great Fountain Geyser, Echinus Geyser, etc. Many of them are beautiful, many of them are fantastical, many of them are drab and boring. After four or five hours they all start to run together.

The bison are all over the place - just like the deer in NJ. Well, perhaps not literally, as there are apparently only about 15,000 wild bison in North America (and another half million on ranches). But they're really easy to see in Yellowstone. We had to stop a couple of times as one or two sauntered casually across the road. Since they weigh upwards of a ton and can run as fast as 40mph when agitated, it really doesn't pay to annoy them. These two were part of a group of a dozen or so that were feeding in this meadow. I managed to get my feet soaked walking out in a marshy section to photograph them, while wearing my sneakers. The Gore-Tex boots were usefully sitting in the car.

Bison & Waterfall, May 2012

We only saw a few medium-sized waterfalls. This one, Gibbons Falls, is pretty impressive. I am hoping we get up to Yellowstone Falls tomorrow or Tuesday.

We crashed in the room around 5:00 and are enjoying a leisurely dinner of beer, carrots, Oriental Rice Cracker Mix, cereal, ice cream, and coffee. Just too tired to face another mediocre dinner in the dining room, which is the only option within 40 miles. I may have an aperitif a little later.

 

Morning Special

Did you know that Old Faithful is the most photographed geyser in the world? I didn't, although it certainly is the most photographed by me. On the other hand, how could they possibly know that factoid?

Old Faithful @ 7:30am, May 2012

Anyway, I was up early so here's a shot taken just as the sun came over the hill this morning.

And another showing the Upper Geyser Basin from near Old Faithful. Note: absolutely no color enhancement to this picture.

Upper Geyser Basin, May 2012

Practically Prehistoric

Okay, campers, we now come to another classic and still amazing sight. Can you guess?

Old Faithful, May 2012

After a(nother) long drive we arrived at Yellowstone this afternoon, to the Old Faithful Inn. This is one of the architectural masterpieces of the National Parks. First built at the beginning of the 20th century, and then expanded a few years later, it was designed to invoke a simple rustic lodge made of logs. Of course, it's a simple rustic lodge with 360 rooms.

Unfortunately, the operators are mostly still stuck in the early 20th century. There are phones, and their website proudly explains that they have no Internet to maintain the integrity of the rustic feeling. So no WiFi, only 2G AT&T, and (surprise) 3G Verizon. I guess they miss the irony of advertising no Internet service on their stinkin' website. Fortunately, the wife's new iPad is Verizon, so I'm sharing that connection from my AT&T devices.

No TV either, not that I miss that at all.

The Old Faithful Inn lobby, May 2012

Anyway, we had a pretty mediocre meal in the dining room tonight. Which is booked solid every night. The wife suggested we eat elsewhere tomorrow, especially after most of the menu choices turned out to have poisonous garlic. However, every restaurant in the park - and most of the parks we will be visiting - are run by the same company, which means we are likely to have a hard time finding food which is both tasty and edible.

We have three full days here, which is good because the park is enormous. It took us an hour and a half to drive from the north entrance down to the Old Faithful area. Anywhere you want to go is an hour or more away from here (except the thermal sites adjacent to Old Faithful, of course). Tonight and the morning will be spent figuring out the schedule for these days.

 

Big Sky

Today was mostly a travel day. We left our cozy cabin in Rapid City, SD, cut across the northeast corner of Wyoming, and arrived late afternoon in Billings, MT. Montana is called the Big Sky Country, and they're not kidding. This is what we saw for hours:

Rt 212, Montana, May 2012

I could have tied the steering wheel down and let the car drive itself for a long long time. Arrow straight, virtually no traffic, expansive scenery. I was fascinated.

Interestingly, Google Maps suggested that we take I-90 all the way from Rapid City to Billings, for about 5 hours. Our TomTom GPS unit suggest Montana 212 for about 4:30, which turned out to be pretty accurate (we did a bit better) and much more pleasant. I like driving on these kind of roads. Just like the state highways in the East, you pass through small towns along the way rather than seeing truck stops at the exit ramps from the Interstate. Of course, out here the small towns are 60 miles apart. And while the state speed limit is 70 mph, the towns slow you down to 25 mph. Which I respected. Even though I've seen exactly one cop since we landed in Denver.

A man died here, May 2012

Where Rt 212 finally runs into I-90 about 60 miles east of Billings is the Little Big Horn National Monument. Here Custer and his ~850 troops blundered into an ambush and were wiped out, handing the US Army its biggest disaster of the Indian Wars.

When I was a kid, popular culture represented this as a tragedy for Custer and the US. Of course, we now look at this as the last success for the Native American tribes who were fighting off the invading white man, and trying to protect their freedom, lands and way of life.

By the time we got to Little Big Horn, it was raining and continued more or less into the evening. So after checking into our hotel in Billings, we ran out for some (garlic free!) delicious pizza, and we're spending the evening relaxing in our surprisingly comfortable Best Western. I hope the rain clears out, as tomorrow is Yellowstone.