Road Trippin

[MannyIsGod]

So we moved on and checked into our hotel then left to check out Mesa Verde NP. At this park we really just checked out the views and didn't go check out the preserved dwellings. We live close to a lot of old native ruins/dwellings and its really stuff that we've seen plenty of times and its usually not too different so we stuck to the views and natural points of interest as opposed to the archeological areas.



Thats from the first overlook we came to.



This was an old road that was known as the Knife's Edge.



Burnt tree at the same spot. There was a lot of evidence of fire not too old in the park.




Couple of more views



This view was from the highest place in the park known as Park Point. It is back to the south and you can see Shiprock on the right side as well as another large rock formation in NM known as the Hogsback. Visibility was pretty good that day. I don't remember how far these 2 formations were but we could see mountain ranges in different directions that were over 100 miles away.

[MannyIsGod]

Drove into Utah the next day. As we crossed into the state we came to a roadside arch that was pretty damn big.




Thats me after I climbed up into the arch. As you can see, its ing huge. The climb was fun, too.



This was a rock formation we saw further down the road before getting to Moab. The Utah symbol is a beehive so I wonder if they carved out the hole in the bottom to make it look like the symbol. There was nothing on the side of the road to say if that was the case or not.

Blew threw Moab and went to Canyonlands NP first. I wasn't prepared for how amazing this place was.




Pretty impossible to get the scale in these pictures to show you how amazing it is up there.



Here I am wondering if I should just jump and never have to read another Fabbs post in my life. One of the cool things about the park is the lack of railing/fences. You can pretty much walk up to the very edge of every cliff there.



Another view. These are from the Island in the Sky portion of the park. There are more areas where you are actually in the canyons or lower below the plateau but we didn't visit those areas.



Saw a bunch of these critters running around the park too.

[MannyIsGod]

We didn't get much time to spend in Canyonlands. There is definitely a ton of stuff I want to go back and go see. One of the things about the trip to Yellowstone a couple of years ago was the sheer amount of time we got there and how it allowed us to basically see everything and go on a ton of hikes. That wasn't the case on this trip as we didn't get to hike in Canyonlands and spent a bit over 3 hours within the park. Definitely a place I want to go back to and actually spend a much longer amount of time in and see parts of the park far away from the roads.

The coolest in national parks is almost always away from the roads.

So anyway, next was Arches



I don't remember what this formation was, to be honest.



Distant view of balanced rock and balanced rock on the left and The Window (an arch) on the right.



Courthouse Towers (I believe) and the 3 gossips. The scale on these formations is hard to get from pics but they are HUGE.



Balanced rock from much closer.



I might as well be Japanese tourist because I love taking pictures like this. Yes, I'm a .

[MannyIsGod]

We did a pretty cook hike through the fiery furnace after this with a ranger. The Fiery Furnace is an area you can't go in without a permit because there are no marked trails. Its basically a very tight maze through these rock formations. Was pretty amazing in there. The hike involved a lot of scrambling over obstacles and was a lot of fun.







These are all just pictures I snapped along the way.



First arch we came to on the hike. It was small enough that you had to duck under it as you walked.



Small pothole that wasn't quite large enough to be considered an arch yet.



There is an arch in the wall here.

[Kori Ellis]

Wow, lots of awesome pictures. I'm sure you two are having a lot of fun.

[DeadlyDynasty]

Great pics Manny. I've always wanted to see the Badlands/Mt. Rushmore.

[DeadlyDynasty]

Arches is great. If you get a chance, check out Bryce Canyon too

[MannyIsGod]

More pics from the hike:



This reminded me of something Tim Burton would come up with



I honestly had no idea this arch was there when I took the picture. I just found it when going through pics.



A set of arches. No idea the names.



Ranger giving us advice on how to get across this mini ravine. This type of thing was the best part of the hike for me. Plus, no risk of having to saw off an arm.



This will give you an idea of the scale of the areas we were in.



So this arch is really well named as Surprise arch because it really sneaks up on you. We didn't notice it until we were literally underneath it.

That was pretty much it for that day. Just like Canyonlands, a ton more I want to see at Arches but you just need more time to do hikes and get away from the main areas. The Fiery Furnance was some of that but we were in a group. Having the ranger there to explain things about the features and guide us through this area was pretty awesome though.

[MannyIsGod]

Arches is great. If you get a chance, check out Bryce Canyon too

We really gotta make a long trip to South Utah because I want to visit these two parks again as well as Capitol Reef and Bryce. So much to see!

[DeadlyDynasty]

We really gotta make a long trip to South Utah because I want to visit these two parks again as well as Capitol Reef and Bryce. So much to see!

Went horseback riding in Bryce when I was a youngin back in 95. We also visited a lot of the parks you're posting pics of, so it brings back good memories

One of my favs was tubing in Lake Powell/Glen Canyon. Fun times.

[CuckingFunt]

I'm jealous of all your hikes in Arches. When I went a few years ago, it was a last minute decision on a road trip (after a night spent getting turned away from several full hotels in numerous towns in the vicinity of Moab and eventually sleeping at a rest area crammed in a Chevy HHR with my mom and her dog), so between a tight schedule, general crankiness, and the presence of a 4-legged passenger, we were limited to areas easily accessible by car. Just an amazingly beautiful part of the country, though, and one to which I hope to return for proper exploration.

[MannyIsGod]

Went horseback riding in Bryce when I was a youngin back in 95. We also visited a lot of the parks you're posting pics of, so it brings back good memories

One of my favs was tubing in Lake Powell/Glen Canyon. Fun times.

Been to 11 national parks. 47 to go!

[MannyIsGod]

I'm jealous of all your hikes in Arches. When I went a few years ago, it was a last minute decision on a road trip (after a night spent getting turned away from several full hotels in numerous towns in the vicinity of Moab and eventually sleeping at a rest area crammed in a Chevy HHR with my mom and her dog), so between a tight schedule, general crankiness, and the presence of a 4-legged passenger, we were limited to areas easily accessible by car. Just an amazingly beautiful part of the country, though, and one to which I hope to return for proper exploration.

The whole purpose of this trip was because we got tickets to see Adele in SLC and we thought of going to the parks last minute (few weeks prior). Adele ended up cancelling but we at least go to go to the parks.

Moab was crowded as . We were planning on camping there but were unable to reserve a site a few weeks in advance so we got rooms a few hours away in each direction since were just passing through. Definitely need more time for each of those parks.

[CuckingFunt]

Great pics Manny. I've always wanted to see the Badlands/Mt. Rushmore.

The Badlands are beautiful, and their location in the middle of so much nothing lends a particularly haunting quality. The drive to get there, however, is every bit as boring as one would assume from South Dakota.

As for Rushmore, my advice would be to go to the area but skip the park. The monument itself is relatively unimpressive -- the viewpoint is considerably farther away than one would assume from pictures, leading to the general experience of looking at a tourist postcard in real life -- and the only thing I really took away from it was the hilariously revisionist presentation honoring the noble savage while completely sidestepping the fact all those viewing film are doing so on sacred land taken from Native Americans. Overall, it was pretty much opposite the Badlands experience. Rushmore was blah, but the drive was absolutely breathtaking. The road winds through gorgeous granite mountains and an adorable town called Hot Springs (which would probably have been a more pleasant place to stay than the bustling metropolis that is Rapid City).

[baseline bum]

Fiery Furnace looks awesome. The tickets sell out early in August though, so I wasn't able to get them when I went last year. I did the hikes to Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch which were really cool though. I'll definitely have to return for Fiery Furnace at least, and for Bryce Canyon too. Your pic of Four Corners looks a of a lot nicer than it was last year.

[baseline bum]

Been to 11 national parks. 47 to go!

I have been to exactly 11 also.

Here is how I rank the ones I have gone to:

1. Yosemite
2. Grand Teton
3. Sequoia
4. Kings Canyon
5. Yellowstone
6. Big Bend
7. Arches
8. Mesa Verde
9. Grand Canyon
10. Joshua Tree
11. Petrified Forest

[MannyIsGod]

So far I rank them as follows:

Yellowstone
Big Bend
Arches
Canyonlands
Bad Lands
Grand Tetons
Wind Cave
Guadalupe Mountains
Rocky Mountains
Carlsbad Caverns
Mesa Verde

Rocky Mountains was a really bad visit. We'll probably go back later this summer and it'll go way up. Later this summer we also plan on visiting Black Canyon of the Gunison and Sand Dunes. They are both super close. This fall will probably be a trip to the Grand Canyon.

[baseline bum]

So far I rank them as follows:

Yellowstone
Big Bend
Arches
Canyonlands
Bad Lands
Grand Tetons
Wind Cave
Guadalupe Mountains
Rocky Mountains
Carlsbad Caverns
Mesa Verde

Rocky Mountains was a really bad visit. We'll probably go back later this summer and it'll go way up. Later this summer we also plan on visiting Black Canyon of the Gunison and Sand Dunes. They are both super close. This fall will probably be a trip to the Grand Canyon.

I see your metric is heavily dominated by bear-sighting.

[MannyIsGod]

Those were just the places I enjoyed the most. I do enjoy seeing all wildlife though. Yellowstone is ahead by a mile, and Big Bend has a pretty good lock on second but after that its relaly close until Rocky Mountains. I thought Carlsbad was cool and all but not that great and Mesa Verde was fairly underwhelming for a National Park for me but that mainly has to do with the fact that several national monuments near me have the exact same thing.

[MannyIsGod]

Since you like biking, you might want to consider this too...

LOL BTW this is cheating like a mofo. Where's the satisfaction in just coasting down?

This, looks bad ass though.


http://www.rimtours.com/tours/white-rim-trail.html

[baseline bum]

Those were just the places I enjoyed the most. I do enjoy seeing all wildlife though. Yellowstone is ahead by a mile, and Big Bend has a pretty good lock on second but after that its relaly close until Rocky Mountains. I thought Carlsbad was cool and all but not that great and Mesa Verde was fairly underwhelming for a National Park for me but that mainly has to do with the fact that several national monuments near me have the exact same thing.

Yeah, you don't really go to Mesa Verde for the views, though there are a couple of nice places for them. I forgot about Carlsbad; make that 12 parks I have been to. I went there as a kid and wasn't all that impressed. I expected a huge version of Natural Bridge Caverns, but I didn't see anything as remotely interesting as all the stuff you see in that short tour of Natural Bridge.

There's still hope for you for Grand Teton though. That trail that I showed you pics of that I said was ok for solo hiking since I saw no sign of bears... according to someone who does that hike twice a year, he has never not seen bears on it.

One of the ones I didn't get to (Paintbrush Divide) is also supposed to have almost guaranteed moose sightings if you do it early in the morning. That one's a 20-miler though with lots of elevation gain, and it needs crampons and an axe if done before late July.

[baseline bum]

LOL BTW this is cheating like a mofo. Where's the satisfaction in just coasting down?

This, looks bad ass though.


http://www.rimtours.com/tours/white-rim-trail.html

Probably just from looking at the 3 giant plateaus ( roaring, Beartooth, and Froze to Death) at a really slow speed.

And as long as we're talking guided trips, this one looks incredible:

http://www.jhmg.com/climbs/highpoints/gannett.php

[Jekka]

I drove both the Beartooth highway and the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway when I was living in Yellowstone - they were both awesome. I had crazy fog on the first part of the Chief Joseph SB (below), though, and missed a lot of the views near Cody. Still really fun to drive.



The road leaving the Tetons on the way to Dubois, Wyoming - I think it's US Hwy 26/287 - is beautiful, too, as is the Wind River reservation. That takes you through the Wyoming badlands, which aren't as impressive as Badlands National Park, but it's still gorgeous.

Going-to-the-Sun Road (Glacier National Park, below) is still probably the best scenic drive I've done solely on the basis of aesthetics - the only wildlife I saw was mountain goats, although that was pretty cool in itself.

[baseline bum]

Going-to-the-Sun Road (Glacier National Park, below) is still probably the best scenic drive I've done solely on the basis of aesthetics - the only wildlife I saw was mountain goats, although that was pretty cool in itself.

I really gotta visit Glaicer sometime. Tioga Pass Road through Yosemite is still my favorite (so far):

http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal.../05/tioga5.jpg
^^^ Too big to post inline

[Jekka]

I really gotta visit Glaicer sometime. Tioga Pass Road through Yosemite is still my favorite (so far):

http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal.../05/tioga5.jpg
^^^ Too big to post inline

I drove Going-to-the-Sun the first weekend it was open that year - in 2009 that wasn't until July 4th, so if you want to drive the whole thing it may be a little later in summer, which means that the crowds are worse, but ah well. I don't think the number of people there really detracted from my experience, but I had also just come from the hoards of people in Yellowstone and Glacier seemed practically vacant by comparison. Like at Yellowstone, seeing a mountain goat and her kid would have resulted in a way bigger traffic jam than this one.



Yosemite is really high on my bucket list - I still haven't been and the pictures are amazing. Just need to have vacation days and money at the same time!