Looking Back

Now that we are back home from our month long trip in the van we have A LOT of time to think back on our journey.

•First, it is important to state that we did not bring a GPS on this trip. We used a National Geographic Adventure Edition Road Atlas. Yes, Mike has a GPS on his phone. We did use it to find odd things like a laundromat or local Planet Fitness. We used the atlas for 99.9% of navigation and planning. This was one of the best choices we made.

•I realized in the final week of our trip that I don’t need anything that is in my apartment right now. I can live without it all, and have done so for a month.

•The best souvenirs are photos and memories (and stickers, according to Mike). With that said, you don’t need to photograph everything. I took a lot of photos in some places, and never took my camera out of my bag at others. The only souvenirs I bought were small thank-you gifts for those who helped me while I was away and small things for the kids to hopefully inspire them to explore when they can. I also got myself a t-shirt and earrings.

•As much as I love food, you don’t need much to live on. A good chunk of our meals were oatmeal, eggs, PB&J, or Ramen Noodles. With that said, I can’t tell you how awesome a salad bar sounds right now.

•It is so important to find at least one person whose adventurous spirit overlaps with yours. If I didn’t have Mike I don’t know whether I would have taken this trip. We are both not satisfied with the standard timeline and guidelines for life. We have dreams of our own that involve being free to roam and explore. The choices we make every day, both big and small, are made with this in mind. We were able to fulfill a dream together, and it has been a beautiful experience. We are closer now than we have ever been, and *insert mushy line here*!

•You should always do the things you’ll later on wish you had done. Conversely, don’t do things you’ll later on wish you hadn’t done. Some have heard me say this before. It is something I have given as advice, and something I use to help myself make decisions, like my decision to pull the trigger on this trip. You will have very little, if any, regret in life if you follow this.

-13° In a Coleman Sleeping Bag

Now that we are heading back towards home we only have one stop planned: the ultra-liberal Boulder, CO. As soon as the day turned to night on our drive through Colorado the snow began to fall. The roads were steep ad treacherous as the roads passed over the summits of mountains up to 10,000 feet above sea level and 18 wheelers pulled over to honor tire chain laws. DJs on the radio were reporting temperatures in the single digits for the evening. I stopped for gas and came out of the gas station to find Mike in the driver’s seat… what a relief! We spent a good amount of time on the highway still and eventually had to take a less maintained road north towards Boulder. This road was barely plowed, hilly, and winding. We took it super slow and things were fine until we hit ice on a sharp right bend. Mike stayed calm, but couldn’t keep the van straight. We spun, Mike corrected, we slid into a guardrail, Mike corrected, we slid off the road, Mike corrected.

The damage isn't bad, thank God!

We were in the middle of nowhere in a bitter cold snowstorm in Colorado. We had to keep driving. Luckily we had no more incidents, but as soon as we saw a town we decided to get off the road 30 miles from Boulder before our luck ran out. There is so much more at stake when your vehicle is your home and you have no other way to cover the 2,000+ miles home. We parked outside of a Best Western, bundled up, and went to bed. We cuddled all night for warmth and kept our heads under our bedding, but it wasn’t enough. We were COLD!! We stayed huddled in our literally frozen bed until the coffee shop across the street opened at 7am. In the coffee shop a pot belly stove was roaring and the shop was super toasty. While warming up by the stove we heard the girl at the counter tell another customer that it was -13° when she got to work that morning. -13°!!!!! That means it was even colder than that at the coldest time of the night. We had a good laugh over sleeping OUTSIDE of a hotel in -13° weather and decided we would stay IN a hotel that night.

We drove the rest of the way to Boulder that morning, did some shopping, and spent a couple hours at a local climbing gym called The Spot. We decided we really liked Boulder and would like to go back during positive temperatures to enjoy the vibe and the mountains there.

Arches

It’s Tuesday, November 11^th and we have rolled into our last national park for this trip, Arches National Park in Utah.

There is no overnight parking at Arches unless you have a backcountry permit, so we got ourselves a permit with no intention of stepping foot in the backcountry of the desert where there are no trails or water sources. Instead we hiked/ran a trail out to the famous Delicate Arch for sunset.

Later we hit a cool outdoor store and restaurant in Moab and slept at the trailhead where we would have hiked into the backcountry. The next day we took the drive through the park to Devil’s Garden Trailhead to checkout a handful more of the couple thousand arches that can be found at this park.

Landscape Arch

The trail to these arches was mostly paved until you reach the part of the loop that is called a “primitive” trail which is apparently code for “unpaved”. It was an oddly cold and terribly windy day, but there was much solitude on the primitive trail and was a nice end to our 2014 tour of America’s national parks. Time to start heading east L.

Fees Waived with Annual Pass:

Carlsbad Caverns National Park $20

Petrified Forest National Park $10

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument $10

Wupatki National Monument $10

Grand Canyon National Park $25

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area $15

Zion National Park $25

Arches National Park $10

Zion

On November 10^th we hit Zion National Park in Utah. This was another park that we entered after dark so we could not see its beauty until the next day. We talked with a ranger at the Visitor Center to get information on trails and bouldering. We decided to do the strenuous and treacherous Angel’s Landing hike followed by Emerald Pools. The landscape at Zion was interesting with both cactus and tall leafy trees. The mountains were towering, rocky, and seemed impossible to summit.

Angel’s Landing was a paved and steady trail with many switchbacks at first, then the luxurious flat trail disappears into a very steep and exposed rocky trail with heavy chains installed to aid hikers to the crowded summit.

While we were enjoying the views Mike made friends with a hyperactive Chipmunk who was difficult to photograph, but I got him!

Our afternoon hike to Emerald Pools was a disappointing sandy hike to some muddy pools. We realized it was not the hike we thought it was. Oh well! The hike was a short 3 miles so we were back at the van early enough to get in some roadside bouldering.

Fees Waived with Annual Pass:

Carlsbad Caverns National Park $20

Petrified Forest National Park $10

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument $10

Wupatki National Monument $10

Grand Canyon National Park $25

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area $15

Zion National Park $25

What happens in Vegas...

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, which is great because we hated it. No, we did not lose a lot of money. We felt like the city was a dirty money pit with people constantly bothering you about what your evening plans are. There were even middle-aged women flicking porno ads at us. NEVER going back.

pretending to have fun

Luckily, just outside Vegas is Red Rock Canyon with some prime sandstone climbing. We spent 2 days climbing, including a multipitch trad climb with a super sketchy walk off.

Fees Waived with Annual Pass:

Carlsbad Caverns National Park $20

Petrified Forest National Park $10

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument $10

Wupatki National Monument $10

Grand Canyon National Park $25

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area $15

The Grand Canyon!!!!!

We finished at the Wapatki ruins at sunset and continued straight on through Navaho Nation Indian Reservation into Grand Canyon National Park!! It was completely dark when we drove through the gates so I hadn’t got a glimpse of the canyon yet. We found a place to park, cooked some Ramen Noodles and went to bed. It turned out we were in for our coldest night yet in the van. The rim of the Grand Canyon is at over 7,000 feet above sea level and we woke up in the morning to find our memory foam pillows and mattresses had actually frozen solid and there was ice on all of the windows. Awful!! Mike is the greatest man I could ask for and got out of bed to make us breakfast then we ventured to find the backcountry office. The Grand Canyon is rumored to be very difficult to get permits for. Luckily, while we were not in the off-season, we were not in the busy season and got the permits we wanted with no problems at all. We were scheduled to take a 3 day and 2 night backcountry hike starting the following morning. We spent our first day at the canyon packing our bags and checking out some viewpoints.

The enormity of the Grand Canyon is incomprehensible. It is so large and complex that it actually looks fake. I don’t really even know how to describe it!

makes no sense

We were very impressed with the park itself. It has a full grocery store with gear shop, restaurants, and lodging to appeal to all types of travelers. The best part is all of the prices are very reasonable, and entry into the park gets you free shuttle bus service to viewpoints and trailheads. While making our way around the park we saw several elk AND it started snowing.

It was an awesome but strange day!

We were up early the following day to catch the shuttle bus from the backcountry office to the South Kaibab trailhead to start our adventure, but not before I weighed my pack… 27 lbs! It was pretty chilly for most of the 9+ miles, about a mile descent into the canyon, to the Bright Angel Campground where we were spending our first night.

down jackets in the desert

We passed several mule parties on our way down the popular trail. We admired their strength, but felt sadness for their existence.

The views constantly changed as we made our way towards the Colorado River, and thankfully the temperature increased to about 70 in the sun.

The Bright Angel Campground was shockingly modern with running water, flush toilets, soap and mirrors in the bathroom. The sites lined a Colorado River tributary and were very well maintained.

We got to camp earlier than expected so we soaked up the sun barefoot at the Colorado where we spotted a fox in the brush. The rest of the evening was uneventful at the campground so we turned in early to wake up just as late as we usually do haha!

The second day of our trek took us on the Bright Angel Trail 4+ miles, about a 1,000 foot ascent, to the Indian Garden Campground where we would spend our second night. The miles passed quickly and we found ourselves at camp by noon. We relaxed for a short while to eat lunch, replace fluids, and set up our tent on the site we chose.

We set out that afternoon for a 3 mile round-trip day hike to Plateau Point. This hike was a shadeless desert hike to some awesome panoramic views from the inside of the canyon.

We spent about an hour there soaking up the landscape and talking with a British couple about travel. Back at the campsite we passed the evening playing cards and perusing books provided by the ranger, cooked more Ramen Noodles and were asleep early again.

Sunset at Indian Garden Campground

We got an earlier start than usual on our 3^rd and final day in the canyon. We had 4,000 feet of elevation to gain over 4+ miles that day. Our earlier start meant less humans were on the trail that morning before us and wildlife lingered. We saw a single gaunt looking mule deer, family of deer,

and a ram.

The hike out, while relatively short, felt difficult. I was drained, but I made it!

Fees Waived with Annual Pass:

Carlsbad Caverns National Park $20

Petrified Forest National Park $10

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument $10

Wapatki National Monument $10

Grand Canyon National Park $25

Not Too Late

We had loosely planned to be at the Grand Canyon by November 1^st, and it was already November 2^nd so we decided to make the most of the day and hit Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and Wupatki National Monument after our half day at Petrified Forest. Sunset Crater is a perfect example of why the Department of the Interior does not allow people to enter all parts of national lands. Decades ago in the 60’s people were encouraged to climb Sunset Crater and were even given certificates of completion for doing so. What no one knew at that time was that the dormant volcano’s sandy surface was delicate and impressionable. The result is waist deep trenches still visible today marking the paths taken to summit the volcano in the 60’s. Even though Sunset Crater is permanently scarred, I still believe it should be open to visitors who wish to experience the volcano up close, perhaps by a limited number of permits. It is currently closed.

When you travel through Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument you eventually reach Wupatki National Monument.

This monument is a series of pueblos once inhabited by Native Americans hundreds of years ago.

Although these particular structures have been long since abandoned Native American families still lived on and worked the land until the mid to late 20^th century until they were eventually all run off the land. Some were even still living on the land until the 90’s. Inside the visitor center the history between the Natives and the US government is documented and displayed. One Native is quoted for still wanting to go back to her family’s land. I believe this information is provided to visitors for transparency, but what I don’t understand is why this land is not given back. It seems as though it is not too late.

Fees Waived with Annual Pass:

Carlsbad Caverns National Park $20

Petrified Forest National Park $10

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument $10

Wupatki National Monument $10