It was time to leave Vegas, easier said than done with hangovers, blistering heat and an unwilling Jo (who did not want to get out of bed). Finally, car collected and packed we set off on our 9 day roadtrip, 10 minutes later Jo was asleep and I was driving on a busy highway through endless miles of desert - not quite what we had imagined. A couple of hours later, fortified with junk food, it was decided if we were ever to leave the highways then we may need to invest in a roadmap, transaction completed we left the highway and headed through more scenic countryside having decided to head to Zion National Park.
As we approached Zion, the canyon started to loom around us. We entered and drove to the tourist information where we left the car and took the shuttle. In an effort to reduce car pollution and congestion a regular shuttles (every 6 minutes) head through the main road pass of Zion (cars are now banned). This is not only environmentally friendly, but it also allows you to relax and enjoy the views, as you travel, a prerecorded guide tells you where you are and what you are seeing. For me, the joy of Zion was travelling through the canyon and seeing its walls towering above you. This was in stark contrast to the Grand Canyon, where you are looking down into the canyon. Its gives you a better perspective of the size and beauty of the canyon. We travelled on the shuttle to the end of the canyon (about 35 minutes), walked around and then headed back, choosing to jump of the shuttle at regular stops to enjoy the scenery and take advantage of some of the shorter treks. We were limited on time as we needed to find somewhere to spend the night, so after a couple of hours we had to head back to the car. The route we took, then proceeded to take us through the Zion National Park, further allowing us to enjoy its beauty, we stopped several times, either to enjoy a specific view or to enjoy the wildlife. We saw a number of mountain goats and as the sun set, monk deer grazing along the side of the road. As hunger started to dominate the brain (well Jo’s), we chose to stop at a small diner in a pretty remote area – the hope was for some good local homecooking. We both chose the Beef Stew, sat back and waited. It took a while to arrive, but we were still hopeful until it arrived ! It came in a bowl and consisited of beef chunks, frozen vegetable, and potatoes in a beef instant gravy mix – we reckon the only reason it took so long was because they had to boil the potatoes ! We had a laugh about it, left no tip and jumped back in the car. It was dark by now, so we headed off looking for a motel, 20 miles later we found one in a small settlement, $50 later we were in a first roadside motel.
We awoke early and headed the 20 odd miles to Bryce Canyon, on the way we passed through Red Canyon, the rock formations and colours were spectacular, enhanced by the early sun. We entered Bryce, and with only about a morning to spare, so chose to see the 4 most popular viewpoints. The approach was similar to that of the Grand Canyon, you drive through woodland, then suddenly the road ends and an amphitheatre appears. It is difficult to describe Bryce, it is an array of stunning rock features called ‘hoodoos’, created from a combination of wind and water action (just check out the photos to see what I mean). I can only express it as breathtaking, possibly one of the most amazing scenic views I have experienced. We marvelled at the viewpoints and whilst Jo sat and contemplated life, I chose to walk down through the hoodoos to get to the floor of the canyon. The walk was strenuous, but well worth the reward as you really appreciated how the hoodoos dominated the landscape. For us, Bryce was one of the highlights of the holiday, surpassing the Grand Canyon for a number of reasons. Firstly, the size is significantly smaller and so easier to appreciate and get into perspective. Secondly, it is easier to explore and walk through. A 20 minute walk and you are in the canyon, whereas in the Grand Canyon it’s a half day hike. This coupled with the distinctive hoodoos, the colours and fewer visitors, makes this place unique and it was almost a crime that 4 hours later we had to move on. As we left, a final treat was a herd of deer grazing close to the roadside.
We had to put the floor to the pedal after this and travel some serious miles to keep on any sort of schedule. We drove along the less populated roads for a number of hours, again choosing to stop at a local eatery. As soon as we entered we knew we had made the right choice, a family run café with proper home cooking. We ate the meatloaf, which was top notch, Jo then finished off with homemade cherry pie. Talking to the owner we learnt that a diner was more ‘instant’ food, whilst a café was traditionally ‘homecooked’ food. Full and happy we set off, re-joining the freeway, passing through Salt Lake City before eventually leaving and finally finding a motel. We learnt that day that we needed to find a cut off for stopping as we were both tired and a little irritable by the time we stopped. We had been hearing weather reports of a cold spell and snow over the coming days and even the motel owner asked us if we were prepared when we said we were heading for Yellowstone, so a few warning bells were also starting to ring. The evening meal was at ‘Taco time’ (!), a chain that served fast food Mexican, but seemed unsure of its ‘theme’. That said, we made the servers night, once he fund out we were English, he told all the staff, got them to ‘look at us’ and generally seemed chuffed by our arrival – very strange really.
The next day was overcast but not too ominous looking, after another hearty breakfast, we continued to head north, going through forests, before entering Idaho and mountains covered in trees in the full glory of fall (Autumn). The colours were beautiful, reds, oranges and yellows in abundance. We passed smaller and smaller settlements as we continued towards Wyoming, passing wildlife as we went, including amongst other things a raccoon.
We reached Jackson (50 miles South of Yellowstone) by mid afternoon and checked into a motel before walking around the town. Reaching the townsquare we were greeted by 4 archways to the square (not too wierd you may think), made entirely out of Elk Antlers ! There was a store opposite with a stuffed Bison outside, we wandered in to find we had walked into a taxidermy and fur shop - you name it and it was there, from small animals to a full sized grizzly bear. The smaller animals were even in amuzing poses (?) - a racoon dressed up and paddling a canoe - it was all too sureal and we had to leave. We awoke the next day to find that overnight they had had the worst October weather since 1980 - there was 6 inches of snow. This was not ideal for our attire of t-shirts and flipflops, so after heading to a store for warmer clothes we headed to the Teton National Park, which leads onto the south entrance of Yellowstone. We arrived to find that Teton was open, but the whole of Yellowstone was closed due to snow. We spent the day enjoying Teton, with its huge open plains, crystal clear lakes, impressive snow capped mountains and the brisk weather - coupled with snowball fights and sighting of several Elk and a Moose, it turned out to be a pretty good day.
The following day was cold, very cold, very very cold - 27 degrees F, and there was more snow. Still ever the optimist we set off, driving slowly through the Tetons, watching herds of Elk, deer, bison and then to top it off, a coyote. Jo also saw a bear (actually a rock) and another moose (actually a sign). We got within sight of the Yellowstone entrance this time, just to be told we would need snow chains to get any further. Disapointed we turned round and hoped our luck would turn as the weather was meant to be improving. The next day was the same at south entrance,however, we found out the west entrance had been opened, a mere 130 miles and 3 hours away - we were off and at midday we finally crossed into Yellowstone.
It was as if as soon as we crossed into Yellowstone, then someone pressed the wildlife switch ! We almost immediatly passed a herd of grazing elk, they were next to the road, much closer than we had been so far. Then a mile or so down the road, our first real close view of a herd of Bison. We parked, took photos, and then had to back off as they decided to wander around the parked cars - now that was a closeup ! We decided to head straight for 'Old Faithful' and take it from there. In addition to spectacular scenery, and lots of wildlife, Yellowstone boasts 70% of the worlds hot springs & geysers (over 300 in total). As we arrived there was a small crowd waiting to see Old Faithful errupt, low and behold several minutes later and it was off - blasting thousands of gallons of boiling water into the air. It was a pretty impressive sight and an indication of what was to come. We then wandered around the geyser hill springs, there are about 50 different springs here, bubbling, boiling and hissing. Everyone is slightly different, from the very small, through to the impressive Castle Geyser. The variety and uniqueness of the whole experience makes progress slow. It took several hours just to cover this small area, so we got back in the car and headed north taking in more geysers and boiling mudpits along the way. We also had to stop several times as deer, elk and bison were frequently crossing the road - this started off as an amazing experience, but did eventually become a bit tiresome, sitting in a car for 20 minutes as a herd of 30+ bison decide that they want to walk down the road as opposed to cross it ! In the main, the first day (well half day) was spent enjoying the variety of geysers and the wildlife that lives within the park.
The following morning we awoke early, cleaned the ice off the windscreen and prepared to spend our last day in Yellowstone. We arrived with a mist hanging over the park, as the sun appeared the mist started to disperse and we saw clear blue skies for the first time in days. This time of day is one of the best times for seeing wildlife (before it gets too hot), and we were treated to herds of deer, elk and bison, so much so that you eventually stop pulling over to watch them and eventually don't even point them out ! We had decided to head to the North Entrance, to see the impressive mammouth hot springs. The scenery was breathtaking, taking us over high mountain passes and affording us spectacular views of valleys, plains and lakes. The springs were completely different to what we had seen the previous day, with terraces of hot springs and the resulting deposit structures that had been created (terraces basically). We continued to the northeast entrance, stopping as there were a cluster of people with binoculars and cameras, we asked what all the fuss was about, to be told they were watching one of the 4 known packs of wolves within the park. We were priveledged enough to see one of the wolves in the distance, then heard the haunting sound of wolves howling, carried by the wind - it was a real experience. We continued to the Lamar valley, which is a very open plain, good for wildlife, especially bears (at the right time of day - we saw none), then retraced steps and headed to Canyon village, visiting the 'Grand Canyon of Yellowstone'. This is effectively a canyon, with 2 huge falls, again impressive, and reminds you of the diversity of Yellowstone.
The day ended too soon, we were dissapointed that the weather had impacted on our time here, but felt priveledged with what we had seen. We both agreed that we want to come back to Yellowstone, spending a minimum of a week here to explore and enjoy more of what it has to offer (there are over 1000 miles of tracks and trails alone in the park).
We now had 2 days to get back to Vegas, day 1 was a long 10 hour driving slog, stopping only to shop at Old Navy (Jo) & Best Buy (me). We broke the back of the journey though, staying just outside Bryce Canyon.
The last day started with a second visit to Bryce, choosing to do one of the walks through the hoodoos, then we headed to Vegas, stocked up at Walmart on the way and once back, spent our last evening at Hard Rock cafe.
We boarded the flight to Miami, where we temporarily went our seperate ways, Jo stayed to do her freediving course, whilst I headed back to Turks & Caicos.
I was picked up by Steve and arrived home. The holiday seemed to fly by, but it was nice to unlock the door and know I was home and had a couple of days to unwind before heading back to work.
