Do all tourists need loud hawaiian shirts?

[tugrik]

Today:
1) Leave work tonight. Get to Mom-of-Revar's place. Crash. *zzz*

Friday:
2) Bust tail across the desert. Pass Las Vegas without much stopping, for a change. Get to Zion. Pull out cameras.
3) Squeak a few more miles across national parks to Bryce Canyon, where lodging awaits. *zzz*

Saturday:
4) See Bryce in the morning. *camera-shutter sounds*
5) Circle the Grand Canyon to the south rim. More with the pictures and the clicking.
6) Thunder across more desert. Find rest near Snoopy's brother, Spike, somewhere in Needles, CA.

Sunday:
7) The boring haul up California to home.

Monday:
8) Back to work, you! *whipcrack*

Comments

[tigrise.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm... Zion is nice.... not going to Kodachrome Basin or Snow Canyon?

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

I know not these places (yet). This is a last second, get-the-heck-out, 'cool we found a room in Bryce' thing.

Any place-suggestions are highly appreciated!

[tigrise.livejournal.com]

Kodachrome Basin (UT) - when I was a young whippersnapper (more than I am now?) I used to love to go bicycling here. It's a canyon of tall sandstone spires with offroad mounting bicycling and horseback riding. Very scenic - I recommend it for camping. Had a family reuinion here once, I remember my grandmother pumping the horn-hook pump up and down and getting out of breath, not getting any water. I walk up to her and say, "Grandma... may I...?". I turned the hornhook to it's full upright position and the water shoots out.

Snow Canyon (UT) - another good place for camping. Rolling sand dunes, lava tube caves to explore and very pretty mountains. I used to write poetry and stories here.

Re:

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

Might you have any pointers on where to find these on a map? :) (starts Googling)

[tigrise.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm.... *googles* Snow Canyon...:
The State Park is quite difficult to find, which may be why so few visit. One road runs through the canyon, linking UT 18 with a smaller road (Sunset Boulevard), from St George to the little towns of Ivins and Shivwits, where there is a small Indian reservation.... (http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/snow_canyon/state_park.html)

Kodachrome Basin is like right next to Bryce. (http://www.desertusa.com/kodut/du_kodut_vvc.html)

South Rim????

[yasha-taur.livejournal.com]

The South Rim is crowded with tourists, and IMHO, photograpically less interesting. Also, it's a LONG haul around to the other side. Explore some of the side roads on the North Rim and you can find some cool areas, my personal fav is the Point Sublime area, about 17 miles West of the North Rim village on a dirt road. But that's why you have a Element, right???

http://www.nps.gov/grca/

Yasha

Re: South Rim????

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

I concur that visually, North Rim kicks South Rim ass.
But I like aspens vs. vast wasteland. I'm odd that way.

Re: South Rim????

[desertcoyote.livejournal.com]

I've been to both, and yes, the North Rim is at a higher elevation and much quieter, though I like the South Rim too (I've seen a lot of wildlife there, and I love Ponderosa pine forests). The aspen are on the North Rim, though, and absolutely beautiful, of course.
If you go to the North Rim, keep an eye out for Kaibab squirrels- all black squirrels with an all-white tail (I never did see one when I was at the North Rim- coyote? Yes. Ibises, of all things? Yes. Campground squirrels? Um, no. :P)- the south Rim has the also beautiful Abert squirrels, gray and red with white bellies and gray topped-tails.
Hmmm- going from Vegas to Utah, you probably passed by the exit going to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada... I'm not sure how far VofFire is from the highway, but it's worth going to. Be sure to see it during a sunset- absolutely breathtaking. (It was one of my first camping experiences...)
http://www.americansouthwest.net/nevada/valley_of_fire/state_park.html
or
http://www.desertusa.com/nvval/