We made it to Grand Junction today.
Wade took an hour long bubble bath. Weird, I know. We met a nice couple from Denver today in the Comfort Inn Suites pool. We relaxed a little bit, and showered; something which was much needed. We uploaded photos and are about to get Taco Bell which is directly next to our motel.
Unfortunately, our trip is coming to an end. Thank you to everyone who has followed our blog this entire time.
Wade just broke the bed. What do we do?
Mike
This is what I told mike as we sat on the 100 degree Moab, Utah pavement waiting for AAA to break into the Honda civic. Mike wasn’t amused. But the free beer battered jalapeño fries at Moab Brewery we got were delicious!
The day got off to a slow start. We slept in until 8:30 and woke to find a near empty camp ground. We didn’t find out how hot this part of Utah can get until we began a 7 mile hike in Arches National park. Fortunalty we both decided to go at it shirtless so we still have a few clean shirts remaining and I’m sure our glistening chests made quite a few ladies days.
Last night we stayed at slick rock campground in Moab and used whatever camp food we had left. I made the chili and beans MRE (thanks AAA) while mike cooked whatever soup we had left. We made another booming fire and a few fences in the area may be missing some cedar shingles…
Today we hiked the longest trail in Arches national park and ran into quite a few Philadelphia phillies fans along the way! Its hard not to sport the hat of the best team in the mlb…The trail brought us to 6 of the 10 best known arches in the park. The arches are an impressive sight. It’s incredible how water, sand, and ice can erode enormous chunks of stone. I imagine the elements have as hard a time chipping away at the stone as I do peeling back the layers of mikes complicated personality.
We are in the car driving to Grand Junction to spend the night in a motel before hitting the rode again tomorrow for Kansas City. We also plan on stopping at the Colorado National monument before checking into our motel for the night. Mike will upload photos tonight from our room.
Heading east!
Wade
Update: Photos added.
Yesterday was likely the longest day we had in the car thus far. We left San Franscisco at 7:30 and finally stopped in St. Georges, Utah at 11pm. The road that runs out of Yosemite into Nevada is still blocked by snow, so we had to take another, more lengthy route. Since we planned this out so well, we didn’t learn this until we were in the middle of the park. We also didn’t account for the amount of construction happening in Yosemite. So, Wade and I tossed around the football in the road while sitting in traffic. Several tourist took photos of us, so hopefully we surface on the Internet in the coming weeks. We originally had wanted to camp, but we were unable to locate a camp ground anywhere we were.
Fortunately, Wade had several suggestion, including the title of this post. He also suggested the following: pitching our tent at the top of the run away truck ramp, parking alongside I-15 and walking until we were on the other side of the hills, sleeping in a bathroom to avoid the elements, getting a room comp’d in Vegas, sleeping at the rest stop, sleeping in a Walmart parking lot, finding a bush to curl up in our sleeping bags with, and just eating yogurt until we passed out. We ended up getting a Motel 6 for the night.
This morning we woke up, and drove to Bryce Canyon. Like so many of the places we’ve been, it was beautiful. We walked around the rim trail, and then hiked into the canyon. After hiking around for a few hours, we are back on the road headed to Moab.
We plan on staying in a motel tomorrow night, so I will upload photos then.
Mike
Update: Photos added.
Wade and I are headed back east now after a great day in San Francisco. We had wonder accommodations with one of Wade’s semester at sea friends. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Chatfield! Stacey showed us around as we ate at fisherman’s wharf, rode the cable cars, and saw the Giants beat the Reds in AT&T Park. The stadium is awesome, and it was interesting to see the differences between the other parks I’ve been too.
Wade and I are driving to Bryce Canyon today, and are going to hike tomorrow before making our way to Moab the following day.
I didn’t get a chance to upload photos but I will next time we stop somewhere with internet.
Mike
Update: Photos added.
Mike and I had an incredible time in Yosemite today. We woke up around 7 and left the KOA camp ground we spent the night in. Mike and I both agreed that we prefer the national park campgrounds. They have larger fire pits (something we need with Mike manning the fire) and are a lot cheaper than the other private camp grounds we have stayed in. Also the people we have met in the national parks are a lot friendlier and have time to talk with you.
We got to the park early after a stop in McDonalds for breakfast. Thanks mom, the strawberry lemonade slushy coupon was very rewarding. Anyway, we discovered it takes a while to get to Yosemite valley. The park is enormous and the valley is where most of the trails and attractions are located. The drive in was scenic to say the least. The park looks like something out of a story book. Waterfalls pop out of the enormous granite walls and fall thousands of feet to the valley floor.
After parking and gathering information about the various trails available we decided to do the toughest hike we could. Upper Yosemite Falls begins after a 2000 foot vertical hike and falls just as far back down to the valley floor. The trail included more switchbacks than I could keep track of, but easily more than 150. We managed to keep an excellent pace and made it to the top after just 2 hours of hiking. This gave us ample time to eat lunch, rest in the sun, and take plenty of photos. Lunch consisted of Triscuts, cabbot cheese, apples, and granola bars. Unfortunately mike and I weren’t as prepared with out water supply as our food selection.
After running out of water I decided to refill my bottles at a stream. With hopes my dads rock hard stomach keeps me safe I drank the possibly Giardia and Ghanaria filled water. Stay tuned for updates on that front…
The total 10 mile hike left mike and I exhausted so once getting back to the car we did rock paper scissors to see who would drive to San Francisco. Mike lost. Mike will also be losing 200 dollars to the California Highway Patrol retirement fund. Enjoy yourself in Florida, Officer Buttgerett.
Heres to entrapment!
Wade
Update: Photos added.
Those were the words of the first person we met in California. Mike and I drove through Vegas and got to a town outside of Sequoia around two. We had some trouble at the checkout since Mike wanted to use his credit card but hadn’t purchased the 10$ minimum. So the lady behind the register made sure we knew how much we had inconvenienced her.
After learning a little about the park and discussing the difference between national parks and national forests with a ranger we set off. It turns out the parks and forests are run by two different organizations. National forests allow more use of the land in the form of logging, hunting, and fishing while parks are more for the views and scenery. That being said the scenery in Sequoia national forest is breath taking.
It was a curvy and steep drive through the forest. Mikes Honda was screaming around corners and by the end it smelled like we were in a tar burning factory. I attribute my ability to hold down the “In and Out” burgers we had earlier to many long, curvy, and high speed drives in the car with the master of small chat and road rage, Phil Wisler.
Good tunes like Dave, The Decemberists, and White Panda along with the open windows made it one of the best drives either Mike or I have ever had. Our stop on the “100 Giants trail” was incredible. The short mile and half hike lead us by Giant Sequoia’s which have been around for 1500 years and were close to 20 feet in diameter! Mike told me that he wants to plant one. I told him we wouldn’t have a thousand years to see it grow to the size of the giants we were walking around. He responded that several generations later Wisler and Dokas kids could enjoy the tree. Unfortunately, I told Mike, that if our kids are anything like us they would spend more time cutting, splitting, and burning the tree than enjoying it.
We are now en route to a campground about 2 hours outside of Yosemite. We will camp there for the night and get up early tomorrow to check out the park. Apparently there are new waterfalls being discovered due to the excessive snow this area received this past winter. Close to 700 inches in fact!
Photos and more once we get to San Francisco tomorrow night!
Your pal,
Wade
Update: Photos added.
So, I have convinced Wade to go to California. I found out yesterday my work function next week was postponed so we are headed for Sequoia and Yosemite. We are passing through Vegas now and are going to stay in San Fran.
Today, Wade and I hiked all around Zion. We started the day very early with a hike called Angel’s Landing. The hike took us around 4 hours total, and was a very dangerous yet rewarding climb. We climed 1500ft from the Canyon floor and had an absolutely magnificent view. Later, when we were back on the Canyon floor, we could barely see the people who were climbing in the same place above. After tackling Angel’s Landing, we hiked various other trials, and saw the narrows – the location where the canyon walls go almost directly upwards, the emerald pools as well as other cool views. All in all, we hiked around 10 miles today, and saw a huge portion of what Zion has to offer. It is a beautiful park.
Mike
We arrived in Zion this afternoon. It is absolutely gorgeous. We hiked in the park for a little bit, and drove around for the limited amount of park they allow you to drive through. Afterwards, we got some delicious Mexican food in town, and made our way to our Day’s Inn. We are showering, and cleaning up and plan on making full ues of the indoor pool!
I will upload photos shortly. I’m going to update the previous posts so as to keep the photos with the correct times/places.
Mike
Update: Photos added.
After leaving Yellowstone, Wade and I made our way to Grand Teton National Park, which is just south of Yellowstone. We spotted a series of warning signs about wildlife which we naturally had to photograph. Grand Teton was pretty cool looking. Mountains appear out of no where and go almost directly up. The sky also cleared some as we drove along the mountain range, making for some good photos. I’ll upload those as well as Wade’s series with the signs tonight.
As we left Grand Teton and traveling south, it began to rain. We found a campground called Wolf Creek in Bridger National Forest by the town of Alpine and arrived around 630. We set up our tent to dry and began a fire with the few dry logs we still had from Yellowstone. As I was starting the fire, I heard several cracks, pops, and bangs followed by laughter. Wade has learned well how to acquire dry wood. We also spoke with the camp host who offered us some wood that was split. Although it was wet, we happily accepted and burned it. We also returned to our tested method of burning through an 8 foot long tree.
We cooked a delicious meal of beans and hotdogs. After eating, we attempted to dry out our feet and shoes from walking about in the rain all day. Wade indicated that he believed he had the early signs of gang green. Fortunately, Wade knows noting about gang green and he was wrong. Wade also knows nothing about drying socks as he caught his on fire while trying to dry them.
We woke up early this morning and are on our way to Zion National Park. We should arrive around 4 and will hopefully get some good time in the park tonight before dark. Wade and I are both looking forward to our first showers and beds in a few days.
I’ll upload photos tonight.
Mike
Update: Photos added.
