Our Vacation 2010

[Richie]

It seems like most trip reports here are just about single days. But living in Germany means that we (me and my girlfriend) can't do daytrips. We always spent two or three weeks in a row in the US.

So I decided to write a trip report about our last vacation on the Colorado Plateau. Hope some of you find it interesting to read. I guess I will make one single post for every day.

June 22nd.

This day our flight departured at Munich airport at 9:50 am. Because we did't have a direct flight to L.V. we had to pass through the POE at Atlanta airport before we were on our flight to Vegas.

After arriving there we took the shuttle to the rental car center. The SUV in the Midsize choiceline where not suitable for our needs, but finally we were able to pich up one from the Standard Choiceline.

This was the car we got:



Tired of the long flight we drove straight to Motel 6 Tropicana Ave. where whe went straight to bed (at that time we've been awake for almost 24hrs).

[Richie]

June 23

Because of the jetlag we woke up at 5:30 in the morning without needing an alarm clock. First we headed for WalMart to buy all the stuff that we needed (when you have to fly to the US it's not easy to bring your own cooler with you ). We've been several times to Vegas now but we never made it to one of the "main tourist attractions" so we decided to stop at Hoover Dam on our way to the Valley of Fire State Park.



Busloads of tourists were around. Not really what we like. Hey, but it sounds strange when you've been to L.V. a couple of times but have never seen Hoover Dam. What's really impressive (but in a negative way) is when you look at the change of the water level of Lake Mead.



The new bypass was almost done at that time but not finished (this has changed since then).



Then we were on the way to the VoF which is really one of our favourite State Parks. First we drove to Atlatl Campground to set up our tent. Since Ephemeral Arch doesn't exist anymore there just one official trail which I would really recommend and this is White Domes. But the real beauty of this State Park is found when you walk away from the marked trails. One of our favourite areas is to the south of last pull out on the road to White Domes.







We enjoyed that area last year for the first time and this year we wanted to explore it a little bit more. But unfortunately it was too hot that day. Still exhausted from the long travel, temperatures exceeding 100 Fahrenheit where too much for hiking. We didn't want to risk our lives so we decided to cancel the hike after hiking about one mile. Instead we drove to Overton to buy some stuff we forgot to buy at WalMart. Arriving back at VoF it was still damn hot but we decided to do another hike. But before that we drove to Silicia Dome Overlook which was really nice.





Then we hiked to the Fire Wave. Unfortunately it was alread a little bit late and the Fire Wave was partly in the shadow:



Looking around we discovered some interesting rock formations and so we decided to come back to this place tomorrow.

[bowjunkie]

[Richie]

I hope you don't need popcorn because the trip is so boring

[bowjunkie]

I hope you don't need popcorn because the trip is so boring

nope waiting for more !!! very nice pics I haven't been to VOF for many yrs ugh !!

[Richie]

nope waiting for more !!!

Ok, then here we go.

June 24

Jetlag woke us up early this morning. So it was just the right time to see the sun coming over the mountains.



Then we headed for the Fire Wave again. But this time we spent much more time here than yesterday. Interesting rocks can be found all over the place







Also some nice narrows can be found here.





My girlfriend "surfing" the Fire Wave:



The temperature started to rise again, so it was a wise decision to start that hike early. After we had enjoyed the area we drove north to Kanab where we checked in at the Aikens Lodge. We had planned to do a hike in that area in the afternoon, but my girlfried showed some flu signs (damn A/C in the airplane) and tomorrow we had planned to hike Yellow Rock, a hike we were looking forward to, the last couple of months. So we decided to have an relaxing afternoon so we could do that hike tomorrw.

[live2ride]

that sure looks like a great trip! nice pictures you took also

[Richie]

June 25

Both vacations we had 2009 we wanted to hike Yellow Rock, but both times dark clouds covered the sky and beeing on a dirt road partly made of clay is not exactly what we wanted with this kind of weather. But today the sun was shining so we left Kanab early in the morning and drove on 89 to Cottonwood Canyon Road. The southern part was well graded so it was a easy drive to Lower Hackberry Trailhead. We grabbed our backpacks and walked down the wash a few minutes before we turned right where the steep trail was going up.



Shortly after that Yellow Rock was right in front of us









On a German website you will find the citation "The golden Heart of the Grand Staircase". Couldn't say it in a better way.

To the south there was the nice view of Yellow Rock Valley and Red Top



Castle Rock on the other side:



Unfortunately clouds were coming up, so we hiked back to our car. Yellow Rock is really one of my favourite hikes.

Going north on CCR we stopped at the "Candyland" - the area between the two Cottonwood Narrows trailheads.





Another short but beautiful stop was the huge Grosvenor Arch.



Shortly after that there were some beautiful views of the plateau.





Last stop for today was a short visit at Kodachrome Basin State Park where we hiked the beautiful Angels Palace Trail.





Then we were on our way to Escalante where we set up our tent at the Campground of the Escalante Outfitters.

[jdgibney]

Richie, these are fantastic photos! I have been meaning to ask you what you use for camera gear (body and lens)?
I can't wait for my quick trip out there in a few weeks :)

[ibenick]

Very nice, Richie.

[Philippe]

Hello Richie,

Excellent report, with a lot of very nice pictures !

Philippe

[Richie]

I have been meaning to ask you what you use for camera gear (body and lens)?

Since this year I use a Nikon D300s with a 16-85 and a 70-300 lens. I wanted to buy a D90 and technically this camera would have been all I needed, but the D300 simply felt better in my hand. Mostly the choice of camera was more based on how it felt to hold it instead of technical reasons (and by the way: Almost all cameras available are good enough as long as you don't have special needs like a pro-sports photographer).

@ Philippe and ibenick: Thank you.

[Richie]

June 26.

Today we planned to hike a canyon we've already been in Spring: Big Horn Canyon. The colors in the area at the south end of East Fork are incredible. So we packed our bags and gear into the car and headed for Old Sheffield Road. After about 2.7 Miles on OSR we parked the car and headed for the canyon.

In the background the straight cliffs were visible:



Then we hiked to down the canyon which was very wide in this part.



The first part of the hike is beautiful but it becomes more and more interesting after the confluence with the Middle Fork of Big Horn Canyon.

Can you find the Sandstone Face?





The more we hiked down the Canyon the more beautiful the colors became:









We had a rest in this area and ate the sandwiches we brought in our backpacks. Should we go to the West Fork with its beautiful narrows? We wanted to, but temperatures were rising and if we turn around here its already a 8 miles roundtrip. So we decided to save the West Fork for another vacation.

Back at the car we decided to drive to the Escalante River trailhead to cool our feet in the water of Escalante River. After a short brake here we went back to Escalante where we had dinner at Georgies Corner. We really love this little restaurant. The food is great!!! But don't forget to bring cash, CC are not accepted.

[Lynn Ross]

Boy! Richie,
You two had some nice days and captured some very beautiful photo's. Even with the skies being blue like that you made them look wonderful. Keep up the nice work ...

Lynn

[ststephen]

Great stuff! Both the shots and descriptions. Keep it coming!

[Richie]

Thank you! It's nice to hear that you like the description also. It's not easy to write it in a foreign language.

[Richie]

What's the best thing in the morning? Eggs Escalante and a cup of coffee sitting outside at the Escalante Outfitters .

Today we started a little bit late. Because today was the soccers World Championship game Germany vs. England. My girlfriend had small talk with our neighbors Mark and Jeff from California. After Germany won 4:1 we headed for Calf Creek Campground where we started our easy dayhike to the Lower Calf Creek Falls. The trail is fairly easy to hike. Only the sand all along the trail makes it a little bit strenuous to walk. While on the trail we were almost alone but at Calf Creek Falls there were a lot of people.









On the way back I couldn't help but wonder about some people coming along the trail. Temperatures were exceeding the 90s and we met people that carried one bottle of water for a party of three. Are they crazy? It's a easy hike bit around 5 miles long and it was hot! Just stupid.

Back at the trailhead we headed for Boulder. We love the Burgers that they serve at the Burr Trail Cafe. After a good lunch we headed back for Escalante where we turned onto Hole in the Rock Road for a short visit at Devils Garden.







In the evening we sat the campground together with Marc and Jeff and exchanged travel experiences.

[Richie]

June 28

On Monday we drove up to Moab. We decided to drive Burr-Trail and Notom Bullfrog Road instead of the highway. So we headed for Boulder were we turned onto the Burr Trail. After a short drive we arrived at Long Canyon Overlook.



The drive through Long Canyon is really a beautiful road.



Shortly after Long Canyon there's a beautiful overlook where you can see the Badlands.



Before reaching the Switchbacks we decided to make short hike to Strike Valley Overlook. A beautiful arch can be found at the start of the trail.



The overlook itself is a incredible view of the valley below.





Back at the car we drove down the switchbacks



After a short drive we turned onto Notom Bullfrog Road heading north





Reaching the pavement again we drove straight to Moab. Before reaching Hanksville we had a short stop at the Mesa Market where you can find some of the best bread.

In Moab we checked in at the Moab Rim Campark were we got a Cabin.

[Richie]

After having breakfast in front of our cabin, we got into our Wrangler and drove South for the La Sal Mountain Loop turnoff. Somehow this is really a funny drive. You start in Red Rock Country and after a few minutes you're surrounded with grass and trees. Everything's green.





After this detour we drove on SR128, another tip from the excellent book "Photographing the Southwest".







Another drive with beautiful views is the Onion Creek Road which is turnoff on SR128.









The last stop fpor today was the 2.2 mile hike at the Fisher Towers.





A beautiful hike with incredible views.

In the evening we bought some steaks at the City Market and had a barbecue in front of our cabin.

[accadacca]