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Month: September 2011

Worn out

This poor pair of shoes have been with me since 2008. I bought them before a hiking holiday in Austria in August 2008. They have been hiking the Austrian Alps, Swiss Alps, Australian Alps, Red Center, Grampians, Kangaroo Island and other places in Australia, Sörmlandsleden in Sweden, Bukhansan in South Korea, desert hikes in Arizona and Utah, a number of 14ers in Colorado and probably a few more places I can not remember. They have even climbed a grade 5 at a couple of occasions.


They have been great and I am very sad to have worn them out. But I think it is now time to go look for a new pair.

The Narrows


The last day before heading back to Phoenix and reality again we hiked The Narrows in Zion National Park. This is a narrow canyon through which the Virgin River runs. It is so narrow that you have to hike in the river most of the time. Since this was going to be our last hiking day we did not care about getting our boots wet and the heat made it feel very tempting to hike in the cool river.

To be on the safe side we rented poles at an outdoor store that would help us keep the balance in the stream. Many hiked without but I was happy to have one so I didn’t have to swim unless it was necessary. In fact we did not have to swim at all, at the deepest place the water reached up to my chest. Unfortunately this was after about 10 min so you had to get wet from the very beginning but then it was mostly knee deep.


It was a different and fun hike in the water but after a couple of hours we decided to turn back because we were getting a bit cold. Luckily at this time the sun was high enough to shine down into the canyon which helped us keep warm. I am not sure I would attempt this hike any other time of the year. In that case you have to rent a dry suite to keep warm.

Zion National Park

View over Zion National Park from Angel’s Landing

As we drove into Zion National Park we realized that we were getting back to desert temperatures. It was suddenly very hot again and it was hard to sleep at night. You can’t really have the engine running all night for air condition… Bryce had been warm during the day but fairly nice due to the elevation.

The heat was a factor when we chose the hikes to do here. We decided on Angel’s Landing as early in the morning as possible and Lost Canyon which was a short hike in the shade most of the day. It turned out to be a good decision and we had time to get out in the afternoon and have coffee in an air conditioned café, a swim in the cold river and a beer before cooking dinner.

You have to hike this narrow ridge to reach Angel’s Landing

Fun stuff!

Overnight hike in Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

In Bryce Canyon we decided to do an overnight hike. We caught a lift with the tour bus to the south end of the park and hiked back to the more popular area closer to the entrance of the park. As we came to our final stop the bus driver told the other passengers, mostly overweight older americans, that he wanted to say goodbye to the two hikers and wish us a nice hike back. As we were leaving the bus the other passengers expressed their admiration and best wishes, it was obvious it is not very common to do a longer hike in this park.

At the starting point.

Before heading out you need to get a backcountry permit and reserve a spot at one of the few campgrounds along the way. We chose a camp about half ways after we added a loop of about 14 km in the south part of the park. Afterwards we realized that the loop had not been necessary to do since it was mainly in the forest without any view. It mainly just added time and effort. What we did see though were a lot of cute horned lizards, actually 19 of them. We had seen one in Arizona earlier this year and got the feeling they are rare to see but here they were everywhere.

Horned lizard

As we got our permit they also gave us a bear vault. This is a box with a lid that is bear proof in case one happened to find us and decide to try and steal our food. In the box we had to keep all food and scented items, like tooth paste. We also got very clear instructions on how and were to cook, sleep and go to the bathroom. We believe we followed the directions which should ensure that the park is kept clean and bears away from the tourists. They have had to put down two bears because they were stalking tourists looking for food. This is what happens when people leave food at campsites. Luckily we were not stalked, we only saw the foot prints of a mountain lion in the morning. We were ok with that.

Cooking dinner. Bear vault to the right.

Most of the hike was down in the valley underneath the rim which Bryce Canyon is so famous for. The very first part going down from Rainbow Point and the very last part coming up to Bryce Point were the nicest ones. On the way the trail went up and down a number of hills which turned out to be quite strenuous. The hike was in total about 50 km so we did about 25 km per day which is probably about what I can take with a heavy backpack and elevation change. We made it though and looked forward to shorter day hikes for the rest of the holiday.

Coming down from Rainbow point