has moved to a foreign country
A bit unexpected The Great Sand Dunes National Park is found in Colorado. Since it is just next to Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point which we were planning to climb we made a short stop and did some different type of hiking. Honestly I prefer hiking on rock rather than sand… But it does look pretty cool and it was nice with the views of the surrounding mountains.
Mammoth Lakes is a small town not far from the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park. It is mostly known for being a large ski resort but there are activities here for everybody and every season. There is skiing, fishing, hiking, climbing, kayaking, golf, mountain biking, spas, etc… Basically anything you want to do. There is even a smallish outlet for the shoppers. And because of the amount of tourists the number of restaurants and nice cafĂ©s are high.
We drove into town by chance, did not really know what to expect. We stumbled upon Alpenhof Lodge and realized that is the place for us considering its Swiss theme. The hotel also featured free wifi, laundry room and a nice restaurant and wine bar. Everything we needed. Another good thing was the sushi place a few walking minutes away.
We spent two nights in this place recovering. We did some shopping for more climbing equipment and sun glasses for Andy (the ones that he had taped to not completely fall apart could finally be replaced). A lot of time was also passed at the wine bar, Petra’s, planning for new climbing adventures. 🙂
If you are in the area do not miss passing by Mammoth Lakes, it is really nice. The Black Velvet café at the Outlet is also a great place to catch up on emails and blogging while drinking good coffee and tea.
Now we only need to stock up on some food and drive back to Tuolumne for more climbing. 🙂
We had both been looking forward to going to Yosemite. I had been there before about 10 years ago and could remember the guided climb we did in Tuolumne and the long and strenuous hike up Half Dome. All were good memories which had made me want to go back for a long time.
As we drove into the Yosemite Valley a Thursday afternoon it was packed with tourists, bicycles and more noticeably cars with drivers who were looking more at the views than the road. There are a number of camp sites in the Valley which were all fully booked since months. If you travel like we do, not reserving anything in advance, you can basically forget about Yosemite Valley. Unless you want to spend half of every day checking the waiting lists for last minute cancellations. If you do get a spot you have it for one night and the next day you have to do the same thing again. Hence you will never have time to actually do anything during the day because you have to be at the campground reservation office early afternoon.
Disappointed we ended up at a campground almost an hour away towards Tuolumne Meadows. We decided anyway to go back the next day to the Valley, do one hike, look at some sights and then head on to Tuolumne for hiking and climbing.
We had also been hoping to be able to hike the Half Dome but gave that up pretty quickly as well. To get a last minute permit for that you have to call (and you can guess how well cell phones work in the National Park) and get on a waiting list two days in advance of the day you actually want to do the hike. There is then a lottery and if you are lucky you get a permit. Otherwise, better luck next time. But since camping was so difficult to find and we want to get a very early start for that hike we decided to put our energy on other things instead. There are other peaks to climb and hikes to do. We can always come back some other time when we are willing to plan ahead. This kind of thing really throws me off. One peak is not important enough to go through that much trouble. We had just come from Mt Whitney where we had to go through a similar thing and were not ready to do it again.
The day we did spend in the valley we hiked up to Yosemite Point which is just passed the Upper Yosemite Falls. As we started in the morning there were not too many people on the trail but it filled up later in the day as we were heading down again. It was quite interesting to see the variety of clothing and equipment for the hikers on this trail. The shoes people were wearing was anything from alpine mountaineering boots to hiking shoes, sneakers, toe shoes and leather sneakers (definitely not made for hiking).
Yosemite Falls from the valley floor.
Just above Yosemite Falls.
We thought is was a nice half day hike with pretty views from the top, well worth the effort. A bit too crowded for our taste but that is what you get here. It is really a spectacular valley and I understand why so many come here. It is a brilliant place if you want to see a lot in a small area. The rock faces and water falls are very dramatic and situated in the best possible way.
View of the valley and Half Dome from Yosemite Point.
After leaving Las Vegas we drove to Death Valley. Because it is about 45 C there we did not plan to linger in the valley for very long. It is simply too painful. We arrived late afternoon and drove through the valley only stopping at a view point and at the sand dunes in the center of the National Park. The goal of the day was to drive up as close as possible to Telescope Peak which we wanted to hike the day after.
It was a nice drive in the evening sun, perfect for nice photos. So here are a few.
Before leaving the Page area we really wanted to see the Wave. It is a red and white sandstone canyon which is shaped like a wave. The images from there looks very cool, if you google it you will see. But since we had not done enough research before the trip and found that you have to reserve a spot more than 4 months ahead of time we had to leave this for another trip. Too bad but since they have started to regulate many sites you can not just pass by and think you can see it all.
So instead we decided to take a drive through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and visit Bryce Canyon National Park again. Last year on our holiday we did a two day hike through the park but did not do all the short hikes closer to the visitor center.
The shorter hikes in Bryce Canyon are actually the best ones also. The two day tour we did last year went through a lot of forest where you do not see any hoodoos which is what you come there for. So if you don’t have time of feel like a longer hike, don’t worry, you are not missing anything.
As we were coming closer to Bryce it became cooler because of higher altitude and it was actually quite cold during night. When the sun came out though it was nice and warm.
This time we did half Navajo Loop, Peekaboo Loop and Queen Mary Loop. It goes a bit up and down which means it is not an easy walk but they are not very long so most people can make it if it is not too hot. It took us a few hours to complete the hike and afterwards we cooked some food before driving towards Las Vegas.
Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon just outside of Page, Arizona. It has become very popular over the years. The amount of visitors are now being limited in order to fit everyone in the canyon that is almost 500 meters long and very narrow at places. It is also not allowed to go without a guide anymore because people were carving their names and other things on the walls in the canyon.
You can have different tactics when visiting the canyon. Either you choose less crowded and not the best light which would be in the morning or afternoon. Or you choose midday which is where you get light beams coming down through the canyon. This is what the canyon is known for. If you go for the best light you will though not get a chance to take one single photo without a number of other tourists in it and you will pay almost the double price. If you do want that great picture you can pay even more and stay longer in the canyon with a guide that will do some “crowd control” at the best photo spots. These tours are only for “professional” photographers whatever that means. I guess you just need to bring a tripod…
Since we are not into crowds we chose the first morning tour. There were 9 people in our group and we had the canyon to ourselves for most of the time. As we were coming out again there was an endless line of people coming in which made us think it was the best time to go.
The height of the floor of the canyon is changing from year to year depending on how much rain they get through the canyon. It can differ many feet from before and after a heavy rain storm.
The guide created this effect by throwing sand which then came running down.
This is from the most narrow part of the canyon
As we were walking out we did catch the first sun beam coming down through the canyon. Not very big but this is what most people are after when they visit Antelope Canyon.
Do you see the butterfly? 🙂
After the tour of Antelope Canyon and a short hike to Horseshoe Bend we spent a lazy afternoon at the restaurant at Wahweap Marina. It was way too hot to go hiking so we could not resist a few beers and some snacks at the pool with a view of Lake Powell.
