Texas - Toasty ... Far too toasty

Taking the not-so-main highway through New Mexico, en route to Texas, was fairly rough. Like really bumpy. There was literally a line in the road when we crossed over into Texas and the road was instantly 1000 times better. So there's that...

The landscape through New Mexico and Texas was dotted with snake-like pipelines, refineries spurting their ever glowing flames, giant trucks taking oil to where ever, sad looking cows and dust. Lots of dust. The silhouette of the forever churning oil wells against the perfect blue sky just kept going until the horizon eventually gave way to the curvature of the earth and even then... the flat land kept going. I'm sure of it. It's everything I dreamed this part of the country could be. It was also really freaking hot! Which you'll find is a reoccurring theme from most of our trip, but Texas takes the cake. The 110°+ temperatures mixed with high humidity made things fairly miserable. It was so hot that the median on the interstate spontaneously burst into flames! I'm serious! Here's a picture!

Spontaneous fire in the median on the Interstate in Texas...

Canyonlands and Colorado

After our time in Arches National Park, we were ready for something new. Utah has been good to us and we didn't get to see everything but it's time to move on. Our goal for the day was to make it to Cortez, Colorado. A whole new state! But before crossing the state-line we needed to check out one last National Park, Canyonlands.

Canyonlands is not the most accessible National Park and it will probably be kept that way. Many roads in the park are unpaved and there are next to no services inside the park. If you're into backcountry hiking and camping, this is the National Park for you. The park itself is split into 4 districts that are not connected: Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze and the rivers, Green and Colorado. We chose to check out the Needles portion.

Chillin in chilly AC of the van. Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Days of Dramatic Views - Steep roads, far off horizons and Arches National Park

After a good nights sleep we took the time to see Natural Bridges National Monument. A stop first at the Visitors Center was fairly amusing as some European tourists were begging the Park Rangers for a few gallons of gas as they thought there would be a gas station in a non-existent town... who does that?   *cough* us *cough*   The Ranger was very kind and offered them a gallon at no charge but then they proceeded to tell him they wanted to do the 9 mile loop and take their time before heading to a gas station. He didn't like that. They got no gas.

Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah. Can you spot the Natural Bridge?

Zion - Part Two: The Narrows

It was recommended to us by several friends to take trekking poles or a walking stick with us on our hike up The Narrows. We’re both REALLY glad we listened.

Hikes in just about every National Park are listed as the following: Easy, which are usually paved or well maintained and short with little to no elevation gain; Moderate, which are not for people with severe health problems and are generally more difficult with rougher paths and trails; and Strenuous, which can be very long, with little to no actual mapped out trail, large elevation gain or difficult and dangerous terrain.

The Narrows is listed as Strenuous.

Geoff, ready to take on The Narrows in Zion National Park, Utah

Zion - Part One: National Parks and Ghost Towns

We left Seattle on the second part of our trip after spending a few days at home. We drove straight through, for about 24 hours, passing through Eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho and most of Utah before reaching Zion National Park. We went through rain squalls, bug attacks, high winds, soft sunrises and scorching hot sun to get there. We passed many places we'll be adding to our list of future exploration needed. Our list seems to keep getting larger and larger, even as we tick so many boxes off of it. Ah, the life of the perpetual traveler... 

Eastern Washington looking lovely. En route to Utah

Love the four to eight watch on ships for the sunrise. It was beautiful on the interstate as well. Somewhere in Northern Utah.