June 29, 2007

I've been out of contact for some time now.  For those of you in Korea, you probably haven't heard from me since I left last month.  And for those of you in the Seattle Area, you probably haven't heard from me in months or even a year.  This silly little blog is not meant to make-up for my lackluster correspondence habits, but it may help jumpstart a lines of communication.  My road trip is now over and I am settling down to life here in Seattle.  I am currently living with my parents and on Monday I move into my office which is conveniently located upstairs.  I'll be working with my Dad to build an appraisal firm.  I have plans to move into the city in a couple of months after the things start falling into place with the business.  I will be taking weekends off and I plan on being very active this summer.  It's my first summer back in Seattle in four years, so I'm pretty stoked to live large.  I also got the jet skis up and running, so I'll be taking them over to Eastern Washington often.  If you'd like to come just let me know!  My cell phone is now back on, so feel free to call anytime.  And now the highlights from my trip!  As always, click on each image to enlarge it.

OREGON.  Okay, I know this is an old picture of Succor Creek, but I accidentally deleted all my pictures from the Oregon portion of my trip, so I had do dig through my archives to finds this pic.  As always, Leslie Gulch was amazing.  We spent about two days in the Lake Owyhee-Leslie Gulch area.  It was nice and hot and we were able to do some really good hiking in Leslie Gulch and even got to explore a canyon all the way to its source.  After a hot day of hiking, we decided to swim across Lake Owyhee.  It took about 20-30 minutes to get across the lake.  When we arrived at the other side, we met a canyon wall and had to climb out of the lake as if we were getting out of a swimming pool!  Then getting back in was fun with a nice dive into the refreshing water.

UTAH.  After leaving Oregon, we drove straight though Idaho and almost all the way through Utah as well.  It took all day.  We arrived at Zion National park pretty late, so we went to sleep as soon as we got there.  The next day we hiked the Emerald Pools trail, which takes hikers up the canyon wall in Zion Canyon to a series of cliff-hugging pools with, as you can imagine, emerald green water.  Then we spent the afternoon hiking up Zion Canyon.  Zion Canyon becomes so narrow that a person could almost touch both sides of the canyon wall.  It becomes just a narrow slot that is hundreds of feet deep.  At that point, w just had to hike through the water.

After a while of hiking up Zion Canyon, the canyon splits in half.  We continued up to the right--up Orderville Canyon.  From there it got even narrower until it ended at an ice-cold waterfall.  A perfect ending to a perfect slot-canyon hike.

Near the confluence of Zion Canyon and Orderville Canyon, we were graced with this beautiful view of a quintessential slot canyon.

Our second day at Zion Canyon was dominated by the tremendous feat of hiking to the top of Angel's landing.  Although the hike is only five miles long, it is a grueling stair-climb.  Seventy years ago the CCC cut stairs into the side of Zion Canyon so that people could access the canyon rim.  Hikers that wish to access to summit of Angel's landing can then climb from the canyon rim to the top of the landing by way of a series of cables bolted to the side of the canyon.  In some places the trail is only about twelve inches wide with thousand-foot cliffs on both sides.  None of my pictures could really capture how incredible this trail was, so you'll have to do a google image search for "Angel's Landing." 

Angel's Landing nearly bifurcates Zion Canyon.  It is more or less a giant rock that stick out in the middle of the canyon that is only attached to the canyon rim by a narrow fin of rock.  Thus, the views up-canyon and down-canyon were amazing from the top.  This picture is looking up-canyon.  The round area at the end of the canyon is called the Temple of Sinawava.  It was named that because it was a worshipping place for the Native Americans.  No wonder they worshipped there.  The temple is awe-inspiring. 

From Zion Canyon, we drove to Bryce Canyon, where we spent the day hiking among the other-worldly hoodoos of the Bryce Amphitheater.  That night, we backpacked into the Bryce Backcountry on the Under-the-Rim Trail.  We found a nice little campsite far beneath the Bryce Amphitheater alongside a small creek.  We cooked dinner and played Gostop until the sun set. 

After hiking out of the Bryce Backcountry, we drove to Arches National Park alongside the Colorado River near Moab, Utah.  We wanted to go hiking inside an area of the park called the Fiery Furnace, but we were required to either A. receive permission from the National Park Service to enter the protected area or B. enter the area with a ranger.  We didn't want to be escorted by a ranger and it didn't seem like they would give us a permit to enter by ourselves.  But, in the end, they let us go in without an escort.  The Fiery Furnace is is several square miles of rock fins and slot canyons.  The reason you need an escort is so you don't get lost because the fins and canyons more or less create a perfect labyrinth.  We didn't get lost, though.  As a matter of fact, it took us two hours to get nice and lost inside the maze of fins and only fifteen minutes to get out.  What we found in there, was amazing.  Tiny slot canyons, rocks, holes and plenty of places to crawl though abounded.  Two places inside the Fiery Furnace were especially noteworthy: a small arch that we found deep inside a narrow canyon and a small oasis that was crawling with lizards and covered in greenery (also deep inside a narrow canyon).  After that, we spent the afternoon exploring all the park's famed arches.

The most amazing arch, however, was the Delicate Arch.  As you can see in the picture above, the Delicate Arch is probably something you should see before you die.  On our second day at Arches National Park, we went rafting on the Colorado River near Fisher Towers (I went rafting on the Colorado River!!).  We did a half day trip down the river and they let us us inflatable kayaks, which made even class two rapids feel like fives.  Rafting the Colorado River is also something you should do before you die.

COLORADO.  Speaking of things to do before you die...Mesa Verde National Park!  At Mesa Verde, we spent the day exploring Cliff Dwellings from the 1200's.  We were required to enter the dwellings under the watchful eyes of a National Park Ranger, but it was totally worth it.  It was amazing to retrace the footsteps of the people that inhabited our country eight hundred years ago.  At one location, we had to climb a sixty-foot ladder and crawl though a tiny two-foot door just to enter the house!!

ARIZONA.NEW.MEXICO.COLORADO.UTAH.  And we were in Arizona for about twenty minutes as we indulged ourselves in quirky activities at FOUR CORNERS!  Yes, that's right, I did the Four-Corners-Four-State-Pushup!

NEW MEXICO.  Shiprock graced our entrance to the Great State of New Mexico.  As most of you know, I am absolutely obsessed with New Mexico and you can imagine that upon seeing Shiprock, I was pretty excited.

We arrived very late in Albuquerque after driving in all the way from Four Corners, so we set up camp at the Coronado State Monument, located in Bernalillo, one of Coronado's Seven Cities of Gold.  Each campsite came equipped with a little adobe hut and we even had a view of the Rio Grande!  It was the perfect campsite for a trip to Albuquerque.  Nothing could have been more quintessential. 

A trip to Albuquerque is not complete without driving to the top of Sandia Crest.  At over 10,000 feet, the summit provides excellent views of Sun-drenched ABQ.

On the first day in ABQ, we drove the Turquoise Trail to Santa Fe.  Along the Trail, there are three ghost towns.  The largest of which is Madrid.  The town is so cool!  It is a totally revived ghost town filled with artists and restaurants.  We spent a couple of hours there looking around.  I almost got a tattoo, but Angela saved the day and I didn't.  But let that be an example of how inspiring this town is--its the type of place that makes you want to do something crazy like get a tattoo or drink a bottle of Tabasco or do something equally as crazy.

Santa Fe is another one of Coronado's Seven Cities of Gold and is probably the most preserved of all of them.  It is the capital of New Mexico and serves and enormous arts community.  It has over ten museums and hundreds of Art Galleries.  The city is filled with restaurants, coffee shops and vendors and is home to the incredibly talented and the incredibly wealthy.  If you're looking to buy a house in Santa Fe, you'd better be willing to front a good $800,000.  City of Gold.  Makes sense, huh!?

We spent the afternoon exploring Santa Fe.  We took a peek inside the Oldest House in the USA and also the Oldest Functioning Church in the USA.  You all know how in love I am with the United States, so visiting these sites were very special occasions for me.  We ate dinner at The Shed, which is my favorite restaurant in the United States and drank some beers while listening to a blues band play on a balcony of the city's main plaza.  We arrived back in ABQ very late and promptly went to sleep.

On our second day in Albuquerque, we went out to Petroglyphs National Monument, which is home to the Albuquerque Volcanoes.  We hiked to the top of the three Volcanoes and had fun exploring the prairies and rocks of the parks and the amazing views over the city.

Exploring a cave at the Albuquerque Volcanoes.

This is the typical scene in the Southwest.  The stars and stripes coupled with hanging chilies.  My dream come true.  It took two days to drive home from Albuquerque.  I'm already trying to come up with a way to go back.