Year: 2015

Well, we made it to California. Death Valley is up to 282 feet below sea level. The temperatures vary throughout the park today we had 70s in the mountains and 109 in the valley floor.

We camped at a place called Stovepipe Wells RV Park. It is a private company in the park but they had full hook-ups so that was a good fit for us. We didn’t want to be stuck with no AC in the heat.

We hiked a lot of trails. Some of my favorites were Natural Bridges, Salt Creek and Mosaic Canyon.

Natural Bridges had a huge natural bridge. In high water times the water rushed below the bridge carving out the canyon.

 

Salt Creek was full of an endangered fish called the Pupfish. We saw hundreds of them swimming in little spring fed streams. The water is over 90F and very high in salt but the fish have adapted.

We visited the salt flats that sometimes form a lake. Death Valley was formed with a plate slipped and moved away from another. The mountains on the west are high and don’t allow the remnants of the storms passing over the Sierra Nevada Mountains to reach the canyon. In the evening it is toasty hot but windy and dry.

We drove this crazy 26 mile road , Titus Canyon, that was only for 4x4s. It started out just bumpy but then got crazy twisty with lots of rough switchbacks. The truck handled it well. Dad was an excellent driver. After many miles and about 2 hours of driving we entered the Titus Canyon Narrows. The narrows were very cool and the truck barely fit through some of the spaces. We really wished we had the jeep for that trail but the truck did well.

We spent the evenings the pool cooling off after out hot hikes.

We saw something called the Devil’s Golf Course. “Only the devil himself would have a golf course this bad”. The roughness is actually salt crystals that have formed.

We hiked in Mosaic Canyon. It was cool in the shade but super hot in the sun. We drank lots of water as we hiked the several mile trail. We had to climb over giant boulders to keep going up the trail. Eventually we came to one we didn’t want to climb. This was one of my favorites!

We also visited Scotty’s Castle, former sort of home of Death Valley Scotty, a swindler and storyteller. We toured the house/castle/ranch and learned all about how he tricked investors into thinking he had a gold mine. Dad liked the old car.

Up early one day and we visited the Mesquite Sand Dunes. We had a great time playing in the sand and running up and rolling down the dunes. We tracked animals. This is a sidewinder snake and a lizard.

Our last hike was to Darwin Falls. It is a spring fed falls in the middle of the desert. It was a beautiful hike because the weather stayed around 75F and was even a bit humid! After we climbed rocks, over rivers and around trees we got to the waterfall. On the way out we saw lots of lizards and even a BAT!

The bat!

Daddy almost stepped on this cute little guy.

We earned a special hiking sticker for completing 4 points of hikes on our visit.

We called it a day and returned to the camper to organize, journal and relax. There was a Kyle Petty fundraising motorcycle ride happening at the Stovepipe Gas Station next door so we saw LOTS of motorcycles! The rumble went away, eventually.

We went back out to the sand dunes at sunset since it was a full moon. Thankfully we didn’t encounter any sidewinders!

 

Welcome to the fabulous Las Vegas! We camped at Sam’s Town Casino in the RV area. The first day we caught a cab to the strip and walked from MGM Grand to the Venetian. We saw dancing waters, beautiful botanical gardens, a show about the fall of Atlantis and so much more. We wandered through casinos with Mom and Dad. I was amazed with how large the hotels were and how packed everything seemed. Being nearly solitary for the last several weeks made it all a bit overwhelming… not to mention the HEAT! Grand Canyon was around 65F the entire day but at 3pm in Las Vegas it was near 100F! UGH!

I heard a lady offer a free ride on a bull and got curious. I got to ride a giant red mechanical bucking rooster in a bar (topless after 10pm, whatever that means). I stayed on for 1 minute and 45 seconds.

I got a bit dizzy and nervous but Dad let me have a soda after and that made it all better. After wandering the strip we took a cab to Fremont Street and walked around the old Las Vegas.

We walked around and saw all the flashy lights and chaos. I saw a HUGE zipline over the street and HAD to do it. I wasn’t old enough to go alone so Mom had to zipline with me. She was not too thrilled but went along with it and ended up having fun.

We called it a night as the streets were becoming more and more crowded with drunk people and ladies dancing on bars, again, HUH?

We were up early and off to Hoover Dam for a tour.We got there early before they opened and E and I placed race up the down escalator.

I loved seeing where they generate power from the moving water. We got to go into some dark hallways and see some neat things. I liked the seismograph in the hallway.

Very steep emergency stairs!

We walked out a giant spill way and were able to take photos out of a grate at the end.

We went back and cleaned the camper and did laundry and caught up on all the tasks we have to do to make sure we have a neat organized place.

We tried to catch a cab to go back to the strip but there were NO cabs available for over an hour. Dad ended up driving us into town. We went to Excalibur to see the Tournament of Kings show. We sat in the dragon section, the bad guy! I loved eating a small whole chicken with my hands. The food was great and the entertainment was fun. We saw jousting, fire, horses, jester and so much more! What a fun evening!

Goodbye Las Vegas. You were fun to visit but a bit too hot for my liking. Maybe I will enjoy the city more when I am old enough to gamble.

Welcome to the Grand Canyon. After a fun curvy road drive into the Grand Canyon area we set up camp at Trailer Village and drove down to the Visitors Center to get Junior Ranger books and some maps. We haven’t seen this many people in a while. Even Glen Canyon seemed like a ghost town compared to this national park that has over 4.7 MILLION visitors a year.

I kept getting stuck between giant rocks!

Mom thought it would be fun to jump off! NO WAY!

The trees were so twisted…

We hiked several trails including the Trail of Time. It was a neat trail because they have markers showing current day all the way to Earths beginnings. Along the trail are rocks from different time periods. It was a great way to learn about the geology of the canyon and how long it took to make! The Colorado River looks so TINY at the bottom of the canyon.

We also hiked part of Bright Angel Trail below the rim of the canyon. I got to see where they have the burrow rides along the trail down to the bottom. Most of the burrow rides are now rim trails with few going down into Phantom Ranch.

 

 

We attended a Ranger Program about fossils and hiked a short trail to learn about how this all was ocean floor at one point as evident by the fossils we were able to find in the rocks.

Discussing the rocks on the trail of time. I was amazed at the age of the rocks! 

The fossil program was a lot of fun!

We visited the watch tower and explored the outer roads.

Daddy took an afternoon break on the last day so Mom hiked the rest of the Trail of Time with us and then on out to some of the view points beyond the trail. We had a great time looking over the edge, walking so close to the edge that Mom was SCARED. We finally run out of water and opted to grab a shuttle bus back to the campground.

We hiked the rest of the Trail of Time and well beyond the end.

The end of the Trail of Time.

 

Emmerson made me check out all the holes he could find.

The wildlife in the park was amazing we saw lots of birds, lizards, squirrels and ELK! The elk were EVERYWHERE, including our campsite.

We woke up surrounded by elk!

Elk free and ready to roll out.

Some elk thought they were trains!

The elk even obeyed the traffic signs… except they aren’t people!

We were finally able to get a campfire going to roast s’mores tonight. It has been so windy at every campsite so far. We each were able to get a few s’mores made and then the rain started. We finished them up inside but at least we were able to have them.

 

We took a boat tour of Lake Powell. It was interesting to see how low the water level is during this time of drought. The white lines on the canyons show where the water level was at it’s highest since the Glen Canyon Dam construction.

So we toured above the dam on the Colorado River and below the Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell. It was fun to see both sides of the dam from the water.

The storm clouds rolled in as we were wrapping up the boat tour and thankfully only slightly misted us.

Off we go to the Grand Canyon!

 

Today we hiked the Hanging Gardens and Horseshoe Bend Trails.

Hanging Gardens was a must do for first thing in the morning. You are hiking on open high desert. The trail is marked with rocks.

We hiked through sand and rock for a mile or so to a beautiful spot with a seep spring where animals come to drink. We saw lots of animal tracks but only spotted lizards, birds and a rabbit.

We finally got to the spring and found out why it is called the Hanging Gardens. All sorts of plants grow out of the wall of rock where the water is seeping through.

What amazing views from far away from everything and everyone. We were the only ones on the trail and we finally saw our first people when we got back to the car.

 

 

Up next was hiking out to Horseshoes bend.  There were LOTS of people at this trail as the view is beyond amazing and daring! There are no guardrails on the overhangs.

I think we were all a bit nervous but Mom and Dad kept a close eye on us to make sure we didn’t fall off the cliff and die!

Mom wasn’t afraid to go out to the tippy edge to get photos.

Dad held me tight so I could go out and get photos with my GoPro. 

Some people would lay on the belly and crawl out to look down.

Mom just walked out to the edge. Dad said she should jump up and down on the rocks. Mom didn’t think that was a great idea.

Never run when there are canyons around. The drop would be way too far to survive!

Dad got a cool shot through the rocks.

 

After our hiking we stopped at the grocery store and then hung out at the campground the rest of the day. We have been trying to make a campfire for a few nights but the wind has been too strong. There was a nice break this afternoon and Mom got a fire doing and we all roasted marshmallows and made S’Mores. Yum yum! Just as we finished the last ones it started to rain and had been drizzling on and off since. We have a tour in the morning and then we will pack up and drive to the Grand Canyon!