Gianni Rondinini wrote:
Hello again, Gianni
Here are some suggestions for the scheduled trip:
>31/7 zion park. there are quite a lot of hiking possibilities in the
>park: any suggestion about the most impressive/suggestive ones?
The most impressive hike you can do in the time you have allowed is
the Angels Landing hike. Take the shuttle bus from the visitors center
to the Grotto stop. Cross the stream on a bridge and follow the signs.
It is 8.5 km long, round trip, and usually takes 4 hours. But you can
skip the last part of the climb at the Scout viewpoint if high places
bother anyone in your group. There are chains to hold onto up the
final section. You will remember this one forever, I promise.
>
>1/8 bryce canyon. we have a park map we took last year and already
>decided the hikes we're going for. i don't have the map with me here
>at work, but we should be ok. in late afternoon we'll leave the park
>and move to torrey for the night.
The trip over Boulder Mountain offers spectacular views down into
Capitol Reef National Park and Waterpocket Fold.
>..aug. 3rd will be for arches park. we looked better at the park map and
>saw that the hike to delicate arch is a circular one: last year we
>thought it was a straight one and then we got scared by the 2.5 hours
>sign we saw --we thought it would have been a 2.5+2.5 hours hike and
>we didn't have those many hours to spend there--. we'll also hike to
>some more arches, but, again, i don't have the map here with me. any
>suggestions are appreciate, however.
The Delicate Arch viewpoint is on a different (and shorter) trail than
the longer hike to Delicate arch itself. If you want to hike to the
Arch, start at the Wolfe Ranch parking area; then is 5 km round trip
and easy (not a loop). Double Arch is an easy walk and interesting.
The Windows loop trail is about 2 km long and nice.
>during aug. 4th we'll visit the needles and island in the sky. we have
>all the day for these and it should be enough. i'd appreciate a
>suggestion about which may be better during morning and which one to
>keep for the afternoon since we may decide which one to visit first.
From Moab, do the Island in the Sky trip first. The entrance is north
of Arches NP. Be sure to stop at Dead Horse State Park and the
overlook. It cost a little extra, but the view is worth it. Below you
can see the Colorado River and the Shafer Canyon/Potash Road, which is
an optional way to get back from the Island in the Sky visitor center
to Moab. Very steep, but OK.
The Needles section is far south of Moab on a long side road. Stop at
Newspaper Rock on the way in. You can continue on to the visitors
center, but most of the hikes in that area are too long for the time
you have to spend there.
>5/8 in the morning we'll see canyonlands. after visiting the park,
>we'll move to cortez and sleep there.
Hovenweep National Monument is an interesting Anasazi site that you
could see on the way to Cortez (rather than later) if you don't mind
taking a back road. The turnoff is south of Blanding.
>6/8 today we'd like to visit mesa verde (is it worth it? ..
I don't think so. It will take a long time to drive in, in very slow
traffic behind motor homes and trailers. Instead you could later go to
Navajo National Monument (near Kayenta) and see the Betatakin cliff
dwellings from above at an overlook at the end of a short hike.
>...durango, then down to the aztec ruins, move to shiprock, touch the
>four state corner and then head to blanding to spend the night there.
>if we have enough time, there is hovenweep nat. mon. along the road:
>we'll see how the things are going.
>if any of these things isn't worth the time spent there then i'd like
>you to tell it to me so we can skip it.
Aztec Ruins National Monument is a good place, but the rest of the
trip this day isn't. It is farming area around Farmington, and
continuing on you can only see Shiprock from a distance.
>7/8 wake up early to be at national bridges very early and have the
>best light to shoot few photos. we haven't planned to stay there a lot
>and don't think to visit deeply all the park.
There is a very good loop hike there past the natural bridges, but
that would take most of the day. On highway 261 on the way to the
wonderful Moki Dugway overlook, you could also stop at the Kane Gulch
Ranger station and take a hike down into the start of Grand Gulch.
After getting down the Moki Dugway, stop at the Goosenecks State Park
overlook, just before the intertsection to Mexican Hat.
>in mid-late morning we'll see valley of gods and spend the afternoon
>in the monument valley. last year we appreciated a lot valley of gods
>and recognized that morning is definitely the wrong moment to see
>monument valley, but may probably be ok for valley of gods.
>the night will be in kayenta
>8/8 today we won't do anything of special: drive to tusayan --
Navajo Nation Monument is just west of Kayenta on a side road.
>we'll sleep-- and have a look at the panoramic points next to the
>south rim entrance of grand canyon. we'd like to buy some items from
>the indians.
Those will be cheaper in Tuba City.
>9/8 wake up *very* early --6.30 is our plan--, enter the south rim and
>hike somewhere. i'll tell you our choice for hiking in the next days:
>i only remember now that our trip should be something around 5/6 hours
>--included an indefinite number of stops to take pictures, drink, make
>fun of each other, have heartaches, be desperate for the hot and so
>on--. i'll carry, as usual, the backpack with cameras and lenses while
>my wife will be my sherpa for water, gatorades and food :)
>we plan to be something more next to dead than alive when hiking will
>be done, then after that we'll "simply" reach page to sleep there.
If you need more information on the Grand Canyon hikes, let me know.
we have hiked hundreds of miles there over many decades.
>10-11-12-13-14/8
>10 aug. we'll wake up something later than yesterday, because the
>morning will be dedicated to something we can't miss in our american
>holidays: we'll drive cottonwood road until we reach escalante, for
>lunch. this unpaved road is *too* beautiful and we can't miss it --ok,
>unless it's wet and, consequently, impassable as a sign says--
Check with the Paria Ranger Station just west of the turnoff to
Cottonwood Canyon for information on the condition of the road.
>[1] the other times we came to usa we rented a sable gs/taurus gs and
>it was next to perfect for us: we do have 2 hard samsonites and they
>fit *perfectly* in the luggage trunk and the mileage was great
>--something around 26mpg on the whole 3.200 miles trip--. this time
>we'll be four and i'm undecided about what to rent, mainly because
>we'd need at least as double as sable's trunk.
>i can't decide between a ford explorer and a ford expedition because i
>don't understand how bigger an expedition is than an explorer.
Much bigger. And better suited to the roads you will be driving on.
Regards,
Caveat |