Category: National Parks

After a brief visit back to Switzerland to help clear the apartment and take care of administrative items, we are now all on the road – Ben, Rachel and Mitzi. After a 12 hour flight to LA, we spent two uneventful days in the city before heading out on the road again.
Continue reading “Joshua Tree and Inland SoCal”

Kings Canyon National Park has a lot to offer. First of all the road coming from Fresno (CA180) winds up from an elevation of 90m to about 1900m which is already quite impressive. From there the road goes further up before it drops down into the canyon at about 1300m meandering along the canyon wall. Continue reading “Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park”

After the heat in Death Valley it was time for colder temperatures. My plan for the remaining two weeks until my flight back to Zurich was to enter Yosemite from the east side over the Tioga pass, spend two days in the famous Yosemite National Park and then visit Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park before driving to LA. Continue reading “Yosemite National Park”

Entering the Death Valley via the Jubilee Pass is a great drive scenic with no body else on the road. Only after Badwater, the lowest point in the Unites States (85m below sea level) the crowds are starting to appear. The size, the dryness and the heat (105F/40C) in the valley is impressive. There are huge salt flats, canyons and colorful hillsides to explore. There is a Painters Drive leading through the most impressive parts. The hills are covered in all kinds of colors by the different minerals. Continue reading “Death Valley”

After a rather disappointing experience in Zion I drove straight to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Against all my expectations the Grand Canyon area is not warm end of September. One of the reasons for that is that the North Rim is at about 2400m elevation. Another fact I didn’t really know was that the Grand Canyon is not just one canyon but a huge area with many side canyons leading into the main canyon carved by the Colorado river. Continue reading “Grand Canyon, Mojave Desert”

Utah has been a highlight so far, but Bryce Canyon (which is in fact not a canyon) just blew me away. The colors of the hoodoos and the slots were simply amazing. I combined the Peek-a-boo- and Navajo-Trail for a hike. Even though it was quite cold the clouds and sun played an amazing light show with thousands of photo ops. Continue reading “Bryce Canyon National Park”

Capitol Reef National Park was my first park in Utah. I arrived late in the afternoon and just camped at a very popular boon docking site just outside the park. Continue reading “Capitol Reef and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument”

To get to all the famous National Parks in Utah and Arizona from California one has to cross Nevada. Most of Nevada is part of the Great Basin which is basically a series of mountains and valleys. However, the valleys aren’t nice lush meadows and creeks but huge, mostly flat dry land. I decided to take the US50 dubbed the “loneliest road in America”. The driving itself is very uneventful, even though there is more traffic then the name of the road suggests but one can get lost pretty nicely by leaving the US50 and hit one of the county roads. Continue reading “Nevada and Great Basin National Park”