According to my observation, 'normal' people tend to seek comfortable alternatives when faced with challenging climate. Vacationers go to Florida over Christmas holidays, families go up to Maine for cooler temperature in summer. Nelson and I? We are not normal people LOL. For two December's in a row, we end up amidst snow and ice and winter storm!
Nevertheless, first time to Utah is always going to be special, no matter what season it is. And what a beautiful state! Nelson and I excitedly packed up our cooler, trusted IKEA shoe rack, and flew to Las Vegas with our travel companion Don Don. We didn't stop for the buffet nor slot machines - we simply picked up a rental van (named 'The Hogan') and off we went. In all we visited Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands National Park, as well as a really cool state park called Goblin Valley, and finished our road trip in Salt Lake City.
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| 1300 miles in the Hogan our trusty van! |
2021 for me is all about being adaptive and collecting new experiences (2020 NYE was like 'next year you are all going back to normalcy once we have the vaccines ready!' and 2021 was like 'hold my beer' LOL) - who would have thought we would have been spending the last few days of the year scrambling for covid rapid test kits?! Just like what the last year is all about, this trip we also picked up quite a few 'personal firsts'!
1) Using micro-spikes for the first time:
My cousin Adi and her family went to Grand Canyon two winters ago and they mentioned they used and gave their spikes to some strangers who were hiking the same trail. At the time I thought that seems a bit dramatic - hiking 'the dessert', surely, is not, mountaineering? Despite that I thought I would get Nelson and I a pair of spikes each, just in case (more like I have to compulsively shop at REI at least once a month haha).
The spikes were great and such a life saver! Even when we did the Riverside walk in Zion which was not steep nor remotely dangerous, with all the ice on the trail such an easy hike would not have been possible. We saw lots of family trying to walk the path in sneakers and couldn't help but felt a bit scared for them. Things got even more 'adrenaline inducing' in Bryce Canyon, which is a lot more higher in altitude comparing to Zion. Even with spikes I was constantly alarmed and a bit concerned the sneakers-donning tourists might have slid and knocked me off the train and into the deep valley!
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| Beautiful Zion Canyon along the Riverside Walk |
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| Navajo Loop at Bryce Canyon NP, the switch back is steep and goes all the way to the valley floor. I thought it was scary and taxing climbing up and cannot imagine going down on all the ice and snow! |
It was Christmas Eve and we made it to Arches National Park! Unlike other National Parks we visited this time, the Devil's Garden campground, instead of being near the park entrance, was all the way up in the heart of the park. We decided to hike the Delicate Arch first and made our way to the campground nearing sundown.
The weather started changing at this time and heavy fog reduced visibility to less than 2 meters and it started raining. We finally found the campground in darkness and realized all 21 sites were taken! The campground was full! Who are these people going camping in this cold!? Why did we not know there are other crazy people as well!?
It was merry at the campground, there were sitting by the fires, music, food. And quite a few tents flapping in the wind. Nelson and I contemplated driving down the mountain but decided against that idea due to the imminent weather. We decided to park on the side of the road and called it a night.
I guess for a lot of people, sleeping on the roadside is a given for #vanlife, but it sure was an unusual experience for us. We kept thinking some rangers were going to come knock on our window in the middle of the night. We left as soon as the sun was up the next day!
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| Heavy fog as we drove towards Devil's Garden |
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| Silent night... holy night... |
I think they are called 'chemical toilets' here in US National Parks. How unromantic! I prefer the name 'long drop' - so self explanatory and adds that adventure feel haha. During Nelson and my great outdoors trips, we had use these toilets quite often and not only that I don't mind them, I am often impressed by how clean and well ventilated they are kept, especially in the national parks.
We were ready to say goodbye to Arches (my favorite park during this trip) on Boxing Day (12/26) to go to Canyonlands NP. The wind had been howling all night, sharking the Hogan and blowing away tent flies nearby. That morning was no exception, it was freezing and it looked like the bullet wind was going to turn into a full on snow storm any minute. I tried to use the bathroom before we departed. I sat on the pit toilet and instead of this gentle breeze that I am used to, it was a silent hurricane down there! At first it just felt like it was unusually cold and 'breezy' but soon it felt the 'wind' was actually going to knock me off the toilet! I practically ran from the toilet and told Nelson that I just 'couldn't do it'. He laughed so hard and drove me around the area to find a 'better sheltered' toilet.
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| Obviously I don't have a photo of the long drop toilet so let's look at this beautiful arch instead. (This is the Tunnel Arch) |
4) Seeing an Ancient Pueblo petroglyph for the first time:
I have never seen Native American petroglyphs (rock carvings. Rock paintings are called pictographs) and was so excited to see them at Monument Valley. We were fortunate to see the Australian Aboriginal rock carvings when we lived in Sydney, and also had seen some of the famous rock art (both painting and carving) in the Dordogne region of France. These arts are always really special to me. They may be a recording of life at the time, but it is also an art form that still looks wonderful and intrigues the artists in us. The details these petroglyphs display (hair, direction the creatures face, the different sizes) always make me wonder the meaning of each.
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| Horned Goat Petroglyph at Monument Valley |
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| Petroglyphs near Delicate Arch, Arches National Park. I thought these are so cool as you can see people riding the horses and there are smaller animals that I think may be dogs following the herd. |
5) Visiting a certified dark sky park for the first time:
I randomly booked to camp at Goblin Valley State Park for a night because it has hot shower all year (none of the national parks has hot water and I was keen not to go too feral). We drove for hours to this park as it was truly located in the middle of nowhere! After we got to the park I found out that, alas, they locked the bathroom in winter and there is only one... yes, long drop toilet for the campers to use. After I got over my disappointment, though, I came to the realization that wow, this place is, almost like, it is not earth!
The valley of goblins is a 3 square mile piece of land of thousands and thousands of hoodoos in shape of goblins in various state of erosion. There is no trail and people are free to wander around and hike this maze like area. It is unbelievably cool and despite the cold, Nelson and I were like two little kids trying to recognize the shapes of rocks to creatures we know. The setting sun shed warm, orange light on the red hoodoos and I felt like I was on Mars exploring. We later on realize the movie 'Galaxy Quest' was filmed here and they didn't have to photoshop anything landscape-wise because the Goblin Valley is like outer-space!
The park is a certified dark sky park as there is no light pollution or man-made structure nearby (or afar haha). The milky way was easily visible to our naked eye that night. It was really special.
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| The Goblin Valley really looks out of this world! |
Lastly - it was just a lovely way to wrap up the year with a #vanlife road trip. Nelson and I take turn to drive (he usually plays his Ukulele when I drive), cooked a variety of delicious food depending on the weather condition. We chatted, watched movies or just read in the evenings and shared various toilet jokes (Zion NP turned off the campground electricity and I had to brush my teeth and pee in total darkness for two nights). I am grateful that the van 'Hogan' protected us from the elements and kept us safe all the way from Vegas to Salt Lake City and I can't wait to embark on our next camping adventure again!
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| Camping in the van does not mean you go casual on breakfast. Fresh coffee is a must, so is freshly toasted bread with butter and jam! |
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| Reading with Don Don and yummy chips on a cold night. |
