Roadtrip across Utah

Travelling from Bryce to Moab across Utah was quite an adventure. Normally a longish day of dual carriageway driving doesn't have much to recommend it but driving Interstate highway 70 was different. The highway traversed some very interesting desert and canyon country. The highway has plenty of pull offs where you could stop the car and take a short walk to admire the arid countryside. Most stops also had some information - perhaps about the local geology, the early white settlers or the historic indigenous inhabitants. All in all very well done - all the photos here were taken no more than a few 100 meters or so from the road.

The most interesting stop was probably where the highway descended through a canyon before crossing the San Rafael River. Apparently building this bit of road involved some serious earth moving which was all explained via some helpful information boards at the pull off above the canyon. A short walk here brought us to a great view down the canyon.

A good way to get a bit of sightseeing done on what would normally be an unremarkable travel day.

Comments

Inca Trail day 4

This was the day we would arrive at Macchu Picchu so we awoke with a keen sense of anticipation. To celebrate the last day on the trail, somehow the chef had whipped up an enormous cake which was served after breakfast. After a discussion with Marco about the likely weather over the next two days we agreed that it would be best to tour Macchu Picchu as soon as we arrived in mid afternoon rather than wait until tomorrow. Marco assured us that this would mean less crowds and better weather (he was right). We could see the backside of the mountain above Macchu Picchu in front of us as we started out. Unlike the last two days, today was mainly downhill. We would have to descend about 1,000 meters and judging by the first part of the morning walk, most of this would be on steep and slippery rocky steps. After alternating descents and traversing along steep hillsides through cloud forest and bamboo groves we reached the ruins of Intipata. Intipata was a very...

Vatnajökull National Park

Vatnajökull National Park is a must visit destination for any tourist to Iceland. It's also one of the most inaccessable. The main reason for this inaccessability is that much of the National Park is taken up by the enormous Vatnajökull glacier. So you can't just drive in and walk around. To see the interior of the park (the glacier) you need to make special arrangements - like taking a tour in a Superjeep. We booked a Superjeep tour for our first day at the park which was cancelled due to the inclement weather... However the next day we were definitely ready to see as much as we could and fortunately the tour was back on. Our tour guide was Hungarian but very well informed and we learned a lot about Icelandic culture as well as glaciers and volcanoes. The Jeep we were in had been made by the driver (and some friends) and consisted of part of a Chrysler with another van's back end bolted on and modified engine and gears. It had 54 inch wheels w...

Iceland's wild east coast

The east coast of Iceland attracts a fraction of the tourists and has a fraction of the population of the western side. It really is the place for a remote getaway. The hosts of our farmstay near Egilsstadir moved from Reykjavik to get away from the system and the hectic Reykjavik scene 😊. Their farm certainly epitomised the word remote. Samuel loved the farm, especially playing with the two very friendly and intelligent farm dogs. As with much of Iceland, one of the best ways to spend the time is just driving with plenty of stops for photography - in fact it's hard to make much progress in some scenic areas as the urge to park the car and whip out the camera every few kilometers is overwhelming. This was especially the case on the one long day we spent driving from Egilsstadir to Hofn. We started our journey on yet another overcast morning and almost immediately headed down a rough back road off the ring road in search of a waterfall. We...

EE & S Adventures

Search This Blog