EE & S Adventures

Zion National Park is yet another of the wonderful National Parks that can be found in the western United States.  The park is located in quite an arid region, with fantastic (and enormous) rock features formed out of eroded sandstone.  Although the park is reasonable large, most of the visitors come to see Zion Canyon in the southern part of the park, a deep u shaped canyon cut by the Virgin River.  It was the Canyon where we did our first day of sightseeing. Like the Grand Canyon, Zion has a free bus transportation system that runs from the nearby town of Springfield to the park entrance and then from the large parking lot just inside the park entrance right through to the end of the road up Zion Canyon.  Busses run every 5 minutes or so.  It's a great system to reduce congestion and it's very easy to get off and on at the various lookout points, trailheads and other locations of interest. Although the park is arid, the river running down the cany...

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is markedly different to the South Rim.  The altitude of 2,500 meters and a better supply of water means the canyon rim is covered with large firs, spruces and aspens which is a contrast to the generally more arid south rim.  The topography also differs in subtle ways, on the north rim the slope down to the Colorado is longer and more gradual than the south however there is still plenty of massive drop-offs.  Regardless, the canyon offers the visitor an extensive mosaic of intricate colours, layers and patterns regardless of which rim you visit.  The North Rim has far less visitors than the South and it also closes down during winter (due to snow and the problems it poses to the long access road).  As luck (or good planning) would have it we stayed on the Rim the very last night that it was open for the season.  It was still surprisingly warm but with a fraction of the people on the south side and with the rim just 1...

This was a big day for everyone but in different ways. The South and North Rim of the Grand Canyon are only about 25km apart as the crow flies.  But there is no short way of getting from one to the other.  Samuel and Elise drove.  Eric hiked. Erics day For many years I have wanted to do the iconic Grant Canyon Rim to Rim hike.  Many people do it over two days staying overnight at Phantom Ranch by the Colorado River, however with accommodation bookings only available via lottery and made one year in advance this was never an option.  The National Parks Service offers strong advice against doing walks like this in one day and they provide grim warnings about rescues and fatalities .  In reality if you're fit and sensible it's not too difficult especially doing the walk outside the hellish heat of summer.   I did choose to do the hike in the hardest direction though (the North Rim is 300-400 meters higher in altitude than the South). It was tough a...

Today we hiked into the canyon. Being here, it makes you want to venture lower.  There are two main trails we could use but we decided to walk the Bright Angel trail to Indian Garden rest. Surprisingly for me the trail was in the shade for the downhill part. It was lovely to walk down. The vegetation was desert-like but there were some trees and it was very pretty.   We were trailed by some mules along the way. They smelled and the people on them were very sore when they reached the Indian Gardens. Mules are very well used on the trails. As a hiker I did not like their leavings, however I know how important it is for everyone to see this amazing place.  It was beautiful to walk down through the layers of rock. To walk on them, feel their different textures and to see them. I was amazed to experience the distinct transitions, the colour. What can I say? It was just fantastic.  After reaching Indian Gardens we decided we could go further to Plat...