I've been delinquent in getting this done, no real excuses, although I thought I might try to post a slide show. I decided the slide show will be later, otherwise I will never get this summary done. Next question, what should be included?
Well, first I will give some statistics:
- Total travel 7502 miles
- Time driving - 182 1/2 hours, so average speed was 41 mph
- Gas consumed - 650 gals representing about 50% of our trip cost
- Travelled through 10 states, slept in 5 of them. Not including home.
- Visited 9 National Parks, 2 National Monuments, 1 State Park, and
slept at 3 Wal-Marts :-)
- Took over 2500 pictures and videos. Glad I'm not using film anymore!
There were many cool things we saw and experienced. It's difficult to pick one, but on our list is the thermal features at Yellowstone with the miles and miles of boardwalks. The colors and smells encountered were very unique. Our favorite geyser was not Old Faithful, but the Lone Star geyser. The power of Lone Star was awesome.
The award for the visual wow factor goes to Bryce Canyon and its Hoodoos, Arches NP for the formations, and the Grand Canyon for its vastness. As we viewed these natural phenomenons you realize how insignificant we really are in the big scheme of things. It's really laughable for anyone to think that anything we humans do has an impact.
Probably of all the activities we pursued, the Ranger led activities were our favorite. Probably tops and most memorable is our hike through the Fiery Furnace. Certainly it was the most challenging, but looking back we realize how unique that experience was. Nowhere can you experience that as an urban hiker.
Our favorite towns were Cody, Wy and Moab, Ut. Although littered with tourists, I guess the attraction was the small western town environment as well as the proximity to interesting things to do and see. Speaking of tourists, geez they were everywhere, it was hard to find solitude anywhere. Probably Ken Burns did lots to get people off their butts to see these wonders, and that will help to insure their future, but I was hoping to find places you might feel some isolation. Maybe we needed to take some back country hikes to find that.
Some things we regret not doing, horseback riding in the Grand Tetons, and renting or taking a ride in a 4x4 into Canyonlands or other location near Moab. And maybe trying some fishing in Yellowstone or one of the many rivers. The price was somewhat of a deterrent though.
So, thanks for following our adventure. When I get these 2500 pictures organized into a slide show I will post a link here so you can have a look. I will send an email to let you know.
Dan & Lynn
Great post, U. Dan!
ReplyDeleteA couple of thoughts, winter travel to the southern parks eliminates most of the tourists. We saw the Grand canyon in January and could, actually, hear the river. There was almost no one there. Of course, the North Rim was closed...
When you head this way, we'll take care of that fishing thing for you! I'm betting we can even provide a guide & gear. It might cost you a six pack.
Thanks for the trip, I sure enjoyed each of those 7500 miles!