Day 36 - After the decadence of Vegas we arrived late in Zion. We read a random forum post from 2009 saying theres free camping at a place called Mosquito Cove. It may have been one of those online jokes things weve heard kids do these days. Good one guys. You got us. Wont get those 2 hours riding around in the dark back. We ended up repeating the antics of Susanville, setting up camp after the office of an RV camp closed and taking off before they reopened. Day 37 - Zion was by far our favourite national park. Physically challenging with unworldly beauty. Inhabited by native tribes for thousands of years, Zion was settled by white Mormons in the 1860s. It had its name changed to the Biblical reference of Zion in 1918. At the time Native American names were believed to sound too ethnic to attract white tourists. It was possibly not the only renaming of things to attract tourists. Theres the town of Virgin, the Virgin River, the Towers and Temples of the Virgin and the naming of the native people as the Virgin Anasazis. They appear to be going for that white, middle aged male market you generally see sleazing around South East Asian countries. Having seen photos of the picturesque The Subway slot canyon, we asked a guide how to get there. He explained it was simple, we just needed to drop our 50ft of rappel rope from the top and drop down. We looked at each other as though one of us was going to pull out 50ft of rappel rope that wed neglected to tell the other about. We decided to climb Angels Landing and walk The Narrows instead. Loved them both. If youre afraid of heights, stick to The Narrows. Another hot tip if you do The Narrows. Wear shoes and enjoy laughing at those who chose not to. Its 16 miles of walking on jagged rocks in water thats between ankle to waist deep. Angels Landing is 1760 meters high and theres no shortage of signs advising since 2004 six people have died whilst taking on this at times intense hike. Somehow this figure hasnt justified moving the guiding chain from the middle of the steep and narrow path to the outside. Thus working as a protective fence if you were to fall towards the edge. The route is littered with hyperventilating, teary eyed climbers, white knuckled clinging to the aforementioned chain. They were mostly all being stood over by a partner who was deeply regretting naively talking their significant other into facing their fear of heights. Realising in that moment that their words of encouragement came to the inevitable end. Their loved one shitting their pants in a public place and inadvertently having their hysterical face brushed by the crutches of the more adventurous climbers stepping over them on the particularly narrow path. Following the physical day in the sizzling desert sun, we rode a few hours before falling deep into a WiFi hole at a Dennys Diner somewhere in Arizona. It quickly became 2am. We walked out of the car park, into the desert and setup the tent.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 18:28:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015