US 4-Corners Region (July / August of 2003)
Brian got his favourite type of vacation this year. It was a driving trip with lots of miles and highways through the American south-western states of Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. We left Calgary on July 25 and returned on August 17, covering about 11,000 km! To make the trip a little easier on the kids, we attached a DVD player to Brian’s laptop and they watched movies on the boring stretches. I was the only one not entertained because I got carsick when I read and I couldn’t see the TV. So the rest of the family had to listen to me sing!! Brian was happy with all that pavement in front of him. He didn’t need anything else. Well maybe earplugs might have helped.
I almost forgot another important part of our holiday. Brian had a quest. He wanted to find the best margarita in the southwest. This meant we had to find one every night for him to rate on its taste, presentation, appearance and the waiter’s competence to ask Brian whether the drink was “on the rocks” (good) or “blended” (bad). This was particularly tough to do in Mormon populated Utah. (Their religion bans alcohol.) To cut to the chase on this quest, Brian’s favourite margarita was at the Margarita Factory in Phoenix, Arizona. He tried many different variations of the drink, including a few from cans from the liquor store when he got stuck in small towns or national parks with no alcoholic drinks on the menu.
Here is what we did and saw. Our first two days were primarily driving expeditions to get down to southern Utah. Each day involved about nine hours in the car. We made a few stops along the way, including a short hike at Cedar Breaks National Monument near Cedar City, Utah. On the way back to our hotel from the park, we witnessed the incredible power and terrifying beauty of a flash flood. The normally quiet creek that ran alongside the highway was a churning mass of mud, logs and other debris. I was amazed at how fast it was all flowing and at how strong the mud smelled. Also, it was eerily quiet except for the roar of the mud. We made sure not to get too close to the river because the banks were not stable. It was a very odd experience.
The next morning we reached Zion National Park, our first holiday destination spot. We treated ourselves by staying in the lodge in the park. It was located in the center of all the activities, surrounded by roughly etched, twisted sandstone mountains. The view from our balcony was breathtaking. Upon our arrival, we quickly packed a lunch and filled up all our water bottles and headed up into the mountains. Our first hike was called Hidden Canyon. It was rated as moderately strenuous and not recommended for anyone afraid of heights. We started at eleven o’clock in the morning and it was already 37C. We knew that we were in for a taxing climb. We hiked 3.2 km and it took us almost three hours because we went up almost 300 m. At times we had to hold onto chains anchored into the rock walls because the path was so narrow or the stairs were so steep. At all times there were serious drop-offs!! We all appreciated the “cool” ( in relative terms) shady canyon at the top of the hike where we stopped for lunch. Coming down was almost as difficult because of the tricky footing and tired legs. However all the views and the sense of accomplishment that we felt after completing the trek, made it all worthwhile. After a short hike back to the lodge, then some tasty ice cream cones and a stretch out on the field in front of the lodge, we were rejuvenated and ready to hike again. Across the street from the lodge was the Emerald Pools trail head. There were three separate pools, named lower, mid and upper Emerald Pools. Not particularly imaginative names but at least they were accurate. Because it was late in the afternoon when we started our hike, we only had time to reach the mid and lower pools. The middle pools were really just shallow puddles in the hollows of the rock due to the years of drought at Zion. However the view from the cliff edge was incredible. We walked under that towering cliff edge with water flowing over our heads when we reached the lower pools. The rock walls were marked with streaks of white, cream, red, black and tan coloured mineral deposits from years of running water. I felt very small surrounded by all those immense rock walls. We had to hustle out of that trail and across the river before the threatening thunderstorms arrived. We made it back to our hotel just in time. We had a ground floor balcony which made our room feel like a cabin. So we sat back and watched the storm pass by us. It was awesome.
The next morning we were up early again. This was a pattern to be repeated many times during our trip. This was day four of our holiday and we had yet to sleep in past 6:30 am. By seven am we were the first people on the shuttle to get to our hike for the morning. No surprise there! We walked 2.5 km alongside the Virgin River to get to the starting point of the river walk. This hike had been our main goal for Zion N.P. We grabbed walking sticks at the water’s edge and began our walk upstream, flanked on either side by steep, smooth, water-eroded canyon walls. There were many warnings of flash floods posted at the beginning of the hike so I was a little nervous. Also the rocks were very slippery and the current was moderately swift with many rapids. We kept a good grip on Sierra because the water was almost waist high for her at times. It was very slow going as we poked the ground in front of us with our walking sticks feeling for secure footing. The water was full of silt due to the previous night’s thunderstorms. So we couldn’t see if there were potholes or other drops. As we proceeded up the river, the canyon walls narrowed. If we had gone about 30km upstream, both walls would have been close enough to touch with outstretched arms. We did reach the Narrows Alcove after almost two hours of hiking upstream. It was stunning. The canyon walls towered over us, letting in only shafts of sunlight and muffling the sounds around us. The colour of the rock varied from light cream to black and the shape of the walls was very irregular due to erosion. There were hollowed out portions like caves, overhangs and sheer drops. It was a rock climber’s paradise. Bless Brian for getting us up so early because we were fortunate to have all of this beauty to ourselves. We didn’t meet other hikers until we were halfway back to the start of the river walk. After refreshing showers in our hotel room, we spent the remainder of the afternoon exploring the rest of the park by car and the nearby town. The air conditioning felt wonderful!
The following morning the kids were able to sleep in until nine o’clock!! Unfortunately I didn’t get that luxury because Brian woke me up when he got up to do the Angel’s Landing hike. It was too dangerous and difficult a hike to do with the kids. The mountain which was his destination was given its name because it was so steep that only angels could land on it. He caught the first shuttle to the trail head with a few other hikers. The hike was classified as extremely strenuous. It was 8km long, on average took 4 - 5 hours to complete and the ascent was 453m. Parts of the path were so steep that special stairs called “Walter’s Wiggles” after their creator, were built into the mountain as switchbacks. Many areas of the trail had chains as handholds, often with sheer drops just a short distance away from Brian’s feet. About two thirds of the way up the hill, some of the other hikers turned back because it was too scary. As Brian was trying to cross one part on hands and knees before the final ascent, he noticed that he was all alone on the mountain. The last of the other hikers had stopped their climb. Brian told us later that he had never been so scared on a hike before. He realized that he was all by himself near the top of a mountain without any climbing gear or back up. He tried to turn around to go back but the ledge was too narrow. So he had to get to the next widest spot, turn around and then head back down the trail. He didn’t quite make the summit because he needed climbing equipment. However he was very near the top. He was very speedy coming down. Brian made it back to our hotel room in time to have a shower and help me load the car before room check-out. After hearing about this experience and later seeing his photographs, I was so glad that I didn’t attempt it.
Our next stop was overnight in Las Vegas. This was a huge concession for Brian because he really doesn’t like this city. We let the kids pick the hotel. So we ended up in the Egyptian themed one called the Luxor. Our room was in the gigantic black glass pyramid. After the hot drive from Zion N.P., we just wanted to check out the six pools. The hard part was running on the concrete between each pool. The air temperature was over 40C. So the sun had just baked the concrete. We were careful not to let it bake us too. After a couple of hours, we decided to freshen up and check out the hotel. We discovered a Mexican cantina that served margaritas by the yard. So of course we went there for dinner. Brian’s drink came in a skinny plastic glass that was one yard in length. It was a lot of margarita!! It ranked in the top third on his quest, mostly I think for sheer volume. We decided to stroll the Las Vegas Strip and see some of the sights. Unfortunately a thunderstorm rolled in and it got a little wet. We toured the New York, New York and MGM casinos/hotels first. The kids discovered a store that sold bulk Skittles candy. That has to be Sierra’s favourite kind. She was in sugar heaven. She walked around the dispensers twice trying to decide which flavours she wanted. Then she took out different amounts of all of them! She got enough Skittles to last her the rest of the trip. We continued down the strip, with Skittles in tow, and toured some of the newer casinos. We saw some of the fountains go off in the lake in front of the Bellagio and from afar witnessed the volcano erupt in front of the Mirage. Unfortunately I hustled everyone past all this to see the pirate show in front of Treasure Island. Then when we got there it was closed for renovations. By this time we were a long way from our hotel and of course Sierra had to go to the bathroom. We decided to go into a shopping mall for a washroom and ended up walking even further. It was well past ten o’clock in the evening by this point and we were all tired. So we headed back to another casino and caught a cab to our hotel. Brian was really exhausted after his long hike to Angel’s Landing in the morning, the drive to Las Vegas, the pool session and then the trek down the strip.