The first morning of our trip. We're at Blackwater Falls state park in WV.
Found another Pickle in St. Louis.
Oklahoma looks like this for a while...
...and then red cliffs start sticking up in the distance...
...which look like this up close
Oklahoma. Almost to New Mexico...
The OK-NM border
crazy sunset at the OK-NM border
I guess people throw rocks as they drive by???
Camping in Sugarite Canyon State Park in NM. This place was really beautiful and a great park all around.
The campground host a hummingbird feeder...
...they were tame enough that they would practically sit on your hands.
No rock throwing here!
Here we've just crossed the border from New Mexico, and its already looking distinctly "Colorado".
About 30 minutes into Colorado from NM (on I-25 I think).
This is great dunes national park. We weren't planning on going here, but heard about it from someone we talked to in St. Louis. I'm glad we went... it was amazing!
This is Wes before climbing up the dunes.
more dunes.
How do you know its not the Sahara? Look to the right and see the rockies.
Some plant life on the lower parts of the dunes.
Walking the dunes!
Sitting on the dunes.
A strange juxtaposition of desert and mountains!
Maria on the dunes
More desert, plant life, and rockies.
Wes at the "top".
wes running down the dunes
"Great Dunes National Park"
Ruins in Mesa Verde. I think this is Spruce Tree House.
Wes on one of the trails in Mesa Verde.
Vultures in Mesa Verde.
Roots and trunks in Mesa Verde.
Maria on a trail in Mesa Verde
Mesa Verde sights
This is part of the trail out to Pictograph point in Mesa Verde
Wes on the trail to Pictograph point
Soaring through Mesa Verde
Wes fits inside the rock
Not as cozy as a Vanagon though...
All of these holes were interconnected
... (in case you didn't believe me)
Maria under some boulders.
Pictograph point at Mesa Verde.
Wes and Maria in Mesa Verde
Trail Markers
Deer in Mesa Verde
Cliff Palace Ruins in Mesa Verde
More of Cliff Palace
Wes in front of Cliff Palace
More Cliff Palace
Sunflowers!
Approaching Monument Valley
... a closeup of the same formation
The License plate car at the Hole in the Rock.
"Hole in the Rock". Funny pit stop we stumbled upon near Moab.
License plates.
More fun stuff at the hole-in-the-rock.
Driving through Monument Valley.
If you know what the name of this formation is, post a comment.
Wes at Arches National Park.
Aches national park.
A balanced rock at ANP.
Balanced rock at Arches National Park.
Wes in ANP.
Rocks and Wood in ANP.
Maria under Delicate Arch.
Maria is on the left side of the Delicate Arch.
Maria in the Delicate Arch
The bowl underneath the delicate arch.
... and another shot of the bowl
The delicate arch is on the side of a cliff.
Wes "near" the Delicate Arch.
Wes and the delicate Arch.
Sunset in Arches NP.
Approaching sunset on the hike back from Delicate Arch.
More red cliffs near sunset.
Red cliffs under the moon.
... and again.
The trail back from the Delicate Arch.
Almost sunset in ANP.
Mexican Hat Rock (driving towards the Grand Canyon from Arches.)
The same Mexican hat rock.
Entering the Navajo reservation on the way to the Grand Canyon.
Scenery in the reservation.
More of Navajo land.
And more Navajo land.
Near the top of the Kaibab trail at the Grand Canyon. It's maybe 5:45 or 6AM in this picture. (We started down around 5:30.)
Maria near the top of the trail.
These plants grew all around the Grand Canyon.
A view of the north side.
More of the north side.
A shot of the canyon.
We walked down via Kaibab trail, which is quite steep as you can see in this picture!
trail down the Grand Canyon
Hiking down Kaibab.
Here we're almost to the bottom (there's the Colorado!). We didn't really take any pictures on the way down, unfortunately.
Another shot of the bottom of the Canyon from Kaibab.
This is the Bright Angel trail, on the way back up. We don't have many pictures from this hike either.
Another shot of Maria on Bright Angel trail.
A shot of foliage on Bright Angel.
Bright Angel trail is passed by streams in a few places.
A tree in a canyon.
This was one of the rest stops on Bright Angel Trail.
A wild Grand Canyon doe.
This deer was pretty oblivious to us.
This grand canyon squirrel looks different than the ones we have in Jersey. (It has spots!)
Another shot of the squirrel.
After climbing all the way down and back up (nearly 12 hours after we started out). The warning on the sign not to hike in one day is a good one. It can definitely done, but you need to make sure you are very well prepared for the trip. Don't take it lightly just because you are in good shape. It is a survival situation not an endurance challenge. Very athletic people die on the trail every year because of basic problems.
A double rainbow on the drive west from the GC. We say a triple, but weren't able to get a photo of the third.
Nearing Death Valley.
Death Valley.
Dunes in Death Valley.
Driving through Death Valley.
This looks like a lake, but don't be fooled...
It is actually just this. The effect is caused by salt.
Wes on the salt "lake".
Maria and Pickle on the salt lake.
Maria on the salt lake.
Maria in Yosemite.
Another shot in Yosemite.
Wind Power in California.
This was a small fraction of the wind farm.
We drive through a sliver of Montana on the way to Yellowstone.
Old faithful...
going...
more...
and more...
now water comes out...
And gets higher...
and higher...
and higher.
There are small geysers all around the park.
The strange colors come from extremophile bacteria that live in the hot springs.
This blue is also caused by bacteria.
There are hot springs all over the place.
More springs with extremophile bacteria.
Check out the colors here. I wonder if the color gradient caused by the bacteria corresponds with the temperature gradient?
More springs.
Wes in Yellowstone.
There are lots of crazy formations like this that are made by the springs over huge timescales.
This is a dead spring.
Here is a live spring right next to part that is dead.
More formations from hot springs.
Steps formed by the springs. A dead formation right next to a live one.
Maria in Yellowstone.
More steps.
"Live" steps in the distance, on the far side of the dead spring.
A close up of steps. You can see the colors from the bacteria.
A close-up of mini-steps.
More mini-steps.
Steps and a mountain in Yellowstone.
A dead spring.
A dead spring, next to a live one.
More of the dead spring.
More dead spring.
A view of some steps from a trail.
A close up of steps.
More steps (notice the trees are already dead here, in the live spring.)
I count 7 different step systems in this photo!
More of the step systems.
Wes and Maria by the steps.
This is the remnants of a dead geyser.
It was too dark to get a steady shot of this guy, unfortunately.
A rock in the shape of a bison!
The same bison.
Prairie dog near Devils Tower.
Prairie dogs near Devils Tower
Devil's Tower.
Maria near the base of Devil's Tower.
Wes at the base of Devil's Tower.
Badlands National Park in SD.
Bison in Badlands NP.
More Bison in Badlands NP.
A long view of Badlands NP.
Pickle in the Badlands.
