Zion & Bryce Canyon National Parks (Utah)

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Vegas to Zion, not that far of a drive, probably 200 miles or so, but that being 200 miles of desolate Mojave Desert. Arrived at a fairly good campground around 4 ish and were told there was probably enough time to tackle Angels Landing, a 600-700m climb to a peak looking down Zion Canyon.

Here it is:



Climb was straight forward, otherwise couldn't really have started it with only 2 hours at the end of the day. Doglegging it up to the top, then out over some chains (no where near Half Domeesque, at Yosemite) and onto the top, which gave great "base jumping views" like this:



Loved it. Ran down with Matt, our Trek Leader, got the shuttle back to Camp (shocker, should be banned, National Parks should only be allow cycling or walking into them if you ask me...!) then off for a run with Matt too, 6 miles of so, Good session, though he wasn't walking to well the next day.

Took a drive to Bryce Canyon (80 miles there, 80 back), didn't camp there, as elevation was nearly 9000 feet so would have frozen. Night time temps below freezing, so just more pleasant to be lower...

Went on a 10k hike through the Canyon, mesmerized by the horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters - gave the whole place a moon like setting. Hardly anyone about, loved it.



Wish I'd ran the train though, temperature was good, could have done an out and back, or got picked up at the other end. But didn't read into it well enough - lesson learnt...

Before leaving, saw this American woman, now I'm not a big one on fashion, but I'm sorry this one has definitely gone wrong somewhere down the line:



Pretended to be on the phone to get a picture near her. Bear her in mind, if you're reading the next post about the Grand Canyon cause she was to materialise a day later, hundreds of miles away....

Photo of the day? Not sure, maybe this one:



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Las Vegas

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Vegas. There's nothing in Nevada, just desert, oh yeh, and Las Vegas. After passing back up past LA we were into it, miles and miles of it. Long, perplexingly 'deserty' straight roads.

Suggested a sweepstake in the van when we saw this one:



I rekoned 5 miles, two others rekoned 2 miles and 7 miles. All completely wrong. Van clocked 10.2 miles. Just straight road into the wilderness. Plenty more of them to come in the Mid West.

This is one hell of a road sign too:



505 miles!!

So into Vegas, and we were told that for $40 a surprise was planned. That turned out to be a party in room 3112 (security not too impressed) a truck limo (bigger than a hummer), and fancy dress.



Half of us. For 20 minutes the truck dropped us off downtown, which meant dancing in the street and lots of random photos which confused tourists



Not sure if anyone will be able to tell who I was....?







The truck itself, although the picture didn't come out that great



After spending 3 hours being told to remove our masks by various casino security squads I made my own way back to the motel, determined to spend a good portion of the next day hurling myself off the edge of this:



4 Gs on this one....



My stomach still hasn't landed yet

Thought this was the worst. Being hurled over the edge then stopped instantly.



Owch.

The worst part of this one was probably being moved out slowly, very slowly over the edge, and then tilted. Fun though, and worth every penny of the $30 unlimited day pass. So much so I spend the night there too...





And as the sun set the casions came to life... Little Venice tried to be Italian:





and night fell. But Vegas never sleeps.



Conclusion? Glad I've seen it, but won't hurry back. Give me a National Park anyday. Highlight, probably the run late this afternoon, 92 F, don't now how many miles. Just ran and ran. Found a big golf course somewhere and out sprinted two vicious dogs. They're everywhere, sure they're following me around America. Felt for the first time that it was possible to escape the vegas strip. Still, the place could really do with a good park...

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San Deigo!

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Having completed the full Transcontinental North Trek (NYC to LA) we began the other half with a trip down south to San Diego with Matt, our new Trek leader for the second half of the Trek. We said our good byes to 4 peeps doing only the northern Trek and the other group which had pretty much tracked us the whole way...

Not that long of a drive down to San Diego, which was a bit strange. So was the campsite - well city.... three pools, a jacuzzi, a beach! Crickey! It was more like a small town than a campsite. From there we explored San Diego in the afternoon, had our hopes built up about a baseball match, only to have them shattered when we arrived to find empty ticket booths which were completely sold out. Nevermind, off to Mexico instead. It's a tough life.

We crossed the border into Tijuana, which I can only describe as Liverpool.



The Mexican border. There could not be more of a contrast. You literally walk through two sets of metal gates (below). No immigration, no checks, nothing. It seems as though they;ll take anyone into their country. It's kinda pathetic that they don't care. Maybe it's because it doesn't matter who you are, or what you're there for, in their eyes anyone who comes might just spend...!

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The high security Mexican border! A metal gate. That's it.

Tijuana. There's actually people who live in that giant sewer. You can see them to the far left:



Tijuana must give a bad impression of Mexico. I mean it can't all be as bad as that. The level of poverty was pretty dire. I had a little boy, probably just 2, who clearly spotted me a mile off. I wasn't interested in buying his necklaces but he was pointing and tugging on my drink. All he wanted was a drink...

But if you see past the poverty, and the 1000s of drug stores there's definitely some character to the place. This picture probably comes close. Another pharmacy, a small girl trying to sell bracelets to the right, sombreros in the background and full on hustle and bustle...



(There are so many Pharmacies because so many tourists come across to buy drugs which you need a prescription for back in the US)

So after a few hours in Tijuana we walked back across to the States. Thought this picture told the whole story. Which way do you think is America?



Got back about 5 ish, went for an hours run around Mission Bay, back for dinner, then bed.

Next day...San Deigo Zoo. Supposedly the third best in the world. Loved the Polar Bears, the habitat and viewing was brilliant



And the Lions just woke up as I started to take pictures. Not sure if they liked the rock being hurled in though - just kidding



The gorillas sat with their backs to a viewing gallery, probably no surprise as a bunch of screaming American kids would be the last thing I'd want to look at all day. It was their hands that I noticed:



So human like

Took this picture of Hayley and Conor, both on our Trek. Think it is one of the top people photos i've taken on the Trek. Came out real well (I think anyway)



And so San Diego ended where it should. At the beach. Took a few hours of practice before we caught the perfect wave. But when you do, you know you have, it's like flying.....got to try full on surfing in Hawaii.



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Chronicle Article

Hilarious

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/athletics-news/2007/09/20/grizzly-bear-encounter-is-furry-scary-72703-19818702/

Was great to see that Bill had put together a little piece about my travels for the north east of England press...Written with good humour, oh sorry, humor as they say here....

Los Angeles

gonna keep this one short because I hate the place.

There we go. The end.

Ok well it's not that bad. This was nice.



In fact it's the most expensive street in the world.

To be honest though, I've learnt that there's always something good about everywhere you visit. You've just got to find it. Ok, well that is true. But it almost doesn't hold for LA. Oh and it rained! For the first time in a whole year!

I managed to complete number 50 on the list of things to do before you die; that is, cross out the name of someone famous who has a Holywood star, and then use the same chalk to write you own name over it. Then take a photo and run off without getting arrested. Didn't get arrested and the chalk didn't work all that well, but at least it's one more done! Just randomly I asked a guy on the street before hand where I could buy some chalk. He eventually directed me to the local stationary shop, but not after getting well confused and thought I was wanting cocaine!!!! Crazy. Must have looked well dodge



Before



After


Hollywood itself. Completely different to how I expected it. LA is a sprawling mess of traffic james lifeless streets. Wasn't a fan at all. Give me Yoho or Glacier National Parks any day!



The Hollywood sign, up in the hills

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Yosemite

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One picture sums up this place. Spectacular. This is Half Dome.

To get up there meant a 4am start. But me and Tak were happy as larry



At about 10ish we got our first proper view. A huge rock up over 8000ft



The last bit saw 4 deaths last year. a 60 degree climb to the top. Without proper equipment the only way is up the steel cables (in the background on the pic below). Personally, if you don't take care on here it's your own fault if you fall. You just gotta hang on. Tight. Your a plonker if you fall.








After Yosemite it was onto Malibu, where we stayed by the beach. Those houses down on the beach looked awesome. Though not sure what they'd be like in a storm. We got there with 3 minutes to spare and watched the sun slowly dip behind the mountains



All Yosemite photos: http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168924&l=d6d35&id=61205739

Next day it was on into LA and our half way stop. But most importantly of all - a hotel............

San Francisco

The main album of photos is this one...

http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168927&l=8ae55&id=61205739

Two nights in Hostelling International's Fort Mason hostel. What a location! Right in Fisherman's wharf, just by the ocean. We had a tour of the city in the van to get an idea of where everything was. Conclusion being, the gay area of town looked the most fun. Percy, the joker of our group had a great time playing the "let's spot a gayer" game. Checking into the hostel late on, and starving I headed down to the local Safeways, made friends with the checkout guy and got a 10% discount on a whole chicken and some fresh orange. Bosh. Ah now that's the life! So an early first night in SF.

Probably photo of the day though:



Golden Gate. Almost a post card pic. Sunlight was just about perfect. Wasn't time to hike a trail up a nearby hill to get a higher shot, so did it the next day instead,


Next day, up early and straight off to Alcatraz. Which was good, but not amazing. Too touristy for me, but it had to be seen. All Alcatraz photos are here:



Alcatraz from the ferry which takes you across.






An Alcatraz cell. Not to dissimilar to the cell I had first year at uni.

Actually the more I write about San Fran, the more I realise I enjoyed it more than I thought. I left the guys I went with on Alcatraz and went back early. Hired a bike and rode miles back to the Golden Gate to get this pic. Also, couldn't go and not cycle aross it either! From there cycled through the streets of San Fran and got completely lost. Think I ended up in the gay area as there were lots of men holding hands.

That night we went on a sun set cruise which was AWESOME. It takes ages to add pictures to the blog but the catamaran was so cool I'm just going to have to do it. All photos from cruise are here though: http://dur.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168927&l=8ae55&id=61205739




The sun sets under Golden Gate



Even the bird was lovin it




Then it all got a little bit messy

From then the choice was a gay club or Indian then Karaoke. As I can sing like an angel and because I love a curry I chose the latter



Later that night I turned down a record deal



Oh yeh the Sea Lions were pretty cool too



So that was pretty much it. Apart from a pacific swim. The pics came out a bit blurry but the proof didn't!