Desert: A tract, which may be capable of sustaining a population, but has been left unoccupied and uncultivated; a wilderness; a solitary place.

My whole life I dreamed about living up north with the evergreens and snow and mountain ranges. Those are the places I have always considered awe inspiring and beautiful. Never did I think of the desert that way... until I went to Mojave. When Holly and I drove through there on our way to Vegas I really liked it and knew I wanted to go back. I had the opportunity to do that this weekend. I am so glad I did.
I began my trek on Saturday morning when I drove just about an hour south of Vegas and into no mans land. The road to the campground was, of course, another dirt road and we had some rain the night before. The dirt roads in Maine never really scared me because they were usually more gravely. These dirt roads, however, are just that. Dirt. Which means they have the potential to become "mud roads." With the rain the night before, and the signs warning that the road was flooded, things were not looking good. But, I was determined, and it was a sunny day so I ignored the signs and pushed on. Thankfully, it was pretty dry, but that doesn't mean it was a peaceful ride. The road was all wash-boarded and my car was bumping around like a jackhammer. I felt like the wheels were just gonna go bouncing off the car any minute. Not a minute too soon, I made it to the campground. Anymore of that bouncing and I probably would have had "shaken Ivy syndrome."
I got the best camp site in the whole place... it was pretty easy considering I was the only person there. :)
This was the first time I have been camping without families with 25 kids running around and huge RVs everywhere. When ever people ask me if I am scared to go camping alone I always tell them that I am never really alone at a campground, and that's always been true.. before.

Well, I was not deterred by the solitude, in fact, it was wonderful. I set up my tent and went off to explore. My first hike of the trip was the Rings Climb. It was a short fairly easy hike until you got to the rings which you had to climb up in order to get up and over the rock faces. This was the first hike I did that required "scrambling" which means you have to use your hands for climbing, not just for balance. So, technically, I am now a grade 3 hiker. So proud. (Course, we just won't tell anyone about how my hands were all red and raw after the hike. They are definitely not used that kind of work.) :)

 I spent the rest of the day exploring and then headed to bed hoping to get an early start the next day so I could see the sand dunes (which were about an hour away) at sunrise. Little did I know how hard it would be to go to sleep that night. Not because I was alone; actually, two other people showed up to the campground while I was out, but because of the storms rolling through all night.
I first noticed the lightning way off in the distance when I got up to go to the bathroom.

Side story: The bathrooms there were just a little room with no lights and a vault toilet (a hole with a toilet seat over it). I didn't mind this so much during the day. I have gotten pretty accustomed to using vault toilets on my adventures, but at night... *shiver*. That's when all the creepy crawlies come out. So, I go to the bathroom with my head lamp on and I scan the room for things I don't want crawling on me, and sure enough, a Black Widow has decided to make her web from side of the toilet seat to the wall. I was in shock. I have never seen a Black Widow before! It was on the bottom side of the web hanging upside down so I could see the abdomen clearly. The trademark red hourglass shape was staring me back in the face. I must have stood there staring at it for at least 5 minutes. Not only was I enjoying the fact that I was seeing something totally new and unusual, but I was also trying to get up the courage to go to the bathroom next to it. Believe it or not, I finally did and then I booked it out of there.

Okay, back to the lightning. I had noticed it far off to the east so I turned and faced west in my tent to try and forget about it and get some sleep. (Had to turn away from it cause I could see it flashing even with my eyes closed.) Of course, the sleep never came and suddenly I was "seeing" flashes again. I got up and looked out of my tent and... oh boy. The lightning was now surrounding me and it was flashing every few seconds. I decided to pack up my stuff and sleep in the car. It was perfect timing because, literally, right when I closed the door to my car it started to rain. The rain did not last long, but the lightning did. It was a spectacular show! At that point, I gave up the sleep idea and just watched the lightning. That's not something you see everyday.

The next morning I got up fairly early and headed over to the dunes. No dirt roads this time. Good thing, too, because there had been some flooding on that side of the park.

The dunes were just amazing. On the hike to the dunes there was a nice breeze and since it was so early in the morning it was still really cool out. Once I got up to the top of the dune the nice breeze had turned into tropical storm force winds, and the term "sandblasting" had taken on a whole new meaning for me. ;) I stayed up there for quite a while. I spent some time sitting on the edge of the dune and just enjoying the view, but one of the biggest draws for me was to hear the "booming". When the conditions are right these dunes are one of the few in the world that can actually create a booming sound when there is a "sand avalanche." The conditions when I went up were not perfect, but I did hear it once. At first I thought it was thunder off in the distance, but then when I came over one of the crests I could see on the other side where the sand had slid and I realized what I had heard. They say that you can make the sound yourself by running along the dune and causing the sand to fall. I tried this many times (probably looking totally foolish), to no avail. I think the sand was a little too wet from the rain. It would just slide down in clumps. Oh well, it was fun anyway.

I followed the main road through the park to the visitors center and had a milk shake at the little diner inside. Holly and I stopped there on our way through and the same four guys were there. Two rangers and the two guys running the diner. They are all really nice and talkative. They probably love it when they have someone else to talk to besides each other. A couple other visitors came through while I was there, but it all pretty much reminds me of a ghost town.
My last hike of the day was the Teutonia Peak Trail. It was beautiful! Looking out over a sea of Joshua trees when I got to the top of the mountain was really cool. I was all alone on this trail too, but at least at the top I had some cell signal so I was able to tell my mom where I was. It's the small things. ;)

 

 I could go on and on about the Mojave, but I think you get the point. This weekend I hope to go to Death Valley if its not too hot. That should be interesting.
One last thing... I would like to make a special shout out to Tim and Vanessa who are getting married this weekend. Congrats!!

A week full of surprise and "Mystere"

Last weekend I surprised most of my friends and family by coming home for the weekend. I was so excited to see everyone! I didn't realize how much I needed this trip, but with the stress of this particular assignment I definitely appreciated the recharge. It was a huge blessing that Hurricane Irene scooted right by Florida and didn't cause my flights to be canceled. Believe it or not, I didn't take a single picture while I was home. I just enjoyed the relaxation.
I got back to Vegas really late on Monday night, went to work on Tuesday and then that evening I had tickets to see "Mystere", a Cirque du Soleil show at Treasure Island. It was really cool! I love Cirque shows and if you have never seen one I would highly recommend you do so! There is so much going on every second of the show you get serious visual overload! I love it.

the end

Tomorrow I am going on a hike with a hiking group that I met in the area. Should be interesting...

Making tracks at Capitol Reef National park

This weekend I had a decision to make...
There was a meteor shower that I really wanted to see. So, I thought I could go to the Mojave national preserve where I knew the skies would be wide open. But, I also got off work early on Friday so that means I would have extra time to drive to one of the parks that's further away (Capitol Reef National park).
Well, I assume by the title you can tell which one I chose, and I'm glad I did. The meteor shower was a bust due to the extremely bright full moon one night and thunder storms the next night.

 
I arrived at the park after dark on Friday and I was able to completely set up camp by the light of the moon. (I am sure the people around me were happy that I did not have to leave my car headlights on to set up.)

Saturday morning I took the "scenic road" to the first trail I wanted to hike. In the info it said that you could see the first "Pioneer Register" where some pioneers carved their names into the rocks, and the "Tanks." I had no idea what the "tanks" were, but I was willing to find out. On this hike I walked the rocky path following the same valley that many pioneers traveled... and, apparently, many vandals. I could not tell which name on the rock was the original pioneer name because so many people had scraped their own names into the rocks. There were signs posted everywhere saying that there was a fine for writing on the rocks, but, honestly, who's going to see them out there. I really don't think the park is going to run electricity into the valley in order to post security cameras, which means, we are dependent on individuals moral fortitude to keep the area clean... ha..we're in trouble.
Once I finished the climb to the "tanks" I was a little disappointed. They were just some mildew-y puddles of water. I guess, because water is so scarce out there, the little they do have is something special enough to hike to.

 Capitol Reef park is not as beautiful as Zion and Bryce in my opinion. However, just outside the park is a National Monument called the Grand Staircase. This area was really beautiful! It is a geological masterpiece.
I took a drive on a loop that went down the east side of the park, across part of the Grand Staircase as it turned west and then back up the other side through Dixie National Forest. The first half of the ride was on a dirt road in a valley. The road, although it is maintained by the park service, was a little scary to drive on. Especially since I did not see another person on it for about 20 miles. (And when you can only go about 15 mph that's a long time.) There were parts that got a little muddy and I was getting more and more nervous the further from civilization I traveled.

But finally, after what felt like forever, I got to the switchbacks that took me out of the valley and onto the paved road once again.

 

 

There was a look out up there where you could see out across the entire Grand Staircase. That sight alone was totally worth it.

The rest of my stay at the park was pretty uneventful, but on my way back to Vegas I stopped at a place where only 11 years ago a regular guy was excavating his land for development and stumbled upon a huge collection of dinosaur tracks. Now there is a museum and small research center where the tracks are displayed.

 

 I have many more pics on facebook. Check them out!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.781852414665.2242242.33407719&l=2283081409&type=1

Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks

For the past two weekends I had an amazing time exploring Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. Last weekend, I stayed in a little cabin just outside of Zion. They have a shuttle system that takes you into the park and it will take you around inside the park as well since cars are not allowed in certain areas. I love this idea because it makes for less congestion and pollution around the parks.
I went on a few hikes. Nothing too serious, but I did still manage to slip and scrape up my leg real nicely. It was so incredibly hot! I was in the park for about 5 hours and I drank one bottle of water per hour. (And I never went to the bathroom the whole time.)  Shows how much water you lose when you are out there. The dry heat is definitely different from the humid heat. I felt like my lips and my nose were going to crack right off. It rained a little on Friday, but you couldn't even tell 1 hour after the rain stopped. Everything was dry again. The rainbow picture is from the cabin where I stayed, but before the rain came, when it was still sunny I was hiking in "The Narrows". You can probably tell what this is by the name. It is a very thin part of the canyon with mountain walls on either side and the river running in between. So I got half way out there when it was nice and sunny passing warning signs for flash floods the whole time... and then I start hearing thunder. Needless to say, I hightailed it out of there. This isn't the rainy season, but you never know...

These peaks are named Abraham, Issac, Jacob (the white one peeking out), and Mount Moroni (one of the figures in the Book of Mormon).

 

  
Zion was one of the places that Brigham Young and his followers saw when they were moving west. They named all the landmarks after religious figures. I think that is pretty cool. Holly and I were discussing on our trip how, in a supposedly Christian nation, so many landmarks are named after the Devil… Devils Churn, Devils Tower, Devils pool, Hells Canyon. I have to hand it to the Brigham on this one. At least he gave credit where it’s due. One of the hikes that I hope to do someday is up to “Angels Landing.” They named it that because the first time it was seen someone said that it was so inaccessible that only an angel could get up there. Well, of course, years later someone had to take that challenge and now there is a trail going to the top. I don’t want to hike this by myself, but I can’t wait to get up there.

This weekend I actually was lucky enough to get a camping site at Zion. Every time I go to any of the parks all the campgrounds are full. When I looked for reservations a few weeks ago it was the last site left, and now I know why… the campground was beautiful! I got a site right next to the river. It was perfect. One thing I learned is that it gets really windy in the valley at night. I could barely sleep when my tent kept shaking like crazy. 
Saturday, I drove over to Bryce Canyon National Park, spent the day seeing all the sites and hiking a few trails there. The main feature of Bryce is the Hoodoos which are these weird rock formations formed by erosion patterns on different types of rocks. The whole canyon is filled with these hoodoos. When you stand on top of Inspiration Point and can see into the whole canyon it is pretty amazing!
I did a hike down into the canyon to get a closer look at the hoodoos. That was not easy… well the going back up half anyway. I thought for sure my heart was gonna beat right out of my chest, but I made it and it was totally worth it.

Thors Hammer

Going down into the Canyon. Look at those poor people coming up.

Tight squeeze...

Time to pay the piper. This is my way out.

Only half way there...

Finally. I cant breathe. :)

 Inspiration Point. Super sweet!