Southern National Parks in the spring

[JCasper]

We to are planning a trip from central NC to that area for first three weeks in June. We are starting out around Estes Park, Co. working our way to Penrose then straight across the state to Moab then down to Gallup then back east on I-40. We are counting the days.



Next weekend we will be camping at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the All-Star races.

You should have a good trip, however it will be HOT. After this trip I think if I did it again it would be earlier in the year next time.



I am from the NW and don't really like it HOT like it is. It's mid 80's in Page today and that's enough.

 

[georgej]

Hey Joe

We are in Albuquerque this morning and after visiting friends in Pismo Beach, staying in the mojave desert and seeing the grand canyon, on our way to Carlsbad today. Then to Texas to see family and eventually to the grandkids in Virginia. Maybe we'll see you in the southwest somewhere. I have a silver 01 3500 towing an Alpenlite 5er. Happy Travels,

George

 

[JCasper]

Hey Joe

We are in Albuquerque this morning and after visiting friends in Pismo Beach, staying in the mojave desert and seeing the grand canyon, on our way to Carlsbad today. Then to Texas to see family and eventually to the grandkids in Virginia. Maybe we'll see you in the southwest somewhere. I have a silver 01 3500 towing an Alpenlite 5er. Happy Travels,

George

I am in Vegas now. We are here until Friday morning then headed back north.



We woke up yesterday to 6" of snow at the Grand Canyon South Rim and our furnace in the trailer took a dump. The kids were freezing and the canyon was socked in with fog. We went to Breakfast and the Visitor center then headed out. We were going to stay one more day there, but it was too cold and my wife wanted to vacation in the heat, it should be 96 in Vegas today they said.

 

[JCasper]

Yesterday morning at 5:00a. m. at the GC

 

[Grey Wolf]

Well you can't say you didn't see all kinds of weather! Vegas will definitely warm you back up again:-laf

 

[JCasper]

Well you can't say you didn't see all kinds of weather! Vegas will definitely warm you back up again:-laf

Yes it is, it's very nice in Vegas right now.

 

[JCasper]

Almost home



I will summarize the trip when I get time.



All I have to say now is it's damn hot out.

 

[JCasper]

3,820 miles and the truck was running for 93 hours.



Damn we saw a lot of places.



Too bad I had to come to work today.

 

[JCasper]

Well, sorry I have not updated this. We have been busy putting things away, cleaning things up and I have an axle U-joint out on my truck so I have working on that.



We left home with all of us sick on Friday afternoon the 2nd of May. We made it to Pendleton OR and stayed the night.



The next day we made Brigham City, UT, about 550 miles.

Sunday we got to Moab UT

Monday we went to Arches and Canyonlands Island in the sky area.

Tuesday we went to Needles in the southern end of Canyonlands.



Wednesday we headed to Bryce over Hwy 24 and 12. That was an awesome drive. We went into Bryce that night and the next morning before going to Zion.



We spent two nights at Zion and did a bunch of hiking.



We then headed to Page Arizona to see the Antelope canyon, this made my wife very happy.



Then off to the Grand Canyon. It was crazy windy all the way there from Page, not a fun drive. We woke up the next morning to 6" of snow and a furnace that wouldn't fire. We ended up shortening are stay there due to Weather and headed to Vegas early.



We spent 3 nights in Vegas and then took 3 days to get back home.

We detoured through Death Valley just to say we had been there, it was 108*.



We stayed in Hawthorne, NV that night and Weed, CA the next. We got home Sunday at 5:00.



It was an awesome trip and I can't wait for the next.



I will start a new thread with pics when I get some more time, maybe over the weekend.

 

[BarryG]

JC:

Glad to hear the trip went well, fairly well anyway no furnace in the snow = no bueno. I also have been thwarted by weather at the Grand Canyon before. Hwy 12 is one of my favorite roads glad to hear you liked it. You could spend a month or two just sight seeing and hiking off that one highway. I have done at least that long over years there and still have not seem all there is to see, have barely scratched the surface. Antelope canyon is great, did you visit the upper or lower one? There are hundreds if not thousands of slot canyons like that around. Most are somewhat remote and you rarely see anyone else there. Antelope is one of the most photogenic. Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce and Zion are, well really just to cool for description at least if you like that kind of landscape and geology. The Moab area, you may have heard this from a ranger out there but the La Sal Mountains are what are called laccoliths. They are really just a pocket of Magma that cooled that was below the earths surface. They did not rise/get pushed up above the ground. Everything else eroded a way. They are over 13k elevation, the river is at 4200'ish so about 9k feet worth of dirt and rock has eroded away exposing them( not to mention how much they were below the surface to begin with. The Henry mountians to the sw and the Abajo/Blue mountains to the south are the same way. Uh oh better stop before I get carried away. Again glad you had a good trip.