Au Revoir... et à Bientôt

Spent the last week or so trying to climb in Red Rocks with Camille, Sara, Koti and Kristie. I say "trying" because the weather has been less than agreeable. Either way, we had a few very lovely and sunny days on the rock.

Camille even captured my favorite activity: taking nice big falls!

She also got a shot of me attempting to climb back down the route.

Here's Sara on a classic: Fear and Loathing III, 5.12a.

We spent a day at a wall called Sunny and Steep, which was bolted by a group from Massachusetts in the 90s. The name was quite accurate. Here's Camille quickly learning how steep the wall was. 

Then came a snow storm... Koti flew back to MA just in time.

Rather than sitting in the wind and cold and waiting a couple days for the rock to dry, Camille and I drove to Death Valley for some hiking and better temps.

We explored the salt flats a bit. Badwater Basin sits at 282 feet below sea level making it the lowest point in North America.

Rather than our usual camping spots on BLM land we found some free camping in the park. We quickly built a beautiful fire pit as the sun was setting over the basin.

The wind made a big and bright fire. That fire ended up costing us $180 the next day as we received a citation from a National Park officer. They don't mess around when they say no fires allowed. Thankfully he cut me a break from the usual $530 citation.

The sand dunes were pretty cool.

We also checked out an open air museum located in Rhyolite, a ghost town on the CA/NV border.

For Camille's last night we booked a hotel room on the strip... in a castle!

The view of the strip from our 26th floor room was pretty jaw-dropping. A change of pace from our usual camping spots in desolate areas.

We explored the strip, walking through New York, New York, then Paris, then a Chinese New Year themed Italian Palace and finally watched the fountain show at the Bellagio. After many tiring miles we had to pass on the pyramid and instead tried our hands at gambling back in our castle. $5 poorer and we were satisfied with out Vegas Strip experience.

Unfortunately I had to drop Camille off at the airport today. Reflecting on the last 2 months feels so long and also way too short. The Saturn feels too quiet and empty. 

Already starting to figure out when we'll see each other again. She'll be working for the next 8 months in France so hopefully I can make a trip there sooner rather than later. But in the meantime I might also look for a job... who knows, it could be fun...

Keep On A Rockin'

Sorry, here's another overdue and tiringly long post. I'll keep the writing brief and hopefully let the photos speak for themselves.

After Arches we made a quick stop outside Moab to see some dinosaur tracks and bones. We also chased down some pronghorns.

We then headed to Capitol Reef National Park. The drive along the byways was spectacular. 

Capitol Reef was absolutely stunning. Fascinating geology abound. 

Our campsite on BLM land near a river was one of our favorites of the trip.

We spent a day exploring Cottonwood Wash Canyon. A gorgeous canyon that we had to ourselves the entire day.

The next day we hiked the Chimney Rock loop. The views were quite grand.

We then drove down another byway towards Bryce Canyon National Park. More epic views were spotted.

We stopped to look at one of the world's largest pinyon pines. T'was large.

More nice views along the road.

We made it to Bryce Canyon just in time for a blizzard. 25 mph winds and plenty of snow kept us in the car for a few hours. We killed time by using the visitor center's wifi.

At 8,000 ft elevation, we had a cold night camping in the Saturn. Not even worth trying to have a fire...

The next day was much friendlier and the light in the canyon was unreal. We spent the day hiking around inside the canyon, linking up several different trails. It was difficult trying to avoid taking pictures every 5 feet.

Next stop was Zion. Some more inclement weather made hiking less than desirable and taking photos less than easy. Apparently it was the first rain/snow they've gotten all season so it was desperately needed.

While editing photos in a cafe during the rainstorm, we struck up a conversation with another couple. After talking about how we needed to find some showers in town, they graciously offered for us to use the shower in their hotel. The shower was wonderful and it was fun hanging out talking about traveling and whatnot. 

That night we camped on some BLM land outside the park and woke up to some amazingly beautiful light and views.

The snow dusted peaks of Zion were quite nice to look at while hiking around.

A park volunteer entertained us with a lecture on condors, North America's largest bird. 

We left Zion that evening to make our way towards Las Vegas. While shopping at a Walmart in Mesquite, NV we ran into our friend Dave whom we met and climbed with in Mexico. The odds of running into him are incalculable but it was a really pleasant surprise. We ended up following him to Lime Kiln Canyon to climb on some limestone. Since it had rained in the area, climbing at Red Rocks on sandstone wasn't an option. 

My friends Sara and Koti made the drive from Red Rocks to Lime Kiln to climb with us. It was cloudy and cold but the climbing was really fun.

By Friday, the sandstone at Red Rocks was dry again so we've been camping and climbing there since and having a jolly good time.

We'll be camping out at Red Rocks climbing some more and hopefully exploring some hot springs as well. More to come!