Author: snukes

Laura’s Journal: Day Off (and a bit of Grand Staircase-Escalante NM)

May 19, 2021

Welcome to southern Utah, a place where you cannot throw a rock without hitting a National Park (or a hiker – don’t actually throw any rocks). We’re staying in a lovely little town called Kanab, centrally located between a solid dozen parks and sites. It’s also the location of the lottery to win a permit for hiking to “the Wave” – a famous and stunning formation in Vermillion Cliffs NM. This town was originally intended [for us] as an overnight stop only, on the way to Capitol Reef NP, but having failed to do much research, I’d had no idea how gorgeous this place was, or what great access Kanab gave to all of it. We decided to spend a couple days and see if our lottery luck would hold. … More Laura’s Journal: Day Off (and a bit of Grand Staircase-Escalante NM)

Laura’s Journal: Being a normal, nerdy Grand Canyon tourist

May 12, 2021

Poor geology museum! My plan for today was to show up on their doorstep at opening time and camp there literally all morning, reading every single display, touching every sample rock, and bothering the staff with questions until I understand how this vast and gorgeous rockscape works. … More Laura’s Journal: Being a normal, nerdy Grand Canyon tourist

Laura’s Journal: Hiking out of the Grand Canyon

May 10, 2021

It turns out going to bed at 9pm does not come naturally to me, even when I was up a 6am and have hiked 17 miles in the last two days. I’m sure I was just starting to drift off For Real when the alarm went off at 4am, but I got up anyway. We had a disgusting breakfast of freeze-dried biscuits and gravy (my least favorite of the pouch meals, but you don’t start this hike on an empty stomach, and even if I wanted to pay for another $30 breakfast, early service doesn’t start until 5am. That’s what I get for thinking 6:30 as “late” service is funny). … More Laura’s Journal: Hiking out of the Grand Canyon

Laura’s Journal: Grand Canyon – Going Down

May 6, 2021

The great thing about playing it loose with your travel plans is that you have all the flexibility in the world to adjust your schedule to spend more or less time at places that interest you more or less than you expected. The downside is when you find out that doing the really cool things in those places required you to make a reservation. Six months ago. … More Laura’s Journal: Grand Canyon – Going Down

Lost in Utah

May 5, 2021

Lost may be a strong word. Running amok, maybe. There have been no updates lately because we have been on the run. (On the hike?) There are so many National Park sites in this part of the country that you can’t throw a rock without hitting one (or without hitting a hiker, so definitely don’t … More Lost in Utah

Laura’s Journal: Walnut Canyon National Monument

April 30, 2021

There are cliff dwellings, and then there are entire canyons full of cliff dwellings. Walnut Canyon is stunningly beautiful as a natural phenomenon. It’s very easy to see why people would want to live here, but less easy to imagine fighting the challenges of the cliffs in order to construct a home. Before descending the very gracious stairs to do the walking tour, even tourists are warned: … More Laura’s Journal: Walnut Canyon National Monument

Laura’s Journal: Tuzigoot National Monument

April 28, 2021

Wednesday, April 28, 2021TUZIGOOT NATIONAL MONUMENT Tuzigoot (an anglicization of the Apache word for “crooked water” given to this Sinaguan site by a member of the excavation crew in the early 1900s) is a hilltop pueblo that bears many similarities to the pueblo at Wupatki. Whereas Wupatki was mainly a non-residential trading hub, Tuzigoot was … More Laura’s Journal: Tuzigoot National Monument

Laura’s Journal: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

April 26, 2021

Yes, there are organ pipe cacti and they are very cool, and there are lots of saguaro and you know how I feel about those, but this park also has amazing geology, with volcanic mountains jutting up all over and about with crazy enthusiasm and color. You are all lucky I promised not to overload the blog with pictures of rocks, because that is my very strong impulse right now. I’ll try to keep them mostly contained to Instagram. The drive to get down here was quite long, so that are a bit into our exploring time, but we still got to spend more time here than in any of the other parks so far, and we made good use of it. … More Laura’s Journal: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument