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Published: July 12th 2009
Day 120 - Las Vegas
We were not meeting the tour until early evening so we used the last day in our hotel to gym, swim and wash! We also had sneaky burger from a burger joint we had been eying up on the strip for lunch which was yummy but the bread (as always) was a bit funky.
We went to meet the group at 7 ish and we headed straight to dinner. On initial impressions the group all seemed really nice, with a good mix of Nationalities including Italians, Korean and Australians. The tour guide is friendly but also looks like a typical hardcore camper with full face of hair etc and he seemed a bit useless at organising things (my pet hate!). We had a nice dinner at an American style Italian restaurant - it was pretty weird as we all sat around a table with a model pope in the middle!
After dinner we had a limo organised to meet us to take us on an hour and a half trip to see the Las Vegas sign, downtown Vegas and the strip, finishing at Bellagio. It was really fun and it was a really good way
to meet everyone. Once we reached Bellagio we stopped to have a wander around the incredible hotel and also to watch the Fountain show. We then went to check out some casinos especially as Chris, the only other English guy, wanted to put $100 on black on a roulette table. We went to Paris and luckily Chris won as I had pointed out a table that had had a huge run of reds so I was really scared that he would not win after he decided to play on that table. After a very funny incident involving Mike, the German guy, who won $1.50 on a 25 cent slot machine and proceeded straight to the cashier where he pronounced that he had won 150%!t(MISSING)o everyone so that everyone in the casino could hear and the women thought he was mad!
After Paris we went to a seedy little casino called Flamingos where we watched a bit of Black Jack and had our last frozen Margaritas before calling it a night as it was 3am.
Day 121 - Las Vegas, NV - Zion NP, UT
We checked out of our hotel and said a sad goodbye to Vegas
before heading straight to Wal-mart to do our first huge food shop for the next few days. From here we had a long drive to Zion National Park, not arriving until 6pm. It was a pretty drive through the desert and canyon land. We went straight out into the park to do a short hike to The Emerald Pools. It was a really nice walk and it really wet our appetite for the following day.
Once we had seen all three pools we went back to camp to set up our tents and make dinner. It was another late night as we did not have dinner until 9.30ish, we were exhausted which not really help my spirit!
Day 122 - Zion NP, UT - Lake Powell, AZ
We were woken up at 5.00am to start a hike called Angel's Landing before it became really busy but we missed that first shuttle bus to the trail head. This meant we had to wait 45 minutes for the next one - I was not happy! Once we eventually made it onto the trail we forgot all about the early start because it was an amazing hike up to a point
Zion NP
On top of Angel's Landingwith incredible 360 degree views of the Zion valley. The last half of a mile was really hairy, with 3 foot wide stretches and drops of 1000 feet in both directions. We were on all fours at some points! The view at the end was worth it (as always) although some people did not fancy this last stretch of the walk and I can see why.
In the afternoon we went on to walk the narrows which is basically wading in a river which flows between two huge cliffs. We did not go far as the water was freezing and we could see people up to their waste in the distance. Once we had seen enough of the narrows we set off back to camp to pack up before setting off for our next camp which was a ranch in the middle of nowhere but near to Lake Powell.
Day 123 - Lake Powell, AZ - Grand Canyon NP, AZ
We packed up and headed out to Lake Powell which is a man-made lake. The good old Americans decided to flood an entire canyon and now it is a national recreation area. Once we got there a few
people rented a boat to go wakeboarding and the rest of us went to a spot which is safe for swimming. The water was quite cold but really refreshing but Sarah still chickened out.
After leaving the lake we headed off to the Grand Canyon which was a solid 4 hours drive. When we got there we headed out to the Desert Viewpoint. Our trek leader, Tim, got us to line up with our eyes closed and led us down to the viewpoint in convoy. This meant we got a great first view of the canyon which really was awe-inspiring. It was quite a cloudy day and it was freezing out at the viewpoint so after we were all suitably cold we headed to camp.
The evening will always be memorable thanks to the dinner of cold rice, raw frankfurters, cold ham and salad which was lovingly “prepared” by our Italian friends. Our tour leader later revealed that it was the worst meal he had eaten in 4 years of the job!
Day 124 - Grand Canyon NP, AZ
We got up at 6.30am to get ready for our hike in the Grand Canyon. We choose to hike
Grand Canyon NP
Looking down into the inner gorge from Plateau Point the 12 mile round trip to Plateau Point along with 4 others in our group. The view at the Plateau point was incredible, you could see the river and the canyon was all around us. However, the next 6 miles back up was very hard work and I was practically running at some points to keep up with Rob and Rasmus (one of the Danish guys). The main downside to this trail was that the mule trips down to the canyon took this trail so we had to keep our eyes glued to the floor for mule mess! It was also pretty hot and the trail was very dusty which made it hard to breath. As always though all the positives well and truly outweighed the negatives and it was an amazing hike.
After 6 hours of hiking we arrived at the top at about 2pm and headed straight to the general store for some cold beers! It was my turn to cook that evening so it was tasty chilli for tea.
Day 125 - Grand Canyon, AZ - Monument Valley, AZ
We got a lie in which meant wake up was at 8am, this was because a
few people were going off for a helicopter tour of the canyon. Once they came back we packed up and said goodbye to the Grand Canyon. It was quite a long drive through the desert and a few of us were lucky enough to see a massive rattlesnake cruising over the road in front of us.
Once we got to Monument Valley we used the bathrooms in the hotel and then headed out into the reserve. The reserve itself is owned by the Navajo Indians which are the largest group of Native Americans left. We were driven round by a guide called Richard who had grown up in the area and was really engaging and entertaining. We saw loads of impressive spots in the reserve and did a bit of sand dune running before it was dinner time. We had a traditional dinner of steak (cooked over a fire), fry bread, spicy beans and salad which was all very tasty.
We watched the sun go down and then we congregated around the campfire for some traditional dancing, music and then some stories. It was pretty fun and we all had a go at the dancing too. It was nice to
see how they used to spend their evenings hundreds of years ago. Once we were all suitably tired or the thought of the 5.30am wake up seemed too intimidating, we retired to our Hogan (think of an igloo made of sand) which was their traditional dwelling. Sleeping in the Hogan made an interesting change!
Day 126 - Monument Valley, AZ - Ouray, CO
We were woken up at 5.30am although everyone sleeping in the Hogan was already awake as they had been woken up by an alarm that went off 3 times from 5am (no one owned up to it being theirs!). We were taken straight to a really great spot to watch the sunrise. The colours were amazing and the monuments gave it a great back-drop. After taking hundreds of photos we went to have some breakfast before hopping back in the “jeep” to see a few more monuments on the way back to the visitors centre.
We then had a very long drive to our campsite in Ouray, a town in The Rocky Mountains. We made one detour stop on the way to check out a ghost town. It was pretty for a derelict town but
mainly because the scenery was beautiful.
We arrived at the campsite late so we had a fairly rushed evening which was a shame as it was a nice campsite. A shower and laundry was very appealing after Monument Valley!
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