Camp

Yesterday, I camped at Zion National Park. Hiked around the camping area in the day time, cooked dinner around six, then tried to go to sleep as the moon rose. Not much to do when it's dark. I cooked soup and ate some strawberries. I didn't have any cooking gear so used the soup can as a pan and just stuck it on the fire. It worked out okay. It was very hot during the day, but the night was freezing. I thought it would be cold but I heard that pair of shorts and a jacket would be fine…No way! I kept waking up from the shivering cold and strong wind. So I moved into the car. Very quiet and warmer. Next time I'll wear more.
Very refreshing waking up in the nature. There were many campers around but the nature made their spaces as an individual world. So, although I could hear noises of car engines or cracking noises of a fire wood, I was in my own space. Just me, myself and I. Awesome! I could do without those woolly worms though. So many of them…

Arrived at Salt Lake hostel around four. I don't know I like it here or not. Smells a bit weird and people are bit strange. I'll leave tomorrow and head for a hostel near the Grand Teton national park(if I can make a reservation), which is located just below Yellow Stone national park. I hope I can see the famous Salt Lake as I drive by, but there is a storm coming so maybe not.

day by day, it seems my appearance is getting closer to mexican. another guy at the hostel said I look like one. very interesting. tans and unshaven beards could make one a different person.

Zion National Park

I finally checked out from the hostel I was staying for six nights. It was a very good hostel. Also it was the cheapest one so far.
Today's plan was to drive to Zion National Park and camp a night there. With my new tent which I bought at Phoenix yesterday.
There were so many amazing sites again. Drive to the park was about five hours. Going thorough those wonderful nature made it very easy ride. BUT, as I reached Zion, I found out that the camping ground was all booked. Forgot that today was Saturday! So I'm staying at a motel near the park. I hope I'll be able to spend a night there tomorrow. If not, walk around the park and maybe stay here another night and head north to Salt Lake City. See how it goes. I really want to go to Yellow Stone while I have enough time in America.
Shame that I can't camp tonight, but just driving through the park was awesome! There is a tunnel goes through a great big wall of rock. Seems like I'm going to have another "great nature day" tomorrow.

picture was taken somewhere between zion and north rim of grand canyon.

Monster

Yesterday
No, I did not wake up early. Apparently, there was a monster in our room. Snoring kind to be precise. No dreamworld for me. Constantly waking up because of the monster's attack. I think he inhales both from his nose and mouth at the same time. That makes it extra loud. Never heard such sound from a sleeping man. Wow! It was annoying, but I was impressed after a while. Anyway, that's the reason why I didn't wake up early enough. Also that made me to go to Sedona instead of Grand Canyon. Thanks to the monster, Sedona was great. I didn't have much information about the place, so after checking out where is good place to go at visitor centre, I decided to go to one of the famous spot "bell rock". It was very good. I sat on the shady bit of the bell rock and had lunch there. Watching the scenery from a high place and being on a cool rock was very relaxing. Without the shade, it was blazing hot.

Today
Yes, I got up fairly early. I got a couple of ear plugs from the front desk to defend myself. It wasn't perfect, but it worked okay. Got up around five, made lunch, drove to Grand canyon and started the hike about eight o'clock. It was still misty and the air was cool and wet. My aim was to go down to a place called Plateau point. (in the picture, trail is the line in the center and where the trail end is plateau point. about 20km round trip) Going down there wasn't too bad. Seeing the unimaginable sites didn't make the hike so hard. View from plateau point was awesome! Definitely well worth the exhausting hike. Going up was the hardest part, of course. But around one forty, I was at the place where I started the hike.
Gazing up those walls of rock was absolutely breath taking! I think it was a very good way to wrap up my trip to grand canyon. Don't know what to do next. Maybe stay another night if I couldn't be bothered to do something tomorrow.

bit difficult to see the details, but those boots are covered in red sand. done a fine job. well done guys!!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Another day at the Grand Canyon. I was going to wake up early and have a long day but somehow I slept till nine. So I couldn't do an all day hike. But I found a trail which goes down to the Colorado river. Might go down there tomorrow but if I don't wake up early enough, the direction will be changed to Sedona, famous for it's red rock.
It was a hot day again. Tomorrow will be the day to pull out my shorts from the backpack. Although, once the sun sets it's cool. They have a very changeable weather in desert.
Saw those ravens pecking on last night's left over again. Still lot to have. Maybe the carcass will last for a week or so.
Those squirrels in the photo looked like some kind of a bird or something. Maybe they were just showing off because there were so many tourist watching them.
New roommates today. Two Swedish and an Australian guys. Very friendly people. They have been driving all over the place. Starting from Miami and driven through Yellow stone and Grand canyon. After looking around here, they are heading for Las Vegas. Actually, I think many people goes to Las Vegas after here.

Hopefully, I'll have an early start tomorrow.

Damn

Hot day again. Weather here is like super hot winter. Insanely hot sun, but wind is cool. And the air is dry, like winter in Japan.
I arrived at Grand Canyon around eleven. The view from car park was so ordinary that I couldn't imagine there lies the famous Grand Canyon in walking distance. But yes it did. Five minutes later, I was standing on the edge of the rim. Yikes!! Too high! One lady said to me "you made me nervous." Not only you, I myself was quite disturbed being so close to the edge.
The feeling when I faced the canyon was very similar to what I felt in front of the great pacific ocean. Ocean of rock. That's what it was like. So vast. In Grand Canyon you can "see" time from it's layer. Strange…
These are conversation between two old American guys.
"damn…"
"that's somethin' eh?"
Yes sir! Not much you can say about this place. Just stand there and say "damn…" That's the least you can do.
I didn't walk around much today. Maybe like three hours or so. Tomorrow I'll be walking the rim trail all day.
Saw a group of ravens feeding on a deer carcass by the highway. Not a view which you get everyday. It was my image of desert, black birds eating a dead animal in the open. Also known as Death.

I think it's gonna be a hot one again tomorrow.

Longest Drive

I left San Diego around eleven. Thanks again guys, I had great time!
To get to Grand Canyon, I had to drive like nine hours. Super super long. In between, I drove by Joshua tree national park. And very wide area of desert. Hell, in another word. The sun was shining on me nearer than ever, and very windy. Never been in a desert before. It's very hot!
After all, I arrived at hostel around eight thirty. Long! Oh me ass…

Extremely tired. I hope I'm going to have a couple of great days. Short post again, but it was a long day for me.
picture was taken at Joshua tree. It was a very brief stop though.

San Diego

I had a great time here. You might notice since I haven't been posting for last few days. Having fun too much, didn't have time to post.
I have my cousins here. I didn't use to have any cousin before, but now I do. That's so great! And since they are a married couple, I have two excellent cousins now. I'm so glad that we met. Thank you for being so nice.
They have shown me a lot of the city. I went to the San Diego university, huge zoo, ate great foods and had beer, went to see a movie, saw the big ocean again, had an american barbecue, rode a bus, comfortable taxi…ah so many good memories. I'm so happy. And the weather here is also great. It feels like it almost never rains. Fine day after a fine day. San Diego, place with a fine weather and many gay guys.

Sadly, I'm leaving here tomorrow morning. It was a very comfortable stay here. But, tomorrow I'll get to see the Grand Canyon! It's going to be a long drive, but to see the place, not a problem.

I heard an interesting comment today in a movie called Exit Though the Gift Shop. I don't remember the exact words, but he said "life is like chess, and I don't know chess". I thought it was interesting. Although he didn't seem to be very serious. Movie had good laughing parts.
It's a short one, but I had a long day again. pictures were both taken in the zoo.