Angels' Landing and the Devil's Garden

We are now in Escalante, Utah on the edge of the Grand Staircase National Monument, another huge wilderness of high deserts, crystal clear skies and few people.  Following our last entry we spent a few days in Zion National Park which, despite the crowds and sleet, lived up to its reputation for being one of the best National Parks.  Long walks along precipitous cliffs gave us excellent views over the valley, and three of us climbed the renowned ridgeline to Angels' Landing. Francesca, ever willing made the trip, but we decided the 3ft wide trail with sheer drops to the valley floor on each side was just too much for little Liberty!

A short drive up the road took us to Bryce Canyon where we walked among the weird and wonderful hoodoos.

The forecast of 2 beautiful days, before more snow, saw us quickly replenishing supplies and heading deeper into the arid canyonlands on the rough Hole-in-the-Rock road. We stopped after 15 miles at the Devil's Garden, to rest our rattling bones and clamber around the strange toadstool rocks.

Fifteen more bone-jarring miles took us to our camping spot near our destination, the Dry Forks Slots. Utah is a fabulous place for wild camping on the enormous tracts of public lands.

The weather was so perfect that we spent the early evening exploring the 'Peekaboo' slot canyon - a narrow, twisting, sandstone tunnel with plenty of scrambling over pour-offs, including a 12ft climb just to get in. Both girls were understandably thrilled at this natural playground and we nearly had tears when we reached the far end!

There were two other canyons to explore in the immediate area and the next morning we packed lunch and set off down the dry wash to look for 'Spooky' - which was incredibly narrow and rather dark...

'The Narrows', though beautiful, was somewhat less exciting and we succumbed to the girls pleas for a return to 'Peekaboo' before finding another remote camping spot.

Returning to town, we spent yesterday at the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park, where you can sit on stone logs that grew in the time of the dinosaurs. Later today we plan to head towards Boulder, another one-horse town,  for more desert adventures.

Geology Rocks!

The Grand Escalante and Vermillion Cliffs National Monuments are well known for their slot canyons and other rock formations. One, The Wave, is so popular that a lottery is drawn to distribute the 10 available daily passes to visit. On Monday morning we showed up at the Ranger Station, along with 60 other people and  were disappointed, but not surprised, that our number wasn't drawn. Instead we walked out to Buckskin Gulch, a perfect slot canyon.

We decided to give the lottery one more go, and spent a second night camping in the wild, under our own cottonwood tree on the banks of the Pariah River.

Wow, That's Amazing.....I'm Hungry!

We left the Pheonix with a sigh of relief and found a little desert campsite to spend the night before Francesca's 7th birthday. The flowers there, and elsewhere in Arizona, are in full bloom now.

After early morning present opening ceremonies, we drove to Sedona and found a campsite in Oak Creek Canyon, where there were still pockets of snow.  The highlight of the day was a specially imported Mexican pinata, which was duly bashed to pieces until the sweets fell out, and then ceremoniously burned on the campfire.

After a resupply stop in Flagstaff, we made our way up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, where we have spent the last few days.  The weather has been marvellous and we have spent a lot of time gawping at the views.  Francesca was particularly taken by one Park Ranger's explanation of a typical visitor's reaction "Wow, that's amazing....I'm hungry" - which has now become a household catchphrase! 

We would have loved to take the girls down to the bottom, but the lodge on the river was full, and it was a little too far for one day. Instead, we settled for a shorter walk down the Kaibab Trail to Cedar Ridge. As we turned for home and wondered how to persuade the girls to climb back up, we met a mule train also heading for the rim.  Both girls took up the challenge to 'beat it to the top' but Liberty's little legs eventually gave up, whilst Francesca, never one to be beaten, gave Ellen a good run for her money to emerge at the top just before the pack train.

Since the girls wouldn't manage a trip down the Bright Angel Trail, and the bottom of the canyon is such an obvious destination, Tony, who was champing at the bit, hiked down and back alone the next day.

Adios, Mexico

The 400 mile drive from Zacatecas through Durango and then across the "Devil's Backbone" to Mazatlan made for a long day, but the views were spectacular. On Easter morning we woke once again to the sound of the ocean and to the girls cries of delight when they found that the Easter bunny had not forgotten them. In Mexico, apparently, he doesn't leave chocolate (too hot) but lollipops instead!!

As we headed North for the border, we made a last-minute decision to visit the Copper Canyon and detoured up to El Fuerte, a pleasant little town which also has a station on the famed Copper Canyon Railway. On Monday we took the train up to Creel in Chihuahua, a six hour journey through stunning mountain scenery, and an engineering marvel – the route turns a complete circle inside a canyon and we travelled up the side of one valley three times as it climbed ever higher. We spent the night in a hostel in Creel – much to Francesca’s delight as she HAD to sleep on the top bunk.

On Tuesday we jumped on a local bus for some of the journey back, which enabled us to spend some time in Divisadero enjoying the views and the Raramuri market food stalls.

One final night by the sea near Guaymas allowed us to spend our last pesos on coconut prawns and Mexican beer, before pushing on to Nogales for our nightmare, four and a half hour, border crossing, where we encountered the most objectionable US public official yet – he even shouted at us in Spanish! Now that we have been allowed in - just - we are sorting ourselves out in Phoenix (ie fixing the van) before a grand tour of the West. Phoenix is a great urban sprawl filled with retirees, but luckily we managed to spend the weekend at the lovely Picacho State Park, where we got the girls’ training started by marching them 4 miles up the Peak. It was a somewhat challenging climb requiring steel ropeways in places, but nonetheless half of Arizona seemed to be at the top - the view even included a ‘Dairy Queen’ – the childrens’ real objective for the day!