When we arrived at the Floating Markets, the driver informed us that we had the option of leaving early for a few other activites, one of which was a "cobra show". Say no more. Sign me up, sounded awesome. So after about an hour of roaming around the markets, I returned to the meetup point and boarded a van with a few other people. We drove for about 10 minutes through some sketch looking areas until we arrived, greeted by this ominous looking statue out front:
I paid my $5 cover and was on my way in. I entered the building, noticing that I was literally the only one in there. Weird. Where was everyone? And when the heck did this thing start? I was in a courtyard area with lots of different cages and housing with, yep you guessed it, all kinds of snakes. But in addition to that there were some other random reptiles and amphibians. And maybe I am just used to the standard of animal cages in the US, but the conditions here seemed pretty deplorable. Especially for the larger animals like the aligators, monitor lizards, and a massive crocodile. They were stuffed in tiny little concrete and chain-link pens, with virtually no attempt to furnish them in a way that would resemble the animals natural habitat. It seemed more like a prison than a zoo.
Sad.
A few people had begun trickling in, and soon it was time to head to the little auditorium area where the show would take place. I took a seat in the front row, with nothing but a knee-high ledge separating me from the little pit area below. If one of these snakes went rogue, it was pretty easy to imagine them climbing right up and over. Comforting thought.
Finally it was Showtime! So without further adeui...I'm just gonna let you watch the video and then offer my commentary after. Oh, and if you are queasy about snakes or sensitive to animal mistreatment, I would not recommend watching...
Wow, where do I even start with this...?
It started off relatively ok, until the cobra handler started slapping at it, and it only went downhill from there.
Can you feel the love?
One after another, these animals were brought on stage to be antagonized, provoked, and humiliated for our amusement. Ok maybe its a stretch to think that a snake could be humiliated but thats the best way I can describe it, because this was nothing more than a showcase of how they behave under duress. Not a fair or accurate representation of the animals normal behavior, as you could tell they weren't really looking to strike. Escape was obviously their preferred option, attempting to do so while being pulled back in and pressured into displaying their fight response. Over and over to the point where it became exhausting to watch. And then there were the theatrics...
How about that little kid, chucking the snake towards the crowd to get a nice reaction.
Or that huge python. Thing coulda been 50 years old, just getting toyed with by some teenage dude. Slapping the crap out of it while holding it's tail so that it has no choice but to lunge back at him, swinging the snake as it does so, enough that its head bounces against the concrete wall. Really entertaining.
Bravo. Take a bow, guys
But that wasn't even the worst part. That would be the part where they put a cobra and a mongoose (it's mortal enemy) into a cramped little glass container and let them go at it, while offering light hearted commentary as if it were a WWE wrestling match.
Yay, death match
Me and the guy sitting next to me looked at each other in disbelief. And as the show went on, they just rolled the cage into the background, where the animals continued to fight, presumably to the death. Unbelievable.
The missing element here was a respect and appreciation for these animals, as I did not sense that from the "handlers" or whatever you want to call them. Antagonists would be a better word. Casting the snakes as the bad guys, trying to attack them as they adeptly dodged their vicious strikes. Basically playing upon peoples fear, and even perpetuating it, while offering little to no real educational value. It truly was all a "show", and I couldn't help but feel bad for its miscast and unwilling participants.
While this would have been a cool opportunity to showcase these animals and teach people about them in a humane way, which I was naively expecting, this was just exploitation at best and animal cruelty at worst.
Having arrived in Bangkok the day prior, without much of a plan, I ended up at a little Thai travel agency and figured I'd book a few touristy things to do, such as a trip to the "floating markets".
Sounded interesting enough, so why not. Plus when you do these sort of canned touristy tours, it's a good way to meet some other travelers. So, at 7am that morning, I stood outside of my guest house and waited for the van to come pick me up. And waited, and waited, and waited...to the point I was starting to think they either forgot about me, got my guest house mixed up, or had come a few minutes early before I was standing outside. Finally, around 7:45 a flustered looking Thai guy approached me and said a few things which I couldn't understand but assumed this was my guy. Voucher in hand, I showed it to him and he directed me toward a van parked down the road. I entered the van, crammed with about 12 other passengers and did my little awkward hello directed toward no one in particular and found a seat next to a nice Italian couple. We sat there for a few minutes, still parked, making polite conversation when some Thai girl flung the door open and ordered us out. Confused and a little annoyed we exited the van and were directed toward a different van parked in front of us. So in we went, for a few minutes until we were again ordered out and back into the original van. Ok, seriously? More confusion ensued as they began trying to sort out who had booked the full day tour to both the floating markets and tiger temple and / or the half day tour to just the floating markets. In very broken English. This whole operation was a mess, but eventually we got things sorted out and were on our way at around 8:30. So annoying. However the whole debacle provided plenty of comedic material to get the jokes and conversation flowing amongst the group, which turned out to be pretty cool. I'll also add that I found it a bit odd and somewhat of a pleasant surprise to be the only American in the group.
After about a 90 minute drive, we arrived at some docks and were directed toward a series of funny looking boats, which would take us to the markets. They were like no boats I had ever seen - really long and skinny with a little prop motor attached to a long pole which swiveled, in order to allow the driver to steer us around. The boats were painted up in real bright gaudy colors and looked really fun. I excitedly hopped on board for what turned out to be the highlight of the floating market experience...getting there lol. Check it out!
Really fun! After about a 20 minute ride we arrived at the floating markets. Which was a bit of a dissapointment. First off, they were not actually floating, it was just a series of canals below a bunch of massive raised concrete platforms. And after a few minutes of exploring, it was clear that this was more of a tourist trap than anything else. Hoping to find some cool authentic merchandise, it was mostly more of the same tourist tchotchkes, one stall after another, with little variation between them. The markets consisted of hundreds of stalls, but I felt like if you scoped out 10 stalls, you probably saw everything. With so many sellers, you would think they would try to differentiate themselves by selling something different but instead its a competition of who can haggle the hardest as you're walking by. Oh well, it was still a fun experience, and I did get these classy pics out of it:
I arrived in Bangkok on Thursday, July 24th without much of a plan. However I was given a tip in the form of a facebook comment from my friend Kerri, who had lived in Thailand for a while and recommended I stay in the famous Khao San Road area, where I was assured there would be lots of places to stay, yummy things to eat, and plenty to do. Perfect. As I stepped out of the cab, and into the bustling street, I smiled. I was definitely in the right place :)
But first things first - It was lunchtime and I was hungry. And this guy had exactly what I needed.
Very important first order of business :)
Second order of business was to find a place to stay. Since my bag is kinda heavy, I decided to just walk into the first place I saw, which happened to be this place:
Not exactly a five star resort, but for 200 baht/night (about $6), I figured I'd give it a shot. Plus the old lady running it was nice and it seemed like a nice quiet little place with a great location right on Khao San Road. More on that later...
I set my stuff down in the room and it was time to go explore. I got about 50 feet down Khoa San Road when a little sharp dressed Thai guy approached me about having a suit made. Since that was one of the things I wanted to do while I was there, I figured I'd check it out so that I could get a feel for prices and what to expect. Why not. I entered the little shop, took a seat, and was greeted by the actual tailor, Sam. After some breif chit chat we got down to business. And it was clear that I was getting the hard sell. However as someone that does a lot of research before buying anything like this, I had no intention of buying there on the spot. That was until I started to leave the shop, and the real negotiations got underway. Next thing I knew I was getting sized up for not one, but two suits lol. One black, one grey. At the end of the day I made out with two suits (with vest), three shirts, and two ties for about $480. Not bad?
Back on the streets I walked about another 20 feet when an Indian dude approached me and started reading my fortune, telling me a little bit about myself based on the lines in my face. Amused and slightly intrigued, I decided to follow him to his little spot for a full fortune reading. Stupid idea. Dude was trying to pull money out of my harder than the suit guy. And what he was telling me seemed like mostly BS, although if I do in fact move to Australia and meet the love of my life, it'll be worth a chuckle.
From that point forward I decided to throw on sunglasses and completely ignore the steady barrage of people trying to sell me shit, as I had gone from amused to annoyed with it pretty quickly. I wandered around checking out the little vendor shops lining the road but decided I should prob venture out to get a better feel for the city. A tuk tuk (little 3 wheeled motorbike taxi) driver offered to take me on a tour, shoving a map in my face and pointing at a few different spots. I couldn't make out most of what he said except for the fact that it would cost 40 baht (roughly $1.50). Seemed like a good deal, and I was kinda tired from walking around getting hassled so I hopped in.
We stopped at a few different temples, which is cool if you're into that sort of thing, after which he dropped me off at a Thai Travel agency so that I could map out the week ahead. That turned out to be a good idea. I spent a good hour at the travel agency going through all my options and decided on a trip to the floating markets and tiger temple the following day, and then a trip up to Chiang Mai in the northern part of the country for a two day trek up to a remote mountain village followed by a two day "slow boat" trip along the Mekong River to Laos. The price seemed fair and I was happy to have a nice little itinerary for the week ahead.
On the way back, while chatting with my tuk tuk driver I learned that he was training as a Muay Thai fighter. I thought that was pretty cool and expressed interest in seeing a fight while I was in town. He told me his actual fighting days were over, as he had recently gotten married and had a baby, but that there happened to be a big fight at the local arena that night. He could tell I was really excited and offered to take me there for free later that night. Sweet! I ended up sitting ringside, and what a cool experience it turned out to be, which I'll write about in a separate post.
After the fight I made it back to Khoa San road and it was rockin! The streets were packed and all the bars along the road (there were many) were pumping dance music into the streets. Vendors walked around selling the weirdest stuff, including fried scorpion on a stick, laughing gas balloons, and trips to the "ping pong show" which you'll have to look up on your own since this blog carries a strict PG-13 rating.
I quickly realized that the area I was in was all about shock value. I think that when westerners come to Thailand, that's what they expect, and Khao San road dishes it out in abundance. And trust me, I was very tempted to join in on the madness, but it was already pretty late, I was a bit jet lagged, and was getting picked up the next day at 7am to go pet some tigers. Plus I would have ample time to party in the weeks ahead, especially when my buddy Huy arrived the following week. So I decided to call it a night and retire back to my quiet little guest house...
Boy was I in for a rude awakening. That quiet little guest house was literally right next door to one of the biggest loudest clubs on the strip, pumping out high energy electronic dance music. About the worst possible thing to try and relax to, let alone fall asleep. But, when travelling like this, sometimes you just gotta suck it up and deal with it. So I jammed my earplugs in, and laid there annoyed as the beats pulsed through my body, until somehow someway I finally dozed off.
Solid first day :)
Mt Haleakala, once an active volcano, is the tallest peak on Maui, rising above the clouds at over 10,000 ft. But the cool thing about it is that you can actually hike inside the massive crater! I had heard a lot of good things about this hike coming into the trip so I was pretty pumped to check it out, and it did not dissapoint. After about an hour of driving up the mountain, we reached the peak and started our trek
As always, a video is worth a thousand words, so here ya go ;)
Crazy looking scenary huh!?
It was a bit of a mind trip being in this desert-like terrain, yet also being well above the clouds. A desert in the sky. I'm not sure there's anything else like it. Nothing I've ever seen that's for sure! Then again I've never hiked inside of a volcano crater before.
I think we had a day in between to relax and chill by the beach before our 2 day trip along the famous Road to Hana. Hana is one of the more remote towns on the island and the only way to get there is to drive a few hours along what might be the windiest road on the planet. We packed up our little dodge neon that we had rented and made our way there, stopping at several cool little waterfalls along the way. But I've written enough about waterfalls already so I won't bore you with those details. Plus I was lazy about taking photos that day.
One of the cool things about the drive is all the banana bread stands along the way. The first one we hit was run by a cute little Thai lady named Kat. Covering the walls of her modest little shack were photos of her customers. I made a comment about that and she proceeded to show us pictures of a bunch of famous people who had been there, including Leonardo Dicaprio and his family. I didn't believe it at first but sure enough there he was. With all the celebrity pics littering her walls, of course Scott and I had to take one with her, which she assured she would bring to costco to have developed. Hope to see it up there the next time I pass through! :)
Along our way we stopped by the Hana Lava Tubes which were these cool lava caves you could swim through. Luckily I brought my headlamp so that we could see because it was really dark in there. Really cool though. It looked like a nondescript little pool inside of a cave, but Ben pointed out a tiny spot where you could swim under which opened up into a much larger cavern. It was really cool. And you would never know to do that if you didn't have some sort of a guide with you. We swam around and explored for like an hour, and probably would have stayed longer if the caves weren't so chilly and the water wasn't freezing cold.
After a full day of driving, hitting cool stops along the way, and eating several loaves of banana bread we made it to our campsite in Hana in the early evening. As we pulled in, we noticed several prime spots in a row, overlooking the water. But as we circled around towards them we noticed a group of four girls chilling outside of their campsite and one empty spot next to them. As Chris began to drive past there was an uproar in the car, and so we pulled the most awkward 5 point turn off the narrow little path (as they presumably looked on) and proceeded to slide into the spot next to them. Slick. Turns out they had been camping for the last two nights and were happy to have the company.
The next morning we got up early and did some cool hikes, including one to a really cool looking cascade waterfall.
But no Hana trip is complete without a trip to the Venus Pools. This was heavily hyped, and was the undisputed highlight of these two days and probably even my entire Hawaii trip. By far the coolest cliff jump I've ever done. It was about a 30 foot drop into a beautiful clear salt water lagoon below. You gotta see this!!!
Since snorkeling is one of the can't miss things to do in Maui, and Chris had not yet arrived for our initial snorkeling adventures (See link: World Class Snorkeling in Maui), we had to work this in while he was there. Rather than a remote little beach like last time, we went the opposite route, opting for one of the big snorkel charter boats known for being half snorkeling, half party. Perfectly suitable for us. And given that turtles highlighted our previous snorkeling experience, we tried to work this in as well, selecting a tour called the "Turtle Adventure" or something to that effect so that surely Chris would get a chance to see one.
We booked our tickets and hopped aboard the Pride of Maui along with about 100 other people, and set sail to a location that was supposedly frequented by the turtles. Haha yeah well....upon plunging in alongside a small army of snorkelers from not only our boat, but a similar boat next to us, all flailing about, I had serious doubts. Nonetheless, we proceeded to have an awesome time exploring the reefs below as well as the myriad of colorful fish schooling around. Check it out!
Although we didn't see any turtles, which was a bit of a letdown, we still had a great time being out in the water, swimming along with and through a ton of other snorkelers and scuba divers. After about an hour, we were summoned back to the ship and that's when the real fun began - music, open bar, open grill, and lots of cute girls. Any lingering disappointment quickly faded ;)
Over the last few years, my buddy Scott and I have tried to plan at least one cool international trip per year. In 2011 it was Amsterdam and Germany, in 2012 it was Germany again (we had a good time over there), and in 2013...well I was in Central America all year so that doesn't count. This year, our schedules aligned such that we were both free to travel abroad starting July 1. I was set on heading to Thailand later that year but with the political unrest going on there (at the time) and the uncertainty surrounding that, we decided to go a different route. But where?? We were kicking around ideas (Spain, Greece, Australia, etc) but nothing really seemed to stick, until his roomate Rafer chimed in - what about Hawaii??
BOOM! Hawaii! Done!
Why hadn't we thought of that?? It was on the way to Thailand, where I would eventually be going (I am actually here as I type this), has loads of adventurous stuff to do, neither of us had ever been, AND my buddy Ben had just moved out there in the beginning of the year and could show us the ropes. It was a no-brainier. So much so that we started actively recruiting some of our other friends to join us and it didn't take much for our buddy Chris to sign on.
The plans came together in early June and sure enough on July 1 we were all on our way out there. Scott and I arrived on Tuesday the 2nd and with Ben as our guide we hit the ground running!
We stopped by the local beach in Paia, where he lived and where we had rented an apartment, to chill for a bit, meet some of his friends, swim and let it soak in that we were about as far out in the middle of the ocean as you could possibly get. Success.
The next day, Ben swooped us up in the Jeep and we hit Twin Falls, a cool little waterfall close by. Ben chuckled to himself as Scott and I took it all in in awe. Just wait, he said. It gets better. A lot better. Apparently he was saving the really good stuff for when Chris arrived a couple days later.
Twin Falls
Snorkeling was on the docket for day 2, one of my favorite activities, and exceptional here in Maui. It was every bit as agod as advertised and worthy of its own post: World Class Snorkeling in Maui. If you haven't already, you seriously should click the link and check out the videos I put together of our snorkeling adventures. Unless swimming alongside giant sea turtles doesn't sound very interesting to you :)
The next day Chris arrived and our crew was in tact!
The Fearsome Foursome
It was July 4th so we decided to head over to Lahaina on the west side of the island to check out the fireworks. An added bonus was that our friends Mike and Brooke just so happened to be on their honeymoon over there! Totally random but super fun meeting up with them!
Having a beer with Mikey G!
Fireworks over Lahaina
After the festivities that night, we were all a bit slow-moving the next morning, but sure enough, Ben arrived around 10am, cracking the whip, ready to lead us on our daily excursion. Needless to say, enthusiasm was not sky-high, and there was a bit of indecision among the group as to whether we really felt up for a hike through the jungle. But Ben had yet to steer us wrong and being that it was Chris's first full day on the island, he and I decided to go while Scott opted to stay behind and relax, citing a non-USA World Cup game as an excuse ;)
So we piled into the Wrangler and off we went. Climbing and climbing until we hit the entrance of the state park where our hike would begin. Wow, the scenary was amazing, totally Jurasic Park-esque!
Iao Valley
Check out the video below for our climb to the top!
Very cool hike with a great payoff at the top as the views from up there were amazing. However, after a few pics and the video you just watched, we were enveloped in a cloud which started dumping water so down we went. We didn't make it very far when Chris's flip flip (or slipper as they call it in Hawaii) broke and he was managing his way down on only one lol. Until that one broke too haha. The trail was pretty rough so our pace slowed to a crawl as Chris winced in pain with every step. Feeling bad, I traded him mine for a bit and ouch! Yeah he was not over exaggerating, it sucked! On top of that, Ben stubbed his toe pretty bad so overall it was a rough day for our feet, but we all survived and it was definitely worth it.
Do not hike in Hurley Flip Flops
Day after day Ben showed up in the morning ready to take us on the next big adventure. And that next morning was a good one! The Bamboo Forest, which was sort of the big brother to Twin Falls where we went our first day. After a bit of hiking we arrived at a series of waterfalls and jumps, which we took full advantage of. This was one of my favorite little treks in Maui, you gotta check this out!
These were the first jumps of the trip so we took our time and had a ball. We probably logged a dozen or so each that day. Unfortunately the camera batteries cut out right as we reached the biggest waterfall / jump at the end. Bummer. Feeling confident at that point, I scaled the rocky wall to the jump off point and, since there was a bit of a crowd below, I decided to go for the front flip, which I had dusted off earlier at one of the smaller jumps. Bad idea. I miscalculated (underestimated) the speed of revolution since I was at a higher point, and thus failed to rotate all the way through and landed dead smack on my back from about 25 feet up. As I rose to the surface to a chorus of "ohhhhhhhhh's!", I didn't even try to take a breath for the next several moments as I knew the wind was knocked clean outta me. I tried to play it off cool but I'm sure the grimace on my face told the real story. Ouch! That ruined my day ;)
There were a few smaller jumps on the way back but I was done for the day. No more for me! We stopped home to eat and relax for a bit and then it was off to the Sunday Beach party! But this wasn't any old beach party. This was the famous party on Little Beach, sixty years running, complete with drum circles, fire dancers, and loads of people dancing and frolicking about. Naked. Haha that's right, clothing optional! What a scene...
Wasn't long before Chris met a nice gal from San Fran and began "negotiating". Before long she agreed to go topless if he took his pants off, so....next thing we knew he was butt naked taking topless photos of this girl down by the water. But wait it gets better, because shortly after two more random girls decided to join in on the fun. So there he was, butt naked putting on a photo shoot for three topless girls he just met. Needless to say we were looking on from the shore in complete astonishment, howling laughing. And a tad jealous.
That might have been the highlight of the entire trip.
Yes! One of my favorite activities. We used to go as kids to Red Reef Park, just a few minutes from the old neighborhood, and I had recently rekindled my love for it in Nicaragua last year, and more recently in Cabo this past May. Both awesome, but none came close to how amazing the snorkeling was in Maui. It was mind-blowing.
While there are tons of tours and charter boats you can take to the so-called best snorkeling areas, we had our guide Ben with us, who took us to a remote beach near Makena in the southern part of the island. After a quick hike over some rocks we hit a nondescript area of the beach, where Ben announced ok here we are. He scanned the surface of the ocean and smiled noting that there were no "white caps", meaning there was very little wind and we were in for some great snorkeling conditions. Alrighty
Upon diving in, and seeing the reefs below exploding with vibrant color and activity, I quickly realized that I was in for a real treat. It was outta this world.
Now, the reefs and fish are amazing, don't get me wrong, but that's not what we were there for. What we were really hoping to see down there were turtles. While spending time in Nicaragua last year I had really developed an affinity for these amazing creatures, capturing that in two separate posts: Tortugas Pt 1 and Tortugas Pt 2. Seeing one climb up onto shore and lay eggs for the first time was magical and then seeing those eggs hatch, and helping the babies down to the shore where they awkwardly marched their way into the sea was really something special. But I had not yet seen a turtle in its natural environment, casually swimming about. Maybe today would be that day ;)
After a bit of snorkeling about, I felt a nudge at my side and turned around to see Ben pointing at something. Based on the urgency with which he was motioning and making inaudible noises underwater, I had a feeling this was it, and it was! After a few moments of scanning the water, a murky, slow moving object came into view. Turtle!!
Wow, the first thing I noticed was how graceful it moved underwater, as if it were in slow motion. Ever so slowly moving his flippers, peacefully moving through the water with a calm, sort of dazed look on his face. Haha it was so freaking cool!! As we gained proximity he finally took notice of us and decided to flee, although we discovered we could actually swim about as fast or faster than he could haha. So we followed him around and after a few minutes he just resumed going about his business. At one point, I was observing him from about 10 meters away and he decided to swim straight at me. I remember thinking to myself is this massive creature gonna ram right into me?? Should I be scared right now?? Lol, but he veered to the side at the last second. A truly incredible experience.
After about an hour or so the winds picked up and the water started to become choppy so we made our way back to the entry point. As we made our way home, reflecting on what an amazing experience we just had, unfortunately I couldn't help but feel a small bit of regret for not bringing my GoPro camera with us to capture what would have been some really incredible moments.
Sharing that sentiment on Facebook
Fortunately though I would get my chance, because for as much fun as we had that day, we were all pretty keen on going again the next day. So the next morning, armed with my GoPro camera and hoping for the best, we made our way back into the water, and this is what we got :)
Talk about getting more than you bargained for!! Hoping to just get to see one turtle that day, we ended up seeing five or six, the biggest of which swam right up and posed for the camera!!!
For those couple of hours, we had the privalage of swimming alongside these amazing animals, and getting to appreciate them up close, which to me was priceless.
Needless to say, we were all quite giddy coming out of the water that day, and I captured some of the most amazing footage my camera, or my eyes for that matter, have ever seen.
I'm a big fan of road trips. Always have been. Give me a map, some good tunes, lots of caffeine and I am ready to roll. There's just a certain sense of freedom and excitement that the open road provides, especially when you have time to do it right.
Growing up as kids, we road tripped up the east coast every summer which I always looked forward to, but in the summer of 2003, then a sophomore in college, my parents planned our first trip out west. Starting with a wedding in Sedona, we continued through northern Arizona, stopping at the Grand Canyon and up through southern Utah hitting both Zion and Bryce National Parks before ending the trip with a few nights in Las Vegas. I was blown away by how incredible these places were. It was life-changing. No seriously, because by the end of it I had made up my mind that I was moving out west. So in the summer of 2006, having just finished school, I packed up my car and made the first of what have now been four roadtrips between Florida and Arizona.
Each trip has been unique and memorable in its own way, and while that first trip was the most exciting, driving out for the first time to start a new life in Arizona, this last one was the most epic. By far. And a big reason for that is because I decided it was time to revisit a few of those places that made me want to move to this part of the country in the first place. I was 20 at the time, and ready to rock, but we were a bit limited in the hikes we could do considering we had my 12 and 16 year old brother and sister in tow. Although...Mo was probably game at the time, she's always been tough, so really it was Jeremy holding us back. Awww but look how cute he was! Sorry dude :)
This would not be the case this time around. Cause he's now an ab crunching P90x obsessed machine. So at my side was that and my tireless rockclimber / thrill seeker friend Tiffany. An unstoppable team.
We loaded up the ship and set sail on May 12, bound for Zion National Park in Southern Utah.
This turned out to be our best driving scenary of the trip. After making the obligatory stop near the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona to check out some Navajo crafts and jewelry, we decided to take a route I had never taken, along 89A up to Zion.
Wow!! Check it out:
Amazing. Turns out 89A takes you up through Marble Canyon with some of the absolute best scenary in all of Arizona, which I can't wait to explore further in the future! We made it to the gates of Zion around 8pm that night, just in time to be informed by the ranger that all 100+ campsites in the park were full. Really?? But no worries, there was a privately owned campground a mile outside the park which turned out to be perfect. We pitched our tent in the last remaining sunlight of the day and headed into the nearest podunk town 30 miles outside the park for dinner. Thunderbird Restaurant baby! Hit the friggin spot.
Ho-made pies?
While stuffing our faces we made friendly conversation with the table next to us, a group our age from Colorado who were also headed to Zion. They asked about the camping situation and we relayed what we were told but also that we had found a little gem of a spot right outside the park. A half hour after returning they rolled up to the spot next to us. Awesome! We hung out for a bit but overall it was an early night as we had a big day ahead of us. Angels Landing! A hike that I had wanted to do 11 years ago but that would have been a little too intense for our crew at the time. Finally the day had come, and it did not dissapoint!!
Check out the video below of our crazy climb to the top!
Wow what a day, and what a hike to kick things off with! It was pretty strenuous, with plenty of sheer drop offs along the way, which claim a few people each year. But not us, we would survive to hike another day! And that was a good thing, considering the lineup of good ones we had planned over the next few days. On the way back to camp we swung by the general store to load up on beverages for the evening. We arrived back to camp around sunset and got the party started shortly thereafter, along with our awesome new neighbors! We gelled instantly as a group and ended up whooping it up, sharing stories and jokes into the wee hours. It's a good thing we picked this campground where there weren't too many people around us because if you've ever heard me in a full bore laughter, it's pretty loud, and there was a lot of that going on that night!
We set out for Bryce National Park the next morning, but not before exchanging info with our new friends and making tentative plans to meet up a few days later in Denver.
Compared to the day before, the drive to Bryce was a piece of cake. We reached the park gates in a little under three hours and reached the trailhead shortly after that. As the canyon became visible below, I began to remember why I found this place so incredible. It is simply one of the strangest places you will see on this earth, seriously! In fact, you don't really even feel like you're on Earth when you're looking at it and especially when you're hiking through the maze of "hoodoos", the large precarious rock formations jutting into the sky. So cool! It was a fantastic afternoon, slowly meandering through these things. We even met a few new friends along the way which added to the fun.
Check out this vid from our awesome hike through another world!
Pretty wild huh? Kinda wish I had gotten more footage from our hike as the video is pretty short, but oh well. That evening we hit an all you can eat buffet, and it was glorious. At that point we weren't sure what our plan was for getting to Arches National Park, our next destination, as it was a good 6 hours away. After a full day of driving, hiking, then gorging, I was tempted to find the nearest thing that even remotely resembled a campsite and pass out, but ultimately decided I had a few hours of driving in me and that it would be good if we could at least get about halfway to Arches. So off we went. Zoom zoom.
We made it about halfway, to the small town of Richfield, UT, found a cheap motel room and it was lights out. Our plan was to get up at the crack of dawn and hit the road, but that didnt happen. I cant remember exactly what time we got up, but I know we missed the free continental breakfast which ended around 9. I think we all needed the sleep! After a couple hours driving we made it to Arches.
For some reason, my expecations for Arches were a bit low. Im not really sure why, It's just that after how amazing Zion and Bryce were, surely I couldnt continue to place my expectations at that level. At some point I would be let down right? Well, turns out that was not going to happen here. In fact, this turned out to be my favorite of the three parks!
Check it out!!
It was just an absolute playground out there. And I'm glad I had my fearless friend Tiffany that day to try and keep up with, because every time we turned our heads, she was halfway up some massive rock formation! The absolute highlight of the day though was when we climbed up and across Double Arch. I never would have looked at that and been like "lets climb it!", but that's exactly what Tiffany was thinking and so up and across we went!
EPIC!!!
Upon completing our hike, we rushed over to the viewing location for Delicate Arch, the most famous of the Arches and the one you'll see on the Utah license plates, to try to catch it for sunset, which we did, capping off an excellent day!
As we left the park, we had to decide whether to go find a campsite first, or get food. The smart thing to do would have been to get the campsite, while we still had a bit of light, and then come back into town, but of course thats not what we did. And to be fair, I cant speak for the other two but I was freaking starving. We had dinner at the Moab Brewery and it was killer. Best meal of the trip. I got this massive sausage plate that probably could have fed a small family and just demolished it. Then hit the gelato bar next door.
Well after that meal and a few beers to go along, the absolute last thing we felt like doing was setting up a campsite. And lucky for us, the town of Moab was basically just a really long string of hotels, probably about 50 of them in all, so we were sure to find us a nice cheap room to crash. Nope! Literally every hotel had a charter bus parked out front and a No Vacancy sign on the doors. Turns out, the month of May is one of the busiest in Moab, with tons of international tourists flocking there to check out the nearby parks. So, we were screwed in that regard. Resigned to our fate, and with the limited intel we had on where to find the campsites, we turned onto a dark side road hoping for the best. We got about a half mile down the road that presumably would lead to some campsites when Boom, out of nowhere - police lights, I was getting pulled over! Wtf?? Apparently we were doing 30 in a 25 zone or some BS like that so he let us off with a warning. Totally bizarre. But he did confirm that we were indeed headed in the right direction, so that was somewhat reassuring. However, the one critical question we forgot to ask was how long it would take to get to the sites. Because after driving a half hour of through narrow winding dirt roads in complete darkness, a bit of doubt began to creep in as to whether we were indeed going the right way. By 40 minutes, Tiffany and Jeremy were ordering me to turn around, but we stayed the course, and a few long minutes later we came upon a campsite. Good thing cause a couple minutes later and there probably would have been a mutiny. Only problem was that it was completely full! We got out of the car and made friends with a big group of climbers camping there, one of which allowed us to set up our tent next to his. Thank goodness, because who knows how far it would have been to the next one, granted a next one even existed!
The next morning, we intended to check out Canyonlands National Park, which was also nearby, but we got a later start than expected, and honestly after seeing Delicate Arch from a distance the previous evening, we kinda wanted to see that thing up close! Or at least I did. So we take the quick hike up to Delicate Arch before making our way to Outta town. And I'm glad we did, cause it was awesome looking!
It was such a cool spot. Not even just the arch itself but the surrounding area had tons of cool stuff to climb on and explore. Could have easily spent an entire day there. And I felt kinda bad because after an hour or so I had to track down Tiffany and Jeremy who had climbed up some huge rock formation and were peacefully meditating at the top, and yell to them that it was time to go. Hey, we had a schedule to keep!
So off we went, bound for Colorado. And we had big plans that following day. Real big! My friend Jaylynn and I who I met in Nicaragua planned for us to do a "14'er", which means climb to the top of a 14,000+ ft peak. Tiffany also had an avid climbing friend living in Denver who wanted to come along. So at 5am the following morning, we all met up in the parking lot of the Super 8 motel in Leadville, Colorado where we stayed. I put up a fuss about starting so early, but then when I was informed that Jaylynn and Justin (Tiffany's friend) had to drive 2 hours just to meet us there at 5am, I shut my mouth. Outfitted with the best stuff we had or could find, the five of us packed into Jaylynns little Nissan Sentra and made our way up to the snowy trailhead. We were still about a mile from the supposed trailhead before the tires started spinning and we nearly got ourselves stuck. Well, thats as far as the car was gonna get us. Time to get on foot! So off we went, through the snow, on one of the....nah, THE most dangerously epic hike I've ever done!
You have to see this...
There were several moments that day when I was like seriously wtf am I doing right now, from the alarm waking me up at 4:30am to standing atop an icey 13,000ft+ peak with the wind whipping at 70mph threatening to blow us right over the edge. Good stuff!
And yes, we partied like rockstarsclimbers that night.
As you can see we had had an amazing time on our trip thus far however all the really exciting stuff was front-loaded into the Arizona to Colorado portion of the trip, so once we left "Colorful" Colorado there's not a whole lot else to report.
Aside from a really fun night out in St Louis with my buddy Sean and a great night in Atlanta catching up with my friends Josh and Ally, it was mostly just long hours on the road getting from point A to point B and then passing out. At that point we were just ready to get home and I think Jeremy was starting to get sick of me haha. After a brutal 9 hour final stretch from Atlanta to Boca, we finally made it home sweet home, safe and sound, capping off one heck of a trip!
It was really a lot of fun, but that said, I'm shipping my car and flying next time :)
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