Fascinating Nature: American South-West in a Winter Robe

I have traveled many times through the American South-West, but this last trip was my first winter trip to the region.

To my great surprise, winter appears to be a great time to visit the South-West, possibly better than any other season. The key reason behind that is that tourists seem not to like cold weather and, subsequently, there were hardly any of them in most places we visited (with a small but notable exception of Grand Canyon, which is popular year-round).

The lack of tourists translates to a better overall experience, as witnessing the beauty and splendor of the South-West in solitude is bound to enhance your appreciation of the forces that stand behind the creation of this world's most amazing natural wonder.

Solitude encourages contemplation, introspection, as well as it enhances senses and brings closer the examiner and the subject of examination. In my case, it also led to a realization that American South-West is a Playground of Nature, a place where Nature experimented with all possible rock shapes and forms, before deciding how the rest of Earth should look like.

My second big realization was that this Nature's Playground is My Playground too. I've been very fortunate to be able to travel multiple times through South-West, with time getting to know it as well as my own backyard. This growing intimate knowledge of the region allows me to probe it further and deeper with each subsequent visit, leading to even deeper fascination and admiration for the Nature and its ways.

During the next few weeks I'm going to blog about my favorite places in the South-West, and the way they look during winter.

Here's a list of places I'll rave about:

1. Valley of Fire State Park
2. Monument Valley Tribal Park
3. Gooseneck State Park
4. Valley of Gods
5. Canyonlands National Park, The Needless Area
6. Newspaper Rock State Park
7. Arches National Park
8. Canyonlands National Park, Island in the Sky Area
9. Dead Horse Point State Park
10. Goblin Valley State Park
11. Colorado National Monument
12. Hovenweep National Monument
13. Valley of the Ancients National Monument
14. Mesa Verde National Park
15. Aztec National Monument
16. Chaco Culture National Historic Park
17. Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim
18. Rainbow Bridge National Monument
19. Vermillion Cliffs National Monument
20. Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
21. Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness
22. Bryce National Park
23. Kodachrome State Park
24. Pink Sand Dunes State Park
25. Zion National Park

Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Our first destination was Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in Humboldt County, California, located close to the border with Oregon. This park, along with Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith (which we visited later that same day), and Redwood National Park, are managed cooperatively by the National Park Service and the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

In Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park we went for a hike in Fern Canyon. The walls of Fern Canyon are 10–20 meters (33–66 ft) tall and are covered with five different kinds of California native ferns and other moisture-loving plants and mosses. Thanks to these plants the canyon has a prehistoric feel and likely because of that it was used as one of the filming locations for Steven Spielberg’s ”The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, as well as BBC's “Walking with Dinosaurs”.

The hike through the canyon is short (around 1 mile, round trip), but very pleasant. It starts near the beach and it follows Home Creek upstream as the canyon gets narrower and steeper. You can either hike into the canyon and back, or continue on to a trail/stairway that climbs out of the canyon, as we did. At the top, the trail follows the canyon rim and offers fine views into the canyon.

Fern Canyon is worth a visit not only because it is picturesque and a bit outer-worldly, but also because of the road leading to it. To get to the trailhead, you need to drive 9 miles on a scenic dirt road named Davison Road. The exit for the road is located on US Hwy 101, 3 miles north of the city of Orick. Directly next to the highway exit is Elk Meadow, where often Roosevelt elk can be spotted. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to see it. Then Davison Road becomes a dirt road, but I’m sure you will not mind as the drive is quite spectacular. All of a sudden you find yourself in a thick and lush green forest, driving on a road that gets narrower and narrower... Also, you will need to ford through several small streams, but worry not, I’m sure you will make it as our tiny car had no problem with it. It was a truly perfect beginning to an adventure that we were about to embark on during next few days.


Fern Canyon

San Pablo Ridge Loop in Wildcat Canyon

On one summer day Anil and I went hiking in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, located in the East Bay near El Cerrito. The hike we did was 6.2 miles long loop made by stitching together Wildcat Creek, Mezue, San Pablo Ridge and Belgum Trails. It took us around 3h to complete this hike as it was relatively flat (just 700 feet elevation gain).

The hike was lovely, leading through a series of rolling hills covered with grass and wildflowers. I could imagine that the views from the top of San Pablo Ridge could be quite spectacular as well, if we had been more lucky and got there on a day in which downtown San Francisco was not covered by a blanket of fog. As it is very easy and quick to get to the trailhead of the hike, I'm sure we will revisit this hike on a better weather-wise day.

Wildcat Canyon Regional Park is dog friendly.


Rolling hills of Wildcat Canyon:

Little Giant Loop - Mt Diablo SP

In the middle of May we went hiking in Mt Diablo SP with Anne and Sebastian. The four of us planned to hike together Little Giant loop for at least a year, but the weather kept on conspiring against us. I guess that was for the best as April/May should be the best months to hike Little Giant anyway - during that time Mt Diablo SP should bloom with wildflowers.

Indeed, there were a lot of wildflowers in the park, but still much less than what I'd have expected after the heavy rain season the Bay Area saw this year. Still, Anil and I enjoyed the hike a lot. Though I suspect it was mostly thanks to excellent companions and great weather, much less so due to wildflowers and views.

Little Giant is a 8.1 mile loop made by stitching together the following trails: Mitchell Canyon, Deer Flat, Meridian Ridge Fire Road, Muchio Gap and Back Trails. It is level for the first two miles, but then it starts climbing rapidly to finally top out at 2200ft (1600ft of elevation gain over 1.5 mile). At the top there is a nice picnic place and decent views of the East Bay, though not as great as the ones from the top of Mt Diablo. From there the trail is flattish for a short while, but then it starts descending even more steeply than it was climbing on the way up! We were definitely glad that we did not do this hike in the reverse direction.

Including a picnic break at the top it took us 4.5h to hike Little Giant, which was pretty decent taking into account the length and elevation change of the hike.


Fairy Lantern (Mount Diablo Globe Tulip) - a plant endemic to Mt Diablo, used by Native Californians as food, soap, glue and brushes:

Some other wildflowers:

Anne and Sebastian:

Views from the trail:

Would you rather fight Bruce Lee or be chased away by an angry armed American?

Ano Nuevo SP - Elephant Seal Guided Walk

At the end of March Anil and I went to Ano Nuevo SP for a guided walk to learn more about elephant seals. I saw elephant seals twice before and I read a little bit about them, but it was a first time that I would be seeing them on an organized tour, with a guide.

Ano Nuevo SP is the largest mainland breeding colony in the world for the northern elephant seal. Here, between December 15 and March 31, thousands of them come ashore to battle for mates, give birth, rest, and mate again. During that time the park can only be accessed via guided three-mile walks that lasts about two and a half hours. The tours are extremely popular, so advance reservations are a must.

I had high hopes for the tour, but unfortunately they did not get met. It seems to me that in order to enjoy the tour one would have to have close to zero knowledge about elephant seals, or to have never seen them before. The animals are truly impressive, but spending over 2h listening to a guide who does not tell you anything that you do not know is rather painful. And no, it was not a fault of our guide. She definitely did her best and tried to be funny and entertaining. I think there is a more general problem with the tour organization and I would suggest to the park to shorten them to 1h. The same information content could be transferred during that time, and it would be less boring both for adults and kids.

So if you are planning to go on one of those guided walks, I suggest you do not do your homework and do not read any information on elephant seals that is offered e.g. on the park's website and in the visitor's center...


Rugged coast south of Ano Nuevo:

Ano Nuevo SP is located on the former area of a dairy ranch:

Droplets of rain on leaves:


A shipwreck:

An abandoned building on Ano Nuevo Island:

A couple months old elephant seals:

The bravest weaners are taking first dives and learning to swim:

The elephant seal bulls are fourteen to sixteen feet long and weigh up to 2.5 tons: