Honeymoon Road Trip

I'm very happy and proud to report that I finally managed to finish all posts describing our honeymoon adventures!

Below they are listed in the chronological order:

1. Honeymoon
   
2. Honeymoon Overview
   
3. Death Valley NP - Darwin Falls Hike
   
4. Death Valley NP - Mosaic Canyon Hike
   
5. Death Valley NP - Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
   
6. Death Valley NP - Devil's Golfcourse
   
7. Death Valley NP - Zabriskie Point
   
8. Death Valley NP - Dante's View
   
9. Death Valley NP - Artist's Drive and Palette
   
10. Death Valley NP - Badwater Basin
    
11. Snow in Death Valley
    
12. Grand Canyon NP - Grandview Trail
    
13. "For the record, I am dying..." - Hiking on the Grandview Trail in Grand Canyon
    
14. Grand Canyon NP - Viewpoints
    
15. Petrified Forrest NP - Giant Logs Trail
    
16. Petrified Forrest NP - Crystal Forest
    
17. Petrified Forrest NP - Newspaper Rock
    
18. Petrified Forrest NP - Painted Desert
    
19. Route 66
    
20. On the Way to Chaco Canyon NM
    
21. Rio Grande Overlook
    
22. Bandalier NM
    
23. Los Alamos - Bradbury Science Museum
    
24. Kasha-Katuwe NM
    
25. Great Sand Dunes NP - The High Dune Hike
    
26. Great Sand Dunes NP - Dunes Overlook + Medano Creek Hike
    
27. Great Sand Dunes NP - Sunset
    
28. Zapata Falls
    
29. City of Taos and Taos Pueblo
    
30. Santa Fe
    
31. El Santuario de Chimayo
    
32. Roswell - Extraterrestrial Hwy 285 and the City
    
33. Roswell - International UFO Museum and Research Center
    
34. Carlsbad Caverns NP - The Natural Entrance and the Big Room
    
35. Carlsbad Caverns NP - King's Palace
    
36. Carlsbad Caverns NP - Bat Flight Program
    
37. Carlsbad Caverns NP - Desert
    
38. Guadalupe Mountains NP - McKittrick Canyon Hike
    
39. Change of Plans
    
40. Alamogordo - Museum of Space History
    
41. White Sand Dunes
    
42. Lower Antelope Canyon
    
43. Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam
    
44. Bryce - Fairyland Trail
    
45. Bryce - Queen's Garden & Navajo Trail Loop
    
46. Bryce NP - Viewpoints
    
47. Mojave Desert
    
48. Joshua Tree - Lost Palm Oasis Hike
    
49. Joshua Tree - Cholla Garden
    
50. Joshua Tree - Skull Rock Hike
    
51. Joshua Tree - Arch Rock Hike
    
52. Joshua Tree - Keys View
    
53. Joshua Tree - Indian Cove Nature Walk
    
54. Joshua Tree - 49 Palm Oasis Hike
    
55. Santa Monica
    
56. Santa Barbara
    

Bryce NP - Queen's Garden & Navajo Trail Loop

The Fairyland Loop Trail left us wanting to see more of the park, so after a short break we set out for another hike. This time into the Bryce Amphitheater.

We started the hike at Sunrise Point with the Queen's Garden Trail, which is the least steep trail entering the canyon. It is also one of the prettiest trails in the park as it passes next to some of the most interesting hoodoos and several natural bridges.

The Queen's Garden Trail connects with the Navajo Trail, which we used to hike out of the canyon. The last part of the trail is very steep. It leads through a slot canyon called "Wall Street" to Sunset Point, where the trail ends. To complete the loop and get back to your car, you will need to hike another 0.3 mile on the Rim Trail.

The combined trails create a 2.9 mile (4.6 km) loop with the elevation change of 580 ft (177 m), which modestly is called in the park's newsletter "the prettiest 3-mile hike in the world". Well, they might just be right about this one.

Queen's Garden:


One of several bridges:




On the trail:


Honeymoon picture :)


Wall Street:


Some of the best views in Bryce NP are on the trail under the rim near Sunset Point:

Bryce NP - Fairyland Trail

In Bryce Canyon we decided to hike the less popular, 8 mile (12.9 km) long, Fairyland Loop Trail.

The trailhead for the hike is at Fairyland Point, which can be found at the end of a side road located around 1 mile before the park's entrance. First, the trail descends rapidly into Fairyland Canyon, where you can enjoy the beauty of the hoodoos from up close. Then it gradually climbs back to the canyon's rim and eventually it reaches it at Sunset Point. From there it follows the level Rim Trail back to Fairyland Point.

It took us around 3.5 h to complete this hike, which was surprisingly quick taken into account that we had to descend and then climb 2309 feet (704 m). Moreover, we did not feel tired after this hike, so we decided to go for another one after a short lunch break.

It is a very nice hike, but if you have only one day in the park I would recommend doing the Peekaboo Loop hike instead. The latter trail is much more picturesque, though also more popular with tourists.

I think the hoodoos look even more fascinating and bizarre when you look at them from the ground level:




Tower Bridge:

Bryce NP - Viewpoints

I've been to Bryce Canyon NP three times. First time just after moving to the US before I started working at UCSF, second time during the road trip with Agnieszka, and third time now during the honeymoon. During each single of those visits I was deeply touched by the canyon's beauty. It is one of those places in the world that takes your breath away, even if you see it over and over again.

What makes Bryce Canyon beautiful and unique are the rocks that form it. They are called "Hoodoos", which means "to cast a spell". Hoodoos are formed by the erosion, which must have been particularly strong at Bryce. They have amazing vivid colors mostly thanks to iron and manganese oxide minerals. At the photos below you can see how much the canyon's colors can change depending on the sun's position.

Bryce Canyon (Sunset Point) around sunset:


Bryce Canyon around sunrise:

On the way to Chaco Canyon NHP

We really wanted to visit Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, but despite trying to reach it from three different roads and directions, we failed. It seems that one really needs a 4WD, or at least a high-clearance vehicle, to get there.

The funny thing about life is that we usually want more the things that are difficult to get. Probably that's why we enjoyed so much even trying to get to the park, and also decided to make a new, separate trip to visit it sometime in the future.

Here is a short (uncut, unedited) movie shot somewhere in New Mexico, on one of the Indian roads close to Chaco Canyon NHP:


And here is another movie shot later that day on the mountainous road near Los Alamos:

Joshua Tree NP - 49 Palm Oasis Hike

The last hike that we did in Joshua Tree NP was a 3-mile (4.8 km) long hike to the 49 Palm Oasis. Anil decided not to go with us as his knees were hurting, and he was waiting for us next to the car. It was a hot day, so Bartek and I did not want him to wait for us for too long, so we did speed-hiking and were back at the parking lot in 1h 15min. Even though we hurried so much, we still saw many lizards, a beautiful green zebra snake, and several cacti.

Still, if you have time for only one longer hike in the park, I would recommend the Lost Palm Hike over this one. It seems the latter is less traveled, and probably that's why it is way easier to encounter animals there.


Some of the lizards that we met during our hike:






Chuckwallas are huge!


A quail:


Blooming cacti:








Barrel cacti:


49 Palm Oasis:


A short, uncut, unedited movie shot during the hike (we are breathing heavily as we just walked up a bigger hill):

Joshua Tree NP - Indian Cove Nature Walk

I really wanted to go for a nature walk in the Indian Cove with a hope of seeing desert tortoise, which are apparently not unusual there. Unfortunately, we did not manage to see any :(

Still, it was a nice, short (0.6 mile) walk during which we saw many cacti, Mojave yuccas, desert willows, as well as other plants which names I do not know.

Pencil Cholla:


Desert willow:


Joshua Trees:

Joshua Tree NP - Keys View

Apparently, on a clear day the vista from Keys View extends as far as Mexico. Unfortunately, when we were there the air quality was not too good and we could not see even half that far:


Bartek and Mount San Jacinto:


A short (15 sec) uncut, unedited movie shot while driving back from the Keys View to the main park road:

Joshua Tree NP - Skull Rock Hike

Skull Rock is located just next to the main road passing through Joshua Tree NP and there is a parking spot across the road from the rock. Therefore, the majority of the park's visitors stop there only for as long as it takes to take a picture of the rock and then leave to explore other parts of the park.

We, however, decided to go for a 1.7-mile (round trip) nature trail connecting Skull Rock with nearby Jumbo Rocks Campground. Multiple boulder piles located along the trail make this hike very attractive. We did not venture to explore any of them, but I could see how that would be a lot of fun.

Skull Rock:


Bartek, Anil and I, in front of Skull Rock:


During the hike we also saw another rock resembling face. We wouldn't have seen it, if we hadn't gone for a hike:

Joshua Tree NP - Arch Rock Hike

The Arch Rock hike is a short (0.5-mile) nature walk that leads through some of the most interesting geological features of Joshua Tree NP. So we were told. Unfortunately, our understanding of geology is extremely limited, and we only group rocks into 2 categories: pretty or not. Luckily, Arch Rock belongs to the category "pretty" and we had fun scrambling on top of it and taking pictures of ourselves with the rock.

My husband, a rockstar :)


Interesting "uplifted" rocks:


We thought that more appropriate name for Arch Rock would be "Elephant Rock":


Bartek, Anil and I in front of Arch/Elephant Rock:

Joshua Tree NP - Cholla Garden

My dearest friend Bartek joined us on the second day of our stay in Joshua Tree NP and we continued exploring the park with him. The first place that we saw together was "Cholla Garden", which is a place of dense concentration of Cholla Cactus. There is 0.25 mile long nature walk leading through it, during which you can learn many interesting things about the life and reproduction of Cholla.

Cholla is also known as a jumping cactus. The name comes from the ease with which its stems detach when brushed. Even the slightest touch will make the bits of cactus jump at you and cling to you and your clothes. So even though it does look pretty and soft, do not touch it! Its spines will go deep into your skin and it will be very hard to remove them.

The warning sign at the beginning of the trail:


Blooming Cholla:


My husband and Cholla in all their glory and beauty :)

Joshua Tree NP - Lost Palm Oasis Hike

It must have been at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) and absolutely no shade when we arrived at Joshua Tree NP. We decided to first set up a tent, and then go hiking, as we hoped heat would lessen later in the afternoon.

At around 4:30 pm (~ 3.5h before sunset) we set out for a 7.2 miles (11.6 km) long hike to the Lost Palm Oasis. That was an excellent choice as it was one of the best hikes that I did in 2010. The views were not spectacular and it was unbearably hot (I was wearing a wet scarf and a wet cap on my head to prevent heat stroke), but the number of interesting animals and plants that we saw there was simply astounding. Every few meters we would encounter a new lizard, bird or plant. It was also the first time in my life that I saw a chuckwalla, several two-horn lizards, and even a rattlesnake!

The rattlesnake waited for us near the end of our hike, and gave us a lot of trouble passing next to it. It was a very frustrating situation: we could already see our car, we were maybe 10-15 minutes away from it, and we found ourselves unable to get to it...

Every time we tried to take a step forward, the rattlesnake was starting to rattle! There was no way that we could go around it either, as there were rock boulders both to the left and to the right of the snake. Scrambling through them did not look as much fun, and also, we decided that it was very likely that there would be other snakes there. And it would have been much more difficult to run away from a snake on the boulders. It was also not helping our situation that the sun was pretty low at that point in time and it was slowly starting to get dark...

Therefore, we (husband) decided that our best option was to try to pass in front of the snake. We tried to walk as far away from the snake as possible, which was maybe like 5 feet (1.5 meter) away... Trust me, it was definitely to close as for my comfort zone... Luckily, the snake decided to give us a break (probably it could smell our fear) and let us pass through.


During the hike we saw lots of lizards. Next to photos show a male and a female of the same species:




A two-horn lizard:


Other lizard:


Jack Rabbit hiding in the shade:


Apparently this beetle stands on its head when it pretends that is dead...


Blooming Ocotillo and a bird:


Some plants that we saw during our hike:






















The Lost Palm Oasis:




We were so excited about seeing the rattlesnake that my hands were trembling and I was unable to take a good picture of it. Also, my dearest husband forgot to take a movie of it, which would have been awesome as you could hear the rattling on it...