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Grand Lac Salé encore & Sud de l’Idaho
Après plus d’une semaine à Salt Lake City sans parvenir à vraiment résoudre les soucis de chauffe de VivaLaVida, j’ai repris la route en commençant par contourner le Grand Lac Salé par l’ouest…
1. Derniers rayons sur le Temple Mormond de Salt Lake City.
2. Les feuilles fraichement sorties des trembles sont d’un vert tendre magnifique…
3. Cerfs attentifs à ma présence.
4. Petit matin.
5. J’ai dormi à même la piste.
6. J’arrive à Bonneville Flat dont certaines parties sont encore sous l’eau.
7. Concrétions de sel…
8. VivaLaVida sur la célèbre piste de vitesse où bon nombre de records de vitesse ont été établis ou battus.
9. Estampe monochrome ou presque…
10. Minimalisme ultime…
11. VivaLaVida emprunte une voie de chemin de fer du 19ème siècle…
12. Une petite arche naturelle dite “des Chinois”.
Je suis ensuite passé en Idaho en allant visiter la City of Rocks, un lieu surprenant.
13. Première piste en Idaho.
14. Lumière rasante sur des collines érodées.
15. Campement à même le granite de City of Rocks.
16. Petite arche sans nom au levant.
17. Après deux bonnes heures sur la selle, la vue est immense…
18. … mais je suis arrêté par la neige !
19. Le granite de City of Rocks est superbe ! C’est un haut lieu de grimpe, avec plus de 140 voies répertoriées.
20. Ferme traditionnelle.
Suite de mon périple en Idaho à venir bientôt… 😀
Great Salt Lake
Before Jean_Luc left to fly back to San Fransico, I suggested to bring him see the Great Salt Lake, a place where I saw a lot of birds during my last trip there.
1. Arrival to that so large and quite lake.
2. In the morning on Antelope Island, an inhabitant. Bisons were reintroduced at the end of 19th century and are several hundreds on the island now.
3. The weather is going bad…
4. It’s his cry which betrayed him!
5. A big thunderstorm passed not far away…
6. … then the sky clears.
7. American Avocettes.
8. Strange llight…
9. Watercolor on clouds…
10. Stop on the jetty which leads to Antelope Island.
11. (Very) long-beaked curlew.
12. Absolut quietness…
13. Pronghorn antelope.
14. This is the second time during our journey we saw burrowing owls.
15. This yellow throat meadowlark had a powerful song.
16. Euhhh… we’re only passing, ok?! 😉
17. The lighting effects are quite unlikely, it looks like the picture of a painter…
18. … Under the showers.
19. Grandiose sky!
20. Burning sunset…
21. Lastcamp for Jean-Luc in a dreamfull decor…
That’s the end of the period Jean-Luc travelled with me. I’m now continuing my journey alone, first trying to solve some heat issue of VivaLaVida… :-/
To be continued soon…
Cottonwood road article comments
Don’t ask me why the comments are off for this update, I haven’t done anything different than the others and I don’t manage to find the parameter to allow those… Sorry.
Maze Disctrict of Canyonsland NP & Moab area
The next day we decided to walk to the confluence of the Green River and Colorado River, north of Doll House.
1. Along the trail.
2. Some areas are full of flowers.
3. Colorado River 1000 feet below.
4. Jean-Luc saw him just before to walk on!
5. Using the Flint Trail to go up on the plateau, some switchbacks were really narrow, requiring maneuver. what an initiative to have drawn a road in such a steep slope!
6. We slept on the plateau…
7. … and saw a gorgious sunset.
8. We joined the Horseshoe Canyon to discover cave petrographs. Huge overhang! Can you see Jean-Luc ..? 😉
9. Panoramic picture from the bottom of it.
10. The “Great Gallery”.
11. Surprising painting…
12. … so varied.
13. Going down the canyon, we saw this beautiful snake (about four feet long), an enemy of rattlesnakes he kills by constriction.
14. At Green River UT…
15. Further, a short stop to Crystal Geiser…
16. Saturated colors!
17. Detour through a smal erg of orange dunes.
18. But the sand Wind will force us to go away.
19. Colorado River near Moab.
The next day we joined a place called “Top of the World” by another quite rockcrawling track! Here are some images of Vivalavida in action since I had a photographer there. 😉
20. Steep hill…
21. Here, both lockers were necessary! 😀
22. big step.
23. Axle crossing.
24. Where is the best way to go..?
25. There! 😀
26. The Sunset was gorgious on this promontory!
27. Jean-Luc over tausend feet emptyness..!
28. A panoramic picture to finish this update…
The next update will bring you to the Great Salt Lake, the last place we wisited with Jean-Luc who then flew back. To come soon.
Henry Mountains & Maze District of Canyonsland NP
Since Jean-Luc decided to take a domestic flight from Salt Lake City to join his international flight to San Francisco, it left us more time to explore Utah. We visited western Canyonsland National Park we reached by crossing the Henry Mountains.
1. Stop for the night at Bastion Reservoir, at about 7,000 feet elevation.
2. Jean-Luc spotted Wilson’s phalarope, an unexpected bird in this region.
3. I saw this snake without being able to identify it.
4. Campfire under the top that Jean-Luc climbed.
5. Down from Mount Helen, the culmination of Henry Mountains.
6. After going refueling in Hanksville, a really remote and depressed corner, we followed a long path to reach the Maze Overlook, first taking the Devil’s Canyon road.
7. Water crossing of the Devil’s River.
8. On the other side of the river.
9. The track is rugher I imagined and we slept at the Sunset Pass…
10. VivaLaVida over a huge overhang!
11. My acrobat brother at Maze Overlook. 😉
We then decided to join the Doll House and it took us no less than 6 hours to reach on a track probabliy the most difficult Vivalavida has traveled so far … Here are some pictures to illustrate this incredible journey.
12. Driving on the rock.
13. Sometimes overhanging.
14. It goes steep up…
15. … then down.
16. Big step.
17. It leans sometimes too…
18. It’s sometimes narrow…
19. … or tight!
20. We will end up to arrive first at Standing Rock…
21. … then the beautiful Doll House that reminds me of the Needles, on the other side of Colorado.
22. We were Lucky to get a camp place just in the middle of Doolhouse ad this is the view we had at sunset;-)
23. Last rays on the Colorado River.
24. Indian granary well protected under an overhang of sndstone.
25. Trail at dusk in the mid of needles…
To be continued…
Next updates…
I just found out how to publish updates without having Internet connexion.
I will so be able to reduce the difference between updates and the place I’m actually. Not sure it also works for translation, so sorry if you English speaking guys could see updates in French only, I will fix it later… 😉
Cottonwood Road UT
Still dazzled by the beautiful Coyote Butes, we continued our route using the Cottonwood Road northbound. I noticed several spots of interest on this route. The first at which we stopped is entitled Yellow Rock, an orange to yellow sandstome dome….
1. The side canyon to the Cottonwood River I walked to Yellow Rock. Nice to walk barefoot in the cool water… 😉
2. Yellow Rock is well named.
3. The sandstone is veined of colors…
4. Some more color touch…
5. A little further on, we stopped at Lower Cottonwood Narrow.
6. The walls are impressive, probably more than 1000 feet high.
7. We ended the day with a stop at Kodachrome Basin.
8. Jean-Luc on sandstone. 😀
9. Cliffs in late afternoon.
10. Opposition of forms: soft to the anthill, acute to the cliffs.
The next day, I brought Jean-Luc discover Bryce Canyon, the must see. Since I already take quite a lot of pictures of it, I went walking light, leaving my camera in Vivalavida. You so won’t see picture of our hike here…
11. An attentive prairie dog.
12. Not far from there, a short stop at the Escalante Petrified Forest. Some petrified trunks are impressive!
13. Late afternoon hiking to the Calf Creek Falls.
14. Side canyon to Long Canyon, on the Burr Trail Road.
Arrived in the area of Capitol Reef, we visited the Muley Canyon to discover some natural arches.
15. Cheerios Double Arch.
16. Bells…
17. Saddle Arch.
18. Another natural arch.
19. We ended in the Muley Twist Canyon, a Slot Canyon where there was still water in places.
20. Fun on passages in opposition.
21. Back down at the end of the road where we slept, I went back to the view of the valley of Capitol Reef, grandiose!
22. Mineral colors are everywhere…
23. … while the sun is going down…
24. Camp in Muley Canyon.
The next update will take you all soon in the Henry Mountains and the Maze of Canyonsland Distric National Park… 😉
Vermillion Plateau (2)
So we continue our journeys in North Coyote Butes.
1. The climb takes us near Top Rock Arch…
2. Scenery towards the South Coyote Butes.
3. Later, we visit the Alcove, a large cavity excavated by the wind. I find several very graphics compounds…
4. Draperies of sandstone…
5. The top of the North Coyote Butes is a sort of plateau…
6. Reached Melody Arch and its “window” on the South Coyote Butes.
7. Perspective…
8. Descend of the opposite side.
9. Still beautiful…
10. … and even a sombrero ! 😀
11. Lower, the turtle rock seems sweet…
12. Back to the Wave as the light comes.
13. The contrasts are more pronounced but the softnees of lines remains…
14. …
15. …
16. On the way back, stop at a small little colorful quadruple teepee.
17. …
We slept in the Paria Town in Paria Canyon, only some miles away.
18. Heavy sky over the trail…
19. … and hard light on the mesas.
20. What a nice place.
21. Contrasts in late afternoon…
Well, I hope you’re not too drunk by the number of images of these beautiful Coyote Butes. The next update will resent the beginning of our journey to Utah. Coming in a few days…
Vermillion Plateau (1)
Having luckily won the draw which gives access to the Wave, we spent the afternoon exploring the Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch. The first is a slot canyon at Buckskin Gulch side, one of the longest slot canyon with more than 45 miles long.
1. Entry of Wire Pass.
2. Petroglyphs at the intersection Wire Pass/Buckskin Gulch.
3. Some animals are really aesthetic.
4. Going up the upper part of Buckskin Gulch…
5. … it opens after a few miles in a kind of bowl where some trees manage to grow.
6. When sand and sandstone are one…
7. Sculpted by the wind.
The weather forecast was bad for the next day with a 90% chance of rain for our walk to the Wave. However, we were ready to brave the elements at 8:00 and it was pouring rain as we began our walk. Rather than go directly to the Wave, we made a detour to another site lesser known of North Coyote Butes: Fatali’s Boneyard.
8. Fatali’s Boneyard, all of yello and pink…
9. Kind of sand roses on striped sandstone.
10. Perspective…
11. … and mix of striped rock and plain sand.
12. A flower, scarce greenery at this location.
13. Along the walk to the Wave, run by the Second Wave, unfortunately without light despite the rain stopped.
14. Stone waves…
15. Still journeying towards the goal of the day, we found this rock hamburger! 😉
16. It was around noon when we finally reached the Wave.
17. Magic place…
18. …
19. …
20. …
21. …
22. …
The light wass still not at the rendez vous, so we decided to climb higher on the North Coyote Butes looking for Melody Arch. To come very soon…
Alstrom Point & Crosby Canyon
After a visit to make Jean-Luc discover Antelope Canyon, where I didn’t take my camera, having already widely photographed this place, we had a beautiful light on Lake Powell.
1. The sun is going Under the clouds…
2. … illuminating the surrounding cliffs.
We decided to go to Alsrtom Point, a fantastic view of Lake Powell. We arrive too late for sunset but sunrise was beautiful.
Anecdote. While we are having dinner in Vivalavida, I couldn’t believe my eyes: I see a mouse pointing the nose from under the fridge! It disappears as I move and we must wait for a few quiet minutes to see it looking at us again. But how was she able to get here..? We then organized a mice hunt. Do not laugh, ok? 😉 Not a chance, after more than an hour when she always escapes us, we decided to go to bed.
About three o’clock in the morning, I was awakened by an unusual noise: it was Mrs mice that have reached the trash and was walking in the bowl, in the plastic bag she started cutting. This was the opportunity that I expected! I get up as quite as possible and I took the bowl that contained the trash. She was then trapped, unable to jump from so high. Before she decides anyway, I opened the door and walked away a few feet. As I crouched down, she jumped up and ran away in the bushes. I had only to go back to bed…
It will be seen later that it was probably mounted the stairs while at Doll House, one of his fellows had already reached the second step when I saw her… We will take care now…!
3. First sunrays on Lake Powell, nice play to live when you’re a mouse! 😀
4. Boondocking over the cliff!
5. Yes, it was a trip to the moon! 😉
6. Monochrome…
7. … or almost…
8. Going down the Crosby Canyon towards the lake.
9. The level of Lake Powell is much lower since some years.
10. VLV on this uncrowded track .
11. Some shade for the snack break…
12. … in this pretty canyon.
13. We’ll also discover a small wonder, the Nodele. This is a crack made by wind and water erosion in the sandstone.
14. Graphic elements…
15. Details…
After this lovely visit, we decided to try – try again for me after seven unsuccessful attempts – our luck in the lottery that assigns every day ten places to visit the famous Wave. Jean-Luc brought me luck because we have learned to go in the second round. We then spent the afternoon walking the Buckskin Gulsh, preparing for the next day. to come soon …:-D
D5 Creation