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Vegas and Utah

May – June 2023
  • Hywel Johns
A 22-day adventure by Hywel Read more
  • Hywel Johns

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  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah
    1

    Natural Bridges National Monument

    June 2, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    The National Park for today is the Natural Bridges National Monument. There are three natural bridges all connected by a road and then a path down the side of the canyon so you can end up underneath them.

    The park was really quiet, although it only takes 2 Americans in the distance to break the serenity, they do shout rather than talk.

    The views were great and the hikes down were fun, with some ladders and scrambling involved.

    Bonus knowledge, according to Utah, bridges are formed by flowing water, while Arches are formed by other forms of erosion. So they can look the same, but the cause gives it a different name.    Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah

    Canyonlands - Island in the sky

    June 3, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Today's National Park was Canyonlands. It's huge and the area I was in was called Island in the sky! It's a big mesa linked only by a small 'neck' otherwise it would be an 'island'.

    Again, the views were amazing. 🙄
    Did a number of short hikes to viewpoints or on things like Whale Rock, or Aztec butte (no Aztecs and no butts) There was an arch, a crater they think might have been caused by a meteorite, an old puebloan granary, and the location where the Thelma and Louise film finished (technically in Dead Horse Point State Park).

    It was a busy day and it was nice to get some hiking done. I also learnt that the dirt is alive!    Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah

    Canyonlands - Needles hiking

    June 4, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Today I was back in Canyonlands, but in an area called the Needles. Named after the needle looking spires of rocks that are all over the place.

    Its not as accessible as the other areas, so today was going to be a full day of hiking to get to an area called Chesler Park. Ended up being out for 6 hours in total, but the views were beautiful and it was a really fun hike, barely saw another person, and even getting to go through a slot canyon between the big rocks.Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah

    Arches!

    June 5, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Today's imaginatively named National Park is Arches National Park. It's home to the highest density of natural arches in the world.

    It was a mix of easy access roadside arches that had lots of people (including a Spanish singer recording a music video on a mobile phone, nobody recognised him) and ones you needed to hike to see, which included probably the best one and the symbol of Utah, the Delicate Arch.

    It was a long day as I was still a bit tried from the day before, but it was really nice there and I could have stayed longer. However, I had a long drive north that ended up going over a mountain pass in Colorado, and I almost ran out of fuel. 😬    Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah
    2

    Dino day!

    June 6, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Today was dinosaur day! I stayed in Vernal at the Dinosaur Inn and Suites, then headed to Dinosaur National Monument.

    There used to be a large quarry from back in 1910 where they excavated loads of dinosaurs. The guy who discovered it, wanted some to be left in place and protected for people to visit... so it is!

    They say there's probably more underneath the layer they display and also under the building, but it's being preserved.

    It was very cool to be able to see them all in place, so many bits, mainly Camarasaurus, but also stegosaurus and allosaurus, and others! Even encouraged to touch some of them!

    After that, I visited a dinosaur trackway next to a lake. Amazingly, when I got there, there was a local family just chilling out swimming next to the tracks, and throwing rocks into the water... rocks that could have things on them! I totally judged them.
    They were about to leave luckily and some other fellow Dino hunters appeared to help look for the tracks. We eventually found some and had to clear some debris. Some were underwater, but it was cool to see the ones we saw.    Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah
    2

    Goblins and a Little White Horse

    June 7, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Today was very much a day of playing, it started with Goblin Valley state park. It's filled with goblins/hoodoos/mushroom looking things. They just went on and on, just endless! One of those things you end up seeing faces and animals in them. They also encouraged the fact there are no paths, so just go and explore. It would have been an amazing place for a game of hide and seek.

    Next was Little White Horse canyon, this is a slot canyon that is super narrow in places. It was lots of fun to walk through and there was a section that had water in so had to walk through it. There was a loop, but by the time I got to the end of the canyon to walk to the next one, I decided it would be more fun to go back through it again!

    Ended the day in an amazing hotel and a private hot-tub I used for stargazing!    Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah

    Capitol Reef National Park

    June 8, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today I visited Capitol Reef National Park. This one covers a crack in the earth's crust that goes about 100 miles north to south and the park is only about 6 miles wide.

    So it was a bit of a geology lesson day. There was a scenic drive with an audio tour, explaining what the different rock colours are and how old etc. It was cool to understand more about it.

    There was also an old Mormon village that had a shop with famous pies made from fruit in the orchards (I bought an apple pie and mixed berry pie). Some historical graffiti by Mormon 'pioneers' from 1900 ish..., some petroglyphs, and a short hike to the tanks, some natural pools that hold water... although not much left as you can see in the picture. There was like 4 tiny fish in there though. I also met a friendly squirrel.    Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah

    Sal Tlay Ka Siti

    June 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    I am now in Salt Lake City and planning on spending a few days here to include some relaxing.

    As I was here, I had to go visit Temple Square and learn more about the Mormons... how much of the book of Mormon musical was accurate.

    Unfortunately there's some construction going on to protect the temple from earthquakes, so some sections were closed and the temple was covered in scaffolding.

    There were tours in the conference centre though and I managed to get one on my own, so it was me and Sister Smith from Louisiana and sister Nsiete from France. They were both awesome, it was supposed to be 40 mi utes, we were there for over 2 hours. They were here for their mission they were both doing after a year of college and before completing their studies. I was able to ask a lot of questions and it was really interesting.
    So basically, you may now call me Elder Johns.    Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah

    More dinos, scooting and birds

    June 11, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    After taking a relaxing day yesterday except for some Pokémon, I visited the Natural History Museum to balance out the religion from Friday.

    The Museum covered a huge period of time up until now, but I was mainly interested in the dinosaurs! They had a lot of fossils and casts of dinosaurs.
    Utah is a bit of a hotspot, they have discovered 26 new species since 2000. They think there was a sea seperating them from other dinosaurs we know so they evolved differently to become unique species.

    I then jumped on my first e-scooter (loads of fun) and scooted... to a park in the city for some Pokémon playing and to visit an aviary. While I was walking around, it seemed like most had just been fed so got to see some mice being eaten.    Read more

  • Hywel JohnsTravelerVegas and Utah
    1

    Bryce Canyon

    June 12, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Left Salt Lake City and back to the national parks, this time Bryce Canyon.

    This one isn't as big and I got around most of the sights in the afternoon/evening, including a couple of short hikes.

    It was a bit cloudy and I think it had rained a little, plus it was colder because of the altitude. The views were still really pretty, as always. The place was just so orangy-red! There was also a hoodoo that looked like Queen Victoria and one the was called Thor's hammer. I was there as the sun was going down which made some of the rock look even darker.Read more

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