Yesterday after climbing up the highest mountain (Observation Point) in Zion I went on with my journey. The mountain I climbed was 6000+ feet high and when I reached the top I was quite beat. I did make some photos as proof that I reached the top. I had prepared myself well with lots of water and energy pills… but I noticed that the lack of sleep I experienced yesterday is not very good for climbing a mountain.

I really adored the Zion national park. It was fantastic. Tonight I will spend the night nearby in st. George, and afterwards I’ll head over to Sin City, aka Las Vegas!!!! Of course to make lots and lots of money!

proof that I was on top of the mountain… (big image) (I cannot resize it here)
proof that I was really beat on top of the mountain (big image) (same reason)

This morning I hiked the riverside trail… a hike of about 5 kilometers right next to a little river. In the afternoon I did the Angels landing trail, a very big climb right up to a big mountain. In the morning, during the trip through the little river I again met my Israelian friends that I had met earlier in Brice Canyon, hiking the Navaho trail. In the afternoon climbing the huge mountain I met Tom, Donna and some English chick. All of them (including myself) had quit their jobs and were enjoying their lives. All of them had plans to visit Las Vagas, so maybe I’ll meet them again.

Tomorrow I want to do a hike to Observation Point, and then I’ll continue to the next adventure.

Yesterday I visit the little Internet cabin here, and when I returned to my room there were three deer eating the grass from the patio in front of the lodge. I was standing about 5 meters away and they just continued grazing and were not even thinking of running away. Beautiful.

Yesterday I visited the other side of the Grand Canyon. It was also a very nice side. The north side is more like a desert and the south side has much more trees. Afterwards I visited Lake Powell and stayed there the night. A very nice and relaxed lake, but clearly for wealthy people.

Today I’ve visited Brice Canyon which was nice. Afterwards I thought I’d quickly have a look at the Zion national park. The park called after the city where Neo missed out on a great party. Zion was weird and unlike the other parks because you could not enter with your car. All transport in the park went with free buses. There had already been some Dutch who told me Zion was a very nice park and worthwhile a visit, but I did not expect this. A truly beautiful park… Incredibly beautiful. After a small hike through just a small part of the part I decided I wanted to stay a few days. To get a room inside the park you need to plan ahead and arrange it between 6 and 12 month ahead of time. Alternative is to stay somewhere outside the park, and travel a little every day to get in and out. However, I was lucky. A room had become available and I took it right away.

Tomorrow I’ll spend the entire day in Zion!

Today I will visit the other side of the Canyon. Afterwards I’ll head over to Lake Powell (I think) and spend some time relaxing in the sun.

It is already August and I am halfway on my journey. I feel great and would like to stay here for more time… Oh well, life’s a bitch.

Anyway, Grand Canyon was a very nice national park to visit. The entrance fee was $20, but I was in luck and I could get a all year access card for all the national parks for $50 with a $49 discount! This meant that in the end I needed to pay only $1. The guy that arranged the papers for my had a nice laugh about it.

The reason I got a $49 discount was that I saved all the tickets with entrance fees of previous parks. These tickets act as a discount if you every decide to get a year pass. I already visited a lot of parks and saved all the tickets, so I slowly accumulated a huge discount.

In the end yesterday I did not arrive at the petrified forest. It took me a little longer and I just arrived today. My first impression was that a piece of petrified tree looks very nice, but for the rest is was a big disappointment. I don’t know why they call it a forest, because there were only small parts scattered around everywhere. Everything was just lying on the ground and I recall the largest part of petrified tree was maybe one meter long.

After the petrified forest I went to see a nearby meteor crater, but this was possibly even a bigger disappointment. There was literally nothing to see there.

Afterwards I continued to the Grand Canyon and spend the night in an Indian reservation. Across the motel there was even an authentic Indian shop… of course I went to check it out but I freaked out when I noticed the prices. A small rug that wasn’t even one meter big cost around $800 !!! I could not believe it, for this amount of money you can smoke the peace pipe for months. Maybe I’ll get a fake one.

Yes, I have arrived in New Mexico. I already went to see some Indian things and the next thing I will do it drive towards the Petrified forest. There are a lot of petrified things around here, like petrified wood and petrified sand dunes.

Because the word petrified resembles the word petrol I used to think that petrified referred to the process where small plants and animals deep under the ground take thousands of years to turn into oil. Now I realize it means that something turns to stone. This knowledge changes also my understanding of the Harry Potter book in which everyone petrifies all the time.

More and more I am beginning to realize that the Indians were a very smart people who really had lives arranged in a very nice manner. I visited Mesa Verde, a kind of hole in the rock-face where the old Indians had constructed a home. It was nice and dry, with a nice view and a source of water nearby. One with nature. If the had problems they just smoked the peace pipe and all the troubles disappeared and it all just didn’t matter. Respect for the Indians.

I just returned from a great hike through the land of the Arches. I started the hike around 10:30 and around 14:00 I returned to an incredibly hot car. Now I realize why the Indians have a red skin. It was so hot and I even think that if an Indian would see me now, he would directly give me an Indian name like ‘Red Whiteskin’ or something similar.

It was quite busy in the national park, and the most common nationality I encountered was Dutch. Everywhere I heard Dutch and saw Dutch people. Thanks to some of the people I met I got a lot of good tips for the remainder of my trip. I also noticed that the Americans I encounter all get really excited because of my Yankees cap. They directly feel the need to talk about the game, the team and their history, but I really don’t know how to respond because I have never yet seen a Yankees game.

Right now I’m in Utah and the most stunning thing here is the environment. Everything has a red color, the sand, the rocks, everything. It is very warm and at times hot (when it’s not raining). Utah is a kind of desert and one with a lots of hills. I think the only reason Utah exists is by the grace of the tourists.

Colorado was all grass. Everything was green because of the endless seas of grass and the landscape was a little hilly. Colorado can exist because of it’s grass… it supplies food for lots of cows and horses. Colorado also has some mountains that are rich with gold.

Kansas was very plain, with a bit more bushes and oil! Lot of oil and lots of machines pumping the oil from the ground.