2004 - South USA Ntnl. Park Tour
`(12.2004, 82 Pictures)`

This guy...

...is on the road again...

Utah – Arches NP

Arizona Deserts

Texas – Balmorea State Park

Biggest springfed outdoor pool in the states... The swim here after two days of hiking was like paradise :-).

Texas – Big Bend NP

Great park for hiking, rafting and hotprings. Perfect day: starting for the 16 mile rim hike at dawn, soaking in the hot-springs in the afternoon and watching the sunset at "The Window" later, mmm :-).

Texas – Cadillac Ranch

A tribute to automobile freedom near Amarillo.

Colorado – Colorado NM

Texas – Guadallupe Mnts NP

Featuring the highest peak in TX (just ~2500m) and fantastic views, just an hour away from the famous Carlsberg Caverns.

Colorado – Hanging Lake, HW82

Fantastic drive and fantastic hike! The lake is really worth the few hours of hiking. Plus HW82 near Hanging Lake is an engineering feat.

Arizona – Horseshoe Bend

Sorry, *no* photos from the famous horseshoe bend. My lens was not wide enough :-) Thomas however has some really decent photos from the bend... Instead a nice shot from the trail and some intriguing rocks.

Utah – Monument Valley

Colorado – Mesa Verde NP

This park is somewhat "touristy" and does not have really interesting hikes. However the ancestral puebloan sites are definitely worth the (guided) visit. The ingenuity of these people and their engineering capabilities (ca. 1000AD) are amazing. The fotos are from the earliest tour, 9am.

Arizona – Navajo NM

You won't be able to guess this from the photos, but the hike (by permit, max. 20 ppl/day) to the Keet Seel site is an absolute hiking highlight :-). The spectacular 17 miles long hike features 2800ft elevation change (round trip) and goes down, through and along canyons. At the end of it you can make a (guided) visit to the Keet Seel site. Much more "original" than Mesa Verde. We did this in two days, with a stop-over at the Keet Seel primitive campground.

Oregon – Eagle Creek Trail

Arizona – Page & Antelope Canyon

Page: tiny city, heat, heat, heat (did I say it was hot!), cool dam and bridge, the longest Wallmart-Beer-Isle I ever saw (it's a spring break destination stupid :-), the amazing Antelope Canyon and the wonderfull Lake Powell: the warmest and nicest lake I've ever swam in. I guess the rocks heat up the lake really well, so I never got cold. Instead I got a sunburn on the back from swimming too long (!) :-).