Road Trip 2008 Part Deaux

I volunteered to be bumped from my flight, which means I'm coming at you live from the scenic Philadelphia Airport. I had planned to spend the day touristing around DC, so I'm exchanging that for a free ticket anywhere in the lower 48, which means a cheap vacation on one of my many breaks from work. Still no pictures since I don't have the right cable, but I'll round up the National Parks I visited on the second half of my trip.

Florisant Fossil Beds NM: Located in central Colorado, west of Colorado Springs, this was probably the most disappointing park I visited. The park has some gigantic petrified stumps (from old Redwoods). They are huge, which is cool, but they are a lot less colorful than the ones in Petrified Forest NP. Florisant also has some cool fossils on display in the visitor center. What was missing was a chance to see some Thrfossils in the field.

Mesa Verde NP: Located in Southwestern Colorado, this park has great views from the top of the Mesa. I also got to visit some cliff dwellings. They were nice, but not very different than the ones I visited in Arizona last year at Walnut Canyon. The area surrounding the cliff dwellings had interpretive signs describing many of the plants, including what the Natives used them for.

Navajo NM: Located in Northwest Arizona, the park contains cliff dwellings at several different sights. The cliff dwellings at the site I visited are only open to ranger led tours, so I did not get near them, but the view overlooking them is gorgeous, they are located in a simply stunning canyon. The visitor center has locals demonstrating traditional crafts, and some exhibits with a very pro-Hopi anti-Navajo slant.

Pipestem NHP (or Pipespring?): This is an early Mormon settlement located in Northwest Arizona. The site contains a stone fort stocked with period furnishings and out buildings, including a dugout house and wooden corrals. The farm was run as a tithing ranch of the Mormon church. Local ranchers would bring in a tithe of their cattle (and other produce, but mostly cattle in this part of the country), and the ranch would use it to make butter and cheese or ship it to local Mormon towns. The tour of the fort was excellent, as the ranger was very personable.

Zion NP: Located in Soutwestern Utah, this is one of a series of park showcasing gorgeous rock formations created by erosion. Bryce Canyon is the highest, then Zion, and then of course the Grand Canyon contains the lowest geologic layers. You can drive through part of Zion, but to go up in the canyon (created by the Virgin River), you take tour buses. The cliffs are gorgeous, and the river bottom is surprisingly lush (it even has swampy areas). This is a park that you could easily spend multiple days in, especially if you are into hiking.

Lake Mead NRA: Lake Mead is created by the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas. I barely scratched the surface here, only going to the visitor center. The visitor center contains very interesting displays about the natural and human history of the area before and after the construction of the dam. I didn't have time to enjoy any recreational activities, which is too bad because swimming would have been great on a day that hit 110 degrees.

Mojave NP: Absolutely gorgeous. The preserve is located at the confluence of the Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin Deserts, so you see a variety of desert climates and wildlife. I drove through the park from North (I-15) to South (I-40) and camped in the middle. Beware of very rough dirt roads if you travel this direction. The campsite was incredible. There was one other family there, but otherwise, you're on your own in the middle of the desert. Lots of stars, lots of critters, no people.



That's it for the National Parks, which made up most of my itinerary. After Mojave, I camped on the coast and watched the sun set over over the Pacific, then caught up with some old friends in San Francisco. More details about the parks and the trip shall be forthcoming.