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Arches and Cannyonland

Well, the sight seeing is over, at least as far as National Parks go.

I went to Arches, as I had been instructed to. I liked it, it was spectacular. Crazy how those rocks can stand the way they do. They reminded me of the Roman Forum in how small I felt next to them, and how some things will crumble with time and still leave a beautiful and majestic structure. And some of them reminded me of the balconies in the Alhambra of Granada, where a beautiful window frames a yet more beautiful landscape.

It's all about associations...

Bueno, este viaje ha terminado, por lo menos por lo que se refiere a parques nacionales.

Fui al parque de "Arches", como me habian dicho. Me gusto mucho, espectacular. Hay unas rocas muy chulas como suspendidas en el aire. Me recordaban al Foro Romano en como me senti tan pequenya a su lado, y como algunas cosas se derrumban con el tiempo y aun dejan una estructura preciosa. Y algunas de estas estructuras, al ser una ventana preciosa rodeando un paisaje aun mas precioso, me recordaban a la Alhambra.

A balcony (like in la Alhambra) Balcon (como en la Alhambra)

Cool evening sky, the La Sale Mountains (sp?) in the back

Atardecer chulisimo en las montanyas de la Sal.

Indiana Jones. Seriously! No?

Cool rocks. Rocas chulisimas

Balconies. Balcones.

On the other side of things, I did get lost in my silly 7-mile hike. They put these pile of rocks on the trail and I lost them a couple of times (I think I am just spoiled from all the other trails I have followed in this trip, which are impossible to miss). The first time I got lost, the wind started picking up and I got sand stuck to my skin thanks to the sunscreen. I was looking for tracks for maybe 15 minutes, and got just a little bit nervous. I thought of taking one of those survival classes...The second time, I just didn't believe that they would have me walk on top of a rock fin. A "rock fin." I tried it for a bit, and the wind almost blew me over. Well, I thought it did. I am sure it was not that bad and that my fear of heights has more to do with it. So I just couldn't believe that this was really the trail. But I teamed up with another hiker, and we figured out, slowly and steadly, the way back. And we circumvented the stupid rock fin.

Por otra parte, me perdi en my caminata de 11 km. Marcan el sendero con unas montanyitas de rocas, y las perdi un par de veces (probablemente porque estoy acostumbrada a todos los otros senderos por los que he ido andando, en los q es casi imposible perderse). La primera vez que me perdi, se empezo a levantar una ventolera combinada con arena q se me pego bien con tanta proteccion solar. Me pase un cuarto de hora buscando el sendero, y me puse un pelin nerviosa. Creo q voy a apuntarme a una clase de esas de supervivencia...La segunda vez, es que no me creia q quisieran q andara por encima de una "aleta de roca." Ua aleta de roca! Lo intente, pero el viento casi me tira. Bueno, esto seguro q es una exageracion, y mas q todo fue el vertigo. Al final, me acople a un hombre q se ve q tenia mas idea q yo y entre los dos, lentos y seguros, encontramos el camino de vuelta. Y dandole un rodeo a la puta aleta de roca.

So Arches was cool, but Cannyonlands, another national park just north of it, was even cooler. I went there in the morning, and there was NOBODY there, it was absolutely fantastic. Me, the cannyons, and the green river. Quite an experience. Not that I hate people, but there is solace and serenity in solitude...

El parque de Arches fue chulo, pero otro parque, Cannyonlands fue incluso mas chulo. Fui muy temprano por la manyana, y no habia NADIE. Fantastico. Yo, los canyones, y el Rio Verde (no es conya, asi se llama). Una experiencia extraordinaria. No es q odie a la gente, pero hay paz y serenidad en la solitud...

The only car in the park. AWESOME.

El unico coche en el parque. GUAY.

Tetons

Here, I did do a little bit of homework. But I also stopped at the visitors' center, where two men in their 70's fought for my attention telling me where I had to go. On one side, they were appalled (and yet impressed?) that I was going ALL BY MYSELF to the "backcountry" (backpacking, that is). On the other, they wanted to send me in this 20-mile loop, 5,000 ft elevation gain. And it was already 4 pm. And there was a wall of ice to climb, and I was gonna have to use an ice ax (which obviously I don't own). I ended up deciding, with the help of the park ranger, on doing just a 5-mile hike into the Cascade Cannyon fork. The ranger particularly liked this hike bc it was in the back of the Tetons. And OMG did I find out what she was talking about. I might be in love again. Not as deeply as with Glacier NP, but at least infatuated for sure.

yellowstone and the tetons

Sooo not so impressed with Yellowstone. For wildlife, all I saw was a moose, lots of crazy trout, and two swans. Oh. And a million tourists, about 8 out of 10 in either an SUV, minivan, or RV.

I made the mistake to ask a cranky park ranger for a good place to backpack, and he sent me to mosquito-lake, to which I had to hike through a few miles of burnt forest. That will teach me to do my homework...
Yet, I have to admit that the swans and the ducks were kinda cool. And the lake was nice and warm to swim in...

The day after this, I did go and check out the geisers, nicely placed in an amusement-park style with kazillions of tourists with no walking etiquette (yes, I was cranky!). So after navigating through them all, I followed a friend's advice and went south to the Tetons...oh the Tetons. Wish I were still there...see the next post.

Glacier

I am speechless. This is probably one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life. Literally breathtaking.

I have to say that having my tent sniffed by a grizzly has scarred me a bit. And hiking by myself after seeing ginormous bear tracks (see below). But I did practice with my pepper gun today. Turns out the pepper is red. Who knew?

I am on day 6 of sleeping on my Thermalite, last nite under the stars. Day 3 w/out a shower. You'd think I crave a bed. But I am so stoked about checking out what Yellowstone and Arches have to offer!

niagara

Niagara falls, even on the Canadian side, was predictably full of tourists. I just have issues with that (and with the 20 bucks they wanted for me to park my car). So I parked illegally (I still have some Italian in me) and took this:

But not to despair with the crazy tourists, there are greener pastures very near the falls. I went for a little hike that was quiet, except for the birds...

And there were even little tipis by the trees. Kinda looked like someone wanted to light the forest on fire...

Yes, pretty. Yes, green. But next time, I am going to the Fingerlakes...

ROC, day 1

Ok.
So I came to Rochester to look for an apartment, which was incredibly easy. My place won't be fancy but it's within 2 min-walk of restaurants, 5-min walk of the nightlife (which I saw today, it does exist!).
BUT:
1) There is no Trader Joes. Srsly. How does anyone survive without TJs?
2) I've been here for less than 48 hrs and already have been flipped off. By a mini-van driver. And I didn't even deserve it (trust me, I also have a quick finger, but this was not justified!).
3) You ever listen to the Portland city club? Well. I listened to the Rochester equivalent. Instead of sustainability and bikers versus drivers, they talked about prostitution and meth. I just found it depressing. Made me miss Oregon. MUST EMBRACE THE PRESENT. MUST EMBRACE THE PRESENT...

But I also saw fireflies. I thought those were only in Peter Pan. And Niagara Falls. More about the falls later...

~E

The map

Hey,

Thanks for the suggestions and the emails. Hope you had a great weekend.

I went on  my very first canoeing trip EVER. It was awesome. And I went up Kelly butte in Spfd to watch the fireworks. The view looked familiar...guess it's from seeing it in The Simpsons!

Soo here is my planned route so far. What do yall think? (there is a link below to make it bigger)

View Directions to Rochester, NY in a larger map