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Month: January 2013

USA Adventure Part 7: Capitol Reef

USA Adventure Part 7: Capitol Reef

After leaving Goblin Valley, we drove for about 2 hours, to Capitol Reef National Park. This is not such a well-known park, and it seems quite off the beaten track for some reason. This has its advantages, Capitol Reef is a lot more relaxed about permits and camping inside the park. In addition, we chose to visit an area called Cathedral Valley which is rarely visited, so we had a very solitary experience in this park. We stopped at the visitor centre for information and a backcountry permit, which they almost didn’t want to give us. You only need it for camping outside of the designated campgrounds, and they said we could camp outside the boundaries of the park without any permit – I think they were a bit lazy and didn’t want to deal with the paperwork ๐Ÿ˜‰ Eventually, we got the permit and were ready to go.

We first had to cross a river which was quite an adventure – but the car handled it without any problems. The dirt road was a bit tiring to drive, but the landscape was beautiful and we made lots of stops, for example at this well with an abandoned truck…

On old truck at a drinking place for animals - looks like it's sinking in! Paul and the old truck. Behind him you can see the drinking trough, which actually had water in it

Soon we came to the Bentonite Hills, with very impressive colours… in the last photo you can see a good example of cryptobiotic soil, which is a crusty soil that is “alive” as it’s made ofย bacteria/fungi/algae/lichens etc. Everywhere in Utah, there were warnings about this soil, as one footstep can take a hundred years to recover from the damage. I called it macrobiotic soil for the entire trip, as I could never remember the real name ๐Ÿ˜› we made lots of jokes about it, but we did try to stay off it as much as possible.

Bizarre landscape - the Bentonite Hills Very colourful layers in the Bentonite Hills Cryptobiotic soil - it's alive and very fragile!

And although we were driving through a desert landscape, we still found lots of flowers – including the impressive Desert Paintbrush ๐Ÿ™‚

I was surprised how many flowers there are in the desert: this is a Desert Paintbrush And some pretty purple flowers

We kept climbing, and suddenly we had this view right from the road… impressive!

Suddenly this view opened up - spectacular!

Shortly afterwards, we took a turn towards a viewpoint over Cathedral Valley. We were getting a bit carsick, so we left the car next to the road and walked the last bit to the viewpoint. There was a parking place and some picknick tables there, and for the first time we saw other cars (and people!). They must have been a bit surprised to see us arrive on foot ๐Ÿ˜‰ We got our first view over Cathedral Valley from here, and it was just SPECTACULAR… You look down on a green valley with several monoliths, it was so beautiful!

Our first view over Cathedral Valley - wow! The monoliths at Upper Cathedral Valley - with the colours and the green grass, I'd almost expect giraffes here :D

After the viewpoint, the road went steeply down to the valley floor. We talked to several rangers at the visitor centre, and one of them had said the road was impassible in this area. We had a suspicion she was just trying to discourage us from going there, but we were a bit nervous here – around every bend and especially river crossing we thought the road might become impassible. And although the road was a bit tough at times, with soft sand and several river crossings, some of which actually had water in them – there really was no problem at all. It was getting quite late, so we drove on to our destination: the Temples of the Sun and Moon. Actually it was after seeing photos of these “temples” that I decided we needed to visit Cathedral Valley ๐Ÿ™‚ And it was so worth the long journey, they are so impressive…

The Temple of the Moon (on the right) and the Temple of the Sun (on the left)

We took LOTS of photos, we arrived just before sunset so the light was soft and beautiful. We set up camp a little distance away from the Temple of the Moon.

The Temple of the Moon The Temple of the Moon seen from the other side Dinner at the foot of the Temple of the Moon, in fading daylight

We were all alone here, and far from anywhere – it was truly special. The night sky was incredible as well, this far from any light pollution. There were a lot of planes flying over though!

The stars (and Milky Way) over the Temple of the Moon. We were all alone here, and a long way from anywhere - it was very special Startrails over our tent :)

The next morning, I got up before sunrise and walked to the Temple of the Sun. It was so beautiful to watch the desert wake up, to see the colours change, to see a big red sun rising and to watch the changing light on the rocks. Magical!

The Temple of the Sun just before sunrise Here comes the sun... The Temple of the Sun just after sunrise... beautiful to see how the light was changing The Temple of the Moon just after sunrise

Meanwhile, Paul took these photos of the Temple of the Moon…

While I was taking photos at the Temple of the Sun, Paul took those of the Temple of the Moon just after sunrise Beautiful light painting the rock really orange Desert soil

In the morning there were lots of animal tracks in the sand. I was also amazed by all the plants that manage to live in the desert.

Animal tracks in the sand A tough plant braving the desert

After a beautiful sunrise, we took out tent down and made breakfast. We had to drive back the way we came, as the road became impassible just past the Temples. At least, according to the rangers at the Visitor Centre ๐Ÿ˜‰ but this time we decided not to risk it. We stopped at the Gypsum Sinkhole, which formed after the collapse of something called a Gypsum Plug – a hill formed out of crystallized gypsum carried in groundwater. The hole is 15 m wide and 60 m deep – impressive! We also stopped at the monoliths for another view – they are so pretty.

One last photo of Hanneke and our tent The Gypsum Sinkhole, formed by groundwater dissolving a so-called gypsum plug (a hill formed of crystallized gypsum). The hole is 15 m wide and 60 m deep! Another stop at the monoliths of Cathedral Valley

We took a short side trip to Morrell cabin (also known asย Lesโ€™s cabin), it was used by cowboys passing through the valley with cattle between 1930 and 1970. Beautiful and remote place, you feel like you’re stepping back in time, and wonder what it would have been like here back then…

Morrell Cabin, or also known as Lesโ€™s cabin, it was used by cowboys passing through the valley with cattle between 1930 and 1970 Rusty artifacts on the table inside the cabin

After driving the steep road up, we turned away from the road we travelled yesterday, and instead took theย Thousand Lake Mountain Road. Here you exit the National Park, and enter the National Forest Area – we were joking about that there surely weren’t going to be trees in the desert, but look here… These sudden changes in the landscape are very impressive!

We took a different road out of the valley, and the landscape quite suddenly turned into a beautiful autumn forest... quite strange after coming straight from the desert!

Cathedral Valley was one of the highlights of our trip, and if we’d ever come back to Utah, I think we’d spend more time in Capitol Reef. We never even got to see the Waterpocket Foldย that the park is famous for – but I think Cathedral Valley is a real gem that you shouldn’t miss out on ๐Ÿ™‚

Cornwall

Cornwall

After celebrating New Year’s Eve in Southampton, we decided to spend a couple of days in Cornwall – which I’ve been wanting to visit for a very long time. Unfortunately we were a bit unlucky, and I got ill as soon as we arrived to our hotel in Boscastle. Luckily the hotel was very nice, and we had a great view from our upstairs room – there are worse places to be ill. Boscastle is a very pretty place, here are some photos…

View from our hotel room in Boscastle Boscastle, with the visitors centre on the right

The Coastal Path passes right through the village, and you have a great view once you get a bit higher up the cliffs.

Boscastle seen from above The robin that followed us on our walk

This is our hotel, and a nice door at the witchcraft museum – which unfortunately was closed for the season.

The hotel we stayed in, our room was right above the sign Nice door at the Witchcraft museum, which was unfortunately closed for the season

After spending a day in bed while Paul went on a walk by himself, I felt a lot better the next day, and we went on an easy trip by car. We stopped at Strangles Beach, and followed the path down the cliff to the big beach. The weather wasn’t great: foggy and drizzly, but it improved while we were at the beach. We weren’t alone there, there was also a lone surfer battling with the waves ๐Ÿ™‚

The Strangles Beach, in heavy fog and drizzle Waves crashing onto the beach

I took my tripod and ND filters, and played around with long exposures of the rocks and the sea. I never get bored of that ๐Ÿ™‚

I converted this photo to black & white, as it hardly had any colour to start with Waves crashing over the rocks

It was a grey day, but luckily the fog lifted a bit while we were on the beach The Strangles Beach

Some rocks were very colourful Starting our climb back up the cliffs

After a couple of hours, we climbed back up the cliff and we drove to Crackington Haven for a nice warm tea in a cafe ๐Ÿ™‚

Crackington Haven

Stomach bugs are notoriously contagious, so it wasn’t very surprising when Paul got ill that evening ๐Ÿ™ We quickly decided to stay another night, as it wouldn’t be wise to drive all the way back to London in that state. After a rough night, we took it very easy and went for a short stroll on the beach at Bude the next day. They have a swimming pool on the beach there (a sea pool), which was built in 1930. Seeing the size of the waves in Cornwall, I imagine it’s very nice for kids to play in this pool instead ๐Ÿ™‚

The swimming pool at the beach at Bude Walking along the edge of the pool

Today the only people in the sea were surfers, and these ambitious boys trying to stop the flow from the sea pool ๐Ÿ˜‰ The rock formations at the beach are very interesting!

Ambitious boys... Interesting rock layers at the beach

More views of the rocks on the beach…

Rock formations on the beach at Bude The beach at Bude Mussels on a rock

After spending an hour in Bude, we drove to Widemouth Bay. We found a nice view point with great views of this huge beach.

Panorama of Widemouth Bay

Here’s another panorama, which is even better viewed nearly full sized, click here (might take a while to load due to its size).

Even wider panorama of Widemouth Bay :)

It was impressive to see the huge waves crashing here, no wonder this place is so popular with surfers. In the other direction, you could look north towards Bude and see the satellite ground station far away on a cliff.

A wave breaking, it's hard to tell but these waves are huge, and they bring lots of surfers to Cornwall Looking north towards Bude, with the satellite ground station in the background

We enjoyed our time in Cornwall, in spite of our poor health, and now I am determined to come back here and perhaps walk part of the Southwest Coast Path that follows the entire coast – must be a great experience!