Fairyland Loop and Zion National Park

I need a wide angle lens.  -Me

I had the most incredible day today.  The hike was outstanding.  I started at 8 am and it was about 40 degrees and sunny outside.  Light breeze kept me comfortable the entire 8 miles.  Finished at noon and drove to Zion.  I spend about 3 hours there.  Really need to go back to both places.  Right now I'm in Jacob Lake, AZ.  The is no cell phone service here and I'm actually happy about that because I'm so tired I'm falling asleep while I'm typing this.  So once again, I'll let Mother Nature do the talking.  I'll try to get the whole sets of pictures out on slide shows.  This is only a small sample of the 150 shots I took today.

First Fairyland Loop:

Zion National Park:

Last but not least, the additions to the wildlife sighting list.  See if you can figure out what they are.

Good night.  I'll talk to you tomorrow night from Williams, AZ. 

Don Quixote's Horse

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.  --Lao Tzu

A journey of five thousand miles starts with me saying "Hey, I'll drive your car to GA for you!"  I've always wanted to make a cross country road trip and it was the opportunity of a lifetime so I jumped on it.  I plotted a 4,900 mile route that would take me through Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon, along Route 66, down to Carlsbad Caverns, across Texas up through Louisiana and Mississippi and across the entire state of Tennessee before dropping down from North Carolina, South Caroline and finally ending in Ludowici, GA.  Then taking a page from John Steinbeck when he set off on his trip across America, I decided to name my ride.  He finally chose Rocinante, that noble steed ridden by Don Quixote. When I imagined my ideal road trip, I also imagined the ideal road trip car.  It would be a car worthy of the name Rocinante.   Unfortunately, I didn't get Don Quixote's horse.  I got Sancho Panza's donkey: a 1996 Lexus ES300 4 door sedan.  Go with what you got.  So I named it Rucio after the donkey. 

Rucio

I left Seattle yesterday and stayed the night in Caldwell, Idaho with my parents.  Left there early this morning headed for Bryce Canyon National Park.  At first it was fun.  There I was crossing a desert and waxing poetic about how beautiful the sunrise over the desert was.  At Glenn's Ferry I admired the way the sunrise cast a golden glow on the hills and where there was shadow, they turned a beautiful red colour which stood out against the deep green of the farmland surrounding the deceptively quiet looking Snake River.  But.......100 miles of desert can get to you.  Later the conversations with myself went something like this:  Bliss, ID: Oh? Think you're living in Bliss? Really Sunshine?  Taken a look around lately?  Living in denial maybe but Bliss?  Not friggin' likely.  Eden, ID: As in Garden of?  Mary, Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow? Hydroponic? Ultra Super Sonic? Or does it grow naturally slow? (Lyrics from Ganja Babe by Michael Franti) Nice cash crop you got goin' there girlfriend. Those people in Bliss are your best customers aren't they?  Anyway, at the end of a 600 + mile trip which was 95% BORING desert, I reached Bryce Canyon.  There just are no words to describe this place.  Nothing seems to fit so I'll just shut up and let Mother Nature strut her stuff for you:

There was a bit of local wildlife out and about since it was getting towards sunset.  Quick Mountain Man, name them deer!

Nice ass



CUUUUUTTTEEE!

 My last stop before checking into the hotel for the night was Fairyland Canyon.  This is the start of the trail I'll be hiking tomorrow.  It goes down into the Canyon and makes an 8 mile loop around.

But Mom! All my friends are going to be doing it!

"If your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you want to do that too?"
             My Mom - on multiple occasions while I was growing up
"Yep."
      Me - August 25, 2010

We stood on the edge of the cliff, staring down into the water watching the waves crash against the rocks below us.  The conversation was going something like this: "You jump. No, you jump.  I'm not going to jump first, you jump.  Are we all going to jump together?  I don't know if I want to jump. Come on, you jump. I will but I'm not jumping first."  Across from us watching the action (or non action) was the escort of my two young companions, a hot looking contractor in his late 40's/early 50's and he was giving us jumping insructions. I didn't catch his name but I refer to him as Shawn Konnery because he sounded just like Sean Connery.  Gave him instant credibility. Seriously, the guy could have told me to jump into the rocks and I would have.  "That's right, honey, go ahead and jump right there on the rocks.  Just wait for the waves to come in and you'll be just fine."  Hey, when The Voice tells you to jump, you jump.  Back on the cliff, the conversation continues: "I'm not jumping by myself. Are you sure you're going to jump? YES! but not first! Hey, how do we get back up?" Shawn, who is starting to look like he's going to come push all three of us off the cliff into the water points out the obvious way up.

It's a long way down.

Meanwhile, back on the cliff:  "I'm not jumping first, you jump first. Hey, how about we count to three and we all jump together? No, you'll count to three, I'll jump and you two won't! Oh hell with it, I'm jumping. See ya in the water chickens."

See mom, the problem was that my friends WEREN'T jumping off the cliff and it was up to me to set a good example.  So I jumped.  35 feet into the water below.  I'm here to tell you, this is NOT a natural act.  We tried to convince ourselves that it was just like jumping off the high dive in the pool.  But it takes even more than that to overcome a strong survival instinct.  But once you do, what a rush!  It was the coolest thing ever!  My first thought was "S*^%!!!" and my last was "OUCH!!!" Dang it hurts to hit the water from that height! 


Someone has to set a good example for today's youth. Unfortunately, I'm not that person.

I hit the water and then shortly after, Aaron did too.  We were starting to climb out when Matt finally jumped.  Of course, what goes down 35 feet must come back up 35 feet.  The only way up was to climb up the cliff.  Then jump off again.  This time I remembered to plug my nose so I could avoid having my sinuses pressure washed with salt water a second time.  After a couple of jumps, Aaron decided it was time to move to the high jump.  I was going to try it as well but gosh, I lacked the right footwear to do it. I would have done it if I'd been wearing tennis shoes.  After all, what could be more natural than jumping off of a 35 foot cliff?  You got it! Jumping off a 40 foot cliff where you have to launch yourself out 5 feet so you clear the cliff below you!  Added bonus of not being able to even SEE the water from the upper ledge so you have NO idea where you are going to hit.  But I would have done it.  If I'd only had tennis shoes.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 



Matt (in black), Shawn and Aaron (on upper ledge)



Aaron taking the high jump



Donkey Quest

"I'm sorry, the position of annoying talking animal has already been filled."
                  Donkey to Puss-in-Boots Shrek 2

One of the best parts of visiting a new place is seeing fun and unique signs.  On Highway 19 on the Island of Hawaii is this sign:

Upon seeing this sign, one would assume that there are.....donkeys crossing the highway during the dawn and twilight hours.  Yet not once have I seen a donkey bounding across the road at either dawn or dusk. Or any other time of day for that matter.  Are the donkeys unaware of their appointed crossing time?  Did they not get the memo? Who's job is it to confirm that the donkeys are on board with the process?  Someone dropped the ball.  Then I opened the insert of the North Hawaii News and there was the headline screaming out "Donkeys still hot topic in Waikoloa Village".  Such a riveting headline compelled me to read the article.  What is going on with the donkeys in Waikoloa Village?  Did they find out their appointed crossing was about 15 miles away? Or was the dawn/dusk restriction upsetting them? Was there donkey rioting in the streets except at dawn and dusk?  Turns out the problem is that Waikoloa Village is INFESTED with donkeys. SIX HUNDRED DONKEYS!! And not just any donkeys.  These are KILLER DONKEYS!!  Yes people, the city of Waikoloa Village is over run with SIX HUNDRED KILLER DONKEYS!!  The article even listed Donkey Do's and Don'ts. Amoung the Do's?  Be tolerant of neighbors' dogs barking when donkeys are close to home. Who's home? Yours? Theirs? If the donkeys were close to their home, would your neighbors' dog be barking?  Is the donkey your neighbor? If you call in a complaint about neighborhood dogs barking, are you required to confirm to the animal control officer that you checked for donkey presence first? "Ma'am, did you check for a donkey before calling us? No? Well, I'm sorry.  It's perfectly okay for your neighbor's dog to annoy the crap out of you by barking incessantly if there is a donkey close by."  On the list of Don'ts was: Don't approach a donkey because they will attack you.  Note from the Editor: Good people of Waikoloa Village, please remember that approaching ANY unknown animal either wild or domesticated is a BAD idea.  Remember the Ten Commandments?  The one about not coveting thy neighbors ass? Well, don't touch your neighbor's ass either. I don't care how nice that ass looks or how friendly it's acting, it's not your ass so keep your hands off or you will likely get a major ass kicking. Feel free to pat your own ass as much as you like.  And your dog?  The one running loose barking at the donkeys?  Got two words for you: Leash Law. If you keep your dog leashed or confined to your house or yard, you will not have to worry about a donkey going all Shrek on your dog's ass. Problem solved. 

Another Don't was Don't Shoot.  Donkeys aren't on the list of animals I feel that it might be necessary to shoot at if I encounter one. Even wild ones. But these are killer donkeys so maybe things are a bit tense in the village.  After all: guns don't kill people, donkeys do. Of course, I had to go look. So off to Waikoloa Village I went.  Searching for KILLER DONKEYS!! Cool!! 


There were signs all over like this:

Teaser Sign leading you to believe there are donkeys close by

I was so excited cuz it meant I was getting close!!  Soon I would see killer donkeys!  Must be around the next bend. Or the next. Wait, there's another donkey sign!  Oooooo, donkeys for the next four miles!  This is it!  For sure I'll see killer donkeys soon!  I looked to the left:

Seems like good donkey territory to me

But there were no donkeys there.  I looked to the right:

No donkeys here

Nary a donkey to be seen.  Six hundred killer donkeys running rampant through Waikoloa Village and yet there is no sign of them anywhere.  I saw neither hide nor hair of donkey, killer or otherwise. Not a single hoof print.  Not one pile of donkey dookey. Seriously, six hundred donkeys and nary a pile of poo anywhere?  Right.  At the end of my trek I concluded that there are no donkeys anywhere on that island. It had to be a hoax. You can't hide six hundred donkeys killer or otherwise.  Interestingly enough, I didn't see a single dog in Waikoloa Village either. Donkeys must have killed them all before they vanished into the sunset.  At dawn.