Pointedly Nomadic: March 2017

**It's Char- my turn for a post : ) Title is lyric from Ramblin' Man, I like the cover by Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell, check it out**

Days 194-197 (March 14^th-17^th)

We drove through Las Vegas where we stopped to do... LAUNDRY. Yeah, no titties for us. Just clothes.

What the hell is this contraption

Leaving Vegas

Then we drove to Hurricane, Utah just outside of Zion National Park to a Walmart to sleep. Too cold for tenting.

Zion National Park

Zion was crazy packed when we got there. It was maybe noon and there was no parking in the visitor center so we decided to just find a trailhead to park at. We lucked out and found the East Rim Trail where there weren't many people.

On the way to the park

Arrival

Driving through Zion

These are now photos from the East Rim Trail where we hiked almost 5 miles:

The next day I was ridiculously tired and the thought of hiking was the worst so we hung out...in the car. Haha, we read and cooked food and it was really nice. We took a walk at the end of the day and the surrounding neighborhood was beautiful.

It was a really cute neighborhood

Someone living down there by the lake

Such a good shot, Karol (bang bang +k)

Stunning

The next day we went back to Zion and did the Kayenta trail that lead to the Upper Emerald Pools trail. Pics below:

We had lunch after that hike and some deer were hanging out!

Super cute

Then we did the Riverside Walk trail (except that the next picture is of the big bend =k).

We then finally found a campsite with wood to gather for a fire. We've been in desert for a while so it was nice to make a real campsire (I knight thee... _k). Karol was stoked.

Our spot

Tee-pee-ing

Ragin' (I slowly rolled that big stump from up the hill, you can see a pockmark in the ground up there, under the big rock -k)

Slow death

Day 198 (March 18^th)

Bryce Canyon

Then was Bryce Canyon, which was definitely my favorite in Utah and possibly one of my favorites, periodo. So incredibly gorgeous, especially in the winter with the bright orange canyons speckled with trees and snow. We hiked from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point and then went down the Navajo loop trail for a little while. Part of it was closed because of snow so we couldn't do the entire loop. We then found another free campsite for the night.

Arrival

On the way to Sunrise Point

I think most of these pictures speak for themselves so I'm not captioning all of them.

Sunset Point

Thor's Hammer

Bathroom pic

Day 199 (March 19^th)

Vermillion Cliffs, Horseshoe Bend, and Monument Valley

Today was mostly driving with some quick stops.

Vermillion Cliffs in Arizona

Vermillion Cliffs and all that sky

A scenic view point on the way to Horseshoe Bend (apparently I was drunk taking these pictures =k)

Horseshoe Bend in Arizona, 1.2 mile hike to get to the viewpoint

Chillin' like a villain

Had some delicious fish and chips at Nemo's in Page, AZ. Ignore the corndog, it wasn't great.

Greasy goodness

Monument VAlley (disclaimer: not actually in VA =k)

Monument Valley 2

More Monument Valley, we just drove through (it wasn't a national park so we couldn't get in with our pass =k)

Such a cool drive

Wata

On our drive to the campsite

Booti-ful

Our spot, right outside of Canyonlands

Day 200 (March 20^th)

Canyonlands

Heading to Canyonlands

Arrival

Bathroom pic

We hiked 5 trails in Canyonlands. First we were in The Needles, which is in the southern part of the park. We hiked Cave Spring Trail and Pothole Point.

Cave Spring Trail

Cave

We ran some of it, action shot!

There were two ladders, also

YAY

We were not expecting views like this

Karol loves this one (yes I do heeeeheeeeheheheh =k)

ORANGE

Pothole Point

My buff walk

Really cool formations

It looks like sculptures +k

Pothole Point

Purdy flowrz

Then we drove to the northern part of the park called Island in the Sky (who wouldn't go there?!) We stopped at a gas station and ate on the way- it was 2 hours to get to the other side of the park.

A view from...somewhere : )

A tumbleweed blowing in the wind, I love it

COOKIE MONSTA CUPCAKE

We hiked Murphy's Point, Whale Rock, and Mesa Arch while we were up in the Island in the Sky section.

Start of Murphy's Point

Crazy

Not a bad spot

Murphayyyyyy

So...yeah, I was thinking of how I could act out a whale but just started laughing hysterically instead

Panorama on top of Whale Rock, please ignore my stretching haha

This was a pretty awesome trail, a little bit of climbing involved

It's fun to stay at the...

Drive

Mesa Arch, some distance away

The real view up close through the arch

Surrounding formations at Mesa Arch

More magic

Our spot for the night not too far outside of Arches National Park, note the mint blue color on the mountains, so wild

We thought a tornado was a brewin'

Sunset

Day 201 (March 21^st)

Arches

Why you gotta say...good morning

Arches was underwhelming to us. We hiked Double Arch, Skyline Arch, and then we saw the Tunnel and Pine Tree arches right off of the trail leading to Devil's Garden.

Double Arch from afar

Close, you can climb up there too as you can the peeps

View from the top

Streaks

Start of Skyline Arch

Skyline Arch

Pine Tree Arch

Pine Tree Arch 2

Tunnel Arch

He gets creepier and creepier...

Then we drove to Grand Junction, Colorado for the night.

Hey, it's Colorado, for both of our first times

Bathroom pic

Treated ourselves to cheap wing night at Buffalo Wild Wings

View outside of the Walmart in Grand Junction we slept at

Day 202 (March 22^nd)

Parachute, Colorado

We hadn't showered in 9 days, so we splurged for our second time on the whole trip for a hotel. It was cheap and really, really nice. Had a pool and hot tub so first thing, we swam like fishies. I always forget how much I love water until I'm in it and then it feels like I've been away from home for ages (yeah she's really obviously at home in the water, it's pretty cool. I guess she's a mermaid after all =k).

The room

Hotel bathroom pic

In case you are unfamiliar, this is a cum tree. It smells like semen.

Day 203 (March 23^rd)

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Went to Black Canyon of the Gunnison...it was closed

So we drove away

And it started snowing (upwards of 10,000 feet in elevation, yo =k)

Mountains...everywhere

Stopped to cook

It was...pretty gross

We drove to Colorado Springs where we were ravenous and had Smashburger. After eating we saw there was a blizzard warning. We stayed at a Walmart, assuming they'd be quick about plowing and luckily they were (luckily we didn't get plowed in to our spot cause it didn't snow as much as they forecast =k).