Spiders, heat, the (not so) driest place in North America and crazy huge storm!

Arches NP(19.09) still camping near the Arches NP. I took a shower in the morning, we packed our staff and went to the park. The main attractions are probably the Delicate Arch, Balanced Rock and the Windows. The trail for the Delicate Arch is only 5km long so we only took water and camera. We kinda forgot the fact that we are in (half)desert so we ignored time and hiked it at noon. Dumbasses. In two hours we drank 4 litres of water!

There was another 12km long trail but now we were a bit smarter, skipped that and continued to Las Vegas which took us about 8 hours. 

We thought we're gonna book some cheap hotel (there is plenty of them in LV) but again- we forgot that it is friday and the only affordable hotels will be super creepy (as we found out later). We tried a campground in LV as well but it looked more like a squat so to save ourselves we decided to leave asap. At last we ended up in a camp 40minutes away from Vegas.10$ per night. Bargain!!! 

Las vegas (20.09) We found out only in the morning why it was so cheap! - when we woke up and finally saw where we are. About 30cm away from our tent there was huge tarantula!!! It was dead already but anyways. It scared the crap out of me! (And it was not the first one that we saw on the trip. I'd rather see black bear, grizly and mountain lion at the same time than having a huge tarantula or poisonous black widow spider in my tent.) Later we found out that we are in area where tarantulas, scorpions, rattlesnakes and widdow spiders are at home here. Which made the dessicion about next night pretty easier- we are not gonna spend any more time on the ground. We tried to book a hotel but during weekend it's not that cheap so we are spending next night in the same camp. In a car! 

(BREAKING NEWS 20.09) That was the best decision because there was huge huge storm during the night and car is the safest possible place. I haven't seen such big storm and such heavy rain in months!!! (We kinda enjoyed it because in SF there was no rain at all for the whole summer) Breathtaking! We even had to leave the camp because it was too low and too close to the lake. We drove to the Visitor center about 5 minutes away from the camp and there was already flood on the certain parts of the road! We were taking photos and videos on GoPro so you'll hopefully see it too. The storm was right above us for an hour and it lasted for almost all night. We could litterally feel the electric tension in the air everywhere around!

*Damn nature, you're scary!*

...During the day we went to see the Hoover Dam- which allowed us to be in two states at the same time (Arizona and Nevada) and than drove almost 4 hours to Death Valley NP. It is the most driest place in North America and guess what?? It was raining all the time that we were there! We were watching lightings all the way there and back which was beautiful and scary at the same time. 

At the end of the day we decided that we are gonna be fancy bitches tomorrow- our last day in the US- so we booked a room in hotel with bath tub, pool and everything. Suit-up Bro! Yay!

Bryce Canyon!!!

We spent the night in the camp near the Bryce Canyon which is only 130miles away from Zion and I couldn't believe how cold it was!!! It was freezing! We had to leave the tent, go to sleep to the car. The cold woke me up every two hours so I turned the car heating for a while and went to sleep again. It was really surprising after the day when the temperature reached 40•C...

Let's see about the temperature in Bryce during the day...

(16.09) Bryce Canyon-  we spent the whole day wandering through the Red Canyon Park but it was more piqunique than anything else... Today just was not our day. 

In the evening we (Juri) baked delicious potatos and our lovely 'camp-lord' she brought us blankets so we won't be freezing again during the night. 

(17.09) Bryce Canyon- we booked a horseback ride at 8am in the park ( I was waiting for that since last year) so I was super excited! When we came there they picked one horse to each person. At first I thought it was about the riding skills- they gave me the smallest horse because I haven't riden a horse since childhood and Juri got really big one because he was riding as a teenager. But after few moments we found out that Juri's Gates was a mule and not a horse so he was as lazy as a donkey :D He barely walked... And my sweet P.J kept up with the guide all the time! It was FUN!!! (Besides the fact that my butt hurts like never before and my muscles do too, even those muscles that I had no idea I have :D) After the horseback riding we hit the road to Arches- our last narional park. 

We found an awesome campsite! Not only with restrooms, showers and wifi... But also with a pool!! When we found that out, we took our clothes off( we didn't even bother to put on our swimmimg suits) and in our underwear jumped into the pool and played like children. We also tried my GoPro in the water-I hope we made some good underwater videos :)

Then we bought one sixpack and got drunk in the car with the sounds of Billy Barman, Vypsana Fixa and Kadebostany...

(18.09) 

Beautiful Zion National Park!

 ...

4. Zion NP (13.9. 12.30am) We came to the Zion area around 12am so there was no time for looking for a campsite. We came to a town called Hurricane, park our car in front of someone's house and just slept there- At one point during the night I woke up and saw two strangers next to our car looking at us through the window which scared the hell out of me. I was pretending I am asleep and they left eventually but it was fucking scary!

In the morning we  finally found a store with GoPro accesories !!! I love you Target <3 at arround 11am we came to the Zion NP, had a picnic there and went for a short hike to try the new GoPro. 

In the evening we accidentaly found a campsite near Zion so we 'booked' two nights there. Unfortunatelly there are no showers so we will have to "take showers" with wet napkins for some more time :( :)

5. Zion NP (14.9.) 

The view in the morning was amazing! The camp is actualy near some lake so the morning sunshine was glittering on the surface of the lake which gives it a special touch. 

After the breakfast we packed our stuff in plastic bags (food, extra clothes, camera, water) because the plan for today was the Narrows which is a hike where the Virgin River is the path. I was looking forward to this hike since last year! It was fun at first to wade through the river with the red canyon above our heads but after some time it was all the same so we just turned around and went back to the starting point. Don't get me wrong- it was beautiful and fun but I guess after Half Dome we just need something much more challenging. We'll see about tomorrow Angel's landing hike.

We spent the evening looking for some store where they would sell vegetables and fruits and I know it may sound easy, it is not here! We had to go to St. George and ask some locals for directions because everywhere there were just fast-foods! (On the road trip I can see perfectly how much I need fruits and vegetables everyday!) 

We spent next night in the same camp, woke up at 6am and repeated the morning routine as we did yesterday.

6. Zion NP (15.9) Today's plan was the Angel's landing hike which appeared much more challengind than the Narrows so I was looking forward to it so much! (Please google the Angel's landing so you have any idea what am I talking about before I add any photos ;)) It was challenging mostly for me because I am fearfull of heights, I feel dizzy very often and sometimes I faint. 

After all it all went great! It took us only 1 hour and half (which was pretty dissapointing actually) and my fear of heights is really getting better after all the craziness we've done (Mt. Tallac, Half Dome, ... ) we were videoing the whole journey on my GoPro so after I cut it into something watchable I'll let you know ;) 

After the hike we had to leave the Zion area heading to Bryce Canyon. We found a campsite with very nice managers and finally and what is the most important thing- there are SHOWERS!!! Warm cosy beatiful showers! You can't imagine the feeling after few days of hiking! ;) (and on the top of that there is wifi- connection too) 

See you tomorrow, Bryce Canyon ;)

P. S I'll add some photos as soon as possible ;)

The road-trip begins!!! <3

1. Los Angeles (11pm)We are now sitting at the Greyhound station in Los Angeles waiting for our next bus to Las Vegas. The journey was quite pleasant- there was enough space for our feet and that's important! We've had some issues with our luggage- we could only bring one big suitcase 50lbs max so we had to get rid of few things in SF (well... Get rid... We just put it in different bag and after they put the label on our baggage we put everything back :D nailed iiit) however, we still have a huge pillow, longboard, a ball, two backpacks and two bags full of food (because we were supposed to go by car)

I can't wait until we put all our shits into the trunk!

2. (6.30am) Las Vegas baby! 

We arrived to Las Vegas at 4.30am took a bus to the airport where we already rent a car- black Kia with enough space for 5 people just for two of us! 

The fun begins!

3. Grand Canyon! (12.30pm) We saw several elks, two coyotes, hundreds of squarels and tousand of tourists (that is a special animal too believe me). Eventho I've been to Grand Canyon last year it took my breath again. The view is just spectacular!!!

Still looking for some shop with GoPro accesories!!!

Plans may change- that´s why we never plan anything!

Our "plan" was to rent a car in San Francisco in the morning (we even made a reservation!), leave San Francisco arround 9am and spent next 17 hours in a car driving to Grand Canyon.

Everything changed when we arrived to Alamo Rental and both our credit cards were declined. Well poor student like us just dont have ""spare change"" on our cards.

But it couldn´t stop young wise travelers like us. We are now booking our Greyhound tickets to Las Vegas and our car in Las Vegas... so the ""plan"" is now:

1. Take Greyhound to Las Vegas (12.50PM ---> 4.30AM)
2. Pick-up car at the Airport in LV
3. Hit the road to Grand Canyon

It actually doesn´t sound that difficult right?   Well.. we´ll see about that...

Hiked it. Liked it. HALF DOME!

The biggest challenge during this summer was waiting for us in Yosemite National Park.
Juri, Frank and I decided to "play" the lottery on Monday so we can get the permission to hike Half Dome on Wednesday. There were some difficulties with Frank´s day off but in the end everything was how it was supposed to be. Frank got a day off. We won the permissions.

On Tuesday in the morning we went to buy some very needed things like headlights, gloves, food etc.. and then arround 10am hit the road to the Yosemite NP. I was the driver again- because I can function perfectly with almost no sleep at all.

We "booked" a place in the nearest campsite, cooked some sausages on a fire and got ourselves ready for sleep at around 7pm. The plan was to wake up at 11.45pm and hit the road around 12.30pm so we can be at the top of Half Dome with the sunrise.
We were probably more tired than we thought because Frank woke us up around 12.45pm (the alarm clock wasn´t working) so eventually we started at 1.15am.

We put the headlights on our foreheads, packed our backpacks with gallon of water each, some snack bars and fruits and the rest of the food and cosmetics put into the bearboxes near the parking lot. (There are bears everywhere in Yosemite so it is against the law to leave anything eatable in the car)

It was super scary! Three backpackers. The woods. The darkness. The bears. I was really almost crying how scares I was and really wanted to turn away and go back to the safest place around- car.
But Frank and Juri were playing like everything is alright and there are no bears at all  bla bla bla... I knew anyways that they are scared to death as well as I was.

The beggining was the worst. I don´t know why but everytime when I start hiking I am dying at the beginning! I couldn´t catch my breath and it was not even that steep at all. I was really thinking about going back. But fortunatelly I overcame that.

We were hiking during the night for almost 5 hours and it was not as hard as I expected. It was more difficult on our psychical skills rather than physical and personaly for me the elevation was not good for my dizziness at all. It was so dark that I couln´t see anything other than meter or two in front of me so I really didn´t know where am I going, But that was actually good as I found out when we were on our way back during the day because if I saw where am I going I would´t go there for sure.

We reached the top at 6.05am, it was freezing, we were tired and hungry but it was all worth the view! Sunrise on the top of the Half Dome was truly stunning!

On our way back it was crazy hot so it was actually he best idea to do the hike during the night- If we hiked it during the day one gallon of water wouldn´t be enugh for sure.

Why is it better to hike Half Dome during the night:

* You can see the sunrise from the top
* You don´t need that much water as during the day (so gallon is actually enough)
* You won´t get tired as easily (because of the temperature)
* You don´t have to "share" the trail with other people (just bears)
* You can´t see where are you going so eventho you are scared of heights you can climb it
* Especially on the cables you can take your time as you need it because there is nobody else
* You can see the beautiful sky FULL of stars
* Nobody will find it weird if you´re screamimg on bears during all way up

Mt. Tallac- Lake Tahoe

This time it was five of us doing a roadtrip to Lake Tahoe- Juri, me, Frank, Alex and Colby. I was the driver so I had the best seat in the car and Colby and Juri were taking turns next to me mostly because of navigating. We woke up at 7am picked up the car 2 blocks away from our hotel and left San Francisco.

On our way we picked up Colby in Oakland (that´s where he lives) and went to Safeway and SportsAuthority so we could buy everything needed. We spent almost 2 hours in the malls so when we finally hit the road to Lake Tahoe it was almost 10.30am but we didn´t plan any hikes for today anyways.

When we got to the Tahoe at first we went to the Visitor Centre where a lovely lady gave us a map with all campsites and hikes near the lake. We picked the closest camp to the most difficult hike in Tahoe- Mt. Tallac hike. There were two different ways to get up to the top- easier but longer one or more difficult but a little shorter. We decided to make the choice the next day.

We chose the Fallen Leaf campsite because it was very close to the lake Fallen Leaf where we could swim before it got dark. We parked at our spot, changed our clothes into bathing suits, put all the food in the bearbox and went to the lake. It was kinda cold at first but after some time rather refreshing. Only me, Juri and Frand dared to swim- Colby and Alex were just sitting on the rocks in the water. It felt amazing to take a swim after so long and what was the best- surrounded by beautiful nature.

After the lake we got back to our camp, set a fire and prepared everything for the dinner. We bought some sausages (for me and Colby the vegetarian ones), vegetables, fruits, snacks, chips, many beers, three bottles of wine... It was plenty of food for the whole bear family :))) After the dinner we sqeezed into our sleeping bags near the fire talking and watching the stars.

In the morning we decided to go the more difficult way up to the top of Mt. Tallac. We just made one huge mistake- we didn´t take enough of water for the five of us so if was very difficult to finish the hike and get down to our car again. At first we started all together but after some time we found out that me, Juri and Frank have the same tempo so it was more like the three of us heading first and Alex and Colby behind us. (That was pretty interesting to find out- I get tired more easily when I go slovly rather than fast)

We had enough food but not at all enough water so in the heat we had to take many breaks (especially me- I got dizzy very easily because of the dehydration).

After we reached the top we took a short break, had some fruits and snacks and took some pictures together as a proovement that we did it!

The way down was suposed to be easier but for us it wasn´t at all because of the dehydration. I felt dizzy most of the time and was really scared about fainting. On our way down we dipped in the lake that was near the trail but we couldn´t drink the water so it was more against the heat than the dehydration. 

After 2 hours and 30 minutes we finally got into our car where unfortunatelly wasn´t even a drop of water- only beers. I drank almost one whole beer before I realised that I am the driver. We didn´t even wait for Colby and Alex and drove to the Visitor Centre which was only about 5 minutes away. There were the water fountains where we could hydrate ourselves and fill up the bottles for guys when they finish the hike.

It all ended allright. everybody is okay, no permanent "mark" on us. Only for Colby it was kinda shock- it was his first real hike in life! (He is from Florida that´s why)

That was kinda preparation for me Juri and Frank for Half Dome that we plan to climb in September :)