The flight was long and uneventful, we had a fat American spilling over into Alex's seat just to introduce us to the country! Luckily though he didn't say a word the whole flight so it wasn't too bad. We picked up the hire car straightaway in LA - its a Chrysler PT Cruiser - the ugliest car in the world I reckon. Its supposed to be an economy class but its quite big, drives like a tank, and did I say its mighty ugly (kind ye olde worlde looking). Anyway, its got 4 wheels and goes so I shouldn't complain.
We drove all the way to Vegas the day we arrived (well, Alex drove cos I was too scared of driving on the first day - on the right hand side and all). Found a cheap motel - only just as the guy didn't understand us when we asked for a double room, he said 'two rooms'? we said no, one room with a double bed, 'oh that is just a bed', he said! Alex then proceeded to get into the right hand side of the car to move it out of the layby/waiting area - oops! We did a whirlwind walk along the Strip in the evening but after a couple of hours we were spent - that place is sensory overload!
The next morning, after a quick squizz at the Hoover Dam, I decided to launch myself into it and sit in the driver's seat for the first time. The weirdest thing is seeing cars driving themselves (cos the driver is sitting on the wrong side!) Anyway, we made it to Zion National Park where we have been based for the last few days. Yesterday, we did a mammoth 25km hike down the Virgin Narrows, the Virgin River traverses the national park and we basically walked down the length of it, mostly off-trail in the water. We were very glad of our sticks as the water was rushing pretty strongly in places, the deepest point was up to our waists! We reckon we crossed the river about 200 times! Beautiful scenery though, starting with flush meadows and ending in a gorge.
Today was a day of extremes! We both woke up not feeling great and the weather wasn't looking too hot but we decided to head to the trailhead for our hike anyway. Once we got there things were looking up, all we had to do was hitch a ride to our start point about 9 miles up the road - easy.... except there were no cars at all (it was about 7am as people told us to get there early to get a lift). We stuck out our thumbs and lo and behold the second pick up that came along stopped. He was an old retired guy going up the mountain to pick up wood - great, we arrived at the top no worries... until we realised that I had left the car keys where we were waiting for a ride - doh!!! All we could do was start walking back down the road to get the keys - all 9 miles of it! I was feeling awful thinking that someone would pick up our keys and drive away our car! Luckily though the next pick up that came along picked us up and took us back down. Our keys were there glinting in the sun. Then it was back to square one to hitch a ride back up! Some other hikers were driving up there and we all squashed in - about 10 in a 4wd I think to fit us in - very nice of them. So, after all that faffing around we finally made a start. It was beautiful and definitely worth it - lots of slick rock and pinnacles and peaks all around - similar to the Larapinta trail near Alice Springs if you've been there. Anyway, we walked down and down into the start of a canyon which was dry at first and then later had water. People had warned us that the water is cold but we didn't really believe them because its been over 90 degrees (30 celcius) since we got here, but man it was cold. We had all our thermals on and we just couldn't stop shivering. Luckily in a way we had more sun in the canyon because we'd wasted more than an hour in our car key mishap! Will have to post some pics sometime of the canyon because it was magnificent. We did a couple of abseils and some very cold swims... then the rest was just rock hopping down river (again!) before a big climb back out. Altogether great!
We've topped off today by having a skinny dip in the river just outside of town because we couldn't find the place that has showers! Much more fun in the river anyway! So tomorrow is our last day here before we head towards Lake Powell. Phew, that was a mammoth blog!
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