Park Units 72, 73, 74: Devil's Tower National Monument, Jewel Cave National Monument, Mt. Rushmore National Memorial

LA to NJ Road Trip: Day 4

Devil's Tower National Monument

7/31/16. We drove 3.5 more hours across the desolate Wyoming landscape this morning to arrive at Devil's Tower. The dramatic build up for this monument was terrific! Coming down one of the many hills, the huge tower appears out of nowhere. The WOW factor for this park unit was terrific. It's hard to imagine that the tower is made from a magma flow 5 million years ago.

 According the NPS website, "The magma which formed Devils Tower cooled and crystallized into a rock type known as phonolite porphyry. It is a light to dark-gray or greenish-gray igneous rock with conspicuous crystals of white feldspar. Hot molten magma is less dense and occupies more volume than cool hardened rock. As the rock cooled, it contracted, forming hexagonal (and sometime 4-, 5- and 7-sided) columns separated by vertical cracks."
What is so amazing about this monument are the very obvious crystal columns. They are so different than anything we've seen before. It's a great place for rock climbing and we could see many people climbing the 1200 foot tower. It's also at 5,000 feet elevation, (the average elevation in Wyoming is 6700 ft. so we have gotten used to being a little out of breath!) At the base of the monument lives a colony of prairie dogs that were ridiculously cute. They reminded us of The Land Ride at Disney, ha ha!

Jewel Cave National Monument

We finally crossed into South Dakota and stopped at Jewel Cave. We knew we'd be too late to get tickets to visit the cave on a Sunday, but we are planning to go into Wind Cave tomorrow instead which is part of the same system. 

We explored the rest of the grounds that are open without a ticket, including the historical opening of the Jewel Cave and the log cabin and improvements made by the CCC in the 1930s. The most interesting thing was the frigid air coming out of the cave! Amazing how the air can flow so strongly from the cave and be so cold.

We were delighted to see some bighorn sheep on the hill as we left the monument. 

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Our last stop today was at Mt. Rushmore. We were very impressed with the Black Hills (and so glad to get out of the dry plains) and the rock formations towering above like huge fingers. 

We actually thought the carvings were smaller than we expected and we have some reservations about how the rocks have been defaced by these carvings, but the memorial surrounding the area itself is lovely and patriotic. 

We left the area exhausted but looking forward to tomorrow's adventures!

Park Units 70 & 71: Timpanogos Cave NM and Fossil Butte NM

LA to NJ Road Trip Day 3

7/30/16. We had a wonderful surprise this morning when an old family friend in Utah contacted us on Facebook. She suggested we stop by on our road trip and we realized we were only 15 minutes away so we stopped for a wonderful visit to meet the man who had been my father's best friend as a young adult and served with him in the navy in WWII. What a wonderful, unexpected treat!

This visit gave us a late start, but was worth it! We quickly headed to Timpanogos Cave National Monument which was surprisingly crowded since you need tickets to visit the cave and they sell out. We had not planned on visiting the cave itself because of time and claustrophobia and a strenuous 1.5 hour hike to get there, so we enjoyed the surrounding area and visitor's center instead. This would be a great stop for those who love caves!

Fossil Butte National Monument

Next we drove 3.5 hours to Fossil Butte National Monument -- in the most remote part of  Wyoming (we thought at the time...) This was a fascinating locale with an first-rate visitor's center that had amazing fossils from the time when this area was covered in lakes. 

The educational value was very high--both in explaining the different geological periods and changes, and in showing the scientific processes for recovering the fossils. There was a scientist on premises working at the center with fossils. It's hard to believe the area was once a wetland. Talk about climate change!!

Next we drove another 4.5 hours through the most desolate, desolate, desolate area of Wyoming to stay in Casper. There was no sign of animals or human presence for hour after hour. Just sagebrush and dry hills. Occasional valley or butte. Did I mention desolate? Frightening, humbling, stupefying. How can this country be so BIG? The size is inconceivable until you experience it firsthand!

Park Units 68 & 69: Zion National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument

7/29/16. We left very early to park at Zion, get our National Parks Interagency Pass, and get on line for the Zion Canyon shuttle since cars are not allowed in the summer. We waited about 30 minutes for the shuttle at 8am - that's how crowded the park was.

We first hiked up the Emerald Pool Trail. I had to nag Catherine to stop taking so many photos and slowing us down since everything was so gorgeous! 

We met a nice couple on the trail who we switched off taking pictures of each other. Everyone in the national parks is so friendly!

Next we took the shuttle to the weeping rock trail which was especially interesting to us since they had labels on all the flora. The trail was very green and shaded and the weeping rock provided a cool break from the heat. The views in the canyon were, of course, magnificent!

At midday we stopped for lunch and then drove up to Kolob Canyon, the northern, less crowded part of Zion. Wow, were we glad we did. The views were incredible! The iconic post-cards of Zion come from this section, we realized. We both felt this section of the park was more impressive and beautiful than Zion Canyon and many visitors don't make it up here. It was more than worth the extra hour drive.

Cedar Breaks National Monument

By now it was getting late in the day since we spent more time in Kolob Canyon than we planned. We hit the road, heading north to Cedar Break Canyon. We were tired and didn't really want to stop but we wanted the stamp. We were hoping it was a boring park and we could come and go quickly. We stopped at the visitor's center, got our passport stamps, then...we looked out the big windows unto the canyon. INCREDIBLE!! The colors, the shapes, the scale, the awesome view took our breath away. We couldn't get enough of this amazing sight. We both think it's one of our top favorites.

Catherine had her professional camera with her, so the photos are stunning. We spent a long time here, stopping at all the vista points and enjoying the work of the CCC back in the 1930's. We were so very glad we still had time to enjoy this park at the end of the day. We didn't get to our hotel in Lehi, Utah until 9:30 but it was worth the time at Cedar Breaks. We can't recommend it highly enough!!!!

Park 48 Reprise: Mojave National Preserve

DAY 1: LA to NJ Road Trip

7/28/16. We spent the last day in California saying goodbye to Disneyland. This was the first place we stopped when Catherine came to California 3 years ago, so we ended her stay her the same way. We made it special by playing Pokemon Go and doing our favorite rides and activities. It will be very hard for Catherine to give up her weekend trips!

We headed out midday for our 6.5 hour drive to Hurricane UT (close to Zion). Along the way we went through the Mojave National Preserve, which we've visited before, but the late day sun made the desert magnificent. The diversity of the geology is amazing - as was the 121 degree heat!!! When we stopped to get a passport stamp in Kelso, it was difficult to breathe and the heat actually hurt.

We stopped on the road along the way to our hotel to watch Hillary Clinton's acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for president. We sang "Fight Song" for the rest of the trip in honor of her campaign!

It was a long drive through the desert, but a beautiful way to start out appreciating our national park units. Can't wait for more to come!