The Midnight Plane

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// August 16th - Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park & Zion National Park // Distance today: 492 km // Total: 2571 km //

It's becoming a routine to get up and leave while it's still dark outside. I passed the Red Canyon again, dipped in the beautiful light of the rising sun. I'll never get used to seeing colors like these.

Usually, you never really know the beauty of a National Park until you actually enter it.

It looks alright from the outside, but after passing the gates a whole new, magical world of the wonders of the nature surrounds you.

So, the Bryce Canyon National Park surprised me. Huge red canyons, rocks in wondrous and bizarre formations like stalactites, clear blue sky. Still, I knew my schedule was quite tight, so I started right away and hiked a combined trail.

Maybe 30 minutes later, I met one of the employees of the park, who was hiking the trail before starting work. He taught me about the 'secrets' of the National Park - how the formations were created and that the Native Americans used to call the groups of tall, stretched rocks "Hoodoos", which related to the word Voodoo. At night, the rocks and their dark shadows appear to be people, soldiers, standing in groups and guarding... well, that's up to your imagination.

But also besides talking about the National Park, we had a great time chatting about everything under the sun. When traveling alone, you will always meet amazing people.

And how another author fittingly described - you get that "lone wolf" aura. You're comfortable being alone, seem strong, like you don't need anyone - so, considering my personal experience with that, I noticed that people tend to tell me more about their life than I could ever imagine back home.

Complete strangers talk about their private life, like you've known them forever. And for some reason, it never feels weird or inappropriate.

Because I guess it has something comforting, doesn't it? You can basically say anything you want, talk about what's really on your mind and get an opinion that is truly impartial. No one will get hurt, no one is judged, and even if that would be the case - if you don't want to, you'll never see that person again.

Anyways, after showing me some other great viewing spots in the National Park, he went to work and I strolled around for a bit, but left soon afterwards, heading to Zion National Park.

I stopped in the middle of nowhere at a German Bakery (they had Flammkuchen!) for lunch and continued my journey.

Zion National Park - it will literally blow your mind. It's not comparable to anything that I've ever seen before. I wasn't even able to take a picture that would show at all how impressive the landscape is. Seriously, it doesn't look so special at all in the photos I took.

I guess it's about the dimension of the mountains, also the shape and color, but primarily the enormous size of the mountains left and right, it just left me utterly speechless.

When entering the park I was listening to the "Appalachian Morning" by Paul Winter, and since I connect some precious memories with that, I had tears in my eyes and stopped in awe at the side of the road. Surrounded by the colors red and green, with the mountains rising up hundreds of feet above me.

I hiked two trails - a very short one to the "weeping rock", where I was able to walk behind a filmy waterfall dripping down from some rocks. The other trail lead up to a little lake by the foot of one of the mountains I reached after an enormous amount of stairs. Well, not like the 3000 up to Machu Picchu, but still. I passed a few other falls, but since it's summer, most of them were pretty drained.

Still, I was amazed by the beauty of this park. It was too bad I didn't have the gear (nor the permission) to hike The Narrows, one of the most amazing trails I could ever imagine to hike. But at least that's a good reason to come back!

I got back to my car right after it got dark. Well, time to figure out where to sleep...

I tried to check the campgrounds close to the National Park, but also somewhat on the way to Death Valley, but some were deep down in a forest (I wasn't eager to find my way there in the dark), others had to be paid for (actually quite a lot), and after this day, I also really wished to take a shower.

So, next step - looking up hostels, hotels and motels. Whoa, pricy! But then another idea popped up in my mind. There was a place, less than two hours away and on the way to Death Valley National Park, and I've been there once before...

// August 15th - Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend & Leaving Arizona // Distance today: 549 km // Total: 2079 km //

Thunder rolling. Lightning, first in the distance, but I was getting closer and closer.

The thunderstorm was right over the hill the GPS was guiding me to. Good start.
An abandoned, soggy campground. Three dogs barking aggressively. No host.
Just two other men, campers, watching as I pass by...
But that's the end of the day, so I'll come back to this later.

August 15th actually started pretty well. I left the campground at Grand Canyon early in the morning, hoping I'd still get a spot for a tour to Antelope Canyon. All tours started from Page, still Arizona. This town didn't have anything else to offer but the tours to the Canyon and churches. ALL the churches you can imagine. For the smallest religions. The whole street, and it seemed like it was never ending. I think the only church missing was the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster (google it, if you don't know it), but I'm sure theirs was just hidden in one of the side streets. Alright, seen Page.

Antelope Canyon

I was lucky and got one of the last two spots due to a cancellation, so I hopped on the jeep just a few minutes later, to the Upper Antelope Canyon.
Antelope Canyon is closed to public, you are obligated to book a tour. Gun shots and graffiti at the very end of the canyon made this decision totally comprehensible. Still, even though it was so early, and I had one of the first tours - I felt like we were cattle being pushed through the tight canyon walls. "There is another group coming, we have to move on!" - "Keep on moving folks!" - "Stand at this exact spot, take a picture and move on!". That was basically it. It's a beautiful place. But crowded as a park with a rare Pokémon in it.
After what felt like an hour we tried to push ourselves back through the Canyon, back on the jeep, back to the town full of churches, back in the car, onward it goes, continuing the trip.
Next stop:

Horseshoe Bend

Such an INCREDIBLE place. The Colorado River forms a perfect "U" around a giant red rock, and only when you see a bird flying by or the rafting boats in the river, while sitting at the edge of the rock, you can somehow imagine the dimensions. It's enormous. I spent quite a while just sitting there, letting the feeling of joy, that I get to see places like this, flow through me.
Unfortunately at some point it started to rain and a smaller sandstorm made it really uncomfortable to stay. The wind blowing the sand hard in people's faces, most of them fled within minutes. So did I.

Red Canyon

On the way to my campground I passed the Red Canyon on the Dixie National Forest in Utah. It gave me a first impression of what was waiting for me the next day in Bryce Canyon National Park. It felt a little bit like home - Disney World. How many times did we ride the Big Thunder Mountain Rollercoaster through canyons like this? Just that this was the actual thing. Not Frontierland in Magic Kingdom.
I stopped and walked around for a bit, but also wanted to reach my campground before nightfall. Well. I managed to do so, but...

American Horror Story

So, coming back to the introduction.
I already had a bad feeling when I saw the thunderstorm coming closer. I knew my campground was back there, right in the center, right where I saw all the lightning flashing every few seconds. Great. But also - the reservation was already made.
Almost missing the turn, I drove up a graveled path for multiple miles. The thunderstorm keeping me company. the path ended in said campground. Barely any signs. I ended up at a fork. Well, where to go?
I decided to go to the left. Wrong decision, nothing here. No people, no restrooms, but two group campgrounds, apparently reserved in about a week from now.
I went back, this time taking the right turn - the RV of the host! Yes. People. I needed to find out the number of my campsite, since nothing was assigned before.
When I knocked at the door, no human answered, but at least three dogs, scratching the doors, jumping up the window, barking aggressively. Okay, no one here...
Continuing, I drove slowly through the puddles that quickly grew bigger. Found a restroom. No water. Okay, I'm kind of used to that from walking trails, but I thought the description of the campground said something else. Well.
I was surprised that I didn't see another soul, when I actually passed one occupied campsite. One tent, two men under an umbrella, they stopped talking, watching me.
What kind of horror movie is this? I finally found a campsite with my name on the stake, got out of the car, looked around this soggy, deserted place, with the thunderstorm still going on, and decided that I actually didn't plan on either getting struck by lightning, drown in the river right next to my tent, or being murdered by two creepy men tonight, and turned around.

I'm not sure if I was being silly and overcautious, but I just had a really bad feeling in my gut. I guess I would not have slept a bit if I had stayed there.

Learnt my lesson. Don't book too much in advance! You'll always find a spot somewhere, and sometimes it's just better to be able to check it out before.

Well. Better luck next time!

// August 14th - Route 66, Arizona // Distance today: 426 km // Total: 1530 km //

 It smells like incense sticks, the first shop I see will cleanse your Aura, and it feels like someone set back the time. Flagstaff is a charming old town which still transports the atmosphere of another decade. And probably today's highlight.

In the morning I hiked a few miles on the Bright Angel Trail, but I didn’t feel prepared enough to do the whole trail in just one day. It’s a total of almost 10 miles (16 km) one way to the Phantom Ranch, and leads down all the way to the Colorado River and involves descending 1500 m and of course the same altitude up again. That, or hiking Rim to Rim, has to wait until next time, which preferably will not be summer.

It was nice though to see the Canyon from another perspective than the view points though.

Since the Route 66 was on my bucket list, but I basically only crossed it once on my way here, I decided to give it another shot and actually made the road my destination.

I stopped in Flagstaff for a coffee, since I bought a frappuccino on the road and only realized after finishing half of it that it expired about 2 two years ago. This town seems to be all about craft beer, good coffee and spiritual healing. After wandering the streets for a bit I ordered a Coco Loco Latte at the coffee house "Steep", just because I liked the name, and continued on the Route 66.

I drove all the way to Seligman, passing Bellemont, Williams and Ash Fork and if it was not for Steven Fry and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire while driving, I would have been pretty bored. There was not much to see.

The Route 66 and the I-40 overlap a lot, so instead of the expected road with rusty cars or abandoned gas stations at the side of the road it was just following the highway.

Seligman is apparently the “place to be”. Loads of bikers, but also buses full of tourists invaded the small town, especially the old, famous barber shop Delgadillo’s, which is now a gift shop.

I picked the wrong location for a snack (it seemed like it was a place with some history, but I guess it wasn’t famous for more than maybe rude stuff), since I had a family at the table next to me that made my meal way less enjoyable by encouraging each other to burp the alphabet. It was hard to understand but I think they made it to the letter N. Also the staff thought it was very funny and joined the conversation. The actual talking, not the alphabet one.

All in all it was pretty frustrating, and I decided to turn around. I might have missed the best part of the Route 66 then, driving to Kingman, but since I didn’t have internet to check if it’s worth driving an additional 90 miles – I drove back to the Grand Canyon to enjoy some of those views.

Waiting for the next, actual road trip adventure!

// August 13th - Monument Valley, Arizona & Utah // Distance today: 676 km // Total: 1104 km //

By now I’ve been up for 19 hours already. I got up at 1.30 am, got into my car and started driving. I went on. And on. And on.

And on.

It felt like forever until I reached the gate of the park, until I reached the first town, and just driving in the middle of the night with nothing but a straight road for 180 miles made me think this was a bad idea. The fact that I had to drive very concentrated, especially in the National Park itself, made it even harder. I think pretty much every single animal that’s living in this park crossed the street in front of me. Loads of deer, a few stags, a hog even a mountain lion. I felt like I was on a safari.

So many animals, but at this time of the day there were barely any people around. In all those hours I probably didn't pass more than 20 other cars.

I could still see the milky way when I parked for a moment, and not only when I got out of my tent into the car I saw two shooting stars already, but also did some lighten my path for a brief moment while driving.

Since I had to take a few breaks (and walk around, being cautious that neither a wild animal nor an axe murder was around) due to the lack of sleep, I was only about 30 miles away when the sky started turning from pitch black to a soft, very dark blue, which turned into a lighter one, and then the faded rainbow colors of the breaking dawn.

Okay, open Spotify now and put on "Appalachian Morning" by Paul Halley. I actually played this while driving, since it was our road trip song ever since we went to Yellowstone National Park.

I started seeing shapes, the mountains left and right of the street, still grey-ish in color. The typical vegetation, mainly just bushes, around. Here and there some cows next to the street. Then I went over a little hill, and saw the first butte (butte not butt, stop giggling people), just a black silhouette in front of the sky, that now showed a color gradient from a dark blue turning into a bright orange at the horizon.

A few miles later I saw it. Monument Valley, with maybe a dozen of buttes and mesas, and a beautiful daybreak with orange-pink clouds.

It was incredible. I forgot all the hours that I spent in the car, forgot that I barely slept and just gazed at the beauty nature created right in front of me.

Even though the valley was still a bit in the distance, maybe a mile or two as the crow flies, I could not have wished for a better spot, when the run rose up right over the "U" that connected two of the buttes. It was worth every single minute of driving.

After the sunrise I followed the road for a few more miles, but when there was nothing to see anymore except for a rock that was apparently shaped like a Mexican hat (not so exciting), I turned around. And took a bunch of pictures in the middle of the road, because it was still only 7 am, and there were just no other cars. Arizona (and Utah, because that's where I was around that time) apparently love sleeping in.

The fatigue was so present now. But I still didn't want to miss to actually get into Monument Valley, so entering the Navajo Tribal Park. Since it's run by the tribe my annual pass for National Parks didn't cover this, but the entrance fee was worth it nonetheless. I drove the 17 mile-loop, circling around this beautiful landscape that looked like it was right out of a western movie, and stopped at almost every pull-out, because the setting changed so much around every corner, just stunning.

When I finished the loop I was so weary that I took the next parking spot to nap for 30 minutes. A strong coffee ensured that I got home safe, and for the rest of the day I just relaxed in the hammock.

Seeing the sunrise over Monument Valley is probably one of the most beautiful sceneries that I've ever experienced. No matter how far the detour is, if you ever get the chance to visit this part of Arizona and Utah - do it.

// August 12th - Grand Canyon // Distance today: 428 km //

Has it only been one day? It feels so much longer.

Stop 1 – Montezuma’s Well

From Phoenix I started my trip, first to Montezuma’s Well, one of the recommendations I got. It was a natural limestone sinkhole, surrounded by pueblo ruins of people who used to live there about one thousand years ago, around 1050 AD. You were even still able to see the blackened rocks on the “ceiling”, where they used to have their fireplace.

Stop 2 – Sedona

On the way to Sedona I saw the red rocks, the first time since I went to Vegas and Grand Canyon West. Impressive! Sedona itself is a picturesque, colorful town surrounded by those. It’s very touristy, with pink jeeps all around, someone playing the flute and loads of gift stores.

I talked a while to a guy from an animal rescue team, petted a tarantula, held a snake in my arms and cuddled a ferret. In this order, by the way, otherwise the snake would’ve thought I was food. I drank a coffee and continued on the

Route 89

Apparently the route 89 is one of the most beautiful roads in the West. Scenic views over a valley and driving through a forest, it was pretty nice until it started raining so badly that I barely could see anything. It was over after maybe 15 minutes, but apparently I took the wrong turn already, so I drove the rest of the way to Grand Canyon National Park on the highway. At least I still got to drive a part of the historic Route 66, but I practically just crossed it when going through Williams.

Destination – Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim

I was surprised when I entered the park. It was so much greener than expected. There are juniper and pine trees everywhere, and only every now and then you pass a view point without trees and suddenly GRAND CANYON (it’s so huge that lower case letters don’t do any justice). It’s fantastic.

I pitched up my tent and a hammock (best decision, I cannot wait to hang out in my hammock in Hawaii!) and went to Moran Point to watch the sunset. No odd conversations this time. It got a bit crowded, so I guess it’s true when they say that the South Rim draws way more tourists than the North Rim.

It was great though. Just sitting there, breathing in the dry air that turned from still too hot suddenly to a bit crisper and enjoying the moment.

Then I went back to the campground and realized: I’m the only person around that I saw camping alone. It feels odd. I’ll have some pretty lonesome two weeks coming up.

But also it’s peaceful (not so much when I have to walk 3 minutes through the dark night to go to the restrooms, thinking about the creepy dolls from the night before).

I’m kind of wondering how I can take being alone after being surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people every day at Disney for so long, but I’m also looking forward to it.

// August 11th - Phoenix, Arizona //

I sat at the summit of the South Mountain (with 770 m or so it feels like a small hill) and watched the first sunset of my road trip.

I passed the typical cacti and sang out Chvrches “Clearest Blue” loud in my car, since there was no one to hear me. I’m so happy.

The scenery would have been even more peaceful if I wasn’t surrounded by people who discuss topics in public that rather belong behind closed doors.

The ones on the right were talking on FaceTime with their relatives about them being undocumented, joking about the Greencard and how everything works out pretty well without for them. To the left, a girl that just got out of prison is convinced that her brother will be free of all charges (he was sentenced to 3 x 28 years, what did he possibly do…?) if he’d “die” in prison and they reanimate him. So she’s kind of debating with her boyfriend if there’s anything she can do. He’s trying to talk her out of it though, since she’s got a daughter apparently, at least one person seems sane.

Well, despite witnessing these conversations my day in Phoenix was pretty good.

I arrived late from the airport yesterday, my couchsurfing host still welcomed me sweetly though and gave me some recommendations for the next day.

Art in Phoenix

I was surprised about the large amount of theatres, operas and museums in a city of this size. I wish I could’ve seen more.

First I went to the Phoenix Art Museum, which is definitely worth a visit.

I loved the gallery of pictures by Edward Burtynsky, all so different, but still overall about the topic “Water”. Amazing shots.

Also the exhibition of contemporary art was surprisingly good. I especially liked an installation by Yayoi Kusama, named “You Who are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies”. It was a mirrored room full of LED lights that gently changed color.

Afterwards I wandered through the streets, especially Roosevelt Row, discovering Street Art and cute little cafés at every corner.

Because I wanted to see the sunset (and needed to buy all the camping equipment) I didn’t have time to see if there was any theatre play that night, but since I met up with another couchsurfer in a bar and got a city tour through Downtown Phoenix, it still was a pretty cool night. Creepy: In one restaurant there was a fence when you got down the staircase to the basement. There was nothing down there but a large table with 13 porcelain dolls, recreating “The Last Supper”. The table was covered in pennies and small coins that people were throwing through the fence.

If you only have one day in Phoenix, definitely check out the art scene!

I don’t know how frequently I’ll have Internet in the National Parks, but I’ll upload new posts whenever I can find a diner with good Wi-Fi on the road. So check back soon!

// August 9th - Chichén Itzá, México //

I'm sitting in the shade of the ancient site Chichén Itzá, another wonder of the world, facing the Maya pyramid, "El Castillo".
Everything that I know by now about Chichén Itzá and the Mayas is basically coming from Wikipedia and the internet in general. There are not many signs about the buildings around, and a guided tour was 700 Mexican Pesos, too much for me alone. But anyways.

It's not like you get used to seeing those things while traveling. It still feels amazing to discover those cultures, ancient and modern ones.
For now I'm just sitting here, enjoying the view, and I'm kind of amused about all those tourist groups with neon-colored numbers on their chest. And every five minutes another group walks up to the pyramid, clapping like crazy, to discover that it has certain acoustics.
Chichén Itzá is pretty touristy in general. When you enter the site, you have to pass a market at first. It's really cheap, but since I don't have any space for even the smallest souvenir, it gets really annoying when you just stop for a second and five guys jump at you, yelling prizes at you, "Espanol, espanol!? Bonita, bonita! Eh chica! De donde eres? Good prize, good prize! 2 Dollars! If you don't have a boyfriend 1 Dollar!" I'm not kidding here. While I get a flashback to the time my father was haggling with a man about the price for selling me on a Turkish market (wasn't so funny for me dad!), I tried to pass all those stands as fast as possible. I feel rude not replying when someone is talking to me, but seriously, at some point I'm just fed up.
When I met a Mexican girl in front of the pyramid we walked around a little bit together, and since she was looking for souvenirs, I got to look at the jewelry, wooden masks and ocarinas (that sounded like a wild cat) a little bit as well, since they were concentrating on the person who actually wanted to buy something. Overall a bit exhausting.

Despite the fact that my host locked himself in the bathroom today and only escaped after I handed him a knife and a bobby pin this day didn't have any funny or peculiar stories today. Good, because I started to feel like I'm in a slapstick movie.

I'm leaving México tomorrow morning to México City - Los Angeles - Phoenix. I had a great time in Cancún, but way too short, so I definitely have to come back here and to México in general.
I love couchsurfing or staying with Airbnb. You meet new like-minded people all the time, with interesting backgrounds. We were sitting in the garden every night, talking and exchanging exciting stories. You don't get that in a hotel.

Traveling alone doesn't equal actually being alone. Still, after being surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people for the past year, I'm looking forward to some silence on the road trip as well.

// August 7th - Cancún //

When you try to keep a trip on a budget you're happy about every good deal you get.
So when my Airbnb host offered me to take me and some others to a promising trip for way less than you'd usually pay for a tour like this, I gladly accepted. As mentioned yesterday, the plan was: Swimming with whale sharks, heading to Isla Mujeres, snorkeling, visiting the underwater museum and cruising through the mangroves.

We got up at 5 in the morning. My German host, a Polish and a Bulgarian girl and I took a cab, until our host stopped the driver which seemed to be at some random spot in the streets, but actually there was someone waiting for him in a parked pick up truck. So far, so good.
We walked through a rusty fence, met up with an American guy and his Danish girlfriend who joined us, played with two adorable puppies and waited for our boat to show up behind all those scruffy fisher boats. Didn't happen. We got into one of those nutshells, paint chipping off, and drove off into the sunrise. Feeling the breeze on my face, the feeling of joy made me smile.

To find the whale sharks the plan was to wait for the other boats, official tours, who communicate with their radios, and just drive to the same spot they're going to.
The problem was: There were no other boats.
Also, when I asked how he navigates, I got the expected but also feared answer: by sun. Well, at least I hiked up Machu Picchu before, so I can kind of die in peace I guess.

After about two hours, or maybe more, or less, I don't know, the sun was rising dangerously close to it's highest point. When our guide / host / master of disaster said that he already used up all the gas that he usually needs for the whole tour, I seriously began to worry.
Luckily I was also so tired from the journey the day before that I laid down on the boat to sleep. I figured that the expected discussion who's going to be our first dinner would be loud enough to wake me up just in time to vote.

Instead I woke up when we finally saw an island in the distance. Since the chance that we'd end up as each other's dinner or being surprised by a sharknado decreased immensely, so I finally took a big gulp of the water I saved in case we'd have to share it for the next weeks. Okay, I'm exaggerating (am I...?) but I was seriously relieved when we actually made it to that island.

While approaching the beach of Isla Mujeres, where we wanted to stop so he could buy more gas, an official looking guy (he had a clip board! Everyone with a clip board looks official!) took pictures of the boat. Oh great, it's not over yet. He made a call and started a discussion on Spanish. Who's boat is this? - My friend's boat. - The boat is not registered. - Well, it's not mine. - Are they tourists? - No, they are my friends. - Living here? - No, visiting. - So tourists. So the five of us tried really hard to look like friends. Well, actually, the couple didn't, they were majorly pissed that we didn't see whale sharks.

While our host was absolutely unimpressed by the guy with the clip board, we went to a little market to buy some snacks. When we returned, the boat had enough gas for the rest of the trip and our host didn't wear handcuffs, so we continued.
For me, the experience took a turn now. While snorkeling at a little reef we saw many fish, some giant and colorful like blue and purple, others smaller but in big swarms. Floating in the water for a while, it was pretty peaceful. Until an apparently blind fish swam right into me while he was doing some kind of a barrel roll, I don't know who was more confused.

We got back on the boat and drove to another part of the island, the underwater museum. The artist, Jason DeCaires Taylor, created some statues and places them deep enough in the sea that it was really hard to see when you're strangled by the life vest we had to wear. But safety begins with me as every good cast member will know.
So, from above I saw the collection of statues that represent some Mexican people, and a VW beetle. I'm sure diving there is a lot of fun, snorkeling is rather a case of "Been there, done that", but it was still nice.

Afterwards we were just hanging out in the mangroves, which reminded me of the Weeki Wachee or Blue Springs back home in Orlando. No gators or manatees here though, but we saw many tiny neon-colored fish and two pipe fish.
As an excuse that the whale shark-snorkeling didn't work out our host invited us for dinner. Seafood-Ceviche and fish, exactly what you need after a trip like that. This time I'm not sarcastic - We were the only tourists, so when a place is that crowded with locals you know it's good.

Later we found out that unfortunately the port was still closed today due to the hurricane last week. Since they don't announce that until 8.30 though, when we were already on the water, there was no chance of knowing that there wouldn't be any other boats.

Overall we still got a memorable day and a nice snorkeling trip out of it.
A different kind of adventure to start my first visit to México.