Dienstag, 18. August 2009
Arches National Park - Utah
I Utah I stayed quite a while, 3 weeks altogether, it has a huge denity of NP's and great landscapes, I started my NP journey at Arches NP, on my way I passed the great salt lake and Salt Lake City, interessting is that the great lakes salt content is 8 times higher than in the sea.
Yellowstone and Grand-Teton National Parks
To the Grand-Teton-National Park I came purely through bad navigation, I originally wanted to get to the Yellowstone National Park straight, but as Grand-Teton is just at the button of this I did not see that these are two different parks. What I saw though at the Grand- Teton NP is something I will never forget. I saw my first wild bear just about 10m in front of me, it was dusk and I was luckily in my car. It was just awesome!
I think life and death of everything is nowhere as close as in Yellowstone NP, it is literally millimetres. Wherever the thin outer layer of earth is missing the geysers and lakes full of ammonia are visible.
This deathly river has not always been there, you can smell sulphur everywhere.
Old Faithful, not as reliable as some say but still pretty predictable the eruptions are around every 1 to 1 1/2 hours and can go up to 55 meters.
I think life and death of everything is nowhere as close as in Yellowstone NP, it is literally millimetres. Wherever the thin outer layer of earth is missing the geysers and lakes full of ammonia are visible.
This deathly river has not always been there, you can smell sulphur everywhere.
Old Faithful, not as reliable as some say but still pretty predictable the eruptions are around every 1 to 1 1/2 hours and can go up to 55 meters.
Washington State
Washington State was original one I never wanted to visit, I just wanted to cut it out and go straight from Portland to the Yellowstone National Park. I am so glad I did not do it. Washington State was my first insight in northern USA wilderness and it was great. I went to the Olympic National Park which has the only rainforest of the United States as well as a glacier right next to the ocean and some great hiking trails. I also made a short trip to British Columbia in Canada, as it is only a short distance by ferry. And then I moved on to Mt. Rainer and Mt St. Hellen, a still active vulcano (last eruption 1980)
A burned forest on Mt. St. Hellen (2549m)
Mt. Rainers neighbours, when hiking the sky trail you can get some breathtaking views.
The glacier (4392m) himself is also majestic, but quite dangerous, no worries I did not even intend to climb it.
What I did in British Columbia, whale wasching, but those animals are quite fast, so I was not able to take real good pictures, still it was a great experience.
The following pictures are of the Olympic National Park, above you can see a glimpse of the Ho Rainforest, I got lucky it did not rain, July has the lowest possibility of rain, but I heared storries of wading through the forest on an average hike.
Aren't they lovely, this species is called black tail deer, guess why and they are not very shy as hunting in National Parks is generally prohibited.
Mt Olympus is 2432 meter high and a glacier it is less than 50 km away from the beach and is the heart of the Olympic National Park.
Above you can see a hot spring and boy they are hot, but after a night in the tend at almost 0°C you can enjoy it.
A burned forest on Mt. St. Hellen (2549m)
Mt. Rainers neighbours, when hiking the sky trail you can get some breathtaking views.
The glacier (4392m) himself is also majestic, but quite dangerous, no worries I did not even intend to climb it.
What I did in British Columbia, whale wasching, but those animals are quite fast, so I was not able to take real good pictures, still it was a great experience.
The following pictures are of the Olympic National Park, above you can see a glimpse of the Ho Rainforest, I got lucky it did not rain, July has the lowest possibility of rain, but I heared storries of wading through the forest on an average hike.
Aren't they lovely, this species is called black tail deer, guess why and they are not very shy as hunting in National Parks is generally prohibited.
Mt Olympus is 2432 meter high and a glacier it is less than 50 km away from the beach and is the heart of the Olympic National Park.
Above you can see a hot spring and boy they are hot, but after a night in the tend at almost 0°C you can enjoy it.
Dienstag, 4. August 2009
Humbolt Redwood Forrest
The first venue for my second part of the trip, the nature park started in northern California at the Humboldt State Park.
The weather was great and allowed some swimming in the creeks, which I for sure did after the cold times at the pacific ocean.
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The trees were just huge, they were used mainly for the victorian style homes in the 18th and 19th century. The trees were very popular for building purposes as they do not have any resin and therefore don't burn well. The redwood was almost entirly stubbed before the state and national parks started to protect these giants from vanishing.
Don't I look just little - I mean compared to the tree ;)
The weather was great and allowed some swimming in the creeks, which I for sure did after the cold times at the pacific ocean.
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The trees were just huge, they were used mainly for the victorian style homes in the 18th and 19th century. The trees were very popular for building purposes as they do not have any resin and therefore don't burn well. The redwood was almost entirly stubbed before the state and national parks started to protect these giants from vanishing.
Don't I look just little - I mean compared to the tree ;)
Freitag, 17. Juli 2009
San Fransisco - steep roads & a cool bridge
San Fransisco, the city with bad weather and great people. I loved my time there especially as I met 4 guys from Graz and we had good times together.
As a good SanFran tourist I of course biked the bridge - and it was absolutly worth it.
You gatta love that guy ;)
The steepest road in San Fransisco is called the Lomard Street, they built serpentines to make it accessable for cars.
The rumour is true, it is quite often foggy in SanFran.
And yes I did ride the cable cars, I have to admit though it is better to watch them than actually travelling in them.
Sea lions in the city - yes they are real, but I don't think they bite.
Alcatraz - got lucky they did not catch me ;)
As a good SanFran tourist I of course biked the bridge - and it was absolutly worth it.
You gatta love that guy ;)
The steepest road in San Fransisco is called the Lomard Street, they built serpentines to make it accessable for cars.
The rumour is true, it is quite often foggy in SanFran.
And yes I did ride the cable cars, I have to admit though it is better to watch them than actually travelling in them.
Sea lions in the city - yes they are real, but I don't think they bite.
Alcatraz - got lucky they did not catch me ;)
Central West Coast
California reveals its real beauty in nature, at the Highway 1 and 101 right on the coast line you can travel from San Diego right up till Seattle, the bit I have been travelling so far (around 3000 km) were just marvellous.
Santa Barbara Habour
This was when I first saw a free seal - just like 5 minutes after that - you can still see how happy I was about it :))
Santa Barbara Habour
This was when I first saw a free seal - just like 5 minutes after that - you can still see how happy I was about it :))
LA - City of Angels
I arrived in the world of the rich and beautiful - all you need to live well in LA is a big car and a rich daddy who pays for the parking ;)
The Rodeo Drive Baby - really beautiful and nice up scale shops, the atmosphere is better than I expected.
On the Hollywood Boulevard there was almost only one topic present the death of Michael Jackson. And yes I was at his star and saw it (just there was no time to take a picture as this would have blocked too many people).
The Chinese Cinema is the one where all the big premieres take place - no premiere when I was there ;(
And of course a picture of our most famous export to California - Arnold Schwarzenegger, well at least of his traces...
Down-town LA is quite pretty in some regions, other are better not visited, I also liked a lot "el Pueblo" where you can find the Mexican style houses and a permanent market of products "Hecho en Mexico".
The Rodeo Drive Baby - really beautiful and nice up scale shops, the atmosphere is better than I expected.
On the Hollywood Boulevard there was almost only one topic present the death of Michael Jackson. And yes I was at his star and saw it (just there was no time to take a picture as this would have blocked too many people).
The Chinese Cinema is the one where all the big premieres take place - no premiere when I was there ;(
And of course a picture of our most famous export to California - Arnold Schwarzenegger, well at least of his traces...
Down-town LA is quite pretty in some regions, other are better not visited, I also liked a lot "el Pueblo" where you can find the Mexican style houses and a permanent market of products "Hecho en Mexico".
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