(14) Salt Lake City, Great Salt Lake (Desert), Utah

From Glen Canyon on the southern border of Utah we took road 89 up north and then Highway 15, which leads straight to Salt Lake City. So, covering the distance of over 620 kilometers we drove through two thirds of Utah territory. The name of the state comes from the Ute Indian language and means, according to Wikipedia, "people of the mountains". (S):

Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah and, with the population of over 180 thousand, it is the most populous city. However, Salt Lake City belongs to a larger urban area, called the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which is inhabited by over a million people. The city was founded by Mormons in the 1840s. Earlier, the area had been inhabited by Native American tribes of Shoshone, Ute and Paiute. The picture below shows the main street in Salt Lake City, called State Street, which leads to the Utah Capitol State building, visible here on the right at the end. (S)

Below is the picture of the Utah State Capitol, which is a house of the state legislature and the governor's office. The building is impressive: 123 m long, 73 m wide and 87 m high, its name and architecture resembling the US Capitol in Washington DC. It is situated on Capitol Hill, which is a vantage point from which the panorama of Salt Lake City can be admired. (S)

The Pioneer Memorial Museum contains memorabilia from the time of the first settlers. (S)

Despite the fact that it is a state capital, Salt Lake City looks very quiet. Its residential districts are full of greenery, and the bustle of the city does not disturb its citizens (S):

The beautiful and quaint houses look as if they remembered the first settlers. (S):

Utah's capital is situated on the shore of Great Salt Lake, visible immediately after one leaves the city and takes route 80 westward. Great Salt Lake is a closed basin, which means that the water does not flow out of it to rivers or oceans; it is also the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere, with the average area of about 4.5 thousand square km. The lake is very shallow, so its size changes depending on the amount of snow and rain. (S)

Great Salt Lake lies in the area that is very dry - Great Salt Lake Desert. Unfriendly to prospective settlers, the area is very scantily populated, with only snakes and scorpions thriving here. (S):

Great Salt Lake can sometimes cover 8.5 thousand square km, so when the water evaporates, huge areas covered with salt invite car drivers to test their vehicles' performance, which was the main reason why we traveled to Great Salt Lake. (S)

Visible below is the Great Salt Lake that we wanted to visit - Bonneville salt flats (S):

However, our destination was located further west, close to Utah's border with Nevada, so we had to drive along the straight road cutting through the desert - one may feel desolate in this landscape. (S)

Every now and then, however, a lonely traveler can stop and contemplate works of art on the desert - quite surreal, I must say;):

An interesting phenomenon is caught in the picture below: the dry bottom of Great Salt Lake looks as if it was covered with water - it's just a mirage, but I could swear I did see the sheet of water. Another bright conclusion of mine: "the desert is unbelievably deceptive";)

Finally, we've reached our destination: Bonneville Speedway - the area on which land speed records are set and broken. Click on it to learn more (S):

We're not the only visitors to the place: there seem to be quite a few amateurs of speedy driving (S):

And here's our vehicle standing on the speedway (about 16 km long): On your marks! Get set! Go! (S)
However, I prefer admiring the salt sparkling in the afternoon sun. You could swear it's snow (S):

(13) Glen Canyon and Antelope Canyon, Arizona

From Zion Np we took route 89 down to Page, which is situated in a beautiful area in northern Arizona, on the shore of Lake Powell. The lake was named after Civil War veteran John Powell, a one-armed adventurer, who explored the Colorado River here in 1869. Lake Powell is the second biggest man-made water reservoir in America.

Below is a picture of the canyon that the Colorado River has created. What I found striking was the contrast between the green color of the water and the reddish colors of the rocks:

Glen Canyon is the effect of the River's activity. Note especially how arid the area appears:

Lake Powell was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam, which was constructed in the 1960s to generate electricity in the nearby power-plant, which supplies energy to Arizona, Nevada and California. As if by the way, Lake Powell has become a popular tourist destination. (S):

South of lake Powell and Glen Canyon is Navajo Indian Reservation, which prides itself on fabulous natural formations. One of those amazing places is Antelope Canyon. The picture below was taken on the way to Upper Antelope Canyon, which is one of the most frequently photographed wonders of the American West. (S)

Antelope Canyon is carved in limestone and sandstone rock - geological material typical of the Colorado Plateau.

If you want to visit Antelope Canyon, you have to buy a rather expensive ticket (don't worry, you later conclude that you get good value for your money;) and wait for a truck and a guide who will lead you into the twisting corridors of the Canyon. Our guide, Vernon, is standing at the entrance:

Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon, which has been created by water rushing through the rock (the Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is "the place where water runs through rocks"). It can be as deep as 30 meters and so narrow that one can stretch the arms and touch both walls of the canyon. (S)




Elder Navajo people pause before entering the Canyon to be in the right frame of mind - it does feel like entering a sanctuary. (S):

It is dangerous to enter the Canyon without listening to the weather forecast and making sure that no rainfall is expected on the day of the trip. Antelope Canyon is still reshaped by flush floods: rapid currents of water flushing through its corridors, filling them to the brim, one might say, and carrying sediment which sculpts the walls. Because rainwater cannot soak into the ground (there are rocks all around), it looks for channels to flow to the lower situated areas. A flush flood lasts a few hours: if it happens in the morning, it is still possible to visit the Canyon in the afternoon. (S)

Entering Antelope Canyon is also a spiritual experience: getting inside this natural cathedral makes you ponder on the creative power of Mother Nature and stand in awe and admiration of something so much greater than yourself. (S):

The changing light in the slot canyon creates wonderful shapes - it's enough to free your imagination and then you can see the most bizarre patterns (or an almost realistic portrait of President Lincoln, for that matter;). Click on this one (S):

(12) Zion NP, Utah

From Las Vegas we traveled to Zion NP through Hurricane and Rockville - beautifully situated picturesque little towns, in which even the roads are red.
The most characteristic shape in Zion, which is practically a desert, is "mesa" - a Spanish word used for steep cliffs with a flat top like a table. Mesa is the most typical landform in the whole of the US Southwest.
Zion became a National Park in 1919, which means that it is the oldest park in Utah. The Park covers the area of about 600 km2. The picture below was taken in the town of Springdale, which is the south-western gateway to Zion:

Water plays the most important role in the creation of Zion's landscape, the major river being the Virgin, which has created steep cliffs and a canyon. It is along the River's North Fork that we took a scenic drive.

Apart from the shapes, the range of the red colors was for me the most spectacular feature of Zion's cliffs. I'm quoting from my diary: "a divine palette of reds";)

Situated in the western part of the Colorado Plateau, Zion NP is built of reddish Navajo Sandstone, which, being very soft, yields to the water flowing down the cliffs like clay to a sculptor's hands:

In Hebrew "Zion" means a "sanctuary" or a "place of refuge". The person who named the area Zion was a Mormon leader who found refuge from persecution in this place in 1863. He echoed the Bible as follows: "The Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord." I find this a very accurate description;) (S)

A glimpse at a marvelous hill whose shape invites you to take a short walk (I did;) (S):

We are out of the 2-km-long Zion Mount Carmel Tunnel, where I could not take pictures for obvious reasons;) (S):

The view on the left is very typical of the Colorado Plateau and promises even more spectacular vistas - to come next in Glen Canyon and Antelope Canyon, Arizona.

(11) Las Vegas, Nevada,

From the wonders of Death Valley in California we traveled to the second state on our map - Nevada - to visit the most famous city of the region, which is Las Vegas. Since we avoided highways whenever it was possible, we drove east along the picturesque route 190 to Pathrump, and from there to Las Vegas down road 160. The word "picturesque" with reference to Nevada is actually a slight exaggeration, as the area there belongs to Mojave Desert. It is therefore flat (the only variety provided by the mountains on the horizon), and the land is barren. When you look at the map, you will notice that the border between California and Nevada is America's longest diagonal line (640km).

The picture of Las Vegas from a distance gives you an idea what a change from the diversified landscape of California Nevada was (S):

The name of the territory - Nevada - comes from "Sierra Nevada" and it was given to the region in 1861, which marked the separation of this territory from Utah. The separation of Nevada was the result of great animosity between the mainstream Christian population here and the Mormons of Utah. One might venture a conclusion that 1861 was a year in which separatist tendencies seemed to be sweeping across the whole of the US and the animosities culminated in the outbreak of the Civil War.
Las Vegas may be the biggest and most famous city in Nevada but it is not the state's capital. It might be surprising for a European traveler to realize that in America the biggest cities - and at the same time the most obvious candidates - are not always state capitals. What's more, even second-biggest cities (like Reno in Nevada) would be wrong guesses in the case of some states. Struck by this fact - known to me from geography lessons at school but somehow forgotten - I resorted to Wikipedia to verify my intuition with respect to capitals of the states which were on the map of my American tour;). Here are the results:
California - Sacramento (I knew it, though the choice would be LA or San Francisco); Nevada - Carson City with the population of just over 55 thousand (my mind went blank); Utah - Salt Lake City (that's logical); Idaho - Boise (logical again, though I didn't remember hearing the name before); Wyoming - Cheyenne (logical); Colorado - Denver (that I'd known since "Dynasty";), "Dynasty" also taught me that the capital of Arizona is Phoenix; New Mexico - Santa Fe (I remembered seeing a very romantic video clip to the song by John Bon Jovi titled "Santa Fe", but the logical choice would be Albuquerque). This geography lesson taught me one thing: it must be unbelievably difficult for American kids to score an A in geography.
Anyway, continuing my trip to Las Vegas: below is a picture taken at about 8 p.m. from our hotel. The city is preparing itself for the night (S):

"Las Vegas" means "The Meadows" in Spanish. Considering the geography of the area, one must admit that the name very well reflects the character of the place. When I traveled through Nevada, I got an impression that it was a very poor state: agriculture has not flourished because the soil is poor and investors somehow have not swarmed in to venture huge industrial enterprises here. Gambling has always been the state's major economy and the only solution to the disastrous decline in the 1920s, when state authorities decided to re-legalize gambling. This has resulted in the growth of Las Vegas (almost 2 m people live in its area) and it becoming the Entertainment Capital of the World. Visible below are lights of the planes bringing guests who will spend the night on gambling, drinking and having fun, whatever this might mean (S):

Nighttime is the best time for visiting Las Vegas, but it's the worst time for taking pictures if one doesn't have professional equipment. If one does have it though, it's a bit dangerous and cumbersome to walk around with a huge camera hanging from your neck like the albatross from the Ancient Mariner's;), especially if one wants to have some fun. As a result, I took only a few good quality pictures with my little camera. I don't regret it though, since I totally focused on watching, absorbing and experiencing the phantasmagorical reality of Sin City. Captured below is one of the first views of the city after I got out of the car:

Las Vegas is practically one street called Las Vegas Strip, which runs through downtown Las Vegas for about 6.5 kilometers. It is there that all the hotels and casinos are located. Las Vegas lives at night - dozens of thousands of people flow along and across the Strip. The visitors are dazed by all the music and lights - midnight seems to be the city's rush hour:

To enter or not to enter? I will, but not here - I will eventually have a drink in the Luxor Casino. For the time being, I'm choosing a crazy ride on the roller coaster, which is located on the New York New York Hotel and offers incredible experiences: the stunning panorama of the city by night, stomach twisting and dizzying free falls and hair-raising jet barrel-roll simulations. If you ever get to Las Vegas, don't miss it;)

American hotels are probably a subject for a separate blog. For about $100 you get a spacious room with standard equipment, plus ice is always available from an ice machine; but, most importantly, in the bathroom one always finds a hair dryer and an iron with an ironing board. Below is a picture of the hotel in which we stayed during our Las Vegas trip: clean, comfortable, not too expensive - Holiday Inn Express hotels are definitely my favorite, especially because the rooms always smell nice (my obsession).

The picture below was taken after we left Las Vegas and traveled north-east:

Ahead visible is the landscape characteristic of Utah, a state which borders with Nevada and which has a population of over 2.5 m living in the area equivalent to 2/3 of Poland's territory.

Utah's geography is extraordinary since three geological regions meet there: the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin and the most beautiful Colorado Plateau. The colors visible in the picture below are for me the colors of the Plateau - different shades of red;). It is a promise of an adventure:

Utah may not be a very populated state but if I ever had a choice, I would certainly choose to live in Utah. The state prides itself on all the most famous national parks of the American West: Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Messa Verde, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon and Zion National Park, which is our next destination, already looming in the distance:

(10) Death Valley, California

(S) Reaching Death Valley. Located below the sea level east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, on the border of California and Nevada, Death Valley is famous for record high temperatures in the summer. When I visited it, the temperature there reached 50 C, and the car's air conditioning system was on the brink of breaking down. The first glimpses of Death Valley's unearthly landscape visible in the picture above made me feel as if I was descending into a mysterious and dangerous world.
Below are dry desert hills that we are leaving behind on our way down the Valley. Pay attention to the sky, it's quite unique:

Death Valley is actually a long low desert, with rain falling only in the winter and scorching heat beating down in the summer. However, American deserts are nothing like sand deserts in Africa: I could always see plants growing here and there. Although the picture below was taken at midday, the view isn't clear - it's all because of the heat and the distance. The area is very flat and one can see the mountains which are very far away but the illusion is that they are quite close. In fact Death Valley covers the area of almost 8 thousand square kilometers!

Stovepipe Wells Village is a place where you can spend a night, have a swim in the swimming pool and have something to eat. Naturally, you can also buy petrol for your further journey along and across the Valley. The carts here are museum exhibits and they are a nice addition to the otherwise monotonous view;)

Below are sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells - it is a desert after all:
We decided to take a one-way drive down Titus Canyon, which is 40 km long. It took us over 2 hours. Hopefully, the picture gives you an idea of the type of rock in which waters have carved the canyon:

Below is a panorama of the Canyon. The car is slowly descending 1.5 km down to the bottom of the picturesque Canyon. Click on it to see the colors and forms (S):

Here is a beautiful contrast of the color of the rocks and the sky. It is amazing how many shades of red nature has to offer (S):
On the way down the Canyon we pass a ghost-town: the sign explains everything:
It must have been quite a journey for postmen to reach Leadfield, which had a very inconvenient location. No wonder they gave up on it after a year or so. This is what has remained of the once populated area (I actually went up there to peep inside the buildings, scary though the walk was because of scorpions and snakes which live there):

We are already almost at the bottom of the Canyon - the scree here indicates the route of the water that changes the shapes of the soft rocks:

We are now on the floor of Titus Canyon, admiring its fabulous geology (S):
The road is quite narrow and now it becomes obvious why it has to be a one-way drive:
Can you spot cacti growing from the rock? I could hardly believe my eyes (S):

The serpentine drive along the Canyon was full of surprises. Here is a huge cave carved by the water - a nice shelter from the sun, and we are the only guests there (S):

The picture below shows you how high the walls of the Canyon were and how very small and actually lonely we were there. A strange experience it was, as if one could see the earth's entrails:

Standing outside the Canyon, I could hardly believe that I had actually been inside it;) Considering the type of car that we traveled in, the ride was very exciting indeed.

Below is the famous landscape of Zabriskie Point - formed from sediments of a lake that dried up millions of years ago:

Zabriskie Point is an arid terrain, 50 meters below the sea level, called badlands. However, I would call it wonderlands: there is something romantic about this sand turned into stone; you also somehow feel that this geological formation is primeval:

Below is the view from Zabriskie Point - in the distance you can see the car park. Though it wasn't very far away from the car park to the vantage points on Zabriskie Point, I got dizzy in the hot dry wind burning my skin. Luckily, I didn't have to spend the night in Death Valley, as the temperature fell from 50 C only to 30 C and I don't know how I would have survived the harsh climate for longer than the few minutes that I spent at each stop outside the car.

From Zabriskie Point we traveled to a totally different place: Devil's Golf Course. It was created of salt crystals after a lake dried here (S):

The area in close-up - it's dangerous to walk on the ragged surface. It is true that only the devil can play golf there;)

Our next stop is Badwater. It is the lowest area in Death Valley and second lowest elevation on the western hemisphere (86m). Its vast white area is made of pure table salt. The difference between Devil's Golf Course and Badwater is that the latter is flat, and walking on the white plain is not dangerous to your feet - tourist friendly, one might say;)

The other difference is that Badwater is flooded during rainstorms. Because of this there is still water under the surface of the salty layer - it will probably evaporate soon.

I took this picture standing in Badwater Basin - to give you an idea how vast the area is:

Death Valley is amazing because on a relatively limited area you can see such a variety of geological formations. On the horizon you can see the Panamint Range with Telescope Peak, which is the highest mountain in Death Valley. Its height is almost 3,500 m straight above the floor of the Valley, which makes is comparable to Mount Everest (when you measure the peak from its base, not from the sea level). Visible in the sky is the moon - already;)

Death Valley may be a desert, but it is a civilized one;) The buildings here resemble a public toilet and a bus stop. Well, in this area you can make a stop and have a snack. However, I doubt if anyone leaves the air-conditioned car to get some fresh air in Death valley;)

There is even a castle in Death Valley - beautifully located in an area which might be called an oasis;)
Again, look at the beautiful sky. The sky in Death Valley is cloudless - the heat between the two mountain ranges which surround the Valley is such that any cloud daring to float over the mountains into Death Valley's sky evaporates immediately. I actually saw a cloud melt away - it was amazing;) (S):

Below is a picture taken already outside Death Valley - we passed Shoshone, which has 100 inhabitants and which is situated 84 miles away from Las Vegas - our next destination. One evident sign indicating that it's no longer Death Valley is the cloud visible in the sky;)
The Nopah Range mountains here are unbelievably colorful, they look like layers of paint. I am wondering how rich the colors of the earth are.

I can't resist noticing the similarity of the colors and patterns visible on the mountain ranges with those characteristic of native American art - nature does inspire (another bright thought from my diary;)
I am now thinking of the famous final page of Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby (for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation) and I'm looking for an equivalent description of the wonder that Death Valley and the majestic mountains inspire. Any tips?