Katka, Petra, Tublu, Brian and I took off for short trip just after Christmas. Death Valley was our stop. The first day we practically spent on roads and arrived at our campsite after dark. It was very windy, so we were adviced not to do fire, but the temperature wasn't too low. The next day we hiked up one of the higest peaks in Death Valley - Wildrose peak which had beautiful views. The following day we started the day with sunrise by Zabriskie point and Dante's view and after breakfast and packing up we stopped at Artist's pallete, Devil's golf course and the lowest point - Bad Water.
Our next stop was Las Vegas. We had only one night here, so we had quick shower and headed off to strip. Tublu, Katka and I went to see Circuse de Solei show - LOVE, which was amazing.
It wasn't easy to get up early after late night in LV, but since we had to get to Grand Canyon, we didn't have any other choice. Even with early start we didn't get to start our hike to the campground under the rim until 5 pm. The sunset was at 5.30 pm, so we hiked most of the time in dark - still great adventure! We arrived about 8.30 and got ready for cold night..
The following day we descend down to the bottom of the canyon. The hike wasn't difficult or too long, but with late start and many stops for photos or just rest we arrieved late afternoon. Today we also met with other group of friends who camped close to us - in Bright Angel campground. I was very suprised when I realized that in the bottom of the Grand canyon are flushing toilets, electricity, small lodge and something like pub!
We had only one night down in the canyon, so the second day we got up quite early and using Bright Angel canyon we climbed back to our first campground - Indian Garden. Since it was quite early afternoon we had enough time and energy to make another small hike to platou point for nice views of the canyon before sunset. Since it was New Years Eve, we started to celebrate (the second group of friends camped with us this night too) - the first time at 4 pm, when it was Czech New Year! Most of us then waited for 10 pm - New York New Year and I think only two people actually stay until midnight. That night was really cold and quite strong wind.
The weather didn't change much in the morning so in strong wind we had to manage to make breakfast, pack our things and start to climb from the Canyon. We made it in about 4 hours (about 4.6 miles) which wasn't bad achievement. After short break we made a few stops around the rim to see the Grand Canyon from the top and then we drove to our hotel just after the Grand Canyon exit. We definitelly enjoyed the night on bed!
The last day of our trip Petra, Katka and I went for sunrise on the rim, but the sky was little bit cloudy, so the view weren't as spectacullar as it could be, but we still enjoyed it. Around 10 am we took of for long drive home and since we did only short stops we managed to arrive back to bay area at about 10 pm.
PHOTOS
Katka, Petra, Tublu, Brian a ja jsem se po vanocich vydali na kratky vylet. Death Valley byla nase prvni zastavka. Prvni den jsme vpodstate stravili na ceste a do kempu jsme dorazili az za tmy. Bylo pomerne vetrno a tak nam nebylo doporuceno rozdelavat ohen, ale nastesti nebyla velka zima.
Druhy den jsem se vydali na jeden z nejvyssich vrcholu Death Valley - Wildrose peak, ze ktereho bylo nadherne videt na udoli i pomerne blizke vrcholky pohori Sierra Nevada. Dalsi den jsme zacali v Zabriskie point, kam se nam podarilo prijet uz na vychod slunce a pak na Dante's view. Po snidani jsme se zabalili, udelali male zastavky na Artist's pallete, Devil's golf cours a na nejnize polozenem miste v Americe - Bad Water.
Nase dalsi zastavka bylo Las Vegas. Tady jsme meli jen jednu noc a tak po rychle sprse jsem se vydali do centra. Tublu, Katka a ja jsme sli na predstaveni Circuse de Solei - LOVE, ktere bylo na hudbu a pisnicky od Beatles.
Nebylo to jednoduche se probudit brzy po pozdni noci v LV, ale protoze jsme se museli dostat do Grand Canyonu, nic jineho nam nezbylo. I pres pomerne brzke vstavani jsme zacali nas sestup do kanonu k nasemu kempu az v 17 vecer. Zapad slunce byl v 17.30 a tak jsme vetsinu cesty sli za tmy - stale velke dobrodruzstvi! Prisli jsme asi v 20.30 a pripravili jsme se na studenou zimu...
Nasledujici den jsme sesli az na dno kanonu po Tonto trail. Tura nebyla tezka a nebo prilis dlouha, ale jelikoz jsme vyrazili pomerne pozde a casto jsme se zastavovali at uz si jen vydechnout a nebo neco vyfotit, tak jsme do kempu dorazili az na vecer. Dnes jsme se potkali s druhou skupinou kamaradu kteri kempovali kousek od nas - v Bright Angel campground. Byla jsem docela sokovana, kdyz jsem zjistila, ze na dne kanonu jsou splachovaci zachody, elektrika, chata a i neco jako hospoda!
Dole v kanonu jsme meli jen jednu noc a tak druhy den jsme se vzbudili pomerne brzy a vyrazili zpet do naseho prvniho kempu - Indian garden. Tentokrat jsme sli po Bright angel trail. Do kempu jsme prisli pomerne brzy a tak jsme se po obede jeste vydali na platau odkud byly nadherne vyhledy na kanon, zvlaste v odpolednim svetle. Jelikoz byl Silvestr, zacali jsme slavit uz od 16 hodiny vecer, (i tuto noc s nami kempovala druha skupina kamaradu) kdy nastal novy rok v Cechach. Vetsina nas pak jeste pockala do 22 vecer, kdy byl novy rok v New Yorku a myslim, ze jen dva lidi vydrzeli az do pulnoci. V noci byla velka zima a hlavne velky vitr.
Pocasi se moc nezmenilo ani rano a tak jsme za velkeho vetru museli nachystat snidani, zabalit se a vydat se na vystup z kanonu. Zvladli jsme to asi za 4 hodiny (asi 4.6 mili) coz nebyl spatny vykon. Po kratke prestavce jsme udelali jeste nekolik zastavek na okraji kanonu abychom se tentokrat podivali na Grand Canyon zvrchu a pak uz jsme jeli do naseho hotelu, ktery byl kousek za vyjezdem z parku.
Posledni den Petra, Katka a ja jsme vyrazily na vychod slunce zpet na kraj kanonu. Obloha byla mirne zatazena a tak pohledy do kanonu nebyly tak uzasne, jak by mohli byt ale my jsme si to i tak vychutnavaly. Kolem 10.30 jsme vyrazili na dlouhou cestu domu a hlavne diky tomu, ze jsme delali jen kratke zastavky se nam podarilo dorazit zpet domu v 21 hodin.
FOTKY
