|
|
I am inviting you, in the following lines, to a fantastic trip. I did embark during the 2005 summer for a journey that would make me cover more than 6000 kilometers by car in slightly less than three weeks. The wonderful landscapes of the American west have fascinated me and made me dream since I was a child. It was therefore logical that I at last decided to put the dreams of my childhood in concrete form.
After a flight without trouble and a short night on a bench in the airport of Denver, Colorado, I landed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where a hired car was waiting for me. Jackson Hole is a small, lovely, typical city, even maybe a bit too typical, ideally located at the feet of the Rocky Mountains. The road to the Yellowstone will take you from there at first within its small brother, the Grand Teton, and delivers wonderful landscapes of an untouched nature.
The huge park of Yellowstone was the first indispensable stop : even if going there took me away from the other stages, I did not hesitate to travel all these extra kilometers. I indeed absolutely wanted to see the Grand Prismatic Spring, one of the most beautiful images of the spot. But the Yellowstone park has lots to offer you, and the fans of nature and wildlife can undoubtly spend a whole week there and not get bored with it.
Let's next go southbound, as far as Southern Utah and its nest of wonders. One can indeed find in this large area, ranging from the Southern part of the mormon state, parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona, an impressive concentration of natural parks, very different from each other, nicer than each other. Even if you don't enter in them, the roads will make you pass through sweeps with grandiose sceneries. The most interesting viewpoints are most of the time indicated by road signs, especially along the Highway 70.
To follow the order of the visits, I will thus name Arches NP and its wonderful rock structures. Everyone has already seen pictures of it : the park's "trademark" is without dispute "Delicate Arch", that one reaches after a climbing footwalk of three good quarters of hour under a blazing sun. I would have given a fortune for a refreshing kriek !!!
The perferct "landing" place to visit the park is Moab, very touristic and animated.
Monument Valley was the second "must see* of my journey. The landscapes are well know of many as well, since several westerns realised by John Ford, including notably "Stage Coach", with John Wayne, were filmed in these magnificent natural settings. Attention : as Monument Valley is located in the navajo indian reservation of the Hopis, your pass (a real bargain if you are to visit several parks and remain for some time in the country) will not be accepted and you will have to pay an entry fee (cheap) to be allowed to discover in location the famous mittens. One immediately notices on the road the vehicules coming from there : they are covered by a thick layer of red dust.
Another funny characteristic refers to your watch : although it is located in Arizona (in the Pacific time area), the indian reservation is settled in accordance to Utah time, which is in the "Mountains" time area, that is to say one hour in advance in comparison to the "Pacific". This means that, during the same day, I switched four times of time zone : when leaving Utah to enter Arizona, when arriving to the Hopis, when leaving them to re-enter Arizona, and at last when coming back to Utah to settle myself in the area of Kanab.
After that, it was the turn of Grand Canyon. I have "tackled" it via its North Rim, since this option allowed me to be on the good side to head afterwards towards Bryce and Zion. In this rather warm area, where the prevailing colour is the yellow, the Grand Canyon can be set aside, its sides being largely wooded. If you have good eyes, but mainly if your are lucky enough to be on the right spot, you might see the Colorado river in the bottom of the gulf.
The national parks of Bryce and Zion  are very different and each of them deserves, in my opinion, a whole day. In Bryce, named after Ebeneezer Bryce, the very first mormon to settle in there, you will see very beautiful, natural structures, called Hoodoos. Do not hesitate to go down for a walk or another, you will not regret it : one can believe he is in a natural Disneyland park. You will not need a lot of imagination to be in the castle of Sleeping Beauty.
As far as Zion is concerned, whose name refers to the Bible city of Sion, it is really a scenery of earthly paradise that you will discover, with its mountains and their luxuriant vegetation, watered by the river that passes across it. Take the shuttle bus until the Temple of Sinawava (no travel with private car is allowed in the park, except between the East and South entries) and get out of it at each stop to get back to the starting point.
Let's then head towards Las Vegas. The sight of the city in the valley, from the highway, is impressive. You could even be welcomed by a squad of supersonic fighters, from the close military base. The best thing would be to arrive in late afternoon : it is still daylight to drive, and the city starts shining its thousands lights. The show is as much in the street than inside the buildings, that vie in imagination and excessiveness with each other. Get in a playroom and and let yourself be taken in the game. Some casinos will even give you 20 or 50 dollars to let you try the slots (purely virtual expense and earnings), some others will teach you how to play the various card games (during daytime), ... You can find anything in Vegas, even loaded dice, sold in (almost) every souvenir shops.
Very last state of this journey : California. You reach it after crossing the dreadful Death Valley. Temperatures are crazy. The only element to be below 0 is the elevation ! Take along with you enough water, take care of your engine, and do not leave your car should a problem arise.
The first californian city that I reached was Trona.  I found it particularly crappy and would have preferred by far to break down in the desert than there. Fortunately, it did not happen.
The giants of the forest, the sequoias to name them, will give you a salutary shadow from the roof of their old age. This footwalk is really impressive. The only inconvenience when arriving from the East is that one has to bypass the whole park to the South, since you can look forever for any entry on that side and you will only be able to enter on the western side. Better to know that.
Yosemite is magnificent as well. We are here far from the desert sweeps that were passed through previously : it is a mountainous country. The Half Dome impressed me particularly, kind of massive and bald rocky half-lump, laid there in the middle of the mountains. The wildlife, especially the animals, is here too : you will be advised to lock up in metallic boxes, hermetically closed, any food, shaving cream, perfume, ... anything whose smell could attract bears : a car door would indeed not stop for long these plantigrades. Each year, dozens of torn apart ones are registered in this single park !
At last, let's take the direction of the coast and its main two cities : San Francisco and Los Angeles. San Francisco is very pleasant, although I found it a bit chilly. On several occasions, I had to wear my pullover in the midst of August. The town is built on steep hills : it will tire your legs, but offer you astonishing views. Go into the old districts in Victorian style : one could almost think he is somewhere in New England.
Los Angeles, on the other hand, disappointed me a lot. There is nothing extraordinary to see downtown. If you choose to move around using the public transportation (a wise idea, in view of the nightmare of the traffic, and even worse of the parking), it is not, in my opinion, very well designed from a touristic point of view. I agree, we are in the kingdom of of the automobile, and the starting hypothesis is that everyone has (at least) one. Santa Monica will be able to offer you an entertaining day : take a bath in the Pacific ocean, have a walk along the palm trees or on the pier, waiting for the sun to set. In the evening, the shops near the beach (more or less four blocks) remain open late and the streets are full of life. Do not forget either to have a walk on Hollywood Boulevard, in search of your favourite stars.
This is how this first, memorable stay in the American West ends. "First", because this experience calls for other ones : there remains so many things to see, so many wonders to discover that going there only once does not seem enough to me.
I came, I saw, and I will come back !
|
