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US Tour 2001/SouthWest Loop
June 16 ~ June 30, 2001
There are no places like SouthWest: the amazing red rock canyons in the Colorado Plateau, dry desert and strange vegetations in Arizona deserts, and inspiring prehistoric ruins... They never failed to amaze me. The very first time I visited this region in 1990, I just drove passed Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Grand Canyon National Parks. Later, I have come to know what I had missed. Since then, I have visited this region a few times, visiting Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, Arches, and Capitol Reef National Parks. In this US Tour, I wanted to re-visit the Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks one more time to see more in these parks. During the 16 days of the SouthWest loop, I tried to visit as many parks as possible. This was also the most relaxed portion of my US Tour 2001.

Major places I visited

San Diego
Joshua Tree NP
Sedona, AZ
Page, AZ and Antelope Canyon
Rainbow Bridge NM
Zion NP
Bryce Canyon NP
Grand Staircase Escalante NM
Natural Bridges NM
Monument Valley Tribal Park
Mesa Verde NP
Black Canyon of Garrison NP
White Sand Dunes NM
Carlsbad NP

Other places I drove through: Phoenix (AZ), Lake Powell, Four Corners Tribal Park, Telluride (CO), Santa Fe (NM), and Alberquerque (NM).

About the
Region

Southern California and Arizona: My very first destination was San Diego, California (1) to see my friend who just married a few weeks ago. I took I-5 south except that I drove around Los Angeles so that I could avoid the traffic jam. My friend, his wife, and I hanged around mostly in La Jolla area, a nice beach town.

Joshua Tree stands all over the place around Joshua Tree National Park.

Photographer's dream: Antelope Canyon. Definitely a tripod is a must to take a good photo.

After saying bye bye to each other, I headed east through the dry desert area of southern California and Arizona. My next stop was Joshua Tree National Park (2). This park was designated to protect Joshua Trees, strange desert trees. But I found they are all over the place outside of the park. During the 5 hours in the park, I saw not just the Joshua Tree, but other strange forest, called Teddy Bear Cactus, which can only be seen in the park. After a short visit to Phoenix AZ, I spend a few hours in Sedona, AZ, (3) a town known as old sacred place for native Americans. Although the setting of this town was gorgeous, it has turned into a tourist town. I sensed no local's flavor; kind of disappointing. I spend 2 nights in Page, AZ (4). From this town, I rode on a cruise ship on the Lake Powell to the Rainbow Bridge National Monument (5). They build a dam that filled a canyon as big as that of Grand Canyon National Park. The result; deadly beautify with environmental disastar. I have finally visited the Lake Powell before environmentalists explode the dam. The famous photographer's dream spot, Antelope Canyon, was also just a few miles away from the town.

Lake Powell in late afternoon.

Lookin up the walls of Zion National Park from the park entrance.

Southern Utah: The following 5 parks represents the Tour de Force of majestic red rock canyons. Zion National Park (6) is a wonderful park where I could walk the bottom of the canyons. Many people say longer you stayed you like it more. The main event of this park was the hike in "The Narrows". This hike I walked up a stream that runs through a deep and narrow canyon. There were no trails; the river filled up the canyon pretty much. I cannot describe how wonderful it was. Bryce Canyon National Park (7) is another astonishing park, famous for the strange shaped rock (known as ?) formations. Unfortunately the weather was getting a little worth. I wanted to go to one of slot canyons in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (8), a park that is mostly an undeveloped land. So, I headed to the next destination after a brief visit to the park. On the way, I ran across a small park called Natural Bridges National Monument (9). Sounds interesting. So, I hiked to all of the three major bridges in the park. That was fun. What makes the Monument Valley Tribal Park (10) special was not the height of the cliff, nor steepness of the rocks, nor narrowness of canyons. It was the balance of all these factors. The natives believe there is a healing power here. I almost agree.

Amphitheater of Bryce Canyon National Park from Inspritation Point.

Palace in Mesa Verde.

Colorado and New Mexico: The weather was really bad; it was a pouring rain when I reached the Four Corners Tribal Park. But when I arrived the Mesa Verde National Park (11), the rain stopped and blue sky appeared through the clouds. I visited the Balcony Houses and Cliff Palace, the two most famous ruins in the park. Those ruins were most surprising prehistoric ruins I've ever seen. The park also had beautiful forests although it was heavily damaged by recent forest fire. Black Canyon of Gurrison National Park (12) was ... black. And it was steep, bold, rough, and ugly. It was indeed a strange looking canyon, but I found it difficult to take a good photo. Anyway, the next stop was more than 600 miles down south near Texas border. Drove all the way with only a brief visit to Santa Fe and Alberquerque of New Mexico. In the last day of the SouthWest Loop, I visited both the White Sand Dunes National Monument (13) and the Carlsbad National Park (14), in one day. That was a little too ambitious. However, I still managed to see both parks with plenty of time to explore, and I enjoyed them very much.

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