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Report No 5

The "this could be Switzerland" times are definitely over! We left Wyoming and entered Utah. The landscape really changed quickly into desert, not much vegetation. Also very beautiful though!

We spent two nice days at Flaming Gorge. There we rented a motorboat and went to have a closer look at the cliffs and pelicans.

On we went to the Dinosaur NP. We enjoyed the desert landscape a lot but the quarry with dinosaur fossils didn't impress us too much.

On our way down south we decided to do a little detour to Colorado National Monument, which was a good decision. There we had our first encounter with a scorpion lying underneath Luca's play-carpet! It made us more aware of the dangers in the desert regions (especially for Luca). Despite not knowing about the park it gave us very nice impressions of the canyons, arches, fins, pillars (hoodoos), cliffs, monoliths, ...

The Arches NP was also very nice and impressive. Our campsite was the nicest in a nationalpark up to now. Even though it was very hot (38°C) we did a few walks to see the different arches.

Continuing our tour of nationalparks in Southern Utah we came to Canyonlands NP, another less known (meaning less people) but beautiful park. As the name says you are on a plateau and are surrounded by canyons in canyons in canyons! Spending an extra day there allowed us to do several hikes along canyon rims with outstanding views (impossible to get on a photo).

Already having seen a lot, the Capitol Reef NP didn't have much to offer. However being able to pick your own fruit from an orchard (started by early Mormon settlers) in the desert was really fun. Eating the ripe peaches directly from the trees was yummy for all three of us.

Next on our route was Bryce Canyon NP. The only must-see part of this park was the amphitheatre with the hoodoos. Because of it's elevation (about 2500 m) the temperatures (especially at night) forced us to take out our jackets again and to use the heater.

Zion Canyon NP has again a completely different landscape to all the other parks we have seen up to now. The scenic drive into the actual canyon wasn't toooo special.

From there we drove on to Arizona, to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It's really impressive what the Colorado River (at the moment a small river) did. The canyon with the various side canyons is really grand and can't be looked at from one place only. To experience the drop-down of about 1000m at least a little bit, we hiked down to a rock tunnel (halfway down). Especially the heat increase while descending was a struggle, and to do the way up after descending was tough. After that hike we decided to take it easier that day.

On our way on we stopped at Lake Mead Recreation Area and tried once again to rent a sailing boat. No luck:( Even though we were very close to Las Vegas we were the only ones in the whole campground. Maybe because it was really hot.

The ongoing route took us through Las Vegas, where we didn't spend one cent on a slot machine. We drove down the main road and enjoyed the contrast to what we've seen so far. The only money we spent was - once again - on petrol.

Even though we had heard about flash floods in Death Valley earlier, we made our way there. Short before the entrance we had to find out that the whole Death Valley Nationalpark is still closed. As we found out later over 70 miles of road were washed away and two peolpe died in the floods. Adapting our plans to the new situation we headed back to the highway in Nevada and up north to our next destinations Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia Nationalpark.

The landscape often reminded us of Switzerland, especially Ticino. What was new to us were the huge Giant Sequoias (the biggest trees in volume and the biggest living things on earth 85 m, up to 3000 years old and 1300 tons).

As we heard that Death valley is partially opened again, we decided to do the detour to one of the hottest places on earth. Coming down from over 2000 m above sea level to -30 m was a big change: not only didn't we need the heater anymore, instead we were forced to use the air-conditioner during the day. The temperature reached 47°C. The park was very quiet. Unfortunately all the main sights weren't accessible because of the washed out roads. Bearing such temperatures during the day is one thing, but if it's still 35°C at midnight with a hot wind blowing, it's just impossible to sleep. So we turned on our generator (with aircon) for 2 hours.

Fleeing the heat we choose our next destination on 2000 m again next to a lake in the San Bernadino Mountains.

A few days later we arrived at the lovely Joshua Tree Nationalpark. The different landscapes in this smallish park changed every now and again abrubtly and each part was very nice. The park and the campsites were very clean, nice and not crowded at this time of the year.

After a few days on the beaches south of LA we made our way back to Gisela in LA and closed the circle. Giving back our camper was easier than expected as the rental company went bankrupt in the meantime. So there were no questions about the damage we had in Alaska, but also no money back for expenses on the way. A bank is the new owner of the camper and for us it all worked out OK.

Leaving Gisela's warm hospitality ment starting our journey to Australia.

Thinking back over the last 4 1/2 months we get a happy smile on our faces! Travelling the 15 000 miles with Luca in our camper was rather easy going. We appreciated the convenience of having everything with us (shower, toilet, fridge, freezer, heater, microwave, aircon, stove, oven, and enough space for all of us). We spent as much time as possible outdoors and enjoyed nature. We saw a lot of beautiful things. Quite a few places made us say "this could be Switzerland".

We nearly always cooked ourselves. The few times we did go out we were often disappointed. Most things are more expensive than at home and we spent more money than expected (just with everyday needs). Basic camping was usually between US$ 10 - 30. The masses of people and cars in bigger cities were always stressful and not nice.

A not nice side was the rubbish and scrap in many people's "gardens". Imagine the damage to the environment.

Spending so much time outdoors and far away from too much civilisation we expected to see far more wildlife than we actually did.

Tips from our experiences for USA, Canada and Alaska:
- Annual Nationalparks Pass USA: this personal pass is valid for a family to all nationalparks in USA and Alaska and costs $50.- (replaces entrance fee yellowstone $20, bryce canyon $20, ...).
- Annual Nationalparks Pass Canada: costs cad 80.- and not that many nationalparks in Canada to use it at. Probably cheaper to pay single entrance fees. For us it was worth it (also because we could sell it in the end for cad 20).
- USA has alot of national forest areas, where one usually can camp on undeveloped campsites for free. As we didn't need water, toilets and a table we could sometimes save some money and have a nice and quiet spot. Visit local visitor's centre as there are exceptions.
- Public libraries usually provide free internet access. It was hardly ever possible to burn photo cds and plug on a memory card reader. Once we were sent to a college where they had excellent computers with unresticted rights on the computer.

The flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne was quite OK. It was great to see the whole Zimmermann Gang at the airport as they came to pick us up. So, eventually Luca could see his uncle, aunt and cousins and we are very happy to see them all again as well! Luca loves the company of his cousins and enjoys it a lot to be part of the gang. Unfortunately we all have got a cold and aren't feeling 100 %. On Wednesday of our first week Luca woke up at night with very heavy and frightening breathing and coughing. After some first aid, Oli took us to the children's hospital where they diagnosed croup (Pseudokrupp). The next day he was already much better.

24th September 2004, Melbourne (Australia)