West USA Road Trip Ideas from Los Angeles to Yellowstone National Park

In this article I will explain what I did during a two week holiday in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, so buckle up, there is a lot to read!

During this two week road trip around the west USA I drove from Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, then over to Zion National Park in southern Utah.

After Zion I crossed over to Canyonlands National Park crossing Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and some other amazing places along Highway 12, 24 and 95. These are some of the most scenic routes in Utah, so make sure you don’t miss them.

Since I had an annual National Park Pass I thought I should visit Yellowstone which was only 500 kilometers aways, so off I was up north!

Before you go any further, I will explain how to use this post. It is quite a long article, so to help you find your way around I’ve created the below bookmarks. You can scroll down and read the entire article in full or simply click the headers to jump down to the required sections.

I will write more about all these places, but in a nutshell: this road trip was 4,006 miles (6,450 km) and took two weeks. If you don’t want to drive so much or don’t have so much time, just mix and match whichever location you prefer!

Preparing for the Trip

Click on any of the bullet points below to jump to the section which interests you most.

First, please read a little bit about preparing for the trip, such as finding out how much it cost for the two weeks and how to pick up the rental car. I also touch on the subject of jetlag and how to cope with it plus I will explain how to get your camping gear in the US.

Cost of This Road Trip
Picking Up The Rental Car
Coping With Jetlag
Buying Your Camping Gear in the US

Things to Do in Los Angeles

In this section you will find useful ideas for walking around LA off the beaten track. These include areas that will remind you of Terminator 2 where Arnie is in a bike chase or museums in Pasadena. My favourite part was Route 66 and its beautiful urban bridges.

Dinner at Philippe’s Sandwich Store
Cheap Accommodation in Los Angeles
Driving on Route 66 in Los Angeles
The Arroyo Seco Canal Trail in Los Angeles
The Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles
Scenic Viewpoint in Los Angeles with Few Tourists
Pasadena Art Museum

Arizona Itinerary Ideas

After LA I drove out to Arizona and my first stop here was Kingman, a town not far from the Grand Canyon where I spent a day walking around. I also camped out at the Grand Canyon and visited Oatman, a Ghost Town south of Kingman.

Driving Out of Los Angeles to Arizona
Visiting Kingman in Arizona
Visiting Oatman, a Ghost Town in Arizona
Day Trip to the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon Camping

Visiting the Big Five in Utah

Utah is an absolutely amazing wonder in itself, but the fact that five of the most beautiful national parks of the US are here means you MUST visit!

During my week in Utah I visited the Zion National Park after which my next stop was Bryce Canyon, followed by the Grand Staircase Escalante National Park and Torrey, where I spent a night in a wood cabin.

Following the cabin I headed over to Canyonlands National Park where I spent a night at the Needles district backcountry camping in the wild.

Unfortunately it was very hot and I had to carry so much water plus a bear box that instead of spending three nights in the desert I cut my losses and checked out after a day and a half of trekking.

I first headed off to Arches NP and then to the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands NP then out to Salina.

If you need hiking inspiration, just click on any of these sub-headings to jump to that section.

Scenic Route to Zion National Park
Walking in the Virgin River at the Narrows
Camping Out in Zion National Park
Hiking on the West Rim Trail
Camping Out on the West Rim Trail
Driving Through Bryce Canyon
Overnight Stay in Torrey, Utah
Visiting Capitol Reef National Park
Monticello, The Gateway to Canyonlands National Park
Backcountry Camping in Needles – Canyonlands National Park
Driving Through Arches National Park
Visiting Island in the Sky in Canyonlands National Park
One Night in Salina, Utah

Visiting Yellowstone National Park

In a spur of a moment decision I jumped into the car and drove all the way to the Yellowstone National Park.

Since I had all the time and an annual National Park pass I thought why not see some more natural wonders in the USA?

Instead of going to a big city I spent the night in a small town called Salina by Interstate 15 and early in the morning I jumped in the car and did not stop until Yellowstone Park!

OK – I did stop to look at some of the sights and scenery and historic buildings but I did all the driving in one day.

My next stop after Yellowstone was Salt Lake City where I spent two nights with two friends celebrating Yom Kippur.

Following Salt Lake City it was time for a bit more of the desert so I drove west through the Great Salt Lakes and along Highway 50, the “Loneliest Road in America”.

You can find out how to do it by clicking on any of these sub-headings:

Driving to Yellowstone National Park
Discovering Idaho’s Potato Museum
Two Days in Salt Lake City
Checking Out The Great Salt Lake

Nevada and its Loneliest Road

In Nevada I visited Ely and Eureka as well as Fallon, towns along Highway 50 – a straight stretch of road through the Nevada Desert. I also visited Hawthorne and the nearby lake and some museums along the way.

My first night found me in Fallon, a small town along Highway 50. From here I drove to Hawthorne, a Navy Town, then Bodie, a Ghost Town and finally Yosemite, the world famous National Park.

The Loneliest Road in the US: Highway 50
Staying One Night in Fallon
Visiting the Hawthorne Navy and Military Museum

California’s National Parks

During my last three days I drove through California from Bodie in the east to Los Angeles on the west, stopping at the Yosemite and the Giant Sequoia National Parks.

Bodie is an amazing ghost town which I fully recommend visiting for an entire day!

My home for the penultimate night during this road trip was in Fresno, after which I headed to the Sequoia National Park. Finally, I spent a night in Bakersfield by which time I was so tired I was hardly alive… 🙂

Day Out in Bodie – California’s Best Ghost Town
Day Trip to Yosemite National Park
Walking Under The Giant Sequoias in California

West USA Road Trip Costings

In summary the costs were as follows:

• -Phone: no extra cost with Three Feel At Home Package
• -Car Hire: GBP294 for 16 full days
• -Hotels: USD430
• -Flight: GBP424
• -Fuel: USD335
• -Camping: USD150
• -National Park Pass: USD80
• -Food and other: USD20-30/day

Flying to Los Angeles from London

My flight was from London to Los Angeles with Norwegian’s flight from Gatwick, but it doesn’t really matter where you are coming from as long as your destination is Los Angeles!

In total, I had driven for 95 hours which in retrospect was quite a lot but I enjoyed every minute – the US is such a wide, open country right there, waiting to be discovered! With so many cheap flights and low cost car hire there really is nothing that whould stop you from going there. I will use a cliche: this is the perfect time to go, right now!

Getting to Los Angeles Airport

I landed in Los Angeles (LAX) on 8 September at 1710PM, 35 minutes ahead of schedule, flying with Norwegian directly from London Gatwick. The flight came in at £424 inclusive of taxes and took more than 11 hours to arrive. It was a very easy flight, no big drama or turbulance fortunately, it felt more like a long train ride.

My seat was in the middle in the aisle, so I had no views but at least I could stretch out properly and get up whenever I wanted. Also, luckily the girl in the middle never once got up and it was her boyfriend on her left so she would have walked out that way anyway.

We arrived on time and I got out of the airport terminal in no more than 20 minutes which was a great improvement on the last time in 2014 when I had to spend nearly 3 hours waiting in line!

Alamo Car Rental at LAX

This time I got off the plane, walked to the customs and border protection desks and then the CBT official stamped my passport and that was it.

From here I headed over to the Alamo Rental desk on Aviation Boulevard, where I picked up a car I rented through Netflights.com.

Normally I rent with Argus Car Hire but this time Netflights came in cheaper and they also threw in zero excess insurance at no extra cost. I asked Argus/Holiday Autos if they were interested in partnering again for a promotion but they said they’ve changed their “policy”…Anyway, I was happy to pay, at least there are no obligations to deliver anything.

I booked the basic package, automatic from Alamo, which in the US means a relatively large car. Mine was a grey Nissan Sentra, with five seats and a large booth.

Go Roam with Three UK

Since I had free roaming included in my home phone package with Three I did not get their GPS and a plethora of other things they were offering. I really like Three in this sence, because they offer the Feel At Home package which includes the United States.

So whenever I am in the US I can use my mobile phone like I was at home, and this all comes in at no extra cost.

The last time I was on holiday I got a text message from them saying that if I had to pay for my usage, it would have cost me nearly GBP3,500!

Anyhow, I got in the car and went for a nice drive around LA and the suburbs. I never knew there were actual oil wells within the city of LA, but the pictures below prove that there are! A friend of mine actually told me that there used to be far more oil wells in LA but now they’ve built houses over them because they are worth more…

Philippe’s Original French Sandwich

I set my Google Maps GPS to take me to Philippe’s Original French dipped sandwich store because I read in Jane & Michael Stern’s Road Foods book that they highly recommended it. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed!

The sandwich was a French baguette style bread with a sliced beef filling dipped into a gravy sauce. It was so succulent and soft, I loved it! The meat melted in my mouth like it was icecream honestly! It wasn’t cheap, but it definitely tasted very good.

In the end I went back there the next day too and had the same single-dip sandwich. Single-dip means they only dip it in the gravy once, more than once would make it too soggy I think. You can always ask for extra gravy on the side in a small dish, so that might be a better option.

While I was having my sandwich the guy sitting in front of me noticed I was taking photos and asked if I was a tourist. We started talking and I explained to him what I was doing there and it turned out he hasn’t been to half the places I was about to visit!

There was another lady I met during my trip and she was th same, never visited any of the sites and scenery, which I thought was absolutely crazy given they live right round th corner!

I simply couldn’t believe that he had lived there his entire life and never once visited the Grand Canyon, which is only a few hours away by car!

Local’s with Little Local Knowledge

It surprises me so much that people live their entire lives in the same place and never visit parts of town that others travel across the world to see!

Complete bonkers, but I guess that’t just life – although not me, even when I lived in the village in Hungary I went discovering things, seeing places and getting myself into trouble in the process! I suppose most people have it programmed into their brains to do what they are told and never to diverge from the written, the ordered.

Anyhow, with all the cheap fuel and great road networrk I find it bewildering that they don’t travel more. Might have something to do with the small holiday allowance they get but then at least travel to the neighbourhood, or the next state for the weekend or something!

Work and Facebook is not everything! I wonder what these people were doing before the advent of social media?!

After dinner I hopped back in the car and drove all the way to my motel where I was going to stay for the next two nights.

The Rodeway Inn Maingate Knotts

I was staying at the Rodeway Inn near Maingate Knotts, which is an entertainment district in Los Angeles. Maingate Knotts is where families go with their children for a weekend as there is a theme park.

The area was very quiet and the people all seemed friendly, so I was happy with my choice. The Rodeway Inn motels belong to the Choice Hotel chain, which is basically a low-cost chain of hotels including the Econo Lodge, the Quality Inn and a number of other hotels. They are not always the cheapest but most times I have stayed with them as they tend to come in as the best value.

What I’ve noticed over the years of staying at Rodeway Inns and Econo Lodges is that most of them are owned by first generation immigrants from India. This time I decided to actually ask the receptionist who was related to the owner, he explained that a lot of these guys come over from Punjab and Gujarat province and invest their money in the US.

Given the immigration rules (employing 10 people in a business grants you permenant residency) this is probably how a lot of Indian families with money gain the right to remain in the US.

I might be completely wrong but this sounds plausible. In a motel you need to employ several cleaners, receptionists, night porters and so on, quickly making up the required minimum of 10 people to get your Green Card.

Once that is yours, you can apply to bring your entire family over under the family reunification program of the United Nations.

This motel cost $145 for two nights including breakfast and it even had a swimming pool and a nice garden. I was on the second floor and really enjoyed me stay, overlooking the neighbouring theme park and a huge bank car park.

I slept well both nights although the first night I woke up in the middle of the night because I was still jetlagged.

What to Do When You Are Jetlagged?

My best advice is to have some food on the bedside cabinet so if you wake up you can munch on something. That normally helps me go back to bed, so normally I have a banana or apple but this time I did not buy anything.

Instead, I headed off to downtown Los Angeles to eat in one of the famous 24/7 cafes called the Original Pantry Store. This also came recommended by the Road Foods book and I wasn’t disappointed.

They’ve been serving customers for a century and proof of this is the floor in front of the cashier: there was a gaping pothole in the lynoleum, created by the feet of the many thousand visitors that filled their bellies here. They’ve been open since 1924 and have never closed since!

It was bedtime for me at 10PM but I woke around 2AM and got to the diner around 4AM by which time the party-goers already disappeared and it was only the night shifters and loners that filled the chairs.

French Toast in Downtown LA

As usual my choice fell to the French toast but it was such a huge portion and a bit tasteless that I could not finish it. I poured some Maple syrup over it and had some sweet tea with it but it was nowhere near as good as the French toast in Moxie’s in downtown Tampa in Florida.

By the time I finished it was nearly sunrise so I headed back to the motel to have a bit more rest and published an article about my experience during the 9/11 terror attacks and how it has all affected my life.

Once I was done with the article I headed out into the wild to discover what LA has to offer.

My original plan was to drive up to Henninger Flats but it was so hot already in the morning that I decided against it. Instead, I drove to the base where the Henninger Flats Trail Head is and took some photos. Here, I did a quick research and found out that the last few miles of Route 66 were just down the road from where I was.

So, instead of climbing up hill I drove down on Route 66 all the way to downtown Los Angeles.

Driving on Route 66 in Los Angeles

The most fascinating thing for me about Route 66 is that it was prominent for only a few decades, then as people started moving closer to the Freeway its importance began to decline.

In my opinion it is a bit of a shame because the architecture along Route 66 is very interesting and much more varied than the copy/paste blueprints in use nowadays for any of the shopping malls and eateries.

I understand businesses have to comply with building codes and so forth, but still it would be nice to have an individual identity for these businesses that reflect their values and interests as opposed to the standard one size fits all mould.

Anyhow, my first stop along the way was in the northern suburbs of Los Angeles, where all the rich people live. Here in Pasadena all the houses are huge and the streets are lined with massive palm trees and grassy lawns (never mind we are in the desert and one of the driest droughts in history!)…

Pasadena in Los Angeles

The streets in Pasadena were so wide that you could fit a truck across from pavement to pavement and it would turn around on its own axis without a problem. And that’s a side street in one of the suburbs of LA.

As I progressed down the various districts of LA began to emerge, all their own towns before Los Angeles morphed into its current megacity state, stretching 125 kilometers from the Pacific Coast to the mainland city limits.

I find it incredible that this one city is wider than half of Hungary across! And it is not full of slums and favelas like Rio de Janeiro or Istanbul, these are solid houses, many of them with swimming pools and huge front lawns, connected by various freeways and interstates.

Just how much money they’ve had to spend on building this city, and then literally from one day to another they can decided to move somewhere else and abandon entire districts and build others.

It really annoys me why they cannot demolish the old, unwanted neighbourhoods and build in their place? Or simple renovated the old and move in people that would be more than happy to live in those parts of town.

Greenfield Construction

Of course, I know the answer: it is cheaper to build on greenfield developments instead of paying a premium for real estate that is already there. This way the city keeps on growing, with many parts turning to crime and dereliction where nobody in their right mind will ever want to move.

Well, that was just my impression about Route 66 and its legacy. I drew along Route 66 for the next three days all the way to the middle of Arizona, and all I saw was abandoned structures and derelict buildings – the so called “Ghost Towns”…But in my eyes it is not so romantic, more like tragicomic.

Why would you build new homes when there aren’t more people in town, instead the same amount or fewer people with higher demands? Not being funny, the baby boomers will start popping off soon in huge numbers and their homes will be up for grabs and that will mean a pretty big oversupply of housing stock.

By the time I arrived in downtown Pasadena I was really desparate for the toilet but the problem was there was no free parking on the street! I was so desperate I nearly weed my pants!

Arroyo Seco Trail in Los Angeles

Luckily I found a public toilet then I went walking along the Arroyo Seco, a former river turned channel which they now use to lead the flood water away from the populated areas. It is a bit of a shame that the natural environment has been completely turned into this built environment but it is also quite cool because I could imagine I was in Terminator!

The former riverbed has been paved with cement and there is a cyclepath and pavement on one side so it was actually quite nice to walk around there. Next to where I was I could also find a golf course, again with brimming green grass when everything else has been parched by the sun.

The most fascinating for me was finding a horse stable next to the river, in this mega dereliction, looking like an Irish horse racer’s stables out of Belmont, London!

And this was all about 10 minutes from downtown LA – quite amazing I would say!

LA Heritage Square Museum

I walked here for a while then turned around and headed down to a place called Heritage Square Museum. This museum is right next to Highway 110 or the Pasadena Highway, which is the old Route 66.

What they did here was re-build some of the old stately homes there would have otherwise been destroyed in downtown Los Angeles during the boom years when they were erecting the skyscrapers. So instead of letting the buildings go, they transported them here where you can now find several buildings downtown LA.

My favourite buildings were the front two, the white one used to belong to Hastings Longfellow and the other to the Clusky Family.

Here is some Heritage Square Museum trivia: parts of Legally Blond was shot here, the episode in which the blonde lawyer walked up the stairs of the white house.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was also shot on location here, while Saving Mary Poppins was shot in the Hale House.

Obvisiouly one needed to be properly loaded to be able to afford a house like this: William H Perry was a lumber dealer and the Knusden family owned a dairy farm and another family was the pharmacist.

If you have a couple of hours I would fully recommend a visit, it is not expensive and every day there is a tour at 12 during which they explain the history of the buildings and provide and interesting background story.

Scenic Views of Los Angeles

On the way to the museum I got lucky and discovered a part of LA with amazing views! I originally wanted to climb to Henninger Flats for the views and to sleep there overnight in my tent, but then driving to the museum I discovered a turn-off from Route 66 with some spectacular views of LA.

I think the pictures below speak for themselves. If you also want to get here, put 530 Montecito Drive into your GPS – the views are on either side of the house.

Another interesting bit I discovered on my way to the Heritage Square Museum were some metal structures depicting flies and other insects in front of someone’s house. You can see a couple of photos about them below here.

For lunch I went back to Philippe’s Original Sandwich Store because it was sooooo tasty! Again, I got a single dip beef sandwich with a side gravy serving and a Dr. Pepper.

Pasadena Art Museum

From here I dashed off to the Pasadena USC Art Gallery where I was meeting my DNA relative from Anaheim. Her friend was giving a speech about her new book and I wanted to meet my DNA relative so I came along. Fortunately parking for free for visitors otherwise it would have been very difficult.

It was an interesting talk about her artwork and the mother-daugther relationship but it’s not something that I would attend every day! My relative was very interested in finding out more about how we are related so we agreed to meet the next morning in her house where we could check out her documents and see what connects us.

Turns out it is very likely one of our great great great grand parents were brothers and/or sisters as her ancestors are from the same region as mine.

When I am back in Hungary I will pop in to the local archives to find out more and see if we can connect the dots.

Hungarian DNA Relative

Her house was so beautiful, the views were incredible over the valley and mountains, and she was just a teacher not a millionaire banker. I find it incredible how well some people live in certain parts of the world while others in the same jobs across the global struggle. I guess that is just life…

After the art gallery I headed back to the motel because I was going to attend the Rosh Hashanah evening service and I also wanted to pop into Wal-Mart to get myself a tent and some camping equipment for my backpacking holiday during the next two weeks.

Buying Camping Gear in the US

If you ever go camping in the US and don’t own your own expensive stuff just save yourself the hassle and buy one locally. They are dirt cheap in walmart and will do perfectly well while you are in the mountains. Then you can decide to keep the camping equipment or give it to a homeless person or donate it to a hostel and so on.

The possibilities are endless! I used my tent, foam and sleeping bag for a week then left them in my hotel room with a note to donate it to someone else. I hope they did it and not just threw it in the trash!

I left my shitbags (human waste disposal bags) at the car rental desk when I dropped the car off! I told her to give it to someone that might need it. In all fairness I was going to return the unopened shitbag box to Wal-Mart along with the tent (which was broken I discovered on my third day) but I ran out of time in the end.

Anyhow, I made good use of them, spending five nights out camping. If I had spent five nights in hotels at say USD60 a night, that would have cost me USD300 but all in all I only spent about USD150 on camping, including the backcountry permits, but not including the national park pass.

So not only was it cheaper financially, but also much more fun and adventure, but I will tell you all about that later!

Temple Beth Sholom in Anaheim

I spent the evening at the Temple Beth Sholom synagogue in Anaheim which was quite a lot of fun actually. I’d been looking for a synagogue to attend during Rosh Ha’Shanah but it turned out to be more difficult than I thought. A lot of synagogues I contacted did not respond and there were many I did not want to attend. Then after getting in touch with the Hungarian lady I decided to search in her neighbourhood and that is when I found this synagogue.

I emailed them and the lady that got back to me said it is fine as long as I bring with me a letter of good standing from my current synagogue. Otherwise it would have cost $190 for a non-member to attend their evening and morning service.

I thought it was quite extortionate but fortunately I had the form filled out and managed to celebrate for free. In the end I left a donation with them in an envelope as well beause it was a lot of fun there.

By the time the service ended and I got back to the Rodeway Inn Motel I was so tired all I wanted was to sleep. So I crashed out and woke in the morning, having slept through the night.

I visited my DNA relative again in the morning and we exchanged notes and did a bit more research then I went back to the synagogue again for the morning service. By then I got to know the secretary of the synagogue and she told me I could go with them for lunch if I wanted to.

In retrospect it would have been a better decision to just head out of town as lunch took almost two hours and then getting out of LA another two so I wasted a lot of time with that unfortunately. Anyway, they were nice people and the lunch was OK although quite expensive.

Citrus City Grill – Orange

I had the burger and chips at Citrus City Grill which the locals frequent in Orange, not far from the synagogue. Apparently they have good wine too as well as beer but I did not try either of them as I was driving.

The drive north out of LA was torture as everyone was heading out on their usual commute and I was caught in it Monday afternoon! If ever you need to leave LA for a road trip, my recommendation is to do it well before 2PM, otherwise you will be in stationary traffic for a long time.

By the time I got on the I-15 and was able to drive at a normal speed it was almost 5PM and my ass was going numb so after climbing a steep hill I pulled over to check out the view. I could not have picked a better spot! There was a huge valley in front of me with a highway in the distance and four or five railway lines between me and the Highway.

Rejoining Route 66 in California

Looking down and seeing the long trains snaking along the rails in the valley was almost surreal – it all looked like back in Hamburg where I visited the miniture railway museum back in 2012. All the oil tankers, container cargo and other rail cars looked like just another miniture railway from a toy shop!

I spent a good 20 minutes stretching my legs and admiring the views then got back in the car and carried on driving. My plan was to get on Route 66 later but by then it was getting late and I just wanted to arrive at my destination in Kingman where I booked a room for the night.

First I had to drive toward Barstow then follow the I-40 until a junction with Ludlow where I could get off the freeway and join Route 66. I did this but having looked at Ludlow and Route 66 for the next 20 or 30 minutes I decided to just get back on the Interstate and move on.

The truth is Route 66 is a massive farce in terms its “historic significance” as nowadays there is very little historic along the way in California or Arizona. Much of the road has been re-routed to give way to I-40 and what is left of Route 66 runs parallel to I-40 except the speed limit is 45-55 miles an hour as opposed to 75 miles an hour of the interstate.

So about half an hour after getting off the Interstate I got back on it and did not really stop until I arrived in Kingman. The problem was that I wasted so much time in LA at the restaurant and driving out of town that by the time I left Ludlow the sun had already set.

A Night in Kingman in Arizona

Between Ludlow and Kingman I was driving in the dark – not that there is a lot to see as it’s mainly flat areas with some mountains in the distance. Once it was completely dark I put the pedal to the metal and drove to Kingman where I stayed at a Motel 6 for only $48 for the night.

I really like the Motel 6 chain as these motels are super clean and I have never been disappointed with the service wherever I stayed. The first time I stayed in a Motel 6 was in Texas in Del Rio, just off the border with Mexico. I completely fell in love with the place as the motel was clean and tidy and it was the first time I had had a shower in two days following all the time sleeping in the Mustang.

Anyhow, this Motel 6 in Kingman was in the city center, not far from the railway station where a daily train between Los Angeles and Chicago stops in the morning I think.

Kingman was an old Route 66 town where the people stopped on their way to Los Angeles from Texas and Oklahoma after the dust bowl disaster. Kingman is a nice little town with a lot of history so I decided to walk around the high street and check out the train station. I got luck and a couple of trains went past just when I was there so I managed to take some nice shots.

The townhall is also very nice in Kingman along with the High Street and the park with a massive steam engine at the center of it. I wished I had arrived a little earlier so I could have spent a bit more time looking at the place and reading the signs.

Unfortunately I arrived pretty late in the evening and nothing was open by then and I was exhausted after the long drive so I had a shower and went to bed. The night would have been great had it not been for another terrible experience having a blackout and not remembering anything in the morning.

Waking up in Kingman Aching

My entire body was aching again and I felt in agony just like a year before in Hastings at home. I could not believe this had to happen right when I was beginning my holiday on the way to the Grand Canyon!

I was in so much pain I needed to get a packet of painkillers and started drinking a lot of water hoping it might help. Unfortunately it did not I spent much of the morning wondering the streets of Kingman in pain.

Around 9AM I asked at the tourist office if they could recommend a place to visit which would qualify as a ghost town but I forgot to specify (and the lady did not ask) that I was driving towards the Grand Canyon and wanted to visit something on the way there.

The lady said I should visit a place called Oatman but in my state I forgot to check where it was and in which direction so I stupidly just put it in the GPS and started driving!

Oatman, an Arizona Ghost Town

The drive to Oatman took an hour and a half and it was a mega disappointment! There were a few donkeys, some shops and restaurants and it all looked tacky and fake! It was during breakfast when I decided to check the way to the Grand Canyon and to my shock and horror I found out I was driving the opposite direction all morning! I felt like “how could I completely fuck it up like this?”…

I was actually closer to Needles than to Kingman! In the end I had to completely backtrack and go to Kingman again and from there take the I-40 to the Junction with Highway 93 to the Grand Canyon!

I was absolutely pissed off about this – just wasted nearly 5 hours driving there and back and having breakfast in this fake town! My original plan was to drive to the Grand Canyon, arrive there for lunchtime and walk to the valley or at least part-way then find a place to camp and sleep out overnight.

Instead, it was nearly 12 when I got back to Kingman and I was still in so much pain that I decided to have a swim in the pool just in case that helps me cool down a bit. In fact it was quite a good idea and the cold water did help, so I wasn’t that angry with myself in the end.

Otherwise I would have been long gone toward the canyon without the ability to swim in the cold water. The swim and another large dose of extra strenght pain killer than helps sooth the pain for the day and I arrived at the Grand Canyon around 4PM. I drove almost non-stop but the closer I got to the Grand Canyon the heavier the traffic became so I was making slow progress.

Grand Canyon South Main Entrance

The main gate to the Grand Canyon is just north of Tusayan where I stopped to look around. It was completely swarming with tourists so instead of wasting too much time I got back in the car and drove up to the Grand Canyon. The ticket to get in cost $35, including the car and the National Park bus tickets.

The park is so big that it’s not possible to walk everywhere but if you want to see most things you will need to take a bus. So what they have done is create several bus routes, touching the nicest places in the park. Most of the bus stops are at the viewpoints that provide stunning vistas into the valley and I can say honestly that I have never seen anything like this before.

It is very difficult to describe the view, especially if you have never seen a real canyon before. But imagine a sheer drop in front of you with a river snaking its way at the base and another huge wall facing you on the other side.

This whole spectacle is then colours in hues or red, purple, orange and yellow as the sun’s rays paint the valley into a myriad of colours. The width of the canyon is several kilometers and it is not possible to cross without an overnight permit, which, unfortunately, are quite hard to come by.

In the end I decided to park my car at the first stop then walk around there and enjoy the scenery for a while, then I hopped on a bus and went to the last stop to check out the village and the views from there. Finally, just before sunset I managed to catch the last bus to the spot where the sunset is the most beautiful before heading back to the car.

The views from this stop were simply spectacular and the sunset was just something else! Everything was gold and gronze coloured and it was also quite warm even though we were high up in the mountains. What I found very strange was that the drive to the canyon seemed like going through flat areas but when I reached the edge there was that huge drop in front of my!

It was completely invisible from the distance which made it even more magical. I wonder how the explorers of the land felt when they arrived on horse back to find the way completely blocked by a huge canyon and a river down below? Must have been very scary and annoying most of all! Imagine having to ride horseback all the around the canyon looking for a place to cross!?

Camping near Grand Canyon

Once the sun set I started looking for a place to pitch up my tent. The village down the road was called Tusayan and around it lay a huge pine forest which belonged to the Bureau of Land Management.

These BLM lands are the perfect spot to pitch up your tent as these locations are free and some of them even offer the opportunity to barbecue your food. In some places it is not allowed to set fire, especially during the dry season, but anyway, just check before you start a fire.

Having done a bit of advance research, I knew from earlier that there was a BLM camping spot here so I started looking for it once the sun set. Although I was quite hungry I ended up not having dinner as I was so tired and did not want to look for an expensive place to eat a burger. Instead, I finished my pringles and had a couple of other biscuits for dinner.

Stupidly I did not buy a gas canister and a cooker so I could not eat my soup which would have been perfect in my situation which was a bit annoying but I just had to get on with it.

Just as I found a nice quiet spot and pitched up my tent I began hearing someone shouting and screaming at the top of his voice. At first I thought it was a drunkerd but he would not stop screaming! I could not believe my bad luck that day! It felt like I had found the best spot, it being super quiet and no other campers around but then this idiot had to ruin it for me!

He was shouting that the whites came to kill all the natives and that they have taken their land and so on and so forth! When I heard him scream about the whites and colonisers I decided that it would be for the best to move on!

What a fucking prick I though! I just about set up my tent and I was ready to lie down to sleep when this nutcase started his show. Clearly, even if he had been a ‘simple’ drunk I would not have been able to sleep for the screaming, but when he started his mantra about the white I knew that that was it!

The Second Campsite

Fortunately about 10 minutes away there was another spot but it was much busier with tourists and other campers already there took the best spots.

At any rate, by then it was nearly 10PM and I was so tired I honestly did not care where I was going to sleep! I even contemplated sleeping in the car but in the end I decided against it since I had my tent in the back.

Unfortunately it turned very cold by around midnight and it was then that I realized my sleeping bag did not fit me so I was pretty much shivering all night! Even though I was wearing two trousers, several layers on top and the foam underneath me I was still really cold.

That’s when I really realized that I was high up in the mountains, in the middle of the forest. Never mind I thought, how often does it happen to anyone from Hungary that they camp a stone’s throw away from the Grand Canyon in the middle of a native pine forest?

In the morning I woke up quite early, just before sunrise as it started to become light outside. The morning smell of the dew and the pine trees, mixing in with the dried leaves on the ground was pretty sensational, not something that I smell very often!

Unfortunately the dew on the ground also meant that my tent got a bit wet but I did not really care and just threw it into the back of the to dry. The first thing I did after getting up was to brush my teeth then do a few stretches and head out towards Utah.

I learned my lesson in Texas about not having enough water on me so this time I made sure to buy plenty of water. The day I bought the tent and the other camping gear I also bought a huge pack of half liter water, with the throwaway bottles.

I felt a bit bad about all the waste I created but in the end my health and well-being trumps everything else. Also, it is much more efficient to buy the 36 bottles for under five bucks in Walmart than spending nearly a dollar on each bottle at the shops in the national parks.

Otherwise I normally drank the tap water in the hotels and during the day I also drank the soft drinks served with my food. In addition, from time to time I bought a big bottle of sweet tea to keep me going.

My favourite brand is the Arizona bottled sweet tea as it tastes amazing and not too sweet. The Neste sweet tea is slightly bitter and the Lipton kind is a bit off-putting after a while so I normally stick with the Arizona brand.

Taking Highway 89 Up North

The drive out of Grand Canyon National Park took me down Highway 89A towards Highway 89, which is a spectacularly scenic drive – most likely one of the nicest roads I have ever driven on.

At various points in the journey the Grand Canyon appears on the left, literally out of nowhere as you drive out of the dense pine forest with the long thing leaves. It was almost like flying above clouds or on top of the world, a very strange feeling as otherwise you would not even realize that you are high up on the edge of a huge canyon.

The drive to the main stretch of Highway 89 took about an hour and a half, taking in the scenery at a comfortable speed.

As I reached Highway 89 I turned left going towards the north as my destination for the day was the Zion National Park. I booked a camp site for one night on the West Rim Trail and I also decided to stay at one of the local Bureau of Land Management sites near Zion where I did not need a permit.

Scenic Route to Zion National Park

The road to Zion was absolutely breathtaking with huge mountains in the distance and various bridges of many shapes and forms crossing over the Colorado River.

It was here that I realized just how big the river is and how deep the canyon reaches: as I stood on the side of the bridge, leaning over the banister I felt the vertigo overcoming me so I had to grab the metal and hold onto it for stability!

It was also here where I stupidly overtook the truck that was painting the roads and I sprayed the underside of the car with road paint! I was very worried the car hire company would charge me for the damage but in the end I got away with it as I had a full blown zero excess cover for the hire car.

Road Painting Season in the US

Lesson: never overtake the road paint truck because you will spray the underside of your car and it will never come off!

I tried everything except for scraping but nothing helped, so I was in panic mode for the rest of the journey until I dropped the car off!

At one of those huge bridges I also started thinking just how amazing it is that humanity has learned engineering and that we can bridge these massive gaps in the world! Back in the day it must have taken days and weeks to get around these cracks in the earth and now all we need is crossing a bridge, where a lot of people don’t even stop to admire the view.

At Kanab I had to stop to refuel the car again and myself, so I popped into a local burger joint which I picked because there were a large number of cars parked outside.

Restaurant Break at Kanab, Utah

The restaurant was clearly the local favourite as there was a huge queue at the cashiers and almost every seat was taken during the lunch hour. I decided to get the bison burger with sweet potato fries and a large glass of Dr. Pepper which really complented each other!

I spent about 15 minutes waiting for the burger as they prepare everything fresh here, including the potatoes, so you can imagine it all tasted absolutely fabulous. The lunch was so filling and I was so tired that I was ready to snooze off a bit but instead I decided to push on and drive to Zion straight after lunch.

Zion National Park in Utah

Zion National Park is most probably one of the most spectacular parks in the entire world! It is hard to describe the feeling when I saw the mountains coming out of the tunnel on Highway 9: the raw, gray granite rocks sticking out of the earth and the pine forest carpeting everything where they could take root!

In between the trees I could see some grass and dried leaves plus a lot of sand which I found quite fascinating as I thought it would all be like black earth or pebbles, I did not expect soft sand which you normally find on the river banks.

My destination for the day was the Narrows, which is a massive river walk between two vertical walls carved by the Virgin River over thousands of years. It is basically a freezing cold walk in the riverbed upriver from a bus stop, taking about a day if you are an experienced walker.

I arrived at the local visitor center around 2PM and decided against watching the movies because I thought I would do the walk myself anyway.

The main reason was that I did not want to waste too much time sitting watching a movie as I planned to do so many things. What I did is this: parked the car at the Zion visitor center then took the bus to the Narrows and walked up river for a couple of hours.

Walking in the Virgin River at Narrows

The problem was that the river was so cold my feet actually started to go numb so in the end I had to turn back and walk back to the bus stop. I did not mind this as I was very tired and I knew the big adventure was still ahead of me the following day when I was going to set off on a big hike along the West Rim.

From the Narrows I took the bus back to the car and drove to the South Entrance where there was another visitor center and some shops and a village.

It was here that I decided to buy a gas canister and cooking attachement but stupidly I forgot to buy a lighter to start the fire! I wsa so excited and looking forward to having dinner by my tent on the hillside but instead I had to put up with some chips and cold tomato juice.

Since I do not smoke and hardly ever use a lighter or matches I completely forgot about this and I was so annoyed when I realized my mistake on the hillside!

By the time I finished shopping and was done with everything I wanted to do I did a quick search online for nearby BLM lands with free camping.

There was a great spot just off the Kolob section of Zion National Park which I picked for myself for the night. To illustrate the distances I will tell you that it took nearly an hour and a half to get to the camping site even though it was “only” the other side of the hill!

The roads here are very curvy and there are some steep and narrow bits so going fast is not always an option. I was quite happy with this as I was looking forward to setting up camp and making dinner by the tent on my new gas canister and cooker!

Camping At Zion National Park

If you want to know what the area looked like please have a look at the photos I posted on my Instagram and to have a better feeling for the place I would recommend this New York Times article about a local ranch. My camping site was right across the road from this ranch which has been operated by the same family for several generations of cattle ranchers.

It was a bit windier up here and slightly cooler than in the valley so I dressed up properly before I began setting up camp. The views were totally stunning and I simply could not have enough of the surrounding mountains and grassy hillside.

As the sun began to set I took a few nice shots then with the routine of the previous night I set up the tent in a nice secluded spot. Just as I finished it and parked the car in its resting place for the night did I realize that I had no lighter! I was so annoyed with myself as I was exhausted and hungry for my Asian noodle soup!

Given that I was an hour away from the nearest gas station or village it was not an option to drive as I was not prepared for a two hour track, especially not in the dark. Instead I just accepted my faith and had my tomato soup and biscuits, then put myself away for the night after editing some Instagram photos for my whopping 88 followers!

The next morning after I woke up I decided to eat some of the leftover snacks then grudingly went to the nearest petrol station to buy myself a lighter. I was so annoyed by this but I had to do it – otherwise I would be without any warm food that night as well.

The nearest station was just down the road by the I-15 at St George, a small town with a lot of pensioners enjoying the low cost of living and beautiful scenery.

The petrol station was pretty big and since I was there I filled up on gas and also bought some fruits and pastry from the bakery. On the way up the road driving to the West Rim Trail head I saw a hitch-hiker so I decided to stop and help him.

From his accent I was guessing he was Jewish and it turned out that indeed I met an Israeli guy on the road, hitchhiking to another trailhead frequented by rock-climbers. He said he and his friend were doing one of the most difficult tracks in the park, using almost 80kg of gear and ropes!

Walking the West Rim Trail

I dropped him off at his trailhead then about ten minutes later I parked up and started my own walk down the West Rim Trail. Without doubt this was one of the most beautiful walks in my entire life! I even saw a snake sneak past my feet, just inches away and several deers jumped out of shrubs and ran off in front of me…

The rangers also posted warnings about mountain lions appearing in Zion National Park so I was properly set up in my mind for a a great adventure!

The trail to my campsite was 12 miles and took me about 8-9 hours of solid walking! The first third was not very exciting but it was still very interesting to see the rock formations and the mountains in the distance, all the while being surrounded by the stunning pine forest.

Something I cannot describe is the smell of the pine trees: it was so fresh and as I was walking on the trail I could hear the crunching sound of the sand and sometimes the tree leaves.

After about two hours of walking I stopped to take a break when I met a girl from Kansas City on the trail. She said that there are three Hungarian football players in their town, including the coach! And the funniest was that she went to the same school as I did in Mizzou just a year after me!

After about three hours the view changed completely and the valley opened up in front of me on the right. It was all so stunning and looked surreal like I’d just walked into a painting! It was absolutely perfect, like out of a cowboy movie herding cattle accross the mountains!

I felt so small on the mountain with the massive rocks in front of me and the valley down below me with a river running through it which I was wading into the day before.

What made it even better was that I was there all on my own because the base of the trail was closed due to a huge flooding back in July. That meant people without a car did not come to the top of the trailhead plus the north was the less popular end of the West Rim Trail.

Reaching Angel’s Landing in Zion

The southern end is where most people reach the Angel’s Landing viewpoint which is supposed to be one of the toughest climbs for amateurs in the world. What normally happens (and this was partly my plan too) is that people park their car by the river then walk up the trail to Angel’s Landing then head back down.

I was planning to carry on to my base at West Rim Campsite 6 but given that the trail at the base was closed I had to drive to the top. This also made the walk twice as long: from the base it would have been only about six miles instead of the 20 I ended up doing!

After the stunning viewpoint where I had a quick lunch I carried on down the trail towards my campsite. By this time it was already well past noon and the rucksack was becoming heavier on my back. The stunning vistas and amazing scenery definitely compensated for this but I was beginning to look forward to setting up camp for the night.

The trail divides into a loop shortly after campsite four and my plan was to do the loop from the south, following the West Rim Trail. I expected this to take maybe one hour, but instead it turned into a mega long track!

The worse was that if I had turned right then I would have found my campsite in about 10 minutes and I could have left my rucksack and camping gear there! That would have made the rest of the day so much better honestly!

By the time I got to the northern half of the loop where I could see Angel’s Landing and the southern half of the track I was just so tired I did not want to take another step! It was around 5PM then and I still had more than an hour’s walk ahead of me to the campsite!

Anyhow, here I stopped for a short while to take a break and enjoy the vistas then checked out the trail a bit further down to find out what I had lost out on. I must admit climbing up that way would have been so much more complicated and tiring that I stopped having any regrets.

Camping Out in Zion for Night Two

From here I told myself to carry on without stopping until I reached my campsite where I set up the tent and settled down for dinner. By this time it was quite late and the sun was about to go down beyond the horizon so I took a few great photos of the sunset then started cooking for the first time during th journey!

The cooker was a simple gas stove and hardly weighed anything but boiled the water and cooked the noodle soup pretty fast! I really liked it and I will definitely get the same gear again for my next camping trip.

Once the sun set and it was becoming darker I settled into my tent and put myself away for the night. I was very tired and slightly worried about the mountain lions so I had no regrets about going to be early. It was also a little cloudy so I wasn’t able to see the stars but otherwise I had a good night’s sleep.

The next morning I headed back to the car but this time I had to climb all the way uphill, so it was extremely tiring! The climb up to the car took less time than the day before, but still I was completely knackerd by the time I got to the car. The views on either side still amazed me and I will never forget the blue skies, the green pine forests and the golden coloured sand of Zion National Park!

The way out of the park took a little longer than in because I had to drive into the main section of the park again then past the river junction and up towards the tunnel. Since the tunnel is one of the most popular parts of any visit to the park everyone is trying to drive through it at least once.

For some reason this usually happens when they are leaving, driving towards Kanab so the queue was humoungous! Getting out of the park must have taken me over an hour and I still had a long drive ahead of me through Bryce Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef and a couple of other interesting places.

I did not have any accommodation booked for the night because I was planning to spend the evening in the tent on a BLM site.

However, later in the day I found out that it would have been a bad decision as I was quite high up in the mountains and it was mega cold there!

Maybe not that cold but after the heat of LA and Zion I felt like winter arrived when I got to the pine forest outside Capitol Reef!

Driving Through Bryce Canyon, Utah

The drive through Bryce Canyon was again amazing but I decided to push ahead as the next day I had a booking at Needles National Park for three days of camping in the wilderness.

Instead of stopping off I drove nice and easy and taking photos and videos here and there. To be honest, it is a sparsely populated area and if you don’t have a campsite or a booking at an RV park or Motel then your best bet is to drive on.

Bryce Canyon NP is so big that you really need a few days to properyly discover the place for yourself, and just driving through it will not be enough. So, instead of spending too much time I carried on driving towards the junction with Highway 24.

Whether you stop at Bryce Canyon or Capitol Reef I would still highly recommend this drive on Highway 12 as it will take you through the heart of Utah’s most stunning and diverse scenery.

It was honestly like out of this world driving up and down this country, taking in the vistas on either side of the road! The speed was limited to between 45 and 55 in most places but it did not really matter as you really cannot drive any faster than that in the hairpin curves of the road.

Changing Scenery in Utah

The most unbelieveable thing for me was how fast the scenery changed from forest into desert and then back into forested areas! The pine forests of Utah were completely unexpected for me as most photos in brochures show the open outback with the red rock formations.

Then again, some parts of Highway 12 took me through sheer rock scenery with nothing but red rocks and massive granite boulders!

Not going to lie, rushing through all this felt a bit of waste, but I was certain Needles, Arches and the Island in the Sky National Parks would compensate – and I was perfectly right about it!

As I was driving up north on Highway 12 I began looking for places to sleep but most of the Choice Hotels accommodation was booked out and the Motel 6 sites were all by the Interstate hours away from me.

So I stopped at one of the National Park Service campsites to enquire whether they know some place that is not going to cost the eart. The problem was that even if there was a room available somewhere, like a Rodeway Inn, it cost $150-200 a night, clearly taking advantage of the lack of accommodation in the nearby area.

The park ranger told me I should drive to Torrey, about 30 minutes up the road and he assured me I would find some place to stay there for under $40 for the night.

Staying in Torrey in Utah on Hwy 24

He was right because not far from the Highway junction there was Sandcreek RV Park, an camp and cabin site where you can rent cabins with a nice double bed and a communal shower.

That was all I really needed and the price was also perfect at $38 for one person! I grabbed the key to the door, dropped my stuff off in the room and head a quick shower then headed out into the only burger place in town: Slackers

The burger was honestly just something else: it melted in my mouth and they also made their own special burger sauce that made the whole creation taste pretty unforgettable!

I had a great sleep in the bed which turned out was from the Ikea in Salt Lake City! I know this because I asked the owner when I checked in if he was assembling Ikea furniture in the back and he said yeah, he always shops there in Salt Lake City!

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

I got up nice and early in the morning then headed towards the Capitol Reef National Park. The Capitol Reef National Park is just east of Torrey where I stayed for the night and th scenery here looks absolutely breathtaking.

The hills are all orange, yellow and sandstone coloured while the other only colour is provided by the greenery of the trees and grass. The trees and grass wouldn’t usually be found here but back in the day the Mormon adventurers decided to plant fruit and vegetable orchards here.

For this, they had to divert some of the riverwater and use it for irrigation in the valleys.

For me the most fascinating fact was that this entire town was completey cut off from the outside world for much of the year as in the winter it normally gets snowed in! The rains also make any road unpassable, so the postal caravans generally only passed this way a few months of the year.

It was not until the 1940s when the Federal government decided to build a permanent road here but by then the town and its population began to decline. Nowadays the town and its history are preserved by the Capitol Reef National Park.

Here you can have a nice break during your road trip from Salt Lake City to the Needles National Park as it is the perfect halfway stop on the road. There is even green grassy plains and various fruit orchards where you can pick fruits during the season.

I spent a couple of hours wondering around the park and reading about the history of its people then headed out into the middle of nowhere that totally looked like the surface of the moon on the NASA images.

Visiting Fruita – Mormon Settlement

What I did was drive up north from Fruita to Highway 24 and then I headed east until I reached Highway 95. Here I turned right and drove south all the way to Monticello, a town where the road goes northwest toward Needles.

The entire drive from Capitol Reef to Needles took about 7 hours and I must admit I was quite exhausted by the time I got there. I foolishly also did not buy any food, only some snacks, so by the time I arrived in Monticello I was so hungry and tired that I was in a mood all afternoon until I reached the Needles National Park entrance.

Anyway, I ran forward too much – back to driving south on Highway 95…This road is honestly one of the most beautiful and scenic roads I have ever driven in the United States of America. It has the typical hallmarks of an all-American road: the white stripes in the middle and the yellow stripes on the side.

A couple of days earlier I had the misfortune of driving into one of the freshly painted yellow and white lines which totally ruined the bottom of my car by the way! Fortunately I had insurance which covered the damage!

The scenery here was more grey and orange than anything else and in parts there was really nothing else but the red rocks, the black tarmac and the Green River in the valley visible from the hillside and bridge crossings.

Bridges in the Utah Desert

Some of the bridges here are so beautiful it is hard to describe them but what were also very stunning were the viewpoints along the road. These viewpoints in Utah are well signposted and you have plenty of time to stop when you notice one – and I would definitely recommend stopping as the vistas are jaw-dropping!

The wide open spaces, only the sound of the wind blowing past your ear and the occassional other tourist breaking the silence are truly unforgettable experiences! I am so glad I managed to take lots of photographs and videos because now I can look at it any time I like.

My favourite bridge was about one hour from the turnoff to Highway 95, crossing the Green and Colorado Rivers on the way to Monticello.

The first time I saw the bridge was from a viewpoint on a hillside where I took lots of photos of the valley and the bridge. I spent about 10-15 minutes looking at the scenery then drove on towards the bridge to take some close-up images. The constructors of the bridge did a great job as it now connects to desolate parts of Utah, making transportation that much easier.

I was surprised to find out that hardly any trucks used this road, although there were plenty of RVs and other travellers in their Mustangs and Camaros.

Visiting Bullfrog Bay – Detour

If you want to take a detour, there is a very good opportunity not far down the road to join Highway 276 that takes you to the ferry crossing across Bullfrog Bay.

This part of the river has been dammed and they created an artificial lake to generate electricity for the large towns downriver. What a lot of travellers and tourists do is camp on the north side of the Lake for one or two nights then cross and carry on driving towards the Grand Canyon.

You can do that too but I had no time for this so instead I carried on down south. By this time it was well past noon so I wanted to hurry up as I still needed to get my back country permit and pitch up my tent in Needles National Park.

Arriving in Monticello, Utah

I arrived in Monticello around 3PM then started looking for food but there really was nothing I liked so I ended up buying some chicken wings at the local gas station. Monticello was proper desolate and felt like a quintessential middle-of-nowhere town that is doomed to fail!

Various restaurants closed down already and others had their windows boarded up. I could not help but wonder how poor the community was if even the gas stations failed and had to be boarded up!?

Anyway, this place is the gateway to Needles and the Island in the Sky parts of Canyonlands National Park. From Monticello it was another hour driving to the entrance of Needles National Park where I just could not wait to arrive as I was getting very tired.

The drive to the park was again pretty spectacular with vertical cliffs lining both sides of the road, driving into some valleys and then up onto the top of the cliffs.

Entering Canyonland National Park

There was nobody at the main gate so I drove to the visitor center where the park ranger told me I would be better off getting an annual pass instead of buying another entry ticket.

This worked out pretty well because this way I only needed to pay another $11 for the pass because I’d already spent quite a lot on my other three National Park passes.

This means that I now have an annual pass valid until September 2019 so if I have the opportunity I will definitely come back to the US and visit some other national parks.

In the end I also decided to visit the Yellowstone National Park, Arches and the Island in the Sky section with the same pass, saving me more than $90.

The only “downside” of meeting the rangers was that they forced me to take a bear box with me which filled up so much of my bag I could hardly fit anything else into it.

I was lucky the bearbox even fit in my rucksack, otherwise it would have meant the end of my backpacking holiday in Needles!

Anyhow, after much talking and advisories I was finally on my way to the Big Spring 1 campsite, which is just the other side of a big mountain at the foot of the Chesler Park trail.

The Big Spring Campsite at Needles

There was a big car park at the foot of the trail where I repacked my rucksack to have enough water and everything for the three days ahead. What I forgot to put away was the lighter for the gas canister! I could not believe that for the second night I messed up!

The trail to the campsite was not very obvious and I got off it within five minutes then spent about 25 minutes finding it! In the end I pitched up the tent and I was ready to have some dinner and watch the sunset in peach when I found out I had no lighter! I was fuming and felt furious but what is worse I was so hungry I could have killed a bear!

Fortunately the car was only a half hour walk away so I quickly put my boots on and headed back to the car where I picked up the lighter and another half liter bottle water then headed back to the car. By this time the sun had already set and I was quite annoyed by this but I still managed to catch a glimpse of it on the way to the car from the top of the big rock.

When I got back to the tent I noticed some paw prints by the wild cats so I was pretty scared for the rest of the night. Unfortunately by the time I finished cooking it was getting dark and since I was exhausted I just retired to the tent for a relatively good nights sleep.

When I woke up in the middle of the night I got out of the tent to check out the night stars. The moon and the stars made the middle of the night quite bright which I really enjoyed then went back to sleep as I was a bit worried about the wild cats and bears.

Walking to Chesler Park in Needles

In the morning it was already pretty hot by the time it was 8AM which meant that I honestly began to consider turning around and going back to the car. Instead I packed up the tent and set out on a hike towards Chesler Park where I was supposed to stay for the night.

In the end I only managed to walk halfway – here I had lunch on my little gas cooker and then I turned around. It was so hot and I was very very tired from all the walking the days before and hundreds of miles of driving!

I considered myself lucky to have seen as much as I had seen and I was of the opinion that it might be better to turn around and check out some other parts of Utah and potentially Yellowstone National Park.

The scenery in the Needles section was very similar to Capitol Reef National Park with the exception of also having various “needle” formations in the distance. For much of the time I was walking on boulders and large rocks which was rather tiring and I kept stopping for a drink and to take in the scenery.

Take Plenty of Water!

This time I had brought plenty of water with me and made sure that there would be no repeat of the episode in Big Bend National Park where I nearly died on the Marufo Vega Trail.

Having just bought a National Park annual pass also helped in my decision to turn around as I started to think about driving to Yellowstone Park and checking out every national park on the way!

Since I had no internet I could not check the distance, but I remembered that it was about 8-9 hours on the map when I last looked.

I returned to the car around 2PM and headed out to the visitor center to report that I was leaving early. I gave back the bear box and then drove up north to Arches National Park.

Checking Out Arches National Park

Arches National Park is another spectacular US National Park with many natural wonders that would be hard to believe even existed! Around here all the rocks were dark orange and red, with hues of sand stone brown.

The most fascinating part of the park is obviously the section where the large, natural “arch” formations are located. These Arches appeared here millions of years ago through natural degradation, with wind and water carving them out of the sand stone.

The arches look like real arches, very similar to the great arch in St Louis, on the bank of the Missouri River.

In some parts of the park there are interconnecting arches whereas in other places you can find a single arch stretching tens of meters.

Coming from the Great Plains of Hungary, I was very fascinated by the scenery and must have spent a good couple of hours here. By then it was getting late, close to 4PM and I still wanted to check out the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands the park.

Visiting Island in the Sky in Utah

The Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands National Park was even more beautiful than the Needles and Arches! Here you can also drive to most places and there is no need to camp very much as most sights are along the roads.

I drove towards the main lookout at Island in the Sky, which provided a 360 degree view over the valley and the massive cliffs at the edge of the formation.

This area used to be a uranium mine and you can still see sections where the digger trails are visible. I thought it was quite incredible that diggers managed to drive around on the huge boulders and navigate their way around looking for uranium for the nuclear bombs.

I think I’d spent about two hours here and watched the sun set over the horizon then headed up towards a place called Salina.

Driving to Salina, Utah for the Night

The drive to Salina took quite a long time and I arrived there just before 11PM feeling totally exhausted. I honestly considered staying there an extra night and just chilling out a bit but then I changed my mind in the morning when I woke up ready to drive to the Yellowstone National Park.

I figured I won’t be going there any time very soon, so if I was this “close” already, I should take advantage of the situation and drive there.

Driving to Yellowstone

I had some breakfast at the hotel, filled up the car and put the Old Faithful in as my destination! The drive from Salina to the Old Faithful is about 500 miles or 9-10 hours, and it is only part-way freeway.

I thought if I pushed myself and did not stop very often I would get there fine but in the end I missed the last daytime eruption of the Old Faithful by 3 minutes!

I was so annoyed about it! The problem was again that I was pretty much driving through sparsly populated areas and small towns which I was keen to check out by walking around quickly.

The Mormon Heartland of the US

This region is what they call the Mormon Heartland and every other town or village was founded by mormons in the 19th century.

My first stop was – you guessed itt – a mormon town called Almy. Almy had amazing old houses built from trees like those of Abraham Lincoln in Salem, Illinois.

The man that founded this town was an important Mormon and he set this place up as a stop between Salt Lake City and Idaho City.

It was good to stretch out a bit as I had already driven quite a long time from Salina without stopping anywhere! Once I finished looking around I got in the car and drove all the way until a small lookout over a valley at the Wyoming border.

Driving Through Wyoming State

This part of the USA and Idaho state are so different from southern Utah, yet I was only a few hours away towards the north!

Here I saw many pine trees, lakes, rivers and huge granit mountains which get snowed over during the winter. Driving around here was really a pleasure and traffic was very light so I was making good progress.

I arrived in Jackson, just south of Grand Teton National Park where I met a Chabad missionary. Unfortunately we started chatting and I must have spent a good half an hour talking to him! Then I spent about an hour at the Grand Teton Visitor Center instead of driving straight to the Old Faithful!

With all the stops and delays I managed to miss the last daylight eruption at 19:32 and afterwards it would have been too dark to see it!

My advice is to just drive there straight and don’t stop at every corner!

I was so annoyed about this but there wasn’t much I could do about it! In the end I visited the famous hotel by the geyser in the hope I could use their wifi network or find a cheap room.

Unfortunately the stingy people at the hotel password protected the wifi and I had no connection on the phone so I had no way of looking for a cheap room. Not that there would have been any!

The cheapest room at the hotel was well over my budget so I decided to drive out of Yellowstone and go all the way to the Motel 6 near Rexburgh! It was going to be a nearly 4 hour drive!

Since it was getting dark everyone else was leaving the park, so there was a huge traffic jam at the exit junction which added another half an hour to my journey!

Staying at the Motel 6 in Rexburgh

The Motel 6 in Rexburgh was the cheapest option at $79 for the night, which was still double the rate I was looking to pay but hey, I had to sleep somewhere and I was desperate to get a bed!

The room at the Motel 6 was actually quite nice and the shower was very clean. In fact, the entire building was pretty new, can’t have been older than a year.

I arrived at the Motel 6 around midnight and crashed out in the comfy bed. Next morning I could hardly get up and to be honest I wasn’t in a great big rush because for the next two nights I was going to stay in Salt Lake City which was only about four hours away.

In the end I checked out around 9 headed down towards Idaho Falls, but first I stopped at the Potato Museum in Blackfoot. Before this visit I had absolutely no idea that this region is the world’s largest potato growing region where almost everyone is a potato grower!

The Idaho Potato Museum

The Idaho Potato Museum was very fascinating and gave an amazing overview of the history of potato growing, which is strongly intertwined with the Mormon history.

That’s because it was the mormons that started growing potatoes first and made in a staple of many families in the region from the deserts of Utah all the way up to Idaho.

Not sure how much time I spent at the Potato Museum but it must have been at least an hour. After the museum I rejoined the freeway and drove to Idaho Falls non-stop. Idaho Falls is a big city in southern Idaho which has probably seen better days but I was intrigued by the architecture so I stopped.

The freeway passed Idaho Falls from the southern end of town and my first stop lead me to the local Carl’s Junior burger place which is my favourite in the US.

Lunch at the Local Carl’s Junior

Here I had lunch then parked the car up downtown and went for a brisk walk around the historic district. Idaho Falls is another major mormon city with a lot of history displayed on almost every corner.

There is also a river walk from the Mormon Temple to the main road with plaques placed by the pavement to explain the history of Idaho Falls.

I think I spent maybe an hour here then carried om heading South towards Salt Lake City. About an hour after Idaho Falls I had to stop for fuel which I did just off the freeway. I normally fill up at the Walmart or other shopping malls as it is cheaper but this time I didn’t want to mess around looking for one.

But then something unbelievable happened: as I paid and was just about to get in the car I heard a massive bang then saw a car spinning out of control, landing on its side in the ditch!

Huge Accident on the Interstate

The driver of the car was a blonde woman and she must have fallen asleep at the wheel as she came off the freeway and drove straight into the back wheel of a large UPS road train!

The strange thing was the UPS truck survived with a single scratch to the back wheel that got punctured but nothing else! In contrast, the car was a complete write off with smoke coming out of the enging and the wheel spinning as it lay there almost upside down.

I ran into the shop and got a fire extinguisher then told the shopkeeper to call an ambulance. The driver seemed fine but she was completely out of it, maybe even drunk. I stayed with her for a few minutes after which I went to check on the truck driver to hear his side of the story.

He was already on the phone to the HQ trying to find out what to do as he was coming up to the end of his shift! I bet he couldn’t believe his misfortune!

I gave him my card and said that if he needed a witness just message me and I’ll be happy to provide a witness statement. I’ve never heard of him since!

Getting to Salt Lake City in Utah

Finally I arrived in Salt Lake City around 2PM and went to look for my friend’s place in the mountains. Her house was absolutely stunning on top of Salt Lake City, overlooking the mountains around the city.

She was a friend of a friend and she was very kind to offer a couple of nights stay during Yom Kippur. I always do the full fast for 25 hours and it was great that I could spend the time with them and break the fast together. We had a great dinner before the fast began then headed off to the synagogue for the service.

The next day I decided to spend the morning looking around Downtown Salt Lake City and checking out the sights and scenery.

Salt Lake City has some pretty stunning squares and buildings and the State Capitol at the top of the mound look simply fascinating!

Salt Lake City is the Mormon capital of the United States and in fact the entire world, somethig like a Mormon Vatican. Everything is squeaky clean in Salt Lake City and anywhere you look you will find a Mormon happy to help you learn about their great big city!

The Mormons of Salt Lake City

In all fairness I don’t really know enough about them to give an opinion here. But I’ve also heard the conspiracy theories and stuff which made walking around Salt Lake City feel a bit unreal and like out of a movie.

Not being funny, but some of the Mormons seemed like robots, similar to the Scientologists in Florida or London. In fact, the Scientologist adverts about their ideal city and temple seemed almost exactly like Salt Lake City in real life.

Anyhow, this should not put you off from coming here at all, on the contrary, you should definitely come and check Salt Lake City out for yourself!

Walking Around Temple Square

First I went down to Temple Square and looked at the architecture on display, including the Tabernacle, the administration buildings and the Family Search library. The best views are from the top floor of the Mormon HQ just on the south side of the square where I took this photo here.

After the top floor viewpoint I went downstairs and joined a tour to learn a bit more about the history of Salt Lake City and why so many mormons live here.

The girls that gave the tour were very helpful and explained everything clearly, although maybe they were a bit too friendly because halfway through the tour a guy in his 20s appeared and he wouldn’t leave us until the end of the tour.

Going on the tour is definitely a must if you want to learn about Salt Lake City and the Mormons!

Given that I knew hardly anything about them I came away with a wealth of information about its founder and why the Mormons believe Jesus went to Mexico from Jerusalem after the crucifiction.

Jesus Visited The United States?

The story sounded slightly dubious and I asked some follow up questions like where is evidence of those Jews ever living in Mexico or of Jesus’s visit but they clearly had no idea.

We parted ways about an hour after the tour began. I told them that I wished there were more Mormons in the world as they are very friendly and hard working people, strong believers in God!

If only there weren’t so radical about certain things like sexuality and belief systems – I would then call it the perfect religion for anyone!

Once I was done with the tour I went back to the car and re-parked it as it’s only free parking for a couple of hours in Salt Lake City. The second time I parked near the Capitol Building and walked up the hill to check out the views and the building inside.

The views from the top of the steps were great and allowed me to take some pretty photos.

Incredibly, there was no security whatsoever at the entrance and I could just walk in and hang around in the building unobstructed! This is the only capitol building in the USA that I know with such low security! The Salt Lake City Capitol building looked stunning inside, covered in white and grey marble, brass and lots of paintings about the history of the state.

Salt Lake City Street Layout

I would like to mention that the street numbers in Salt Lake City are quite interesting: everything starts from the Temple and heads out towards the south, east, west and north.

Imagine like a chart in excel with an x and y axis and the temple is at its centre. So, for example if you live at 2305 East South 10, that means you leave 23 blocks east from the Temple and 10 blocks south from the Temple at door 5!

It took me a while to understand it but then I figured it out quickly! Knowing the logic behind the numbers made it nigh impossible to get lost in Salt Lake City!

After the Capitol building I headed over to the synagogue for the end of the second day service which ran until sunset. That being out of the way we went home and had dinner together again which was very delicious!

Driving to Great Salt Lake

In the morning I packed up my car and drove out towards the Great Salt Lake which is a natural lake, similar in salt content to the Dead Sea.

I had no idea there was another lake like the Dead Sea outside Israel. Clearly, this lake is not as famous and it is not very well promoted as a tourist destination either.

I think people cannot float on this water and there is a huge amount of industry along the lake shores so the water may not be fit for human bathing.

The lake is also on the migratory route of several bird species, making it very important for the upkeep of the USA’s natural habitat.

As a sidenote, the Kennecott Copper Smelter is also just outside this lake on the way to Nevada which I’ve wanted to see for a very long time. You might ask why on earth would I want to see a copper smelter? Or, what is a copper smelter anyway?

The Kennecott Copper Smelter

Well, I will let you in on a secret: I used to write about sulphuric acid Kennecott is a massive supplier of the product in the US.

The smelter was not as exciting as you would expect and I basically just drove past it but it did feel like a piece of a puzzle in my life was placed in it’s rightful place.

My plan for the following days was as follows: drive along Interstate 80 to West Wendover on the boarder with Nevada then take Highway 93 towards the south until I reached Highway 50 at Ely.

Hwy 50 – The Loneliest US Road

Highway 50 is the loneliest road in the US, and quite right so: I hardly met any cars on the road when driving from Eureka towards Fallon.

This road connects old mining towns, some of which have started to flourish again thanks to new ways of mining and better methods of ore recovery.

The scenery was spectacular, with lots of rolling hills, cacti and rocks everywhere and very little other vegetation. This is proper desert country here, with very few gas stations on the road so you better make sure the car is fully loaded before you set off!

The only thing that annoyed me was the fact that the last stretch of Highway 50 was under re-construction. That meant they closed half the road and only one lane was in use.

So just before sunset, about 30 minutes from my destination I was held up by the road works for nearly half an hour!

Ely was my first major stop in Nevada where I got out to stretch my legs and check out the railway museum.

Nevada Northern Railway Museum

The Nevada Northern Railway Museum is in the northern edge of Ely, about two minutes off Highway 50. Ely is basically another US town that has seen better days, but now with tourism it is slowly reviving and creating kind of a buzz in the local area.

One of the attractions is the railway museum, where you can walk around in the historic buildings and climb onto the trains. The main exciting for me was the possibility to walk around the engineering yard where some of the huge engines were getting a makeover.

I really loved the smell of oil intermingling with the dry wood and heat from the sun – it all made me almost ready to enlist as a volunteer!

Turns out this area was a boom town during the mining rush and the railways were built to facilitate this industry. In turn, when the mining industry left, most residents also upped everything and left!

Having spent a considerable amount time in Ely, I headed off to Eureka which was a short drive away towards the West.

Arriving in Eureka

I parked up the car near the local dollar store in Eureka and went to walk around the historic district. Later I received a tour by the city’s Official Tour Guide.

She normally sits in the theatre but when there are visitors in town she shows the tourists the City Hall, the Prison and the old Newspaper building.

Eureka is a special place because it once almost became a ghost town when old methods of mining could not produce enough silver and gold from local pits.

However, in recent years they discovered new methods to extract the precious metals, which had provided a new lifeline for this forgotten town on the Loneliest Road in the US Wild West!

Unfortunately I could not stay more than a couple of hours as it was already mid-afternoon and I wanted to get as close to Bodie in California as possible.

My destination for the day was Fallon where I booked a room at the local Econo Lodge near the Naval Air Station. Unfortunately the roadworks on Highway 50 held me up for a good 40 minutes and I only managed to arrive in Fallon after dark at nearly 8PM.

Staying in Fallon in Nevada

Fallon is not exactly a major town, it is perhaps best described as a distant suburb of Reno. The Econo Lodge was surprisingly comfortable although here I had another episode of my blackouts, which I suspect got something to do with the amount of driving I did in previous days.

Perhaps when I am exhausted my body reacts with switching the controls off completely, but at the same time this sort of wipes my memory clean!

Before I went to bed I wanted to eat something because all I had on my were some snacks and crisps but the only place open at this time was the local Pizza Hut!

I ended up ordering a few things but I did not really like them at all, so I felt a bit disappointed about not being able to arrive earlier. In the end I woke up totally disorientated and all I wanted was a strong coffee and a cold dip in the swimming pool.

There was some breakfast at the Econo Lodge, but I wanted something more substantial so I went for a walk in town to see what was on offer.

Unfortunately, the only breakfast place open was a European style, overpriced cafe so I ended up going back to the Econo Lodge lobby and taking a cup of brew to the swimming pool.

Driving from Fallon to Hawthorne

Before I rolled out of Fallon I stopped to fill up the car and wash my face at the gas station on the southern edge of town then I put the pedal to metal and did not stop until Hawthorne, another US Naval base.

Just north of Hawthorne is a major lake which used to be famous for its large fresh water fish and ample water supply to nearby agricultural producers.

Not today though! I learned at the local museum in Hawthorne that overfishing, too much pumping by farmers and a general mismanagement of resources had led to the lake’s levels falling to historically low levels!

In fact, the last fish caught in the lake was sometime in the 1930s! Since then, the salinity of the water and its temperature has risen so much that fish cannot tolerate it any more! What a terrible fate, especially that this is the middle of the desert where animals and birds rely on these scarce water sources!

Hawthorne’s Ordnance Museum

Another interesting spot to stop is the Hawthorne Naval and Military Museum which is full of exhibits that everyone must see to believe! Here you can get up close with the first Navy drone, a real cluster bomb, various guns and other killing machines!

Visiting the Hawthorne Ordnance Museum will give you a fascinating insight into how the Navy and Army function and what huge levels of ammunition the US has produced in its short history.

In fact, the more than 1,500 warehouses surrounding Hawthorne store all the excess ammo that the US hasn’t been able to spend during the past few decades!

The guide actually told me that there are bullets, guns, bombs, rockets and all sorts stocked up at the various storehouses which would be enough to fight a hundred years of wars without having to once restock!

I found it incredible to have so many weapons of mass distruction in one place – with the exhibits alone it would have been possible to kill everyone in Fallon!

Whether you are into war and weapons, the Hawthorne Naval Museum is definitely well worth a visit and will be a lifelong eye-opener for anyone!

Driving to Bodie Ghost Town in CA

After Hawthorne I decided to just press on and not stop until the junction of Highway 167 and the road leading on to Bodie, a real ghost town in California!

The road leading out of Hawthorne is Highway 359 but when it crosses into California it turns into Highway 167. It is pretty much a straight stretch of road through the rolling hills and grassy plains, making for an easy and enjoyable ride.

I decided to stop at the Nevada/California state border to take some photographs and to admire the many yellow flowers on both sides of the road.

The scenery and the views of the distant mountains here were so quintessentially American that I wanted to pitch up my tent and spend the night there!

Unfortunately it was not possible as by then I was on a tight schedule to make it back to Los Angeles for my return flight!

I also wanted to stop at the Yosemite National Park that day and I never imagine Bodie would be so amazing so by the time it came to finding a hotel near Fresno I was completely drained and exhausted!

Truth be told I never planned to visit Bodie but when I saw the sign to the right off Highway 167 I did a quick search online and the photos (fortunately!) convinced me to take the turn!

The road was paved only halfway to Bodie, but luckily it was well maintained so I managed to drive there and back without a scratch.

Day Out in Bodie Ghost Town

Bodie was another mining town, similar to Euraka and Ely, except it was in a super remote location, high up in the mountains closed from the outside world for months at a time!

There were many people travelling to Bodie in the hope of striking gold and making a fortune, but dozens of them never even reached their destination: they froze to death on the way there!

This was also the fate of Brodie’s founder, who died on his way back to town, caught in the middle of a deadly blizzard!

I arrived in Brodie early afternoon and planned to spend maybe an hour but it was impossible to spend such short amount of time there! Brodie is really the ultimate heaven for a ghost town lover! Here, almost every house has been preserved for posterity and this being September the hoards of tourists were nowhere to be found!

Straight after I parked up I got my camera out and started taking dozens of photos of every corner of each building – it was mind boggling to think people used to live and dream here and now everyone is gone!

Taking Hundreds of Photos

The first building I saw was the Church at the bottom of Main Street, near the car park. Incredibly, the furniture, stained glass and altar all remain as it was hundred years ago!

The secret to why Bodie has remained in such good condition is that its owner was a man who employed several security guards to maintain peace and prevent looting. Otherwise, had he not hired security for decades, the entire town of Bodie would have been gone by World War II!

Bodie was a gold mining town but when war broke out the government required all engineers to work in mines that would support the war effort.

These were the copper, coal and iron ore mines, so this small, outlying mine had to close. That spelled the end to Bodie – its inhabitants left by the mid/late 1940s! 

For me the most unbelievable thing is that they just left everything behind!

The school is still fully equipped with books, maps and chairs, the whole monty! The same goes for the various pubs, casinos, hotels and gas stations! They all have the entire furnishings still in place, making it even easier to imagine what life might have been like in Bodie, the best ghots town I have ever seen!

If I had known about Bodie a couple of weeks earlier, then I would never have bothered with that Arizona ghost town near Kingman! That was an absolute nothing in comparison to Bodie!

Walking Along Bodie’s Main Street

As I walked down Main Street I could enter various buildings on either side of the road and peruse the elevated walkway built from wood.

Since everything was made of wood, except for the cast iron woodburners, it striked me how difficult it must have been to carry everything up here! 

Imagine: there were no paved roads or railways, so everything was carted up by donkeys and horses!

The railways finally arrived here to bring in coal and wood, but it was expensive to maintain and the mine did not generate enough income so after a while Bodie started to falter.

I was so enthralled by the commentary on every building and the small booklet I bought at the entrance that I could completely relive some of the situations myself!

It was easy to imagine how cold it got in the winter, and seeing the small wood burners and thin walls I already started to shiver even though it was 30 plus when I visited!

The description of working in the mines and walking there in the bitter cold mornings after a fight in the pub the night before was the most vivid memory for me. These single men, all of them drunk on whiskey and beer, would start a fight over the smallest thing and break a bottle on anyone’s head!

Since these men were not married, there was a considerable number of prostitutes in Bodie as well! In fact, there was an entire street full of them!

Looking at the mine from the outside made me think it must have been a formidable operation, even more so in the middle of nowhere as it was!

Bodie’s Electricity Generator

Here, I realized that Bodie even had its own electricity generator, which I had to read three times to believe! I just did not understand how this place, with all the prostitutes, drunk men and wagrants managed to operate its own generator building?

Well, it turns out there was a river here which they diverted to the generator and thus they created power to run the engines in the mine! This saved the owner a lot of money because they no longer had to rely on burning wood and coal, instead they used nature’s best offering!

Unfortunately, one evening disaster struck in Bodie: a fire started in one of the buildings and the wind was blowing from that direction, quickly spreading the fire through the entire town of Bodie!

The End of Bodie: A Major Fire

Unbelievably, Bodie even had an automatic fire fighting system, but they forgot to maintain it because they never needed it! Of course, when tragedy struck it did not function, so almost the entire place burned to the ground!

I think in the end I spent about 3-4 hours here, wondering the streets of Bodie and discovering the history of this mystic California town! The lives of these people touched me quite a lot and I spent almost a week thinking about several of them, especially the founder that ended up freezing to death on his way home!

I left Bodie about two hours before sunset and headed straight to Yosemite National Park, which was round the corner from here!

I knew I completely messed up the day and I should have allocated more time for Yosemite, but I was exhausted! Hopefully there will be another opportunity to visit Yosemite in more detail, but this time I felt fortunate enough to drive through and stop at the most important spots on the way to Fresno.

Day Trip to Yosemite National Park

The entrance to Yosemite was free for me with my National Park Pass. They gave me a map at the eastern entrance and I started driving to the lookout point to see the sunset from there.

I only had time to stop in a couple of locations and definitely no time to walk anywhere, but nevertheless I enjoyed driving under the canopy of large pine trees!

I reached the middle of Yosemite National Park just before sunset and a large number of people already gathered there to take the snapshot of their lifetime!

I parked up and quickly got my camera out to take some photos of the huge rock formation which was slowly getting its daily makeover in hue of pink, orange and red!

I wished I had a bit more time and arrived a little earlier, but driving from Fallen and stopping in Hawthorne as well as Bodie meant I could simply not fit any more stuff into one day!

My suggestion is this: spend at least a day driving from Fallen to Bodie, checking out Hawthorne in the morning and Bodie in the afternoon.

Then if you have money then book yourself into a hotel near the entrance of Yosemite and plan to spend an entire day there walking some of the trails.

After sunset there really was nothing to see and I did not want to spend any more money on hotels so I started looking for a place to stay with my loyalty points.

Driving Ages to The Next Motel

The problem was the nearest hotel was miles away, so I got there very late in the evening. I don’t actually remember much of the drive as I was so tired by then and there was also a road closure in the park so I was getting a bit fed up!

In the end I checked into a Comfort Inn in the north of Fresno which had a massive jacuzzi in the room (!) and a huge bathroom but I simply passed out!

Visiting the Giant Sequoia NP

For my last day I planned to visit the Giant Sequoia National Park from the north. In 2014 I was fortunate enough to see the southern side of the Sequoia National Park and I wanted to see what the north was like. In all honesty, I preferred the south much more than the north!

You can read about my time at the Sequoia National Park in this article!

The North was far too full of tourists and it felt much more developed than the South. By the time I arrived it was already filling up with cars and slow drivers staring at the trees.

I figured I would stop at some of the recommended viewpoints and do a couple of the easier day trails, but this meant I was constantly surrounded by tourists.

I visited the giant trees and had a good time nonetheless, but if I was to go back I would definitely visit the Trail of 100 Giants again! There I was almost completely alone, in fact I only met four other people during the entire day!

What I did there was lie down under a huge giant Sequoia and enjoy the sound of the breeze. Here it was impossible to do it and most tourists were incredibly loud so it was difficult to enjoy myself as much.

By the time I finished at the Sequoia National Park I was so exhausted I just did not want to do anything else! I began looking for a room and fortunately I had enough points to book a room at the Residence Inn in Visalia.

Driving to Visalia for My Last Night

I figured that I would take the car to the car wash in the morning, repack my bags and simply take it easy for the rest of the day! I arrived in the hotel mid-afternoon and started looking for somewhere to eat. 

Judge me if you like, but I ended up choosing a fast food restaurant as I just wanted some comfort food and get on with it! At the end of the day I was in the US and they are best at making fast food!

After dinner it was great to lie in the soft bed and watch TV although I felt a little deflated as I knew my mega adventure driving from Los Angeles to Arches then up to the Yellowstone and back through Yosemite was coming to an end soon!

From here, you can continue on to San Francisco and up north to Vancouver as an extension of this mega road trip!

Flying Back to London in the UK

My flight back to London was in the afternoon the next day so after breakfast I made my way down toward LAX with the weekend traffic!

Fortunately the car hire company said nothing about the paint at the bottom of the car at drop off and then I boarded the plane fine, ending my adventure in budget style with Norwegian!