Africa, Morocco
Jonathan Jung
THE SAHARA

September 27, 2017

Today was a looooong drive from Fes to the Sahara just outside of the city of Merzouga. A friend of a friend runs the Sahara Garden. Brahim coordinated everything for us and welcomed us upon our arrival with open arms. Truly an amazing human being. We were welcomed with dinner and singing and dancing around a bonfire.

THE SAHARA
Africa, Morocco
Jonathan Jung
CHEFCHAOUEN

September 24, 2017

Our second stop in Morocco was the blue city of Chefchaoen. A small city located up on a hill, wandering thru the medina surrounded by so many shades of blue was quite a different experience from Tangier. We stayed at Casa Perleta, a small bed and breakfast recommended by our friend. It was perfectly located within the upper hill area of the medina. The blue hues of the walls of Chefchaoen are believed to have originated when the Jews came while escaping Hilter in the 1930s. The blue is said to serve as a reminder to lead a spiritual life while symbolizing the sky and heaven.

CHEFCHAOUEN
Europe, Iceland
Jonathan Jung
ICELAND - CHASING THE AURORA BOREALIS

September 11 - 15, 2017

Enroute to our close friends' wedding in Greece we found a cheap flight to Paris via Reykjavik, Iceland and decided to take advantage and do a little stopover in an effort to (fingers crossed) see the northern lights. We decided to restrict our few days to just the southern highlights along the coast. The first thing we noticed was that even though it was supposedly shoulder/low season in Iceland there were significantly more people than when we came the year before in August.

ICELAND - CHASING THE AURORA BOREALIS
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GRAND CANYON DAY 8

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GRAND CANYON DAY 8

Today we hiked up a slot canyon to Elves Chasm, a green haven of clear pools, dripping moss and ferns. Unfortunately, the pictures we have of the small falls weren’t that great. In the slot canyon we were treated to some great music from our guides Ted and John Dunn. Nothing like relaxing to some chill music in a canyon far far away from the rest of the world. We pulled into camp that afternoon at Stone Creek. Just up the creek from camp there was a small cascade which was nice to rinse ourselves off in, quite refreshing from the muddy waters post thunderstorm.

- Allie and Jonathan

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GRAND CANYON DAY 7

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GRAND CANYON DAY 7

Deeper into the Granite Gorge, Day 7 was filled with rapids from Mile 95 thru 109. Vishnu Schist, millions of years old, formed by high pressure and heat invade the canyon walls. This area of the canyon differs dramatically from the upper canyon’s clear layers, almost feels like we’re somewhere in middle earth in Lord of the Rings. When we woke up in the morning the color of the river was a deep reddish brown, likely from all the flash flooding of the side canyons and streams pushing more debris and sediment into the Colorado River. This video is of Granite Rapid, rated a 7-8 and dropping 18 feet in total, the first rapid of the day. Today we cruised thru Granite (7-8), Hermit (7-8), Boucher (4-5), Crystal (7-10), Tuna Creek (5-7), Lower Tuna (4), Sapphire (6), Turquoise (2-4), 104 Mile (5), Ruby (4-5), Serpentine (6) and Bass (3) before setting up camp at Bass. Lucky for us it was a hot day and being wet was a welcome feeling to cool us down in the heat.

- Allie and Jonathan 

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GRAND CANYON DAY 5 AND 6

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GRAND CANYON DAY 5 AND 6

Day 5 was full of rapids. One of the boats actually got squarely stuck amongst two rocks in Unkar Rapid (John Dunn’s boat along with all the kids). Luckily John was able to put all the weight in the front of the boat and use an oar to pry the boat off the rocks, all with the parents (former Marines) watching from the shore. No pressure… The day hike was a stop by some old Indian ruins that were pretty well preserved. Don’t have any great photos from that stop, but very interesting how the bases of the structures are still preserved and shards of old pottery could be found around the site. Night 5 was our first great sunset.

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GRAND CANYON DAY 4

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GRAND CANYON DAY 4

Every morning we wake up bright and early to the announcement of “HOTTTT COFFEEEEE” at around 6AM. Breakfast shortly follows and we’re packed up and on the river by 8AM. The toilet (only used for #2 in the morning and at night) is named Oscar after someone who was apparently annoying enough to have the shitter named after them. As Jeff, our lead guide said, “there’s one in every group, so look around and if you don’t see them it might just be you.”

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GRAND CANYON DAY 3

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GRAND CANYON DAY 3

We woke up this morning and did a short morning hike up South Canyon to a small trickling waterfall. A few miles down river we stopped at Redwall Cavern, a vast chamber carved by the river. Major John Wesley Powell, who led an exploratory expedition thru the full canyon in 1869, estimated it could seat 50,000 people. After some medium rated rapids, we stopped to set up camp at Saddle around mile 48.

- Allie and Jonathan

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GRAND CANYON DAY 1

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GRAND CANYON DAY 1

One of the first rapids from Day 1, I believe this is Soap Creek, rated a 5-6. Typically rapids are rated on a 1-6 scale, with 6 being basically impossible and 1 being easy. However, the Grand Canyon is rated on a 1-10 scale. The backdrop looks fake, like it's a painting. This place is insane.

- Allie and Jonathan

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GRAND CANYON DAY 1 AND 2

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GRAND CANYON DAY 1 AND 2

Woke up bright and early before the sun came up to drive up to Lee’s Ferry for the first day of our 13 day/12 night Grand Canyon voyage with Grand Canyon Whitewater. The water starts out near crystal clear and a cold 50 degrees F, but the Paria River quickly puts that to an end with its muddy brown waters. We would soon find that one of the most awesome parts of this trip would be that every single campsite we stayed at had beautiful fine sand beaches and stunning views of the canyon. The first day we hit a couple rapids and camped at Hot Na Na around mile 17. Day 2 we stopped for a quick day hike up North Canyon where the rock walls of the canyon seemed more like waves that you wished you could somehow skate or surf up and down. We set up camp that night at South Canyon around mile 32.

- Allie and Jonathan

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GRAND STAIRCASE ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT

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GRAND STAIRCASE ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT

We went here with the mission to get permits to hike The Wave. If you haven’t heard of this hike, google “The Wave Grand Staircase” and take a look at the pictures. It's insane. So here’s the deal…only 20 people per day are allowed to hike in the Coyote Buttes North area. 10 of those spots are done thru an online lottery 4 months prior. The other 10 spots are done in a lottery for those who show up the day before they want to hike.

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BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK

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BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK

All formed by erosion, the hoodoos begin as long tall fins of rock and slowly erode to form windows and eventually hoodoos. Native Americans believed that hoodoos were “legend people” who were turned to stone by the trickster coyotes. 

The first night we drove the scenic route and just stopped at the many overlooks throughout the park. The view from above was amazing, but the following morning we hiked Queen’s Garden and the Navajo Loop descending down into the hoodoos. It's one thing to see these from the rim of the canyon, but being down below is a completely different viewpoint and definitely worth the trek.

- Jonathan

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ZION NATIONAL PARK - THE NARROWS

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ZION NATIONAL PARK - THE NARROWS

This was mine and Allie's second time doing the Narrows hike, and first time in a long time with my parents. When we were kids, my brother and i were too young to bring on the hike, so we only ever made it to the beginning and just played in the water building rock dams apparently. So this was our chance to give my parents the full Narrows experience. Needless to say…they loved it.

The Narrows hike is rated as one of the top 10 outdoor adventures by National Geographic. A definite must for anyone visiting Zion.

Make sure you rent shoes and a walking stick!

- Jonathan

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ZION NATIONAL PARK - ANGEL'S LANDING

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ZION NATIONAL PARK - ANGEL'S LANDING

This hike is only 5 miles long, but the last ½ mile is pretty gnarly. The park puts chains into the rock to help hikers climb the last section. It's not for those fearful of heights by any means. There were a couple sections where I got pretty scared my parents were going to slip and fall. Needless to say the view of the the valley from the top was worth it. There was even cell phone reception at the top…we know because my dad’s phone rang ridiculously loud and he answered it and proceeded to take a call from a wrong number.

Tomorrow we hike the Narrows!

- Jonathan

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KINGS CANYON AND SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARKS

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KINGS CANYON AND SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARKS

HUGE trees…some of the largest in the world. Seriously unreal…they look a little bit fake actually. These giant Sequoias take thousands of years to grow to this size and apparently never die of old age. They only die once they fall. Just imagine what these trees have seen in their lifetimes. In 1891, the Mark Twain Stump (a 1700 year old tree) was cut down by two men in thirteen days and they transported a cross section of the trunk to the East Coast where people refused to believe it was real. With these two parks being in our own backyard, it was a definite must see stop on our way toward the Grand Canyon. - Jonathan

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BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS

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BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS

This is just a rest stop off the side of highway 80, but it's incredible. I don’t claim to know how these salt flats formed, but how far they span and the beautiful pattern they make when drying is definitely worth the stop.

Halfway home…we’ll be home before sundown. It’ll be a few more weeks before our next trip, tentative plans to hit Zion for a week on our way to the Grand Canyon for a two week rafting trip thru the full canyon!

- Jonathan

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BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

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BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Badlands was badass. The plains literally just end and the Badlands begin, no soft transition, it just drops off into what you see below. It's always cool to see the layers in rock when erosion has done its dirty work over thousands of years. Really cool place to visit and just take in how long something like this must have taken to create.

Tomorrow we begin the long drive home to California. The first trip is coming to an end.

- Jonathan

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MOUNT RUSHMORE - GEORGE, THOMAS, TEDDY, AND ABE

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MOUNT RUSHMORE - GEORGE, THOMAS, TEDDY, AND ABE

Also known as the presidents who make up Mt. Rushmore. We got to Mt. Rushmore at about 6am to catch the best sun light for photos. As hard as it was for me to get up early, it ended up being worth it and we had the whole place to ourselves! We even spotted a mama and baby mountain goat coming down the mountain.

- Allie

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DEVIL'S TOWER

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DEVIL'S TOWER

From Grand Teton, we made our way to Devil’s Tower, which became the very first national monument in the United States in 1906. It definitely couldn’t be missed from miles away, standing at about 1200 ft. 

Scientists claim that this was made by magma, blah blah blah or even that it’s the neck of an extinct volcano. But I like the following version the best (pulled from Wikipedia): 

According to the Native American tribes of the Kiowa and Lakota, some girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground towards the heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. The bears, in an effort to climb the rock, left deep claw marks in the sides, which had become too steep to climb. (Those are the marks which appear today on the sides of Devils Tower.) When the girls reached the sky, they were turned into the star constellation the Pleiades.

- Allie

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GRAND TETON

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GRAND TETON

What can I say…we were a little lazy here, no hikes…just drove around and took in the view and relaxed a little. Pretty spectacular how the Tetons just come up out of nothing. On to Devil’s Tower tomorrow morning. - Jonathan

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YELLOWSTONE PART II

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YELLOWSTONE PART II

Did anyone know there was a Grand Canyon of Yellowstone?? Apparently there is and it’s pretty nuts. The amount of wildlife here is crazy too. We were only able to snap a few shots of the bison, but so far we’ve seen grizzlies, black bears, a red tailed fox, elk, pronghorn antelope amongst others.

It’s like going on safari but not in Africa…

Onwards to Grand Teton tomorrow morning…

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YELLOWSTONE PART I

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YELLOWSTONE PART I

Geysers, springs, mud pots, fumaroles, steam vents and more. If you haven’t been somewhere with these incredible feats of nature, it’s definitely gotta be on the list. Water spraying up out of the ground, warnings of hot flying mud, ridiculous colored pools and streams. Simply amazing!

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WATERTON LAKES + GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

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WATERTON LAKES + GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Both of these parks are must see parks. We only did a couple short hikes, but I can only imagine what the backcountry is like in each of these parks. We chose to do a hike to the Hidden Lake Overlook at Glacier National Park and we were not prepared to hike the 1.5 miles (one way) through snow. (Allie: It seemed like it was going to be miserable and I was ready to turn around…but glad I sucked it up to enjoy the amazing views and few close encounters with a mountain goat and her baby!) Definitely made us wish we had skis for the way back!

Off to Yellowstone and Grand Teton tomorrow morning.

- Jonathan and Allie