Yesterday we visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was scenic drive down from our hotel in the town of Kanab and it took us around an hour and a half before we parked up and had a little hike along a few of the less taxing trails. We got some nice pictures but slightly regret not doing a helicopter tour, though at $399 each it would have made a bit of a hole in our budgets - can always come back and do that another time! We didn't actually spend too much time there, only a couple of hours, but we got a good brunch to set us up for the day and enjoyed the view.
It was then a case of driving six hours to our acommodation for the night - a motorhome in an RV park. It was very different but cosy all the same and it was nice to have our own kitchen - overall it was very good value for what we paid. A good sleep took us through to this morning ahead of what was to be a full day's driving. We left the RV park at 9.30am and arrived at tonight's hotel near Yosemite at 6pm, though we did have a few brief pitstops along the way. It actually went surprisingly quickly; it seems to when there is so much to look at.
We had chosen a route through the hottest place on Earth - Death Valley, starting in the south-east corner of the park and coming out on the north-west to join the road that took us to our hotel. The temperature was already in the high 30's by the time we had entered the outer rim of the park at the visitor's centre. We topped up with water, educated and prepared ourselves in the interactive museum and topped up our fuel before heading out on our own.
By lunchtime it was 46 degrees, the highest temperature either of us had ever seen or experienced. Inside the car with the A/C you don't notice, but we spotted an opportunity to spot at a collection of sand dunes and the heat that hit you as you opened the car door was extraordinary. It's hard to describe unless you experience it yourself but it's not a temperature that the human body is used to - a quick few pictures and Dan had to get back in the car while Emily lasted a little longer and managed to read a few information boards before we drove on.
We didn't stop again in Death Valley but some of the roads and the views were like nothing either of us had ever seen before. It was an incredible drive and a brilliant experience. The roads varied from tight mountain turns at high altitude to gun-barrel straight roads stretching out in front of you as far as the eye could see. There was so much to look at in all directions and we got as many pictures as we could. Dan says it was the best thing we've seen so far and it's somewhere worth visiting again in the future for sure.
After we left Death Valley, we still had a four hour journey to our hotel. The last fifty mile stretch was through Stanislaus National Forest which was a spectacular road through the mountains, ascending to just shy of 10,000ft - we were almost amongst the clouds and level with the ice and snow near the top of some of the peaks. It was much chillier at that altitude - 15 degrees, around 30 degrees less than what we had been through earlier in the day.
We were desperate for a hot and proper meal when we arrived this evening, so despite being pretty exhausted, we checked in before heading out for a meal at a nearby Italian which happened to be very good and it was a nice relaxing way to end what has been a long day.
Day Sixteen Highlight - Driving through Death Valley
The Grand Canyon as seen from the north rim
Death Valley
Stanislaus National Forest
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