Allof75
Pathfinder
This report comes roughly one month after the trip was completed, so pardon the delay. Anyway, perhaps some of you saw my updates thread titled "Graceland," there you'd have found out the general basis of this trip. For those of you who haven't I'll go more into detail here, plus pictures from a real camera! So here goes nothing:
I've known a couple of my friends since way back in Middle School, and at some point during our high school days we had the moonshot of an idea to drive to Graceland in Memphis Tennessee from our homes in sunny Southern California. We talked about it here and there for several years, but never really seriously until this past spring. With all of us in college, and by some stroke of luck having a semblance of a disposable income, we decided "why not?" and began preparing. We didn't really have a specific list of destinations in mind, and honestly made 100% sure not to have a definitive time schedule, so as not to be rushed and really get to take in our new-to-us surroundings. We'd all done plenty of travel before, but never to any part of the South for some reason. Maybe it was the heat. Either way, after we arranged the supplies we'd need we set off in Mid-July, taking Interstate 40 for the next several hundred miles. From here on I will break it down into pictures associated with days. Enjoy! :sombrero:
First off, we decided to head to Grand Canyon National Park, yes a tourist destination, but something so breathtaking in person that we couldn't help but stop. We wandered through after our initial drive from SoCal, but then had a ridiculously overpriced meal and camped in a nearby national forest. These pictures are from my iPhone because guess who forgot his memory card... (bought one later at a Walmart in Winslow AZ).
In order to sleep three, I slept in my car on my sleeping platform (as it should be :elkgrin, strung my Eno hammock to my roof rack for one friend, and set up another tent away from the vehicle.
The morning after we decided to explore. Blown away by the truly spectacular size, it was a moving experience truly.
Me on the edge.
Weather-wise we truly struck it rich as it was a gorgeous 85* clear day. After hiking around a bit away from the hordes, we packed up and headed towards our next home in Santa Fe, NM. First however, we stopped in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks to witness the truly dazzling array of color and formation.
Sorry for the lack of pictures of my rig, I was honestly having too good of a time to take many. If you want to see more, check out my build in my signature.
Thousands upon thousands of years ago people saw nearly the same view. Incredible.
Here's proof. Luckily my 18-135 lens has jussst enough zoom to have captured this, as you're not allowed within more than 50 feet of the petroglyphs for obvious reasons.
Moving into why they call it the painted desert, incredible color.
We started our descent into this painted range with a quick hike.
I suppose I should say fell (with style) into the Painted Desert.
The beginnings of the petrified forest, oddly there's a lot left despite over a hundred years of tourists picking them up...
Gorgeous formations of crystallized wood.
As the sun set in the Arizona desert we began the trek to Santa Fe.
I've known a couple of my friends since way back in Middle School, and at some point during our high school days we had the moonshot of an idea to drive to Graceland in Memphis Tennessee from our homes in sunny Southern California. We talked about it here and there for several years, but never really seriously until this past spring. With all of us in college, and by some stroke of luck having a semblance of a disposable income, we decided "why not?" and began preparing. We didn't really have a specific list of destinations in mind, and honestly made 100% sure not to have a definitive time schedule, so as not to be rushed and really get to take in our new-to-us surroundings. We'd all done plenty of travel before, but never to any part of the South for some reason. Maybe it was the heat. Either way, after we arranged the supplies we'd need we set off in Mid-July, taking Interstate 40 for the next several hundred miles. From here on I will break it down into pictures associated with days. Enjoy! :sombrero:
First off, we decided to head to Grand Canyon National Park, yes a tourist destination, but something so breathtaking in person that we couldn't help but stop. We wandered through after our initial drive from SoCal, but then had a ridiculously overpriced meal and camped in a nearby national forest. These pictures are from my iPhone because guess who forgot his memory card... (bought one later at a Walmart in Winslow AZ).
In order to sleep three, I slept in my car on my sleeping platform (as it should be :elkgrin, strung my Eno hammock to my roof rack for one friend, and set up another tent away from the vehicle.
The morning after we decided to explore. Blown away by the truly spectacular size, it was a moving experience truly.
Me on the edge.
Weather-wise we truly struck it rich as it was a gorgeous 85* clear day. After hiking around a bit away from the hordes, we packed up and headed towards our next home in Santa Fe, NM. First however, we stopped in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks to witness the truly dazzling array of color and formation.
Sorry for the lack of pictures of my rig, I was honestly having too good of a time to take many. If you want to see more, check out my build in my signature.
Thousands upon thousands of years ago people saw nearly the same view. Incredible.
Here's proof. Luckily my 18-135 lens has jussst enough zoom to have captured this, as you're not allowed within more than 50 feet of the petroglyphs for obvious reasons.
Moving into why they call it the painted desert, incredible color.
We started our descent into this painted range with a quick hike.
I suppose I should say fell (with style) into the Painted Desert.
The beginnings of the petrified forest, oddly there's a lot left despite over a hundred years of tourists picking them up...
Gorgeous formations of crystallized wood.
As the sun set in the Arizona desert we began the trek to Santa Fe.
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