We stopped in Flagstaff to geocache and get groceries. While in Safeway we met Marge, a National Park Ranger (identifiable by her sweet green uniform….I want to be a ranger for Halloween!), who tipped us off about Walnut Canyon. We didn’t plan to stop here, but we are glad we did. The canyon has a steep 1 mile descent and then a winding trail around and through the rocky cliffs. Visible on both sides of the canyon are ruins from a former culture of people who must have been hearty indeed.
The Rim Trail at the Grand Canyon is about 10 miles long…maybe longer. We hiked and earth cached most of it. We also ventured down into the canyon to “Three Mile Rest House”….which of course meant we hiked 3 miles back up. Totally worth it! It was the arches of our feet that hurt the most the next day from all that rock stomping. 
Next to the views from within, we really liked the “Desert View” area at the very eastern end of the canyon.
While at the Grand Canyon, we saw so many animals, including elk, bighorn sheep and squirrels. When we checked into our campground we were warned that ravens could and would steal any food and garbage that we left out, and they would also steal your keys! All they took from us was a little bit of taco seasoning! We spent our first day there hiking on the Rim Trail. This bighorn sheep jumped onto the path in front of us and ran towards us before disappearing back into the canyon!
We were also warned that squirrels, which may look cute and cuddly, will bite you and may carry plague!
The next day, we saw this tarantula crawling along a different section of the Rim Trail. Mom had a dream that night of a tarantula in her sleeping bag!
The morning we left, we woke up to a bull elk bugling at the top of his lungs! We were told in Yellowstone that elk like to ram white cars. Despite ourselves, we ran to the white car when he headed our direction at a trot! We spied some more female and juvenile elk later on, but only the bull got this close.
We have a thing for dams and bridges! We toured Flaming Gorge Dam a few years back, and we were able to visit and walk across Shasta Dam outside of Redding, CA a few weeks ago. So no surprise that we decided to stop and take a walk along this big boy!
Death Valley National Park has a hiking challenge where you earn a certain number of points for each hike that you do. To complete the challenge and earn a “Hike Death Valley” decal you need a total of four points or more. Our first hike towards the challenge, Golden Canyon, was where part of Star Wars was filmed. This hike, which we combined with the badlands loop for a total of three points, took us through a spectacular canyon that did seem almost golden in the sun. Our second and last hike towards the challenge took us to Desolation Canyon, where we scaled two dry waterfalls and saw this exceptionally large scorpion!
Death Valley National Park was the epitome of wild! On our way into the park we stopped to geocache and barely held onto the doors as we tried to exit the car. Driving we had the visibility of a Chicago snow storm but with sand. We jokingly referred to ourselves as the “Three Little Pigs” as we held tight in our tent during 55mph winds the first evening we were there! Despite all of this wind challenge, Death Valley is astounding! When it isn’t noisy with wind, its utterly silent. No birds, bugs, cars or anything once we started hiking. Just our panting breaths and vigorous heartbeats. We had the world to ourselves.
On Oct. 15 we went form Kings Canyon to Sequoia National Park. The tree pictured above is General Sherman, the largest tree in the world by volume! Kings Canyon and Sequoia are currently our favorite parks we’ve been to so far.
Good news, the municipal bus service in San Francisco found our backpack and is sending it home to Cary! Thank you God!
Meet “General Grant,” the third largest tree in the world by volume. He would be as wide as a three lane highway at 40 feet in diameter. He’s 268 feet tall. We fell in love with this guy and hiked the Grant Grove twice in the same day just to see him again! Others in that grove were equally impressive!
We also drove to Cedar Grove which resembles Yosemite a bit. We geocahed along the way to Cedar Grove and found caches without the help of hints since our phones had no service!
We hiked thorough Muir Woods the morning we began to head east for the first time since August! What in the world….TALL!
the amazing grace 