Blog – Page 72 – BB IN THE WILD

Islande

August 29, 2012March 26, 2020

Par où commencer ?… On avait tellement aimé les road trips aux US que ça nous démangeait de recommencer.

Après quelques recherches sur le net, l’Islande nous a paru être une destination sympa, avec grandes étendues désertiques (cool, personne pour nous embêter 😉 ), des pistes 4×4 à n’en plus finir, des aurores boréales, bref ça donnait plus qu’envie.

Allez hop! Réservation d’avion, voiture, hôtels pour premier soir et les trois derniers soirs qu’on prévoit de passer à Reykjavik (la capitale, la baie des fumées).

Première surprise: ça coute les yeux de la tête, 2400 euros pour avoir un bon 4×4 susceptible de nous emmener partout, 600 pour 3 nuits d’hôtel à Reykjavik, 800 pour les vols….

Départ à 12h de Nice, ça commence bien avec 2 heures de retard sur le vol pour Copenhagen… Mais c’est pas grave, on a 5 heures de changement là-bas…

Petite pause à Copenhagen:

Le soleil allait se coucher en décollant de Copenhagen, pareil en arrivant à Keflavif (Aéroport international de Reykjavik). On est allé aussi vite que lui!

On retrouve le loueur de voiture à l’aéroport, il nous emmène à leur ‘office’. Le Jeep Wrangler nous attend bien sagement! Le gars nous fait un petit briefing sur la traversée de rivières, nous donne les deux jerricans que nous avions demandés, et c’est parti!

Il est 11h du soir heure locale (1h du mat heure française), on récupère notre chambre d’hôtel, un petit bungalow en fait. Très cosy!

Pas pu m’empêcher de faire une photo de la voiture…

WestUS-Apr2012

Rockies

April 21, 2012March 26, 2020

5:50AM, wake up!

This morning packing things is a little longer, we have to fold up the sleeping bags, make sure everything fits into our luggages. We manage to leave the campground at around 6:30.

In the brochures the old man gave us yesterday, we find some information about Mesa Verde Natl Park, and it looks interesting. So even if we have more than 400 miles to go back to Denver, we decide to give it a look.

Those villages were build a thousand years ago, and abandoned around 1200AD by the Ancestral Puebloans.

Then the long road begins, we arrive in Denver at around 8PM after crossing many passes above 11,000 feet. We didn’t choose the shortest road, but tried to compromise between wilderness and not too long roads.

Map of the day

We can’t wait for our next trip!

Fabulous, Magnificent, Splendid, Gorgeous… we could go on forever with this kind of words, it will still be not enough to give justice to those landscapes in the Wild Wild West! But it is quite exhausting too!

The END!!! (for now ;))

WestUS-Apr2012

Canyonland

April 20, 2012March 26, 2020

6AM. Wake up! Pierre manages to take half a hot shower, only to finish with cold water. Adie is less lucky, but still manages to take a short shower! We leave the motel as the sun is rising.

Very nice road to Canyonland Natl Park, even with the sun in the eyes…

First hike of the day to Mesa Arch. Oh my god!

Second one to Upheaval Dome.

Another view point from the South pointe of the Island in the Sky.

The park is so wonderful that we decide to exit it not by the normal paved road but by the Shafer Trail road, from the visitor center to Moab. Impressive trail, the first part goes down on a big rocky wall. The second part crosses smaller canyons but also rough and rocky. Adie is so scared that she has to go outside the car in the worst parts.

We survived! Beer and burger again in Moab in a local brewery. They do a pretty good ale! We even buy a cask of Scorpion Ale to keep us company at the next campground. The day goes on with Arches Natl Park. It is nice but there are way too many people!

At around 5PM we start heading South with the goal of spending the night around Canyon of the Ancients Natl Monument. We stop at 7PM in Blanding to get some info from a visitor center. And we were wandering why they call it Canyon of the Ancients… The only guy at the visitor center must be at least 90 years old! But he is as friendly and helpful as possible, he points us Hovenweep Natl Monument as a place to spend the night.

Again a fabulous sunset on the road.

We stop at Hovenweep at around 8:30PM. We are able to get a quiet place in the small campground. Time to dinner… Hum, beer (still cold!) and cashews, not really a dinner but the sky is so clear that the only thing that really matters are the stars. We even see two falling stars. Wonderfull stars watching evening!

Map of the day