Journal
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Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Las Vegas to San Diego...the Mojave desert, Joshua Tree, the Salton sea and the Anza Borrego desert
Our entry into Las Vegas is great. Google maps instructs us the shortest route to our host, of which four miles are on 'the Strip', the epicenter of casino's. Along the way we see marriages in small wedding chapels and a red leather booted Elvis gives me highfive and says in a deep toned voice 'he baby'. We're on an adrenalin high navigating our loaded bikes on the busy six lane road.
Our host Kevin lives a way away from all the hustle and bustle and his welcome is a little haven for us. We are both exhausted from the weeks passed, and Kevin has us recover and rest. We share interesting conversations and he takes us out to a casino to enjoy another Vegas entity: the buffet. Really good food, it's hard to decide where to start and stop.
One night we spend walking along the neon red, blue and yellow lit up casino's of the Strip, we even win 50 dollars with roulette... read more>
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Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Bryce Canyon to Las Vegas... hoodoos, Zion and the North Rim
As we pushed on into the wind for the last 15 miles uphill to Bryce Canyon, Anna spots another cyclist riding up behind us. 'Could it be Wayne?', we spot the beard, the cap and the dark bags, 'it is!'. He had been pushing hard to catch us on the hill, so Anna spun around to meet him. We had first met Wayne just out of Jackson WY in Grand Teton NP from where he had headed to the mountain passes of Colorado. Two days earlier Adrian (our Swiss friend) had told us of a cyclist coming over Boulder mountain like we had, but a day later, in snow flurries, with a big beard and we knew then it could well be Wayne, and it was. He had previously been cycling with his Swiss girlfriend who unfortunately had to return home to work after Jackson, so he had been cycling alone and was keen to join us to Bryce.
Bryce Canyon is situated above 8,000 feet high up on a plateau, snow covered some of the ground around the campground under the Ponderosa pines and the temperature dropped well below freezing at night. The main features at Bryce are sandstone hoodoos, delicate pink, orange and red pillars of rock, windows, fins and slot canyons that fill a natural amphitheatre. With names like 'Thor's Hammer'... read more>
Monday, 10 November 2008
Moab to Escalante.... Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and the Grand Staircase
It wouldn't be a stay in Moab without hitting the world famous trails and slickrock. We were lucky enough to have some local mtb guides in Nancy and Rachel who took us on an epic ride from the slickrock trail, up the hill nine miles to the Porcupine Rim trail. It was some of the most technical climbing we have ever done, stepping up rock ledges on technical double track but rewarded with awesome views of the red rock pillars of Castle Valley... read more>
Sunday, 26 October 2008
Wyoming to Utah: the Flaming Gorge, Fruita singletrack and Moab
After the snowstorm passed, we left Jackson WY on a sunny but cold afternoon. We pushed untill after sunset, and found ourselves on a high plateau, the Green River Basin, the sagebrush covered in a thick blanket of snow. The temperature overnight dropped to 15 F (-10 C), too cold to stay outside and cook dinner. Ali scraped snow of the table to boil for a quick soup. Luckily our sleeping gear really showed it's value, and we were warm inside... read more>
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Missoula to Jackson... Big Hole, pronghorn, Yellowstone and the Tetons
With fresh inspiration for the journey ahead we followed the Trans-America trail south along the Bitteroot valley before crossing over a range to the east at Lost Trail Pass and into the Big Hole Valley. This was the same route the Adventure Cycling Association took across the states in the summer of 76' in their inaugural Trans-American bike journey. On the ten mile downhill from Chief Joseph Pass... read more>
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Banff to Missoula... the great north parks and big sky country
After a chilly week tent bound with the flu in Banff, and spending time with friends, it was time for us to hit the road again with winter nipping at our heels and a lot of mountains between us and the desert country. As soon as we left Banff along the Bow Valley Parkway the sun began to shine and warmed our spirits. A little weary from the flu, it took several days to find our strength again... read more>
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Sea to Sky Highway, Icefields Parkway and the Dave Matthews Band
We said goodbye to Vancouver in style, cruising the harbor with Tas (Ali's former housemate) and Scarlett in their little yacht. It suddenly turned really hot for a few days, and we sweated our way up the Sea to Sky highway, from Vancouver to Squamish and onwards to Whistler. Squamish is known for the Chief, a huge monolith (rock), and very popular amongst rockclimbers... read more>
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Vancouver Island, the wild pacific coast and the city
After the gas leak in Prince Rupert we were eventually moved to 'emergency' accomodation at midnight which meant a not so long sleep before an early morning ferry on our way to Vancouver Island. Tired heads we slept pretty well then i woke at 7am...aahhh! we had slept through our alarm and the wake up call from the hotel never came...calm down, we can still make the 7:30am boat... read more>
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Inside Passage Alaska
The Alaska Marine Highway ferry has a special on this summer, the 'see Alaska pass', which enables us to hop on and off at different ports along the Inside Passage. The Inside Passage is a waterway secluded from the Pacific by Islands, and therefore has calm waters, and a very wet climate. Arnout, Anna's brother flies in to Juneau, Alaska's capital to join us for a few weeks.... read more>
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Cycling companions, on the Alcan to the South East
It was a bit hard to leave Fairbanks. We had been welcomed so warmly and had a wonderful time under the wings of Dan and Lisa in their logcabin. During the summer solstice weekend we enjoyed a 2-day hike on the Pinnell Mountain trail together with them, Pat and Jeremy. The first day gave clear and far views over hills, small herds of caribou, hoary marmots 'whistling' from rocky outcrops... read more>
Friday, 20 June 2008
Dalton Highway... from the Arctic to the interior
‘The Dalton Highway, you can’t ride your bike on the Dalton…you’re crazy, you’ll be eaten by Grizzlies, smashed to pieces by flying rocks the size of golf balls, driven off the road, you’ll freeze to death…and you’ll need at least five spare tyres after the other four are shredded to pieces by razor sharp rocks’... read more>
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Parks Highway and the Great One
On May the 22nd we left Anchorage with bikes loaded and Ali back to full strength after a nasty flu. We cycled along the Parks Highway, a 363 mile road connecting Anchorage in the South with Fairbanks in the Interior. The first week of riding took us from the flats, along an endless road lined by spruce and birch, to the treeless tundra... read more>
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DENALI NATIONAL PARK
Situated between Fairbanks & Anchorage is the 6 million acre Denali National Park & Preserve. The park contains Mount McKinley, the tallest peak on the continent at 20,320 ft. When measured from base to summit is actually higher than Mt Everest. But will Alister & Anna actually get to see it as they ride past? It is usually veiled in mist 2 out of 3 days.
FACTS ABOUT ALASKA
Alaska pays citizens between US$800-US$1900 a year just to live there. The subsidy comes from royalties the state earns from Prudhoe Bay oil.
Summer solstice results in daylight stretching for almost 22 hours.
More people are injured by moose each year than bears.
The state capital, Juneau is not accessible by road. Many towns aren't, therefore Alaska has the highest number of pilots per capita in the US, that's 1 in every 78 people. (Wikipedia)
Alaska Natives, who make up 15 percent of the state's population, maintain many traditions, such as whaling, subsistence hunting and fishing, and old ways of making crafts and art.
Plants and vegetables in Alaska grow to enormous sizes. Some of the current record holders are a cabbage that weighed in at 106 pound or 48 kilograms! The tallest sunflower was 16.75 feet tall, that is 5.1 metres!
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Sunday, 11 May 2008
Hi there from Alaska, it's been three days since we've arrived in Anchorage, so time for some tales. The flight here was breathtaking, over snowcapped mountains as far as the eyes can see. Our first impressions: big mountains, big cars, big roads, big steak houses, and big Americans... read more>
Monday, 3 March 2008
Preparation is half the fun...
We are at the moment both in Adelaide. Alister is still at work while Anna has just finished her job. Last week we flew to Melbourne for our US visa interview. It turned out to be a good opportunity to catch up with Alisters brother Rob and girlfriend Mel... read more>