"The invention of the national park was the best idea the Americans ever had..."
At least that's what a colorful travel brochure promises us, bursting with superlatives. Aha! We are currently in the \"mid-season\" - the time between the winters in the northern and southern hemispheres. We can therefore use the snow-free period to explore this advertising promise in more detail.
Highway 1, a bike tour and San Francisco
After around 800 kilometers and shortly before the border with California, Balz had had enough of driving a camper. He came up with a plan: organize a bike, ride it to San Francisco and meet us there again. No sooner said than done. A short time later, Balz was battling traffic on the highway, people honking their horns in greeting, bad weather and some rival big cats at the bivouac site. Unfortunately, a few breakdowns and a rather bike-unfriendly America put paid to his plan after about 400 kilometers.
With Balz back on board, we curved our bus around the bends of the legendary coastal road "Highway 1", towards the fourth largest city in California. After a few obligatory rides on the "cable cars" and a short visit to Santa Cruz, we left San Francisco again. A short time later we were back on the road, but this time heading inland towards the mountains. In the "Sierra Nevadas" we tortured our old camper over passes up to 2900 meters high. We soon found ourselves in front of mighty rock faces hundreds of meters high. We had reached the first national park on our list.
Climbing and boating
The "Yosemite National Park", which attracts three million visitors a year, offers an extraordinary landscape that culminates in the "Yosemite Valley". Granite monoliths and walls up to 1,000 meters high, dotted with waterfalls, tower to the left and right. With these climbing possibilities, it is no wonder that one of the most important development centers of "free climbing" is located here. Of course, we also had to try our hand at the excellent crack climbing and ventured on some beautiful multi-pitch tours in the valley and on the "Half Dome". We saved the famous "Nose" on "El Capitan" for a later time...
After a visit to "Sequoia National Park", the second oldest national park in America, where we marveled at giant sequoia trees, we left the pleasant coolness of the mountains and forests and drove into the heat of the "Mojave Deserts". In 1960, part of the "Colorado River" was dammed in the eastern part of the desert and the resulting lake was christened "Lake Powell". It has become a popular vacation destination due to the wide range of leisure activities on and around the lake. At Lake Powell we met two Swiss colleagues who persuaded us to play "American" for a day. A high-capacity rental boat and a day of wakeboarding, waterskiing, cliff jumping, all in all great fun, surrounded by stunning scenery.
Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park
After this action-packed day, we took things a little easier again. We paid a visit to "Bryce Canyon National Park". With its sandstone sculptures created by thousands of years of erosion by wind, water and ice, it looks almost otherworldly. The next stop was the "Zion National Park", only about 80 kilometers away. A gigantic sandstone canyon with countless smaller side canyons to explore. Equipped with climbing harnesses and ropes, we head into the "Spry Canyon", which is generally considered to be "dry". As there were some pools filled with water, we tried to avoid them by abseiling and climbing. However, not all of our group were equally successful...
Satisfied with the natural beauty we were able to marvel at, we made our way to the \"Sin City\" of Amerkia. In the middle of the Mojave Desert, it was considered a starting point for tourists who wanted to observe atomic bomb tests in the 1950s. Nowadays, with its countless casinos, it is mainly limited to fleecing tourists. Without losing too much money, we left Las Vegas after three days and made our way back to the coast. In Los Angeles, our boyhood dream of spending a whole day riding rollercoasters was fulfilled and we also got an insight into the film industry. We then headed to San Diego to try our hand at surfing for the remaining two weeks of our stay in America.
Go South!
With a flight booked that would soon take us to Santiago de Chile and thus back into winter, it was with a heavy heart that we had to part with our beloved camper. We hope the good vehicle can still visit many of the incredible national parks. Because we are now truly convinced that this system, which protects these extraordinary landscapes, is the best American invention!
