I’m still alive. I’m currently in Kings Canyon National Park and am going to do Yosemite after. I blew out my tire yesterday which blew ass…other than that, nothing truly eventful. Been doing a ton of hiking and camping (trip reports to come). Don’t recall the last time I’ve showered either.

So yep…will be in San Fran in like a weekish. Will post all of my TRs then.

Not really much to speak of, just wanted to give a quick update. I’ve spent many more days than I initially thought I would in Vegas. Same old stuff; seeing friends/eating good food/NOT gambling that much (table games)…so that’s good. Briefly thought about playing some live poker but decided against it.

Ate BBQ at my friend’s ballin ass place a few nights ago-

ate hash hash a go go (going to go back lol)-

Anyways, yeah. Finished Game of Thrones (HBO show) as well, excellent. Highly recommended to anyone who likes fantasy (or hell, just a good tv show). Going to start reading the books here soon enough (will probably kill them when I’m back on the camping part of my trip). Going to LA on Wednesday and will proceed from there.

So I went from Zion to the North Rim after talking with some locals. They suggested that I just spend 3-4 full days and skip the South Rim.

The North Rim in the GC is much less popular than the south, and there aren’t as many hikes/support areas (re- grocers/hotels/internet/restaurants/etc).

First day I did a 10 mile hike. It was really soft and had little elevation change. It was mostly forested and the views weren’t that impressive.

The day after I decided I want to do the Grand Canyon inner canyon trail. Since I was alone I didn’t want to try to hike the entire rim-rim (something like 30 miles), as it’s fairly dangerous to do so alone. Unfortunately there were not any ranger led walks or any communal group walks down there either, so I was unable to go all the way down.

This news was fairly disappointing to me and I didn’t want to pay to do a donkey ride down there. So I decided that I would wait until next time I hit the GC before seeing the absolute bottom.

I chose to go as far down as they recommended for a one day hike: Roaring Springs, about a 3500 foot elevation change. It was about 5 miles down to this point, making a full 10 mile hike.

It was a good hike, tough at the end…I wish I could have seen the bottom.

Some views of the trail…you can see far in the distance the trail that I took…

Insane Apache that passed me…I got one last photo of him and never saw him again:

Picture on the bridge, which was about the halfway point.

Overall, really fun. Was complimented by an old hardass guide on my speed. It took me about 5 hours overall and I was content with that…the climb was pretty tough.

Decided that I was going to go to Vegas the next day. GC North Rim allows people to camp for free in the Kaibab forrest, so I pitched a tent off road.

I decided to do some easy hikes on my last day. They gave me some good views of the canyon:

The area I was in really showed how big the canyon actually is…the entire area is just immense.

The only view of the CO river that I’ll get for now-

Then I did one last hike. It had a cool trail but overall, wasn’t very eventful.

Anyways, I’m in Vegas now. I went mountain biking yesterday and that was alot of fun. I’ve spent the majority of my time relaxing and watching the CWS (hoping that UF finishes it out). I’ll probably go climb at the gym and see some friends. Will head to LA next.

After my trip through Moab I continued West, hitting up Bryce Canyon National Park. I’ve heard great things about this place and it didn’t disappoint. It was incredibly vivid and the colors were unlike anything I’ve seen before in a South West setting.

I arrived around midday and set up camp. I also bought a national park pass in Canyonlands so I’m able to go to any national park for free within a one year span ($80). I thought this was good value given some of the parks are $25 to get into and I plan on going to more than 4 during my trip.

The first day I didn’t do much. Just did the scenic drive and took some photos:

The next day I decided to do this ‘figure 8′ hike. It was about 7 miles long (pretty soft) and was one of their ‘strenuous’ day hikes. The trails here are much easier to see in comparison to Moab (Arches + Canyonlands), where the trails there are marked by rock piles and nothing else. Here, the paths were very vivid and obvious, and much more maintained than Moab.

After my last hiking fiasco, I brought a ton of water. Like the trail paths, the trails themselves are also much easier here than in Moab. I did another easy hike the day after (probably 8 miles or so again). Anyways, pictures of Bryce:

Also went back to Zion National Park. I went to Zion last year after the WSOP with two poker friends and it was a great time. Zion is semi on the way towards the Grand Canyon and I also wanted to line up my dates so that I could arrive at the Grand Canyon on a weekday. I decided to spend two nights there and, like last year, it was a great time.

Only hiked up Angels Landing, a 6 mile hike with huge exposure yesterday. The hikes at Zion are all very unique, offering different experiences with each one. The Narrows is a 9 mile hike almost entirely in knee deep water in a canyon- It’s among one of the most unique hikes I’ve done in my life. Angels Landing is a steep 6 mile hike that is almost like an island in the middle of a canyon- it’s a narrow trail that is exposed on both sides.

Anyways, I won’t clutter this very much with photos…I have already posted both albums from last year onto facebook. Here are the links-

ALBUM 1

ALBUM 2

Today I actually did one hike I didn’t do previously called ‘Hidden Canyon’. It was quite interesting and was a narrow path cut into the canyon. The trail went on for a long time and you had to do alot of rock scrambling (climbing over decent sized rocks). I eventually turned around after going off trail for about a mile (the rock scrambling just kept going) but I was disappointed and wanted to continue.

Here are some Zion pictures (new ones)-

Angels Landing view-

The trail on the hidden canyon trail-

A typical rock scramble on this trail: (those boulders are huge)-

Anyways, yeah.

I’m currently in Kanab, UT, about 1 hour from the Grand Canyon North Rim. The NR is much less populated than the South and I’m hoping to get a camp site tomorrow early. I was thinking about doing both sides but after some discussion with people, I think I’m just going to spend 5 days or so on the North Rim and just continue on with my journey (onto Vegas).

Will update next when I get to Vegas…next 5-7 days = Grand Canyon!