09.-15.10.2006: Salt Lake City - Bonneville Salt Flats - Great Basin NP - Cathedral Gorge SP - Kershaw-Ryan SP - Mono Lake - Yosemite NP - Death Valley NP We went over to have breakfast with Christian and enjoyed his Mexican coffee. We were talking so much that we didn't leave until noon. We drove down to the Utah Olympic Oval where the ice skating competitions took place - again, the fastest rink in the world. Our last hours in Salt Lake City were spent doing shopping, raiding the English food shops, getting propane and petrol, dumping and cleaning and buying a new water pump for our twenty litre drinking water tank. Then we drove out of Salt Lake and heading West on the I-80, we stopped at a rest area for the night. On Tuesday, we continued west on the I-80, driving passed the salt flats that were covered with a layer of water and made them silver coloured, reflecting the mountains in the distance. We drove to the Bonneville Speedway track where land speed records are set. They need a 14 mile long track - most of which is for stopping after setting a record. The current land speed record is held by Britain at 622mph. There should have been a meeting tomorrow for more record attempts, but it had been called off because of the water on the salt flats. There are four meetings a year and the one in August attracts 25,000 spectators! We carried on over the border into Nevada and went to the tourist info place. Afterwards we went south towards Great Basin National Park and stopped about 20 miles outside the park at a free BLM campground. On Wednesday we drove into Great Basin National Park and along the scenic drive which gains 5,000ft in height over 12 miles. We went up to over 10,000ft and got great views of Mount Wheeler, the highest mountain in Nevada at over 13,000ft, which was snow capped under a lovely blue sky. We took a great trail into Bristlecone Pine trees. We walked in the snow and had to find our own trail through the virgin snow. Had great fun rolling snow balls down the steep slopes to see whose went the furthest. (You can tell it's been a while since we've been in the snow!!) It was only 3 miles but hard going through 12 inches of snow. The Bristlecones can live up to 3,000 years old and when they die they don't erode. There were a lot of dead, spindly trees with shiny bark in the forest. On the way back down the scenic drive you can see the massive flat area surrounding the mountains far below in the distance. Quite a sight. The next day we went to Cathedral Gorge State Park ($4 entrance) and walked into Moon caves - narrow slot canyons with steep walls of nobbly clay, the "nobbles" caused by water erosion. We did another short trail but it was so hot that we turned around. Then we went for a shower at the campground and used the dump station. The entrance fee for the State Parks is valid for the day and covers entrance fees for all the other State Parks. So we drove a couple of miles and went to Kershaw-Ryan State Park. We did a short trail through the gardens and out into a valley where we saw a coyote on the trail. We left at 5pm and drove along the "Extraterrestrial Highway" to Rachel. The road skirts the top secret area known as "Area 51" part of Nellis Air Force Base and supposed holding area for captured UFOs. On the way, a huge black flying insect flew through Kirstens window and landed on her knee. She started screaming and nearly had a heart attack before we could stop and get rid of it!! Maybe it was an extraterrestrial insect!! We parked up just outside Rachel, a small village and were treated to night flying exercises by Air Force Jets. We had also seen and heard rockets being fired from Air Force jets earlier in the day! For the night exercises, the jets were letting out cluster bombs that exploded into bright lights in the air - a weird extraterrestrial war! The next day we got up early and realised we had been on Pacific Time for the last 3 days and it was therefore, an hour earlier than we thought! So we actually got up at 7-20am! We drove along the rest of the Extraterrestrial Highway and then along a Helter Skelter road that went over bumps and dips in the road and made our stomachs lurch! We went into California and stopped at Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area, at Mono Lake. We did a 1 mile walk to look at "Tufa" - strange spires and knobs formed when fresh water springs containing calcium bubble up through the carbonate-rich lake water. Afterwards we drove into Yosemite National Park and over Tioga Pass. We spent about 3 hours in the park which is not one of our favourites because the campgrounds are always full, so you are forced to drive out again to stay for the night. We just made it back to Mono Lake for the sunset which was blood-red behind Yosemite's mountains. Then we found a spot at the side of the road for the night. On Saturday we went back to Mono Lake for the sunrise - along with hundreds of other photographers. We stopped at a library in Mammoth Lakes and then found cheap petrol in Bishop (63 cents per gallon cheaper than in Mammoth Lakes). We also got a Large veggie pizza for the price of a medium one at the Pizza Factory. Then we drove into Death Valley, coming in from the western side, over high passes with great views into the valley below. We stopped at a free campground for the night. On Sunday, we drove into the valley and stopped at an old Borax mine and then had a look at Devils Golf Course and wandered around the salt crystal formations. This had been closed the last time we were here 3 years ago. We went to Badwater - 282 ft below sea level (-85.5m) and the 7th lowest point in the world. The Dead Sea in Jordan is the lowest. Then we drove out of the park along the south route and found a place on the side of the road for the night.