USA road trip – Grand Canyon and Petrified forest NP

Že preden smo prišli do “South Rim-a” v Grand Canyonu sem vedel, kaj nas čaka – pravi zabaviščni park. Vedel sem, da bi tisti pravi Grand Canyon doživeli le na North Rim-u, a v tistem času obisk zaradi vremena enostavno ni bil možen. In na koncu je bil obisk južnega dela še hujši, kot pa sem pričakoval. Kljub temu, da smo ga obiskali v drugi polovici meseca oktobra, ko je turistov bistveno manj,  je bilo obiskovalcev toliko, kot jih ni bilo v vseh prej in potem obiskanih parkih ZDA. Hoteli so bili polni, na razglednih točkah smo se skoraj “tepli” za spodobno pozicijo, cene so bile skoraj 50% višje od cen po vse dotlej obiskanih lokacijah. Noro. No, po lepem večernem zahodu in še lepšem jutranjem vzhodu smo se zato kar hitro podali naprej. Petrified forest NP pa je bil po drugi strani pravo pozitivno odkritje. Od okamenelega lesa iz časa Triasa res nismo pričakovali veliko. A pokazal se je v fantastični luči – neverjetna pokrajina, zelo malo obiskovalcev in res lepe pohodne poti. Res škoda, da smo bili tam le nekaj ur.

Even before we got to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, I knew what was waiting for us – a real amusement park. I knew that the North Rim would be 100% better, but at that time of the year there was no chance to go there – the weather was just too unpredictable. Even though we were there in the second part of October, the park was full of tourists – there were more tourists then in all other national parks together. Hotels were full, at vista points we were almost ” fighting ” for a decent position, prices were almost 50% higher than at the other locations. It was just too much for us. So, after nice sunset and even better sunrise we left the park. Petrified Forest NP was on the other hand totally different. We didn’t expect much from from petrified wood from Triassic era, but at the end we were amazed – the landscape is incredible, there were just “couple” of tourists and the hiking trails were amazing. What a shame that we were there only for a few hours.