Dear all,
Hopefully
you’ve now finished downloading my prior email (apologies to anyone with slow
connections but I can’t resist doing this!).
I also apologise for the ridiculous length of this email but we’re now
in Cuzco at 3,400m and are having to take it easy to acclimatize, so a net café
at 50p per hour seems as good a way as any.
Read this when you’re bored – it might take 20 min or so.
The tale
continues in Boston, where it turned out that 3 of my rowing club crewmates
were also intending to spend a week in the northeast US. Their plan was to do some camping/hiking in
New Hampshire.
We had a
fixed deadline to get to Washington by but it was very tempting to join the
guys so we hit upon a simple, if a little controversial decision. Abandon New York. People like Jonno will be unable to contemplate this decision but
a) I am rapidly deciding that I vastly prefer the country to big cities anyway;
b) New York would have been very expensive, c) it’s is probable that I will
find myself in New York again some time in the future. We did, however, later pass through (or,
technically, under) New York in the train to Washington)
So it was
off to New Hampshire, which involved cramming 5 people and their backpacks and
camping gear into that rarest of items, a modestly sized American car. The trip up to New Hampshire turned out to
be a little longer than expected so, given that the road was empty and the car
was a bit crap, Dan (driving) decided to put his foot down. We had been going for a couple of miles at
100% throttle and the car had surprised us by making it almost to 90. However, we were further surprised when a
State Trooper, as the call themselves, appeared from the central reservation
with all lights blazing. D´oh! However, he seemed a little confused by the
UK licence produced and after a long pause, clearly didn’t know what to do and
let us off! Good fortune, but it was not to last!
It was
getting late now, and we passed an electronic thermometer assuring us that the
temperature was -2. We laughed it off
as broken as it couldn’t possibly be that cold, could it? However, when the next 2 assured as that it
was in fact –4, we got a little concerned.
For reasons unknown, we then decided to pitch our tent by the road on a
pass - thereby ensuring we were at the most cold and exposed point. Despite sleeping fully clothed in about 5
layers that was still a bloody freezing night.
However, we all survived and set about hiking up Mt Washington - the
locally tallest peak. This is a climb
from 600m to over 2,000m and there are a number of alternative routes. Being classically British and gung-ho (and having survived, just, the
alleged hardest day-hike in the Canadian Rockies), we opted for the hardest
route up this one; perhaps reasoning that the extra difficulty might keep us
warmer given that we were informed the wind chill temperature at the
summit was -11F (about -20C)
However, it
was a glorious day and we set off at sterling pace in the forest at the bottom
of the beautiful Mt. Washington.
(Mt
Washington from the near the bottom)
After a moderately perilous crossing of a
creek (the steeping stones were helpfully coated in a thin layer of ice) the
route ahead was not clear and an exciting half hour of slowly brushing through
dense trees and undergrowth ensued. At
this point we came to the stunning conclusion that we ought to work out where
we were on our map, and aided by GPS and altitude devices (thank god for
gadgets) we found the path again and headed on up out of the tree line. Up here we were rewarded with fabulous views
and some beautiful frozen waterfalls.
(Frozen
waterfall – note awesome colour of sky!)
However,
all head of us were steep cliffs and it was not obvious where the trail would
go. As we proceeded, it was obvious:
straight up the ravine.
As we got
closer it became apparent that this route, which was c. 45 degrees steep, was
also covered in ice. We suddenly
realised that maybe we shouldn’t have laughed at Andy’s suggestion of buying an
ice axe (although he was only suggesting it because it looked cool). Anyway to cut a long story short, we started
out on this climb, Jon and Dan kicking out footholds in the ice, then decided
it was too dangerous, leaving a rather nasty looking descent. Jon, our strongest climber, was sent down
first and proceeded to lose his footing and slide at morbid speed down the rock
face, somehow remaining in some sort of control before colliding with a large
boulder and miraculously only suffering strained ankle ligaments. I, now somewhat terrified, just made it but
Al (the 5th member of the party) managed to dislocate a shoulder
over-reaching for a handhold on the precipitous and highly tense route
down. However, our two injury victims
bravely and impressively made it down from 1600m to the bottom. We felt rather sheepish at the hospital as
they told us that this route is considered a technical piece of mountaineering,
not hiking, after September. However,
Jon’s crutches (which were too small even on largest setting!) at least earned
us some good train seats and sympathy votes in Washington and he made a speedy and full recovery.
Luckily, we
were now heading south and the trains down the east of America are actually non-snail-like and we got from Boston to Washington in 8 hours, albeit chased all
the way be yet more snow.
Washington
is a city very unlike other US cities with lots of large open spaces in the
centre and one can actually see significant buildings from afar. We went to lots of museums, of which
Washington has a splendid collection – all free. However, this being modern America we had to go through scanners
and put our bags through an x-ray machine for each one. This would be admirable were it not for the
fact that Jon’s penknife was only spotted at the 4th place we went
to!
We also
checked out the White House, where security were omnipresent, and did the
Washington memorial and Capitol.
Security
guard
(Capitol
building with avenue) (White
House – note security guard on roof)
Next it was
an overnight train to Chicago. Chicago
is a city of fabulous architecture and is the true birthplace of the modern
skyscraper. As a result, it has lots of
them of various vintages including the Sears Tower, which manages to not look
very tall yet is the 2nd tallest occupied building in the
world. The view from the top was pretty
good, although the cloud made it all a little grey. However the skyline is still very impressive.
Sears
Tower (taller than it looks)
(Chicago
at night from the Navy Pier. Sears
Tower is one with purple antenna)
From
Chicago, we had another monster train journey to get to Flagstaff, Arizona, the
link for the Grand Canyon. Overnight we
ran into an ice storm, which is where it rains but is below zero, so everything
gets covered in ice. Pleasant. Am now sick to death of snow and ice.
(Our
train at La Junta, Colorado. 2 cm of
ice on ground. Note size the locos - all 4 of them!)
(Aren´t we
supposed to be in America, not Siberia?)
However, it
warmed up slightly and the weather cleared once we got to Flagstaff,
Arizona. Here our train pass got us on
a bus to the Canyon itself.
It can be safely
said that the Grand Canyon is all it is cracked up to be. Like everything in America (cars, roads,
buildings, burgers, trains, people etc.) it is vast. Over 1 mile deep and 3 to 10 miles across. It is claimed to be not possible to hike to
the bottom and back in a day and, finally, we applied some learning and did not
take this on. However, we got over a
third of the way down and back in less than 3 hours so we reckon it was
possible. One to take on next time,
methinks. Doing the trail is particularly
rewarding as it allows you to get away from the hordes of overweight tourists
too lazy to do any walking. You also
get some even better views and visibility is excellent.
(Standing
on the edge…) (About a third of the way down – river is to
left)
(Colours
come out better at sunset)
We were now
running out of time so we hatched an ambitious plan to take on much of
California (larger than Britain) in a car in 5 days. Day one went well with a nice trip down the coast from LA to San
Diego. San Diego is practically on the
border with Mexico, so we figured that as this was as close to the Equator as
we were going to get, this was where to hit the Californian surf. The trouble was it was a bit misty, quite
windy and not amazingly warm. However,
surely the Pacific down by the Mexican border would be nice and warm? Well, as it happens, all those episodes of
Baywatch etc. are clearly not filmed in November. I’ve been warmer in the Channel.
Anyway, I have at least now dived in the Californian surf and even
almost caught a wave or two.
The next
day, we decided we were going to start touring US-style, i.e. entirely from the
inside of a car. We set off for Las
Vegas via the Mojave desert and Death Valley (check on a map this is a long
way). The scenery around there is
curiously beautiful, with desert surrounded by rugged mountains. The highest (Mt. Whitney) and lowest (Death
Valley) points in mainland America are a mere 80 miles apart. Fortunately, the November-ness now came to
our aid and Death Valley was a good 20 degrees cooler than summer at a mere 30
degrees. Incredibly, there is a small
pond at the bottom, whose water is saltier than the sea, and hence has the name
Badwater. One pities the poor soul
whose jubilation must have evaporated in the sun on finding this.
(Death Valley – what you see is the salt left from the evaporated lake. The small amount of water there is is actually behind this photo. The altitude here is -85m yet the mountains in the distance are nearly 4,000m)
As a result
of our early start (even I can manage a 6am start if there’s a worthwhile
prize) and the surprisingly enlightened speed limits (70 or 75 on the big
freeways) we still had a bit of time before Vegas so we checked out the massive
Hoover Dam. It can safely be said that
this is a Damn big Dam ;-)
(Hoover Dam. 800 feet high – look carefully and you can see people on the top)
Now it was time
to hit Las Vegas…
The first sight
you get of Vegas is coming down from a mountain range into the desert bowl, in
which it sited, and even from here it smacks of incongruousness. Suddenly a massive city with many enormous
buildings, loads of freeways and a smattering of palm trees appears amidst the
sand, cacti and Joshua Trees. One can
also notice that the clear desert is interrupted by a layer of yellow-brown
smog over the place. Daytime, however,
is not the time to see the place. At
night the sheer fake-glitz takes over the place and its true colours, literally,
come out. I find the artificiality of
the place somehow deeply amusing, but one can’t fail to initially be impressed
by the effort. Each hotel (and 14 of
the world’s largest 15 are here) is engaged in a never ending war to upstage
the others and in Vegas, nowadays nothing less than entire mock-cities will
do. There is a fake Paris, Venice
(complete with gondolas and gondoliers), New York, Monte Carlo, as well as the
classical Ceasar’s Palace and Luxor pyramid.
However, inside these creations it’s all remarkably similar. The ground floor is an immense casino and
everything else is hotel rooms. Even
budget visitors are catered for and the poker machines allow betting in stakes
as small as 5 cents.
(Bellagio) (Excalibar) (Luxor, with laser beam)
(Mandalay Bay - c. 40 storeys) (MGM Grand) (New York, new York)
(Paris (Arc de Triomphe alas off shot) (general view of LV Boulevard ´The Strip’)
As we’re in
Vegas it would be rude not to gamble a bit but I quickly manage to lose my $50
budget including a spectacular sequence of 20 consecutive losses on various
fruit machines (a few approximate calculations suggests this is actually
similarly likely to winning about 100 times one’s stake. Grrrr). Jon fares a little better and after the
first round has amusingly turned $1 into $1.05, I kid you not. At one point he’s $50 up but a double or
quits fails and he leaves just a small amount up – still a member of a select
minority who went to Vegas and won.
(Winnings!)
More
outrageously early starts preceded visits to central California where we saw
the Sequoia National Park, home of the world’s largest living thing (and it’s
not an American, despite many efforts).
These trees, at a mere 90m, are not as tall as the redwoods but nothing
can match their girth and they also happen to grow in a beautiful wooded
mountain-scape. The roads through the
park are also excellent fun, with highly accurate warning signs for all the
bends allowing lots of opportunity for getting one’s money from the hire car
;-)
(this tree has a waist of over 12,000
inches)
Next on the
express-tourism was Yosemite valley, which is a glacial valley literally carved
out of the granite containing both mile high near vertical rock walls and an
array of curious granite domes. The
road to the top is allegedly closed in winter from snow, but it hadn’t rained
significantly in 6 months so it was fortuitously still open. (This turned out to be very lucky timing)
(Top of Yosemite, valley is in shade
almost all day. Note the famous Half
Dome)
(And the view from the bottom)
Unfortunately,
we were now running out of time so only had a half day to check out San
Francisco, but got in the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars and a few of the
districts. We then did the famous drive
down the spectacular Pacific Coast to LA.
However, the 6 months without rain decided to end with a vengeance and
high winds and driving rain accompanied us all the way, but made the scenery no
less exciting, if more ‘west coast of Ireland’ than California, though we did
spot some intrepid surfers taking on the 4m surf. On getting to LA, we were amused to find that this storm (par for
the course for England in autumn or winter) was on all the news headlines. I guess Californians aren’t used to
rain! This was also borne out in some
‘interesting’ driving that we witnessed on some of the up to 8 lane (each way)
highways that cross LA.
LA was its
usual seedy self and successive flights to Lima and then Cuzco followed. The Inca trail now beckons on Wednesday.
I promise my
next chapter will be shorter and I hope all is well in England.
Chris
PS Please can someone break a few of the Aussie
cricket team’s arms before we get there!