First with the car from Zonhoven, Belgium to Dusseldorf Airport, Germany. Flying to Heathrow, UK. From Heathrow onto Chicago, USA to finally board the plane to Las Vegas, our destination. A long set of flights, resulting in a long day. But all in all not as bad as expected.

Leaving the McCarran airport buildings in Las Vegas, we were introduced to - and struck by - the searing Nevada heat.

[ part 1 ] Our first day takes us west of Las Vegas, to Death Valley National Park. Supposedly a very hot place, but that appeared to be quite the understatement.

116°F (47°C) on the dashboard of the car wasn't even the hottest temperature we experienced as the wind, blowing as boiling-hot as the air itself, had no chilling effect whatsoever.

[ part 2 ] Still, Ubehebe Crater was a bit more enjoyable due to a slight rise in altitude but we had to endure semi-gale-force winds climbing the summit.

Making our way to the West-exit of Death Valley, we decided to take a short stroll at sunset, which resulted in a true spectacle of colours in the early nightsky.

[ part 1 ] One of the places to see these peculiar basalt formations is Devils Postpile National Monument, near Mammoth Mountain.

For us, not the place most close to home but seeing as we were in the neighbourhood ;-)

[ part 2 ] We hiked all the way to Rainbow Falls through the striking barren landscape of fallen trees on the way.

A remarkable sight and yet a stark reminder of the potential power and devastating effects of fire.

[ part 1 ] After filling up the car to make sure we would make it all the way to the other side of Yosemite National Park, we hit the Tioga Pass which cuts right through the park from East to West. We could not help ourselves stopping practically every 5 minutes. To me, Tioga Road is one of the most beautiful road I ever drove.

We picked up a geocache before having a small picnic at Tuolumne meadow that had some interesting bear-proof toilets.

[ part 2 ] Last stop of the day was Glacier Point. After the obligatory Tunnel View-stop, we drove the winding road up, passing Sentinel Dome and Washburn Point, followed by a short walk from the carpark that finally brought us to Glacier Point, presenting us with a pure vista of the Yosemite valley floor with the prominent Half Dome as the main focal point.

[ part 1 ] And slow start to the day with the unsuccessful search for a geocache just outside the Sequoia National Park entrance. But once inside the park... pictures do not do these trees any justice. They look huge in photographs but in real life, they are just enormous.

Making our way through these giants to Moro Rock, that left Wouter and Liz in grave vertigo-distress. Nothing to be laughed with, but still, just a tad bit funny to Sanne and me.

[ part 2 ] "What about a walk at Crescent Meadow to finish the day?" With Crescent Meadow being a hotspot for wildlife spotting in Sequoia, we all agreed.

Without any regret as we saw not one, but three bears, a squirrel and a rattle snake. In hindsight, the bears and snake were, for me, not the most self-safe encounters but still well worth it.

[ part 3 ] Heading back to our motel, we tried to pick up another cache, this time with success. To my knowledge this was Wouters first cache find ever. A tad bit later we witnessed a gorgeous sunset.

[ part 1 ] Making our way back through Yosemite to the East, we had a nice picnic at Tanaya Lake before making a stop at Lembert Dome for a hike up to Dog Lake. Eating dust on route when we crossed paths with a group of horse riders.

[ part 2 ] We descended from Dog Lake by taking the trail on the East side of Lembert Dome and an ascended Lembert Dome itself.

We left Yosemite through its East entrance and left the state of California to start our long journey to Yellowstone. This short start led us to Hawthorne, which looked like a major city on the map but didn't really turn out to be all that big.

An uneventful day filled with driving, leg-stretching, catnaps and reading. Though during the long drive we saw quite a lot of dust devils on the Nevada plains.

A slightly less uneventful day compared to yesterday. When we picnicked North of Twin Falls, at Perinne Bridge, we waited for some base jumpers to jump but it just didn't happen.

Instead of taking the Interstate 84, we opted to take the U.S. 93, passing Craters of the Moon National Monument for a quick stop combined with some different blackened lava landscapes.

Just before nightfall we arrived in Yellowstone-West and with that, finalised our longest and most fear liaison of our roadtrip, still in good spirits.

[ part 1 ] Not too many words can be found to describe Yellowstone National Park other than the obvious. But I can say that the colours presented to you at various sites in Yellowstone, are the most saturated I have ever seen (in a completely natural context that is).

The most beautiful emerald coloured water... combined with the foul and vile stench of hydrogen sulphide. I personally had some gag-issues with the latter. It truly is a combination of extremes.

[ part 2 ] As for wildlife: I took a picture of Sanne at our car, taking a picture herself of a bison inbetween the both of us. Mind boggling.

Even more when we encountered a whole pack of bison crossing the road just behind us when we were returning to our motel.

I stayed at the motel with Liz joining me. We had a stroll around the town and picked up a cache.

Wouter and Sanne drove out to the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone and Canary Springs.

[ part 1 ] Our last couple of stops in Yellowstone such as Norris Geyser Basin with more fumaroles than I have ever seen.

The steam did create some playful scenes, muting the rays of sunlight through the trees.

[ part 2 ] After our Goodbyes to Yellowstone we pushed on for Grand Teton National Park. Oddly enough, the Tetons just seem to pop up in an otherwise relatively flat landscape.

Wouter and Sanne spotted a bear when they went for a walk on the other side of Jenny Lake.

A quick visit to the Chapel of the Transfiguration marked the start of our second long liaison of our trip. All the way to Moab.
Today we took the liaison to Pinedale of a good night's rest.

Again an uneventful day as we wanted to get to Price which would bring us close enough to the Canyonlands region so we could visit is without losing too much time in getting there.

Most notable today was the moment we got stuck behind a paint striper that, according to the support vehicle, we could not pass. After some wild overtakes by some annoyed drivers behind us. After some thirty minutes of hoping that the striper would pull over, a clear stretch of road made us decide to take the plunge.

We used the picnic area of the Flaming Gorge dam to have a quiet meal and do some leg stretching.

Before we reached Price, the clouds turned black. We stopped to have a look at some intense lighting - from a safe distance - and got a super small part of a lightning strike on one sole picture (the one with Wouter and Sanne hugging, lighting in the top left). The sad result of a 500+ pictureset that I took handheld, betting that I could get one strike of this immense flashfest on camera even without a tripod.

Many heads were shaken, but... at least I tried... in vain... but I tried ;-)

[ part 1 ] After the drive over there, we took our time to visit the Dead Horse Point State Park. Rushing wasn't even an option considering the heat.

So we walked the loop at Dead Horse Point, and had a quiet picnic in one of the few shaded places.

[ part 2 ] Before heading out to our destination for the day (Moab), we stopped at the Canyonlands National Park and climbed Upheaval Dome to admire its unnatural colours that paint the sand and rock inside of what is left of the crater.

One of the most impressive shots I took during our roadtrip, I took here at the Green River Overlook.

[ part 1 ] As the heat was a bit of a deal-breaker yesterday, we decided to head out early today for the planned hike up to Landscape Arch and, if stamina permits, Devils Garden and Double O Arch.

This was a well-worth strategy, as temperatures were quite tolerable when we headed off from the carpark.

[ part 2 ] The sights were amazing, especially when I saw Sanne on top of Double O Arch.

A brief moment later, I lost my footing on some loose gravel and fell to the ground, tightly gripping my camera but landing on my 70-200/2.8 which was attached to my belt.
Luckily, only two scratches on the aperture indicator but still in perfect working order *sigh of relief*.

Going back, our two vertigo-challenged companions were again tested to their limits.

[ part 3 ] Leaving arches left us with the distinct feeling that we didn't allot enough time for this location... maybe next time, but not in august.

Still, while making our way to Escalante using Byway 24 and 12, seeing The Castle, the pyroglyphs and passing the sign of "Garfield County", we were, again, treated to an incredible sunset. Combined with some light rain, it provided a true visual spectacle.

After consulting the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center for a nice walk, we opted for the if-you-don't-mind-getting-your-feet-wet Natural Bridge walk which turned out to be a very "different" but enjoyable walk with the water being a nice cooling-break.

Though, while returning to the car, the shoe-swapping became too much of a hassle for me so I just went in with my hiking boots. In hindsight not the most wise decision as my boots remained wet for the next two days.

The dayend-plan was to end up in the Bryce region but without any bookings that was a bit of a gamble so we settled for Tropic, which wasn't right down the road of Bryce. We thought that would be a safe bet. We were wrong. Every hotel and motel in Tropic was fully booked. So we would take our chances and try Bryce itself.

Maybe the torrential rains on the way were a dead give-away but Bryce was fully booked. Hmmm, the only option was to go further West and see.

Torrential rains stopped, maybe our luck would turn too? Well, not even a mile further West on the main road in and out of Bryce: Fosters. Very basic accommodations, but a nice restaurant and a hot shower were all we needed.

Following the advice given to us concerning crowd-avoidance, we directly proceeded to Rainbow point to visit the park from South to North instead of the regular North to South route that everyone takes. That was one good tip. When everybody was crowding the road going South, we always had a clear lane going North.

Bryce Canyon, what can I say. The Hoodoos are a remarkable sight and sometimes even a tad bit weird.

Seeing the Navajo Loop Trail from various lookout points intrigued my fellow-travellers. I was not that enthousiastic as the heat was really getting to me. So our ways parted when I stayed in the car.

[ part 1 ] Just before the East entrance tunnel, we started our visit to Zion with a walk to the Canyon Overlook point which was not even remotely disappointing!

During the shuttle transit to The Narrows, the heat got to all of us so the cool water of the Virgin River brought some refreshment.

After we got off the shuttle to see the Weeping Rock, The Emerald Pools were the next stop, but alas, they were very dry and didn't have any of their imposing grandeur they would have in springtime.

[ part 2 ] On our way to Kanab, we came across a small cave and decided to investigate.

It was quite a laugh as the owner, claiming to have some obscure Dutch descendants, tried to incorporate some Dutch words in his detailed descriptions of the caves, its history as a bar and later a club, and the luminescent rocks found deep within the cave.

[ part 1 ] First we headed out for Cape Royal with all the stops in between and a relaxing picnic at Vista Encantada with our first glance at the canyon. A monstrous hole in the ground. We spent a couple of hours at Cape Royal and Angels Window after which we visited the surroundings of the North Rim visitors center. The pizza was really good.

[ part 2 ] All day, the idea for a sunset at the Grand Canyon was floating around. So, as the weather was still as good as it could get, we went back to Cape Royal for the sunset. Maybe even a startrail if it darkened fast enough.

According to a couple of Aussies, who were timelapsing the sunset, it was the most beautiful one they saw here at the Grand Canyon with this one being their fifth visit.

Nice weather and a recommendations of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument rangers that also gave a green light for a canyon hike, starting at the Lower Podunk Creek.

Last thing I remember was the distant sound of a thunderstrike and all the rest is quite a blur as being trapped with nowhere to go and waterlevels rising, describing my worst nightmare, word for word. The sound of boulders smashing into other boulders submerged beneath the raging current that reached chest-height after some fifteen minutes...

When we finally got back to our car, soaking wet from head to toe and with sand in every place imaginable, I do remember expressing some form of gratitude to the American/Italian couple that endured the ordeal together with us.

So our holiday is closing to an end. Casually but very hot once again, we made our way through the Valley of Fire State Park and ended the day with a detour to Hoover Dam.

Our roadtrip circle is complete.

So, Las Vegas, we meet again. This time it is not "Hello" but "Goodbye".

We made it through our loop in good health, maybe slightly too busy, but well worth it.

Just a bit of a "Best Of".