USA Roadtrip

[Matt..]

Last week i returned from a 3 week trip around the southwest US. I drove 4,200 miles, passed through 9 states, and visited 10 parks. Here are some photos from the trip (these are first run through selections, with very minimal editing for now).

Yellowstone
My first park, and i had 3 nights here. 1 night in Mammoth Hot Springs, and 2 staying at the Old Faithful Lodge. This was my favourite park, but i saw no bears, and that's my only slight disappointment!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576...


Bison were everywhere! I saw hundreds of them!


Lower Falls from Artists Point.


Early morning by some hot springs.




Grand Teton
This place is small, but has many famous photographic opportunities. It was hazy and HOT though, so i didn't get the best shots.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576...


Snake river overlook


That barn everyone takes a photo of :lol:


Bryce Canyon
I had 2 nights in Bryce and met lots of photographers here, it also rained more than it does here in Wales. I stopped off in a few places between Grand Teton and Bryce Canyon, namely Salt Lake City (overnight), Capitol Reef NP, and Grand Escalante NM.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576...


Sunrise


The natural bridge (between rain!).


Zion
I had 2 nights in Zion and did plan to do the Narrows walk (this is the walk up the river), but with all the rain in southern Utah i didn't want to risk my kit in the deep fast flowing water!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576...


The valley floor.


From Scout's Lookout (just before the final push to Angels Landing). I didn't do the final bit to Angels Landing as i was too scared :wave:


Death Valley
I visited Valley of Fire between Zion and here also. Death Valley was crazy hot! It got to 115f (46c), and that exceeds my maximum temperature by nearly 20c
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576...


Zabriskie Point. This is where everyone takes a photo. Sunset was not very good, and i didn't have time to do sunrise, so this is all i have.


Driving back from the viewing the crater.


Yosemite
I had a stop in Mammoth Lakes (inc Mono Lake) prior to this. Yosemite is beautiful, but not somewhere to visit between the hours of 10am, and 4pm! It is insanely busy and queuing to park in the US just seems wrong.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576...


See?!


Half dome from the top of Sentinel dome.


I don't claim this to be very good, as i have no idea what to do with night shots! However, it does show the Milky Way, and at the bottom is El Capitan (the lights you see on El Cap are climbers).


Highway 1
After Yosemite i drove Highway 1 from San Francisco to LA. I've done this before when i was younger and it was foggy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthoulb/sets/721576...


The Dodge Challenger R/T Classic rental! nearly 400bhp of hemi v8 fun. I loved that car! It's about 3x more powerful than anything i've driven before, but it was such fun, and i giggled like a child when flooring it from nearly every viewpoint on Highway 1!


So as you can see, it was foggy again :lol:



Let me know your thoughts There are loads more photos on Flickr, and stated at the start of the thread, this is minimal edits, and mainly just shots i selected as i was on the trip. I hate editing, and probably won't do it for another 6 months or so!

This was a great trip, and one i would recommend to anyone. I drove a long way though, as technically it's only 2,500 miles, yet i did 4,200! That's approximately the same distance as NYC to LA to Vancouver!

[nickcowen]

looks like an amazing trip some really nice shots

[_dobbo_]

really really nice shots - I assume you're very please with some of these?

[dibbly dobbler]

Some lovely shots there Sir - I am very jealous of the trip!

[paul911]

Great pics, love the Dodge one.

[baz7175]

Looks like you had a great trip, some awesome spots and can't beat the V8 hire car option too...!!! Yosemite was almost half empty by the end of that week too, we were there Thursday and we had the valley overlook to ourselves for a good 15mins, Glacier Point was half full to be fair...

[V8 Junkie]

We are going over next month and want to hire a Dodge RT Hemi similar to the one you hired. Did you hire it from Hertz from their Adrenaline collection?

[Matt..]

baz7175 said:

...Yosemite was almost half empty by the end of that week too...

I was in Yosemite before 7am each day, and left after dark, so saw the place when it was quiet

V8 Junkie said:

...Did you hire it from Hertz from their Adrenaline collection?

Yes.

[Nick Grant]

It a trio of win!
Great trip.
Great photos.
Great car.

Good work

[Class One]

Great pics there Matt. Road trip of a lifetime.

[Fordo]

amazing trip, and beautiful pictures

me and my better half have been talking about an american road trip ever since we did a euro one.

did you hire the Dodge Challenger for the whole trip, or just part?

[Matt..]

Fordo said:

...did you hire the Dodge Challenger for the whole trip, or just part?

I had a Ford Focus for 3,500 miles from Montana to San Francisco, and the Challenger for 700 on Highway 1 (SF to LA). I would have loved the Challenger for all of it, but you can't rent them in many places (definitely not in Montana!), and it would have cost a fortune in fuel!