{"id":9540,"date":"2019-09-20T10:31:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T16:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ozapato.com\/mx\/the-wild-west\/"},"modified":"2019-06-20T11:04:39","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T17:04:39","slug":"the-wild-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ozapato.com\/mx\/the-wild-west\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wild West."},"content":{"rendered":"
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[English below]<\/p>\n

Tres d\u00edas despu\u00e9s de cruzar la frontera entre M\u00e9xico y Estados Unidos, ya est\u00e1bamos dejando atr\u00e1s la bonita y calurosa Arizona<\/a> y llegando al estado de Utah. Estado que por cierto, toma su nombre de la palabra espa\u00f1ola yuta, nombre con que los conquistadores espa\u00f1oles denominaron a los ind\u00edgenas ute, que habitaban en el actual valle del lago Utah y que pas\u00f3 a anexionarse a Estados Unidos en 1848 despu\u00e9s de una guerra de 4 a\u00f1os con M\u00e9xico.<\/p>\n

El calor no cesaba as\u00ed que decidimos avanzar m\u00e1s r\u00e1pido de lo habitual. Adem\u00e1s en Estados Unidos \u00fanicamente<\/em> ten\u00edamos 3 meses de visado, as\u00ed que no pod\u00edamos viajar al mismo ritmo que unos meses atr\u00e1s.<\/p>\n

Nada m\u00e1s entrar a Utah, cruzamos el archiconocido Monument Valley<\/em>, un precioso valle rojizo en plena reserva navajo que ha servido de escenario para numerosas pel\u00edculas tipo western e incluso una de nuestras pel\u00edculas favoritas Forrest Gump<\/a>, siendo el punto exacto donde despu\u00e9s de correr por m\u00e1s de 3 a\u00f1os, \u00e9ste decide sencillamente parar y regresar a su casa.<\/p>\n

El paisaje era maravilloso. Por supuesto paramos para hacer fotos, y tuvimos la suerte de disfrutar del lugar para nosotros solos antes de que llegasen los turistas. Incluso presenciamos una tormenta el\u00e9ctrica en la lejan\u00eda mientras hac\u00edamos tiempo en el camper.<\/p>\n

Se nos hac\u00eda tarde as\u00ed que avanzamos hasta nuestro spot para pasar la noche: Valley of the Gods<\/em>. Apenas unos pocos kil\u00f3metros al norte del famoso valle que acab\u00e1bamos de cruzar, encontramos esta impresionante maravilla de la naturaleza en la que acampamos rodeados de estas colosales formaciones. Y gratis, por supuesto; hay una ruta esc\u00e9nica que atraviesa el valle y es posible pernoctar a lo largo de ella.<\/p>\n

Al d\u00eda siguiente, tras un buen desayuno y haber explorado la zona, seguimos rumbo norte hasta Moab donde visitamos el Arches National Park<\/em><\/a>, un parque nacional con m\u00e1s de 2000 arcos naturales y que tienen preparad\u00edsimo para el turista: despu\u00e9s de pasar por el centro de visitantes, se coge una ruta dentro del parque en forma de loop, con muchas paradas a lo largo del camino donde se pueden hacer diferentes hikes.<\/p>\n

Disfrutamos del atardecer en el Delicate Arch<\/em>, y la ma\u00f1ana siguiente visitamos el Landscape Arch<\/em>. Las formaciones naturales y paisajes en general que vimos aqu\u00ed nos dejaron asombrados\u2026 \u00a1Cu\u00e1ntos lugares por explorar en Utah!<\/p>\n

Casi sin tiempo para respirar, dejamos atr\u00e1s Moab y manejamos hasta el Bryce National Park<\/em><\/a>, famoso por sus estructuras geol\u00f3gicas \u00fanicas, llamadas chimeneas de hadas, que se formaron por la erosi\u00f3n causada por el viento, agua y hielo.<\/p>\n

Llegamos en la tarde y acampamos en un \u00e1rea designada y gratuita a las afueras del parque. La idea era madrugar para ver el amanecer desde uno de los miradores y despu\u00e9s hacer un hike. All\u00ed conocimos a Tim y su esposa Brenda, una pareja de sesentones que viajaba por Estados Unidos en su furgo convertida, con quienes compartimos una interesante conversaci\u00f3n sobre surf, parques naturales y la vida en general.<\/p>\n

Despu\u00e9s de una sorprendente noche fresca que agradecimos mucho, madrugamos y nos deleitamos con un maravilloso amanecer que ba\u00f1\u00f3 de una luz espectacular el valle que ten\u00edamos delante. El fr\u00edo y el madrug\u00f3n merecieron la pena, sobre todo porque despu\u00e9s el lugar se llen\u00f3 y en el parking no cab\u00eda ni un alfiler.<\/p>\n

Tras un rico desayuno en el estacionamiento, dimos un paseo entre estas curiosas formaciones que llegan a alcanzar los 60m de altura, y tras un par de paradas para hacer fotos, est\u00e1bamos listos para seguir la ruta.<\/p>\n

Cabe destacar que tuvimos suerte y pudimos entrar al parque con el camper porque no exced\u00eda del l\u00edmite de 27 pies (8.22m) de largo. Esto nos facilit\u00f3 mucho a la hora de movernos por dentro del parque, sobre todo porque \u00edbamos con la peque\u00f1a Tikla. Algunos turistas malinformados trataban de entrar a los estacionamientos con sus autocaravanas XXL, para enfado del resto y los guardaparques.<\/p>\n

Quer\u00edamos visitar tambi\u00e9n el famoso Zion National Park<\/em><\/a>, pero debido a varias lluvias torrenciales recientes los principales hikes estaban cerrados, por lo que decidimos que no merec\u00eda la pena y lo dejamos para otra ocasi\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

As\u00ed, poco a poco, pusimos rumbo a Nevada. En el camino nos encontramos con una curiosa atracci\u00f3n<\/em>: la casa de la ni\u00f1ez del famoso ladr\u00f3n de bancos y trenes estadounidense Butch Cassidy. Al parecer su familia emigr\u00f3 a esta zona a finales de la d\u00e9cada de 1850 y fue aqu\u00ed donde comenz\u00f3 su carrera criminal.<\/p>\n

Tras una noche en el medio de la nada, donde al menos pudimos disfrutar de un refrescante ba\u00f1o en el r\u00edo, llegamos a la tambi\u00e9n calurosa Las Vegas, cuna del juego mundial y ciudad no demasiado overlander-friendly, <\/em>por lo que decidimos tomarnos un peque\u00f1o respiro del camper y alquilar una habitaci\u00f3n de Airbnb.<\/p>\n

All\u00ed paseamos por el famoso strip, donde se amontonan los casinos m\u00e1s conocidos y donde se ven algunas de las mayores excentricidades. Sin duda alguna, se trata de una locura de ciudad que aunque no fuese nuestra favorita, s\u00ed merece la pena visitar al menos una vez.<\/p>\n

Despu\u00e9s de 8 d\u00edas conociendo Arizona, Utah y un brev\u00edsimo tiempo en Nevada, ya est\u00e1bamos listos para regresar a la costa y comenzar a explorar California.<\/p>\n

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Already three days after crossing the Mexico-USA border, we were leaving the beautiful and heated Arizona<\/a> and arriving to the state of Utah. Its name comes from a Spanish word, yuta, name that the Spanish conquistadores<\/em> attributed to the Ute indigenous tribe that lived in what is now Salt Lake Valley and that got annexed to the United States in 1848 after a 4-year war with Mexico.<\/p>\n

The temperatures weren\u2019t getting any cooler and so we decided to move faster than usual. Besides, we only had three months on our visa for the United States, so we couldn\u2019t travel at the same rhythm as before.<\/p>\n

As soon as we entered Utah, we crossed the very well-known Monument Valley, a precious reddish valley in the middle of the Navajo reservation that served as setting for many western-style movies and even for one of our favorite movies Forrest Gump<\/a>, being the exact spot where, after running for more than 3 years, he decides to stop and go home.<\/p>\n

The landscape was stunning. Of course, we stopped to take pictures and we were lucky enough to have it just for ourselves before all the tourists arrived. We even witnessed a lightning storm that was happening far away while we were waiting in the camper.<\/p>\n

It was getting late so we drove until we reached our camping spot for the night: Valley of the Gods. Just a few kilometers north of the famous valley that we had just crossed, we found this impressive wonder of the world in which we camped, surrounded by these colossal rock formations. And it was free, of course; there\u2019s a scenic route that crosses the valley and it\u2019s possible to camp along the way.<\/p>\n

The next day, after a big breakfast and after having explored the area, we continued our journey North until Moab, where we visited Arches National Park<\/a><\/u><\/em>, <\/em>a national park that has more than 2000 natural arches and that\u2019s well prepared for tourists: after stopping by the visitor center, you can take a loop road inside the park with many stops along the way to do different hikes.<\/p>\n

We enjoyed the sunset at the foot of Delicate Arch, and the next morning we visited Landscape Arch. The natural formations and the general landscape that we saw in this area left us astonished\u2026 There were so many spots to explore in Utah!<\/p>\n

Almost without any time to breathe, we left Moab and we drove to Bryce National Park<\/a><\/u><\/em>, <\/em>famous for its unique geological formations, called Fairy Chimneys, that were formed by the erosion caused by the wind, the rain and the ice.<\/p>\n

We arrived in the afternoon and we camped in an established free camping area outside the park. The idea was to wake up early to see the sunrise from one of the view points and later on, do a hike. There, we met Tim and his wife Brenda, a couple in their sixties that was traveling around the US in a converted van, with whom we had an interesting conversation about surf, natural parks and life in general.<\/p>\n

After a surprisingly cool night that we were very grateful for, we woke up early and we were delight with the marvelous sunrise that filled the valley with a spectacular light. The cold and waking up early were worth it, especially because the place completely filled up later on and there wasn\u2019t even room for a single tiny car in the parking lot.<\/p>\n

After a yummy breakfast in the parking lot, we walked around these strange formations that sometimes reached a height of 60 meters and after a few stops to take pictures, we were ready to keep driving.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to state that we were very lucky to have been able to enter the park with the camper because it didn\u2019t exceed the length limit of 27 feet (8.22 meters). This made it so much easier for us to move around the park, especially because we were with Tikla. Some misinformed tourists were trying to enter the lots with their XXL motorhomes, making the others and especially the park rangers very angry.<\/p>\n

We also wanted to visit the famous Zion National Park<\/a><\/u><\/em>, <\/em>but due to many recent torrential rains, the main hikes were closed, which is why we decided that it wasn\u2019t worth the detour and we left it for another time.<\/p>\n

Bit by bit, we then started our way to Nevada. On our way we saw a weird attraction: the childhood home of one of the United States\u2019 most famous thieves, Butch Cassidy. Apparently his family migrated to that area at the end of the 1850\u2019s and this is where started his career as a criminal.<\/p>\n

After sleeping in the middle of nowhere, where we were at least able to enjoy a nice and refreshing dip in the river, we made it to the also very hot Las Vegas, cradle of the game and not a very overlander-friendly city, which is why we decided to take a small break from the camper and go to an Airbnb room.<\/p>\n

We walked along the famous strip, where the most famous casinos are regrouped and where you can see the biggest of eccentricities. Without a doubt, it\u2019s a crazy city that, although it wasn\u2019t our favorite, was worth at least that one visit.<\/p>\n

After 8 days exploring Arizona, Utah and a very brief stop in Nevada, we were ready to go back to the coast and explore the state of California.<\/p>\n