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Cool your
feet in a river in Yellowstone National Park in
Wyoming.
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A wild symphony. That's
what the birds sound like at sunrise on Utah's Great Salt
Lake.
Foul. That best sums up the
odor of the warted, mucky geothermal pools at midday in
Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park.
Exhausting fun. This is
perhaps the easiest description for the on- and off-bus
experience on a 16-day Green Tortoise trip through several
national and state parks.
In mid-July, I joined about
25 other folks, mostly from Europe, hiking in some of the
most beautiful spots in the country. Our nights were split
unevenly between camping under the stars and sleeping on
the modern, relatively roomy bus as it drove us to our
next new scenic spot.
Aside from California, I
hadn't seen much of the West. I longed to see the big
skies of Montana, Arches National Park in Utah and the
historic Route 66.
A friend recommended the
Green Tortoise, an adventure travel company that takes up
to 36 passengers on trips to places such as Mexico,
Alaska, New Orleans and across the country on a 40-foot
bus that transforms into a convenient, if noisy,
hotel-on-wheels during drive nights. I took the National
Parks loop tour.
Perfect.
The Green Tortoise would
get me to the places I wanted to see more quickly than I
could if I went on a road trip alone, because the two
drivers, who double as unofficial tour guides and
executive chefs, take shifts driving through the night.
And maybe, just maybe, I'd fall in love with another park
— having already fallen for Joshua Tree National Park,
where unusual rock formations prompt me to climb every
year.
At first, I considered this
was a trip about places, not people. A generally shy,
somewhat private person, I viewed my fellow passengers as
tagalongs rather than travel companions. I expected to
meet some intriguing people, and mildly annoying others.
While the former was true, the latter certainly was not.
For two weeks, I was
surrounded by teachers from France, the U.S. and Canada. I
swam with a German father and his 14-year-old son — who
were on a bonding trip — in Jackson Lake at Grand Teton
National Park. I scrambled up rocks at Arches with
accountants from Switzerland and took a jeep tour of
Monument Valley with students and high-tech workers from
England. We prepared meals together, grilled s'mores
around the campfire at night and paired up for hours-long
hikes during the day.
The connections were almost
immediate.
On the first night, I
shuffled to the back of the bus, where a designated
sleeping area doubled as a chill-out lounge during the
day. There, I sat next to New York graphic designer Jin
Jin and shared her dried mango slices as we talked about
the wonderful places we were about to see. Friendship
bloomed naturally and quickly.
Jin, 31, wasn't sure what
to expect from the San Francisco-based Green Tortoise, a
35-year-old company with a hippie-dippy, '60s throwback
reputation. A year earlier, she had taken an epic trip to
Alaska with friends.
This year, with the Green
Tortoise, she found herself camping out most evenings
under the stars, something she never before had done. Late
one night, she marveled as a family of deer quietly passed
through camp in Zion National Park.
"When I came back from
Alaska, I said it was the best trip," she says,
"but when I came back from the Green Tortoise, I felt
this was the best trip ever."
I couldn't agree more.
Laid-back in theory but
running more like clockwork, the Tortoise surprised both
of us with its depth. The company's drivers — noted for
their safe driving record — don't just drive directly to
parks and dump you off, they cut through spectacular
scenery and take you off the well-traveled roads to bring
you to faraway hot springs and overlooks.
I saw sunrises at the
Arches, Great Salt Lake and Grand Canyon. I was in the
water almost every day — I didn't skip one chance at
swimming or taking a dip in a hot spring. I marveled at
the slim canyon walls at The Narrows in Zion National
Park, stopping at one point during the six-hour Riverside
Walk hike to watch a yellow butterfly flutter in the
sunlight.
The advantage of being with
Green Tortoise was most apparent in Yellowstone. A dozen
of us decided to walk from our group campground at Grant
Village through the individual camp sites to Yellowstone
Lake. Our huge camp site featured space enough for 25 of
us to spread out in almost quiet isolation. In contrast,
Yellowstone's general camping area was cramped with
buzzing generators and loud campers.
Did I find a park to rival
my love affair with Joshua Tree? Yes. I think I fell in
love with them all.
The first time I saw the
unbelievably red rocks in the aptly named Red Canyon in
Dixie Forest, Utah, I was convinced they were throwaways
from some Hollywood "Flintstones" set. I had to
touch them to be sure they were real.
Navajo Loop in Bryce Canyon
National Park, called one of the prettiest hikes in the
world, was a stunning downhill walk cut deep into the
flaming red canyon.
I was mesmerized by
late-night thunder storms near the Colorado River at Gold
Bar, where a flash of lightning would strike in the
distance nearly every minute. And like most people, I was
humbled by the vast expanse of the Grand Canyon, which is
more than just a big ol' hole in the ground.
Back in San Francisco,
sadly disembarking the bus on a chilly Sunday afternoon, I
realized that no matter how I saw those national parks,
their beauty would have touched my heart in some way. But
this unusual method of traveling the nation's greatest
treasures with new friends gave me my epic, unforgettable
trip — foul odors, wild symphonies and all.
———
IF YOU GO:
GREEN TORTOISE ADVENTURE
TRAVEL: 800-867-8647; www.greentortoise.com. Tours offered
include Canyons of the West (9 or 11 days), Best of the
West (14 days), National Parks Loop (16 days), Yosemite
National Park (2 or 3 days), California Cruiser (11 days),
Northern and Southern crossings (14 days), Baja Beach Daze
(9 or 15 days), and Pyramids and Playas (14 days).
NATIONAL PARKS LOOP: July
itinerary; cost $870 plus $216 for food and park entry
fees.
Day 1 — Pick up in San
Francisco
Day 2 — Hiking Ruby
Mountains and Lamoille Canyon and soaking Wells Hot
Springs, Nev.
Day 3 — Rafting in
Jackson Hole, Wyo. and camping in Coulter Bay, Grand Teton
National Park, Wyo.
Day 4 — Hiking around
Jenny Lake in Grand Teton
Day 5 — Visit Old
Faithful and other geysers in Yellowstone National Park,
Wyo.
Day 6 — Waterfall hikes
in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.
Day 7 — Sunrise at
Antelope Island State Park (Great Salt Lake), Utah then
Mystic Hot Springs, Monroe, Utah.
Day 8 — Red Canyon (Dixie
Forest), Utah and Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah.
Day 9 — Zion National
Park, Utah.
Day 10 — Zion National
Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah and Mystic Hot
Springs, Monroe, Utah.
Day 11 — Sunrise and
hiking at Arches National Park, Utah.
Day 12 — Gold Bar (near
Moab, Utah) and Goosenecks State Park, Utah.
Day 13 — Monument Valley,
Utah/Ariz.
Day 14 — Sunrise at Grand
Canyon National Park, Ariz.
Day 15 — Grand Canyon,
Ariz.
Day 16 — Grand Canyon,
Route 66 and Las Vegas, Nev.
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