Friday, 21st of November 2014 at 04:19:55 PMA first draft of my early 2015 foto trip. As usual starting in Sin City and driving immediately to Moab. On the return stop in Escalante, short visit of my friend Alex in Phoenix and then either a Stop in Zion or something different. Not sure yet…
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I had had always this desire to see Sicily’s most known attraction, the Mt. Etna volcano in volcanic activity. It frequently is active for a few days in the year and the week before my arrival It had errupted but only for a 1 day. It never was active during my visits. On this visit I decided to increase the chances to see a volcano eruption by visiting all 3 volcanos on Sicly. To give it some fun the idea was to visit 3 volcanos in 2 days: Mt. Etna on main Sicily Island and Volcano and Stromboli – part of the Aeolian Islands. GPS Log of my tour (Garmin GPSMAP 64S)
I started on a monday morning driving up via Nicolosi to Mt. Etna South. One can drive up with the own car up to the 1900 m elevated Rifugio Sapienza. There a lift brings the tourist for 30 Euro up to 2500m. Finally, for another 30 Euro, a Off-Road High Clearance bus brings you up to the peak craters at 3000 m – a adventurous drive. Before driving up to the peak craters I hiked the silvestri craters down at Rifugio Sapienza. Silvestri Craters from 1998 and 2002 eruptions
Driving up to the Peak craters
I continued towards the highway and in northern direction to the city of Milazzo where the ferries to the Aeolian Islands depart. I wanted to climb up to Vulcano craters on Vulcano Island on the same evening. Last view of Mt. Etna when entering Highway
I took a speed boat at 4pm and checked in at my Hotel on Vulcano around 5pm, waiting for the fresh evening to hike up to the crater. View from Hotel to the Vulcano crater
It is a easy 1 hour hike. It gives amazing views over the Eolian Islands. Sunset at Eoalian Islands seen from Vulcano crater
At the next morning the tentation was too high and at 5:30pm I again climbed up to the Vulcano crater to do some morning light shots and hike around the crater. Knowing my hydrofoil to Stromboli departs at 10.30 am, I had enough time. Morning Light at the Vulcano crater
I arrived in Stromboli at 12:30 pm where I had booked a guided tour up to the peak, a 3-4 hour hike with 900m elevation change. Checking in at the hotel I got informed that all tours were canceled due to intense activivity at the volcano. First I was very disappointed, but at the evening I was happy to see what intense activity meant. Eruptions out of 3 craters every 3 minutes. It was allowed to hike the volcano up to an elevation of 400m – along the Schiara del Fuoco (Fire Slide). Especially after sunset it was a spectacle to watch the hundreds of eruptions. I stayed from 7.30 pm to 11 pm, being the last to leave.
Near the 400m viewpoint, but down at 100m elevation is the “Ristorante Oservatorio” where people can have diner and watch the eruptions. I stayed there another hour eating a Pizza and drinking red wine. I had done 3 volcanos in 2 days. I ended the day with a Granita at “Bar Ritrovo Ingrid” in Stromboli town.
The next day I visited the Island of Panarea and on the fourth day I made a Vespa motor scooter round trip tour on Lipari Island. The Aeolian Islands had really impressed me with their beauty, diversity and remoteness. I was sure to return here soon. Related Posts:I had several times seen this photo of the Reflection Canyon, which was used by Apple to promote their Retina Display for Mac Book Pro. In my local Malls Apple shop it was used as a large print in their show room, and I saw it every Friday when we went doing grocery shopping. I knew this must be Lake Powell, but haven’t seen this place in any tourist guide before. Is it a secret place ? I then found scarce Internet reports about this place and its visibility from air or with ship at a remote spot in Glen Canyon area. But further research showed also a few people visiting this spot on a land way by an adventureous 16 miles round trip wilderness hike. The best report I found was this one at Peter Böhringers web presence. It gives a compact summary of the difficulties and precautions to hike to that spot. I immediately decided to put int onto my 2014 trip with Highest priority. Due to the lottery win of the Wave/CBN permit I had lost one day in my schedule, so I had to move the Hike to reflection Canyon by one day from Saturday to Easter Sunday. But worse, I had no solution yet how to guarantee my planed return to Las Vegas on Sunday night where I had booked Room for 2 final days at the Pool and Relax. Finally It was a hike which gave me really the creeps whenever I thought on it. For this Hike I had even bought me a Personal Locator Beacon, and registered it in UK-cause Germany does not support it for individuals. 
Making it short. I had passed the night at the trail head. A uncomfortable sleep, cause my Jeep was standing inclined and I glided always sideways in my sleeping bag. As all nights outdoors this year it was cold and its strange to sweat and freeze at the same time. I started my hike at 6.20 am. The first two miles was quite easy going walking on cow trails. from mile 2 to mile 4 I followed the GPS data I had and there was only scarce signs of a trail. From Mile 4 to Mile 6 it got harder due to ups and downs in the ravines. From Mile 6 to Mile 8 it was slick rock and thus again easier to hike, but without GPS I would have been lost and directionless. I hoped my Garmin GPS would not abandon me. Since about 4 days it had this strange behavior of shutting down when repeatedly zooming in or out on the map. I arrived at 10:10 am on location and immediately understood that the point where this photo is taken is facing eastwards and thus I had the sun already high up against me. No good for photography. I had tried to understand in Google Maps Satellite-view what it would mean to be around 10 am at this location and there was a small hope of having the sun more favorable for my photos. But I couldn’t change this. Obviously this place needs an overnight on location to shot good photos. I had no interest in that. Its scary enough like this. Perhaps I can improve the Raw in Lightroom and have at least something better than this Resized, watemarked, jepeged RAW here. 
By the way: Whoever reads this and has been at this location for a overnighter: One of you has forgotten his tent there. Its still there smashed and bruised captured under a tree. Its a ferrino tent. Italian brand. I did a short break, some photos and at 10:45 am started my return hike. Now physically already feeling my tiredness. I had tripod and 70-200 extra lens with me and 1 1/2 gallon of water/Gatorade.
It was a pain to hike back in the sun. But the thoughts of the Las Vegas Pool pushed me. The Car GPS had calculated a drive time of 5h 30min from Escalante. Additionally I had to drive back the HITRR and there was still this prediction of rain for Easter Sunday evening.I fell one time over a loose rock hurting my arm and my chest, nothing serious, but it made me aware of how all this factors (tiredness, sun, heavy weight, urgency) made a good recipe for failure and I refocused on staying safe. I was back at the car at 3 pm. The way back had took me only 30 minutes longer than on the way towards Reflection Canyon. And every bottle of drink I emptied at Mile 10, 12, 14, 15 made by bag-pack feel pleasantly lighter. I ate a whole bag of mariani dried fruit during the hike. This was lots of sugar. My shirt had a white salt crust after the hike. Yes this hike was strenuous. But I was happy when I saw the car. Just changed the hiking boots, grabbed a cool drink from the Ice chest and drove immediately up HITRR. After my flat tire last year I did no longer drive that fast on unpaved roads. But I made an exception today. I was in Escalante at 4:20 pm. And I would win 1 hour due to Nevada being back one hour behind Utah. My back was hurting, my feet were hurting, but I was full of energy-perhaps from the Mariani dried Fruit ? I knew I could make it today to Las Vegas, solving the problem of the lost day, too. I turned right at Bryce Canyon junction towards north and joined on I-15 north of cedar city. At 9 pm I arrived in Las Vegas. That was a memorable last day of my trip. I would spend another 2 days in Las Vegas for Shopping, Pool time, Gambling and take a flight back home to Munich on Wednesday. A pity I would miss the Champions League semi final play between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Perhaps on my stop in Philadelphia I grab a view into the match or the result already. My plans for 2015 ? California 2015 or Colorado 2015 or Hawai 2015 sound interesting…….
Related Posts:Today I would move from Page, AZ to my last hiking destination. The planed Hike starts at a remote location, 50 miles south of Escalante, UT. The trailhead is on the HITR Road (Hole in the Rock Road) – a 56 mile dirtroad which follows the historic Mormon trail established by settlers forming their way from Escalante, UT down south towards the Colorado. Although the air line distance is only 35 miles from Page, I would need around 4 h to arrive there. 
I would first need to drive North. I decided to take the Cottonwood Canyon Road (CWCR) shortcut. It is a dirtroad – a 40 miles north south byway between US12 at Canonville and US89 N near Big Water. I had driven this road several times and it is only advisable to drive it in dry conditions. Easily you get stuck when it rains. Thus I always observed the weather, cause they had predicted rain. I did not stop too often. My first stop was at the Grossvenor Arch at the end of the CWCR. Grossvenor Arch 
From Canonville I turned into Scenic Byway US12 towards Escalante. In Escalante my first stop was the BLM visitor center at town entance. I requested a permit for Night camping at the HITR Road and I got latest weather conditions too. The weather prediction was 30% rain and when enterig the HITR Road east of Escalante, UT the weather indeed was not looking great. Clouds on HITR Road 
Nevertheless I drove south. I wanted to reach the end of the Road (Hole in the Rock) at Mile 56. When I arrived the weather had cleared up and the sky was blue. Me relaxing at Hole in the Rock. 
View from Hole in the Rock towards Lake Powell/Colorador River. 
Historic Wagon trail thorough Hole in the Rock 
Before it got dark I returned the 6 miles on HITR Road towards the Trailhead of my next days Hike. It was the hike I had been scared of the most, cause it leads 8 miles into un-trailed land. The hike is not official but only from research on the web. Most likely nobody would be present to help for a long time if anything goes wrong. My Night Camp at the Trailhead. 
Related Posts:Yesterday, I had participated at the lottery for the Wave, which is held daily at 9 am in the Kanab BLM offices. Meanwhile due to the high popularity a whole room is used to execute the formalities. 98 people were present and had applied for a lottery and 10 permits would be availble. 
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