The Johnsons' Journal

On day three of our Red Center camping tour, we woke up at a at 5:00 am to eat breakfast and break camp.  We were on our way to Kings Canyon National Park by six in the morning.

Creek at the bottom of the canyon

This was the longest hike of the weekend, about 7 km. We got on the trail early enough to catch the cooler morning weather. By the time we got to the half way point and crossed to the other side of the canyon it was warming up quite a bit.

This was a perfect time to go for a swim.

A Refreshing Dip in the watering hole

On the hike back from the watering hole, we saw this little fella basking in the sun on a rock.

Some of the wildlife

The views of the canyon were amazing. The sheer walls were very cool, and are still fairly active. The last pieces that fell off were only 60 years ago. You can see the area which is a lighter color in this photo, because the iron in the rock hasn’t oxidized much yet. The red coloring of the rock is only a couple millimeters thick. Underneath it is all white.

View from the rim

The whole group

Waterfall in the side of the canyon

As we were on our way out of the canyon the skies started to darken.

Looking over the "Lost City"

Luckily the clouds stayed out on the plains instead of moving into the canyon. So we were still able to have some fun on our hike out.

Hold on!

The Red Center was beautiful and we’re super glad we made it out there. It is definitely a must see for anyone travelling to Australia.