Miles & Points blogs and conferences often revolve around strategies for credit card churning to earn vast amounts of points and miles to fuel your travel without the need to travel.

BAcon provided a seminar on credit card affiliate marketing for the blogger as a revenue stream. The presentations were about as vague as bloggers are about their relationships with credit card affiliates.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

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DISCLAIMER: Some links to credit cards and other products on this web site will earn an affiliate commission, and this web site has a financial relationship with several credit card-issuing banks. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the card issuer.

 

Basically any travel blog site with a disclaimer like this on the bottom of their page is participating in the credit card affiliate marketing program with some intermediary corporation who is the conduit between the banks and the bloggers.

The whole thing looks like a pyramid scheme to me, but several bloggers are making enough money to quit their day jobs and write about points and miles credit cards as the greatest innovation for (U.S.) travelers since the invention of air travel.

And maybe it is.

But I have a problem with award travel inflation rapidly increasing the cost of flights and nights within global frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs. Billions of miles and points are issued and sold through credit card loyalty program relationships with the banks and these hotel and airline credit cards overwhelmingly cater to U.S. residents as the only travelers eligible for most of these credit cards.

So what does an approved credit card referral pay?

Apparently, the card payment to an affiliate marketer (i.e. travel blogger) is in the range of $80 to $200 per card. $80 being so low that part of the credit card referral payment probably went to another blogger higher up the food chain. $200 being the payout for a premium credit card.

Since I do not belong to any of these affiliate marketing programs, I have no contractual agreement to keep secrets from my readers on credit card payout rates.

However, I can’t tell you which bloggers let the fee out of the bag or they might have to silence me permanently. No telling what T&C are in those contracts about disclosure. They must be iron clad since it has taken a long time for me to get the details.

Coyote Jokes

I have been sitting on the fence for the past couple of years about credit cards. That is a lot of money to turn down for mostly passive work. Cranking out a credit card post and telling how great the bonus is for your travel and where you can go with those points and miles sounds like easy writing to me.

The one thing that bothered me about the whole credit card affiliate marketing scheme is the representative stated that your referral sign-up rate must be maintained and grow through your blog to be retained as an affiliate marketer of credit cards. That kind of explains to me why the posts on credit cards come so rapid fire whenever there is a new card bonus out there. To keep on keeping on the blogger has to pimp enough cards to keep the affiliate marketer paying for credit card sign-ups happy or risk losing the generous revenue stream.

The aspect of the affiliate marketing I learned is that I can’t simply put up some credit card links on a back page of Loyalty traveler for the major hotel loyalty programs and passively sit around receiving payments for approved credit card member applications. The affiliate marketing company wants to see growth in approved credit card referrals to be happy with the blogger partner.

In whose interest?

I also loved the comment made by the credit card affiliate marketing representative that blog posts about churning credit cards are frowned upon and may result in the blogger’s affiliate contract being terminated.

Really?

I guess I read more blog posts than the typical credit card affiliate marketing representative.

The Devil’s Tool

I don’t think credit cards are the devil’s tool. Credit cards are necessary for most travelers planning to fly on an airplane or stay at a hotel.

My prior impressions though were confirmed by a major bank credit card representative when he stated something to the effect that the bank will use travel bloggers to market their products as long as it is in the bank’s interest to do so. Once bloggers become a liability that relationship will be severed.

I firmly believe the central issue is the bank’s interest.

That interest serves you as the consumer as long as you can pay off your bill every month and rack up free travel points and miles. Avoid illness, divorce, unemployment and unanticipated major expenses and life will be fine with you and the bank issuer of your credit card. That relationship changes quickly once your less-than-full balance payments start accruing 18% interest or even higher.

Bottom line is credit card affiliate marketing has turned into a major revenue stream for travel bloggers.

That explains the frequent flash floods of credit card signup bonus posts every time a new credit card bonus offer appears.

I guess I should look over my email closely from the past week and see if I received any emails from the credit card affiliate managers who took my business cards last week.

Let’s chat.

I like the idea of making some money for nothing and taking my trips for free.

And I won’t be able to write anything about the business of credit card affiliate marketing once I ink that contract.

Yosemite Valley is a lush garden space of meadows, woods and the Merced River flowing between high, massive granite cliffs like Cathedral Rocks, El Capitan and Half Dome.

Tunnel View parking lot is one of the most popular photography spots for views of Yosemite Valley.

Turkey vulture welcomed me to Yosemite Valley after hours in the high Sierra of Tioga Road where I was watched over by Raven, my guide animal for Utah and Death Valley. Seriously, ravens were the dominant wildlife feature in all the National Parks I visited. Turkey vultures are the birds I encounter commonly when hiking the Monterey County coastline of Big Sur.

Turkey vulture appeared as I first saw Yosemite Valley from Big Oak Flat Road while driving west through Yosemite National Park on Highway 120 from Tioga Pass, the highest trans-Sierra road at 9,945 feet.

Three main features of Yosemite Valley are seen in the Tunnel View photo with El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall and Half Dome.

Southwest face of El Capitan.

El Capitan is a vertical granite rock face rising 3,000 feet from the Yosemite Valley floor. El Cap is one of the great rock climbing venues of the world. There is the southwest face and southeast face with different climbing routes.

Bridalveil Fall plunges 617 feet to join the Merced River in Yosemite Valley.

Half Dome at 8,840 feet has a vertical granite rock face that rises 4,737 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor. The Native American Ahwahneechee name for Half Dome is Tis-sa-ack. This is another favored climbing location.

Bridalveil Fall is an easy walk of a couple hundred yards from the parking lot. The mist from Bridalveil Fall keeps the area quite wet at the base.

Tourists at base of Bridalveil Fall are usually sprayed with mist which is comforting on warm days and chilling on cool days. Yosemite Valley was about 70 F degrees on Friday, May 17, 2013. The mist was refreshing.

Cathedral Rocks are the large rocks seen on the south side of Yosemite Valley between Bridalveil Fall and Half Dome.

Yosemite Falls at 2,245 feet is the 20th highest measured waterfall in the world. Yosemite Falls actually has three sections with the upper falls plunging 1,430 feet. The Middle Cascades are a series of five plunges for a drop of 675 feet. Lower Falls is a 328 feet drop with a popular viewing location near Yosemite Lodge.

Upper Falls of Yosemite Falls being dispersed by wind.

I talked with a 20-something physically fit woman riding a bike through the valley. She said hiking the 3.5 mile trail to the Upper Falls is one of her great experiences in Yosemite. The combined plunges of Yosemite Falls makes this waterfall number 20 on the top 20 highest waterfalls in the world.

Yosemite Falls seen from the Valley floor meadow.

Completing the circle

Pulling myself away from the beauty of Yosemite Valley was a delayed reaction. Monterey was still a 200-mile, four hour drive to endure to reach the end of my 3,500 mile, 12-day road trip from Monterey to Colorado Springs for the Boarding Area conference (BAcon) and back again with stops in seven National Parks along the journey.

When the mountains call I must go to them.

But I always find my way back to the sea.

My view of the Santa Cruz Mountains looking north from my street in Monterey.

This desert journey through California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Colorado took me to the mountains and deserts, then home to the sea of central coastal California once again.

Today has been a day of extremes. In six hours I traveled from 190 feet below sea level at Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park to 9,000 feet in a room at the highest lodge in California at Mammoth Mountain in the Eastern Sierra range.

Mammoth Mountain Inn.

The extreme temperature range in six hours peaked at 104 in Death Valley with hot air blowing through the long valley between noon and 2pm to 37 degrees and blowing snow on the mountain at Mammoth Lakes at 8pm.

12 noon temperature at Furnace Creek Visitor Center, Death Valley National Park. Three days ago, on Monday, May 13, 2013 the temperature reached 118 degrees F. Furnace Creek holds the record for the highest verifiable temperature on earth at 135 F. recorded July 10, 1913.

Mammoth Mountain, Mammoth Lakes, California at 37 degrees F at 9,000 feet elevation when I arrived at 8 pm.

What a long, strange day it’s been.

My day started in Las Vegas, Nevada. Then I drove to Death Valley, California, then back to Nevada and over Lida Summit, then back to California for a drive through Fish Lake Valley which crosses back into Nevada again, then finally back to California where I will remain for the rest of my drive home to Monterey.

Taking the Back Roads

The routing for my back roads trip is even beyond the ability of Google Maps. Read More…

The Narrows is a slot canyon hike at Zion National Park, mostly walking through the Virgin River. National Geographic ranks hiking the Narrows as one of the top ten adventures in the National Parks. The Narrows is one of the best known slot canyon hikes in the world and ranks as the top attraction for Zion National Park on TripAdvisor.

Yesterday I sampled the Narrows hike for about an hour. The full hike can be a 6 to 12 hour adventure.

What a difference one week makes. The Riverside Walk is a one mile paved trail at the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop, the last shuttle stop for the park that takes visitors the farthest up in Zion Canyon. This is the spot where I was caught in a spring hail storm last week. Within five minutes the temperature dropped from 75 to 55 and dozens of park visitors around me were covered in ice. Most people did not have appropriate weather gear for the conditions and many had to take the next couple of shuttles for the 40 minute ride back to the parking lot and their cars for dry clothing.

Yesterday the temperature was in the upper 80s at about 3pm when I arrived at the visitor center of Zion National Park. I packed 3 liters of water, my camera, binoculars and water shoes and caught the shuttle into Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. Over 20 years ago I bought a pair of shoes specifically for river hiking and they live in the deep recesses of my car trunk. It was about time they saw the light of day again.

The final shuttle stop, deepest upriver in Zion Canyon, is the Temple of Sinawava stop.

Temple of Sinawava shuttle bus stop in Zion National Park.

Riverside Walk is a paved trail extending one mile into the canyon past the end of the paved road. There is work currently in progress to repair part of the paved trail and a couple hundred yards in the middle section are through sand making the section far more difficult for disabled access.

Riverside Walk detour off paved path.

Last week the squirrels were smart enough to be hidden from the elements when it dumped rain and hail. This time the little buggers were kind of scary following tourists around begging for food. These were the most aggressively panhandling squirrels I’ve encountered since Washington D.C. There are posters all around Zion National Park showing a human hand with a stitched wound from a squirrel bite.

Signs also state a $100 fine for feeding wildlife.

What you looking at?

Thanks to the commenters yesterday for pointing out that my photo of a pronghorn was misidentified as a mule deer.

On the Riverside Walk there was a mule deer feeding.

Mule deer beside Riverside Walk path, Zion National Park.

The paved section of path had plenty of visitors on the clear sky, dry day. I am amazed at the number of French speaking people I encountered on my hikes through Utah’s National Parks.

Riverside Walk, Zion National Park.

There were some totally wet hikers coming down the Riverside Trail. I had not planned on full water immersion. I  carry a waterproof bag in the trunk of my car. Once again I was not totally prepared for Zion’s elements since the sensible thing would have been to pack my camera and wallet in the waterproof bag and place that inside my backpack. Practice makes perfect and I have been too long away from the outdoors life I used to frequent. Hotel life has spoiled me.

Virgin River seen from Riverside Walk.

At the end of the Riverside Walk there were around 50 people and dozens more hiking out of the river. There were still a handful of people hiking in so I changed my shoes, packed my camera in my backpack and fortunately found a walking stick some other hiker had left behind.

Walking sticks

I noticed about one-third of the hikers did not have a walking stick. This is an essential tool for the Narrows in my opinion. I used the stick to gauge water depth and feel for rocks and sand. The water was not deep in most sections I hiked, however, at one point I was in water up to my knees and a woman ten feet away was wading in water four feet deep. Without the stick I would have fallen at least once. Most injuries in Zion National Park occur in the Narrows. It is very easy to twist an ankle or slip in the water and hit your knee on a rock.

Crossing the Virgin River heading up the Narrows.

The end of the Riverside Walk is a gathering place for hikers and spectators.

On the sandy shore, as soon as I crossed over from the launching point for the Narrows, was a wild turkey common to Zion National Park.

Wild turkey.

There are many places where the Virgin River flows wall to wall in the slot canyon. Most hikers I saw were going on their own. There are adventure guides to lead groups into the Narrows and I saw several guided groups departing as I was hiking upstream. At the time I was hiking in the afternoon, I estimate over 95% of the hikers were coming out of the Narrows.

The Narrows river walk.

Reports I read stated the water was cold just two weeks ago. Adventure outfitters offer wetsuits for the hike. The water temperature was not uncomfortable at all to me. Nothing like when I put my feet into Eagle River while staying in Beaver Creek in the Rocky Mountains the other day.

On the shuttle bus I heard the audio tour state that water levels in the Virgin River can change from 50 cfs to 3,000 cfs in a matter of minutes during summer storms when a flash flood hits the slot canyon. The Narrows is closed when the water volume exceeds 120 to 150 cfs. Yesterday the volume was 67 cfs which is slightly below average for this time of year. Visitors can check this USGS website for water flow data.

Photography is difficult in the Narrows with high canyon walls creating dark light and the higher cliff faces creating vibrant contrasting lighted areas.

Looking up from the Narrows.

Several curious tourists asked me about the experience when I came out again at the end of the Riverside Walk path.

I simply said the walk is a rite of passage. And I am telling you now that if you are in Zion National Park, the weather is favorable and you are physically capable of walking through a shallow river, then you need to hike the Narrows. There is no need to do the full hike, although I met several people who had hiked six hours or more deep into the canyon. I saw hikers in their late 60s and children as young as five years old hiking the Narrows.

The Narrows, Zion National Park.

This was the perfect end to my road trip through the five National Parks of Utah.

The Colorado Plateau is the area in Utah I have been driving for the past three days. A sign I saw today at Capitol Reef National Park stated the air of the Colorado Plateau is the clearest air in America. Though they do add the qualifier of clearest air in lower 48 states.

Average visibility has been measured at 145 miles on clear summer days.

Fruit orchards in Capitol Reef National Park maintain the heritage of historic Fruita, a 19th century Mormon settlement here. The park maintains the Gifford Farmhouse homestead near the visitor center with a house, barn, horses and fruit pies for sale to visitors.

Fremont River runs through the park as a water source for the fruit trees.

Capitol Gorge

I really could not see very far at all from the ground in Capitol Gorge at Capitol Reef National park.

Capitol Gorge hiking trail.

The park visitor center stated flash flood potential was low today. I took my chances along with about 50 other visitors.

My personal rule is I have to take a hike in each National Park I visit. Otherwise a video will give almost the same experience as sitting in a car watching the scenery pass by.

The Clear Air Cattle Test

I did see cattle crossing the road from far enough away, perhaps a mile or two, that they were well off the road by the time I reached them driving 65 mph.

This country is so rural that no fences keep cattle off the road on Scenic Highway 95 that runs east of the Henry Mountains.

Cattle crossing. These are the animals I saw crossing the road.

These rural Utah roads are definitely not roads to be driving at night as a tourist.

Some locations are about 40 miles to the nearest town.

You never know what my step in front of your vehicle.

Grazing about two feet from my car window on Utah Scenic Byway 95.

Henry Mountains

The Henry Mountains were the last mountain range in the lower 48 to be named.

Henry Mountains in eastern Utah.

After 300 miles of driving some of the most remote roads in the lower 48, I finally arrived in Colorado.

And I was greeted by evening blue skies.

350 miles more to go for BAcon tomorrow in Colorado Springs.

Bryce Canyon has the highest concentration of hoodoos in the world. Modern day geologists say these are sandstone structures created by weather and water erosion. Here is the geology of hoodoos from the Bryce Canyon National park webpage.

Paiute Indian folklore refers to hoodoos as “The Legend People”. These were the greedy people who used up too many resources and deprived other creatures of food and water. Coyote, the trickster, turned these greedy people into stone and nature has eroded their stone bodies.

That is how I interpreted the Bryce Canyon National Park informative display along with this 2-minute NPR story from 2008 about the Paiute story.

Coyote God Sinawava – The Trickster.

I was on the Temple of Sinawava Trail in Zion National Park yesterday when the torrential rain and hail storm hit.

Sinawava played a trick on many of us hiking the Virgin River Trail without proper gear for the weather conditions.

Hoodoo in Bryce Canyon National Park

The sign outside the Cesar Chavez National Monument in Keene, California said Tehachapi Loop 3 miles. My assumption that this was an alternate route to the town of Tehachapi instead of getting back on California Highway 58 was correct. My assumption the road was a three mile drive to the town of Tehachapi was about ten miles off.

Tehachapi Loop is a train track and considered a historic engineering marvel. The loop was constructed in 1874-76 by 3,000 Chinese laborers who dug tunnels and constructed bridges to allow trains to cross the Tehachapi Mountains and connect San Francisco with Los Angeles by railroad in the 19th century. Supposedly the railroad spurred the growth of Los Angeles.

Tehachapi Pass Railroad Line National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

I wondered why the train was moving so slowly?

The Tehachapi Loop is where the railroad track actually loops in a circle to allow a steeper gradient or something like that. I read a few pieces on the web and still I do not know why there was a need to loop the track. A train 4,000 feet long passes over itself between the tunnel and the end of the train.

The train I was watching was coming from the eastern Mojave Desert to the western San Joaquin Valley and going downhill to enter the tunnel.

Trainspotting is not generally my idea of fun, but I am glad I stopped to see this engineering marvel.

The more I learn, the more I realize that Chinese laborers built the California we have today from the railroads across the mountains to the delta levees of Central California that controlled the seasonal Sierra snowmelt floods and allowed the valleys to be farmed.

I have to thank Cesar Chavez and the fact that I do not have a GPS for taking me on this great detour to see the Tehachapi Loop.

While it is hard to see in this photo, the engine for this train has looped around the hill and is actually beside the train cars following behind over thousands of feet of rail track.

One of the best parts of this ten mile or so detour from Highway 58 is the alternate road is much higher up on the mountainsides and there are views down to Highway 58 about 1,000 feet below. Tehachapi Pass is 4,000 feet, so I assume the Tehachapi Loop road from Keene to Tehachapi ascends to about 5,000 feet in elevation.

The Tehachapi Pass wind farm on the ridges east of the town are a sight to see.

Tehachapi Wind Farm.

The landscape changes dramatically in just ten miles from the trees of the western side of the Tehachapi Mountains to the Mojave Desert scrub on the east.

Springtime and the Joshua Trees are flowering in the desert.

Joshua Tree flowers.

Joshua Tree in Mojave Desert off Highway 58.

Tehachapi Pass is 250 miles from Monterey and that is only the halfway point to Las Vegas. There was still 250 miles of Mojave Desert to cross.

Rain clouds were all around California on the drive yesterday. Dark skies and heavy showers could be seen in multiple locations across the desert where visibility is often 30 miles or more.

Rainbows are usually ephemeral moments of color.

Yesterday I watched a rainbow move across the Mojave Desert for nearly 30 minutes.

Rainbow over I-15.

What made it especially cool is I could see the full arc of the rainbow touching the desert floor on both ends and there was even a second rainbow.

Beam me up Scotty.

A pot of gold in California just a couple of miles ahead of my car on I-15 east of Baker.

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Tomorrow I will share a little about Zion National Park. The Zion Canyon views were an incredible sight. My photos did not seem to capture the immensity and colors.

Hopefully I won’t be snowed in at Bryce Canyon for tomorrow’s journey.

The temperature dropped from 73 degrees in Zion today down to 36 degrees when I arrived in Bryce Canyon during an intense hail, lightning and thunder storm this evening. About an inch of hail piled up on the ground and it looks like winter here tonight with cars and roofs covered in white.

Last week the weather was a sunny 68 degrees when I headed out of Monterey to Highway 101 for a trip to the Southland and a few days exploring Santa Monica and the Orange County Disney Resorts.

Spring flowers in the fields beside Highway 68, Monterey Peninsula access road.

Big Farmers are artist John Cerney installations located in a variety of agricultural fields along dozens of miles of Salinas Valley visible from Highway 101 and Highway 68.

A detour along Highway 46 from Paso Robles to Cambria and Morro Bay offered some stunning ocean views. Read More…

Hilton HHonors AXON awards are an exclusive benefit to HHonors American Express card members for a supposedly reduced rate on a 4-night stay. The changes to AXON rewards effective June 15, 2013 will mean far less probability of saving points with an AXON reward on a 4-night stay compared to the HHonors Standard Reward rate.

The changes in Hilton HHonors last month with the introduction of 10 hotel reward categories has a major impact on the AXON awards with this award choice now requiring comparison to standard reward levels for the dates of your hotel stay to determine if the AXON is less or more points than a standard reward stay.

New AXON HHonors reward stays (effective June 15, 2013)

• Category 5: 130,000 (Standard reward: 120,000 or 160,000 points).
• Category 6: 160,000 (Standard reward: 120,000 or 160,000 or 200,000 points).
• Category 7: 190,000 (Standard reward: 120,000 or 160,000 or 200,000 or 240,000 points)
• Category 8: 220,000 (Standard reward: 160,000 or 200,000 or 240,000 or 280,000 points)
• Category 9: 260,000 (Standard reward: 200,000 or 240,000 or 280,000 or 320,000 points)
• Category 10: 300,000 (Standard reward: 280,000 or 320,000 or 380,000 points)

  Read More…

Marriott MegaBonus won the 2013 Freddies Award last night for best hotel loyalty promotion in the Americas.

Marriott Monterey, California

The past few nights I have been hotel hopping in southern California earning free night credits for the Marriott Rewards MegaBonus two stays = one free night at a Category 1-4 hotel. This promotion ends April 30, 2013. You had to register by March 15 so too late this round if you did not already sign up.

Don’t worry if you missed out on the current Marriott Rewards MegaBonus.This offer will likely be repeated in 2013.

My California road trip so far has placed me in a Courtyard, Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn. While the average price for Marriott brand hotels for the areas I search is probably in the $150 range, there have been good deals to be found for $100 per night or less. There is even a $69 rate at a Marriott full service hotel tonight.

My plan is to redeem the MegaBonus free night certificates  at Category 4 hotels before about 370 hotels in Marriott Rewards category 4 change to category 5 on May 16, 2013. That is almost 50% of the current Category 4 hotels changing to category 5 and becoming ineligible for the Cat 1-4 certificates I’ve earned from this Marriott Rewards MegaBonus.

Fairfield Inn Placentia, California.

Fairfield Inn was a comfortable bed and basic room. Residence Inn and Courtyard were upscale stays. All the hotels have been places I would return without hesitation.

This tour of Marriott brand hotels will be a valuable experience for comparison to the Choice Privileges 2 stays for 8,000 points promotion I will tackle on my road trip from Monterey to Colorado Springs for the BoardingArea blogger BAcon conference in two weeks.

Earning Marriott Rewards and Choice Privileges free nights should make my next trip to Europe a bargain vacation.