View from our site--reservoir is beyond those trees

Amazing drive through all this white sandstone

Anasazi Dwelling

Escalante State Park, Escalante, UT: Mostly cloudy this morning. We just hung around our site all morning waiting to leave for my hair appointment. Our site is pretty nice. Our living area faces a reservoir which is hidden by large sage brush and cottonwood trees…which is just as well because it’s really low right now. But we have a lot of privacy and can’t really see any other sites. And the sage brush gives off the most wonderful aroma. Got my hair cut and then headed further down Rt. 12 to Boulder, UT, and the Anasazi Museum there. I couldn’t imagine this area could get any more rugged and remote, but it did. Rt. 12 winds down through a large, arid no-man’s land of white sandstone—I guess petrified sand dunes. This whole area was once the bottom of a huge inland sea which formed all these unusual rock formations. Then we started climbing up onto a canyon rim and at one point the road went over this ridge with drops on both sides—the only place they could put the road. Scared the crap outta me! And we have to go back over this route with the fifth-wheel in tow in four days (sigh). The view from up there was amazing though—rugged canyons, side canyons and gorges as far as the eye could see. We finally started going down again and a small, green valley that was Boulder appeared. Not very big. Escalante is pretty small, but Boulder is smaller. And it’s big doings right now in Utah. This is their Pioneer Day holiday—sort of our July 4th. There’s a parade tomorrow, a carnival, a rodeo, and then fireworks. And there’s a dance in Escalante tonight. We were thinking of going to that—actually, I was thinking of going. I’m sure Mike would rather get a root canal. Probably only in the high 80s today. But more humid.

On the road through the canyon up to the lake

Posey Lake

KOA, Cannonville, UT, to Escalante State Park, Escalante, UT: Left Cannonville this morning at about 10:45. I ended up driving—Escalante is only about 36 miles up Rt. 12 from Cannonville. Rt. 12 takes you right through Escalante Staircase National Monument. A really pretty drive, but I was getting a little nervous going up over the pass. But it was okay. We arrived at Escalane State Park and were set up by 12:15. Sat around and relaxed for a while and then drove into Escalante to see what’s there and have some lunch. Ate at the Golden Circle Café and I asked the waitress if there might be a place in town to get my hair cut and she gave me the name and number of a girl that does hair out of her home. I called after we ate and got an appointment for tomorrow. We decided to drive up to Posey Lake. It’s supposedly 12 miles from Escalante, so we headed out. The paved road turned to dirt after a couple of miles and then it was slow going in areas where the road was like a washboard. A beautiful drive up through this canyon with white sandstone mountains on one side and cedar covered mountains on the other. More of that swirly-looking rock they call slick rock. Very rugged with lots of narrow side canyons. Ebenezer Bryce (Bryce Canyon’s namesake) used to lament that it was hell losing a cow in there (Bryce Canyon). Must be the same here. I thought we’d never get to the lake and the last few miles we climbed up into a beautiful, old-growth forest of fir, pine, spruce, and aspens. And the lake was really pretty up there. And it was 10 degrees cooler. Fish were jumping all over the place and there were lots of ducks and ducklings. A really pretty spot. The campground was pretty nice also. Reluctantly we headed back down and back to our site. It was 95 today for the high. Got pretty warm inside the fifth wheel, but it cooled down nicely at night.

KOA, Cannonville, UT: Switched the bikes from the RV to the truck and headed to Red Canyon to do the bike trail there. A beautiful day—not a cloud in the sky. This trail is really nice—better than the main road. And it goes up through a forest of pines with the red canyon all around. We went steadily up hill for quite a while and then stopped in a real pretty area and had something to drink and some snacks. Saw a mule deer buck. Started back and it was mostly down hill. Wasn’t a very long ride but very pretty. Stopped to pick up some groceries on the way back and then relaxed the rest of the day. Tomorrow we head down the road to Escalante State Park with no hook-ups. Hope it’s not too hot.

Entrance to the slot canyon from the Navajo Trail

The hoodoos of Bryce Canyon

Natural Bridge

KOA, Cannonville, UT: This morning was overcast and threatening rain again, but we decided to go back to Bryce Canyon NP to see some of the things we missed and maybe do a hike. So we loaded our packs and headed out. Stopped at several vantage points and then backtracked to Sunrise Point. Started to walk up to Inspiration Point and it started raining. So we headed over to the Bryce Canyon Lodge for lunch. After relaxing and enjoying a great lunch we walked up to the rim trail and walked over to Sunset Point. The Navajo Trail head is there and we decided to give it a try. This trail goes down into the canyon with a series of switchbacks. Then at the bottom the trail goes through a slot canyon named “Wall Street.” I really wanted to do that, but after about three switchbacks I chickened out. We brought our packs, my trekking poles were in the truck, but we didn’t think to get them before we walked up to the rim trail. And there were so many people on the trail. So we drove to some more overlooks and then back home. High of about 85 today down in the valley and about 75 up on the rim.

Abandoned homestead on Rt. 89

The beautiful alpine pond trail

KOA, Cannonville, UT: This morning was cloudy and threatening rain so we decided to just hang out and get some things done—like the laundry. Got the laundry done just before it started to rain. Had a thunder storm, and it rained off and on all day. It was cooler anyway. Hope it clears up because we want to do a couple of hikes.

Indian Paintbrush

Widtsoe Ghost Town

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

KOA, Cannonville, UT: This morning we decided to check out the ghost town of Widtsoe which was settled in 1876 and a drought in 1920-30 left it a ghost town. It’s located in a pretty valley in the high country. After that we decided to drive into Bryce Canyon National Park for the first time. We took the rim drive all the way to the end with a spectacular view of the pink cliffs and the odd rock formations called hoodoos. Unfortunately the sky turned dark and we started hearing thunder. At this altitude I didn’t want to be out in the open so I headed to the truck. We headed back down and only stopped at a couple of other turn-outs before we headed back to Cannonville. Fortunately we have three more days here to check out this beautiful place and hopefully do a hike or two. On the way up we saw lots of fire fighters and their equipment. They just opened the road back up. There are still fires going up there. It rained for a while. Hopefully that helped with the fires. It was in the low to mid 80s today. Great!

Pretty amazing rock formations on the way to the falls

Pretty little water fall

Kodachrome Basin

KOA, Cannonville, UT: Headed out this morning to do the mossy cave hike. A pretty little hike along a stream with some amazing rock formations all around. At the end was a pretty water fall. The only reason there is water in this stream at all is because of the early settlers in this valley. Water was always an issue for them and they were subjected to the vagaries of the Paria River which would dry up constantly. So, in 1880 they decided to dig a ditch from the E. Fork of the Sevier River and funnel it to the area we hiked today (which is a natural watercourse) and then continue the ditch down the valley to Tropic (it’s called the Tropic Ditch). The ditch was 13 miles long and they installed hand-made wooden troughs to carry the water to irrigate the fields. Because of this ditch, the valley from Bryce down to Cannonville is now arable land. Pretty amazing I’d say. After our hike we decided to drive to Kodachrome Basin State Park just outside of Cannonville. A very pretty nine-mile drive to where the road dead-ended (the paved road anyway) at the park. At this point the temperature was hovering around 100 to 103. Some nice hikes in there—but way too hot. Drove around looking at the different rock formations. This area was named by a National Geographic expedition in the area in the 40s—I guess because of all the different colors on display here on the rocks and hills. They have a first rate campground here also tucked in to the sandstone spires. However there are no hook-ups. Must have been pretty uncomfortable for the people camped there. Drove back to Tropic, had a late lunch, picked up a few groceries, and then back to cool off and relax.