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When I went over for breakfast, I was dressed in my "street clothes". My jeans and my regular shoes. When I got my gear together, I changed into my hiking pants and hiking shoes. I very suddenly realized that my feet were really hurting. I took my shoes off and found a big blister under one toe. No wonder they hurt so bad! I went to the front desk and asked for a sewing kit (little thing with a needle, thread and two buttons). I poked the blister with the needle and drained it. Then I put my regular shoes back on, and didn't wear my hiking shoes for the rest of the week. My feet didn't bother me much that day, and were fine the rest of the trip.
I drove north from Mt. Carmel Junction through Orderville and up to where the road cuts east to Bryce. The whole way was picturesque. From canyons and creeks, to run-down western poverty, to cattle and cowboys. Just before Panguitch you head across a wide valley and up into Red Canyon. That's an area of the Dixie National Forest with eroded red sandstone towers and cliffs. Beautiful. I stopped for a couple of pictures, but I kept moving on. Soon, I made it to Bryce Canyon National Park.
Pictures
It was chilly. Very windy, and the temp was in the upper fifties. And rain was on the way. I thought I'd be able to get some clearing storm shots over the canyon, but it turned out not to be that kind of storm. Anyway, I parked at Sunset Point, checking out the view before heading down Navajo Loop to the bottom. That trail was nothing but switchbacks. Lunch at the bottom, and then I wandered around a dry stream bed for a bit. About the time I headed back to the trail, it started to rain a bit. There was a bit of thunder too. I decided I'd rather be down in the bottom of the canyon than up on the overlooks, so I was in no hurry. I wandered along with the other people. Then I got to the part where it goes back upwards. It wasn't steep like the other end, which means it was a longer walk. This prolonged the agony, because the rain picked up. It get wetter, windier and colder the higher I got. I kept hoping the top was just around the next bend, but it took forever. Nasty. About the time I got to the top, the rain mostly quit, and the wind wasn't quite as bad. I made the half mile walk back to my car, took off my wet coat and shoes, and had some food.
The temperature was, by then, down to the low forties. I was cold, wet and exhausted. Now the road in the park, and most of the trails, are above eight thousand feet. That's why I was so exhausted. Not because of the strenuous climb. No sir.
Then I drove around the northern end of the park, and had a looksee. I saw a pronghorn antelope. And more vistas.Bryce is every bit as spectacular as the pictures make it out to be. I'm sure I could have gotten some pretty good ones if the weather had been good. It was pretty cloudy. I had seen the pictures often enough that nothing looked really weird to me, but sometimes I'd stop and think about it, and realize how odd and awesome it all was. When I was walking down the Navajo Loop, a little girl pointed up at a spire and said, "see? I knew it was really a castle!"
Before a looksee at a vista, I was in the Jeep eating an apple, when I saw a Steller's jay flitting about. They're nice looking birds, so occasionally, I'd try to take a picture. Pretty soon another car pulled up next to mine, and a woman got out to take a picture. She hunted this thing for a good ten minutes, while her husband sat in the idling car. The bird wanted food from people, so it hung around. Before too long, a real photographer came up, and snapped off a couple hundred shots of it. I ended up getting a couple decent shots.
A few minutes later, at the overlook, I was lining up a shot and heard some kids come up behind. "Oh my god! Look at that!" "Can you believe this place?!" The girls said. One of the guys said, "And you didn't want to pay the twenty-five bucks to get in!"
After seeing pretty much everything, I drove out the gate, and around to the eastern end of the park, where I walked up to Mossy Cave, and a waterfall. The "cave wasn't too exciting. The waterfall only marginally so, but it was interesting to learn that canals were dug and a river was diverted to keep the canyon stream in water year-round for irrigation of the valley below. There were also some really cool rock formations, like in the rest of the park. Then I drove eastward, toward Grand Staircase-Escalante.
The drive east along highway 12 was beautiful as usual. It was nearing sunset, so the light was great. A lot of it was along wide cliff-lined valleys. I stopped off in Tropic for groceries, and had pizza for supper. A little farther down the road, I stopped at the cemetery in Henrieville for some photos. The light was fading pretty fast, and I still had a way to go before Escalante. At one point, I came over a hill, heading down into a wide green valley, when I saw a sign that warned of elk crossing. I thought that was pretty cool, but also thought it would be unlikely that I'd see any. About half a mile later, I saw a pair standing near the road. They both had large but not fully gown racks in velvet. I got a couple fuzzy shots of the first one as I rolled slowly along, keeping an eye on the mirror. The second was standing between the fence and the road, and when I stopped it decided I may have been a threat, so it hopped the fence and ran.
My directions to the motel noted that the website didn't give an address, and that you apparently couldn't miss it. The town has over eight hundred people, but I assume many of them are spread around the area, and not all in the town. So I was right. You can't miss it. I settled in to the "motel barely adequate" and checked my plans for the next day.
I drove north from Mt. Carmel Junction through Orderville and up to where the road cuts east to Bryce. The whole way was picturesque. From canyons and creeks, to run-down western poverty, to cattle and cowboys. Just before Panguitch you head across a wide valley and up into Red Canyon. That's an area of the Dixie National Forest with eroded red sandstone towers and cliffs. Beautiful. I stopped for a couple of pictures, but I kept moving on. Soon, I made it to Bryce Canyon National Park.
Pictures
It was chilly. Very windy, and the temp was in the upper fifties. And rain was on the way. I thought I'd be able to get some clearing storm shots over the canyon, but it turned out not to be that kind of storm. Anyway, I parked at Sunset Point, checking out the view before heading down Navajo Loop to the bottom. That trail was nothing but switchbacks. Lunch at the bottom, and then I wandered around a dry stream bed for a bit. About the time I headed back to the trail, it started to rain a bit. There was a bit of thunder too. I decided I'd rather be down in the bottom of the canyon than up on the overlooks, so I was in no hurry. I wandered along with the other people. Then I got to the part where it goes back upwards. It wasn't steep like the other end, which means it was a longer walk. This prolonged the agony, because the rain picked up. It get wetter, windier and colder the higher I got. I kept hoping the top was just around the next bend, but it took forever. Nasty. About the time I got to the top, the rain mostly quit, and the wind wasn't quite as bad. I made the half mile walk back to my car, took off my wet coat and shoes, and had some food.
The temperature was, by then, down to the low forties. I was cold, wet and exhausted. Now the road in the park, and most of the trails, are above eight thousand feet. That's why I was so exhausted. Not because of the strenuous climb. No sir.
Then I drove around the northern end of the park, and had a looksee. I saw a pronghorn antelope. And more vistas.Bryce is every bit as spectacular as the pictures make it out to be. I'm sure I could have gotten some pretty good ones if the weather had been good. It was pretty cloudy. I had seen the pictures often enough that nothing looked really weird to me, but sometimes I'd stop and think about it, and realize how odd and awesome it all was. When I was walking down the Navajo Loop, a little girl pointed up at a spire and said, "see? I knew it was really a castle!"
Before a looksee at a vista, I was in the Jeep eating an apple, when I saw a Steller's jay flitting about. They're nice looking birds, so occasionally, I'd try to take a picture. Pretty soon another car pulled up next to mine, and a woman got out to take a picture. She hunted this thing for a good ten minutes, while her husband sat in the idling car. The bird wanted food from people, so it hung around. Before too long, a real photographer came up, and snapped off a couple hundred shots of it. I ended up getting a couple decent shots.
A few minutes later, at the overlook, I was lining up a shot and heard some kids come up behind. "Oh my god! Look at that!" "Can you believe this place?!" The girls said. One of the guys said, "And you didn't want to pay the twenty-five bucks to get in!"
After seeing pretty much everything, I drove out the gate, and around to the eastern end of the park, where I walked up to Mossy Cave, and a waterfall. The "cave wasn't too exciting. The waterfall only marginally so, but it was interesting to learn that canals were dug and a river was diverted to keep the canyon stream in water year-round for irrigation of the valley below. There were also some really cool rock formations, like in the rest of the park. Then I drove eastward, toward Grand Staircase-Escalante.
The drive east along highway 12 was beautiful as usual. It was nearing sunset, so the light was great. A lot of it was along wide cliff-lined valleys. I stopped off in Tropic for groceries, and had pizza for supper. A little farther down the road, I stopped at the cemetery in Henrieville for some photos. The light was fading pretty fast, and I still had a way to go before Escalante. At one point, I came over a hill, heading down into a wide green valley, when I saw a sign that warned of elk crossing. I thought that was pretty cool, but also thought it would be unlikely that I'd see any. About half a mile later, I saw a pair standing near the road. They both had large but not fully gown racks in velvet. I got a couple fuzzy shots of the first one as I rolled slowly along, keeping an eye on the mirror. The second was standing between the fence and the road, and when I stopped it decided I may have been a threat, so it hopped the fence and ran.
My directions to the motel noted that the website didn't give an address, and that you apparently couldn't miss it. The town has over eight hundred people, but I assume many of them are spread around the area, and not all in the town. So I was right. You can't miss it. I settled in to the "motel barely adequate" and checked my plans for the next day.
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 04:31 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 12:03 pm (UTC)From:Elk, huh?
I'd love to see Elk in the wild.
And the google pics of Bryce look even more spectacular than Zion.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-01 05:26 pm (UTC)From:There's much more to see at Zion. Different kinds of things. Grand Canyon is bigger, but it's so big that you can't really feel it. At Zion, you're standing down in the middle of it. You're surrounded by it. And you can climb some of it. Or see some waterfalls. Or wade in the river. And see deer. Forests and deserts. Even see different kinds of sandstone formations. The only word I can put on it is "majestic", but it needs a lot more.