Happy Birthday, Molly and Aunt Iris!

Today is Molly's 15th birthday. If she was Hispanic, she'd be celebrating her quinceanera (a kind of coming out party for young girls). Actually, her plan to celebrate was to go shopping for birthday presents. I tried to call Aunt Iris to wish her a happy 76th birthday, but I think she and Beth are on their Scandinavian cruise, so I just left a message.

We decided to spend a day or two in Hanksville, partly to break up the drive to Moab and partly to have a chance to see a free roaming bison herd. We left Capitol Reef and drove to the Red Rock RV Park and Restaurant in Hanksville, where we paid for one night. The place is a gravel parking lot and goes downhill from there, except that it has full hookups and views of the red rock cliffs.

We drove to the local BLM Field Office to inquire about the Bison and hiking opportunities. We were disappointed to find that the bison had last been seen quite far away, and the status of part of the road was uncertain because of the recent rain. It turns out that there's not much to do in Hanksville except off-road. Every nearby hill had tire tracks up and down.

The town itself is almost a ghost town, with many closed businesses and lots of informal junkyards. The downturn in the economy hasn't helped, but it looked like this town has been going downhill for a long time. We decided to move on tomorrow.
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Hiking and Petroglyphs

The weather forecast for today included rain and possible thunderstorms, so we decided to stay out of slot canyons and washes, which eliminated some of the possible hikes. We were hoping the weather would improve during the day.

We started out by driving to the Panorama Point turnout, where you can access the unpaved road to two short trails. We hiked first to the Goosenecks overlook, where you can see Sulphur Creek Canyon. The creek that creates the canyon winds its way around, and the resulting loops are called "goosenecks." Erosion has revealed layers of rock from different formations, all with bright colors to delight the eye.

When we returned to the parking area, we found the trailhead for the Sunset Point trail, which we followed to the top for more spectacular views (which are said to be even more spectacular near sunset, but with the clouds today, we doubted we'd have a chance to see that).

Next we drove to the Fruita Campground, the only developed campground in the park. We found several sites that we could fit, although most sites are too short for large RVs, or would be difficult to back into. The campground is located in an orchard area and is quite appealing.

We got to the Petroglyphs viewpoint in time to join a ranger talk on the people who created these images, the Fremont people, who lived in this area but are thought by some experts to have been a separate culture from the Anasazi. The ranger talked about some of the artifacts that differentiate the Fremont from the Anasazi, including "a distinctive rock art style used in pictographs, petroglyphs, and clay figures depicting trapezoidal human figures bedecked in necklaces and blunt hairstyles."
The figures appear to have very broad shoulders.

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On to Capitol Reef National Park

This morning we pulled out of Escalante Petrified Forest State Park and headed east and then north on Scenic Byway 12 towards Torrey, UT. It had rained pretty steadily all night, so we figured the rain would interfere with our plans to visit the Anasazi State Park Museum in Boulder, UT, but the weather improved. We're glad it did.

The museum is modern, offering attractive displays and interactive multimedia exhibits to tell the story of the Ancestral Puebloan people who lived here from 1160-1235. In addition to the museum, we were able to visit the excavation site, where the foundations for a large group of structures are visible. A reconstruction of one structure helps you to envision what the site might have looked like.

On video talked about the scientific advances in archeology used to help understand the artifacts found at the site. For example, protein residue analysis of a projectile point can reveal what type of blood has been on it, and analysis of potsherds can tell what plant or animal contents the pot may have had.

Driving along Hwy 12 between Boulder and Torrey, we encountered recent snow. The highway was narrow, curvy, steep, and often with sheer dropoffs. One sign informed us that there was a 10% downgrade coming up. So glad we have good brakes! When we got to Torrey, we checked in at Thousand Lakes RV Park and got set up. After lunch we headed to the Capitol Reef National Park Visitor Center.

There we got some information about the park and watched a short video. It turns out that there is no reef at the park. Early explorers thought the imposing line of cliffs resembled a reef.

The scenery everywhere is spectacular and extremely varied. Strata are horizontal in one place and upended in another. Some surfaces are slick, others layered and crumbling. Some are bright red-orange, and others are nearly white. The views are breathtaking.

We decided to hike the Hickman Trail to the Hickman Natural Bridge. It's a one mile out, one mile back hike that took about two hours. We started near the rushing, muddy Fremont River, but soon started to climb the slope. We passed through desert landscape to an area where large black boulders, carried here from a nearby volcano, litter the ground.

Besides saying "Wow!" more times than we could count, one of our strongest impressions was the diversity of the landscape.

Interestingly, most of the hikers we encountered were speaking languages other than English. All were very polite. We did pass one large family that was clearly American--and very loud. Two of the little girls were writing on the rock walls. The boys were jumping and running on the trail. This behavior was quite a contrast with that of our other fellow hikers, and it definitely was incongruous with the awesome place we all were.

Visitor Center with Castle Rock formation in the background.

Capitol Rock shows how the park got its name--reminiscent of Washington, DC, landmarks.

Hickman Natural Bridge--a massive, awesome sight.

The Fremont River runs through the waterfold pocket
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Goodby to Our Friends

This morning Dennis and Cheryl told us they had decided to cut their vacation short so that Dennis could fly to Vancouver. His mom, who is 93, is having some serious medical issues, and he needs to be there with her. We were very sorry to say goodbye to our good friends under such circumstances, but wished them safe travels. We're hoping that Dennis's presence will be a comfort to his mom and that everything will work out well for her.

We have spent the last 2 1/2 weeks exploring St. George and some spectacular national parks with Dennis and Cheryl. It's been a great trip, and we are happy to have been able to share it with them. This morning after hugs and goodbyes, they headed for St. George to make arrangements for Dennis to fly to Vancouver tomorrow. We continued the trip as planned by driving to Escalante Petrified Forest State Park.

If you look closely, you'll see the construction equipment near our campsite. The reservoir has been drained, and the dam is being rebuilt. Fortunately, no one was working near the campground today. The campground hosts greeted us with congratulations on our owning an Excel, since they also have an Excel--much larger than ours, which they tow with a large fifth wheel hauler.

After lunch, we waited a bit for the wind to die down before hiking the Petrified Forest Trail and the Trail of the Sleeping Rainbows. Altogether the hike was a 1.75 mile loop, but much of it was up and down some rather steep and uneven sections of trail. When we reached the top of the mesa, we saw the "pygmy forest"--mostly Utah junipers and pinon pines, but all very stunted because of the lack of water. This small juniper is probably at least 150 years old.

From the trail we had views of the various levels and colors of surrounding cliffs and a panoramic view of the town of Escalante laid out below. The main attraction of the trails was, of course, the petrified wood. It's here because trees up to 100 feet tall were swept away millions of years ago by a massive flood, then buried under water where silicas replaced the living cells. The resulting petrified trees were in turn exposed to view by erosion. We were surprised to see the bright and varied colors, mainly oranges, reds and yellows from iron oxides and some blacks, blues and purples from manganese oxides.

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Day Trips

We made some day trips today to see some of the other sights in the area. First we went to Kodachrome Basin State Park. Why, you might say, does the park have that commercial name? Here's what the website says: "The color and beauty found here prompted a 1948 National Geographic Society expedition to name the area Kodachrome after the popular color film." The discontinuation of Kodak film inspired one cartoonist:

We drove through the campground and found several sites that we could fit into. All of them have impressive views of the spires and other rock formations for which the park is famous. Then we went to the picnic area to eat our lunch, again with views in all directions. The park is known for its tall spires, aka "sedimentary pipes."

After a stop back at Ruby's to fill up with gas, we headed west and stopped at the Red Canyon Visitor Center in the Dixie National Forest. There we found friendly helpful people and great photos and displays. We took a short hike to get up close and personal with some of the red rock formations, including this pair referred to as "Salt and Pepper."

Next we drove to Panguitch, where the annual Quilt Walk Festival is in progress. We went to the high school to visit the quilt show. The festival is called a "Quilt Walk" in honor of a historic event in which seven men of the community walked out in the snow to get food to save their starving families. Here's the story:

“The first attempt to settle Panguitch, Utah was in 1864. The winter was brutal, food was scarce and the settlers were starving to death. A group of seven men, with a wagon pulled by two oxen, set out to get food from Parowan, forty miles away. In their weakened state, the men struggled with every foot step, sinking in snow up to their hips. Eventually they abandoned their wagon and oxen and continued by foot. As they held a prayer circle kneeling on quilts they discovered that they did not sink in the snow. The men completed their journey by laying quilts over the deep snow and walking across them, retrieving their quilts and repeating the process over and over again. This little bit of history came to be known as the “Quilt Walk” and is treasured in the annals of Panguitch’s history.” Golden Nuggets of Pioneer Days, A History of Garfield County. (1949). Panguitch, UT: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.

Dennis views a tribute quilt made from Harley tee-shirts. Several quilts we saw were tribute/memorial quilts.

This quilt caught our eye. Horses are among Dennis and Cheryl's favorite subjects, and the unusual overlap of the horses' bodies beyond the "frame" of the quilt border made them stand out.

Cheryl suggested that root beer floats would be refreshing, so we set out to find some. Panguitch is very small. No A & W, no ice cream parlor. After cruising the two main streets, we finally settled on Henrie's Drive Inn. The floats were made with soft serve, but it was some of the firmest, tastiest soft serve we have encountered. We consumed them with relish at a nice picnic table behind the restaurant.
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Queen's Garden and Navajo Loop Combo

Dennis and Ken and I hiked the Queens Garden & Navajo Combination trails this morning. Unfortunately the part of the Navajo Loop called Wall Street, a narrow slot, is closed because of a rock slide, but we were still able to do the hike using the Two Bridges side of the loop. Dennis drove us to Sunrise Point, where we headed down into the canyon.

The three-mile hike took us about 3 hours, but nearly half of that was spent stopping to take photos (or to rest--the altitude here is over 8,000 feet). Every bend in the trail led to new sights or new perspectives on formations we had seen before. When we reached the bottom, we were looking up at the giant hoodoos we had been looking down on before. Hoodoos of every shape and size surrounded us, some looking like the ramparts and battlements of castles, some like massive towers or sentinels. Many of the formations have been named, and it is easy to see why people have the impulse to name these mysterious shapes. They take on a life of their own as the light hits them from one side or another.

One thing that struck me was the tenacity of life. Trees and flowers grew seemingly from almost solid rock. We watched swifts darting along the cliffs and a busy black and white bird high in a pine tree, evidently eating pine seeds. As we descended, we heard a chorus of cicadas coming from every direction.

Near the end of the hike, along the Navajo Loop, the going was steep and we could see we were nearing the rim. Ken suggested we must be coming to the elevator, but that was just wishful thinking. What we actually traversed was a series of switchbacks similar to Walter's Wiggles, though longer and more gradual.

After resting up, showering, and eating lunch, we headed out again with Dennis and Cheryl to various places to shop and look around. Dennis found a shirt at the Lodge gift shop (he's hoping to collect one from every national park--good luck, Dennis!). We went back to the visitor center and walked through the museum there.

Along the road Cheryl spotted a prairie dog sentinel near the edge of the highway. Dennis turned back so we could get a better look, but it scampered away, only to return to its post when we left. We visited Ruby's General Store, which sells souvenirs, art, jewelry, clothing, collectibles, camping supplies, cameras, Tilley hats, groceries, and much more.

Tonight Ken built a campfire, and we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores and enjoyed each others' company.
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Rainbow Tour

This morning we went early to the shuttle stop to wait for the Rainbow Tour bus, along with lots of other folks. The bus stopped at several places, including Ruby's Inn, Ruby's RV Park, the Lodge, and the campground in the national park. Soon all the seats but one were filled. We were all ready for a great trip through the park--except for one thing. The air conditioning was broken, and there were no windows that opened, so the bus was an oven. At each stop, everyone hurried off the bus to get some oxygen and maybe a cool breeze.

Fortunately our driver, Cliff, was knowledgeable and entertaining, so he kept our minds off our discomfort to some extent. He drove us to the far viewpoints in the park, Rainbow Point and Yovimpa Point. On the way back towards the entrance, we stopped at several more viewpoints, each with its own attractions. One was the Natural Bridge, which isn't a bridge at all, but an arch. We learned that bridges are formed by running water, while arches are formed by erosion.

As he drove from stop to stop, Cliff told a long story about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Butch was born Robert Parker in nearby Circleville, and locals think that he did not die in Bolivia, as reported, but instead came back to the U.S. and even visited his dying mother years after his reported death. As we reached each stop, Cliff said, "Hold that thought" and left us with a "cliff"hanger (as Dennis pointed out).

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On to Ruby's RV Park at Bryce Canyon

We had a bit longer drive today (105 miles), so we left the Kaibab Camper Village just after 10 a.m. and headed for Kanab, where we again visited Honey's Marketplace to stock up. We stopped for lunch in a parking lot at Carmel Junction. As we drove north on Hwy 89, we could see a waterway that looked like a canal snaking along beside the road. It was the Sevier River, which evidently serves as a source of irrigation and other water for a large area.

All along the route, the scenery was varied and dramatic, the kind that invites you to stop and admire it. When we turned east on Hwy 12, we noticed a hike and bike path paralleling the road. Our destination was Ruby's Inn RV Park and Campground, right outside Bryce Canyon National Park. We had an image in mind of Ruby as a welcoming hostess, but it turns out that the founder was named Reuben Syrett, but everyone called him Ruby. The inn was established in 1918, well before Bryce was designated a national park in 1928.

The campground offers full hookups and has lots of large pine trees that offer some shade, but the sites are rather narrow. Dennis and Cheryl set up facing us, so we have ample room and they aren't looking at the backside of the next rig just past their awning.

After we got set up, we drove to the visitor center to check out the programs and hikes. We also made reservations for the Rainbow Tour (free) for tomorrow at 9 a.m., so we'll get an introduction to the park that way.
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Return to the North Rim

On Sunday Dennis again drove in to the Grand Canyon North Rim. We saw several deer in the meadows along the scenic route into the park. This time we went to the eastern end of the park, stopping at several overlooks along the way. We brought a picnic lunch which we ate at our first stop, Point Imperial, which is the highest point on the North Rim at 8,803 feet. We stopped at Roosevelt Point, where I took the short hike through a burned area while the others walked around the overlook.

At the Walhalla Overlook we viewed the Unkar Delta, where ancient peoples farmed during the winter months. Then we walked across the street to see Anasazi ruins that have been excavated, where some moved during the summer months when it was too hot in the canyon. Only the foundations are visible, but we felt a sense of the living history of the people who built them.

At Cape Royal we took the trail to Angel's Window, a natural bridge through which we could see a bend of the Colorado River. Dennis looked, but didn't spot any river rafters. A guy thought he'd said something about "raptors," and told Dennis about all the birds he had seen in the area.

When we returned to the Lodge area, we had some time before our dinner reservations. Ken and Dennis and I started along the Widforss Trail. The guys soon turned back because of the steepness. I continued for a way, hoping to see the mountain views, but finally turned around. At that point I became acutely aware of being alone on the trail and began to have thoughts of mountain lions and bears... Fortunately, I didn't see either.

We had reservations for dinner at the Lodge restaurant. We had some time before dinner, so we relaxed on the Lodge patio, where a cool breeze and some shade were inviting. When we went in to dinner, the young man at the desk (Brendan) smiled and told me he had a very special table for us. Calling one of the staff over, he indicated that we had table 40. Our table turned out to be at the windows overlooking the canyon. We had a great dinner with good friends--and spectacular views of the canyon.

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Visiting the North Rim

Dennis drove their little 1991 Honda Civic to take us all from the campground to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We left at 9:00 a.m. Utah time, which is 8:00 a.m. Arizona time. (Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time, but since we’ll be here only a few days, we decided not to change all our clocks.)

We parked at the lodge, an impressive "National Park rustic" structure. Even more impressive was the view from the "sun porch" overlooking the canyon. Our first stop was the Visitor Center, which was rather small compared to others we have seen. We picked up some information about the hikes and viewpoints.

One "don't miss" experience is the walk to Bright Angel Point. It's a short walk out along a ridge to an overlook that offers spectacular views of the Bright Angel Canyon and distant peaks. We spent the day around the Lodge area. It was hot, and we were very glad of the bottomless soft drinks we got with lunch from the Deli.

We visited the campground and were very impressed to find large campsites overlooking the canyon. Of course you have to make reservations far in advance--unless you are a spur-of-the-moment kind of person. We talked with two women who said they had made their reservations 3-4 days before, by watching the website for cancellations.

The general store at the campground was surprisingly well stocked. I bought a nice water bottle, and we found some good local beer in cans ("packable").

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Leaving Zion

We left Zion National Park this morning, heading east on Hwy 9 via the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel. Completed in 1930, it isn't wide or tall enough for oversized vehicles like many modern RVs or buses, which had difficulty negotiating the turns. Now the Park Service requires such vehicles to pay an "escort fee" of $15. When one arrives at the tunnel, traffic is changed from two-way to one-way to accommodate it. Of course during the summer, there's a constant stream of buses and RVs, so the tunnel is almost always one-way, with 6 or 7 minute waits.

Hwy 9 is steep and winding, often with sheer drop-offs, as it runs through the east side of Zion National Park, with stunning views, but I wasn't able to appreciate them fully, since I was driving. We did stop at Checkerboard Mesa to view the crossbedding and vertical lines that create the impression of a checkerboard in the rock. I was hoping to see some bighorn sheep, since we'd been told they were mainly on the east side of the park, but no luck.

The Johnsons' Brave and Civic leaving Zion for new adventures.

Cheryl and Dennis at Checkerboard Mesa

Lee and Ken at Checkerboard Mesa (couldn't pass up this great photo op!)

The only large town we passed through on our way to Jacob Lake was Kanab, where we found a surprisingly well stocked little grocery store called Honey's Marketplace, which offers "Groceries and so much more!" We stocked up there and ate lunch with Dennis and Cheryl in the parking lot before heading to our next campsite at Kaibab Camper Village.

It's an older park, but quiet and restful, with sites nestled among the pine trees.