Utah State Parks: Kodachrome and The Escalante Petrified Forest

Today was one of the first days in a long time that we did not wake up to vivid blue skies. We really want to hike down into the Bryce Amphitheater on a day filled with sunshine so we decided to drive out the Scenic Highway 12 route.

The first stop was the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. We hiked to the top of the bluff and took the Rainbow Loop around the perimeter. The petrified wood was scattered all around. It was beautiful in a very earthy way. We actually liked the park better than The Petrified Forest National Park.

We then proceeded on to Kodachrome State Park. It was another area whose landscape was otherworldly. It actually felt like we were on a beach of red sand and someone had built drip castle walls all around us.

All and all it was a great day with two very interesting hikes. We are really hoping tomorrow is a bluebird sky day as we venture down into the hodos of Bryce.

Brcye Canyon in All Her Glory!

Yesterday, October 22, we arrived in Bryce Canyon. After we got our RV set up at the KOA in Cannonville, we made a beeline for the park. We hiked the rim trail along the Bryce Amphitheater, a term used to describe the semicircular collection of hodos below the trail. We made it up to Inspiration Point where the view was spectacular. We used the last few minutes of sunlight to drive up to the Natural Bridge. So glad we did! The sky was colored by the setting sun and we had the bridge to ourselves. Breathtaking!

The Vermillion Cliffs and the Great Colorado River

On our last day in the Page region we explored the Colorado River. We did the obligatory visit to Horseshoe Bend. It was beautiful and easily accessible, as evident by the number of people there to view it.

We decided to get off the beaten path and head to Lee’s Ferry. It was the only place to cross the Colorado River in the early days. It now is the area where river floats disembark and adventure rafters embark on their journey through the Grand Canyon. At this point it runs through the Vermillion Cliffs which stand majestic on their own.

We hiked the 2 mile Riverside hike. It was the first time I was on keen alert for rattle snakes! We saw none, thank goodness!

We leave Arizona today with a new appreciation for it’s diverse beauty.

Antelope Canyon by Water and Land

We’ve now experienced the Upper and the Lower Antelope Slot Canyons, and the Antelope Canyon leg of Lake Powell. All were amazing. I could have sworn Odysseus was going to appear around a bend in the canyon. For reference to future visitors, if you have to chose just one of the slots, I would chose the Lower Slot tour. It has more light streaming in from above.

We Are Not Roughing It😉

  • Our view

We have been very fortunate with our camp sites. Ed had made reservations on the exact day they were available, some 13 months ago! It has payed off with lovely sites within our NPS and a few private campgrounds along the way. We are currently in Wahweap Campground, part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It is a great campground within our Nationally run system. What a precious gift they are to us!

On this extended trip we brought along our toaster oven and Instapot. We have used the heck out off the toaster oven whenever we have electric. The Instapot has begun to come in handy for these busy days and chilly nights. Dinner last night was roasted spaghetti squash prepared by Ed and Chicken Cacciatore prepared by me. Its great to be cooking partners!

A Failure and a Find

Yesterday we decided to look for small adventures around Page, AZ. A fellow camper had told us about a great bike “path” that goes around the rim of the mesa that Page occupies. The “path” turned out to be a singled track off road trail. I quickly found out I am not a mountain biker! We made it about 3/4 mile and then turned around.

It was time to find a different adventure and find one we did! We drove to the Beehive Campground which is about 2 miles from Wahweap, where we are staying. We wanted to check it out as it looked like a boondocker site. Lucky us, as it led us to a most amazing rock formation just up the gravel road to the left. We decided to get out and rock scramble a little. We happened upon a trail, marked by carefully laid out rocks, that circumvented the entire formation. What a thrill! It turns out that the trail has the unofficial name of “The New Wave”. I had read about the wave and had seen pictures of it. It felt like we were there! Thank goodness for the “failure” or we would not have discovered our “find”!

Exhilaration and Exhaustion

  • We earned this cornbread!

Thursday morning we woke up to a very breezy, very chilly day (40*). It was the day we had planned to ride Hermit Road out to Hermit’s Rest. We were tempted to just stay put in our warm and cozy home away from home, but we were scheduled to leave on Friday so the question loomed… ”If not now, when?”. So, we dressed in layers and headed out. The ride was magnificent! Only park shuttle buses and bikes are allowed on Hermit Road so we practically had the entire road to ourselves. The road rolls along the western end of the south rim and the vistas were breathtaking. “Rolls” is a key term because we ended up riding a total of 1200 feet of elevation gain. That’s a lot for us flat landers! It was a tough, 20 mile round trip ride but worth ever pedal stroke. My crystal ball sees Electric bikes under our Christmas tree😉.

Hermit’s Rest, itself, was a charming historic building designed by Mary Colter. She was also the architect of the Dessert View Tower which we were able to visit on Friday as we headed to Page, Arizona. She had an amazing ability to design buildings that seemed to grow out of the landscape.

Oh my, I almost forgot to mention that along the road we came across an Elk bull and his harem. He was bugling and looking very protective of his group of females so we did not linger long!

Bright Angel… Hiney Num-Nums be Damned!

Yesterday we hiked down to the first rest house of the Bright Angel Trail. It is 1&1/2 miles down with a 1200 foot drop in elevation. The views were stunning and changed at each switchback. To say this was a stretch for this height adverse being is an understatement. The hiney num-nums, a term we use to fondly described my physical reaction to heights, only kicked in a few times. I was too busy looking down to make sure I didn’t stumble. Well, what goes down must come up. We trekked back up that 1200 feet like champs! It was another accomplishment that made me very thankful for my bionic knees.