Category: US Travel

Bryce Canyon Sunrise

After our fun evening of country entertainment a few of us hardy-types joined Joe at 5:45am for a 10 minute drive in search of a Bryce Canyon sunrise. I thought we would be heading to Sunrise Point (it seemed to be a natural); however, Joe said that Fairyland Point was a better view for sunrise. It was a quiet spot – maybe only 1 or 2 others there. We positioned ourselves on the Fairyland Point trailhead and waited for the sun to come over the horizon.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had a different plan. It was quite a cloudy morning in the east although it was clear to the west. The views were still amazing and it was great to have a quiet experience overlooking the hoodoos.

Back to the hotel for a hearty breakfast. The hotel was beautiful but we didn’t spend much time there. With a “coffee to go” we were back in the van heading towards Zion National Park the last of the Mighty Five National Parks on our tour.

Zion National Park

Entering the park from the 25 mile Zion-Mount Camel Highway is stunning. There is a 1.1 mile long tunnel built in the 1920’s which is limited in size (height and width). Large vehicles (including delivery trucks) need to be escorted through the tunnel at times when it can be restricted to one-way traffic. Fortunately, we were not there during one of the times so no delays for us.

Inside the park, vehicles are not allowed beyond the Visitor Centre, except for those staying at Zion Lodge. They run a shuttle service up and down the park to access at various stops for hiking or sightseeing. We were early enough in our arrival to have a good parking spot for the van at the Visitors Centre. We hopped on the shuttle as a group, going to Zion Lodge as a jumping off point for exploring the park. We agreed to meet back at the Lodge for lunch. Craig and I headed of to the Lower Emerald Pools, an easy 45 minute in and out hike through Juniper-Pinion forests up to the lower Emerald Pools. Temperatures were rising fast so by the time we reached the pool where the falls trickled over the pathway. It was a welcome cooling off. I imagine the falls are stronger in the spring, but the misty-ness felt great as we walked under the overhang. We decided not to proceed to the Middle Emerald Pool trail, but headed back to the Lodge instead to meet the group for lunch.

We enjoyed lunch with most of the group back at the Lodge. Because the temperatures were continuing to rise (expected to be over 100 deg), we decided on a short walk to the next “up canyon” shuttle following the Grotto Trail with Barb, Gus and Madelon. On the way, we discovered a mule deer resting in the shade of a hollow in the hill. We weren’t the only ones feeling the heat!

The Grotto is shuttle stop #6 of 9 stops. We then travelled to stop #9 – Temple of Sinawava. This is one of the most popular stops in the park where people access the River Walk to the Narrows slot canyon. Not sure of the amount of time it would take, we elected to cool off by the river for a little while.

Back on the shuttle to go “down canyon” stopping at #8 – Big Bend. This is where the Virgin River follows a big curve in the canyon. We didn’t go down to the river; however we did see some Condors flying high above the canyon near the formation called The Organ. Apparently there is are four condors living in this area. We were told we might see hikers on the Angel’s landing trail high above us. I was sure that I saw a couple of people…but they are not visible in my photos! Angel’s Landing requires a special permit to hike. It is a narrow trail with the last half-mile being one-way, using chains along the 3 ft wide path. Definitely not for me – ever!

Back on the shuttle back to Zion Lodge. The heat of the day had made us pretty thirsty and the five of us decided it was time for an afternoon beer. We saw Scott, Mick and Aiden in the lobby. They were pretty much ready to go to the hotel. We agreed to meet everyone at the Visitor Centre after we finished our drinks. Jan and Enid had also come looking for us. We headed down on a busy shuttle to the Visitor Centre and with everyone on the van, Joe drove us to the Hotel – Springhill Suites Zion. Beautiful property with stunning views.

Craig and I chose to walk to the local grocery store for something light for dinner. Springhill is a nice community, with a free shuttle through town that will also take you to Zion. Quiet night in preparation for our final day of the tour.

Next up – Day 6 Zion NP and trip back to Salt Lake City

As mentioned in the last blog, the Pioneer restaurant at Capitol Reef Resort could not accommodate us for breakfast due to a large tour group staying at the property. Joe had scouted out another location in the town of Torrey just a couple of miles down the road. Alas…nothing was open at 7 am in Torrey! So off we went – a little caffeine deprived – entering the Scenic Hwy 12.

Boulder Mountain Lookout

The landscape changed soon after we left the Torrey area and started gaining elevation. We entered the Dixie National Forest, the highest timbered plateau in North America. With a stop at at about 9600 ft, we enjoyed a morning overview to the east, with the Henry Mountains in the distance.

As we traveled towards the small town of Boulder, we entered into cattle ranching territory…and around one corner we came face-to-face with a large herd of cows and several cowboys on the road. That certainly work everyone up! We were guessing that they were taking the cattle to their summer pastures.

Singing Canyon

Just after the town, Joe turned left onto a secondary road promising us an exciting stop ahead. About 20 minutes later, he parked in a pull-out and we exited the van. The trail led to a slot canyon, called the Singing Canyon where the acoustics were amazing. Louise took centre stage and sang “America the Beautiful”, then Madelon sang a couple of verses of “He’s got the whole world in his hands”. In the meantime, Joe was recording on his phone. It was a great experience, and there was only one other person there (he was leaving as we arrived). Truly a hidden gem.

Continuing along Scenic Hwy 12, the next point of interest was the “Hogback” – a section of the highway with steep drop-offs on both sides. From a pull-out, we had some great views of both vistas. As we have learned on the trip, cottonwoods only grow where there is water, so we knew there was a river or stream along the green ribbon in the photo on the left.

At this point, we still hadn’t found a place for breakfast (and most importantly coffee – if you know Craig and me). Joe had another hidden gem up his sleeve. A little further along Hwy 12 tucked in on the side of a hill was Kiva Coffee House. Such a great find. Tasty coffee and pastries with friendly service . This area is just at the start of the Escalante Canyons where the landscape features some of the “staircases” .

Escalante

Back on the road towards the town of Escalante. First stop was the Escalante Interagency Visitor Centre housed in a Gold Leeds certified building! We viewed a 20 minute film about the geological history of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It seems to be a very interesting area worth exploring on another trip. However; we were focused on our next destination – Bryce Canyon.

We had lunch at a great restaurant – Escalante Outfitters. It was a busy place and lunch took a while, but food was delish. Looks like a great place to stay or to stock up on gear for outdoor adventures.

With everyone full from lunch, we continued on beautiful Hwy 12 towards Bryce Canyon. Just before the entry gates to the park, we stopped at the Mossy Cave and Falls. We were lucky to grab a parking space as someone was just leaving. The falls are man-made, resulting from a “tropical ditch” built by Morman pioneers to divert snow melt and monsoons providing water to the nearby towns of Tropic and Canonville.

The easy trail from the parking lot led to a bridge that crossed the stream, then uphill for a nice view of the waterfall. A short trail took us to the Mossy Cave. It was pretty unimpressive, but I’m sure it is beautiful when the icicles hang from the inside during the winter.

Back down the hill and across the bridge, I climbed down to the stream and walked to the waterfalls. Its a great place to cool off and soak one’s hot feet! Craig had opted for that rather than going to the Mossy Cave.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Now on to Bryce Canyon! The group was given some options for our time here: hiking the Navajo Loop from Sunset Point, or going to Inspiration Point and walking back to Sunset Point or driving back with Joe. Eight of us chose to hike the Navajo Trail with an expected completion time of about 1.5 hours.

This is an amazing hike, walking amongst the ancient hoodoos. The switch-back trail descended deep into the canyon. As I watched the people coming up the trail, I thought to myself “I will probably be taking this very slow on the way back, so I will take more pictures on the ascent”. I failed to recognize that this was a loop and we would return on a different trail. I would have taken more photoson the Two Bridges Trail had I known.

The descent is about 500 ft, coming out to a different landscape of pine trees at the bottom. Now it was time to make the climb. Not going to lie…it took a lot of effort and many rests for me to stop and enjoy the view. Craig continued on at a steady pace. Back at Sunset Point, Joe was waiting for us. Craig was the first back at 1 hour 2 minutes…I was a couple minutes behind. We were surprised at our timing and felt a great sense of accomplishment.

We headed back to BW Plu Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel to check in and get cleaned up for a Western dinner show at Ebenezers Barn and Grill (this is correct…Barn not Bar). Not being big country/western fans, craig and I were a little skeptical. The evening started out with a buffet dinner. We chose Flat Iron steak which came with coleslaw, potatoes, baked beans and a dessert. Everything was prepared perfectly which surprised us. The entertainment started after dinner and featured a series of hits which have shaped country music. It included songs that reminded me of my Dad from artists like Hank Williams, Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson. The performers were great (and a couple of them just in their teens). Nice ending for an awesome day.

Up Next: Day 5 – Bryce Canyon Sunrise and Zion Park

After another hearty breakfast at Homewood Suites, we were in the van again just after 7 am, heading out Hwy 70 towards Hwy 24. There will be two stops on our tour today. Goblin Valley State Park and Capitol Reef National Park.

Goblin Valley State Park

I didn’t know much about this park before our arrival. Geologically speaking, the goblins in the park were formed by the gradual erosion of Entrada sandstone (from about 170 million years ago) when the area was a tidal flat next to an ancient sea. With the tides, the sand washed-in, eroding the hoodoos and depositing silt and clay. Weathering wore down the different layers, smoothing out sharp corners. Aided by decomposition and erosion the rounded caps and curves of the “goblins” were formed.

When you first see this area, it feels like you have landed on Mars! There are no defined trails here – people can wander around the 3 square miles of the main attraction filled with thousands of hoodoos.

Joe challenged us to come up with a name for the area, or for specific hoodoos. We spent the next 45 minutes inspiring our imaginations. As we gathered for a group shot, Joe announced that Barb won the challenge with her name of “Smurfville”. Not sure what the prize was. 🙂

Capitol Reef National Park

We continued on Hwy 24 to Capitol Reef National Park. This is the least visited of the Mighty 5 but has an interesting geology. It’s a 100 mile long warp in the earth’s crust, known as the Waterpocket fold. This describes the “reef” part of the name. Like a giant barrier in the ocean (think Great Barrier Reef). The Capitol part of the name describes the dome-like formations, similar to state capitol buildings.

On arrival, we drove through the historic district of Fuita past the schoolhouse and the fruit orchards. Visitors are allowed to pick fruit from the trees in season. Gifford House sells famous fruit pies (although we didn’t taste them). We had a quick visit of the Visitor’s Centre then proceeded to a beautiful, shady picnic area where we lunched on excellent sandwiches/wraps provided by Sweet Cravings (where we had lunch the previous day). We were surrounded by beautiful old cottonwood trees, and a few mule deer who were probably wishing for a handout.

After lunch, Joe drove us to the trailhead for the Grand Wash Trail for this day’s hike. This is a famous gorge that cuts through the upper portion of the waterpocket fold of the park. The steep canyon walls, made me feel pretty small. It was a hot day, with heat radiating off the walls but once we reached the narrows it was quite shady. Then it was back to blazing sun for the last 15 minutes as we approached the parking lot where Joe was picking us up.

On the way out of the park, we had a final stop at Gooseneck Overlook and Sunset point. Aiden stepped across the “abyss” at Gooseneck. The short walk up the Sunset point trail provided some great panorama views.

It was a short drive to our next accommodation at Capitol Reef Resort in Torrey. Although it is an interesting property (you can stay in a teepee or Conestoga wagon), the rooms were quite dated, and the air-conditioning didn’t work for some rooms. The views were beautiful though.

Because there was a large tour group at the resort, the restaurant on the property could not accommodate us for dinner. Turned out they couldn’t provide a timely breakfast for us in the morning either. Wouldn’t recommend this property. Definitely would recommend the Rim Rock Restaurant across the street for dinner.

Up Next: Day 4 – Boulder Mountain Pass, Singing Canyon, Escalante, Bryce Canyon.

When we were invited to my grandniece Callie’s high school graduation in Spring Creek, Nevada, it was a perfect opportunity to investigate visiting some of the National Parks of Utah…definitely a bucket list item. After some research, I chose South West Adventure Tours. The small group format, opportunity to do some hiking and a one-week duration fit the bill. The tour started an ended in Salt Lake City, which was our flight destination.

We arrived in SLC late Sunday afternoon and checked into our hotel (Courtyard by Marriott) and found a great restaurant for a light dinner (Settebello Pizzaria) for some authentic Napoletana pizza…YUM!

We were ready to go at 7 am Monday morning and found our guide, Joe in the lobby along with our 9 travel mates for the next week – Barb and Gus (Ohio), Madelon (Ohio), Louise (Ohio), Janice (Pennsylvania), Scott, Mick and Aiden Warner (Grandfather, Father and Son from Ohio), Enid (New Jersey). And off we went!

Day 1 – University of Utah – Price, Canyonlands, Moab

Driving down Hwy 15, Joe explained that we would stop at the Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum in Price, Utah to get an appreciation of the lands and life that were 3 billions years in the making. We would be visiting and walking on these lands over the next week.

While in Price, Joe took us to Tangerine Eatery to order lunch for a picnic in Canyonlands National Park. Great little restaurant…the breakfasts looked amazing. Lunches resided on the back seat of the van, next to Aiden. There was some concern about having a teenager looking after them but they were well guarded!

Canyonlands National Park – Island in the Sky

Our visit to Canyonlands focused on the Island in the Sky . This section is flanked by the Green River to the west and the Colorado River to the east. It creates a mesa that appears to be an “island”, boasting views of horizons over 100 miles away.

We stopped at the White Rim Overlook to have our picnic lunch. It took a few passes to find a group leaving their picnic table. Once we parked and started setting up for lunch, we realized how windy it was! Everyone had one hand on their box lunch as they ate with the other! The sand was blowing everywhere.

After lunch we had some time to explore. Craig and I started on one trail with the others, but decided to walk the Gooseberry Trail that Joe recommended (about 30 – 40 minutes out and back). The varying terrain, interesting rock formations and views of Gooseberry and Monument Canyons are stunning, even with the gusty winds. We didn’t realize that none of the others had decided to take this trail. They were sheltered from the wind and sand in the van and Joe set out to find us. We were almost back when we met him. Oops!

Next stop was at the end of the Island in the Sky Road at the Grand View Point Overlook. We could see the definition of the White Rim which is a sandstone bench about 1200 ft below. Also visible is a section of White Rim Road which is about 100 miles long used by 4-wheelers to explore the area.

Final stop was at Mesa Arch, a famous photography spot at sunrise. An easy 15 minute walk brought us to this popular site and even in the afternoon, the views were amazing. Not too many people around late in the afternoon so we were able to get some good shots. Shout out to Gus (a fellow photographer in our group) for using my camera to take pictures of Craig and me.

We didn’t have time to have a look at Dead Horse State Park to see where the final scene of Thelma and Louise were filmed. It is located just outside the park boundaries. Next time…

Moab and an unfortunate discovery

Onward to Moab where we would spend the next two nights. Time for a shower before heading out for a group dinner. It was a this time that I noticed my wallet was missing. I thought it must have fallen out of my backpack in the van – but it wasn’t there. What can you do? I resigned myself to cancelling credit cards right away and replacing my driver’s license and other ID when I got home. Fortunately we still had Craigs credit and debit cards to use.

Dinner was good, but service was extremely slow. I’m thinking that Joe will be finding a different venue for the next tour group. Back to the hotel for a quiet evening. The hotel was spacious and comfortable and close to everything. Homewood Suites Moab

Next Post – Day 2 at Arches National Park

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