3rd -6th June 2019
Having navigated our way through the one-way tunnel we left Zion National Park and headed towards our next destination, Bryce Canyon National Park. Utah has five National Parks, and along with the Grand Canyon National Park, they are all close enough together so that a loop drive to see them all is easily achievable in 10-14 days. It must be one of the most beautiful road-trip loops in the world, with just endless miles and miles of jaw-dropping scenery. As we cruise through this area of the States we find ourselves, like countless others, knocking off National Parks as if we were on safari in Africa bagging the ‘big five’. The National Parks do have a strange draw.
Facts: 60% of the population of Utah are Mormons. Utahans eat twice the amount of lime green Jell-O (often with added shredded carrot) as the rest of the population. Utah has more plastic surgeons per capita than any other state. I am not sure if these facts are related.
A modest 90 mile drive brought us to Bryce Canyon City. Not really a city, more a small gateway town comprising mainly of the sprawling arms of an long established business called Ruby’s, grown from a small staging post into a great enterprise that seems to have completely taken over the town with a large hotel, a ‘dinner show’ restaurant, the only grocery shop, and a campsite and RV park. This is where we were staying. We had climbed to 8000ft elevation, and the t-shirt and shorts that I had put in in the morning were definitely not cutting the mustard, the temperature having dropped by a good 20F. After setting up camp, availing myself of another layer of clothing, we stretched our legs with a foot tour around the camp. This is a great opportunity to be nosy and check out other people’s rigs. It is also an entirely socially acceptable way of spending time because, as a rule, RVers love having their rigs admired and gawked at. That night was a bit of a shock to the system, as the temperature dropped to near freezing. We had remembered to put a blanket on the bed, but not to shut the roof vents. Duh. You live and learn. Crazy that we had been struggling to sleep due to the heat only a few nights previously. That’s elevation for you.
Our day in Bryce Canyon started at a leisurely 10.30am. With picnic packed we caught the free shuttle bus into the park from the bus stop right outside the camp. The shuttle here is not compulsory like it is in Zion, but I am not sure why you would chose not to use it and instead battle to find a car parking space. We got off the bus at the most distant stop from the visitors centre where there was a trail called ‘Peek-a-boo’that went down into the canyon base. There is definitely a psychological difference between hiking up a hill and hiking down into a canyon. With the former the hard work of the first half of the walk is rewarded with a splendid view at the summit and one is safe in the knowledge that getting home will be easier. For a canyon hike, the opposite is true. Coupled with the thin air, there was definitely some heavy breathing back up the hill at the end. It was very much worth it though. Bryce Canyon is a visual feast of colourful rock stacks and formations, weathered by wind, rain and snow rather than a river. It is epic.
Despite the climb out of the canyon, when we got back to the rim trail it was still quite early in the day, and we still had some life left in our legs so we decided to escape the modest crowds and walk all the way home rather than take the shuttle bus again. This added about 3.5 kms to our walk but it was easy going along a beautifully paved cycle trail through regenerating forest. It was almost deserted with our only fellow souls being a few deer.
By the time we arrived home we had covered about 15km in total and definitely earned eating and drinking credits. (Despite the credits, I fear that we are still generally in arrears in this department, but you do what you can do…) After a wash and brush up we shared some drinks and nibbles with a couple of fellow campers called Janet and Bill from Colorado Springs, whom we had met on our ramble through the RV park the afternoon before. We had a very lovely few hours of chat and tales with them outside their trailer before the cool wind broke up the party. They were heading in the same direction as us from here, and even going to be staying in the same camp in Moab, but we will be just ahead of them, and leave on the day that they arrive.
The next day we said our goodbyes and headed off to our next stop, Torrey, the small town that services visitors to our next destination, Capitol Reef National Park. The drive was, you guessed it, stunning, along a designated scenic byway, Highway 12. I am not sure what constitutes such a designation as the whole blimmin’ place is gorgeous. The road led us up our first serious climb of 3,000ft, up to 9,200 ft over Boulder Mountain. There were still patches of snow up here.. Big Dave managed it slowly but surely, flip-flopping between 3rd and 4th gear, looking for the elusive, Harry Potter-esque, 3 and 1/2 gear. For all his greatness, Big D only has four gears and although we don’t mention it within his earshot, we wish he was a diesel…..shhhhh….. We were happy that he had recently had his new water pump and glad to be up and over the top without coming close to over heating. Others were not so lucky and we passed more than one truck/car pulled over with its bonnet (hood for the Americans) up.
Torrey is a small place. A cluster of petrol stations, hotels and RV parks, and a few restaurants to nourish the travellers. Our roost was at one end of town, a small, slightly shabby place with a chilled out, homely feel and a killer view of the end of Capitol Reef. It was run by a displaced, surfer dude type and his wife, moved from San Diego a while back. The other advantage of this park was that it was across the road from one of ‘Southern Utah’s finest restaurants’, Cafe Diablo, a modern Mexican bistro if you can imagine such a thing. After a relaxed afternoon of pottering and fixing a few things, we washed and wandered over for dinner. It was just as well that we had booked, as its reputation was seemingly deserved and it was packed. We ate outside on the veranda in the sunny warmth of the mere 6,800 ft elevation and had a great meal. Nick’s rattlesnake cakes and my spicy risotto were the stars of the show. Our evening was mildly irritated by the loud brash woman sat behind us who felt it necessary to have a maximum-volume opinion on everything and engage all around her in conversation about herself. We were not spared and as we were leaving she talked at us too. Her husband looked sheepish and long suffering. We did however learn that they had been to Kerikeri, our NZ home town for many years. Now that is unusual in these parts, and they had a nice dog with them too, so two redeeming features.
In the morning we packed up and headed off on our way. Our plan for the day was to drive through Capitol Reef National Park, stop along the way to do a short hike, and then continue on to our next stop, Moab. Capitol Reef is described as a ‘wrinkle in the earth’s crust’. It’s 100 mile long monocline, or one-sided fold in the otherwise horizontal rock layers created over millions of years by the slow but powerful processes of deposition, uplift and erosion. (Yes, I might have read that somewhere…. ) Anyway. It is another magnificent sight. Our walk was up a narrow gorge, or wash. Bone dry today, but intermittently filled with a raging torrent of destructive water cascading down from the hills, carving an every deeper slice out of the bedrock. But not today. Thankfully. It was roasting hot and an hour’s amble was plenty. No point in adding our bleached skeletons to the tourist attractions. Having survived our walk we hit the road again, leaving Capitol Reef, and suffered another gorgeous journey over to the town of Moab.
