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| >> May 2013 >>> Southern Utah national parks, part 1  Las Vegas, NV and Virgin River Gorge, AZIn March I took the kind of roadtrip I'd been itching to do: 2,200 miles to and around Southern Utah. iTrixie the papillon and I started off the evening of March 8 and headed south down I-5, then turned east at Bakersfield and slept in a rest stop somewhere around Barstow, having covered almost 400 highway miles. The next day we went on to Vegas - not to gamble or sight-see, but to visit one of my favorite people and fellow Big Brother addict/site owner, Attwx of the fantastic Attwx.com. We had a terrific time hanging out, catching up, and eating way too much Chinese food. From there I headed northeast to cut through the northwest corner of Arizona, and was shocked and awed by the highway's sudden entrance into the Virgin River Gorge. It was exciting (and rather hairy) high speed driving through spectacular and very distracting scenery that came out of nowhere, the first of many such experiences on this trip. I pulled off to stay at the Virgin River Canyon Campground, a beautiful spot run by BLM. For only $8, I had a lovely site with a nice paved level pad, picnic table, grill, clean restrooms, and at night, a glimpse of the highway lights in the distance and more stars than I can imagine. Oh, and scenery to die for. These shots were all taken from the same place, facing different directions. Pretty cool place to park for the night!     The rock walls aren't unlike the Grand Canyon, and they changed colors in the same way as the afternoon led into dusk. There was a trail down to the river just behind me, and a big picnic and day use area on the other side of the park.Trixie saw her first jackrabbits and was tempted to chase them, but they were pretty big and she's rather timid, not to mention always leashed. I saw my first blooming Joshua trees, and had these gorgeous views to go to sleep and wake up to.  Zion National Park, UTFrom there I went into Utah and the first of several national parks on this trip, Zion. I poked around a bit (and loved) the little town of Springdale near Zion's south entrance before heading into the park proper and South Campground to set up camp. This was the only place I'd made reservations and I had a couple of nights here, so I decided to just kick back and relax after walking the trail along the nearby stream and checking out the visitor center. Towering red rocks were all around and even though a patch of snow remained in a sunless spot behind me, the weather was warm and sunny. Most of the campers there were hikers in tents, but I've done my time tent camping and I was happy to fire up my generator to make coffee or run my microwave - I've earned my creature comforts. The next day I hit Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, the main road in the park. Private cars aren't allowed on it between late March and early November - visitors must use the park shuttles - so I lucked out timing-wise and was able to take my time, go where I wanted for however long I wanted, and most importantly, have Trixie along with me.    Scenic Drive is very appropriately named, with one crazy rock mountain after another flanking both sides of the road, each with multi-color stripes of rock layers, and they just kept coming. The road travels along Zion Canyon which is a huge gorge carved by the Virgin River over millions of years, similar to how the Colorado created Grand Canyon. In fact, the beauty of the place easily rivals Grand Canyon: the scale is smaller, but there's a lot more variety of grandeur. But the Google Maps satellite view shows more forces at work here than just water, at least to my untrained eye: the surrounding landscape looks like it was repeatedly and violently slashed with a gigantic knife. The gorge gradually narrows as you go, and the walls and giant rock formations slowly close in on both sides. It's simply a magnificent place, and totally mind-blowing. Vine hasn't come to Android yet, but I posted a (very quick) phone video showing 360° at one of the pull-outs on this fabulous road.     Thanks to a tip from Attwx, I parked at the end of the road and settled Trixie in the van so I could walk the no-dogs-allowed trail known as Riverside Walk, and I'm glad I did! It's a nice, easy paved trail that continues to follow the river towards The Narrows, where the walls come close to touching each other. There were people of all ages and abilities on the trail the day I was there, from hardcore well-equipped hikers to kids in strollers, and even one older lady being pushed along in a wheelchair. She occasionally got out of it and walked up or down the slight inclines rather than bounce out of her chair, joking with whoever was nearby about how fit she really was. Lots of birds were flying over the river and squirrels scampered along with us hikers, and at one point I came upon a family of deer who were munching away on a hillside just a few feet from the trail.    When the paved trail ended after a mile or so, I turned around to go back, as did most of the other casual visitors. The hardcore hikers kept going, crossing the waist-deep river to head into Zion Narrows, which has been called the best hike in the National Park system, but a long and difficult one requiring proper shoes, equipment, et cetera. Well, I'm a lightweight these days so I headed back to my little van and my little dog, and drove back out Scenic Drive as the gorge opened up in reverse.That night I stayed in Watchman Campground which was mostly RVs, and as always, I enjoyed strolling around, chatting with neighbors, answering questions about my van, and marveling at the huge variety of rigs people have. Zion National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park, UT The next day I headed east on Highway 9, up steep switchbacks and through Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, a 1.1-mile engineering marvel through solid rock that was completed in 1930 to cut 70 miles off the route between Zion and Bryce Canyon, as well as easier access to Grand Canyon's North Rim.    The landscape kept changing every few miles, with one impossible rock formation after another, of all types and colors, interspersed with vistas of distant buttes and valleys. In some areas the rocks had hard craggy angles and others were made of swirls that almost looked fluid. The pic on the right below is Checkerboard Mesa, appropriately named for its cross-hatch markings which were further delineated by bits of snow remainders. Click to see a larger version: it was astounding, and a lovely place to stop for lunch.     Eventually I turned northeast on Highway 89, east on 12 and my first hoodoos (described below) plus a drive-through rock at Red Canyon, and then south to Bryce Canyon National Park. Elevation there is 8,000 feet or so, and there was a lot of snow on the ground, including the campground.All the sites and most of their tables and grills were under a couple feet of snow, but I managed to find one with a level turnout to park. Despite all the snow, it was a lovely sunny day, and only a light jacket was needed. I was met at the self check-in kiosk by a herd of deer, and then Trixie and I headed out for another park's scenic drive.    Bryce Canyon NP's main road has a series of side roads, turnouts, lookouts, and trailheads, with names like Fairyland Point, Inspiration Point, and Sunrise and Sunset Points. Some weren't as accessible as others due to the snow, but most were at least partially open and looked out over the canyon and its bizarre series of canyons and spires, with incredible vistas in the distance (that I'd soon be traveling across). Several of the viewpoints overlook Bryce Amphitheater, a huge bowl full of thousands of rock spires known as hoodoos, which were formed by erosion over the years as canyon walls gradually gave way to arches, and then the arch tops fell in, leaving only the side supports. It's a truly alien landscape, and one that photos, at least my cellphone photos, can't really do justice to.   Click for larger versions of the left and right pics for more detail, and to grasp the scale The entire park has loads of day and backcountry trails including several through the amphitheatre and hoodoos, but once again I was on the driving tour plan this trip and didn't qualify nor buy an I HIKED THE HOODOOS t-shirt sold at the visitor center. Back at camp, it was still warm enough to sit in the sunshine and read for awhile before moving inside. It did get cold that night, but my little propane heater and little papillon dog kept me warm and cozy.  Highway 12, Anasazi State Park, and Boulder Mountain, UTThe next day I headed back up to Highway 12 to cover 120 miles or so of fantastic roads and scenery to get to Capitol Reef National Park. This road's alias is Scenic Byway 12, a very appropriate name once again. This photo is one of the best from the trip, and illustrates the kind of beautiful drive I had this day - click to see a larger version. I've decided to use it for this site's header pic. I left the hoodoos in Bryce, but kooky formations kept coming along as the scenery changed from reds to browns to grays and back again, nearly always with geology stripes, and skies as big as Montana's. This is easily one of the most spectacular roads anywhere, alternating across deserts and mountains and ranch land with gentle curves, long straightaways, and steep switchbacks, featuring countless panorama views and bizarre close-up details.     Due to situations at home, I had to make this trip shorter than originally planned, and I had to pass by turnoffs to places with picturesque names like Kodachrome Basin, Escalante Petrified Forest, and Hell's Backbone. But I was able to catch many glimpses of Grand Staircase National Monument as I went, named for its series of huge cliffs of different colors indicating layers of different types and ages of rock.I did stop at Anasazi State Park and Museum in Boulder, which was a wonderful place. It's got thousands of artifacts on display and a lot of info about the way of life for the Anasazi, ancient people who lived in the area long before the Navajo and Hopi. The park also has a life-size reproduction of a pueblo building, and its centerpiece is the Coombs archaeological site, where excavations have uncovered ruins of 97 rooms and 10 pit structures so far. There's a self-guided interpretive trail through the ruins which really was like stepping back in time to the 12th century.    From there Highway 12 climbed up to the 11,000 feet summit of Boulder Mountain where a solid snowpack and leafless aspens turned the sunny spring day into a winter wonderland, and then back down the other side. The views from the top were phenomenal, with open plains and the snow-capped Henry Mountains in the distance. The jutting red diagonal arrowhead formation in the middle of the right-hand photo was my destination for the day, Capitol Reef National Park - click to see a larger version, and read on.   |
entries latest october/november 2013 ~ brannan island, pinnacles march 2013 ~ capitol reef, arches, moab, donner march 2013 ~ virgin river gorge, zion, bryce, anasazi january 2013 ~ pinnacles, peacocks, omelettes, lassen june 2012 ~ burney falls, death valley, turkeys may 2011 ~ delta, eucalyptus, redwoods march/april 2011 ~ diablo, morgan hill, delta, chabot february 2011 ~ sundial, shasta, river road, delta, olema january 2011 ~ columbia, chabot, diablo, preparations much more to come, hopefully low frills I'm not set up for comments, blogrolls, profiles and the like, but please follow and/or talk to me on Twitter. I'm also on Facebook but it's pretty much focused on my Big Brother site Hamsterwatch, and anyway, I prefer the short attention span aspect of Twitter follow me on Instagram where most of my travel pics show up in a timelier manner than they do here  about me I believe the essence of a person is what counts, and that comes out through words, actions, and creations, not vital stats. Also, since I'll be on my own out there on the open road, I'm not real keen on making myself too visible. Suffice to say I'm a crotchety, intuitive, decrepid old lady who's equally appreciative of life's basics and its complexity. I like unicorns, rainbows and long walks on the beach reality tv, documentaries & unique movies of all types, memorable fiction, being awestruck, and nature's majesty. I do financial transcription work as well as running websites of my own and for a few clients. Serial killers fascinate me. I have an adorable little papillon dog but I only make her wear clothes on special occasions. Or when it's very cold. Good Sam RV Parks: Top rated parks across the country. Listings on over 2,100 RV parks!  |
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