Month: May 2018

From Cedaredge, we drove over the Grand mesa and got back on I-70 to Denver. Except for a 30+ minute delay in Glenwood Canyon for construction, the drive went smoothly. It was wonderful to see the mountains around Vail as we drove over Vail Pass.

Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon while stopped for construction

Rocky Mountains from Vail Pass

Had two great days with Linda’s brother and sister-in-law, John and Missy and got to see some friends as well.

On Wednesday, we headed to Denver International Airport to catch the Bus with wings (Southwest) home.  The trip home went smoothly, but we were happy and tired from all the travels and glad to be home in Wisconsin.

Started the day by visiting Capitol Reef NP. More stunning scenery, plus a little history.  The first stop was Twin Rocks, followed by Chimney Rock.

We then drove to Panorama point, saw the Castle and took a portion of the Scenic Drive.

We then headed east and saw the petroglyphs and Capitol Dome.

We took one last drive near the park on Notom road and saw our last of the Utah rock formations.

After leaving the part we headed east on Utah 24 to I-70 and Colorado. We had two wonderful days visiting our friends in Cedaredge, CO, including visits to a winery and cidery (what a surprise). Both the wine and the cider were very good.

 

 

 

 

From Bryce Canyon we took Utah 12, a scenic byway, to Torrey, UT our next stop. They have tee shirts that state “I survived Highway 12” but the road is very good, although a little twisty in sections. There are visitor centers at Red Canyon, Cannonville (for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument), Escalante, and Torrey. Make sure to stop at some of them, especially if you are planning on taking any back road side trips to get the current road conditions. Even if you stay on 12 the vistas are amazing and the scenery changes as you go from south to north.

Our first stop after a wonderful breakfast at Rustler’s Restaurant in Tropic was Kodachrome Basin State Park. The feature in this park are sandstone chimneys. These are very unusual and highly concentrated in the park. To get to some of the chimneys you need to go in unpaved roads, which are pretty good. They will take you into open range so watch out for cattle.

There are a number of overlooks on Utah 12 and the views are great. From some the view is difficult to capture with a camera, but we did take some pictures at Powell Point and Boynton overlooks. Also some of the overlooks do have restroom facilities (clean but primitive).

Powell Point

View from Boynton Overlook

We also stopped at Escalante Petrified Forrest State Park.  Didn’t have time to hike any of the trails, but there were some interesting samples of petrified wood including parts of a very large tree. Worth a stop.

View in Petrified Forest Park

petrified wood

part of large petrified tree

We are looking forward to seeing Capitol Dome National Park tomorrow and driving to Colorado to see our friends.

 

 

We started the day by driving to the south end of Bryce Canyon to Rainbow Point and Yovimpa Point. The views were great and a real warm up for the rest of the day.

Bill at Yovimpa Point

Linda at Yovimpa Point

View from Rainbow Point

View from Rainbow Point

View from Rainbow Point

We then drove to the Ponderosa Point, and the Agua Canyon overlooks. More beautiful views.

View from Ponderosa Canyon Overlook

View from Ponderosa Canyon Overlook

Us at Agua Canyon Overlook

View from Agua Canyon Overlook

We then went to the Natural Bridge Overlook to see the famous Natural Bridge.

Hoodoo at Natural Bridge Overlook

Natural Bridge

Next overlook was Fairview Point. Had the first view of lots of Hoodoos.

Hoodoos at Fairview Overlook

At the Swamp Canyon Overlook, we decided to hike a little way down the Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail. The views were well worth the effort and the trail also went thru a pine forest that was quiet and beautiful.

View from the trail

Linda on the trail

Woods on the trail plus a hoodoo

View from the trail

We then drove to the Mossy Cave Trailhead on Utah 12 and took the short but steep Mossy Cave trail. While on the trail we saw the Water Canyon waterfall and the fast running stream. The Mossy Cave is not really a cave but a seep where the water comes thru the rock.

Waterfall on the water canyon

Linda at Mossy Cave

Linda on the trail

View from the trail

We then took a lunch break in the small town of Tropic. After lunch, we returned to the hotel and boarded the Bryce Canyon Shuttle bus. We decided to take the shuttle to the more popular overlooks because of lack of parking and we had decided we wanted to hike a portion of the Rim Trail. We ended up hiking the Rim Trail from Inspiration point to The Bryce Canyon Lodge near Sunset Point. It was mostly down hill and gave us spectacular views of Bryce. We started at Bryce Point which gives wonderful views. We also kike a short way down the Peekaboo Trail.

 

View from Bryce Point

View from the Peekaboo Trail

View from the Peekaboo Trail

Next up was Inspiration Point. More wonderful views.

View from Inspiration Point

View from the Rim Trail

Linda on the Rim Trail

View from Sunset Point

If you get a chance to visit Bryce Canyon, take time to hike on a trail. You will be rewarded with brilliant views that people who stick to the overlooks will never see.

Tomorrow we are off to Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument and driving to just outside  Capitol Reef National Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We said good-bye to Zion with a drive back thru the east side of Zion. If you come to Zion, don’t miss the east side.  We did have to wait about 15 minutes to get back into the park from Springdale.

We then drove thru the beautiful Utah countryside to Cedar Breaks National Monument.  This is about 75 minutes west of Bryce Canyon and the road thru the park is closed for the winter. We were please the learn on Tuesday that the road was open but the park itself won’t open until May 25th. We literally broke the ice off of the park (at 10,350 ft it is much higher than even Bryce Canyon).  The views were definitely worth the side trip.

After we checked in to the hotel at Bryce, we decided to take it east as the elevation is about 7000 ft. We went to see the Ebenezer’s Barn and Grill show. It was well done and the country music was very good.

After the show, we decided to drive to Bryce Point to see the stars. The view of the night sky was amazing. So many more stars than we can normally see. We will be going into the park tomorrow and will be back then,

We went back to the Park this morning to see the Emerald Pools and the Court of the Patriarchs.The park was a little more crowded and we had to wait “Disneyland” style for about 10 minutes to get on the park shuttle

The trail to the Emerald Pools was a little steep, but worth the effort.  We also saw “Bob” the boulder, who recently feel as part of a rock slide and blocked the trail in February. The views as we walked the trail were wonderful.

After we finished that trail we took the shuttle to the Court of the Patriarchs. The trail was short and the view from the top was great.

After the Court trail we headed back to the Visitors Center and said good-bye to the main canyon.

We then drove to the Kolob Terrace Road on the west side of the park. The road climbed about 3000 feet and went into and out of the park but ended at the Lava Point Overlook.  The long distance views of the park gave a different idea of the park.

We are off to Bryce Canyon Park tomorrow.  We hope to also visit Cedar Breaks national Monument along the way.

 

 

 

There are no words to describe Zion, you just have to come here to see for yourself. Everywhere you look is a beautiful view of the canyon. We started the day by taking the shuttle (the park road is closed to private vehicles much of the year) to the last stop where there is a walk along the river (Riverside Walk). It is paved, although there are a few alternate trails that are sandy right next to the Virgin River. The canyon narrows as you go north along the river. At the end of the walk, some folks continue in the river to go thru the Narrows.

We took a guided tour of the north end of the canyon. It stopped at the Great White Throne. It was spectacular in the early evening.

We hiked a number of “easy” trails. One of them went to the Weeping Rock. There are a number of places in the canyon where the rocks “weep” water. It is a result of water finding an impermeable rock layer and this causes the water to go sideways thru the rock. Not only was this very interesting, but the view from the rock was wonderful. The sparkles in the video are the water drops falling from the rock.

We are returning to Zion tomorrow to hike a trail to the Emerald Pools and we are also going to take a ride to Lava Point, a part of the park most people don’t visit.

We are at our hotel near Zion park.  It was a long and beautiful drive. We started the day with breakfast on the road.  We were able to get a picture of a saguaro cactus in bloom near the restaurant.

Saguaro Cactus with blooms

Bill at breakfast

Linda at Breakfast

Along the way, we stopped at Sunset Crater and Wapatki National Monuments. The loop road connecting the two parks is amazingly beautiful, plus the lava flows and the pueblos

Linda at the lava flow

View of painted desert from loop road

Linda at Wukoki pueblo

Blue sage at Wukoki pueblo

View of San Francisco mountains from Wukoki pueblo

Wupatki pueblo

We had seen comments in travel books about how beautiful US 89 is. Much of the drive from Flagstaff to Page, AZ is hard to describe. The colors are stunning and the change as you drive is amazing.

On US 89

I took a video at an overlook stop near Page, AZ that shows some of the beauty.

We got to the East entry of Zion about 7:00 PM and the sun setting on the formations gave us a taste of what we hope to see over the next few days.

Linda at Checkerboard Mesa

Hills near the Zion – Mt. Carmel tunnel

Got to our hotel and checked in and walked to a smokehouse restaurant for an nice BBQ dinner. Looking forward to seeing the Zion canyon tomorrow.

We decided to celebrate Mother’s Day a day early with a brunch at The Herb Box in Downtown Scottsdale. Had a lovely time eating outside as the day was not as hot as it has been.

After brunch we walked around and did a little shopping in Old Scottsdale.

Had dinner at Debbie and Darrell’s apartment and watched our last sunset in Phoenix. We set out for Zion National Park tomorrow.

 

 

Started the day with a relaxing breakfast that included some of the best gluten free pancakes I have ever had. We were at the Cafe Tryst near our hotel and we enjoyed eating outside before it got too hot here.

Linda at Breakfast

We went to the Heard Museum and learned a lot about Southwestern Native tribes and people.  The jewelry, pottery and baskets we spectacular. Travel note, if you are visiting someone who lives in Phoenix and you want to go to one of the many museums, have them get a Culture Pass from the Phoenix Library.  These are good for admission for two. There is a limit at each branch and they are good for 7 days. This tip saved us $27 at the Heard. Afterwards we went to an Indian restaurant near the Paradise Valley Mall called Marigold Maison.

Debbie and Linda at the Heard Museum

Bill, Debbie and Linda at the Heard Museum

Finished the day with a belated birthday dinner and one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, El Encanto in Cave Creek.  This is the original one and is very charming.  The margaritas are great and so is the food.  We had a nice table next to the pond inside the restaurant.

The interior pond at El Encanto

Darrell and Debbie at El Encanto

All of us after a great dinner

More adventures tomorrow in Phoenix. It is supposed to only be in the low 90’s!!