Northern Edge of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – July 01, 2015

Today, we drove the car east on highway 12, past Bryce canyon, to Escalante. Highway 12 is considered by some to be one of the most scenic drives. It is not recommended for commercial trucks or RVs, though. The highway skirts the northern edge of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

A nice thunderstorm blew up in the afternoon and cooled things off for us. Lots of thunder and lightning. It was nice to sit back and watch it from the motorhome with a glass of wine.

 

 

Pipe Spring National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument – June 30, 2015

Tuesday was another day of driving. We drove south to Pipe Spring National Monument and then over to the southern part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

There’s not a whole lot around Pipe Spring National Monument. However, it was interesting to hear about the conflict between the Paiutes and the Mormon pioneers. The Mormons built a stone structure, Winsor Castle, directly over the springs as a stronghold against raiding Indians. They maintained a cattle ranch and delivered butter, cheese, and cattle to St. George, Utah. It took four days to travel from the spring to St. George. The castle was also a hideout for polygamous wives after federal laws were passed against polygamy. The Paiutes were forced to move from the area after they no longer had access to the spring and the cattle destroyed the native plants they depended on for food.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is huge, nearly 1.9 million acres. It consists of cliffs and plateaus of many different colors: vermillion, white, gray, and pink. The more interesting features of the park are only accessible by dirt roads; most of which require a high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle. We drove up Johnson Canyon, as it was paved. I didn’t take many pictures.

 

 

North Rim of the Grand Canyon – June 29, 2015

Last Monday, we went the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It was about 120 miles (one way) from our camp in Glendale, Utah, but definitely worth the drive. The north rim isn’t quite as spectacular as the south rim, but still awe inspiring. The cliffs don’t drop off quite as sharply, but rather step down.

The weather was cooler than we expected; high 80s to low 90s. We had a nice hike near the lodge, and then drove to Cape Royal and Point Imperial.

Grand Canyon Lodge

Angel's Window

 

June 27 and 28, 2015 – Zion National Park

Friday was our chore day; laundry, groceries, and general housekeeping. Saturday and Sunday we spent in Zion National Park. Did I mention that the National Park annual pass has already paid for itself?

We visited Zion National Park in March last year. I’ve posted some pictures at the end of the blog from that trip.

Saturday, we took the Zion park shuttle all the way to the end of Zion Canyon to the Temple of Sinawava. It is a vertical-walled natural amphitheater approximately 3,000 feet deep. We took the Riverside walk (a paved path 2.2 miles, round trip) to where The Narrows begin. Once you get into The Narrows, you are basically walking in the Virgin River. There is no set path. The water ranged from ankle deep to waist deep, depending on your course. We wore water shoes. Big mistake. If you ever go, be sure to wear sturdy boots with ankle support. Our hike only lasted about an hour, round trip. I was amazed at how many people attempted it, though. Some of them only wearing flip-flops or sandals.

There was one man on the Riverside walk that had to be rescued for heat exhaustion, and a stupid kid that was climbing down into the canyon using a rope and fell about 30 feet. Both seemed to being doing well, but you should definitely carry a lot of water with you in Zion and be smart.

Sunday we took the shuttle to the Temple of Sinawava, again; however, this time we took our bikes. The shuttles have room for 2 to 3 bikes. If you start at the Temple of Sinawava, the ride is mostly downhill through the Zion Canyon. There was one small incline where we had to pedal a bit. We stopped and rescued some other bikers. They were with an outfitting company, but they did not have the proper valve adapter to fill a flat on a little girl’s bike. We had an adapter, but it only worked with our CO2 cartridge. Nice ride. Go early and definitely take the downhill ride. :-)

The following photos are from March of last year.

This is Mike on the way to Emerald Pools. Very chilly in the morning in March. By the time we made it to the upper pools, though, we had our coats off.

Upper Emerald Pools

 

June 25, 2015 - Bryce Canyon, Utah

The rumors we heard about Cedar Breaks being a "little Bryce Canyon" were correct. Bryce Canyon is like Cedar Breaks on steroids! We were surprised that it was only in the 90s in the park. The sun was intense, though.

The park shuttle only stops at the most spectacular points in the park. Since parking is hard to find, we took the shuttle to Bryce Point and hiked on the Rim Trail to Inspiration Point and from there to Sunset Point. We then drove to the southern points of the park that the shuttle doesn’t stop at.

We saw lots of prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and lizards. We also saw quite a few pronghorns, but there was never a good spot to pull off the road for photos.

Cedar Breaks, Utah

We are in Glendale, Utah. The campground we are staying at used to be a KOA, but is now privately owned. There are horses in meadows on two sides of us and a creek on another. We've been enjoying feeding the horses apples and carrots. We will be staying here for about a week, as it is close to several of the national parks and monuments.

On Wednesday, we went to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Some people call it a “little Bryce Canyon”. I bought a Passport to the national parks at the visitor center. You can stamp your passport at all the national parks/monuments across the United States.

Navajo lake, on  the way to Cedar Breaks.

 

 

Cedar Breaks is really close to Brian Head. We went through the resort area and it was deserted. I’m really surprised that there weren’t more people there considering it’s so close to Cedar Breaks.