OK, so we give up. We spent two nights in Bryce Canyon NP and on the second night the temperature slid into the teens and our water lines froze. Decided to skip Escalante Staircase and Kodachrome SP and headed down south to Zion.
Highlights of Bryce:
- the ride into the park along scenic Byway 12, America’s first All-American Highway, beneath Red Canyon’s bright red cliffs and through two tunnels
- the road to Rainbow Point and its many pullouts and vistas, including Bryce Point overlooking haunting spires and hoodoos, wishing I were 20 years younger so I could take the Under the Rim trail and look up at them instead of down
- dinner at Ruby’s, a Bryce Canyon institution, dating back to the early 1900s
- taking a walk to Piracy Point (never did find out where the name comes from), a short trail that led to the edge of a cliff without barriers to speak of. Made Ron a little nervous.
- coming face to face with one of the many ravens we’ve seen on this trip at the Natural Bridge overlook. This one reminded me of the “gladiators” at the entrance to the coliseum in Rome, elegantly posing for photos and then demanding payment (we didn’t feed him, though)
- not such a highlight but a memorable moment nonetheless: when we arrived we circled the campgrounds as usual, looking for just the right site – this being November, there were quite a few. We pulled into #23 which did have a tag but it read 5/11 so we figured it had been left behind by a spring visitor and the campground host was too busy to notice and pull it. There were no other signs of it being occupied – no chairs, no lanterns left behind – so we settled in for two nights. The next morning the host tapped on our window to let us know that the site was indeed taken by a Canadian couple who used the European convention of writing dates – first month, then day. Ooops. She was gracious and so were they when we went over to apologize but we were so embarrassed. Oblivious Americans, all.
Highlights of Zion:
- finding out the shuttle bus was still running and being able to park near the visitors center to board it. And finding that, while not nearly as crowded as when we first drove through in September, Zion is still a pretty busy place in November.
- seeing a rock climber over 300 feet up on a cliff face, hauling what looked like a duffel bag of supplies up with him, maybe to spend the night at the top?
- taking a short walk on the Grotto Trail and walking right by a mule deer munching on the grass behind a brush pile
- learning how the Mormon settlers that followed Brigham Young to Utah named the peaks and cliffs in the area referencing the bible – the Three Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob); the White Throne; Angels Landing and more.
- realizing that another hotel stop was what we both wanted and choosing Flanigan’s Inn and Wellness Spa right outside the park instead of a generic motel to rest. Very lush, very comfy, very warm.
Tomorrow we continue heading south. When we first planned our cross-country saga we thought we’d be escaping the cold, but it turns out almost all the places we have wanted to see were in the mountains, and the mountains in the fall are darn frigid. But enough is enough and tomorrow we head for the desert to spend our final weeks before going home for the holidays.
The Ultimate Road Trip 