Bryce Canyon and surrounds

Panguitch, Utah, our first stop for adventure! We decided to just drive the first couple of days, and start with our first destination, Bryce Canyon National Park   This is Piute territory, and Panguitch, I learned, means Big Fish.    It is also Mormon territory, the settlers having followed part of  the same route  that we took to get here. And dare I not mention Butch Cassidy territory!  Not only do you see many references to him, and things named in his honor, but we actually passed the  Parker Homestead, where Leroy Parker, aka Butch Cassidy,  lived until 16, when he set out on his own.

                                                                           

 Still owned by the family, but no longer marked in any way, it is an abandoned wooden shack and barn.  


                                                                 

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon with its clear air, affords, the best visibility in the country, over  100 miles!  And that air, combined with the darkness of the night sky provides a view  of the stars and Milky Way that is unparalleled.  We arrived late afternoon to our campsite and went into the park, hoping to catch the views by fading light, and then stay for the evening sky.  We were not disappointed, and in fact, had an unplanned treat of having dinner at the Lodge, one of the CCC projects in 1923.  Not as elegant as some of the lodges, or even as charmingly rustic, but interesting, none the less.  When we emerged from dinner the lot was so dark, I wondered if we could find our car! I always knew that flashlight I keep in the glove box would come in handy!  And it did,  as we found our way to the visitor center to view the evening sky, where we were blown away by the number and brightness of the stars and the sheer magnitude of the Milky Way!  

The spires, if you will, are referred to as Hoodoos.  Some  ancients believed they were people who turned into the shapes, and one can see why they might have thought that.

Look closely and you see a hiker down there.  Clem would not go.  I thought we might the next day, but decided another course of action. 

Stunning country, there is hardly a road in Southern Utah that does not delight, but Utah’s famous Rt 12, deemed the second most beautiful road in the world, awaited us on day 2!  While it may have been doable with the coach, I was happy to have the car, not only to be able to manage the curves, but to easily turn out for the sights, which were plentiful.  The first stop was Red Canyon, and boy was it red!  

This arch was 13'6", our coach?  12'6".  A whole foot to spare!  

The next stop, a  short hike to Moss Cave and Waterfalls,  proved more challenging than its half mile length would have indicated, as we started at an  altitude of 6000 feet.The ditch where the water falls, was dug by the Mormons by  hand with crude tools and took over two years to complete, when they found that although the land was highly desirable to settle, there was a lack of water. That irrigation has been in operation since the 1800's.  Needless to say, my partner was moaning and groaning the entire hike!  

 When we next  pulled into the Petrified Forest State Park, and the ranger came out with a big smile and asked if we were up for a hike, she was met with a resounding NO!!  She laughed, and pointed up to a very high ridge, a mile up, and said that was where the petrified wood was, which was met with a “no way!”   A fun lady, she and Clem bantered, and she told us she loved her job, because her “real” job, as a Post Master, didn’t allow her to tell people to go take a hike!  She pointed the way to a U turn out of the park, and we continued on our way.  

Phew....we made it!  Half mile up, down hill back!

This stop explained how John Wesley Powell, on his second trip through this last uncharted area of the country, used the pink outcropping you see as a bearing.  His first trip, which we learned on our  previous trips, was down the Colorado River in a wooden boat!  Such amazing fortitude! 

The last stop was the most breathtaking, as it took in a view from the summit of  Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, and the Million Dollar span of highway that took five years to create running through it.   At this point, we turned back, as we had done the last section of the road from Captial Reef last year.  We have said many times that one could spend an entire month in Utah , with all it has to see, nd it seems we are doing it over the years!  

These folks pulled in at the outlook just after we did, in this amazing 1956 Lotus!  He said thank you only to my remark about his beautiful car, and answered Lotus to my query of the make.  I walked away.  Clem asked what year, and he stated it.  When Clem said how windy it must be, as it was for any of us that day, he just said, that is why we have hoods.  Ok!  Guess he is not a talker!  Too bad!  Could have been a really good story there! 

Yes, that is an RV down there! 

We returned tired from a full day on the road, and stopped at a local ice cream parlor, with retro furnishings, thinking they might serve burgers.  Oh well.....ice cream for dinner is always nice!!  Housed in an old movie theatre, I asked about the history, and the owner invited us to see the upstairs, where he is creating a museum with a huge old film projector, and rolls of film and memorabilia that had been salvaged after a fire in the building.  It has been lovingly restored, and they show a movie.....ONE....a couple times each day.   Not being anything we recognized, we opted to return to the coach for a quiet evening in preparation for our next stop.