Sunday, May 11, Happy Mother's Day, we woke up to about 3 inches of snow, 27 degrees and the wind was blowing. Brrrrr. I'd been "talking" to Chris about the snow, she suggested we take some pictures of the hoodoo's, it hadn't occurred to us, so we threw on our clothes and raced up to Fairyland Point for some pictures. The rest of the day we (I) stayed in, we went to dinner at the Cowboy Buffet at Ruby's Lodge, we both ordered off the menu, then we were really "bad" and brought home carrot cake and coconut cream pie. Yumm! Oh yea, then we walked Luci in snow flurries.
Monday, May 12, we went into Panguitch to buy groceries, of course we did some geo cacheing (we picked up 8) while we were in town. Two of them were on a hill overlooking the valley, geo cacheing will take you to places you normally wouldn't go. Gary hiked down a steep hill for one along a creek, I decided to stay in the car, I watched a snow storm cloud go across the valley on the other side against the mountains. I worked on our itinerary, we don't have any reservations past Capitol Reef. I don't want to be without reservations Memorial Week-end.
Tuesday, May 13, we left the cold Bryce Canyon for Capitol Reef, we took the long way because of the sketchy weather and very curvy road. It was an interesting drive, a backroad, saw very few cars. We stopped for lunch at Otter Creek Reservoir State Park, the guy wanted to charge us $10.00 for a picnic, we whined, so if we stayed only 45 minutes we wouldn't have to pay. 36 minutes later we were going down the road. They must have a summer tourist season, they had boat rentals and a funky looking restaurant. We arrived at Sandcreek RV park about 2:30 the owner Donna, is real nice. There is a horse corral alongside the park and beautiful red rock formations behind the park. It is BLM land with a couple of trailheads. Donna's horse (who Luci growls at) is real lonely, it's mate of 19 years died a few weeks ago.
When we pulled in we noticed a Mexican restaurant across the street that was filled with Harley's and more were pulling in. We got nosy so we had to check them out (plus there was a geo cache nearby), it was a Harley tour of Europeans and Brazilians. Off we went to check out the visitor center, the fellow was quite helpful, we'd asked him about Scenic Hwy 12, (the road we didn't take) he told us it was a "must see", a great day trip. Later we drove up to the BLM land to check it out, the road is too rocky to drive unless you don't care about your car. We'll do the hike later. We let Luci run, after spending the day in the coach she had a lot of spent up energy to burn off. And of course we found a geo cache.
Wednesday, May 14, I'm finally feeling like my old self, thank goodness. We took the 20 mile scenic drive through Capitol Reef National Park, stopping at the overlooks to snap a kajillion pictures. At one of the first signs there was an explanation of the colors in the rocks. The Chinle formation, the lighter, the Shinarium which is the gray and the Moenkopi, the red. We took of the main road to the Grand Wash Road, a rough and rocky road to see the Cassidy Arch, it turns out to see it easily you need to take a 3 mile walk up steep terrain, so we just saw it from afar. We drove on further to the end of the paved road to Capitol Gorge Rd. We had a nice picnic then left Luci in the car (it was cool enough) to hike up to The Tanks about a half mile. We ran across some petroglyphs then the Mormon Registry, with some of the names dating back to the 1860's. You'd think they would have know better than to deface the rock. I walked back before reaching the Tanks, I was worried about Luci. She was fine, as we waited for Gary she made some friends.
Thursday May 15, we decided this would be a good day to take the scenic drive down to Escalante, 112 miles rt. We climbed steadily after leaving Torrey to Dixie National Forest. The Ponderosa Pine were starting then into the Quaking Aspen. As we neared the summit of 9600 feet the hillsides were all Aspen, sort of a gray green color, the whitish color of the trunk and the green of the leaves just starting to bud out. There was still some snow at the top. We stopped at a meadow (just short of the overlook) to let Luci run. At the summit overlook you could see the Henry Mountains to the NE covered with snow, the Ponderosa Pine forest, a reservoir, and the rock formations of Capitol Reef at a distance. In the town of Boulder we stopped at Anasazi State Park Museum to see the Pueblos built in the 1100's. Archeologists uncovered 97 rooms 10 pit structures and thousands of artifacts. The Navajo's only stayed there for about 50 years, they aren't sure why, possibly draught. On our way to Escalante, the road started climbing in elevation again and got very curvy, we met a young couple from Montreal biking their way from Key West to Alaska. About halfway up the hill at an overlook we met him, his wife was still peddling up. Very interesting couple, they said the worst part of the trip was through West Texas, very flat road and relentless winds. As we entered Escalante (named for an early Spanish Explorer) we stopped at The Hole in the Rock Museum. A group of Mormons, on their way east from Cedar City to Bluff to start a mission, decided to take a short cut. All went well until they came across a very narrow cut, they ended up having to carve out a road. Once that was done getting through it was no picnic, it was so steep when they came down the other side people and horses had to hold the wagon back to keep it from racing forward. A little over 200 people, 84 wagons and a 1000 head of cattle went through the tiny cut in rock. At the museum we watched a film about their trek, I cannot imagine being a pioneer woman, I am such a princess. The museum gift shop included a number of homemade goods including a basket of crocheted balls on the floor, to our horror Luci snatched one up, I thought we were going to have to buy it but the ladies (who are dog people) let her have it. Later that night she chewed it up. One of the ladies said to be sure to take the Burr trail on the way back for some amazing scenery. After a delicious, thick chocolate shake we headed back to Torrey. We left Hwy 12 at Boulder to check out the Burr Trail, at first it was nothing spectacular then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!we started through more red rock, down a winding road to the bottom of the canyon to the end of the pavement where you could see across the valley to the Water Pocket Fold, warping rock created 65 million years ago, uplifting the Colorado Plateau. The 34 mile rt was worth the drive. We'd left the RV park about 10 and got back about 8. 146 miles.
Friday, May 16, we went looking for a barber for Gary. There aren't any in Torrey banks either), we ended up two towns down. I wasn't ready to get back in the car. Gary asked where the best pizza in the area was, Rim Rock just north of Torrey. We sat outside, enjoyed an adult beverage and the pie was wonderful. We kind of vegged after that until about 8 Gary suggested we go to the Cowboy bar that just opened up for the season that night. We couldn't believe how huge it is, there was live music, dancing, pool tables, a "sports bar" section and restaurant seating including outside. We first sat in the saddle "stools" at the bar, we did get a picture but you'll have to go on facebook to see it, then switched to regular stools. They were regular saddles it must have cost a fortune there were about 15 or so. Gary visited with a ranch manager, a real cowboy, he looked like he came directly out of the westerns on TV. I visited with a local fellow who was raised in the area, moved away to earn a living then came back to retire. He bought a 100 year old Victorian house and renovated it. The old hairdresser in me brought out his life story. He came in to dance, there was an old high school girlfriend there he danced with. He said she's has a rough life and didn't age well. Snoopy old me I asked how old he is, just about 72, I was surprised, I thought he was older. (I didn't say that though) We did a little dancing, the altitude makes it difficult and had a little snack.
Enjoy the pictures, as usual it's hard to choose out of the 100's Gary takes.
TTFN
Gary and Pam
Entering Bryce Canyob
Back from Fairyland
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