7/3 A day full of Bryce Canyon

My sunburn is finally better!!! Last night was the first night that I haven't been kept awake by pain. So no more pain, but this morning my neck is peeling like a snake. I still plan on wearing the neck scarf, to keep from repeating my mistake.

This morning we drove into Bryce again. We parked the car at the Museum and took the shuttle to the Lodge but we forgot our walking sticks. So we took the next shuttle back to the car, pick up the sticks, and got back on the shuttle to the Lodge again. No big deal.

At the Lodge we got off (again) and walked around the campground to the North Rim Trail.  We hiked to Sunrise Point, ready to take the Queen's Trail down into the canyon. We had to wait a few moments while a group of guests riding horses and mules came up. As soon as they passed, we started down. Amazing.

The combination of red and cream-colored rocks is so beautiful.

The Hoodoos come in all shapes; towers, spikes and balls,

and some look strangely like thatched roofs.

It's not all Hoodoos here, though. In places the rocks and elements have created red sand, like a rosy desert.

All along the way I just kept taking pictures, knowing they would not really capture the unique beauty of this place.

At the end of the trail was the Queen's Garden, with beautiful tall Hoodoos, including one that does, indeed, look a little like Queen Victoria, standing tall and looking off at the horizon.

From there we hiked the Navaho Trail. It was wonderful, when we got to the canyon floor, to see the Hoodoos and cliffs from the ground up.

And what makes the trees in this area grow so twisted?

Some rocks reminded me a lot of old castles; how I loved this one.

At the lowest point, we were surprised to see a couple of trees growing straight up. They get enough light that they reach for the sky.

Birds of the canyon: pretty Stellar Jays

and the ubiquitous, clever, crow.

Unfortunately I wasn't thinking when we started; we took the easy trail down, which meant the had to take the harder trail up! After we finished the hike we took the shuttle to the get our car and drove the whole 18 miles, stopping at each scenic view. I couldn't tell if it was more beautiful looking at the grand scope,

or closeup.

Dear Randy kept waiting for me to take pictures. But how could I pass this up?

Natural Bridge scenic view is closeup view of the biggest arch in the canyon.

And Ponderosa Point glows.

One the way out of the park, saturated with natural beauty, Randy pointed out antelope grazing along side the road. The animals here are not afraid of people, but it is always a surprise to see them; they are scruffy-looking. I guess they didn't get the Disney memo on how wildlife is supposed to look.

7/2 - Beautiful, amazing Bryce National Canyon

Today we drove to a KOA park in Cannonville, near Bryce National Park. We are still having trouble with the RV tires losing air, and the RV's turbo doesn't seem to be working. But maybe it's just a dial problem, because the RV took the hills well.

When we got to the park and hooked, we went to have a quick look at Bryce - it is AMAZING! Randy drove to a few lookout points and parked, and we walked up (always up!) to the rim to view the beautiful canyon. Along one cliff wall are strange caves, all in a row.

In the canyon below, everywhere are walls of amazing red and white rocks.

Some of the structures have crusts that looks like snow. I would love to see this place in snow, but for now this will do.

And I love the little castles.

I have a fascination with the trees in Southern Utah. This one is growing while standing on it's tip-toes.

But Bryce's claim to fame are it's Hoodoos: rows and rows of tall, slender, sculpted rock towers.

All the time I was here, I was thinking that this place looks like an absolute miracle!

After awhile it started to sprinkle. There are warning signs at the lookout points about lightening, so when we heard thunder, we left. We drove back to the Visitor Center and watched a short film about the Park. Then we stopped at Ruby's Inn to eat. Their lunch buffet runs until 5 pm and it was 4:50, so we had that for an early dinner. It was pretty good and very filling. That finished the day, so we went back to the RV, got on-line (yeah, we couldn't get internet at Zion) and relaxed at home.

7/1 - a good day to stay inside

Today my sunburn was so painful that I didn't want to go outside. Randy drove to the other side of the Park, to the small tourist town of Springdale where he got a few groceries and picked up a hiking hat for me. I have been hiking in a hat that I got as a souvenir of a Luke Bryan concert in 2013 and I love it, but it's a very dark brown color. Randy felt I need a light-colored hat for hiking. I stayed at home, did some laundry and housecleaning, and plastered lotion on my neck.

6/30 - An Awesome Hike!

Today we decided to do what I thought would be a more challenging hike. We hiked to the end of the Riverwalk Hike, where the Hike through the Narrows began, and set off. 

The Narrows isn't an actual trail, it's the riverbed. So to hike it, we waded through the river. Occasionally there was a bit of rocky land on one side or another, but mostly it was through the water. 

The river bed took us between towering cliffs of unbelievable beauty. 

I don't know how to describe this, other than to say I had as much fun on this hike as I have every had. 

And then, because that wasn't enough for one day, we drove to the Moqui Cave, just outside of Kanab. It used to be owned by Garth Chamberlain, and is now run by his grandchildren. Garth had an interesting life. According to the young lady running the shop, Garth's father had six wives when he moved to Utah. As the territory became a state, Thomas faced the choice of leaving or facing the law. He decided to stay and paid $100 and one year in jail for each wife (him, not the wife), then settled down with a huge family - something like 20 sons and 20 daughters. Garth was one of the younger ones.  He graduated from Brigham Young University and played for the Pittsburg Steelers in in 1942, and he liked to travel. He traveled during a time when, if you found something cool, you just took it, without worrying about it's historic value or country of origin. So he had a lot of very old Mayan artifacts. 

Eventually he bought the cave, used it as a tavern for awhile, and now it holds his many collections. What interested me, though, was his collection of dinosaur tracks. Very cool!

One more stop before going home - to the grocery store for some sunburn gel, and more factor 50 sunscreen.

6/29 - A Long Hard Hike

Today we took on another, harder hike called the Watchtower Hike. It's called a "moderate" hike, and it's up a good bit up the mountain side. We started on the trail that runs beside the road. There are a lot of little critters here, mostly lizards. This toothy little gopher kept popping in and out of his hole to see if we were still there. 

Right where the rougher trail starts, we found a rattlesnake. I didn't get a good picture of the snake because Randy insisted I not get too close. If he hadn't been there, I probably would have knelt down a foot from it, gotten a great picture, and died.

But I lived (for now), so on to the hike! I'd say about 70% of the hike was switchbacks, because the grade was so steep that there was no other way to go up it. Randy, with his hiking experience and general fitness, did way better than me.

Fortunately, there was always a ready-made excuse for pausing - stopping to take in the beautiful view, which got better and better as we climbed.

And we just kept climbing. We stopped at a tiny stream, really just a trickle of water over the rocks, to wet our neckcloths. Randy offered to pour some of that cool water over my head and I gratefully said yes. This tiny bit of water made a huge difference!

The switchbacks kept getting shorter and shorter. Eventually we reached the top, and I would never hesitate to say the view was worth every step!

Then, of course, we had to hike back down! Downhill hiking is harder on the legs but easier on the lungs, although I did refresh at the little stream again.

When we got back at ground level, we went to the banks of the Virgin river where Randy took a quick dip. Here was where we ate our PB&J sandwiches today. We take these every day that we hike, and they work out just fine - they don't spoil and they provide a lot of energy.

It was a perfectly wonderful hike and worth every bit of effort! We headed back to the RV to relax for the night, but a big storm blew in. Where we are parked, the wind whips through pretty hard. I worried a bit about our awnings, then fell asleep.

6/28 - North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Today we drove almost 100 miles to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. A long drive, rising up to greater than 8,400 feet, but through some nice scenery. 

We passed through one section, a few miles long, of burnt forest. There were signs all along the way telling us not to report smoke, which we thought was strange. Later we learned that controlled fires were being started to support the natural process of the land. Years of fighting all fires left things out of kilter, so now rangers are working to correct that. In this area the ground was green again, so it couldn't have burned too recently.

And then we made it to the Canyon.  Everyone agrees - you can take all the pictures you want, but you will never capture the feeling of standing on the edge, looking across at all that space.

I still love the scruffy, hardy trees that grow around here. They have to work so hard at living, and they still manage grow in such imaginative ways!

The huge crevice reaching across the canyon floor is called Bright Angel Fault. In 2012 Randy and Aaron hiked down the Bright Angle Trail to the canyon floor, and back up again. Amazing!

We hiked a ways along the rim. I took too many pictures, of course, trying to capture the feeling of the place. And failed, of course. But at least I have memories. There is nothing else like this in the world, and I am so grateful for the National Park Service for protecting it.

I have a terrible, terrible sunburn all around my neck from my day at Zion, so now I am protecting it with a scarf. I look like I'm afraid I'll catch cold in this summer heat - such a tourist! 

We also walked a short way down the Kaibab Trail. It's full length is 13.7 miles down to the canyon floor, where it meets the Bright Angel Trail. 

On the drive back to our RV park we passed a small herd of buffalo, grazing in a wide swath of grasslands that reach back to the forest edge. There are no fences around, so these are probably wild.

We stopped in Kanab for a late lunch at Neidra's Too. Right after we put our order in, an entire motorcycle gang pulled in for lunch. Good thing we got there first, because they swamped the little kitchen! They serve pretty good Mexican food here; it takes a little while to get it delivered, but as the menu says, that's because everything is made to order.

The end of a lovely day; tomorrow we will revisit Zion.

6/27 - Day 1 in Zion National Park

This morning Randy put a rack of ribs in the slow cooker, and we drove into Zion. We parked at the Museum and got on the shuttle bus to go to the stop for the Lower Emerald Pool. 

It is 112 degrees and the drought has significantly decreased the water in the Emerald Pools, but it's still a pretty hike. The water that creates the pool falls down over the cliff in a small waterfall, which is  currently down to a heavy sprinkle.

And the hiking path goes behind the falls.

There are signs everywhere telling people not to feed the wildlife. But the squirrels are so used to being fed that they come up to the trail, sit on a rock, and kind of flirt with the hikers. 

After that we hiked up to the Upper Emerald Pool. It was steeper but the views were even better. This land is so beautiful.

And the sheer cliff walls take my breath away. This one is so big that it has large trees growing in the cracks. 

There are no falls at the upper pool, but there was a little more water in the pool. It was a great place to rest and snack after the hike. For lunch we had the PB&J sandwiches we had packed earlier, and all along the way we made sure we were drinking lots of water. It was so hot that no matter how much water I drank, I never sweat. The National parks now have taps at several stations to fill water bottles, in an effort to decrease waste. It's a great benefit but I didn't care much for the taste; I prefer our own.

Next we hiked around the side of a mountain and down to the Grotto. The Virgin River flows through the canyon. Amazing!

It's not so much a grotto as a nice spot on the Virgin river with wide banks. It was lovely though, and Randy went in to cool off. Sometimes the landscape here just begs to be photographed.

And again - amazing cliff walls! 

We also did the Riverwalk hike. Water here often seeps through the rocks into the river, but where it cannot seep, it drips out, and where there is water, things will grow. They call these Hanging Gardens.

At the end of this trail, the Virgin river pools a bit, so Randy enjoyed another cool dip.

And that was enough hiking for one day! On the drive back, going out of the Park, I was amazed at the great rock cliffs. The rocks here show an incredible mix of striations, in all directions. 

And one, called Checkerboard Mesa, has big vertical cracks, which divides the rock face into squares and rectangles.

At home we had ribs for dinner and just relaxed for the night. I had made sure I put sunscreen on everywhere (factor 100), but somehow I got a terrible sunburn on my neck. Not just the back of my neck - all around. I think the cooling cloth and camera strap I used must have rubbed off the sunscreen, and somehow, in spite of the cooling cloth and thick camera strap, every inch all around my neck burned scarlet. Ah, well, a small price to pay!