Blogs from Escalante, Utah, United States, North America

May 25. This morning we were abruptly woke up by the loud sound of four-wheelers going through the parking lot. It sounded like an entire herd of them. The dogs were barking at all the noise so there was no chance of sleeping in. Check out time was 11am so we assumed it would be around that time when we would be able to move down to our new spot. David ran the dogs over to the pet fenced in pet area to do their business. I stayed and fixed us some coffee and some breakfast. Red was pretty anxious this morning with all the people and car activity around us. Just as we were finishing our breakfast Red had a bout of diarrhea all over the hall rug! OMG!!! So not much could be done ... read more

From Boulder, Utah (on Utah 12) to the West end of Utah 12 (at the tiny town of Red Canyon City) at the US Hwy 89 junction, is considered the Northern limits of the the Grand Staircase of Escalante National Monument (NPS). The Southern limits is the Colorado River System and the Arizona State line. While the Eastern limits of Grand Staircase is the Escalante River, with the Western limits is US Hwy 89. This would include the entire Calf Creek Canyon with the Escalante River SE to the Colorado River system at the center of Lake Powell. Also included is the Straight Cliffs of the "50 Mile Mountain", The Kaiparowits Plateau, Kotochrome Basin, the Paria River, and the Paunsaugunt Plateau that is owned and managed by Bryce Canyon N Park and the Dixie N Forest. ... read more

Just two miles West of Boulder, Utah, Forest Service road 153 rides around the large Box-Death Hollow. This is where about twenty five square miles of the Plateau has slid downhill long ago exposing up to an 800 foot depression with exposed cliffs, including Devils Backbone in the Northern tip of the slide. I made the circle from the Boulder on the East around Box-Death Hollow and South to Escalante, Utah. The road starts out paved; but after a few miles turns into dirt by the left turn for the Native American restaurant. Then the dirt road goes continually uphill to and past Devils Backbone. The scrub junipers turn into a Ponderosa Pine forest as I gain altitude. In the pine forest Box-Death Hollow is somewhat visible to the left (West); but the best views of ... read more

DAY 3 On leaving our cute little log cabin in Tropic we popped in to the local visitor centre ...always a good idea here in USA , the lady was so helpful pointing us in the direction of Kodachrome State Park , and I bought an annual Utah State Parks pass which the kindly ranger let me have at a senior rate ..always a good idea to ask about that !! One of a kind beautiful stacks of towering sandstone , changing colour as the light changes and this phenomena prompted the National Geographc Society to name the Park Kodachrome. We took a little stroll amongst the rock stacks and admired the vegetation growing on the sandy floor and the twisted tree trunks which make for a great addition to a photo. When it came to ... read more

Grand Staircase Escalante Deutsch: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Staircase-Escalante_National_Monument English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Staircase-Escalante_National_Monument... read more