Checkin out the reef

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After another nice cool night at Bryce Canyon, I broke camp and stuffed everything into the Jag.
Which is now getting a good coating of mud, dust, bird poo, and the dash and other parts of the interior have taken on the colouring of Monument valley thanks to the sand storm there, I even have small sand drifts in the corners of the dash.
I followed highway 12 east and then north from Bryce canyon which goes through some wounderfull scenery.
There is so much more to Utah than first meets the eye.
There is the canyons, arches and deserts that everybody expects, but folowing Highway 12 it started out as semi desert climbing through rock canyons over hills and into grassed mountain meadows with silver birch and pine forests.
At the high point the road was a 9600feet (I will have to confer with some old peaple as to what these feet things are).
The views were great, I got talking to a biker at one stop, he had pulled up just wearing jeans and boots, and we ended up posing for photo's taken by each other of ourselves.
Apparently there are also deer, bison and Black bears in these hills, I saw cows.
Eventually I came back down into the desert and hung a right onto highway 12 at Torrey and proceeded through some of the best desert scenery yet to capital Reef national park.
I chose to come here as it was recommended to me, is closer than Arches NP, (where I origionally thought of going) and has a better variety of scenery (including arches) and it is also cheeper to get into and you can also get into the camp ground easily.
Unlike Arches where I was told that this time of year the camp ground it normally full by 9:30am, you can book a site online but this must be done a minimum of 4 days ahead and with a minimum cost of $33.!!
Capital Reef is another great place, particually if you want to avoid the tourist crouds.
Entry is mostly free, access to many of the hikes etc is from the main road which intersects the park, the only fees are $10 per night for the camp ground and a $5 fee for the scenic road into the park via an honesty system.
The camp is great, with pleanty of shade under trees, good toilets and wild deer wandering around.
It is also surrounded by early settlers orchards from which you can pick fruit from when in season.
I drove up the scenic road as far as the end of the seal and spent about 3 hours walking some trails including grand wash which must be on of the best walks around here.
This wash is through a narrow canyon with towering and often overhanging cliffs all around it, it is an awesome place to be in, and even better if it wasn't so hot.
There are warning signs advising not to enter if there are storms in the area, you could potentially find out the true meaning of the term wash.
At least you would die clean.
I was wanting to do some more tramps but I ran out of energy, I think it was partly due to the altitude and partly the heat.
There is pleanty to do here, the tramps, ancient rock drawings, arches, fishing, mountain biking etc.
I saw one Mountain bike trail advertised which starts at about 2575 meters high, and goes down to about 1650 meters and features, dirt, sand, gravel, and stream crossings.
Depending on which route down you take it ranges from 19km to 83km long!
I wounder what the rescue helicopter service is like out here? (another storey altogether)
So I returned to the camp ground to relax and watched he deer keep the grass down.

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Photos

Old Barn next to camp grounds
Little green oasis in the desert

Desert cliffs
These feature the length of the park

Heading into the wash
Are bigger than they look in the picture

Shady overhang
A few of these give relief from the sun

Into the depths of the wash
Spin cycle would be fun in here

Checking whats for dinner
I wounder if they can read?

Comments

[JB]

Poor Yogi, he might go hungry if the deer have all the dinner