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Published: October 3rd 2015
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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 the scenic drive to Chimney Rock we didn't realise that this bit of road was unpaved and not only that they were working on grading the road ...so a bit of scarey off road driving trying to avoid boulders, bumps and dips and finally ploughing through a load of soil and grit they were laying ..... Nobody told us about that before we set off
on that bit of road - I wished we had a Jeep at that moment .
But then onwards on Scenic Highway 12 ...and boy is that SCENIC !!!! You are driving through Escalante ( who was a Spanish priest and explorer) National Monument established in 1996 and Dixie State Forest . this landscape has been carved by the Escalante river ... And is named also the Grand Staircase, as you can see high bold plateaus with cliffs rising of different rock strata in different colours as you look into the far distance. It is remote high and rugged and was the last place in the USA to be mapped. It is almost 2 million acres ...the mind boggles.
The roads are wonderful and we encountered very few cars , and there are many lookout to pull into .We came to one high lookout and could not believe our eyes, no photo would do it justice so it had to be a video. The scale is tremendous and goes on and on and on. The little town of Escalante has some cute cafes where we had a very nice lunch and art galleries too. And make sure you
have plenty petrol for the next bit of road ! Our nice lady in the visitor centre had also come up trumps when she told uS about a slot canyon we could visit along the Burr Trail..this is a very remote trail ( we only saw one other car ) in a Red rock canyon however it is paved for the first 30 miles and we had printed instruction how many miles to count and stopped there and looked across at the big tree she told us about and there was Long Slot Canyon behind the tree.... named I think because it is actually very short. This was heaven for Suz cos she really wanted to see a slot canyon. it was late afternoon and the sun was getting low so the photos show the change with the light.. To purple shadows ( no Photoshopping). Then it was back to Hwy 12 and another fabulous drive ( sorry cannot think,of enough superlatives to describe what we are seeing on the drives) this time over Boulder Mountain , 9400 ft ,and as we came into Dixie Forest and got higher and higher there were the Aspen trees golden and shimmering, and
black Angus cattle grazing on open ranges. What tremendous variety of scenery we are passing through.
Before we set off on this last section to Torrey we visited the Anasazi State Park Museum near Boulder, a place where archeologist have discovered many dwellings and artefacts of the Anasazi people who lived there about 1150 AD. A very nice little museum to show their culture and way of life.
And so to our motel in Torrey and in the evening a walk up the road to sit outside on the patio at the Cafe Diablo enjoying some great food and Utah beer.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Kodachrome State Park
As i emerge from my music festival and see your title it reminds me of Simon & Garfunkel's "Kodachrome" song which is what I thought when I did my own research on this State Park in January...yet inaccessible that Winter. Great that you can share your visit to yet another gem of the South West State Parks.