Ancient Graffiti!

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Ok, so we didn’t make it as far yesterday as we had hoped… we could have, but we didn’t want to miss any of the scenery by driving in the dark! So, we have to drive first today, it is more than a little chilly so thankfully this will allow us to sit in the warmth of the truck. The plan for today - drive to Capitol Reef National Park, then onwards to Bryce Canyon and arrive in time for the sunset?

Statistics

Starting Destination: Green River, Utah
Ending Destination: Ruby’s Inn, Utah
Ending Destination GPS: N: 37° 40.334’ W: 112° 09.513’ Elev: 7689’
Miles Driven: 247
Distance Hiked: 2.5 miles (4 Kms)

Reef… where’s the Reef?

Off we set, traveling first through the town of Green River and then on to Interstate 70… but not for long as we needed to turn South on Route 24 to get to the Park. At first we were not sure this was the correct road - despite the signs - as there were no other cars going in our direction, in fact there were very few cars on the road at all! However, the scenery was impressive; first to our right was what seemed to be a valley (although there was no river) where it looked like layers of sedimentary rocks had been folded and then eroded… resulting in these saw-teeth like layers of rock that were standing more upright than not. Next we passed several Buttes that seemed to just appear from nowhere, sitting like sentinels along the road - one had eroded into formations that reminded Maria of Bryce Canyon. Further along we descended into the Fremont River canyon where the rocks were all a grey color, except where there was this white stuff… at first we thought this was snow, but it really wasn’t ‘that’ cold so we concluded it must have been salt or some other mineral that had leached out of the rock! Reaching the park was somewhat of an anti-climax, there was no “entrance” so we didn’t have to pay - we thought that consequently we wouldn’t get a map, but thankfully there were some at the information station adjacent to the entrance. Thus we knew to stop at some of the sights before the Visitors’ Center…
The Behunin Cabin - where a family of 12 kids lived in a cabin that may have been 10 x 15 feet… most of the kids had to sleep outside - the girls under the wagon and the boys in a cave in the cliffs behind the cabin. The Petroglyphs - where the ancient Fremont People had etched drawings of animals, people and other items into the cliffs. Unfortunately there were also some not so ancient drawings. The Historic Fruita School - this was the school for the group of Mormon settlers who settled in the area in late 1800’s, these settlers grew predominantly fruit, hence the name! The Government bought out most of the settlers when they created the National Park, so all that is left is the school, a farm house, barn and the orchards - where visitors can pick fruit when it is in season. We stopped briefly at the visitors’ center, viewed the short slide show and identified several potential short hikes along the scenic drive. We had started along the scenic drive when we noticed some numbered signs - we thought these corresponded to a trail guide at the entrance to the scenic drive, so we turned around and went back to the entrance station - only to find that the “brochure” was really the payment envelope!
We stopped several times along the drive to take pictures of the rock formations… we were trying to view the “reef.” The reef is really what is called a Waterpocket Fold which is a buckling of the rock in the earth’s crust that creates a wrinkle that has been eroded into a jumble of colorful cliffs, massive domes, soaring spires, stark monoliths, twisting canyons and graceful arches. In short, lots of photo opportunities! At the end of the scenic drive we followed a short dirt track into the Capitol Gorge, which was actually part of the original entrance into the valley, but we could only get so far before we had to start walking. In some places the gorge was so narrow and there were so many rocks at the bottom that we had trouble imagining that wagons and then early automobiles actually drove through the canyon. But the evidence was there - the names of early settlers and the dates they passed through carved into some of the vertical stone surfaces; also there were these mysterious pipes sticking out of the canyon walls… Carl thought later that they were supports for early telegraph wires?
Part way into the gorge you could follow a path that twisted and turned as it followed the side of the canyon, eventually leading to some “Tanks,” or waterpockets - pools of water that collect in eroded bowl like depressions in the rock… one of them was actually frozen! We didn’t feel frozen, it was later in the day and the sun was beating down on us as we were walking so we actually felt hot! We didn’t meet a single soul until the nearing the end of the walk… it was easy to imagine what it must have been like more than 100 years ago - life was much harder then! Back in the car we realized that we needed to make tracks if we were going to make it to Bryce Canyon before sunset… However, we made an exception and stopped so Carl could take a picture of a very nice Mule Deer buck… ooops… brown blob eating at one of the local picnic tables!

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The Unexpected Canyons

On our way out of the Park we passed several of the more well known geologic features - Capitol Dome, The Castle, Chimney Rock and Twin Rocks… but we realized that we would need to spend more time than we had to see all that we wanted to see! However, we would have one more opportunity as we drove along Highway 12 South. The road leaves the Fremont River Gorge and winds its way high up into the Boulder Mountains and through the Dixie National Forest… at one point the elevation was more than 9400 feet. We had a good view of the valley with the waterpocket fold in the distance - giving us a much different perspective! Carl also caught a glimpse of some Elk in the distance… munching away on lunch - only these brown blobs didn’t have any convenient picnic tables!! Before long we were at the entrance of the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument… Maria knew about the Grand Staircase, but neither of us was prepared for the Escalante Canyons. These are canyons in predominantly light colored rock, not as wide as those at Canyonlands or probably as deep - what was most unexpected was the road. Highway 12 wound its way along high ridges between canyons - in one case not much wider than the road - down the steep canyon walls into the Eascalante River gorge and out again… in several places the road grade was advertised as 14%!,(MISSING) in others concrete road barriers had been strategically placed to ensure you didn’t overshoot the road! There was little evidence of habitation or agriculture along the way and we read later that this area was the last region in the continental USA to be mapped - we were not surprised! The terrain was totally unexpected… we had hoped to make up some time along this road, but it wasn’t looking good…

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Sunset at Bryce Canyon?

After leaving the Escalante Canyon area the road flattened out somewhat as we passed through several wider river valleys with grazing land and signs of crops, even if it was mostly hay or alfalfa. The sun was getting lower in the sky and we watched it gradually light up and then fade from the cliffs of Powell Point which was visible from most points along the drive. We finally reached western edge of Bryce Canyon National Park and the turn-off into the park itself - thankfully this was not one of those parks where you need to drive at least 20 miles into the park before you can see anything! Along the drive Maria had been looking in the National Park Guide Book to try and determine the best spot for Sunset Pictures, to no avail… so we drove directly to the Sunset Point lookout into Bryce Canyon. The Canyon is to the East so you couldn’t actually see the sun set… but the angle of the light and hence the color on the rock formations was very impressive - especially to Carl who hadn’t seen them before. For the first time on the trip we were somewhere that Maria had been before and Carl hadn’t!! After the sunset we drove out of the park and found somewhere to stay at the hotel right outside the park entrance… it promised to be a chilly night and we wanted to get some where nice and warm!

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Carl’s Travel Trivia

Yesterday’s Answer: A Mesa is wider than it is high, a Butte is higher than it is wide, and a Needle/Spire is much higher than it is wide.
Today’s Question: What is a Hoodoo?

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