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Bryce Canyon National Park
Something bit me on the leg ! Much to our surprise it was freezing cold last night !! I had to get up in the middle of the night and actually turn on the heat. I will never understand how it can be 101 degrees during the day and 35 degrees at night. We had picked up a huge homemade cinnamon roll at the Majestic View Lodge yesterday, so I heated it in the microwave and we shared it for breakfast. After our bellies were full, we headed down the road to Bryce Canyon and many other National and State Parks. As we entered Bryce, Tim immediately spotted a male pronghorn feeding in the open field. This started his day off great and he could only hope to see more wildlife as we ventured through the park. It was only a short distance into the park before we were already at an elevation of 8300 feet. We pulled over at Bryce Point and marveled at the pillars of rock and fantastic shapes and colors that had formed from years of erosion. Next, we headed over to Swamp Canyon for a look where the elevation dropped to a mere 7998 feet. On our way over we saw a little
Pronghorn in Bryce
Tim can spot an animal anywhere ! prairie dog on the side of the road. We later found out that the little creatures were listed under the Endangered Species Act and it was very unusual to see them. Next, we ventured on down to Piracy Point and Fairview Point. Here the elevation rose again all the way up to 8819 feet. By now my ears were killing me and I was having the onsets of a major headache. We finished admiring the panoramic views of the plateaus and mountains and then headed back to the motorhome for some Advil. We couldn't leave Bryce Canyon without seeing the Natural Bridge so we made our way over and checked it out. It was not formed by a stream as real natural bridges usually are, it was carved by rain and frost erosion acting from the top of the rock. (Pretty Cool !) Tim and I are just amazed every time we come upon something new and I have to stand there and remind myself that we are in the United States. After viewing the Natural Bridge, we were off to find the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. This is a 1.9 million acre area of land that is administered by
Fairview Point in Bryce
This is a view of from Fairview Point. the Bureau of Land Management in Utah. We took Scenic By-Way 12 and made our way there. Most of the roads within this Monument are dirt, clay or gravel so that really limited us as to where we could go. We drove around and took a few pictures and then we headed off towards our main destination which was Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. Little did we know that the drive to Arches would be a journey through Utah that would last over six hours and the elevation would never drop below 4000 feet. On the map it's only about 220 miles, but I guess we just didn't realize that the entire 220 miles would take us through mountains, mesas, plateaus and parks reaching the highest peak at 9604 feet. I will have to say that this was the absolute LONGEST six hours of my life. However, our travels halfway across Utah did allow us to see Kodachrome Basin State Park, Cottonwood Canyon, Dixie National Forest, San Rafael Valley, Red Canyon, The Green River and Capitol Reef National Park. Thank goodness we had food and water in the motorhome, because literally for over two and a half hours we
did not see any other forms of life besides each other. We did however eventually see some cows, horses, deer and a badger. The drive was so long and it was so hot that somewhere around 7:30 p.m. I changed into my pajamas and rode the rest of the way to Moab just a little more comfortably. After making a few stops for pictures, we finally reached the town of Moab. We had to go past Arches National Park to get to where we were staying, but the sun was setting and we wanted to see the park at dusk. We went on into Arches for about 30 minutes and then we settled in at the local RV Park. Although we did cover a lot of ground and we did get to see some beautiful things, we were both glad that this day had come to an end. Tomorrow we will explore Arches a little more and then head off to Mexican Hat, Utah !!
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Lynn
non-member comment
You may have 'trumped' me!
Well, well, you may have just 'trumped' me today will all these sites! I know that I have seen lots of Utah, but don't know if it included all these state and national parks. However, if Tim has seen them before I probably have as well. I knew you were calling me last night to 'one up me'!! I hope you guys have a chance to check out the "'Great Salt Lake and the Salt Flats" because they are amazing. I know what you mean about having trouble wrapping your brain around the fact that you are still in the good old USA. We truly live in an awesome country! Love you, Lynn