16 October 2017, Monday Kodachrome Basin to Bryce Canyon National Park It is cold overnight. Very cold. With jacket, warm socks and hoody, also the quilt, plus fleece blanket and one smaller blanket over our feet we manage to almost keep warm…except for mildly cold toes. We wake in the morning and O tries to take a sip from his water bottle which had been kept in the tent. It
15 October 2017, Sunday Torrey, Utah to Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah We leave the hotel relatively early this morning and begin driving Route 12 W. Our first destination on this scenic drive is the unmarked trailhead to Upper Calf Creek Falls at 0.2 miles past milepost 81. We pass through the small town of Boulder, Utah on our way and see Hell’s Backbone Grille, another of Gretchen’s recommendations. Our
14 October 2017, Saturday Torrey, Utah and Capitol Reef National Park We rise early for breakfast and go downstairs to see what the hotel is offering. The breakfast room is crowded. Apparently, bus tour participants stayed here last night, and everyone is eating early in order to catch the bus. Happily, they are mostly finished so O and I are able to find a table and sit down to eat.
13 October 2017, Friday We leave Chinle after breakfast and begin our drive back to Utah. Along the way we make a brief detour to Natural Bridges National Monument for a much needed pit stop. We visited this beautiful monument two years ago on our first cross-continent trip. As we drive along the road to Natural Bridges we pass a sign for Bear’s Ears. Neither of us had any idea
12 October 2017, Thursday Thunderbird Lodge, North and South Rim Drive, Canyon de Chelly We breakfast once more at Thunderbird Lodge cafeteria. O tries the Navajo blue corn pancakes. They are good. After breakfast we drive to the last lookout on the North Rim and visit the other lookouts on the way back. There are three stops: Massacre Cave and Mummy Cave Overlook, Antelope House Overlook, and Ledge Ruin Overlook.
11 October 2017, Wednesday After breakfast at the cafeteria in Thunderbird Lodge we go to the Canyon de Chelly visitor center. This national monument is in Navajo territory and just about all of the rangers and volunteers here are Navajo. The canyon has impressive archaeologic sites from past Anasazi or Ancestral Puebloan people. More on the names in a bit. We view the film which centers on a young girl
10 October 2017, Tuesday We leave Moab and drive to Canyon de Chelly near Chinle, Arizona. We were told two years ago while in Grand Canyon that this is a “must see” National Monument.
9 October 2017, Monday Goose Island Campground, Needles District of Canyonlands National Park It is our last full day in Moab. A drizzling rain has soaked our camp through the night, well- at least since 3 am, and we do not feel much like cooking breakfast on this cold, damp morning. Today we select the Jail House Cafe for breakfast. Their motto is, “Good enough for a last meal.” O
8 October 2017, Sunday Goose Island, Fiery Furnace Today is our Fiery Furnace hike day. When we signed up for this hike a week ago, today’s hike was the first available. The Fiery Furnace isn’t really hot. In fact, it is one of the coolest places in Arches National Park because the maze of tall rock fins supplies ample shade. It actually gets its name from the fact that the
7 October 2017, Saturday Goose Island Camp, La Sal Mountain Loop We have been viewing the La Sal Mountains from a distance all week. Today, following a route in O’s geology book, we drive into these mountains as we read about geologic features we can view from the road. We begin in a clockwise direction along route 128, the road our campground is on, to the La Sal Mountain loop