…free and easy down the road we go. Today was a travel day, the main point of
which was getting from Point A – Southeastern Utah – to point B – Southwestern
Utah. After three fairly heavy days of
hiking, we were excited for a day to rest our legs with little to no hiking in
the plans. The distance we needed to
travel wasn’t great, only about 300 miles.
However, instead of taking the direct route, we decide to do some
sightseeing along the way.
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| The rainbow and now all too familiar storm clouds. |
When we woke up, the sky looked much as it had the night
before when we went to bed. An interesting
mix of reds and oranges on one side, and
a threatening mix of blue, grey, and black on the other. There was even still a rainbow above, it
just switched the mountain it was over.
The ground was still wet from the previous night’s rain, and the now
familiar coating of dust was on everything.
This was by far the messiest tent-packing-up we had to do on the
trip. Not fun.
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| Owachomo Bridge, hard to see, but it's right in the middle |
After a quick breakfast, we left Moab and headed back south
towards The Needles, where we were yesterday.
We continued past The Needles before heading west towards our first
destination, Natural Bridges National Monument.
Now, when I tell you that a bridge is a piece of rock between two
pillars of rock with a space below, you’re probably thinking that it sounds a
lot like an arch. And we have found that
many arches are actually bridges, and many bridges are actually arches, and
that some are neither. But there is a
difference. An arch is formed usually
through freezing water getting in cracks and eroding the rock away. A bridge is created when a river/stream bends
around a rock wall and wears at it from both sides until there is a hole in
that wall, thus creating a bridge. At
Natural Bridges, there are three bridges (Kachina, Owachomo, and Sipapu) that
can be viewed along with some Anassazi ruins.
We drove the nine mile loop, stopping at the overlooks, but not
venturing any further than that. While
there were paths we could have taken for better views of the bridges, we were
in no mood for more hiking. We even got
crabby that the outlook to the ruins was a half mile (making it worse, you
could barely see anything from the view point).
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| Wow, someone needs a shave and haircut. |
Our next stop was at Glen Canyon National Recreation
Area. Glen Canyon includes Lake Powell,
which the Colorado River flows into before entering the Grand Canyon. We were further north than the lake, so we
only saw the river, but it was still neat to see. I’ve decided that the Colorado is one of my
five favorite rivers, with the Black, Mississippi, Limpopo, and Zambeze. Sorry Onion River, you’re off the list.
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| The Reef, jutting out above the waterfold. |
After Glenn Canyon was Capitol Reef National Park which was
basically the midpoint of our drive.
Capitol Reef formed around something called a waterfold. Basically, when plates collide, land can fold
down or push up. Here, both happened
creating a giant ridge of jagged rock sticking out running down the center of
southern Utah. The area was also the
site of an early Mormon settlement, and has numerous historic buildings, a
museum, and an orchard that is still functioning where you can pick fruit. We took a scenic drive down the ridge, making
a few stops to get out and look around.
However, we wanted to keep moving and the rain cloud that had been
following us since we arrived in Utah showed up again.
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| "Hey look... Rain! Again!" |
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| "On Wayne" doesn't have the same ring to it. And I don't like Bucky in purple. |
We headed out, taking mostly back country roads as we
crossed the western part of the state.
Everything got very green and the scenery, while not stunning like
Capitol Reef, Arches, or Canyonlands, was still beautiful in a pastoral,
bucolic sense (I promised myself I would use those words at least once during
the trip. Now, to figure out how to work
in “apoplectic”). There was really
nothing exciting on this part of the trip except for when we passed Wayne High
School, as you can see from the picture on the side.
For the last stretch of the drive we were on I-15 until we
reached our destination. Much to Amy’s
surprise, it was not the Panguitch Kampground of America she had expected. Instead, it was a Best Western in St. George
(“Utah’s 2nd Fastest Growing City!) with a pool, a/c, laundry, TV,
free hot breakfast, and – most importantly – clean, private bathrooms. Yup, I cracked. Sleeping had been hard with wind/rain storms
alternating with obviously unsupervised children running around screaming til
all hours of the night at keeping me awake.
I was sick of waking up covered in a layer of dust. I was sick of air mattresses. And I was sick of campground bathrooms. Last night when I showered before
dinner. It had just been cleaned before
I went in there and it still looked dirty.
Plus there was no hot water. Plus
there was a herd of flies buzzing around my head the entire time I was
showering. And as soon as I stepped out
of the bathroom, I was covered in dust again.
I made it camping for 17 days. I
have now decided that my limit is 14 days in any one calendar month. I like camping, I really do. I hope we can get out again next summer. But enough was enough. As soon as we were done checking in, we swam
in a beautifully clean pool. Then I took
a shower – without shower shoes!!! – before getting ready to sleep in a big
comfortable bed.
Tomorrow, we head up to Bryce Canyon. Of course this is after a nice, hot shower
and a big breakfast. I’m such a
wimp. But I’m ok with that.
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