Mossy Cave Trail

 Sunday, June 19:

Happy Birthday Tom!!

Today did not start well.  It rained until about 3 pm so we visited the rock shop and Indian store nearby, checked a few things on the RV, and caught up the blog.  Unfortunately, after proofreading and making the last correction on the blog, we lost the whole thing.  No doubt it was operator error, but it was still gone.  So it was a good time to go outside and do something else, rain or not.

We drove down the east side of the park to Tropic, Utah and checked it out.  Several B&B's, a service station, a couple motels and restaurants.  We filled up the car and went into the store:  we were surprised that it was a small supermarket and quite busy with several clerks.  All the other customers were foreign.  It's a farming valley with a healthy tourist business, apparently.  A very apropos sign read:  Behind Every Good Rancher is a Wife Who Works in Town.   

 

 Hoodoos along the Mossy Cave Trail

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Along the northeast corner of the park is the only trail that does not originate on the rim road -- the Mossy Cave Trail.  Very, very nice.  It's a short trail, only about half a mile in with about 200 feet of rise.  Several people of moderate curiosity and hiking abilities were on the trail.  Mossy Cave itself is not much at this time of year; I've seen good photos of it with icicles in the wintertime.  It's not a cave but an overhang shelter carved out by springs; damp and mossy in the summer.   





Waterfall on the right fork of the Mossy Creek trail



The right fork goes further up the canyon -- Water Canyon -- to a falls and beyond.  Nice walking trail where you can venture onto the rocks and slopes as you wish and investigate the various sights.  There is something rejuvenating about getting off the graded and gravelled trails and moving through rougher, steeper terrain to see things. 



Primrose along the trail





Kyle above waterfall with windows in background



Upstream from waterfall



The stream here is not a natural flow.  It is part of the Tropic Ditch, a diversion ditch dug by Mormon settlers in the 1890's to direct flow from the East Fork of the Sevier River, across the plateau (now Bryce Canyon NP), down Water Canyon to the town of Tropic for irrigation.  With exception of one year of severe drought, it has flowed for 120 years.  The stream is only about 4 feet wide, but 2 to 3 feet deep and extremely fast.





Beuatiful tulip sized wildflower





Rick at windows

 


Largest window above waterfall



Looking at adjacent hoodoos through window



Formations to right of window





The park literature emphasizes how rapidly the hoodoos change and deteriorate.  Up close, they seem  like a mixture of various rocks in a shaly matrix -- I think I could dig into it with bare hands.  There is lots of evidence of very recent (this year) collapses and sloughings.  Be interesting to see what these windows look like in 5 years.

  



View of Kyle near waterfall from window rocks



Chatting with a more serious hiker from Washington, DC



Two fellows from DC hiked up to the window area while I was there.  They have been to Bryce and Zion numerous times and do quite a bit of day hiking and photography.  I knew they were pretty confident hikers when they crossed the stream on a log right at the top of the waterfall -- "just don't look down" he advised.  I went a quarter mile upstream where I could jump across.

 


Kyle on rock below waterfall





Formations in Red Canyon near RV park





Monday we're going to drive to Zion National Park from here and return.  It's supposed to be about one hour each way.



Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow

Friday, June17:

We left hot, semi-arid Moab and headed west on I-70 to the canyons of southwest Utah.  Passed over a lot of high, desolate, but beautiful country including Black Dragon Canyon and Ghost Rock into pine covered hills and farmlands.  The terrain varied from cliffs, towers, and mountains, to wide plateaus and valleys.  All striking and beautiful. 

The streams along the way are all running full from snow melt but the ground is dry enough to require irrigation.



Exiting I-70 south of Richlands, Utah.
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We made our usual twice a week stop at Walmart in Richlands to restock, fuel up, and head south on US 89.  We travelled south nearly 80 miles in the same wide agricultural valley (Central Valley?) along the Sevier River.  Passed through Circleville, the birthplace of Butch Cassidy.





Looking west across farmland near Circleville, UT, about 40 miles north of Bryce Canyon on US 89.







Our campground near Red Canyon area of Dixie National Forest

 We picked the Red Canyon RV Park from the Woodall's book because it was the closest we could get into on the west side of Bryce Canyon NP.  Four or five small commercial campgrounds and a couple federal in the vicinity.  Campground has good facilities, good location, and nice people.  Very laid back.  It's at about 7700 ft elevation so its cool -- highs in the 60's and 70's instead of the 90's of Moab.  Got down to 41 degrees the first night; had to get the little electric heater back out.



Looking at Rainbow Point, south end of park


Saturday, June 18:

Bryce Canyon NP is not really a canyon; it's a cliff face running north-south for 20+ miles. There's only one entrance, at the north end, and the rim road that runs the length of the park dead ends at the south end at 9100 feet elevation. The views are spectacular.  Park rangers say you can see 200 miles to the east on a clear day.
 


Near Black Birch Canyon, Bryce Canyon National Park

 

Arch and spires at Natural Bridge overlook 



Hoodoos at Ponderosa Canyon

 Due to the geology and climate, the soft rock gets frost wedged or eroded into all kinds of strange shapes and figures of varying colors.Many of the "hoodoos" look like they escaped from Easter Island.  The Indians refer to them as "Legend People".




Ponderosa Canyon



Small group of hoodoos on ledge at Paria View



Virtually all of the visitors are driving (or bussing) from one overlook to another along the rim road.  Most of the visitors are European -- primarily Germans along with a few Italians and French.

Only a few hearty souls descend the steep trails into the valleys and muster the energy for the return climb. 


Cathedrals at Bryce Point Overlook



The cathedrals and windows are formed by springs in the cliff face eroding out holes or caverns.  Later, as that face separates from the bank, these holes become windows or arches.



Wildlife



Ranks of hoodoos in Bryce Canyon ampitheatre



Purportedly, Ebenezer Bryce, a Mormon, who owned Bryce's Canyon in the 1870's, was asked by a reporter what he thought of the canyon.  Bryce said, matter of factly, "Hell of a place to lose a cow".  I agree. Don't know how true that report is, but I'm sure the sentiment is about right.  Not much of value to a struggling homesteader, but it is a very unique and beautiful place.  I give Yellowstone higher marks, due to its many and varied points of interest, but for shear natural beauty, we've not seen anything that tops Bryce Canyon.



Inspiration Point



Kyle near Inspiration Point

 Bryce Canyon NP is in the middle of nowhere.  There are no towns within 50 miles that anyone has heard of.  Most of the campgrounds, motels, and restaurants are all locally owned.  We stopped at the Bryce Canyon Pines restaurant (with attached motel, RV park, and store) I think because they advertised homemade soup and pie.  Great boysenberry pie.  It is a family venture started in 1956 and doing a land office business.  (We had tried to camp there -- very pretty -- but they were full).

Staying in this area a few more days to see the sights, tend to the RV, catch up the blog, and kick back.

Moab

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

This morning we went to a nearby Chevy truck dealer in Salt Lake City to have an oil change on the RV and have one of its wiper blades replaced. We didn't get onto the road till late afternoon, but drove all the way to Moab (which is about halfway across the state) and settled into our new RV park. The Wi-Fi is good, most of the time, but there's this odd stink we can't seem to place. (Due to recent flooding of the Colorado River.)Tomorrow we're planning on doing an offroad experiance, probably in either an ATV (like a Razor or somthin) or Hummer.

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Colorado River at the northern edge of Moab

Got up this morning kinda early wanting to go on a Hummer experiance on the "Hell's Revenge" trail. The first place we visited, Moab Adventure Company, told us they didn't have a driver at the moment, even tho the scheduled trip was available up on their board. So we searched around for another place and came across the "Moab Tourist Center" where the manager there pointed us in the direction of an ATV tour that we could ride along in with an experienced driver. We ended up doing that, and as it turned out, we're very glad we did. 

Kyle and Cowboy Kent, our guide/driver, on Hell's Revenge Trail.




Lion's Back slope (left) which is no longer open to 4 x 4 travel.

Slope where Hell's Revenge and SlickRock bike trail coincide.



View down the right side along a narrow ridge



View from the left side at the same place



Kyle above a 225 foot canyon on the trail

La Sal Mountains from 4 x 4 trail; note tire trail lower right corner

Exiting down Devil's Backbone

The tour itself was more personalized, and our driver, "Cowboy Kent", had many interesting things to tell us. He was actually Sheriff of Moab at one time and seventh generation resident.  He knew each and every slope (probably because he said he filled out accident reports and had to know hill angles and such).  After the 2 and a half hour tour, we decided to go get something to eat, and went to a place that Kent had suggested, La Hacienda. As the name implies, it was mexican. (food was similar to Rio Grande) After lunch/dinner, we just went through some of the shops downtown, buying random souvenirs.

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Today we went to the Arches Natioanl Park and saw the arches (what else would it be?) Among the ones we saw, were the Delicate arch, the Tunnel arch, Pine Tree arch, and Skyline arch. 

Kyle at Arches visitor center, Thursday morning

Trail to Pine Tree and Tunnel arches

Tunnel Arches

Pine Tree Arch

Kyle and Rick in Pine Tree Arch

Prickly Pear cactus blossom in Arches NP

Skyline Arch

We opted not to hike all the way up to the Delicate arch, and went up the upper viewpoint trail instead, which actually turned out to be a longer, steeper hike than we expected.

Rick photographing from canyon rim across form Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch from across the canyon

Canyon east of Delicate Arch

Balance Rock

Courthouse Tower and other formations near entrance.


Afterwards we were both fairly worn out and hungry. We went to a burger joint (well, more of kind of a drive in) called Milt's, another place that had been recommended by Kent. I got a "cowboy burger" which was topped with cheddar, jalapenos, onion rings, along with a zesty sauce, Dad got a Chili Cheese Burger, it ended up being sort of like a bowl of chili, with a burger patty down in it. I thought mine was good, but would've preferred less peppers, the heat just killed the flavor. Dad didn't like his as well, and said he'd only go back if he got something different, I agree. When we were done with lunch, we went back to the camper, chilled out, did laundry, and worked on pics for the blog. We had originally planned to go to a place called the "Sunset Grill" but it was closed by the time we got there. We drove downtown and finally settled on a place called Pasta Jay's. Overall this was a good choice for dinner. We plan on heading out of here Saturday to Bryce's Canyon.







Craters of the Moon and EBR-1

Saturday, June 11th, 2011

Today we got up and left Jackson, heading for the Craters of the Moon National Park. We decided to stop and get some supplies at the Wal-mart in Idaho Falls. After that, we were hungry for lunch, and as we were exiting the store i noticed a Famous Dave's just across the parking lot, so we ate there. (need i say more?) Not much else to say about today, drove to Arco, Idaho and are staying in a KOA with probably the best WiFi we've had this whole trip.

Entering Idaho from Jackson, WY along the Snake River on US Rt. 26

Sunday, June 12, 2011

This morning we visited the Craters of the Moon National Park. I think dad said it best when he described the terrain "this makes the badlands look like central park in comparison." No joke, the terrain looks like something from the moon...if the moon could support plant life. There were about 7 different trails to walk on, all showing some major attractions of the park, and a few caves which we planned to explore. There was one problem, most of the ones we wanted to walk were closed off by construction on the parking areas, and with no signs showing why or where we could pull off to look at the attractions. (they really ought to post a sign at the entrance telling you things like this -_-) We also planned to visit some of the caves, but decided not to after we saw what a long walk it would be to even get to an entrance. Ok, so the national park was a bust today, but of the trails that we did walk, we enjoyed, tomorrow we're going to EBR-1, the worlds first nuclear power plant.

Kyle liked this tree -- North Crater Trail

Crater rim fragment carried by lava, North Crater Trail

Desert Parsley, one of many small flowers

Kyle near more rim fragments, North Crater Trail

Kyle on Broken Top Trail

Looking north over Lava Cascades from Big Sink Overlook 

Looking east over Blue Dragon Flow from Big Sink Overlook 

Looking northwest from Broken Top Trail over Cones toward Pioneer Mountains

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Today we visited the first Nuclear Power Plant in the world, the EBR-1 plant in Arco Idaho. It's quite the interesting museum now. It shows off some of the actual equipment the scientists used to create nuclear energy, along with a chalk drawn message on the wall, with those who were present at the time of the first time they used it to light up 4 light blubs.

Experimental Breeder Reactor One Museum at Idaho National Laboratory  

After we were done with our tour, we got on the road to Utah. Originally i think dad wanted to stay in some place called Ogden, which is a little north of Salt Lake City, but ultimately we ended up 'boon-docking' in a Wal-mart/Sam's club parking lot, which was surprisingly near the GMC dealer he wanted to go to in the morning to get the RV's oil changed. After getting a few things from Wal-mart, and setting up the RV for the night, we went out to eat at a greek restaurant that dad apparently had been to before called Greek Souvlakis. It was kind of like a fast food place for Greek food, very small too, but exceptionally good. I had Greek Spaghetti with Gyro meat strips on it, and dad had a Gyro which came with rice and fries. oh! and we surprisingly had internet too, supplied by Sam's club.

Snake River Plain on US Rt. 26 between Arco and Blackfoot, ID



Kyle captured this rainbow while driving in Salt Lake City



1951(?) Buick at Greek Souvlakis restaurant a few blocks from Mormon Temple