Cool peaks, hot springs

Glenwood Springs, CO – We’re nestled on a hillside RV park with views in either direction along Interstate 70 of snow-topped mountains and the sparkling Colorado River.  The air is fresh and the sky is clear, and we had a good drive today.

It was a short one too – we got to the park in time for lunch – but we are trying to gauge our travels so that we can get over the Rockies without doing so on a long driving day.  It will be enough to go up to 11,000 feet and down again through mountain passes without covering a long distance as well.

As we headed east today toward the Utah-Colorado state line, we passed the turnoff for Moab, where two more spectacular canyon state parks are located.  Our friends Scott and Mary Jane tempted us sorely with encouraging words about them, and eye-popping photos of their visits there, but we felt it was time to head on.  We have to leave something for the next visit!

The moonscape terrain in those last few miles of Utah made our departure a bit easier; we so enjoyed everything we saw and visited while in that unique part of the world. A contingent of pronghorn antelopes reported for duty on one of the last hilltops to bid us farewell.

Almost as soon as we entered Colorado, the geography changed to lush green pastures against a majestic mountain backdrop. We pulled over at the visitor center in Fruita to pick up maps and information, and asked the host there what the smoke was all about in the valley we were passing through.

He told us that this was the time of year when farmers are burning off dry grass and weeds before planting season begins, and that highway crews were doing the same.  It made for a rather hazy view of Fruita, but we did see plenty of orchards and vineyards as we drove through.

After setting up in the RV park and having lunch, we headed off in the car for some groceries.  Glenwood Springs is a pretty little town with a charming historic downtown and lots of hotels.  Its proximity to the popular ski resorts is one reason for this, but there are also hot springs here that draw visitors.

With our shopping done, we headed back and passed a resort with a huge swimming pool, just jammed with swimmers, plus a big waterslide. The temperature here wasn’t much more than 65 degrees, so it surprised me to see this until I realized this must be the hot spring they were talking about in the tourist literature!

Up on the mountain side we could see a cable-car ski lift in full operation, even though there didn’t appear to be more than a sprinkling of snow at the top.  However, I spotted a roller coaster up top, so we figured there was more than snow sports drawing visitors to that height. We’ll be hitting the heights soon enough, so we continued our drive back to our cosy home on wheels.

Picture book pages

Green River, UT – Today we comple-ted the 124-mile All-American Road and moved clo-ser to Utah’s eastern edge, and treated our-selves to another fabulous scenic drive in the process.

With an early start, we were able to appreciate the effect of the sun’s low angle on the landscape, and the contrast of deep shadows and brightly-lit rock faces as it rose in the sky.  We also saw ice at the edges of streams and snow in the bush as the highway rose to higher altitudes.  A couple of times, we passed farmers’ fields crusted in white ice where the irrigation systems had been running before the sun got warm enough to melt it.  We smiled as we passed a lone horse, standing next to the crusty field, wondering how he was supposed to get a drink in these conditions.

Highway 12 meandered up and down through high plains, deep valleys and mountain passes, switching back in serpentine patterns as it climbed and descended.  Every time we came to a blind curve or hilltop, it was like waiting for a surprise to reveal itself.  Gradually, as we turned around the bend, a whole new array of rock formations came into view, or, at the top of the hill, a vast landscape of peaceful valleys, rolling hills, rocky monuments and purple mountains far in the distance, dazzled us once again.

We pulled over multiple times to drink in the beauty all around. Each spot was unique, and I began to think I was going to end up taking a photo of every rock in Utah at the rate I was going!  But they were all so amazing!

The variety of the ter-rain we cov-ered today was incre-dible.  High plains farm-lands. Pine-forested mountains. Rock-bor-dered gor-ges. Flat, red-sanded desert. Desolate, grey moonscapes.  It was as if we were turning the pages of a life-sized picture book every few miles, where nothing resembled what had come before.

On the plain, Val spotted a jackrabbit on the shoulder of the highway. I didn’t manage to see it, but seconds later, there were three of them, and then five more, all caught unawares by our arrival, and bouncing madly into the tall grass.

Then, in the pine-forested mountain section, I saw a deer.  Then we saw six or eight of them by the road. We’d never seen so many together, and Val was able to pull over so I could snap a picture.  The deer eyed me apprehensively but stayed put for a time before deciding they’d best move on – long enough for a couple of good shots. (We’d seen a herd of eight or ten elk between Bryce Canyon and our RV park a couple of days ago, too, which I forgot to mention. Quite a sight.)

It was at the crossroads of Highway 12 and Highway 24 that we saw a roadside eatery and stopped for lunch.  By this time it was warm enough for us to eat at the outdoor table in the sun. What a treat.

Not long afterward, we saw the sign for Capitol Reef State Park, another protected territory full of rocky castles and turrets, striped mesas and slot canyons, all served up right along the highway, free of charge. Amazing.

Of creeks and crags

Cannonville, UT – When Val went out and checked our water hose this morning, it was crunchy with ice, so our precaution to detach it last night and drain the pipes was merited. Tonight the park management will be cutting off the water supply before dark, because the low is expected to hit 23 degrees Fahrenheit. New neighbours in the campground are planning to spend the night in little pup tents; I hope they have warm sleeping bags!

There was one more part of Bryce Canyon we wanted to see today – the Mossy Cave nature walk, located outside the park proper on the road toward our campground. The path was steep but not long, climbing to an alcove of rock where large pillars of ice fill the gap between floor and ceiling. The plaque next to the cave said it’s sometimes late June before the pillars melt, and the cool, shady hollow fosters the growth of moss that gives the spot its name.

A lovely sound of trickling water graced our ears, from these icicles as well as other rivulets seeping through the rocks.  The water gathered at the bottom in a creek bed known as Tropic Ditch. We learned that the Mormon settlers who lived here took two years to dig, by hand, a channel from a fork of the Sevier River 10 miles away to their farms and homesteads in the valley.  The land was well suited to their farming needs, except they needed a more dependable source of water. Even to this day, water flowing through the ditch supports the crops of the area.

After a picnic lunch, eaten in the car where it was warmer, we headed for Kodachrome Basin State Park, nine miles beyond our RV park. The sun was bright and there was not a cloud in the sky, although they did start to accumulate as the day progressed.  We passed a wide valley with farms and open range, studded with sagebrush, on the way to the park.

A crew of photographers from National Geographic made a trek to this area in 1948, taking spectacular photos of the striated rocks, hoodoos, chimneys, wind-sculpted walls and desert vegetation. They were the ones to call the region Kodachrome Flat, after the new brand of film they were using. The name, with the term ‘basin’ to encompass the larger tract of land, became official a few years later once the state received the Kodak company’s blessing for its use.

In the visitor center at the park entrance a cartoon from the New Yorker in 2006 shows rangers removing the “Kodachrome Basin” sign and replacing it with “Digitally Enhanced Pixelated Basin” when Kodak discontinued its film!  Well, even without Kodak film, the pictures I took today of the park look like postcard or calendar material, simply because everything was so gorgeous.

We were delighted to find a nature trail with signs posted every few feet describing the plants and their characteristics – and a trail on the flat that didn’t leave us panting at this high elevation. The variety was amazing, and the list of medications, food sources and applications of the plants most impressive. So were the wonderful rock formations, in all their amazing colours, that surrounded us.

Nature's mighty sculptors

Cannonville, UT – It was a pretty chilly night last night, and we knew our propane supply was run-ning low. The person qualified to operate the LP filling station was not available when we pulled in to the RV park, although we had phoned ahead to ensure we could fill up on arrival. We had to rely on the electric furnace, but it works with a heat pump that is less efficient if the temperature dips below 38F. Still, we did stay warm till morning, when we pulled in our slides and stowed everything to drive the 50 feet to the LP filling station. Then we had to return to our site and set up all over again! The joys of RVing!

With that task attended to, we headed out to visit Bryce Canyon, about 12 miles from our park.  It was sunny with big puffy clouds in the sky and the air was clear, although cool.  We stopped at the visitor center for a bit of orientation before heading in. We arrived just in time for a short film about Bryce.

We learned that the canyon is really a plateau, part of a huge uprising of land covering Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico in prehistoric times. The ebb and flow of water and the pressure of different layers of sand and rock over the centuries resulted in rock formations that are still evolving today.

The national park is a long tract of land with about 20 miles of road from north to south and a rise of 1,200 feet of elevation. At this time of year, people use their per-sonal vehicles in the park, but in the busy season, shuttle buses reduce the traffic somewhat.

It’s hard to put into words the breathtaking vistas we saw today.  Even photos fail to impart the sense of grandeur and massive scope of the turrets, crevices, colours, sculpted ridges, hoodoos, cliffs and overlooks we stopped at.  Snow laced the tops of many of the textured forma-tions today, adding white to the many colours of strata before us. 

I was glad of the scarf I’d tied around my neck this morning and my layered clothing as the wind whistled about at the high altitudes.  Both Val and I had to catch our breath a few times, an effect of being at eight or nine thousand feet of elevation.  We took one of the trails down into the canyon at Sunset Point, a steep descent that zig-zagged past rust-coloured walls, grooved by centuries of rains and snows.  Of course, that meant we had to climb up again, hence the pounding heart and panting! We were not alone; we could hear other visitors huffing and puffing as well. But it was well worth it.

At each site along the route, different for-mations awaited. One had a huge stone arch.  Another had turrets like a fairy castle. A third presented a pa-norama that stretched below us to a distant horizon of blue moun-tains where high clouds sifted down wisps of snow. We were en-chanted.

“Life Elevated” is the motto on many Utah licence plates. We know exactly what that means.

All-American Road

Cannonville, UT – On the second day of spring, in a part of the world where flowers are blooming and trees are coming into leaf, we had the dubious pleasure today of passing fields white with snow and rock faces covered in ice. Fortunately, none of the wintry stuff affected the roadbed along our route.

We know we will be seeing more wintry weather in the days to come, so I guess this was kind of like dipping your toe in the water, but we are in no rush.  There was a chill in the air this morning, as there has been for several days, but it always warms up to the 70s before the day is through.

Our route today took us northward along Interstate 15 until we passed through Cedar City, at which point we turned east onto State Highway 14. After that turn, the highway climbed steadily into Dixie National Forest, a mountainous region that looked a lot like Canada. From time to time there were pullouts where we could stop, get out and really take in the fabulous vistas.

Val was using his new watch that features an altimeter, and as we climbed, he read out the elevation. The highest figure we hit was 10,100 feet – the greatest height so far on this trip! There was a blanket of snow over everything, right to the side of the highway, but as I said to Val, it was old snow.  Clearly it had not fallen recently, so we were in no danger of being engulfed in a snow squall or anything. Must keep the driver’s spirits up!

After reaching the peak, we began to descend again on the other side.  Once we were in the valley, we turned north for about 20 miles on Highway 89. Then we headed east again on Highway 12, and the terrain changed almost immediately. We stopped at a pullout where there were some visitor plaques that described what was ahead.  Some of the most spectacular and unique natural wonders in the entire country were on this route, they said.

In fact, the Federal Highway Administration has designated Highway 12 as an All-American Road – one that has one-of-a-kind features so exceptional that they qualify as a destination unto themselves. We covered less than 20 miles so far of its 124-mile length, and we concur! 

Rust-red walls of sculpted rock, topped with hoodoo knobs of amazing shapes, greeted us within the first 100 feet after the turn-off.  As we continued along, we saw more of these, sometimes made of white stone, as well as mountain ranges with colourful strata, contrasting with the deep green of pine trees growing in the folds and cracks.  I barely turned the camera off the whole trip.

We passed the turnoff for Bryce Canyon before reaching the RV park, but we will be back with the little car for a closer look.  Already the scenery was giving us a foretaste of what we will be seeing.

Choosing the pictures of the day is often challenging and that’s the case especially today.  Once again, we have a spectacular view from our RV park, and it looks like it will be peaceful sleeping, as the road is not a busy one.

The other side of the tunnel

Hurricane, UT – Who would ex-pect to see ostriches in south-western Utah? Yet there they were, more than a dozen of them, with their spindly legs, fluffy tails and long necks, quietly grazing in a paddock by the highway.  We were on our way again to Zion National Park, to see the portion of the park we had yet to visit, which included a mile-long trip through solid rock.

The large birds were a nice distraction for me. Tunnels are not my favourite thing, especially if they are so long that you can’t see the end of them. Having other things like ostriches and breathtaking scenery to occupy my thoughts was helpful as we approached the park.

When we visited on Tuesday, we followed the main road northward seven miles into the canyon.  Today, we took the Mount Carmel Highway, heading west.  It took us on a series of long switchbacks up the side of the canyon until at last the black opening of the tunnel came into view.

Park rangers posted at either end of the tunnel regulate the traffic going through. Strict regulations apply to the height and length of the vehicles. Whenever there is a bus or RV, the tunnel becomes a one-way passage, so they can straddle the centre line to avoid scraping the sloped ceiling.

The highway and tunnel were constructed between 1927 and 1930 to allow traffic to pass through Zion and on to Bryce and the Grand Canyon.  Rather than work from one end of the tunnel to the other, they started in the middle with a stope, the way miners start a mineshaft, and worked their way out.

Back to that black opening.  We had a bus and three cars ahead of us, so our passage was going to be one way.  I braced myself as we were swallowed in darkness, and our eyes adjusted to the dimness. Headlights and reflectors on the tunnel walls helped a bit, but the best thing was the discovery that several large openings had been made to the outside along the length – for light, but also to allow builders to discard fill and rock into the canyon as work progressed.

Three or four times along that dark shaft, glimpses of the outside light made all the difference!  And, once we were out the other end, a whole new completely different park awaited.  Where the other section was mostly vertical, all the lines in the rock here were horizontal – great layers of red rock, like ocean waves, stacked to the sky and punctuated by bright green pine trees and other small plants.

Some formations looked like chimney pots, and others like coils of a soft ice cream cone on a giant scale. It was amazing to see what the plants chose to root in – the smallest crevice, where water could collect, was all they needed to sprout and grow.

Even knowing I had to go back through that mile-long tunnel, I was glad we hadn’t missed this wonderful sight.  And I was glad those tunnel builders had thought of giving us windows. Oh yes, and I was grateful for ostriches!

Where bluebirds fly

Hurricane, UT – In a farmer’s field on our way to Kolob Canyons this morning, we passed an irrigation apparatus – the kind that looks like a mile-long pipe strung across a field with bicycle wheels every ten feet or so – that was glittering with ice, as was the grass around it.  Someone must have turned it on before realizing how cold it was this morning.

This set of canyons is officially part of Zion National Park, although it has a separate entrance north of the main park and is much smaller. It still offers visitors a breathtaking vista of cliffs, buttes, mesas, streams and multicoloured strata, not to mention a huge variety of plant and animal life.

The magical part about today’s visit was the fact that we almost had the place to ourselves. It was cold enough for me to turn up my jacket collar and retract my hands into the cuffs of my sweater as we took one of the walking trails in the park. There were other visitors, and cars were parked at the trail heads, but it was by no means crowded.  The sun was bright and the sky was perfectly clear, and in our walk we could hear the wind whispering in the pinyon pines and the cheerful conversations of the birds.

Kolob Canyon is the home of the Western Bluebird and the Mountain Bluebird, and I’m pretty sure we saw both today.  They never stayed still enough to get a photo, but they were a brilliant shade of blue as they swooped past, or lighted on a branch and took off again seconds later.

The road into Kolob is only five miles long, and there are three walking trails. The park guide provides a list of the trails with the return distances and approximate time to walk them.  Some of the most spectacular rock formations, unfortunately, are at the end of a four-hour, 14-mile hike, which we were not quite ready to undertake today!  We opted to satisfy ourselves with the Timber Creek Overlook Trail, a one-mile round trip, which was no small prize.

At the peak we could look out on the craggy peaks of Kolob to our left, the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness, dusted with snow, on the right and far, far off on the horizon in front of us, the northern rim of the Grand Canyon!  And down below was the silver ribbon of the La Verkin Creek, meandering along the sandy floor of the canyon.  It was spectacular.

Our route home took us through the small town of Toquerville, where we passed a row of glorious fruit trees covered in bright purple blossoms. Other gardens sported sunny daffodils, and the cottonwood trees were coming out in a fresh spring green.

After picking up a few groceries, we returned to the RV and pulled out our maps, atlas, campground catalogs and laptop to plot the next leg of our journey.  I was surprised to see that we had actually come by this way before when we drove back from Las Vegas in 2011. We will be varying the route a little bit, just to maximize our exposure to this beautiful land.