The morning sun behind us gave a warm glow to the hills around Henrieville and Tropic as we headed west on Hwy 12 towards Bryce Canyon. We would have stopped for photos at points but I was in a panic. My coffee was working for Roto-Router and shortly after we left Escalante I was in desperate need of a toilet. Michal did his best but there wasn’t much open in small Mormon towns on a Sunday morning. Finally we found a KOA Campground in Tropic that was open. Wheeewwww!!
Bryce Canyon NP starts just beyond Tropic. It’s not really a canyon: it’s the eroded edge of a huge mesa, eroded into an astonishing, uncountable number of hoodoos and other colourful, decorative formations. The panorama from the top of the cliffs is totally breath-taking. Similar coloured cliffs and formations are found throughout the region, even outside the state and national parks, but never as ornate or intense as at Bryce Canyon. Bryce was one of the first Mormon ranchers in the area. As he once said, it’s a hell of a place to lose a cow.
There was a $25 admission fee. We followed the scenic drive 18 miles south and back. By 1:30 we were headed west again through Red Canyon to Hwy 89, and from there south to Hwy 9, where we turned west to Zion National Park.
Zion is nothing like Bryce, except for the admission fee. Its main features are giant rock “kolobs” of red stone towering thousands of feet above the valley floor, like giant loaves of bread cut in half. Hwy 9 becomes a narrow red path squirming its way around red sandstone mounds and gullies across the south end of the park. Then it cascades in switchbacks into a lower valley. The Visitor Centre is near the west entrance. From there visitors can take a shuttle bus up the scenic Virgin River valley, but we didn’t have time for that. We stopped for lunch in Springdale just outside the park, a heavy prime rib dinner that threatened to put Michal to sleep.
We skirted around the south edge of the park and re-entered it at the NW corner where a short road climbs to a high viewpoint over a panorama of incredible kolobs. They face west so the afternoon sun lit them beautifully.
By then it was late afternoon and we were under the gun to reach Manti many miles to the north by nightfall. We passed Cedar Breaks National Monument while crossing the mountains back to the east. There we reached out highest point on our trip, 10,000 ft (3000m) and there were occasional patches of snow still lingering in the meadows. We sped downhill from there, past Panguitch Lake to the town of Panguitch where we reconnected with Hwy 89. We lost half an hour at a gas station there trying to get gas out of pumps that weren’t pumping properly. North of there Hwy 89 went through a series of narrow canyons as we chased storm clouds and gusty winds buffeted our jeep. The twilight faded to black in the closing miles coming into Manti. The town was as dead as a cemetery that Sunday night but we did manage to find one convenience store open. I bought myself a stale ham and cheese sandwich that had survived the weekend and Michal bought corn chips and salsa. That was dinner. Our final hotel of the trip had a hot tub and two queen-sized beds, much to Michal’s relief. The hot tub was a disappointment as the water was lukewarm at best, but at least he had his own bed and Quasimodo was a safe distance away in the other bed.
PHOTO 1: Bryce Canyon, Sunset Point
PHOTO 2: Moi, and the Natural Arch, Bryce Canyon
PHOTO 3: tunnel in Red Canyon
PHOTO 4: Hwy 9 through Zion NP
PHOTO 5: Virgin R Valley, Zion NP
PHOTO 6: Michal & Kolobs, Zion NP north
PHOTO 7: Cedar Breaks National Monument
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