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| Bryce Canyon N.P., Red Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante N.M., Capitol Reef N.P. & Natural Bridges N.M. | |
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08/16/07 - Cortez, CO Making damn sure this annual National Parks pass pays for itself - or - 'No More Red Rock!' |
(Shutterfly photo album - Utah Parks & Aztec Ruins) |
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Highway 12 is one of the most scenic roads in the country,
winding through Red Canyon, by Bryce Canyon, through Grand
Staircase-Escaclante and up to Capitol Reef National Park.
There are not many places on the road where you're not driving
by absolutely spectacular landscape and it just seems to go on
and on, one gorgeous mile after another. If you ever have
the chance to drive this road, do it. Seriously. When you take Highway 12 east toward Bryce, you pass right through the Red Canyon area in Dixie National Forest. Dark red cliffs and rock formations, a new bike path extending the length of the park, drive-through tunnels carved in the red rock, a site worth seeing in its own right. We stopped to take a quick look before trying to catch the morning light (and morning temps) in Bryce, where we walked a short while into the amphitheater on Fairy Loop Trail. We actually encountered TWO English-speaking American couples... amazing! Next down the road was Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. First thing we have to say about that is, we can't wait to go back and explore. There was nary a soul in sight, but spectacular landscape all around. Not planning to spend much time here, we quickly picnicked (quicknicked?) down by Calf Creek before taking a diversion down Burr Trail Road. The spectacular red rock scenery just keeps getting better; Burr Trail really surprised us, as we found ourselves driving through a snaking road at the bottom of an amazing canyon. If only we had more time (and 50 gallons of water) we'd love to have explored this part of the park further. The amazing Highway 12 drive ended for us at Capitol Reef National Park, where we headed west onto Highway 24. Although also chock-full of beautiful red rock landscape, this park was different from the rest. The park was settled by early Mormon settlers in the last half of the 19th century, where they farmed, started orchards, and built a few structures that still stand, including a schoolhouse and farmhouse (where we bought a delicious freshly baked peach pie to tide us over). There are also some impressively preserved petroglyphs on some of the cliff walls, making this a park with a little bit more to see and learn about than some others - good to hold kids' interest after a couple of days of red-rock-peeping. It was getting late when we left Capitol Reef, so we decided we'd probably pass up Natural Bridges National Monument. That is, until we drove by the sign and couldn't resist 'just taking the scenic loop drive'. That is, until we saw the trail down into the canyon to Kachina Bridge, where we just had to take the one-mile hike to get a closer look. This would be a great park to spend half of a day or more and hike to each of the bridges. But since it was almost dark by the time we got back to the entrance station, this was obviously not that day. Good bye Utah, we made it as far as Cortez, Colorado tonight - the hopping off point for Mesa Verde National Park (where we will NOT be heading tomorrow - straight to Albuquerque!). Being back in Colorado really makes it feel like our loop is nearly complete.
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Caroline lunches at Calf Creek in Grand Staircase-Escalante
