Bryce Canyon National Park

On Sunday September 8 we left Torrey UT headed for Bryce Canyon City UT.  Our route would take us along UT 12, one of the most scenic roads in the nation, but featuring grades of up to 14%.  Good thing we have a 3-stage Jacob engine brake!

A pack of Newmars at the overlook

We made a stop at the visitor center for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Cannonville.

From Wikipedia:

The Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument is a United States national monument protecting the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante in southern Utah. It was established in 1996 by President Bill Clinton under the authority of the Antiquities Act with 1.7 million acres of land, later expanded to 1,880,461 acres.  In 2017, the monument's size was reduced by half in a succeeding presidential proclamation by President Trump, and it was restored in 2021 by President Biden. The land is among the most remote in the country; it was the last to be mapped in the contiguous United States.

The term "Grand Staircase" was first used by geologist Clarence Dutton in the 1870s, who described the area, specifically the Colorado Plateau as it drops in steps to the Grand Canyon, as "like a great stairway". 

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Dueling Hummingbirds (Female Rufous???)

We arrived at Ruby's Inn Campground in Bryce Canyon City (how original!) after a drive of about 114 miles. That evening we had dinner and a show at Ebenezer's Barn & Grill in Bryce Canyon City.

Check back later.  I hope to add some videos of the performances.

The next day we explored Bryce Canyon National Park. 

Bryce Canyon is extremely photogenic.  It's hard not to get carried away with the pictures. 

Ebenezer Bryce was a Mormon homesteader who lived at the mouth of Paria Creek near present-day Tropic, UT, about 1875. He is the namesake for Bryce Canyon, and his farm backed up to what is now called Bryce Canyon. When asked what it is like to live at the edge of such an remarkable canyon, he replied: "It's a hell of a place to lose a cow"

Northern or Common Raven

Is this a public facility?

We had a late lunch (early dinner?) at the Grand Dining Hall at The Lodge at Bryce Canyon

Y'all need to be carefull!

Thankfully he made it

We found a herd of Desert Bighorn Sheep.

Tomorrow is another travel day.  Next stop Washington Ut at Zion National Park.

Capitol Reef National Park

We departed Moab about 9:00 on Friday September 6, and arrived at Thousand Lakes RV Park in Torrey UT after a pleasant drive of about 156 miles.  Along the way we stopped at the John Wesley Powell River History Museum in Green River UT.  

From Wikipedia:

"John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He is famous for his 1869 geographic expedition, a three-month river trip down the Green and Colorado rivers, including the first official U.S. government-sponsored passage through the Grand Canyon."

A green Tesla Cyper Truck? And a Tesla Supercharger in Green River? Unbelievable!

After the museum visit we had a nice lunch at the Tamarisk Restaurant with a number of other caravan members. I'm not as surprised to see so many sports cars in Green River UT as I am to see they all were able to park together at a crowed restaurant parking lot at lunch time.

Green River UT is known for its fine melons.  After arriving at Thousand Lakes RV Park in Torrey UT we had a travel meeting and were rewarded with a variety of fresh sweet Green River melons.

Dinner at Rim Rock Restuarant in Torrey

On Saturday we had a free day to explore Capitol Reef National Park.  

From Wikipedia:

The park was named for its whitish Navajo Sandstone cliffs with dome formations—similar to the white domes often placed on capitol buildings—that run from the Fremont River to Pleasant Creek on the Waterpocket Fold. Locally, reef refers to any rocky barrier to land travel, just as ocean reefs are barriers to sea travel.

The park includes the historic town of Fruita, a Mormon settlement established about 1880. Brigham Young sent settlers out to the remote corners of Utah to "...make gardens, orchards and vineyards, and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful locations." They certainly succeeded at Fruita. Located in a canyon on the banks of the Fremont River and Sulfur Creek, it is an excellent place to grow fruit. There still exist 22 orchards of peaches, apricots, pears, cherries, plums and apples, now managed by the NPS. Visitors can eat all the fruit they want as they walk through the orchards. If they want to take some with them it's $2.00 per pound. Only one orchard was still open at this date. We ate all the Rome Beauty apples we could while in the orchard, and then carried out 3 pounds for later. They were delicious!

We bought a sack of gourmet burgers from Capitol Burgers, a food truck parked near our camp.  Gourmet burgers in Torrey UT, a town with population of only 182 poor lost souls you say? Yes, it is so!  The chef and owner Luke Fowles has a degree from Le Cordon Bleu and has worked at some of the finest restaurants in the west.  Actually Torrey is the home of at least 4 such highly rated establishments.  You can read about them HERE.  

Photo credit: The Salt Lake City Tribune

I had a nice conversation with Luke as he was packing up the truck at closing time for the day.  He has family that has moved to North Carolina.

Next we move to Ruby's Inn Campground at Bryce Canyon City UT.