Monday, September 30th - We got up early and left Green River, Utah at 8:45 for Hatch, Utah. The winds were non-existent today after yesterday where the wind was whipping at a pretty constant 35 mph with gusts to 45 mph. The drive was awesome with a great road (Highway 70), no winds and tremendous scenery. There were no significant climbs on this route. This part of Utah is through the north part of Capitol Reef National Park and it is a beautiful area to drive through. We stopped in Richfield, Utah because Lisa had a big computer meeting with the training personnel from the new company that is taking over her current company. We also parked under a cellular tower so that Lisa would have great connectivity. They have a training program, but they want to see what Lisa is doing so that they can adopt the best practices of both. We went for a walk, and now she is on the program with three people from the east coast.
Tuesday, October 1st - Very cold overnight. Down to 23 degrees last night and our water hose to the trailer froze. Luckily, I removed it from the trailer last night, but I should have drained it. I was really worried about freezing our tanks and our water lines. This morning at about 1:30 I lay awake thinking about the freezing potential of the weather. Then it dawned on me that we have tank and water line heaters built into our trailer. I got up and turned on the tank heaters and researched the operating manual for our trailer. Apparently, the tank heating system will protect the tanks and lines down to -11 degrees. What a relief!!
We made the short drive to Bryce Canyon National Park and began exploring the entire park. We drove to Rainbow Point (at the end of the road in Bryce) and hiked the one-mile Bristlecone Loop Trail. We then worked our way back to the main part of the park and stopped at all the pullouts along the way. We took photos and videos all along the way. Be sure to see them in the photo gallery. We hiked along the rim trail at Sunset/Sunrise Points and photographed the main part of the park: the Cathedral Area. Be sure to try to visit this park when you can.
After visiting Bryce, we drove to Panquich, Utah and had lunch. Lisa also looked for a place to get her hair cut. We had a nice discussion with the owners of the cafe were we ate. We learned a lot about the little town of Panquich. Pretty neat. Lisa set up an appointment for a haircut on the next morning.
Wednesday, October 2nd - Lisa worked until 10:00 with meetings and phone calls. At 10:00. we left for Panquich for her haircut. After her haircut, we drove to the south to Cedar Breaks National Monument. It was a beautiful drive with many Aspen trees changing colors with the cold weather. We then entered the national monument and were able to see the awesome eroded landscapes of the park. Cedar Breaks is, essentially, a mini-Bryce Canyon. Lots of eroded terrain with arches, hoodoos, and lovely colors. We visited the small visitor center and then checked out the viewpoints for the monument. We were above 10,000 feet at many of the view points.
After seeing Cedar Breaks, we drove along the Scenic Highway 4 route into Ceder City, Utah. We ate a very nice lunch and then I managed to get a much-needed haircut. Cedar City is a very nice town and would be a nice place to live.
Thursday, October 3rd - We decided to get up a little early and head for the town of Kanab (Kuh-nab), Utah.This a region of Utah that is south of Bryce Canyon and east of Zion. There are several nice areas to explore around Kanab and you are really close to Arizona and the Grand Canyon. We visited the Information Center in Kanab and they recommended about five cool areas to explore. We have wanted to explore a slot canyon and missed out on this opportunity last year when we were here, so we decided to go to Peekaboo Slot Canyon located about 10 miles north of town and then see other areas that we could drive to.
There are three ways to get to Peekaboo Slot Canyon; hike, hire a guide, or rent a four-wheel drive vehicle and drive the 3.5 miles to the site. We threw out hiking because the 3.5 distance would be nearly constantly through sand; a hard trek. A guide would cost $65 each ($130) and when done, we would not be able to do any other driving in four-wheel drive areas. So, we opted to rent a Jeep and make the drive ourselves. This made Lisa pretty nervous. I'm sure she felt that I would roll the Jeep and we would be stranded out in the wilderness. When we took off down the trail, Lisa pretty much came out of her seat. The Jeep was "fish-tailing" in the sand and moving from side-to-side from the ruts under the fine sand. After a while, Lisa settled down and realized that we were "under control" and not really moving that fast. We also would stop quickly if I pulled my foot off of the gas pedal. The last .75 mile was up a dry wash river bed to the slot canyon, and by this time Lisa was feeling that she would likely not die on this trip. When we arrived at the entrance to the Peekaboo Slot Canyon, there were only two vehicles there. When we started, there were about twenty trucks with trailers for ATVs at the entrance, so we thought that we would be in a crowd. As is turns out, there was only one couple and another man by himself who was an experienced guide. They all left right after we arrived, so we had the entire canyon to ourselves. The canyon was .35 miles long and really beautiful. The colors in the sunlight were awesome. The temperature in the slot dropped by about ten degrees. There were a couple places where we had to climb over some obstacles, but it was not hard at all. There was no water in the slot canyon. In many places, you could put your hands out and touch both sides of the canyon. At the end of the canyon, there were rocks and debris lodged in the canyon and we could not go further without a dangerous climb of about 20 feet. That was the end of the canyon for us. Be sure to look at the photos of the canyon in this blog. When we left the canyon, we opted to take an alternate route back to the main road that would avoid some steeper climbs that we had descended on the way into the canyon. We would have had to lower the air pressure in our tires to about 10 psi to make the climb out in the sand. The alternate exit was much more gradual so we did not have deflate the tires. It turned out to be a great adventure and by the end, Lisa seemed to be actually enjoying the four-wheeling part of the trip. I think she realized that it was not life-threatening.
When we left the Peekaboo Slot Canyon area, we headed for Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Due to the large amount of red iron-oxide in the soil, the sand dunes that formed have an unusual coral pink color to them. We went out on a hike to the top of some of the dunes and watched a young lady "snowboard" down the dunes and another person who was flying a drone. We got some great exercise and then had a nice lunch at the park. It is possible to camp at this park, but it would be challenging to get "The Beast" into some of the slots. This is a big ATV recreation area, which is something that we do not really do, so staying here would not be inviting for us. Although, after our Jeep four-wheeling trip to Peekaboo, maybe Lisa will want to buy an ATV and put in the garage of the Seismic?
After leaving Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, we went back to town and returned the Jeep. We then stopped at a museum in town that displays the "building facade sets" for many of the old western movies of the mid-1950s. It was interesting, but pretty run-down. There was a lot of old "tack" for animals and tools that you would find in the west in the late 1800s. The museum was primarily a vessel to get us in the door of their gift shop to spend some money.
Today is Friday, October 4th - The winds are up today, so our planned bike ride may be put on hold. Lisa has to work till noon and I need to do some work on the blog. Today may end up being a "catch-up" day to do chores that we have put off as we travel around the area. Tomorrow we leave for Leeds, Utah near St. George. From Leeds, we plan to go to the north rim of the Grand Canyon and also do a float trip on the Colorado River below Lake Powell.