Bryce Canyon | Ruby's Inn RV Park
Thursday - 20 June 2002: Bryce Canyon National Park,
Utah - This has been a fabulous day - the scenery today has
possibly been the best of the trip! We have seen mountain and meadow, rock
and river, green and gray, flora and fauna. We left Torrey, Utah on Highway
12 towards
Bryce
Canyon National Park. To arrive at our destination we traveled through
the Dixie National Forest and
The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Our day started sadly
as we came across a dead doe by the side of the road, with her fawn
struggling to survive. So sad. The rangers will do what they do. Highway 12
goes over mountains - and for the first time in weeks, we traveled through
Quake Aspen and Pine forests - actual lumber - not scrub pinyons. We also
drove through huge meadows and saw a marmot! The meadows were filled with
beautiful wild flowers. We traveled up near 9,500 feet and then began a
descent into Escalante. We also came across a cattle drive - a real,
honest-to-goodness cattle drive. A man and his daughter were driving a herd
of cows and their newly-branded calves up to the high country.
Utah cattle drive
Escalante National Monument
After we went through Boulder, Utah we entered Escalante
National Monument and drove along an incredible 40-mile-long road called
The Hogsback, 4 miles of it along the top of a narrow ridge
with canyons plunging to either side. It is sometimes called the "Million
Dollar Road to Boulder" - built by the CCC in 1940. Road kill was being
devoured by Turkey Vultures along The Hogsback.
We entered Bryce Canyon and found a campsite, then headed into the park. We
are staying at a very interesting place - Ruby's Inn - a "resort" with a
lodge, campground, tours, groceries, shops, a rodeo, cowboy BBQ, several
pools and hot tubs... well, pretty much everything and it is very nice. The
sights are amazing in Bryce. I will show you a few photos of our drive this
afternoon.
Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon
We stopped at most of the look-outs in the
Amphitheater area
and looked for the best hike tomorrow. We ran into hikers we had previously
met in Arches National Park - two boys who have just graduated from Wake
Forest and are on a big trip through the US. The weather is so nice here -
only in the 80's. It is so refreshing compared with the weather we have been
having just a few miles east. We went to the highest point of the park,
Rainbow Overlook, at 9,100 feet.
Tonight we stayed home and I cooked a nice dinner - salmon, rice and salad
and then I baked a crostata - from this month's Bon Appétit
Magazine. I used nectarines and raspberries in a lovely pastry crust. It was
very, very good and we shared with our neighbors - they had repaired the gas
fire-up valve on our fridge.
My brother, Steve, called. "How much room do you have in your freezer at
home?" Mom caught two huge halibut in Alaska and they are shipping it (and a
lot of salmon) to Steve and he is looking for freezer space.
Rainbow Overlook
Natural Bridge (which actually is an arch)
RV Park:
Ruby's Inn RV Park & Campground
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