June 1, 2010 - On to Bryce

6/1/2010
I figured out why I am sleeping so late. There is a time change of 1 hour. It is lighter later here, but it is also darker later. Ergo, the light trigger that wakes me up is later here. Now that that problem has been solved… Getaway day today. I got up and hit the road for my powerwalk. Walking by all these houses, it amazed me that not one of them had a picture window focused on the magnificent buttes, mountains and meadows. I guess it must get old for some people.

We readied Hannah for her trip to Bryce Canyon. Up I15 to Cedar City, then go east on 14. The climb up I15 was quite substantial. Mountains tower over both sides. At around 5000 feet, the desert scrub turned more to meadows. We passed through Cedar City and turned on to 14, which is a narrow 2 lane road, so narrow in spots that it felt like the rock faces kissed us as we passed. We kept climbing and winding. We started to see patches of snow. We stopped at the Zion Overlook which is about 7000 feet. Sweeping views of the valleys and mountains made a nice backdrop for our lunch. I notice a lot of dead pines. Here it is June 1, and the aspens are just now starting to bud! I think someone forgot to tell them that it was spring! Since it was quite cool, I tried to get some sleeves out, but with Hannah’s sliders in, I couldn’t get to anything. Oh well.

After lunch, we continued our climb. At the point where the turnoff for Brian’s Head ski area is, the road starts to get less windy and we start to descend. The last elevation sign we saw said 7777. The meadows are totally covered in snow, but we can at least get some speed. A few dead deer later, we got to route 89 and turned north. We enjoyed the view of the Asay creek snaking through the meadows.

When we got to Bryce, we thought we would try one of the campgrounds inside the park. Based on the size of our rig, they recommended the north campground. We headed over, and after nearly taking out a tree trying to get into a spot, that turned out to be reserved anyway, we figured Hannah was not meant for this, and headed to an RV park right outside the park. We were able to get a space, but it was a challenge. We learned a couple of things though… We could have reserved a spot in Bryce, but we couldn’t fit in it – sooooo, be careful about reserving! Also, areas around the national parks are busy, end of story! Be prepared with back up plans! I guess the tree part in one of Hannah’s creases is a badge of honor! Good thing Spouse clipped the tree instead of me… I would have never heard the end of it!

We got Hannah set up, (we even set up the satellite dish so we can fight over what we want to watch!) and decided to cruise the canyon. It is quite magnificent. We went to the end and took a short hike at Bristlepoint loop. We picked up a little firewood so maybe we will have a campfire one day. I gotta watch the spouse though… he got a really long piece of wood that he thinks he will feed into the fire inch by inch… You can already tell that a major fire took out many of the trees, but having spouse here… watch out! On the ride back, we saw the deer and the antelope roaming… oh give me a home…