Wednesday, September 14, 2016
I thought I had my humans trained better. I let them know I want out, and once again,
they ignore me! Back to the stinkeye
treatment.
During the night, we had a rain shower. I love the sound but I hope it isn't raining
in the morning. It is cold. It is the middle of the night. Spouse decided to turn on the heat. But wait... it kicked off. Hmmm, we know it is cold enough for the
thermostat. Are we out of propane? No, the refrigerator is still on and the stove
will light. Uh oh... batteries... We do
what humans do when they are cold - we throw an extra blanket on and drag our
FHG (feline heat generator) under the covers.
His ears are cold, but he is purring and staying in place. He must be cold too. We will deal with that when the sun comes up.
Spouse can't sleep so he goes in the other room to
read. I encourage him to look at the
stars as this is another certified 'dark' place. It is 46 degrees in Hannah. It is 4:00 am. I doze off and on till 6:00 am. It is 43 degrees in Hannah. My orchids are screaming at me. There is frost on the cars outside. It is too early to run the generator. It is arctic inside and I won't check the
temperature anymore because I don't want to know. Hot coffee in my mug is warming my hands, but
I have to go to the bathroom - the room where we leave the vent open for
obvious reasons... I can't wait any
longer...
Finally, at 7:30, Spouse turns on the generator and the
heat. We apologize to our neighbors but
they are ok with it. Spouse has some
diagnosing to do. Do we need to go back
down to Cedar City and buy batteries? Or
is just one bad, and if we charge the other, will that get us through until we
get to St. George on Friday when we will have full hookups? A half hour later, it is up to 53 degrees and
it feels downright balmy! Spouse
diagnoses the number 1 battery is bad, but number 2 is ok. We are good to go.
Our morning walk is a hike at the Cedar Breaks visitor
center. The trail goes along the rim of
the canyon. There are no railings, just
a steep drop off if you trip. You have
to keep your eyes on the trail because a stumble could be fatal. If you want to look at the canyon, you have
to stop. It is windy, it is incredibly
cold. We met up with a man from our
campground. He said his outside
thermostat read 30 degrees. We didn't
leave Hannah until 10, yet there is still frost on cars and on the wood they
used to make steps. There is even a
dusting of snow on the shady side of one hill.
It is a half mile trail to the visitor center from the
campground, then there are two lookout points.
The first one, Spectra Point was one mile. It winds along the top of the canyon, then
though some woods. You climb some, and
we are already at 10,000 feet. Then you
descend some. It amazes me that you have
this massive arid, rocky canyon on one side of you, then, just twenty feet away
on the other side you have a lush
forest. The bark beetle has taken its toll,
that's for sure. There are railings at
Spectra Point with sweeping views of the canyon. If I didn't tell you that it was Cedar
Breaks, you would think it was Bryce (which is only about 60 miles away). A bristlecone forest adorns the end of this
trail.
I wanted to go on, Spouse did not trust his knee, so he went
back, and I forged on to Ramparts Overlook, which is another mile. It was probably a good thing Spouse went back
as the trail has a lot of downhill to it.
There are a few switchbacks through the forest with occasional spots
where you can stand on the ledge and view the canyon. The trail ends at a promontory jutting out
into the canyon. It is scary to know
that you can take one step too far and end up thousands of feet down. I slowly walk as close to the edge as I dare to take a few photos. I then hold on to a dead tree to look down. I am all alone... nobody to hear me scream...
At this point, I have hiked 2 1/2 miles and I am still
wearing my jacket! It is warm in the
sun, but the wind is biting. I head
back... up the hills... and up... and up.
I see a marmot and it poses for a photo.
I rest, I climb, I rest, I climb.
There is still ice on the wood steps and it is after noon. There is ice in the crevasses of
benches. I am able to unzip my jacket,
but don't take it off until I am all the way back to the visitor center.
When I get back, Spouse is outside with Rudy. He drops the leash and Rudy runs to the bush
right outside Hannah and picks off a rat!
He runs into Hannah. Spouse
chases him and his pet outside. He is
having a ball throwing the rodent in the air.
But wait... it stops moving. He
is trying to make it move... Alas... he gives up.
After a brief respite, Spouse and I jump in Jack and head
towards Panguitch Lake. It is about 1:30
and it is 46 degrees. It goes down to 42
degrees before I stopped looking and turned on the seat heater! We wind through the roads with their meadows
and forests. We stumble upon a fall
color show that is stopping the few cars that come by for a photo. The reds, oranges, yellows and greens are
screaming for attention. A mile later,
the road descends some, and all is green, with barely a tinge of yellow. It was like a light switch.
Panguitch lake is a recreation area. It looks like a summer home for some. In the town, there is an RV park, and cute
cabins. It looks like the area is also
geared for off road riding. We cruised
around and then headed back. Spouse is
tired since he has been awake since the wee hours.
Tonite, a campfire. We
will cremate the remains of Rudy's rodent.
We might light the campfire inside Hannah if stays this cold!
