9/5 - Park Hopping I

This was one of our drive between attractions days - in this case from the Grand Canyon, up north to Bryce Canyon. It was a day for scenic wonders seen (primarily) through car windows as we passed through some incredibly rugged and varied terrain. It was also, simply, a day for quite a lot of driving.

We were up and doing the checkout at our lodge before 9:30, so on the road at quite a reasonable time. However, we had the road leading tothe park's southern exit - and all the great scenic locations along that 30-odd miles of canyon rim - to travel first. We ended up stopping at a couple of locations, and in particular spent quite a while at Desert View - which I highly recommend to anyone visiting the canyon.

Then it was out of the park and the longish drive to "hook around" the canyon before we could truly head north. It was fascinating seeing all the little road-side stores run by Indians along the way. These are typically small wooden sheds with no sides and a tin roof, under which the Indian display their wares. These roadside stores can be noted by the number of flags they fly above them. We eventually stopped at one of these (around Marble Canyon) and Maria picked up a very nice bead bracelet - but I didn't think much of their tomahawks.

The countryside changed throughout the day and was like something out of a western movie. Sweeping plateaus with sparse low vegetation leading to plunging gorges; "badlands" of coloured sands and strange mounds that look man-made; great cliffs of shattered red rock running beside the roadside; pine forested slopes with swift running streams, and bright red and orange sandy-rock formations in strange shapes - these are some of the sights and environments we drove through today.

I had to repeatedly ask Maria to video and photograph it all for me soI wouldn't be too distracted and drive us off the road. Indeed my overwhelming urge was simply to get out of the car and immerse myself in the terrain - seeing was not anywhere near sufficient. But that's all we could do.

Today I came to understand why so many people are so passionate about these areas. I know that if I had grown up here the country would be deep in my bones and something I had a great attachment for.

We stopped for lunch at Page - grabbing the food from that American institution Wallmart; before heading down to Lake Powell (artificial -formed by a dam) to eat lunch. The day was hot (mid 80s fahrenheit), particularly on the sandstone layers that ring the lake. Unfortuntely we didn't get all the way down to the waterline and into the ohh so cool looking water. There simply wasn't time (particulalrly as we lost one hour on crossing from Arizona into Utah).

As we drove into the afternoon the landscape changed to a more lush environment as we approached the Zion and Bryce area...though lush is a relative term - we're still talking high country mountain and desert.We arrived too late to visit Bryce Canyon, but even the drive to Tropic (the town in which we're staying) was quite a sight - including driving through 2 tunnels/arches carved from the red rock/sandstone.

In town we found a laundromat, so while Maria and the kids watched over the machines I went and made the first post on the blog for nearly a fortnight as we've been getting a number of emails wondering if we were Ok.