This year, our annual off-season vacation took us to see Bryce Canyon and Zion. The canyons along the Utah and Arizona border are a series of elevated steps on a Grand Geologic Staircase. I’d never thought of it that way.
Our vacation started out with the usual list of things for me to pack. After The Royster booked airlines, vehicles and accommodations, I lined up our suitcases in the living room and started tossing various items in the bags, crossing items off the list as I go. Bear in mind, that it wouldn’t be a real vacation if I didn’t forget something. This time I didn’t forget anything … I don’t think, but I did pack the wrong down vest for The Royster. It used to be his, but he outgrew it over a period of 40 years. Suffice to say, it was an unpleasant surprise. But, I had mine! As it turned out, I could not get everything in the suit cases, no matter how hard I tried. We were to leave early Thursday morning. Something had to be done. So, I kenneled our dog, Hank, and headed out to buy larger piece of luggage. Hiking boots take up a lot of room, as do coats and sweatshirts.
We flew out to Las Vegas, picked up our rent car and found a Wal-Mart. We bought an ice chest and food for our stay in a log cabin. Our first destination was Panguitch, Utah. We loaded up the car and then headed for Utah. And, though we had been in Utah two or three times before, I’d never heard of Panguitch until The Royster booked our accommodations there. It was a log cabin, built in 1863, was restored and added to. The location was out in the middle of nowhere … a ranch. There is a main house, and three cabins. Ours was the smaller, older one … very quaint, indeed. Everything we would need was furnished. All we needed to bring was food and clothing.
When we got there, we dragged in our massive luggage and started looking around. It was perfect! The view was beautiful, and our cabin backed up to the horse pasture. The bed room was upstairs in the loft. There was a small furnished kitchen with dining area, a bathroom, and a living room with a fireplace. What more could we ask for? I looked around the living room and noticed that there was no television.
“Hey! There’s not a T.V. down here! Guess it’s upstairs in the bedroom.” I said.
“Nope, it’s not.” Said The Royster, leaning over the railing from upstairs.
So much for our T.V. habit of morning and evening news, CNN and Bloomberg, sports and the Discovery channels. And how on earth would be wake up in the morning without the news automatically coming on?
About that time, our hostess trotted up to the back door to see that we were comfortable. I mentioned that there was no T.V. She said that being the rustic cabin that it was, they decided that the theme should continue that way with no T.V. It was the only cabin that didn’t have one. FINE! We’d just have to read, play games and talk to each other. And, actually, it wasn’t so bad. We did read, talk and played some Farkle. After all, most of our time was spent going to Bryce Canyon and surrounding sites of interest. I think that to make up for our disappointment in not having a T.V., our hostess brought us freshly baked chocolate chip cookies daily while we were there. That helped a lot. One day she brought zucchini bread. There were three horses and a filly that we fed apples and pears to ... more new BFFE's.
Also, during our stay in the cabin, we were graced with a visit almost every morning by a beautiful Golden Lab named Jesse. He would show up at breakfast, just waiting at the door (no barking included) to be invited in. He would politely go sniffing around in the kitchen, including the garbage; no action was taken there, then the living room. He would sit and wait to be given a morsel left over from breakfast, and then help himself to a nice spot in front of the fire place. We totally ate this up. What a wonderful new friend! When we were checking out to head to Zion, our host said, “What a con-dog! He’s not allowed in the house!” I guess we’re just suckers for that kind of thing, because we missed our own con-dog, Hank. In addition to that, we were treated to about 20 turkeys marching across the pasture behind our cabin.
Bryce Canyon was just plain awesome! It’s hard to believe that all of that was formed by wind, and water. The Steps, being The Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce, took 200 million years to form. We walked and climbed on various levels of Bryce, going back and forth to each station to catch specific formations with the sun shining just right. While The Royster took pictures, I made two new best friends. Ravens are very smart, and they can pick out a sucker in a large crowd from a mile away. Two of them, a male and a female, spotted “the cracker lady” immediately. I was willing, too! I found them to be very friendly, and even gentle. You wouldn’t think they’d be gentle, but the female, (being the larger of the two) just hopped up beside me as though she was going to take my hand off, and then very gingerly plucked the morsel from my fingers. They were soon showing up at each station just as we arrived, taking turns receiving the host of Ritz Crackers. There was one raven that just let everyone that drove up know that he owned that spot by pecking loudly on the fender of whichever car that he decided was in violation of a parking rule.
The rock formations, or Hoo Doos were awe inspiring. They were many and varied, depending on the location. My favorites were in the Devil’s Garden. This one is located about a 16.5 mile drive down Hole-in-the-Rock Road. It’s a dirt road from Escalante Rte. 12. You can just wander around, look and climb. It’s not a really big area, but non-the-less, extremely inspiring. The rock formations are smooth, and just very appealing to look at.
We moved on to Zion, in Springdale, Utah; staying at the Bumbleberry Inn. The room was a generous size and the view was a spectacular red mountain seen off our balcony. We dumped our luggage and sat on the balcony to relax and enjoy the view. After a moment, we realized that immediately behind our unit was a farm at the bottom of the mountain. There was a really well built duck pond with about 18-20 mallard ducks swimming. I thought it was odd that there were three gorgeous roosters pecking around in the grass in the same enclosure. One of the ducks would quack a “statement”, at which all the others would chime in. To me, it sounded as though one of them had just told a joke that the others found uproariously funny. After they finished their dip in the pond, the ducks all assembled in a spot in the sun to dry and preen. After a few moments, the three roosters joined them. This seemed to be a set routine. The roosters started prancing around the pond, followed by all of the ducks, in a single file. Hmmmm … a duck parade, led by three very colorful roosters. What a sight! Sorry … was so entranced that I didn’t get a picture of it.
That was the beginning of our entertainment in Zion. The first really good picture we got was a picture of a big horn sheep at the east entrance to the park. We just happened to stop at the right place at the right time, because there just aren’t a whole lot of them there, and only on the east side of the park. He appeared to be fairy young by the size of his horns. It’s just plain baffling how they just trot horizontally across the face of a steep mountain.
Zion Park is different from Bryce Canyon, whereas you just drive from station to station in Bryce. In Zion, you take a bus from your hotel to the park at no cost. Springdale is so small that besides parking at your hotel, there just isn’t any parking. Once you got to the park, you would take another bus. This time, you could get off at any of about six stops to wander and investigate, hike and/or climb all you want; depending on your physical condition and/or desire to exert a lot of energy … or not until the park closes. Buses run until about 9 p.m. We certainly did our share of hiking, but declined the rock climbing and the longest paths. There were rock climbers that we saw on the straight up and down faces of the mountains. When they walked through the park, they clinked with all their climbing gear. The Royster and I decided that neither of us needed that kind of adrenalin rush. Hmmmm ….. possibly in another life … Nah!
We did manage to see the Emerald Pools, Hanging Gardens and the River Hike along the Virgin River. The river hike was long enough, but at the point where the canyon narrows, you had to walk 97% in the water. Since it was cold enough, being in October, we declined that part. We noticed one brave couple forging on to wade through the cold water into the narrows. There is a big-screen movie to watch about the ancients that lived there and what they used these narrows for. It was very interesting. There was a clay pot of corn on display that was found in tact, and estimated to be at least 1000 years old. Mostly, we did our own investigating, climbing and hiking.
Towards the end of our stay there, we were driving along one leg of the road on the East side. You had to go into a tunnel through a mountain. That ride is over 1.5 miles. That ride alone is awesome. By-the-way, there are big windows through out the tunnel for ventilation.
As we drove along on the east entrance road, we would stop to get out and investigate. At one place, the rock was smooth, colorful and inviting. We stopped to snoop around. Roy immediately climbed down and found a narrow canyon to wander through. I can’t really explain the feeling you get when you walk through one of these. Awesome is good, but it would be more a spiritual experience. As I was following his voice from above, I spied an opening that can only be described as a cave. How did he miss that? I directed him, via voice, to that opening, and followed his voice. I kept asking Roy how far he was in the tunnel, as his voice kept getting further and further away. The Royster said he kept taking pictures in the dark so that he could see where he was going. Eventually, after a curve in the tunnel, he reached the other end, which came out on the other side of the road. I was chomping at the bit to climb down, and finally found a place were there was less chance of breaking my neck. After a bit of climbing, and delicate foot purchases, I made it down there, and we walked through the narrow canyon, and then we went to the cave. It was man made, but still … our footprints were the only human footprints there. This is where NO MAN HAS GONE … recently. It dawned on me after the fact that we had been trouncing around there as though we lived there; not bothering to watch were we were plodding along. The rattle snake is the only venomous snake there, and they were still out, looking for their places of hibernation. Believe me! I certainly paid more attention after that realization.
If it was not for the fact that there is still so much to see here in our U.S.A., we would make a return trip. Maybe we will anyway. You certainly could not see all of it in just eight days. The land outside the parks is beautiful, but the parks hold a special magic and spirituality, giving a person a feeling of reverence. Yup! I’d definitely go there again.
