September 28 to October 4, 2002

Saturday September 28:

 We finished Bryce in the morning, with 4 mile walk from 8000 ft start, down into the canyon among the hoodoos, and back.  It was spectacular, and not as hard as the 9000 foot shorter walk had been yesterday.  We did it right, with an early start, and got finished before the rain and hail started around noon. We started at Sunrise point, descending the steep trail to walk among the formations.

 They were beautiful; one was named "Queen Victoria", we could see why.

Some of the areas with the hoodoos towering above were somewhat intimidating, even if the trees indicated it had been many years since any collapse....

The action of rainwater erosion on the hoodoo formations was quite clear in places.

Note how the mud-stone "icicles" are formed by dripping rainwater, while the "main stream" water path shows clearly in the center.  Nothing in Bryce Canyon is permanent;  it is always changing.  Our ascent up the trail was quickened by the sound of thunder; knowing what water can do here, we have no desire to be caught in a rainstorm below these "changing" hoodoos.  No matter how slowly they change, eventual collapse is inevitable;  we have no desire to tempt fate..  :-)

We returned to the rim at Sunset point; the rim trail back to Sunrise point was only a half mile, and we avoided the high lookouts as the rain clouds moved closer.  We arrived at the RV just as the rain started, ate lunch watching other visitors scurry to their vehicles while it rained and hailed, then drove to the visitors center to take in a 20 minute free movie and a ranger talk about Bryce in the visitors center. This now immobile mountain lion graces the visitors center, seeming to grasp at a final meal ...

We left Bryce Canyon NP via Fairyland Canyon drive, and the dull day gave outstanding photos of the delicate pastel canyon colors.

A kind gentleman offered to take both our pictures under the low hanging clouds at the Fairyland overlook.  I was careful not to move too far to my right.... :-)  In the National Parks of the west, visitors are refreshingly on their own regarding safety.

We talked with Matt, using the cellphone amplifier; he had been in Sudbury for the wake of  a high school lacrosse teammate, who was a year ahead of Matt in school.   That is so terribly sad..........  We moved on to Red Canyon; this highway tunnel built through the red rock in 1925 to enable auto access to Bryce Canyon is striking.  

The bluffs and remoteness of Red Canyon provided shelter from the law to Butch Cassidy and his gang of outlaws in the old west.  We had to take a higher site at the Dixie National Forest campground this time, but cellphone sorta worked here WITHOUT the amplifier (scratchy).  It did NOT work with it!  A three bar signal would not give any receive sound. I am puzzled, but perhaps there is a strong competing signal here that overloads the amplifier on receive?   It is cool and raw here now, and the heat will be welcome tonight I'm sure.  I am happy it is my night with the dishes; Claire can stay out in the raw weather with the cats...  :-)

Sunday September 29:

It rained intermittently all night, including what sounded like some hail around 3AM.  It was 44 degrees outside at 5AM.  I put the surge protector I forgot I had on the RV into service on the inverter; it's lights showed protected but not grounded.  I assume that means the neutral  AC output of the inverter is floated from the battery negative which is RV chassis??? At least it provides eight ?grounded? (commonly connected) sockets instead of leaving the ground pin float in air as we had been doing. The static charge in this dry air is a concern to me.  I think the grounding to RV chassis is a safety issue only, not a great concern for static protection.  I must rethink that in lower altitudes. We showered, dumped, filled water in the rain, then drove to Cedar City by the computer chosen "quickest way".  This led us across State Rt 14 to Cedar City, and we thought nothing of it until we saw signs near the turn onto Rt 14 that the road was not recommended for tractor trailers,  had steep grades, and might be closed in winter; the only choice was back all the way we had come, and then cross to I-15 for the trip south to Cedar City.  We had already come 20 miles, and it was only 40 miles more to Cedar City, so we decided to go; it was not close to freezing anyway..... 50 degrees maybe at 7000 ft elevation.  The road did have some 8% grades, and climbing up the switchbacks was slow, second gear at 35 mph, but no problem. we stopped to photograph Navajo Lake under low hanging clouds at a pull off.  

 As we climbed further, I began to see traces of snow along side the road.  Soon there were wet flakes hitting the windshield, and the snow was accumulating everywhere but on the road.  YIKES.....this is just what we always planned to avoid!!!  Driving in snow, and on a mountain road too....  

We topped out at 9990 ft and started down; I needed no urging to follow the speed suggestions on the steep downgrades, much of it negotiated in first gear.  We pulled off to let cars and pickups pass when we could, and continued at the 25-35 mph speed we were comfortable with.  Below 8000 ft it was again all rain, and by the time we reached Cedar City the roads were dry.  We found another store at the address of the Walmart, but at Claire's urging proceeded to the edge of town anyway;  as I turned around to go back, Claire spotted the Walmart sign on the other side of I-15, just an underpass away.  It was certainly welcome, and we were glad to pull into a parking slot in the far corner of the lot and relax.  This short day's drive had NOT been relaxing.  We felt better when an extremely STRONG Verizon digital cellphone signal was found, and I immediately started  to upload the website while Claire started dinner.  Soon the website was finished; very fast for a cell connection, and we went shopping.  I was fortunate to find a knowledgeable salesperson in the Walmart  electronics section who soon had me fixed up with a Lead Data universal card reader that reads Smart Media cards, Compact Flash cards, IBM Microdrives, Secure Digital cards, and Multimedia cards, as well as providing a 2 port USB hub.

 I was DELIGHTED to pay $40 to solve the problem of pictures trapped in the camera, and this device will  be useful for other reasons a well.  I did the whole weekend's Internet business on Sunday afternoon and evening, but the connection was good and I was quite happy everything had worked out so well.

Monday September 30:

I awoke late, and checked the house battery.  I had REALLY used it with the computer yesterday.  It was right at the 50% charge I do not want to go below, so I opted to use the time and get our Walmart gift card refilled with cash, as the Walmart affiliated Mirastar gas station here offered 3 cents discount with the card.  It was early, and the gas station attendant had time to converse.  I asked him why the stations out west seemed to sell 85 octane gas as regular, instead of 87 as is common back East.  I explained I was concerned, as the RV is specified to use 87 octane minimum.  He said it was due to the altitude (over 6000 ft) that the engines would run good on 85, and only if we were returning to low altitudes should we fill with high test.  He did not know why it was so, but a bit later it hit me; the thin (low pressure) air taken into the engine cylinder here does not compress to as high a pressure on the compression stroke as it would with higher pressure sea level air being taken into the cylinder.  Since the engine damaging detonation cause by low octane fuel is a function of absolute cylinder pressure, less octane is required in a given engine at high altitudes.  Poorly explained, and I apologize, but since I understand, I am now comfortable running the low octane gas at this elevation.  We filled fuel, and drove to Zion NP, Kaneb canyon entrance.  We drove the 5 miles in, understanding why the guidebook recommended this place for the afternoon; the shadows are not favorable to good photography.  We walked the mile to the highest peak, where the morning shadows were attractive looking back toward the entrance.

We met Brian from Baltimore, an ex-Navy man who has been touring the country since April in his pickup truck.  He gave us tips on the Grand Canyon, we gave him some on Bryce and Arches, and we shared a cheese and cracker lunch in the RV.  

He often sleeps in the front of his truck when conditions are not right for pitching his tent.  The bed of his truck is quite full of his belongings.  :-)  The day warmed nicely, and we saw this HUGE bumblebee like creature working the rabbit bush.  

On our way out, enough time had passed so the colorful cliffs were well lighted.

We then drove the 20 miles to the main entrance to Zion NP, passing through the picturesque gate village of Springdale, UT.   We secured a campsite with electricity for $8/day with our golden age passport.  We are already double our money ahead on this pass and have had it only three days.  We are awestruck at the scenery; these peaks overlook the campground area.  The white covering on many is the mineral from which they are formed, not snow.  :-)

We took the free bus tour of Zion Canyon, and walked the river trail. Here Claire re-ties her shoe along the Virgin River.

The road ended and the canyon narrowed to only room for a walking trail, the river walk. This was fun for us; sun seldom penetrates into this narrow canyon, the humidity increased from water dripping from canyon walls, and plants became ones we would find in a swamp.   It was a fresh breath of EASTERN HUMIDITY, almost forgotten by now!  

We enjoyed watching people at the place where the canyon narrowed to only the river width, so folks continuing on had to wade through 5 or six miles of steep walled canyon before they emerged onto flatter high plateau, then return the same way.

Few went the whole way; one lady was limping especially hard, and said she had broken her little toe metatarsal (arch bone) three weeks ago, and was out wading in rocks today; having broken metatarsals myself, I can understand her limping.  I'm also glad I am not going to be near her when the cold water chill goes out of that foot.....  On the bus trip back we were fortunate to see this mule deer buck scrambling away from the bus.  With the advantage of the high resolution original image I count 9, maybe 10 points....

 We returned to nuke left over pork and cabbage; DEEELICIUOS!!!  This was a busy day, and bedtime was early again tonight.

Tuesday October 1:

The weather forecast for today is chance of rain, and the sky looks gray.  We decide to bike early to the head of Zion Canyon,  following the bus route of yesterday, and on the way out check the ranger station for any more weather info.  Claire packed both our rain suits into her pack. I would not have bothered. The weather forecast at Bryce, said to be similar to the Grand Canyon which is not available here, indicated below freezing tonight and on for days; we decided to return to the campground office and extend our campground stay two more days, to give this weather pattern a chance to clear out.  Below freezing and precipitation means snow up there at 8000 ft. We biked and stopped for frequent photos, which seemed to disappoint in the cloudy light. This doe and her fawn crossing the stream below us were interesting.   

This dam is used to divert Virgin River water for use in the park gateway town of Springdale.

We took short side walks to observation points, this for the mountains named for the three Biblical patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and  Jacob.

We watched the rock climbers on the vertical cliff faces; NOT for me!!!!   They are so far up there that the ropes they dangle did not reach the bottom.....

 After reaching the road's end, we turned back to stop at the Zion Canyon Lodge for a cup of hot mocha. An English lady asked for help with our coins; I told her when I was there, I had just stuffed a hand full of coins at the clerks and let them have their way with me. She said she also did that here. After her bother to get the right change, she forgot to figure in the sales tax.  :-)  We then resumed our return and saw this Dipper performing it's act of fully submerging in the stream to feed.

We soon ran into wind driven rain; it was chilling;    There were still some inviting photos, such as this one of the Virgin River flowing between high cliffs, but we snapped them fast.  

The little bus stop roof we sheltered under did not protect against the horizontal drops.  I am VERY glad Claire chose to bother with the rain suits now!  :-)  We fully cocooned ourselves inside the rain jackets and pants, and elected to ride back rather than put the bikes on the bus bike racks, and since the route ran down river we had a fast ride "home".  We discussed our Grand Canyon options after listening to the noisy and almost unreadable VHF weather forecast that seemed to indicate snow showers through next week at some higher elevations that we could not exactly discern.  The North Rim facilities close on Oct 15, and we will CERTAINLY not attempt going there after that.  We will also probably use the tunnel to leave Zion, as it avoids extra driving on smaller roads we now know are hilly.  After four days in their half price campground, we can give Zion NP $10 extra for escort service through the tunnel.  :-).  I checked at the campground gate, and was told the Ranger program was still on for tonight at 8PM in the open air amphitheater, just to bring my raincoat.  :-)  We thought a shower and early to bed beat a talk on the history of Zion's trails and tunnel in the cold rain!  Claire reported that Pookie's walk thoroughly chilled her, so we made a good choice.

Wednesday October 2:

Awoke very early by recent experience; 4AM.  It was cool inside, but not enough to demand the furnace.  Pookie's fur is a welcome finger warmer as I type; he wasted no time claiming his usual place on my lap.  :-) It is raining intermittently.  We certainly will fill propane before proceeding to the Grand Canyon even though it is still half full!  I finally do capitulate and run the furnace....much more comfortable.  :-)   I finish the last weeks website that had been published incomplete due to camera problems.  We decide to do wet weather things like the museum movie, and hopefully the noon ranger talk on mountain lions will not be cancelled.  I am not overly enthusiastic about walking the steep trails beneath canyon walls subject to rock slides which especially prevalent in rainy weather.  The risk is small, but present.  The mist from low hanging clouds is very beautiful as it swirls around the mountain peaks.

We were fortunate that the rain held off for the ranger talk;  here she models a park service "road kill" mountain lion "stole".  There are not TOO many of these around, as mountain lion territories extend for 50 miles....  :-)

She is quite enthusiastic about her subject, and very knowledgeable too.  After lunch we opt to see the "town"; it is the commercial support for the park, loaded with rock shops, Indian jewelry outlets, restaurants, a campground.....and LOADS of roadside signs.  We suited up in rain suits, and walked; the wind driven rain made stops in shops welcome.  In a bit Claire realized she had overstressed something in her hip; she took the free bus back to the park while I continued, primarily searching for a source of propane.  I had noticed large blue "crystals" on display at rock shops, and crossed the street to look.  The crystals were BROKEN GLASS....big ten inch chunks of broken blue glass!  I shook my head in disbelief; the sign on the display table warned customers to handle only with gloves as the edges were sharp; for this I pay $5 a pound?  Back home I pay almost that to throw such trash away....  :-)   I asked several places about propane for the RV, and always got the same answer; the Chevron station a mile down on the left.  Each of the places I asked were a mile apart too  :-)  Finally the Chevron sign came into view around a curve; they DID have propane, $1.50 a gallon.  This is not a GREAT price here, but one we would die for back home; we will fill on the way out.  The furnace needs to run at Grand Canyon.  I walked back, the rain having stopped;  it seemed a million pictures beckoned with various peaks peeking out from behind the low hanging clouds.

 I do love digital photography; after the initial investment, no charge for each photo other than the time to take it, store it on the hard drive and eventually onto CDs (ok, ya got me; 1000 pics on a CD does cost $0.35).  I found this snail crossing the sidewalk; it must be a rare opportunity for him to get to the other side.  :-)

I missed a bus by 50 feet, and kept on walking; the GPS showed over 9 miles walked for the day when I got back in the RV. Claire had used her time (and the campground electricity) well;  dinner was bean soup and a southern delicacy, spoon bread, baked in our convection oven.  What could be more appropriate for a place surrounded by the Dixie National Forest?  :-)  The evening ranger program had a cutesy title; "Without a Trace-Zion's dinosaurs left only footprints.  Can wilderness wisdom help us do them one better?"  I thought it might have SOMETHING to do about avoiding human extinction, but Claire thought it had to do with leaving no trace in the wilderness...she sat home reading about the very active Wasatch fault line that appears to pass right under us, while I huddled in the cool breeze watching slides of Barbie telling me how to pack everything out....oh well.  :-)  The steaming hot mug of mulled grape juice with spices that Claire bought at the spice shop in Truro MA made it all better. We found the VHF weather station coming in readably for once; the way it looks is continued snow above 7000 ft tomorrow, but clearing Friday and warming early next week. Perhaps we really can see the North Rim.  :-)  A ranger had told us that the AZ highway dept does not clear Rt 67 after Oct 15, but Rt 89 stays open to Page AZ all winter.  He indicated an info station in Kanab where the roads fork had all the details if we stopped on the way through; we will, and that will be the final decision point. It was almost 9:30 getting to bed...LATE for us these days!  

 Thursday October 3:

It started raining steadily during the night, I awoke and started the furnace at 4:30, intending to be up at 5 after it warmed up.  The sound of rain on the roof made sleeping easy, and it was after 7AM when I finally arose.  Claire suggested a day of light exercise to give her hip time to heal.  Suits me:  I'll catch up on the webpages.... I took Purry out for a walk, and he jumped at a furry head that poked out of a hole in the ground that he was watching intently.

  He missed; I will always wonder if the National  Park service would have fined him (or us) if he had succeeded?  :-)  

I think it might have been this spotted squirrel that he missed....

We struggled with the North rim decision;  checking at the ranger desk, we were told the roads up that way would be slushy driving until Saturday.  For once NOAA VHF weather radio came in clear enough to understand; in their opinion Friday looked OK up that way, with improving conditions after that.  We rode the bus to the lodge, looked over some jewelry and bought two turquoise pieces.  We sat down inside to enjoy a rare ice cream treat; inside is the best place to enjoy this in our cool weather.  Some turkeys, wild in name only, forage around the tables on the open air cafe outside, seeming to demand that diners be a bit careless about keeping their food on their plates. I guess they have not heard the rangers' "Do not feed the animals" plea. :-)  

Seriously, I do detect a demanding attitude on the part of these turkeys, just as the rangers say the animals develop if they are fed.  Some incidents have happened where visitors have been injured by deer when food was not forthcoming.  We return home after a full round trip bus tour of the Canyon, and check again with the rangers at the desk about Grand Canyon weather; initial denial about the report's availability here, then a turn of the page in the weather book, and the early morning report is displayed in printed form; a quick snap of the camera and we had a copy to peruse at our leisure.  It confirmed the verbal discussion the ranger had with us about there being little accumulation down toward the Grand Canyon; looking more and more like we are clear to go!  :-))  I checked at the campground office here about availability of spaces for Friday if the morning weather turned unfavorable; to my surprise, they were booked full in the electricity area.  They had plenty of space across the way in the other area though, so that was our fallback.  As I walked away, I thought about Grand Canyon, and asked if they could check that for availability Friday night.  After considerable fussing with her computer, the ranger said she thought there was one spot left, but she could not be sure, as she did not understand their system.  She handed me a pamphlet explaining the NPS reservation system, and suggested I could call their 800 number from the pay phone on the back of the building.  After a short discussion with Claire, and a recheck of the weather data we decided to reserve two days.  A look up at the mountain peaks overlooking our campsite reinforced the idea that it is now or never  for the North Rim this season.  Light snow has fallen on the high peaks!

  The reservation is essentially non-refundable, paid in advance, as the cancellation fee exceeds the cost of two nights stay with our golden age passport.  I do successfully reserve the last spot they have for Friday night and Saturday night, and I return to the smell of onion braised chicken cooking in gravy, and summer squash from the home garden.  :-))  While it finishes, I put the bicycles back on the bike rack while Purry again watches a rodent hole patiently.  I again wonder what charges the NPS would file if he caught one....?   :-)  The evening ranger program was about frogs, snakes and lizards; it was Claire's night for the dishes so I sat in the cool air and listened to the best ranger program yet...and returned to a steaming mug of mulled grape juice to warm me while I walked Pookie.  I was tired so volunteered to shower in the morning as I expected to awake early.  We plan an early departure (for us); out of the campground by 9 AM.

Friday October 4:

Awoke at 4 AM and started the furnace; it is warming, the outside temperature is above 50.  I am planning to shower, so want it toasty inside!  A walk to the visitors center indicated the weather still looks good toward the grand canyon.  The ranger here called them, it's cold but clear.  We dumped and filled water, then went into town for propane.  As the guy fussed with the fill valve, I snapped this fancy longhorn feeding in the pasture across the street.

I'm glad there is a good fence between me and those horns!  We returned to the park and paid the $10 tunnel fee; they wanted cash. The drive through the park was worth the fee, up countless switchbacks, but the tunnel was low if we had to stay in our lane.  We took advantage of the numerous pull offs for photos.

 This is our first opportunity to view Zion from above, as we did not climb the high trails from the canyon;  it is a lovely place!  The east side of the park has different geologic formations; the unusual natural checkerboard pattern in this peak is well known.  

The nature of the country changed at the parks edge, become flat and cattle country.  We passed a herd of grazing buffalo,

We stopped at the Kanub visitors center for pamphlets; there we learned that Arizona does not keep daylight savings time, so we move the clocks back an hour from the border; we are now three hours behind MA time, to become two again around Halloween.  We changed oil in the RV at a deserted pull off along the road, 31523 miles; a highway patrol car stopped as I was putting in a quart to ask if we were OK; I said yes, thanks, and he waved and moved on.  We never spill oil, putting down big plastic trash bags as ground cover, but I'm sure nobody would say "yes" if we asked to change oil....yet there were a number of empty oil cans and a few sacks of hardened cement on the edge of the pull off; some folks thought of it as a trash dump.  We arrived at the Grand canyon after seeing some young ladies swinging a 3 element VHF beam from a lookout point we stopped at; they were tracking California Condors by radio for a non profit organization that was reintroducing captive bred birds to the wild.  They said they could track birds flying over Zion from this location, and the same birds flew over the Grand Canyon too.  We broke our first leveling block trying to back uphill onto two of them on uneven stony asphalt.  I think these do better if they are mounted downhill. Elevation is 8250 ft, the highest we have ever spent a night.  The Grand canyon campsite is amazing;  my knees quake getting close enough for this picture.  We will not go walking about tonight without a flashlight or parachute....  :-)

 We biked to the lodge and followed the camera laden visitors to the observation point for photos at sunset.  First impression is that the haze is somewhat disappointing. Still, at sunset we could see snow covered Mt Humphreys 12,400 ft peak near Flagstaff 90 miles away in the dim distance, as the rays played peek-a-boo through the evening clouds....not too shabby a way to end our first day at Grand Canyon!

Awestruck, we biked back to the RV at dusk to a dinner of burritos..  :-)  Not too shabby either...

This ends our trek TO the Grand Canyon;  more next week ABOUT the Grand Canyon, both North and South Rims, with a bit of Glen Canyon Dam and Page AZ sandwiched in between.  Until then...ENJOY, we are.