Month: September 2017

Here are some various forms of transportation people were preparing to use, or using this weekend while enjoying southern Utah.

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And hey, I’m enjoying southern Utah too!

 

 

You don’t know how disappointed I was when I discovered that I apparently didn’t take a picture that I would have bet money I did.

This is Weston and his Dad.

Dad was trying to teach Weston to jump down from the ledge in front of the water dispenser (while securely holding his hands, of course).  Weston was reluctant, and repeatedly tried stepping off instead of jumping.  I tried to put my two cents in and kind of act like I was jumping off a ledge.  Weston caught on and sure enough, jump he did.  I was sure I caught him in mid-air on my smartphone camera, but it isn’t there.  I am just sick about it.  Weston got all excited and wanted to do it again and again.  His parents were being very patient with me and I didn’t want to wear out my welcome.  If they are looking at the blog I am SO SORRY that I didn’t capture Weston’s moment of discovery.  It was priceless.

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Later in the day a pickup truck pulled out a ways up the road in front of me.  When I caught up I saw that there were three guys in the back, all dressed up.  When it pulled into a picnic area further down the road I pulled in too.  I told the guys I thought they were a little overdressed for the weather.  As you can probably guess from the photo, they were participating is a wedding and the reception (and maybe even the ceremony itself) was being held there.

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After completing the scenic rectangle today (you’ll read about it shortly)  I headed back home.  I got off I-15 at mile marker 95 and drove east to Route 89, a nice scenic road I had taken back to Joseph yesterday.  I wanted to stop at the boyhood home of Butch Cassidy, just south of Circleville, Utah.  As it turns out, it is closed for restoration.  Bummer.

I drove the rest of the way back to Joseph on Route 89.  I saw this formation just as I was getting in to town.

And this is the view from the back yard of where I’m staying, looking south.  This was taken shortly before sunset.

 

When I started the day Thursday my plan was to take the scenic route down to Bryce Canyon National Park.  To do that I would head east from where I am staying in Joseph as if I were going back to Capitol Reef National Park.  When I got to the town of Torrey I would then turn right and head south on scenic Route 12 towards Bryce.  Little did I know that that road would take me somewhere else first.

Looking at the map I thought this National Monument was further south and east than it is.  I was planning to visit it the next day.  Well, the next day turned into today (Thursday).

Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument is an area encompassing a whopping 1.88 million acres!  That works out to roughly 2,900 square miles.  That is 100 square miles less than the states of Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

After passing through the little town of Boulder, Utah I started to get my first glimpse.  I am only posting some of what I saw from Boulder to when I arrived at Calf Creek Falls Campground and Recreation Area.  I’ll have a story to tell about that place tomorrow, when I’ll post more pictures of what I saw at Calf Creek and beyond.

Life will find a way.   This little plant is growing…..

….way up on top of this big rock (upper center of photo below).

When I left the house this morning my plan was to go back to Bryce Canyon National Park.  It occurred to me that it was now not only Saturday, but the start of the Labor Day holiday so I was afraid the Park would be packed.  I decided to go with Plan B which was to drive a scenic rectangle down near the entrance to Bryce.

From Joseph I took the dreaded interstate west until I reached I-15, which took me south.  In a little over an hour I took the exit for Parowan, turned left and took scenic Route 143 east towards Panguitch.  After having a real lunch there at a restaurant I saw the day before (not just veggie snacks today) I headed south on Route 89 until I reached Long Valley Junction.  There I turned right on to Route 14 which would take me west to the town on Cedar City which is just off I-15.  I would go north on the interstate to complete the rectangle.

Shortly after exiting at Parowan I passed the Brian Head ski area (up at approximately 10,500 feet).  I decided to stop along side the road where there was a nice view and refill my water bottles.  While doing that I considered taking the day off from picture-taking and just savoring the day with my binoculars instead.  That plan worked great for about 15 minutes when I stumbled across Cedar Breaks National Monument, which wasn’t even on my radar.  When I got to the first of their 4 overlooks it was time to haul out the cameras…..

I’m using the same philosophy I did with the pictures I took at Arches.  These are just broad strokes using only the camera in my smartphone.  Believe me, I took tons of pictures zoomed in with the digital camera, too.  I’ll post some of those another day.

By the way, I leave Joseph tomorrow morning to go back to Colorado for 2 days, then to upstate Utah for 2 days.  Then I’ll come back to southern Utah for several days and visit Bryce Canyon as well as Zion National Park and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

When I left Cedar Breaks I continued on down Route 143 and spotted an area which included some Aspen trees which were starting to make the change to their autumn colors.  When I parked the car to take these photos I was at approximately 9,900 feet of elevation.

Further on down the road I saw some coniferous trees trying to get in on the action.

Well, not exactly the same thing I suppose.  I don’t think they realize they’re up against some stiff competition.  It’s not quite a level playing field.

One of the benefits of extending my trip by 3+ weeks is that I will see more Aspen (and other) trees at elevation once I get back up to northern Colorado which should be pretty far along with their color changes.  I woman I spoke with in Rico, Colorado sent me a spectacular photo she took last fall of a small mountain literally covered with golden yellow Aspens.  If I don’t find such a spot while I’m still out here I’ll text her to ask if I may publish the picture she sent me.

We’ll get to the game (actually more of a contest) in a minute.  First let me post some miscellaneous photos from the past two days.

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The young man (he says he’s still a boy) in the middle is Aidan.  He lives in a state west of Utah and was at Arches National Park with his parents.  Every time his mother took his picture he’d say “Let me see, let me see”.  I offered to take a picture of all of them together (using their camera, of course) at two different spots, and when I finished the second one I asked if I could also take one with my camera so I could remember the moment.  Of course Aidan wanted to see it too….

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Today while I was out of the car taking pictures I saw this in the pullout in which I was parked.  Someone will be rifling through their car later today looking for it, I’m sure.

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This dog scared me half to death when he emerged out of some low brush along the small back road I was driving on.  At first I thought it was a coyote or a wolf.  There weren’t any houses around that I could see, and he seemed to be wandering aimlessly, tongue hanging out and somewhat frantic.  I rifled through my car trying to find something I could put water in for him.   I’m not frickin’ MacGyver so the best I could do was an empty Belvita Breakfast Biscuit box (say that 3 times fast).

BBB’s are my go-to snack when I get the munchies, after I’ve eaten the fruit or veggies I get at the store or Walmart most mornings.  Toasted Coconut flavor is the BEST.  But I digress….

He took a quick drink but seemed more interested in surveying the terrain.  As I drove away I saw him in the mirror, drinking the rest of the water.  Guess I need to start saving those empty Cool Whip containers…..

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I saw this guy while I was out of the car taking pictures near Boulder, Utah.  He lives in New York State, just across the Hudson River from where my brother Stephen and his family live in Poughkeepsie.  He said he was here fulfilling a childhood dream.

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And now for the game.  As I was out of the car and walking through some brush next to the road to get the perfect angle for a picture it occurred to me that it is only a matter of time before I get bit by something.  I try to be very careful but I’m actually quite surprised it hasn’t happened already.

I want to get my audience involved so you can play along at home.  Everyone has 14 days from when I publish this post to add a comment (click to the left side, under the post title).  Guess the specific date (not “today,” Shawn….) that JohnBoy will get bitten by something bigger than a quarter (mosquitoes, ticks, tsetse flies, etc. don’t count).  I’ll pay $20 to whoever guesses closest to the date it ultimately happens (unless I need the money for medical bills).  And here’s a double or nothing option:  State whether or not the critter doing the biting will be bigger than a breadbox.  Snakes will be considered smaller, regardless of size (unless it is an Anaconda.  I don’t think they have them here in the west but hey, I’ve already seen a camel this trip so never say never).

So post a specific date to play along.  Add Bigger or Smaller if you want to try and double the payoff (or lose it all if you’re wrong).

And we have our first entry, so I need to add two rules. In the event of multiple correct guesses the first commenter wins. And the contest ends after my last official “tourist” stop, probably near Denver. Once I start heading east to visit family and friends those days don’t count.

One more rule.  The commenter (or pets or people acting at their direction) don’t count.  Gotta cover all my bases…

No purchase necessary.  One entry per person.  Void where prohibited.  Odds of winning depend on the number of entries.  Good luck.

 

Yesterday I posted photos from the top of a huge rock formation overlooking the valley below.  This rock formation was at a Scenic View pullout off of Interstate 70, just east of Richfield, Utah.  I stopped there on my way to Arches National Park.

These photos are of what I saw as I was exiting the highway to get to the scenic overlook.  I was struck by the quantity, variety and shapes of all these rock formations.  Keep in mind, this isn’t a man-made art exhibit.  This is Nature’s art.

While some were quite large, none of them were taller than me.  Some may appear to be tall because I got down near the ground to take the picture from a low angle.

There were several more Scenic View stops along I-70, but I was anxious to get to Arches so this is the only one I spent much time at.  I will be traveling this way again on Sunday on my way to my next stop in Grand Junction, Colorado and I’ll have more time to check them out then.  I’ll also be going back in to Arches briefly on Sunday to check out one portion of the road which was closed the first day I was there.

Here’s how I’m going to do this.  Today I’ll post pictures I took with my smartphone camera, pretty much in the order I took them, as I drove through the Park.  These are all full frame (little or no zoom) and give the best impression of what you’d see yourself.  I have lots of photos I took with the digital camera but I’ll post them another day.  They will show some of these formations, either in more detail or from different angles, as well as formations which may have been further off the road.

This is group 1 of 3.

The first photo was taken looking down at Route 191, which is the road I took off the interstate to get to the Park entrance.  The town of Moab is located about 5 miles further down Route 191.

As soon as you get in to the Park you start climbing.  The Park is located to the left of this view.

This is group 2 of 3.  Nine more pictures taken two days ago.

And here’s the last group for today.  These were all taken 2 days ago with my smartphone camera as I drove through the Park.

Note the people walking in the foreground of the photo below.  These formations are huge.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking…. “JohnBoy, we haven’t seen any arches”.  I had to use the zoom lens to photograph the various arches I could see from the road.  I will post them at a future date when I post the other photos I took with the digital camera.