Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (GSENM)
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| Bryce Canyon NP |
This area has quite a number of dinosaur fossils in addition to the unique geology. ‘Geology Road Guide – Cottonwood Canyon’ purchased at the GSENM visitor center provides a mile by mile description of the geology of the area; along the road in particular. The geology at the start is somewhat normal; after a few miles it starts changing with distinct layers of stone appearing along the route: Navajo Sandstone, Carmel Formation, Entrada Formation, Henriville Sandstone, Dakota Formation and Tropic Shale from bottom to top. Cottonwood Canyon road follows a portion of a fault where one side of the fault uplifted. Distinct layers appear on each side of the road. Land uplift and continued erosion of layers is apparent everywhere.
We easily see huge sections of terrain tilted at different
angles, some almost vertical. We marvel
at the immensity of the event(s) that must have happened to make these
formations. Prior to arriving at
Kodachrome Basin SP we stop to hike Cottonwood Narrows trail; a sandstone slot
canyon. A few miles further we detour to
see Grosvenor Arch; a double sandstone arch.
After several hours of stopping, shooting, being awed, and reading what
happened we arrive at Kodachrome Basin SP.
Do this trip. |
| Grosvenor Arch |
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| Grosvenor Arch |
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| Minerals within the sandstone |
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| Tenacious Paintbrush |
Kodachrome Basin State Park
Kodachrome Basin SP is a part of GSENM, just another portion
of the layers we encountered on our drive. There are over 60 vertical monolithic tone spires called sedimentary pipes within the park.Several theories have been written to explain the vertical stone pipes but no one is certain. Carmel sandstone occupies the lower portion of the park while Navajo sandstone forms a tall backwall partially surrounding the park. The colors and formations are equally astounding.
Our first morning we were greeted with a sun halo. The halo is formed by hexagonal ice crystals in the cirrostratus clouds refracting sunlight.
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| Sun halo |
Bryce Canyon
We keep climbing as we have driven from Page, AZ; 4,000’ to
Bryce; 7,800 – 9,000’. This takes us up another layer in the geological cake.
The Claron formation, limestone, somewhat pink in color. The limestone ‘hats’ actually protect the spires of the sandstone formations from eroding; but rain, ice and wind find ways to erode
the bases of the ‘hoodoos’ making up Bryce Canyon.
It is much cooler here; overnight lows in the upper
20’s. We are warned to disconnect the
water lines to keep them from freezing.
The campground has large piles of snow from plowing roads and
clearing campsites. One of the park guides tells us they experienced 14’ of snow in the National Park. Last year they had no snow the entire winter. The higher end of the park is still closed
due to snow, over 5’ on the road, they hope to have it cleared sometime in May. Some of the trails are also closed for the
same reason.
We are staying at an RV park outside Bryce Canyon. We drive into the national park for a quick look, stopping at the 100% solar powered visitor center. The park rangers are busy
taking care of visitor’s questions regarding what is open and what is not. The north end, the lower end of the park, is
open but as the park heads south, over 18 miles, it ascends to over 9,000’
where snow is still deep and not melting any time soon. Several of the trails in the ‘amphitheater’
are closed for the same reason. We
listen to ranger’s descriptions noting hikes we are interested in. The visitor center buzzes with display
activity; movies, interactive displays and general reading information. We spend over two hours there over a couple
of visits.
We drive to Bryce’s North Campground to see what the
campground looks like. Most of it is
closed due to the same snow the rest of the park experienced. One loop is open, and is full of campers.
Sunrise Point is spectacular, a term I will be using over
and over as I talk about Bryce. We leave
the park excited to return. Bryce is
only 3 miles from our campsite so visiting is convenient. Food shopping is not convenient. Bring whatever you plan on eating. The grocery store is part of the
campground/hotel complex of Ruby’s Inn so the grocery selection may be compared
to a deluxe 7-11. A limited number of items and
fairly pricey.
Bryce Canyon NP has a shuttle system ferrying people into
the park, stopping at the visitor center and each of the view points. Visitors can jump on and off as they want,
buses come about every 10 – 15 minutes.
It stops at several locations outside the park near campgrounds and
hotels eliminating the need or want to drive into the park itself. The first day it seemed convenient but the
remaining days it was necessary with the amount of people coming to the park;
parking is at a premium. I can only
guess how crowded this park gets during the summer, now it is only the middle of
April. 
We try out the shuttle getting on and off at several
different stops hiking between a couple before returning to our camp site. The hike between Inspiration Point and Sunset
Point is spectacular. We take our time,
shooting about every 50’ of the rim trail running between the two Points.
The next day I have to go to the Panguitch clinic, my cough
is not getting any better, Nicida’s cough is worsening but she does not want to
visit the clinic, her coughing is not nearly as bad as mine. Congestion and coughing only slows down our hiking plans. Loaded with nasal spray, antibiotics and
cough medicine we are ready to continue our trip. We take advantage of being
in Panguitch by hitting the local grocery store filling out our list of fresh
fruits and vegetables not available at the campground ‘grocery’ store.
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| The Queen of Queen's Garden Trail |
We get to see
the hoodoos from a whole different perspective; eye level and much closer than
from the rim trail. By the time we get
close to the bottom we are doing more looking up than down. We hike even further down the Navajo Loop Trail
but it is closed so we only do a small portion seeing even more spectacular
views.
The wind is cold this evening so we pack it in early working on our respective projects; Nicida her photos and me on my blog.
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| Bryce Point |
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| Natural Bridge |
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| Mossy Cave |
Utah Scenic Byway 12 (USB12)
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| View of USB12 |
The scenery is spectacular. We notice changes in the layers of sandstone after having studied them while we were in Grand Staircase Escalante NM. Scenery varies between sandstone and juniper/pinion open forest during our drive. Approaching the town of Escalante from the west the area opens to wide canyons. A side trip down Hole in the Rock Road for 12 of the 50+ miles to ‘Hole in the Rock’ takes us to Devils Garden, a hoodoo filled area.
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| Devil's Garden |
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| Devil's Garden |
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| Devil's Garden |
We stop in Boulder to visit Anasazi State Park. There is an indoor museum and outdoor ruins of the Ancestral Puebloan Indians that lived here 900+ years ago. Boulder is also where we get off Hwy 12 taking the Burr Trail Road and Notom/Bulfrog Trail into Capitol Reef NP.
Nicida finally decides to see a doctor. We squeeze in an appointment between hikes. This doctor's diagnosis is that Nicida has the flu; sore
throat, coughing, sinus congestion. The
doctor I saw said I have bronchitis.
Given the cold weather we had to deal with while in Bryce we are not
certain who to believe.More to come...
Thank you for stopping by,
Mark
Spectacular!!! :) You are an awesome guide through your travels and a bit of a science or geography teacher, as well. Thanks for sharing so much. Does Nicida post her photography on any social media? Hope you are both feeling back to normal.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the response... No, Nicida does not have anything for photos yet. She is working on that. We are doing well, we are in the midst of planning our next trip.
ReplyDelete