Ciao Utah!

Okay, almost caught up on blog posting... remind me to never get behind again... A long post for a long story is in the future I feel.

Various news: Teresa and I learned east and west-coast swing last week at our weekly dancing. Lots of fun!!!

So, you might be asking yourself: what did Jo get herself into last weekend?

Utah!!! Seriously, I got myself into Utah. Another epic camping trip took place last weekend. This time we ventured a bit further than the Canyon, into Utah! Our first stop: Zion National Park. The plan was to drive Thursday to Zion (about 5 hours away), camp there for two nights, then camp one night in Bryce Canyon (~1.5 hours from Zion). We all left work early Thursday and left Flagstaff at about 3:30 after shoving an inordinate amount of junk into two cars. Off to Utah we go! We took the 89, which took us through Page, AZ which is right on the border with UT. Well, no road trip is complete with car troubles, eh? Eric and Teresa drove the cars. I was in Eric's. As we stopped at a scenic view near Page at the top of hill, we notice a trail of liquid originating from under his car... hmm.. Turns out the coolant was leaking and making everything smell nasty. I think we're still unsure as to why it started leaking, perhaps the drive was really taking it out on the car, but it seems to be fine now. Anyway, we hurry up to Page and stop at an auto store to pick up more coolant. We had dinner at a Sonics (I'd never been until now). Then we took a side trip to Glenn Canyon where the Glenn Canyon holds back Lake Powell.

Glenn Dam.

Eric had driven through Page on his way to AZ (from his home in Idaho), so he recommended we go look over this very sheer cliff there. It was... sheer. AND REALLY HIGH. I'm pretty scared of heights, but I'll admit that all the climbing/hiking we've done out here have really desensitized me. I'm getting a lot better! We all laid down and stuck our heads out over a nice 500-foot drop.

Heights, anyone?

After stopping to straddle a state line and taking a break to stargaze, we made our way to Hurricane, UT where the road trip gets quite funny. We see a flashing sign up ahead near the turnoff to the road that travels through Zion park. Whatever could it say?!

Nightly closures in Zion National Park. Hm. A bit of a problem. The east entrance to the park was closed. After debating a bit, we decide to drive out of the way and circle around to the west entrance. After a 3 hour detour, losing the other car, not having reception to contact them, having a cop car escort the other car to us because they were lost, and a gas and chip stop, we find Zion National Park! Hooray! It ends there, right? Well, we start driving through the park. There's lots of construction and cones everywhere, and before we know it we encounter a sign that informs us we are exiting Zion park. Somehow we missed our campground! The real kicker of the story is that since we exited out of the east entrance, it must not have really been closed all along… there was a section with only one lane open, but we were the only car in the park at that hour. Sooo, we essentially drove all the way around to the west entrance for no reason! I think it’s really hilarious, but then again it wasn’t me driving. Ok, so we turn around and keep a sharp eye out for our campground and eventually find it. By the time we find our particular campsite, set up and brush teeth, it’s 3AM. Only 7 hours later than we intended… :) The sky was fantastically clear, and we slept outside on a tarp with sleeping pads because it was pretty hot.

This is how we camp in AZ. Nicole and Teresa.

The view from our campsite.

Cliff walls in Zion.

The next morning we wake up bright and early at 7AM to start the day. We had borrowed a white gas stove from our program director Kathy. It was broken though, so we had no means of cooking our food we brought. Instead we ate bagels for breakfast and then headed to the Angels Landing trail.

Taking the shuttle to Angels Landing.

This trail had been recommended to us by someone who had visited Zion before. It was one of the most incredible hikes I’ve ever done. For the first half it was just uphill hiking through a canyon, but then we get to the Angels Landing. I didn’t seem to take a photo of the entire structure, but you can find a photo here (photo by Joe Braun) and here. It was straight uphill hiking pretty much up the side of a rock. They had chains to hold onto while climbing because the trail was so narrow and rocky. The cliff walls were sheer and the heights were dizzying.

Sheer crazy!

Shenanigans.

It was really fun, though, and the view at the top was fabulous. We ate a lunch of PBJ’s, then headed back down. It got pretty hot, so we booked it out.

The view at the top of Angels Landing.

We made a trip to town to buy a new stove then went back to the campsite. We made a delicious dinner of quinoa and veggies (classy campers, no?). Afterwards we made a fire and made… you guessed it, s’mores! I brought my harmonica on the trip, and we sat around the fire while I played some pretty low-quality renditions of various songs I learned. Everybody was bone-tired so we crashed at about 9PM. I slept like a rock until about 6:30 when the sun woke me up. On the subject of sleeping, I was thoroughly surprised that I slept so good on the trip. Every night I slept really well, and didn’t toss and turn at all. It could have been that I tired myself out every day, but I feel like I slept better there than in my bed… hm.

The next morning we woke up and made some oatmeal (and Christine made caramelized apples! See, we are truly classy campers). We set out for a short hike to the Emerald Pools. The Pools were pretty puny and pathetic, but there were a few cool waterfalls. It was a nice short and easy hike before we left Zion. We stopped for lunch at a small park and took a ‘bath’ in the creek there. Then it was off to Bryce Canyon.

Waterfall at the Emerald Pools.

We made it to Bryce in the late afternoon… sadly my camera ran out memory for this leg of the trip, but I’ll try and show some photos anyway. Bryce was, without a doubt, one of the strangest places I’ve ever seen. There were these formations called hoodoos that looked like misshapen pillars.

Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon.

The rocks were orange and pink and the landscape was just in general pretty bizarre. When we got there, we went to the Mossy Caves, which was only about a 1 mile hike. The cave was pretty unimpressive (more like Mossy Hole In A Wall), but we found a creek and waterfall to splash around in. After cooling off for a bit, we went on a scenic drive through the park. It was a beautiful drive. Eventually we made our way back to the campsite and set up for the night. We made quesadillas for dinner (gosh! Make yourself a dang quesadilla!) and lit a fire. Bryce was at a higher elevation than Zion (higher even than Flagstaff elevation), so it got cool at night. We slept on the tarp again, under the pristinely clear sky. Side note: every night we camped we set up the tents, but never ended up using them…

The next morning we ate breakfast, drank some coffee, and headed to our main destination: the Fairyland Trail. This was an 8-mile loop through the heart of the Canyon. It was an awesome hike, full of strange hoodoos, arches in the rocks, and the strange Bryce landscape. It took us about 6 hours to hike and then we were finally headed back to Flagstaff!

On the Fairyland Loop.

We decided to take a scenic route home, through the Grand Staircase Escalantes. The Grand Staircase is the order of the formation of rocks in the west. It starts with Grand Canyon, the top layer of the Canyon is the bottom layer of Zion, and the top layer of Zion is the bottom layer of Bryce. We just happened to visit all three locations in sequential order. Well, about 10 miles into the scenic drive, we encounter the unpaved road… Alright, can’t be too bad, right…? Turns out this road is about 45 miles long. At 20-30 MPH. The views were fantastic, but I felt sorry for the two drivers. The road was rocky, uneven, and in general not meant for either a Malibu or an Altima. It was pretty rough, but was a shortcut… mileage-wise! :) Pretty fun with a car whose gas gauge is at empty too. Finally we make it back to Page and eat a Subway dinner then head home! Our car stopped at a scenic view to watch the sunset. Much driving later, we arrive back in Flagstaff at about 10:30PM. Tired. DIRTY. SO DIRTY. Not showering for a few days isn’t the worst thing, but imagine hiking in dusty and hot canyons for 3 days and not showering… I imagine we were not the most pleasant-smelling crew. Not surprisingly, I can say that the shower on Sunday night was by far the most satisfying shower to date. Then… SLEEP! Work the next day was a bit rough.

An awesome and fun trip! :)