So, I spent a week in Kanab. A very cool trip to see some dinosaur tracks, a couple 9 hole rounds of golf and one more day on the four wheelers ended my stint. I had a good visit with the Jackson's, but the quest must go on.
It's May 20th, my 36th birthday, and I'm off to what will end up to be one of the best days of the trip. I took HWY 89 N to HWY 12 E. This was hands down the prettiest road I've ever been on. 12 starts off with Brice Canyon National Park. I didn't go in in to the park but just driving through the area was really cool. I'm not going to try and explain this highways beauty in words because I won't be able to. The pictures I took don't even do it justice. After Bryce I entered the Dixie National Forest, then the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
One the most amazing parts of this drive is a stretch of road in between the towns of Escalante and Boulder. Like I said, it's too magnificent or majestic to describe, it's just something you have to see for yourself. At one point the road is on top of a spine that is literally the width of the road and no guard rails. Just awesome.
About 40 miles after Boulder, 12 hits HWY 24. I'm heading East toward HWY 70 and Moab. I didn't think I would see anything as special as what I'd just been through but a few miles later I entered Capital Reef National Park. Driving though CRNP reminds me of a big, red, Yosemite. The road follows the Fremont River for a while and with the mix of that and the huge red rock, I couldn't stop taking pictures. For some reason I thought Cody would really like this place. I definitely want to come back, camp for a few days. Coming out of the park, HWY 24 climbs N.E. into a classic high desert open valley. It's about 7:30pm and I want to get to Moab to camp so I hit the 70 E and then the 191 S.
I get to Moab just before 9pm. I wanted to camp in Arches National Park but the only campground is deep into the park and it's getting dark. I got a camping map and saw that there are spots along the Colorado River on HWY 128 E, which was my planned route to Riv's house, so I headed that way. The fist campground was full. Then the second and the third. I wasn't going to miss anymore of the canyon drive in the dark, so I just parked in front of someones campsite and planned to leave early in the am. Slept in the back of the truck for 5 hrs, woke up at dawn, again in awe.
more pics on facebook, Utah folder
The areas you are traveling are ones I have traveled
ReplyDeleteand some of the most incredible places in this country, or any other for that matter.You have chosen quite a special path for your quest.
It's a very spiritual path you're taking.
I like that.