Picture Update

We are in Green River doing chores today. The weather is looking up and we are going to pick David up this evening. For now it's the Laundromat, groceries, LP gas filling and an oil change.

Catching up from where we left off at Escalante State Park.....

Big Hollow Reservoir at our camp at Escalante

A hike along Calf Creek on Sunday morning

We found an old cliff dwelling from the Anasazzi people along one of the rock walls

Life grows in the most unexpected places in the rocks and desert

These are the cliffs at Capitol Reef National Park. Two plates on the earth's crust pushed together and formed a 90 mile long ridge. Over the millenniums erosion has exposed the layers of the earth's crust and all of the colors of the various layers are displayed.

A view of the Capitol Reef

We found rocks of all shapes and sizes along here. 

Ancient and native people left their mark on the cliffs here.

The Egyptian Temple. One of the huge rock formations left over time.

I told you!

Hiking through a narrow canyon. Nancy is at the bottom of the picture. The cliffs towered over us for a couple of hundred feet.

Petroglyphs along the rock walls

A family raised ten children in this small cabin. And you thought we were crazy!!

Formations on the east side of Capitol Reef

Oh giver me a home where the deer and the turkeys play.

Standing above the goosenecks in the river below, it was starting to snow flurry!

Castle rock

Desert wildflowers

Posing for the camera

 

Wow, It got C-c-c-c-old Here!

We left Escalante Petrified Forest State Park on Monday and drove over Boulder Mountain. The elevation at the road summit was 9600 feet and the temperature went from 45 degrees when we left to 27 degrees at the summit. Snow was flying and the road started getting scary. After driving about twenty minutes in this we started descending and the snow tapered off and the temperature started climbing again. When we got to Capitol Reef National Park it was a balmy 42 degrees.
We set up camp and then did some touring through the park. The views here were awesome, and we just couldn't get over how each of these parks had it's own character and distinct beauty. We are so fortunate to have these places set aside as National Parks so that all future generations can enjoy them as they have been enjoyed for many decades.
Later in the evening the temperatures dropped and it started raining. We hunkered down in the trailer for the night with our faithful buddy heater!
Tuesday morning we had a sunny but cold morning. We took a ride and did some hiking and exploring. Tuesday night was 24 degrees and we were happy to pack up and move to lower elevations this morning. We had a nice sunny drive and are now in Green River, Utah and will be meeting David here tomorrow. Then it's off to Moab and Arches National Park with him to spend a few days visiting with him and having him show us the sights. (He frequents this area when he wants to escape the cold weather in Vail).
I'll post more pictures when I get a better Internet signal.

Hope everyone is well and doing fine!

Saturday at Escalante Petrified Forest State Park

We left Bryce Canyon today and drove about fifty miles to Escalante State Park. We had two days exploring Bryce and now will be here for the next two days. We are seeing some sights here that are incredible. Bryce Canyon and the surrounding area is spectacular. They say there is no place else on earth that you can see these kinds of rock formations in such abundance. The views are awesome. This state is a rock lover's paradise.
The State Park we are in now has a big area with petrified logs and we hiked through and took a lot of pictures. For some reason I was always fascinated with petrified wood, and now there is so much here and the colors are gorgeous. Reds, yellows, blues, and white mineral deposits turned the wood to rock. The logs are huge and laying all around.

Here are a few more pictures from our hike down into Bryce Canyon and some petrified wood...

Yesterday we hiked down into Bryce Canyon to walk among the towering rock spires. These other folks did it the easy way!

We used the old fashioned method and went down the Queen's Garden Trail.

The towering rocks were awesome!

Wish piles kept the kids busy and they were even in the tree branches!

Hiking in the canyon.

What an amazing place!!

We made it back to the top in one piece.

A huge petrified log. The first of many.

The logs were laying all about.

Colors in the rock were beautiful

A big pile of logs all turned to stone.

This is the veiw from the camper at Escalante State Park.

We are now in Bryce Canyon National Park

We had a wonderful time in Zion and the scenery was spectacular.  We spent a day riding the shuttle and hiking along the Virgin River in the Zion Canyon. It is a gorgeous park, and was very crowded with tourists, both locals on spring break with their families and European and Asian tourists.
We were camped outside the park at Pink Coral Dunes and spent three days in that area. Today we moved a little further north to Bryce Canyon National Park. We are camped right in the park and did some exploring today after we set up camp. We will be here for the next couple of days.
Here are some pictures to catch us up since we were in the Lake Powell area.

Lake Powell area. We camped on the beach and explored the mountains and river around the recreation area.

Lots of spectacular rock formations and colors in the rock.

 

Toadstools of rock.

Big Bend in the Colorado River. The river makes a 270 degree turn around a point in the mountains.

Tourists looking over the cliffs at Big Bend

Our camp on the beach in front of Lone Rock

"Hoodoo's" in Glen Canyon Rec area.

Pillars of sandstone and limestone.

White rocks eroded by the rains.

This place was awesome !

Hoodoo fairyland

Pink Coral sand dunes near Zion National Park

Along the Virgin River in Zion Canyon

The Zion Lodge

Spectacular mountains in the Zion Valley

 

One last view from Zion 

This picture is from a hike we took near our camp outside of Zion N.P.

Today we made it to Bryce Canyon

Amazing spires of red sandstone throughout Bryce Canyon

Happy Campers

That's not white sand, it's snow. Daytime temps in the high fifties, night time at 30 or below. Altitude is 8,000 feet.

The rocks at Bryce.

Bryce Canyon Lodge

We love this place!

A Quick Hello from Utah

We are in Springdale, Utah, the gateway to Zion National Park. We spent the day today touring the park and had a great time. Lots of pictures, but they will have to wait for a better signal. The weather has been a little cooler now with lows around 38. Daytime still in the fifties and sixties.
We are having a great time with all of the scenery here and are exploring as much as we can.
Hope everyone is doing well.