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.

Good Friday

I am taking advantage of opportunities to get on the Internet to keep everyone posted. We had a change in plans since we were not able to stay at Sand Hollow State Park. The camp was fully reserved for the weekend so we had to move on. We went southeast to Lake Powell Recreation Area and found camping here. We spent a night at the developed campground and are now going to move to a rustic area to camp for the duration of the weekend. We will be on the beach of Lake Powell along with a few other RV's. We checked it out last night and it looks like a great place to kick back and relax.
We are hoping that everyone enjoys the Easter weekend and we miss being there with you.
Happy Easter to all...

A view from our campsite at the mountains across Lake Powell. This is a scenic area with lots of colors in the rocks and hills.

We visited with our neighbors here and it turns out they are from Ludington, Michigan. They are here for three months working as volunteers in the visitor's office. They gave us a lot of information about some of the rock formations around here and told us where some great hiking was to be found. These people spend three months volunteering at Big Bend N.P. in Texas and three months here for the past six years. What a way to spend the winter and camp for free!!

We are in Utah!!

We made it to Zion National Park yesterday and found that all of the campgrounds are full. No room at the inn?
They were not supposed to be taking reservations for camping until April, but opened the reservation system on the first of March because of demand. There are tons of foreign tourists at all of the parks we have been to so far. Lots of Asians, lots of Europeans, lots of Spanish and lots of Canadians. It shows that our country still is a draw to the rest of the world, and that they are clamoring to see it.
We found camping at Sand Lakes State Park, about a half hour from Zion and are spending a couple of nights here to relax, get some laundry done, and take in Zion Park.
Surprisingly the weather here is quite warm and we were in the high seventies yesterday and not too cool last night.
We are two months into our journey at this point and have a lot to see in the next thirty days. We are still planning to be back in Michigan by the first of May. Please see what you can do to get rid of all that snow for us before we return!! 
Hoping that everyone is well.

Looking back at some pictures I just can't get over the size of these trees at Sequoia N.P.

They started growing over two thousand years ago!

Walking among the giants makes you feel very humble.

The dunes in Death Valley. Seems like every desert has a sand dune somewhere.

The courtyard at Scotty's Castle. We got here as the tours were ending and the museum was closed, but walking around we couldn't believe that anyone could build this kind of mansion in the middle of nowhere in the 1920's. 

Wednesday out of Death Valley

We spent the past three days in Death Valley. The temperatures have been in the eighties. Did some exploring in the desert and a few hikes. There are a lot of neat things to do and see here and it is an interesting place. Right now we are on the road to Utah and are passing through Las Vegas. (Yeah, we are at Lowes in Las Vegas to bring you this post).

We left Yosemite and moved to an Army Corp of Engineers campground east of Vasalia, California and did day trips to Sequoia National Park and to Kings Canyon National Park. The actual valley at Kings Canyon was still closed due to snow in the mountains, but we did manage to see a lot of the park. The sequoia trees here are just incredible and we saw what is designated as the largest tree in the world, based on cubic feet of mass. That is the General Sherman sequoia. There is another, the General Grant that is forty feet across at the base! These trees are over two thousand years old!

Entering Sequoia N.P. 

A view from atop Moro Rock

Some of the trees were this big, others bigger!

 

Oops, this one fell down across Crescent Meadow.

Numero Uno in the world!

The lodge at King's Canyon N.P.

What it says. Two hundred feet below sea level.

Hiking at Mosiac Canyon in Death Valley

Little Hebe Crater. A volcanic/steam eruption from two thousand years ago.

Ubehebe Crater, 1/2 mile across. We hiked around the rim. You can see the parking lot on the other side.

Scotty's Castle at Death Valley. A rancher's mansion complete with a moat!