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Monday - Torrey, UT to Cedar City, UT - 350 miles

It was very windy over the night, and I kept waking up and unzipping the tent flap to check on the YZF, concerned that it would get blown over. My fears were unfounded, it was solidly planted on the hard gravel.

I quickly went through my morning drill and packed the bike. The owners wife came down from their apartment to take a pet dog out. I asked her about the sheriff. "Is he there all the time?"

She seemed puzzled for a second and then laughed. "It's the dummy sheriff".

As I passed the car, I looked closely in the window and laughed at the wooden face of the dummy patrolman hunched in the driver's seat.

Rolling through town, I saw no fast food restaurants for a quick breakfast and started to wonder if I was doomed to a shrinkwrapped hostess muffin from the gas station. I fueled up and filled my camelbak at a large modern station only 5 miles from my first national park of the day. As I pulled out of the gas station, I saw an espresso shop in a newish looking strip mall.

I pulled up and ordered a small mocha and a blueberry muffin. The woman looked dubious.

"You know, we usually only put one shot of espresso in the small."

"That's fine." I said. "I don't really like the coffee".

"Ah!" she exclaimed. "That's tells me how to make it."

The mocha was delicious.

I tried my cell phone while eating my muffin and found that even in the center of town, there was no signal. The woman asked me if my phone worked. It came out in conversation that the only service that worked in that area was "Cellular One". Are they even still in business????

Next stop: Capitol Reef National Park. Prior to my trip, someone had asked me "Where's the reef?". I admit curiosity as to how a rock formation in the middle of the canyonlands could be named after something usually found deep in the sea.

Soon after entering the park, I pulled over at the "orientation station" where a small display explained that early explorers commonly used seamen's terms to describe features of the trail. Anything they couldn't cross was a "reef". "Capitol" comes from comparing the huge white rock dome formations found there with state capitol domes.

After walking through the visitor's center, I rode down the 12 mile out and back "scenic drive" exploring the 100-mile long "Waterpocket Fold", as Capitol Reefs uplift formation is called. Then I continued down SR24 to the eastern border of the park before turning around. I was amazed to find that going west through the park was far from just a redux experience. I saw the rock formations from another perspective and saw some that I had missed completely for the first time. I also stopped to view ancient indian carvings on the sheer cliff face.
 

After leaving Capitol Reef, I turned onto the famous Utah SR12, the Million Dollar Highway. I stopped at overlooks to see vistas stretching for a hundred miles. I traveled along Hogback ridge, with sheer cliffs dropping into red-rock canyons on both sides of the narrow 2-lane road. I followed twists and turns across green meadows with purple wildflowers waving in the breeze.

Around lunch time, I entered the territory of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. At the visitors center, I learned that a "grand staircase" of colored cliffs rises slowly from the Grand Canyon in Arizona to the "youngest" cliffs of Bryce Canyon. Each cliff series is named for it's primary visible color: The white cliffs, vermilion cliffs, etc.
 

I stopped for a quick lunch before entering Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce, like many of the more popular national parks, is struggling to deal with the influx of tourists while preserving the wonderful natural features of the park. Like several other parks, Bryce has instituted an optional shuttle system that allows visitors to park their cars outside the park. I admire the system (especially that it's optional) but did not feel I had enough time to utilize the system.

I flashed my parks pass to enter the park and found my way to the visitors center. After checking out the displays and gift shop inside (sorry Tony, I couldn't find a collectable spoon to bring you), I thought to check my cell phone for service. I had checked it several times over the day and never found any cell service. I figured that Bryce was probably the most likely place of all the areas I'd been in that day to find service and I was right. After leaving a "I'm ok..call off the search and rescue squad" message on Tony's voicemail, I called my mom. We reminisced about travels through the area taken when I was little and caught up on family news.


Bryce was of course beautiful, and I stopped dutifully at every overlook to snap a few pictures and see the thousands of "hoodoos" (rock monoliths). Sadly I found myself becoming almost numbed to the beauty... "Look - more red cliffs". I guess I found Bryce not quite so spectacular as Capitol Reef. Perhaps it was the crowds. I felt closer to nature in CR, while Bryce seemed to work hard to keep you at a distance.

The heat also played a factor. It had been in the mid-90's all day and the constant stopping and walking around (during which I removed only my gloves - left the helmet on) was taking it's toll.
 

After leaving Bryce I stopped at Ruby's Inn outside the park to refill my camelbak and grab some ice cream. I also bought a book by one of my favorite authors (big mistake...you'll see). By the time I got going again it was late afternoon and I worried about missing the visitor's center at Zion.

Sure enough, I rolled up to the entrance gate at Zion around 7:30. The sun was still in the sky, but the shadows were long. After the gate attendant checked my parks pass, I asked if he knew whether the visitor's center was still open.

"Nope, they close at 7. You're a little late. The shuttle system is offline too." He wasn't able to give me a "black header" visitors guide either, saying that they could be found at the visitors center. (WHICH WAS CLOSED). In all, I felt he was angry at me for daring to arrive past closing time and having the gall to expect service.
 

I slowly made my way into the canyon, once again marveling at the rock formations (all different from any I'd seen that day. I lamented that the light was bad and knew that none of my pictures would come out.

One interesting thing about the park road is that it travels through a long, winding tunnel bored through solid rock. Every few seconds, a "window" opens onto the canyon outside and the driver is tantalized with the view flashing past. When finally I emerged into Zion canyon, I almost forgot to watch the road, awed by the spectacular rock formations colored by the sunset.

After winding my way through the park, I stopped at the "Spotted Dog Cafe" to eat dinner on the patio surrounded by the colorful cliff walls. The waiter recommended the meatloaf, a mix of several different meats including buffalo and venison. It was delicious, only overshadowed by the surroundings.

I had hoped it would cool down while I ate. Alas, though it was full dark by the time I left the Zion area, the temperature was still in the mid 90's. I spent the 45 minutes from Zion to Cedar City yearning for the cool breeze of AC waiting in my reserved hotel room.
 


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