Once again…..and Dixie

Sunday June 26, 2011
Bryce Canyon Pines Campground
Site B-5

Check out for North Rim Campground
is 10am, earliest we’ve encountered.
But I was out on the Bridal Trail running
by 7:15 so getting out was no problem.
Especially with no hook ups to deal with.

We had what for me is a long day,
166 miles to Bryce Canyon.

We also needed to stock up on
gas and groceries.
Another big spending day……SIGH

So guess where we ended up?

For the 3rd time now!
We know the town really well by this time.
So anything you want to know about it
just feel free to ask.

On the way there we went through
the big town of Fredonia.
It’s the Arizona/Utah border town on
the Arizona side.

 

We knew what we were looking for here as well having
passed through it 3 times now too.

But getting pictures out an RV window is not
as easy as you might think given the window’s size.

But here is the sign out in front of one of the
last establishments before the Utah line.

This one just cracked us both up.
Wonder if this is what the town is famous for?

And here is the Utah state line.  On both sides of
the highway leaving Arizona are “beverage” establishments.
That Blue sign in the distance is the state line.

I had not mentioned before the Kanab
police car parked on the side of the
road coming into town.

The first time we came in, we made sure we
were not speeding.  Unlikely in a 34’ RV but
seeing a police car sitting there with potential
radar and visions of speeding tickets does make one check.

The Kanab RV Corral at which we’ve stayed twice,
(but not this time),
was just up the road from this car.
So when we were out running the next day
we ran by it and thought we’d wave to the
policeman who was back on duty very early
we thought.

SURPRISE….
there is a dummy sitting behind the wheel.
The car sits there 24/7.
Pretty funny Kanab!!

We stopped off for groceries at
Honey’s but had forgotten what day it was
and when we turned the corner and saw
the empty parking lot, we both said
must be Sunday.

So we drove on down to her gas station,
which, even though closed, still pumps gas
and filled up at $3.789 a gallon
OUCH!!

Then we went to Glaziers for our food fill up.
Kanab only has two grocery stores and
Glaziers gets all the Sunday crowd.

We picked up another $5 foot long at
Subway to split for lunch and we
were soon on our way for our second 80 miles.
Kanab handily splits the 166 mile trip from
North Rim to Bryce right in half.

Leaving Kanab

Here’s our first look at something very different
in terms of landscape.
Sorry it’s out the driver’s side window.

a little better shot except for the glare

There are some unusual people living in this
neck of the woods.
Check out this homestead.

The landscape continues to look better and better.
Look at that water!
That’s the Sevier River.
Look at the colors in that backdrop!

 

We turned off of US Highway 89 onto
Utah Route 12 the road to

Beautiful Road

Beautiful scenery

 

Familiar faces

And then

Good Grief
there is danger of driving off the road
looking at this amazing scenery

We were entering

What?
Dixie?
As in I wish I was in the land of cotton????

Well yes sort of.
Seems Southwest Utah was called
Utah’s Dixie by early settlers
from the southern states sent to
the desert to grow cotton and silk.
The forest was named after the area.

We found this out thanks to
Juanita and Bob.
But more about them in a minute.

First you have to see what we saw.

as we entered

Sure doesn’t look like any Dixie I’m familiar with.

Highway 12, the road we are on, is billed
as some of the wildest country in the United States.
It spans some 4,400 feet in elevation from 9600 feet
on Boulder Mountain to 5200 feet at the Escalante River.

It runs through
Dixie National Forest
Bryce Canyon National Park
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
and Anasazi State Park.

AND Route 12 has a bike way that runs
more or less near it.  Good for runners
too but you’d better be running down hill
or it’s pretty much all UP.
It runs completely through the National
Forest and somewhat farther than that.
We noticed it runs “almost” to the National Park
but not quite.   So that’s nearly 10 miles that we know of
for sure and it may start before we noticed it.
Cute little yellow dotted line isn’t it?
But it’s not an auto road
only bikes, walkers and runners.

Just a little way up the road was
the Dixie National Forest Visitor’s Center.

where we met Juanita and Bob

who were just as friendly as they look
and as helpful.   They gave us TONS of information
and suggestions just suited to us
and what we wanted to do.

Bob told us that he will be 80 years old
next birthday and has
been full timing 25 years.
They volunteer here for 6 months a year and
have for the past 6 years. 
But Bob said he’s gettin’ hitch itch
and next year they may only be at the Visitors Center
for 3 months and then on to something new.
So try to get there before they leave.
These are a great pair of people.
And aren’t all full timers???

Filled up with brochures and information
that will give us more to do in this area
than we could manage in a month of Sundays
we drove on up Highway 12.

Saw this sign….knew we’d fit

Two very cool tunnels

And then we were at the end of our 166 mile drive.
We pulled into Bryce Canyon Pines
to have full hook ups for a night and get
everything recharged for some days
boondocking in Bryce.

We are about 6 miles from the park
so tomorrow will be a VERY easy drive
:-)

But here’s what we had for dessert tonight
after our “refueling” stop in Kanab.
We restocked the chocolate short cake
the strawberries and
the whipping cream.
More than sufficient reason to have been in Kanab
for a 3rd time!!

Last Day at the North Rim :-(

Saturday June 25, 2011
North Rim Grand Canyon
Campsite #20

Today is our last day at the
North Rim of The Grand Canyon
but like Zion, it is a place to which
I will for sure return.

Although between now and then
I have to figure out how to have
a humidifier when I sleep while I’m
boondocking.  I’ve had a lot of trouble
with my nose and throat drying out
completely during the night.
It is SO dry here.
If you have any ideas for how to
increase the humidity while you sleep when you
are boondocking.  Do let me know.

Somehow we fiddled the morning away.
No big breakfast or clean up
But it was a yummy breakfast just the same.
That 2# of strawberries sure went a long way!

On the way to the trail I wanted to get
a couple of pictures to use for the blog
of the Bridle trail
which I had run yesterday.

While I was running the loop around the
campground yesterday I had seen what looked like
a huge army tent

and a cool looking
tall skinny tent that could have been a shower.

I made a note to self to come
back and check the shower out
Looked like a great boondocking
possibility especially with a solar shower bag.

So today, since I was out getting Bridle Trail
pictures and went right by there I stopped in
to inquire.

The owner Mike couldn’t have been more
enthusiastic and friendly.  He has
SOME set up here. 
Not just the shower but
Pretty much ALL the comforts of home.

Here he is standing in front of his
kitchen.

 

Check out just a piece of this kitchen
notice
an ice maker on the right :-)

 

 

They usually bring a microwave but they
don’t generally camp in campgrounds
with generator hours but rather just
in the forest so he can set up the generator at a distance
from the camp and just let it run. 

Mike has a trailer and a jeep
he hauls all this in.

Wish I’d taken more pictures of
this elaborate and complete
set up he had, but I didn’t
want to be intrusive.

Mike and his wife work in on-line
education for the University in
Flagstaff.  So they can pretty much
work in any forest where they can get a
Wifi signal.

Sounds like he could be a full timer
for sure.

One last shot of this young man
whose name I can’t remember but
who wanted me to take his picture
on his bed in the big tent.
Pretty seriously nice beds for tenting!
AND the tent has a flap in the roof
for a woodstove chimney.
Mike likes Winter Camping.

  Thanks Mike for the tour and all the information!

We got out on to the Widforss Trail about 12:15.
The trail is named for a painter who lived and painted at
the Grand Canyon in the 30’s
and produced a large collection of watercolors
prized for their geologic detail.

The trail runs along the bottom (south)
and up the East sides of Transcept
Canyon.  The campground is on the West side
of this side canyon and we walked the
Transcept Trail along that rim the day we arrived.

Although it was billed as a “mostly flat”
trail, the beginning was “mostly UP”

There was an trial guide with
14 numbered stops along the way.
When we got to #6, we found a nice view

and further investigation revealed
a fine outcropping
for having lunch.

I got this shot of David in the shade munching but
we neglected to get Gorillapod to take a shot of us both.

There were fields of lovely ferns along the way

and a few folks heading out for longer
than a day hike

It was quiet and lovely with window
views of the canyon along the way.

And on the top of one rise, trees had “adapted
to the extreme winds and weather

One with a convenient low arm

And of course if you are up on top
then you have to hike down
but look at what we found in the middle
of the trail at the bottom

Yes it was as big as it looks
over 12’ in circumference
by our unofficial measurement.
Our hands are finger tip to finger tip in the back.
So this tree is 10’ 10” plus the distance between
our hands that you see.

Of course I had to sniff it.
Mmmmm those Ponderosa Pines smell great!

And of course back UP we went.
This time to an outcropping.
This rock ledge drops off on both sides.
Straight Down.

I thought I might go out to the end
and take a look.
Then I got on the rock
which was not flat
but rather VERY  bumpy and uneven.
I got just out a few steps
and changed my mind.

So David started out – why?

I issued a caution
a plea
a strong warning.
But when I suggested that some
one who was known for hiking with
their spouse could easily just push
him or her off such a place
and never be suspected.

He changed his mind and came back.  LOL

It really was a scary place.
And especially with the winds
that gust at unexpected moments.

BUT on an adjacent rock
look what David found.
That’s two days in a row.
My second benchmark.
Take a look Good Luck Duck. :-)

 

We got to marker # 14, mid point in this 10 mile hike
and decided we’d go “a little further” just to see
and then turn around.

And that we did.
If we had started out earlier,
we would have done the whole thing
but at this point to have done that
would have put us back after dark.
No sense in an over doers day.

On the way back we took a picture of
the big tree from a distance.  It’s not only
big around but tall.

The hike back was just as lovely

Notice a lot of it is UP too.  :-)

 

The forest is just as serene

Back at the trail head we left the two walking
sticks we’d picked up to use on the hike.
We had used a rock from the trail to sand down
their handles as we went along
and they were ready for another
trip up the Widforss.

One final shot of the meadow leading up
to the trail head.

This was our last day at
The North Rim.
We really wish we had at least another 5 days.
There is a lot to do that we didn’t get to.

I advise that you book your
campsite early and for a week.
You can boondock that long with their
generator hours and the information
we only found out about today.

There is a Wifi cafe of sorts
at the Campground General Store.

This consists of two tables and a couple of
surge protectors so you have the wifi AND
plug in to electric.  Could have charged my
cell phone and my computer for at least an hour
there every day.   Would have been a great spot
to write this blog!

Another lesson learned.
FOR NEXT TIME!!!
Ain’t Life Grand???