Tripometer – 10,645 mi
Gas Gauge – 820.974 gal
Location –Twin Hollows Campground, Mt Carmel, UT
Lodging – FREE
Cans of OFF – 4
With last night’s realization that the temperatures at the Grand Canyon will be too cold to camp, we’ve booked a site at Wahweap Campground in the Lake Powell Recreation area for Friday night through the remainder of Dave’s stay and a little bit beyond. The temperatures at Lake Powell will be a much more reasonable mid 60s to mid 40s range for the next few days. This unseasonably cold weather is not what any of us had planned on but spirits are high. Bryce Canyon is still on the plan for tomorrow but it’s going to be cold with a chance of rain. Stratis decided to head up to Bryce Canyon this morning to do some photography at sunrise.
What an amazing place. We can’t begin to convey the beauty of this park in words and can only try to approximate it with photos. The sun was at full strength today and Ranger got dropped off at doggy daycare early (for us). We jumped on the shuttle to the northern park and thrilled at the spectacle of driving through the lush green and red canyon walls.
The shuttle dropped us off at the farthest point along the valley, the base of the same trail that Stratis took the day before. Dodging a few hundred other tourists in the process we made our way up the Riverwalk Trail to where the pavement ends and the ‘true’ river walk begins. The paved trail wound its way up the canyon as it narrows from several hundred feet between the walls to about 20 feet where the pavement ends. There is a picture of the end of the trail above. Those with the ability and desire can continue up river through the Zion Narrows and beyond. Many tourists had rented waders and hiking poles in town to do exactly that. It looked like a ton of fun but, perhaps better left for a warmer day when we don’t have a dog in the kennel.
We spent the afternoon stopping at various shuttle stops and hiking the trails that lead to some of the specific attractions in the park. It seemed to us that the beauty of the canyon on our way to the end of the trail was always more exhilarating than the destination itself. Zion is known for some of its hiking trails with amazing views and tremendous drop-offs. Both Paul and Dave have trouble with heights, so for once in this trip the ruling consensus was to not get within 5’ of certain death.
Sadly, the doggy daycare we put Ranger into closes at 5:30pm and we had to scurry out of the park more quickly than any of us would have liked. We picked up a tired doggy from daycare. The staff there showed Kelly videos of Ranger playing with several dogs of various sizes. It seemed to work out well for everyone today!