One more drive up the Canyon

I promised I was restarting this fire and the best way to restart a fire is kindling the embers you left burning.  I am going to post (at this point unedited but the raw journal feel) of my sojourn on my trials and fire of the beautiful cross country trip my mom and I took.  One of the reasons I stopped postings my journals was because our car had the front bumper torn off by a reckless Arizona road and the interlude of crisis - well it makes for a good road story - but it was exhausting and nearly broke our budget - still God provides and nearly a year to the date of this entry I'm still in awe and in love with Utah's canyons.  I find courage in the hope of desert lands that hope springs eternal sometimes you just have to dig deep in your soul for dreams to become reality.  I'll continue to edit these posts - in the interim I hope you enjoy...also keep posted on other travels on my Wordpress blog: Vagabond Warrior 

3/21/14

          “One more drive up the canyon, one more star kiss before the dawn…the moon and sun collide and I’m searching for a home, in this temporary sanctuary I lay my head, with the dawn of inspiration in spite of life’s dread, one more time up the canyon, twists and curves, I am refined by desperation and hope, love and peace as I turn a corner in my soul, learning in the shadow to seek the light, hungering for the thirst of flesh, but it is the water that gives my spirit flight…”

          Today is our final morning in Zion.  My mom and I enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast at Café Soleil (Southwest Scrambler and home roasted potatoes, paired with caramel lattes) before packing up camp. 

          It is hard to say goodbye to Zion.  It has been a life-changing experience.  Still goodbye is sweeter knowing we still have the opportunity to chart the Zion to Mount Caramel Road. Considered a feat of engineering, the road was proposed by the Utah Parks Company that managed tourism in the park during the 1920s as a way to link the seemingly impenetrable eastern edge of the park to connector roads to Bryce Canyon National Park and Grand Canyon National Park.  This pipe dream became a reality when work began on the winding road of switchbacks and tunnels in 1927.  The road was completed in 1930 and remains one of the prettiest drives in America (I would stack it up with the Beartooth Highway, Blue Ridge Parkway, Going to the Sun Road and the other stunning winding roads and byways I have traversed.

          Snaking through otherworldly canyons, blasted tunnels, Zion’s Z-MC Road is a window into another layer of Zion’s geologic history.  Though formed by similar natural forces, the eastern edge of the park has a unique character and charm, with scenery far different from the inner canyon.  This landscape curves into petrified windswept sand dunes, strange rock outcropping(s) and methodical and intrinsically linear rock wall mesas.  The massive monuments of smooth, colorful sandstone is known as ‘Slick rock: large smooth swaths of rock,’ because it looks smooth and slick.  The most iconic slick rock in Zion is Checkerboard Mesa, defined by the patterns of crisscrossed lines that mimic a giant checkerboard. 

          Exiting the Canyon, the road hits the Highway 89 junction.  I paused for a moment to survey the sign: South to Grand Canyon – North to Bryce Canyon. Standing at the crossroads of majestic scenery and the promise of adventure strikes a fire to your heart. Here the car is stalling on a seemingly lost byway, the precipice of nature’s best secrets and hidden beauty revealed in the most remote and wild of places. 

          As we headed north to Bryce Canyon National Park, the setting quickly shifts from the windswept sandstone slick rock dunes and narrow canyons to open sagebrush country, distant plateaus and snowcapped mountains.  The terrain is all shaped by the uplift of the Colorado Plateau, yet the territory is ever-changing – it boggles the mind and excites the soul. 

          I went to Bryce ten years ago and fell in love with color and personality of the unusual canyon – it is a canyon, but more of a gateway to another world, with hoodoo formations, grotto doors and passages, the storyteller in me can only dream of its secrets…it is an wonderland of color and character…this is my mom’s first trip to Bryce and I cannot wait to show here the sites.

          The drive from Zion to Bryce takes roughly two hours.  This lonely road has a beautiful desolation in the hum of the tires hitting the pavement at sixty miles per hour.  The road to Bryce (Highway 89-Highway 12) was practically devoid of traffic, making for a relaxing and peaceful journey, surrounded by idyllic rambling scenery.

Bryce Canyon National Park is situated in a remote rural area of central Utah off All-American Road Highway 12.  Bryce is a crown jewel, hidden in the hills, a lost treasure in the veil of the wide open plateau.  As we turned onto Highway 12, the prairie and mountains are beautiful, but seemingly ordinary for the high country.  It is hard to fathom the wonder and spectacular display of color, rock art, ‘heaven’s symphony on earth’ obscured by thick forests…Bryce Canyon is a lost world, a fairyland – where myth and reality collide in a tapestry of mystery, supernatural awe, color and light.  To describe Bryce is impossible.  Staring at the deep colors, so brilliant it still haunts the memory with vivid clarity, I struggled to believe what lay before me was real.  It is a wonderland – a fantastical display of hoodoo like spires, grotto doorways to ‘mystic kingdoms’ – it is a place you have to experience to believe.

Turning onto Highway 12 in the Dixie National Forest, the first glimpse of the ‘lost kingdom’ of Bryce is revealed in the Red Rock Canyon.  Known as one of the most photographed spots in Utah, the canyon is a collection of deep vibrant red spires and hoodoos that resemble the gates to an ancient city, the spires the guards of the castle and the domed formations like temples of old.  The red hues is contrasted by deep evergreen pines and flora. 

My mom did a short walk on a paved trail straddling the canyon.  Every glance leaving me with renewed wonder, my imagination on fire.  These rocks are alive, they are so meticulous in their creative shapes and daunting stature, you feel as though you have taken the first step into a fantasy novel; it is a history of time, these rocks nature’s artistic time capsule. 

Continuing on Highway 12 we turned onto junction 63, driving through ‘Bryce City,’ a hamlet of hotels and gift shops to accommodate travelers on their sojourn before entering the park.

We started our park tour at the Bryce Visitor Center.  The Center includes a film about the ecology, geology and human history of the park as well as a fascinating museum that details the complex geology of Bryce in ‘Lehman’s Terms.’  The museum also focuses on human history, including the ancestral natives of the park, wildlife and Bryce’s night sky.  Bryce has some of the darkest night skies in the world, hosting a Night Sky Festival annually.  On a clear day you can see forever, well at least nearly 100 miles into the distance across the vast plateau.

The geology and human history of the Colorado Plateau is fascinating.  The various regions each connected to similar uplift, sedimentation and erosion, all the while geologic region of the plateau is strikingly unique.  Bryce Canyon is a story of climate change, fault uplift and erosion.  Bryce’s famous spires ‘hoodoos’ are formed when ice and rainwater erode weak limestone that makes up a layer of rock known as the Claron Formation.   Bryce’s geology is complex and diverse, but at its core are patterns of sedimentation and erosion…ice and rain continue to transform Bryce’s dramatic landscape today, cutting away at the rocks like a builders awl and hack, slowly and meticulous carving.  (I will do a series of geology articles about the Colorado Plateau in the coming month as I continue to learn more about the science behind the landscape.)

Bryce Canyon is technically not a canyon, but an amphitheater, a wide open collection of a city of hoodoos – a civilization in stone.  So what exactly is a hoodoo – a spell – a charm?  In geologic terms: “Hoodoos are tall skinny spires of rock that protrude from the bottom of arid basins and "broken" lands. Hoodoos are most commonly found in the High Plateaus region of the Colorado Plateau and in the Badlands regions of the Northern Great Plains. While hoodoos are scattered throughout these areas, nowhere in the world are they as abundant as in the northern section of Bryce Canyon National Park. In common usage, the difference between Hoodoos and pinnacles or spires is that hoodoos have a variable thickness often described as having a "totem pole-shaped body." A spire, on the other hand, has a smoother profile or uniform thickness that tapers from the ground upward.” http://www.nps.gov/brca/naturescience/hoodoos.htm

The hoodoos at Bryce instantly casts a spell of enchantment – the color brilliant and lucid, while the otherworldly shapes take on forms like watchmen, castles and crowns, balconies and fortresses and a stone army.  Myths can be created, woven to put together the mystery of this amphitheater of color and hoodoo mazes.  The storyteller in me sees a thousand possibilities of inspiration for the backstory of this canyon – ancient civilizations, elves and fairies, kings and queens, a secretive race that lives in the rocks, entering through the natural arches and grotto doorways…Bryce is a place of inspiration and ceaseless wonder.  You praise the creator and the science behind the creation of this treasure hidden in the hills of Utah.

What is striking to me about Bryce is the sheer altitude – you straddle 7,000 to 9,000 feet – Yellowstone is mostly in this range – putting into perspective how high this area of the plateau is.  Bryce’s altitude makes it colder on average than Zion or Arches…the park receives over 100 inches of snow each winter, while the arid climate keeps the temperatures milder than other similar topographies in this elevation.  Bryce is bequeathed with four seasons, each adding a contrast of perspective to the life of the landscape.  On this trip, snow has melted from the trails and roads, but still dances on the spires – the opposing spectrum of deep reds and oranges against pristine white makes for spectacular imagery. 

We stopped at each vista, breathing in the color and allowing the light of the sun warm our skin.  I found myself allowing myself to ‘fall’ into the blast of color and ponder each strange and exquisite mold of rock in the amphitheater.  One of my favorite viewpoints was the expanse of Rainbow Point, as well as The Natural Bridge (an arch).  We capped off our tour of the park with a short, but stunning hike on the ‘canyon’ rim from Sunset to Sunrise Point.  Bryce has ample hiking opportunities.  The Navajo Loop is considered one of the prettiest hikes in Utah!

Bryce Canyon is home to an abundance of wildlife.  We were fortunate enough to see several pronghorn grazing in a meadow, as well as the persevering prairie dog.

Prairie Dogs are one of my favorite animals.  They have a complex language and social structure and are critical species to the prairie and mixed topography regions of the Rockies.  Prairie Dogs are hunted by ranchers, poisoned because of misinformation about dangers prairie dogs pose to cattle and farming.  In truth prairie dogs conserve water, help build a stronger ecosystem and pull up the more nutrient rich grasses for cattle…Utah had taken steps to protect the white tailed prairie dog.  One of the ways to help ensure the longevity of Utah’s prairie dog is to symbolically adopt a prairie dog from the Bryce Natural History Association…

Paiute legend http://www.nps.gov/brca/historyculture/americanindianhistory.htm

Paiute Indians occupied the area around what is now Bryce Canyon starting around 1200 A.D. The Paunsaugunt Plateau was used for seasonal hunting and gathering activities, but there is no evidence of permanent settlements.
The legend of Bryce Canyon was explained to a park naturalist in 1936 by Indian Dick, a Paiute elder who then lived on the Kaibab Reservation:
"Before there were any Indians, the Legend People, To-when-an-ung-wa, lived in that place. There were many of them. They were of many kinds – birds, animals, lizards and such things, but they looked like people. They were not people. They had power to make themselves look that way. For some reason the Legend People in that place were bad; they did something that was not good, perhaps a fight, perhaps some stole something….the tale is not clear at this point. Because they were bad, Coyote turned them all into rocks. You can see them in that place now all turned into rocks; some standing in rows, some sitting down, some holding onto others. You can see their faces, with paint on them just as they were before they became rocks. The name of that place is Angka-ku-wass-a-wits (red painted faces). This is the story the people tell."
Fremont and Anasazi people occupied the portion of the Colorado Plateau near Bryce Canyon from around 200 A.D. until 1200. The Fremont were more to the north and west, with the Anasazi more to the south and east. There is recently discovered evidence of the mixing of these two cultures on the Kaiparowits Plateau.
Native Americans first occupied the Colorado Plateau 12,000 years ago, but no evidence of their activities has yet been found on the Paunsaugunt Plateau.

My mom and I booked a room at the Best Western Grand in Bryce City.  After roughing it camping for a few nights in sub-freezing temps, I am ready for a nice hotel room.  The Grand did not disappoint.  It is one of the nicest chain hotels I have stayed in.  The rustic modern architecture fits the mood of the plateau and canyon, while our room was clean, with comfortable beds, and a deluxe bathroom. 

After relaxing in the room (watching March Madness) we drove across the street to world-famous Ruby’s Inn, a Bryce institution.  In 1916 Reuben and Minnie Syrett moved to Southern Utah to establish a ranch near the entrance to Bryce Canyon.  The Syretts fell in love the canyon and began to promote tourism in the area, building a small lodge called ‘Tourist Rest’ in 1919.  In 1923 Bryce Canyon became a National Monument beginning a tourism tradition for the Syrett family that continues to this day.  The Syrett family continue to own and operate Ruby’s Inn as well as the Best Western, and several restaurants, gas stations and a rental car terminal to accommodate travelers visiting the park.  The Syretts understand top notch hospitality and their passion for the park shines through from Ruby’s General Store to their hotels to the cowboy buffet dining experience. 

My mom ordered a burger and I got a chicken dinner with a baked potato.  For dessert we indulged in a sundaes (mom got fudge and I got caramel). 

Tomorrow we leave Bryce for a journey into wilds of southern Utah into Arizona’s Painted Desert, Navajo Country and the Grand Canyon…