Bryce Canyon

The next morning we were back on Route 12 and pretty soon arrived at a destination that almost everyone we spoke to had advised us to visit – Bryce Canyon.  There are no adjectives, in English at least, that can begin to convey the jaw-dropping awesomeness of Bryce Canyon. The first day was amazing enough and that was just taking the Queens Garden and Navajo loop trail around what is called the amphitheatre.

 Bryce is characterised by hoodoos which are vertically eroded limestone formations. The old Indian legend is that the people who lived here were bad and so Coyote turned them into rock and there they stand (or sit) to this day for all to see. There are two types of limestone but other minerals and anomalies of geological history combine to create not only shapes but a subtle and beautiful harmony of colours.

On our second day we drove the whole 18 miles of the park stopping at overlooks like the Natural Bridge and hiking the short and easy Bristlecone Loop at the southern end. This was just a warm up for the magnificent Fairyland Trail at the northern end of Bryce. It’s quite a tough trail over 4 miles which switches elevations so it goes up and down a lot before ending at a feature called Tower Bridge.

There is an alternative return route but Fairyland was so magical we walked the whole 4 miles back as well. Partly because it’s a tough trail and partly because of the season we only saw another two people over the entire 5 hours or so it took us. Most of the time our only other company was the ravens and even they disappeared for much of this trail so it was like being the lone explorers of another planet at times. In fact the whole experience was pretty much out of this world.......

UT-AWE

The first night in Utah was spent at the Green River Budget Inn which was an old independent motel in the town centre. Green River was a perfect example of a phenomenon we have noticed in a lot of these small US towns. As you enter the towns there are a whole cluster of newish looking chain motels accompanied by fast food places and in the town itself there are inevitably several derelict independent motel buildings and restaurants. Visitors no longer need to go into the town itself and this has a really negative effect on the economies of some of these small towns. 

The manager of the Budget Inn told us that people don’t trust old looking motels any more either. This is such a shame because independent motels always have more character, are generally cheaper, have thicker walls and are downtown so you can actually walk somewhere to eat and get to meet a few locals at the same time. It also means you get to see bizarre things like the real missile placed ornamentally in the park opposite the Budget Inn.

From Green River we slightly backtracked to the national park of Canyonlands before heading west again. This was a nice stop with views over canyons and mountains and a great view through a big natural arch.  There was actually another park nearby full of natural sandstone arches but we spent so long in Canyonlands we decided to give this a miss and move on.

We spent that night in the tiny town of Hanksville in a rather pricey (but swish) motel called the Henry Mountain Hideaway which seemed to be the only accommodation in town. We actually had to telephone the manager who then drove down to the motel to take our money and give us the key. The whole transaction was completed inside the only store in the town which he also seemed to be the manager of. We needed some food for dinner so he got some more of our money. I guess this explains why he was driving a Bentley.

The journey through Utah was stunning from the start. From the I-70 we took, highway 24 south and then continued south on Highway 12. There really isn’t very much in this part of Utah except small towns, big mountains, multicoloured rocks and desert landscapes. Occasionally there are some cows or horses but that’s about it apart from the moon which seems to be visible for most of the day as well as night.  We passed through Capitol Reef park and had a couple of nice stops. One where we just parked in a layby and walked around a rocky desert area with the Henry Montains in the background and another official trail through a very echoey steep sided canyon.

When we got as far as Boulder we stopped and stayed at the Circle Mountains Motel which will be our smallest and cutest motel experience for sure. It was actually one of three rooms in a building next to the owner’s house and had obviously been decorated personally and with great care. As much as I like motels this was a nice change from the format and a restaurant serving classic American 'home cookin'he town was just a short walk past the ranch as the sun set .........