Destination, Utah

It's orange in Utah, and green and grey and white...

But before we go there, I am curious what you are reading these days, if anything.

About a year ago, (Or is it two?) I bought a book about the universe by Neal DeGrasse Tyson.  

He is known for bringing these complex topics of the universe down to the layman's level.  Even so, I find the topics and the concepts so mind-blowing that I just can't get my tiny brain to wrap around them and absorb them.  It feels like for a flash of a fraction of a second I grasp what he is writing and then it is gone.  It is like, "Wow! That's cool," but then I couldn't tell you (or my conscious self couldn't recall) what it was that I comprehended for a fraction of a second.

I am telling you this because a couple days ago in a gift shop I found a children's book about the stars and I bought it for me.  Maybe this will be more my speed.

And recently at a gift shop I bought a book about flies.   The thought of it gives Steve the heebie-jeebies... and at times it grosses me out.  But it is fascinating.  For instance, I didn't know that there are lots of different species of mosquitos.  One type that only hatch in old tires.  I didn't think about all the insects, bats and birds that rely on a good number of mosquitoes.  Their nutrition moves right up the food chain. 

And flies do a lot more pollinating than bees.

And I didn't know about the different flies that live in the Arctic.   So it is a fun and fascinating read in short bursts... I can only absorb so much knowledge at a time.

Enough about books, on to the places we have visited in Utah.

Brigham KOA, Great Salt Lake

Our first stop in Utah was in a KOA campground near Brigham, Utah, which is north of Salt Lake City.  The campsite was pretty luxurious, with a cement patio, Adirondack chairs, and a rocking bench we never sat in, not once.  Why?  We were either busy or the evenings got very windy.  Once it was so windy it blew over the rocking bench.

I found a paved trail and a road route that would take us to see the Great Salt Lake.  I had been to Salt Lake years ago and all I remembered was it smelled and there were a lot of flies on the beach.

 

The trail was nice and took us past a kind of hobby farm where there were white deer resting right next to the trail... I think they were deer.

We arrived at the park entrance and rode a causeway between a lake with 7% salinity and the Great Salt Lake with 14% salinity.   It was warm but not uncomfortably hot.  Islands off in the distance looked like they were floating off the lake, a desert mirage.

We had read about the Salt Lake water level going down.  It was once (hundreds or thousands of years ago) part of a huge lake that covered a vast area.  A local told us that the water was actually up from last year.  A dock for boats was mostly on dry land.

I went down to the water and saw that the many many brine flies are still loving the Great Salt Lake.  The good thing is they don't bite and pretty much are not interested in us humans.

I had not been aware that they have repopulated buffalo in the park.   

We got to the beach and could see where it used to be.  And now it might be a quarter mile walk to the water.  Steve's sciatic was hurting so we didn't walk down there, but enjoyed a veggie burger at the burger joint in the park.

This rock was in an area where there had been a fire.  The lichen might have been green or orange before the fire.  Or it was always black.

A place I wanted to see while we were in the area was the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

We drove there, parked the truck, and pulled out our trikes.  There is a 12 mile loop road in the refuge and we knew we would see and experience more if we rode our trikes instead of drive it.

But we quickly were reminded that the wetlands are not only good for birds, but great for mosquitos.   I sprayed myself well, but those buggers were going for the eyes and the mouth and the inside of the nose.

Within a few feet, we turned around and put the trikes back in the truck.  We drove the loop road instead.

We saw lots of Glossy Ibis.  

I don't think I have ever seen a white-faced Ibis before.  It is so pretty with it's varied colors.

On to Capital Reef National Park

Our next stop was Capital Reef National Park.  I didn't know what to expect.  I was going to have us go to Zion National Park but it gets six million visitors a year.  I didn't want to feel like a cow in a herd of cattle walking down a trail.  So I found Capital Reef National Park that gets a lot less visitors a year.

Driving thought the Salt Lake City area we were surprised by the number and size of refineries we passed.

It rained that day and a bit the day before.  We had just left a desert area that only gets seven inches of rain a year and it got over an inch while we were there.  Steve and I began to joke that we could rent ourselves out.  We visit the desert and it gets rain.

As we entered the park, we stopped and took advantage of a selfie stand near the sign.

Before we set up camp, we stopped at the visitors center and watched a video about how the place was formed.  It was very interesting that millions of years ago the area was actually located by the equator.  Back when the land was a jungle and dinosaurs roamed.   But through plate tectonic movement of the land masses, this land moved to North America and eventually got covered in a huge lake covering much of several current states.  And the sediments from the lake with added volcanic ash settled.  

There are huge black volcanic rocks all around the area.  They were part of a volcano 15 miles away that got washed down stream when a glacier lake dam busted.  Somewhere in the story of the land was a fold in the earth.  It was facinating but blah blah blah,  I know, I am boring you.  I don't have the facts exact, so I will move on.  You can google it if you are interested.

After the video at the visitors center was over, the screen went up and we could see Steve's trailer and truck tucked in among the colorful scenery.  Tah dah!!

We went on to our campground.  We could see some of the hills from our campsite in Fruita Campground. 

Our campground was situated among several orchards.  This oasis in the desert was home to about 10 Mormon families for about 100 years.  They planted fruit trees.  The National Park System maintains the orchards and visitors can pick fruit in season.   I picked apples and pears while we were there.  I walked among the mule deer who fill their stomachs on the fallen fruit and then rest in the shade of the trees.

Our first evening we decided to drive to a spot to watch the sunset.

The location was called Panoramic Point.  We parked and walked up the rocks.  There were a few other groups there, but it was still very quiet.  The rocks we walked over were rippled and dappled from the years when they were sediment under water.

We expected to see a lot of stars, but we were there at the time of the full moon.  And as the sun set, the moon rose to light the night sky.

The next morning I went outside when it was still dark.  The moon had set by then and the clear sky was lovely and surrounded by the dark outlines of the sandstone hills.  I was nervous to go too far from the campground because the rangers had told us there had been reports and  trail camera showing a cougar had been coming to the area.  It was probably coming to hunt the mule deer that were feasting on the ripe fruit.

Once the sun was up, I did a quick walk along the trail to the visitors' center where Steve met up with me.  Along the way I saw a couple of misshapen cottonwood trees that were probably 150 years old.  

We chose to do a walk up a wash (dry creek bed).  The description said it was two miles in to the Narrows where cliffs rise on both sides of the path.  It was amazing and lovely to see what designs and marks water had made on these rocks.

Each bend had a new view, new colors, something mind blowing to see.  

We just kept walking, past the narrows to a path that would go to an arch.  So we took that path and started to climb.

Steve walked across the arch.  Then we just sat and sat soaking up the view.  I mentioned to Steve, that even though there were other people around us, it was so quiet.  A lovely quiet surrounded us.

Part of the path to the arch was solid rock.  There were little stacks of smaller rocks to mark the path, otherwise we wouldn't know which way to go.

We passed old desert trees all knurled and twisted.  They might be over 300 years old. 

 

We both were very happy we had chosen to visit Capital Reef.  We loved the views, the history, and the hikes.

On our first night I had spontaneously picked up a rock and wrote on another rock with it.  2024, Sue and Steve.  It was right over the top of another person's etching.   

The next day I saw this sign.  

I felt pretty guilty.  Steve teased me and threatened to turn me in.  I wanted to go back and scuff on it, erase it.  But I figured the next rain would wash it away... if it ever rains.

We hiked a lot more miles than we had planned.  We were both tired and a bit sore after hiking about 10 miles and climbing about 900 feet.  

In the evening we went to a ranger program on the geology of the area and animals in the area.  The ranger said there are more ringtail than any other animal.  But they are tree dwellers and nocturnal, so she has never seen one.  They are cute!  I wanna see one!

One day we went to a program on the petroglyphs.  This oasis in the desert had been visited and lived in for thousands of years before the Mormons arrived and made homes and planted orchards.  The ancient natives carved pictures in the rock.  Several tribes say they were carved by their ancestors.

I am going to bore you with some more pictures you can skim over of a walk we took to see an arch.  This walk was only about four miles. 

The rock below looked like an angry turtle to me.

Bryce Canyon

The day we left Capital Reef and headed to Bryson National Park was a fantastic travel day.  It makes me wonder if I should start planning for 200 miles between stops instead of 300 miles.  We had enough time that if we wanted to stop and see something, we did.

We took highway 12 which turns out to be quite the scenic route.  

We saw a sign for Anasazi State Park Museum.  When we came to it, we stopped.  It was very interesting.

After we were done with the tour, we had lunch at the Navajo Taco food truck in front of the museum.  We got fry bread with an egg, beans, and cheese on it.  It was yummy! 

Then we saw a sign for a petrified wood state park.  Of course we had to stop there.  The ranger checking us in told us there was a two-mile loop we could hike and see many good samples of the petrified wood.

I learned that to make petrified wood, there is usually a rush of water (flash flood) throwing downed logs into a pile, then covering quickly with lots of silt.  Sometimes in the pile of debris are the remains of animals like dinosaurs.  

The key is that under the silt there is no oxygen so the trees don't rot.  Then there is a volcanic explosion and the mineral ash cover the area.  Water over the years seeps down and replaces cells and spaces in the tree over millennia.  The different minerals give the stone trees varied colors.   

Then what else has to happen?  Over many years (thousands?) the land covering the trees washes and blows away, exposing the petrified trees and fossils.

We saw some bones that we could not identify sitting on one of the petrified logs.  We thought about grabbing them for our friend, Frankie, who loves collecting bones.  

But there was still a bit of debris on them... and we were in a protected park.  So Frankie will just get a picture.

We asked the ranger about the bones after our walk.  She said they were probably Coyote.  While we were talking to the ranger at the gift shop, an older couple (like us?) came in and asked if they have a junior ranger program.   

"Yes, we do!  How many?"

The woman pointed to themselves and said, "Just two."   

We laughed, how cute is that!

Further on our drive to Bryce we passed a community of dome homes.  I later looked it up and they are luxury places for those that like the night sky. Half of the roof and walls are glass.  Clear Sky Resort, I think it was called.

We camped at Ruby's Inn and RV Resort in Bryce Canyon City.  It was interesting because the whole town practically had Ruby's name on it.  Ruby's Grocery, Ruby's Restaurant, Ruby's Pizza, Ruby's General Story.  

I did laundry the first evening.  While I was waiting for the machines to do their magic I looked up where best to view the night sky.  Bryce Canyon is supposed to be a dark sky area with very little light pollution.

I found Dark Sky Ranger which had several telescopes and does a program.  I signed us up for our second night in the park.

Our first night when we stepped out in the evening, we were wowed at the darkness in the campground and the crispness of the night sky.  We could make out the milky way right from our busy campground!

In Bryce we took several hikes, four and five miles, and one that was over nine miles and Steve's watch said we ascended over 2000 feet!  How's that for a couple of aging retirees?

There is a five mile trail from Ruby's Inn and into the most popular spots in the park.

A chart explained the ages of each different color in the cliffs and what fossils might be found there.  I took a picture to remember.

Bryce is a busy and popular park.  

The day of our longer walk was lovely.

We learned somewhere that the ponderosa pine smells like vanilla.  We both sniffed one and sure enough, it smells good!

At the end of our long walk we went through an area that had burned.  We noticed that now new trees were sprouting.

I will report that our experience with the Dark Ranger Telescope Tour was great.  We had lovely clear skies and a big sky too.  And I got to see Saturn, with its ring, through one of the telescopes.  The Ranger was fun and provided comfortable chairs and hot chocolate.   

Even though I wore a sweatshirt, a quilted vest, a down jacket, and long underwear, it got very cold.  We lasted until almost 11 p.m.   Pretty good for us!  We were very grateful for the heated seats in the truck for our ride home.

It was well worth the $49 each to go.  I highly recommend it.

The Grand Canyon

On our way to the Grand Canyon, we went right by the visitors center for the Glen Canyon Dam.  

We watched a video about the building of the dam.  They poured concrete for 24 hours a day for ... was it three months?  A year?   I don't remember.   A lot of concrete went into building that dam anyway.

We only had one full day at the Grand Canyon.  We chose to ride our bikes to different vistas on the canyon's edge.

There were several yucca along the rocky edge and in the gardens around the visitors center with tall stalks.  I thought is was the century plant but Steve checked it on the internet and it is some kind of yucca.

At one overlook we could see a wide path down there.  I looked through the monocular and couldn't figure it out.  Then Steve looked and recognized it right away.  (He was a line man for part of his career.)  "They are laying fiber," he told me.

Fiber across the canyon...  He pointed out different pieces of equipment.  And on the right of the trail you can see a black line that is probably carrying water for something.

I zoomed in close with my phone camera.

As we ascended on our bikes (I was glad I was using my e-assist) we came to these markers telling us how old the rock was at this elevation.  

At the end of Hermit Road that is a road restricted to busses and bicycles and a few people with special permits, is a little shop that sells souvenirs and snacks and has fresh spring water on tap.

To finish our ride we went in search of ice cream.  We didn't find scoops anywhere, we settled on packaged treats.  Then on our way back to the campground we encountered elk on the trail.

Utah was over too fast.  We could spend more weeks in Utah.  I told Steve we need fifty more years of life to explore all the states.  We hope to do groupings of three or four states on future trips so we are able to see and do more at each stop.  So much to see, so little time!

Arizona Visit

I have one brother.  He lives in Arizona.  I couldn't just zip by and skip Arizona!  

After we passed the Arizona sign we started to see the big cactus... and we started to decend and the temprature started to go up, and up, and up.  109 degrees in Chandler, AZ, one of the many towns around Pheonix.   There is Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale near us.

Today we met up with Larry and Peg at a restaurant for lunch.  Tomorrow we will see them again for lunch and...

We will meet up with Bob and Rose, friends from our Withlacoochee Bicycle Riders that moved out here.  They ride with a bike group, and in AZ, where it is so hot during the day, they ride at night.  So we will be going for an evening trike ride on some of the many trails in this area.

Oh, and before I leave you, to all my friends, and fellow Sisters on the Fly, and relatives of friends, and all of you in the path of Hurricane Helene, I hope you are safe and well and have power. 

Time to go, the Chandler Public Library is closing.

So tell me, what have you been reading or learning?