It’s time to start thinking
about heading southwest and since we had such a great beginning this year, why
not retrace our steps… First stop Capital Reef National Park. At sunset we check out the Goosenecks and
Sunset Point.
The weather is cooler now
(mid 90s as opposed to the low 100s.)
The baby fawns have lost their spots and the little turkeys are now
almost as big as their moms. The stone
fruits have all been picked. Apples and pears are now in season.
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| Pleasant Creek |
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| Cougar Tracks creekside |
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| Two Thousand Years of Rock Art |
We get in a great hike along
Pleasant Creek. The trail here changes
with the rains. It seems to be more of a
suggestion rather than a maintained trail.
It’s hikers choice: we can hike alongside the creek and walk up over a
desert landscape or just plow through the water. We do a combination of both. Along the way we explore the largest panel of
pictographs and petroglyphs in the park.
There is over 2,000 years of art here attributed to archaic hunters and
gatherers, the Fremont culture, Ute tribes and Mormon pioneers. For the entire hike we never see another person… but we did come across Cougar tracks… hungry cougars? hmmm...
Next back track is to
Escalante and the Shooting Star RV Resort.
It’s great to catch up with Troy and Michelle. They’ve been working hard over the summer
moving rocks and planting trees. The Airstream Motel is booked solid while
we’re here. Couples, families and friends living riveted for a few days and
catching a flick on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at the Shooting Star
Drive-in.
During the day we catch some
of the sites we missed last spring:
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| Hole in The Rock Lake Powell at the Bottom |
We finally get to the end of
Hole in the Rock Road and walk up the wagon trail to the top of the ridge and
look straight down to Lake Powell. It’s hard to imagine anyone willingly
driving a loaded wagon down this slot between the rocks… we don’t even want to
climb down this rubble trail… when does the line cross from courageous to
crazy?
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| A Beautiful Day for a Hike |
Across the river from the
Shooting Star is the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. The sun is shining
when we start up the hill to the Petrified Forest trail. At the top of the mesa we take the trail of
Sleeping Rainbows down into the canyon and back up.
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| Petrified Logs |
The Juniper and Pinion Pine forest is
littered with chunks of petrified wood. By the time we get back to the
trailhead, the weather has changed.
Thundershowers are on the way; time to seek shelter. Storms in this area are not to be
underestimated. This storm takes the
lives of 7 hikers in a slot canyon in Zion N.P.
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| Time to seek shelter |
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| Box Death Hollow Wilderness |
Lower Box Death Hollow is a
scary name for a pretty green canyon surrounded by desert. . We work our way up
the canyon, zigzagging across the creek.
After a couple of hours we stop for a creek side picnic lunch and then
head back down the canyon.
Saturday morning we shop at
the Escalante Farmer’s market. It’s a
small market from 9 AM to Noon, with only a few vendors but we find everything
we want and more. Great baked goods,
heirloom tomatoes, wild mushrooms, green veggies, melons etc…
Next it’s onto the park we
missed last spring… Bryce Canyon N.P.
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