June 28, 2018 - Capital Reef/Escalante/Bryce Canyon
There were a number of trails in the Capital Reef Fruita area.  We picked the Grand Wash trail to hike since it was flat.  We were hiking in the morning when it was fairly cool.
   
Here we go!
   
 
   
Heading into the canyon.
   
Cougar!
   
 
   
 
   
It looks like someone sliced that rock with a giant chisel.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
That is one big rock.
   
There is that Cougar again!
   
 
   
After the hike, we checked out some petroglyphs (rock carvings)  created between 300 and 1300 AD.
   
 
   
They have a nice walkway alongside the rock wall where the petroglyphs are.
   
Space invaders?
   
 
   
The Castle.
   
Today's final destination was Bryce Canyon.  We could have got there by heading west on Route 24 to intersect the famous All American Highway 12 running south through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  But yesterday the Park Ranger had suggested driving south on Notom Road which runs on the east side of Capital Reef until another dirt roads turns west, cuts through Capital Reef again and runs into Highway 12.  She said it was very scenic, and although it was dirt, it did not require a four-wheel drive vehicle.  So we decided to go for it.
 
Our B&B was on Notom Road so we had to backtrack a little.
 
One last look at the Sunlit Oasis B&B where we stayed last night.
   
When you deviate from the beaten path, you get to see sights like this!
   
Soon Notom Road turned changed from asphalt to dirt.
   

The road had what is referred to as the washboard effect.  I found that driving faster, about 40 mph, was a lot smoother than driving 20-30 mph.

 
   
Looking west at Capital Reef.
   
This is what I remember from the air a year and a half ago.
   
 
   
Our rental SUV used to be black; now it is tan.
   
 
   

We came to the intersection.  Notom Road continues straight ahead to Bullfrog Basin on Lake Powell 33 miles ahead.

We would be turning right and driving to Boulder on Highway 12.
   
Here we go!  I was wondering how we were going to get through the Reef.
   
Looking east.  Switchback city.  We are veterans, having survived the Mogi
   
Looking east.
   
We made it on top!
   
We have left Capital Reef National Park and are now entering the Grand Staircase -Escalante National Monmument.
   
 
   
 
   
The park ranger was not wrong.
   
 
   

Actually, we were only seeing the northwestern edge of the National Monument.

 
   
Big, rock wall and dirt-coated SUV.
   
 
   
For scale, check out Lynnette in lower left-hand corner.
   

Red rock turns to white rock.

We made it to the very little town of Boulder and turned west on the All American Road, Highway 12.
   
 
   
Nice canyon!  The Escalante River?
   
Part of Highway 12 was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps between 1935 and 1940.
   
If you look closely, you can see Highway snaking between the white rocks.
   
We passed through the towns of Escalante, Cannonville and Tropic before reaching the Bryce Canyon.  I had made reservations at Rubys Inn, just outside the park.  It turns out that Rubys Inn was a massive complex that was literally the entire town!
 
We checked in to Rubys, then decided to go into the Park.  We knew Bryce Canyon is a very popular park, and they made a big deal about taking a shuttle in, but we decided to take a shot at driving the car in and driving the rim road.
   
It was an hour before sunset and we had no problem at all with traffic or finding parking at the rim overlooks.
   
 
   
 
   
We stopped at almost every one of the overlooks.
   
 
   
A big natural bridge.
   
This was Bryce Point.
   
The views from Bryce Point were spectacular.
   
 
   
Little did we know that we would be hiking down there tomorrow.
   
At the tip of Bryce Point looking backward towards the parking lot.
   
The sun is setting.
   
Looking to the east.
   
A portion of the Peekaboo Loop Trail is visible.  We would be hiking it tomorrow.
   
The sun was screened by a low cloud layer.
   
 
   
 
   
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