Our Week In Bryce Valley

Thursday we left Kanab UT for Cannonville UT another 85 mile drive day. On our way to Cannonville we stopped at the Red Rocks Visitor Center. The VC has parking for rv's so we parked and took the nearby trails, the Pink Ledges, Hoodos and Birdseye Trails, all combined about 2 miles.

After our stop we headed on to Bryce Valley KOA in Cannonville UT. KOA's are not our favorite but it would serve the purpose of putting us in the area we wanted to be. Our thoughts on this KOA after a week here: pros great location for Bryce and the Grand Staircase Escalante, clean laundry, sites are okay size and there is a small store. The cons are the big rig FHU area and in particular our site seem to be used as a pass through by folks (mostly foreigners) to access the bathhouse, store and laundry, verizon signal is almost nonexistent but park wifi is okay. One lady even walked her dog in our site, Dave let her know that wasn't okay. The other thing that I've seen that irked me was one workamper couple using the next door site, even when occupied, for walking their dogs. Would we come back, I'm not sure, we'd much rather be at Kodachrome Basin State Park but I didn't plan ahead early enough.

Our neighbors were also in a Solitude so at times it seemed like we were seeing double.

All complaints aside it was fortuitous timing on our part as our friends Steve and MonaLiza of The Lowe's RV Adventures were also staying here. After settling we headed two sites down and enjoyed happy hour while catching up on what had been going on since we last saw them in AZ. Plans were made for the days to come.



Early Friday morning we all headed out to Lick Wash Slot Canyon, this was a hike we had tried to do while in Kanab but rain kept us away. Lick Wash can also be reached from Cannonville, now we got to do it with our friends MonaLiza and Steve. The canyon is filled with Ponderosa pines and Douglas fir trees, after hiking 2.5 of the 4 miles it became more of a wash than a slot canyon so we headed back.

Steve had heard of another nearby slot canyon at Bull Valley Gorge, we all wanted to hike a bit more of the slots. This time we were approaching the slots from above, there was a clear trail along the top so off we went. We asked one lady who was heading back to her car how the canyon was, she said you need to know canyoneering, well then, lets see how far we can go.

Here's where the "real" canyoneering started. From the floor to the top of the rock as about 8' with a rope to assist you in getting back up to the top. Neither MonaLiza or I thought we had the upper body strength to haul ourselves back up so we sent the boys on by themselves. 

In the mid 60's this truck went off the road and into the canyon, the three passengers were killed and the truck was left stuck in the gorge.

What a great day of hiking we had, so much beauty in these two hikes.

Saturday after a 60 mile round trip to Panguitch where the only "real" grocery store is Dave and I headed to Kodachrome Basin State Park. Our first hike was Angel's Palace Trail.

Our second hike of the day was Grand Parade Trail.

Sunday we got an early start again, after a 60 mile ride on Scenic Byway Rt 12 we took Burr Trail Road out of Boulder. The first part of the road is paved and the unpaved part is passable by most vehicles, there are a set of switchbacks and with a steep grade.Burr Trail Rd ends in Capital Reef NP where we picked up the Notom-Bullfrog Rd north to Rt 24 and then looping back to Torrey which is the other end of Rt 12.

After our scenic ride we stopped to hike the Lower Calf Creek Falls trail a 6 mile round trip in and out hike to a scenic waterfall.

Our original plan for Monday was to hike into Bryce Canyon NP through a backdoor trail but with the rain the day before and in the forecast we chose instead to do an auto tour. These are just a sampling of the 150 photos Dave took that day.

On Tuesday morning we said goodbye to MonaLiza and Steve, they are headed to Ruby's Campground just outside of Bryce Canyon NP. If all goes well and as planned we'll see them in mid September at Lake Louise in Alberta Canada. After goodbyes Dave and I headed back to Bryce Canyon NP to tackle the Peekaboo Trail, a 5.5 mile trail from the top of the mesa down into the hoodoos and then back up to the top. With dark clouds and rain forecast for mid afternoon we didn't dilly dally on our hike, with snow the day before the trail going down wasn't the best. While down on the floor of the canyon it decided to hail, the trail going up out of the valley was quite muddy and we saw where in the higher elevation near the top of the mesa it had once again snowed.

Today, Wednesday, we went to an area where we'd seen cars parked every time we drove by. It was the Mossy Cave area which was a .25 miles in, while the cave wasn't much we did enjoy the waterfall along the Tropical Ditch though.

After that short hike and realizing our legs were still tired from yesterdays hike we came home and I finished up the blog. Tomorrow we head to Torry UT where we'll spend a few days exploring Capitol Reef NP.

Until next time...