Piute County

We were up early, had breakfast, showered, packed and on the road by 8.30am with our first destination being Bryce Canyon. Bryce has been on my bucket list for a long time.

We travelled through lots of small farming towns and each time we travel through these areas both Dave and I are flabbergasted by how much junk is around the houses. It’s like if something breaks down they just don’t fix it, they leave it where it broke down and buy another one whether it is a harvester, truck, pickup, tractor or even buildings.

We drove through Otter Creek State Park which is a large dam that has ice fishing in winter and many water sports in summer. We saw quite a few ice fisherman setting up their tents for a day of fishing. The wind and cold was unbelievable though.

The drive to Bryce had everything, clear valleys, snow capped mountains and state routes with high snow banks on either side with some sections of the route where we had to drive through snow and ice and other sections where the dual highway was down to one lane due to the snow banks.

Entering into Bryce you just got the feeling it would be magical and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Many sections were closed for the winter and had snow about 3 metres high on the roads into those sections but the sections we wanted to explore were all open.

We explored Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Bryce Point and Inspiration Point and every point took our breath away.

The amount of snow banked up against the viewing walls and the fence along the walking paths just shows how much snow they have had this season, truly magical.

Some of the places we walked the paths were clear but had ice, others were snow ladened and you just followed the track other people had made. Once you got to the fenced lookout high up in the Canyon from these snow ladened paths, the fence that would normally be about 1 to 1.5 metres high was about 20 cms high, the rest was under snow!

We spent about 3 hours exploring this magical park and feel extremely blessed to have seen it in all its winter glory. If we are ever fortunate to make our way back to the states, we would look at spending much more time exploring this park. Both Dave and I said yesterday, though extremely hard to pick our favourite place on this trip as everywhere has been amazing, this one was the most breathtaking.

We got back in the car around 2.30pm for an hour and a half trip to Zion/Springdale.

Each time we plug in our destination in google maps (we prefer using google maps on our phone than the navigation system in the car as it is in kilometres and has an Aussie voice) we wonder if we are going the right way. Each time it takes us on roads were we never see another car ever and this time was no different. From Torrey to Bryce we went on a road called Johns Valley Road for 60kms and didn’t see one car!

And then from Bryce to Zion we seemed to be going the backroads again, only seeing a few cars until we got closer to Zion then the traffic got a little more. Coming from Bryce to Zion you enter the east entrance and you actually drive through the outskirts of the park, going through 4 different tunnels. You only drive at 15 miles per hour (25 kms) through the park which at time seems way too quick as there are lots and lots of sharp turns. One thing we have noticed in the national parks here is that Americans don’t believe in getting to the top or bottom of anything gradually. The climb up or down whether being a walking trail or road is steep and with about 180 degree turns! Makes for some hairy drives and exhausting walks especially in cold snowy icy conditions.

We saw some amazing scenery driving and the last tunnel we had to take was long and very narrow. When campervans or buses come through, they have to get special permits as they have to close the tunnel to allow them through, it can’t be dual.

We made it into Springdale at about 5.00pm (due to the slower speed limit and half hour wait to go through the last tunnel) and we were both stuffed. We unpacked and had dinner and just relaxed. Tomorrow and Tuesday is for exploring.Read more