8/22 - Utah Scenic Byway 12 and Capital Reef National Park (2)

A quick look at Capital Reef National Park

I reluctantly turned onto Utah 24 after my lunch break. Deep in my heart, I wished that the beautiful drive continued longer. But all beautiful things come to the end, a scenic drive is no exception.

I did not do much homework for the capital Reef National Park, as I knew I would just pass through the park without much time to explore. But as I approached the park on Utah 24, I realized this is a bad idea. The formation of big rock mountains at the park is beautiful and unique, I wished I had studied more and allocated more time for this park.

Heading towards Capital Reef NP on Utah 24

My stay at the park started with a short film at the visitor center. Capital Reef National Park got its name shortly after the Civil war. At that time, new settlers moved from the East coast toward the wilderness in the west. When they passed by, they realized this place is a natural military fortress (i.e. difficult to attack) by their experience in the army. Furthermore, the dome-shaped big mountains resembles the roofs of capital buildings, hence the name Capital Reef was coined.

Doom-shaped large rocks are the defining feature of Capital Reef NP
One doom connects to another....
A close-up shot

This is a big park that I visited only a very small portion. Exploring the large of the park requires hiking, for which I had no time. After a short discussion with the rangers at the visitor center, I decided to go on the scenic drive to the South of the visitor center. It is a 12-mile, unpaved road that takes me into the depth of high-rising rock formations. As I started the drive, soon I discovered that each of the dome-shaped mountains, as the rock piles in the Bryce Canyon National Park, has its unique shape. The wandering road cuts through valleys, setting up good viewing angels for various mountains. As this was an unpaved road, I had to drive slowly and had plenty time to take in the views from behind the driving wheel.

Looking up to the big rocks
Dark clouds gathered and provided a different flavor of view
End of the drive continues on with a hiking trail. But I had no time to explore.
Driving on the dirt road - An unique experience to me.
and it really makes the car dirty... Clouds were particularly beautiful on that day.

I turned around at the end of scenic drive - There was a trailhead for hiking, but I decided to skip. It started to drizzle a little bit as I followed the road back to the main road. As it was already 3 P.M. and I still had some distance to drive, I decided to stop exploring the park and headed straight East on Utah 24. I knew there were much more to see, but I wanted to complete my planned itinerary for the day.

Heading East into the rain.

Too bad that I had to leave this picturesque place in a hurry

This part of the country is really lightly visited. Compared to Zion or Bryce, I saw very few cars and visitors on the park road. Perhaps it is because the Capital Reef hides itself deep in the mountains. However, the view here is certainly not inferior to the other parks. I just scratched the surface in exploring its beauty during my short stay.

The rain, the rainbow, and the sunset

I continued on Utah 24 and then turned onto US-89, according to the plan. It showered intermittently. After leaving the mountainous area in the Capital Reef National Park, US-89 featured an open view in all directions. There were really few cars on that road. I counted less than 100 in my one-hour drive on the road. With the great open view and light traffic, it made me feel like I was traveling in a different space, and my car was the only remaining man-made object in the world. It was a weird feeling of solitude but also a pleasant driving experience.

On US-89, thanks to the open view, I could observe the rain like never before. I could see it rained at a particular area. The rain looked like silver silk hanging from the cloud atop, but it was also constantly moving and changing. There were three or four such rain spots surrounding the car, with various distance, size, and density. I sit within the grand stage prepared by the mother nature, observing the rain like never before - It was impossible for me to see scenes like this in overcrowded cities. From time to time, lightening connected the cloud above and the land below with a short, bright thin stripe - great special effects for this stage, but that was beyond my capability to capture this moment with a camera. Sometimes I could see from distance that I was going to drive into a rain spot, entered it as expected, and left in a few minutes. That was really interesting to me. I drove through this spectacular show with awe, and finally reached the intersection of I-70.

The rain fell here and there...
Sometimes like a thick curtain...
Sometimes like silk....

When I merged onto I-70 I briefly thought that I had taken a wrong turn. The interstate freeway here is very different from the interstates I knew in LA - always jammed, always busy. There were so few cars that I needed the sign to assure me that it was indeed I-70. I continued on I-70 to reach my terminal stop for the day, Green River.

Yes, this is the interstate highway. No cars.

While I did the grocery shopping, I again saw something that I have seen for many times but never saw it like on the day - the rainbow and the neon. At the parking lot of a grocery store, I saw a pair of complete, 180 degree rainbow and neon next to each other. It was so beautiful, and it was unfortunate for me that I never appreciated it this way. Towards the end of the day, I again gazed with amazement at the sunset at the street of Green River.

The most complete rainbow and neon I have ever seen in my life.
...followed by a glorious sunset.

Overall, it had been a day for me to re-discover the beauty of simple undeveloped nature - the endless open view, the rain, the rainbow, and the sunset. All are common concepts yet I never realized they can be this beautiful growing up in crowded cities. I was a nice eye-opening experience with unfamiliar ordinary.

I checked into a Motel-6 here for the night. It provided a decent room for budget-minded travelers, and I thought I could really use some budget control after I calculated my expenditure the day before. There was still a long road ahead.

8/22 - Utah Scenic Byway 12 and Capital Reef National Park (1)

Today I got up early and again packed my car with luggage. According to the plan, I shall take Utah Scenic Byway 12, cut through the Capital Reef National Park, and arrive at Green River, Utah. Today I had more flexibility, or uncertainty, depends on how you look at it, as I did not have a hotel booked for the night in advance. From this day on my schedule was open and subject to changes.

When I set up my trip plan, the objective of the day was merely moving from the West side of Utah to the East side. According to the mileage I won't have much time for the Capital Reef NP, and I didn't put too much expectation on the scenic drive. I still remembered my experience with the famous California Scenic Highway 1 (the Pacific Coast highway). I went on a 2-day trip from LA to San Francisco the first winter vacation, and after finished the drive, the first question came up in my mind was "Where is the scenery? Is this the scenic drive that people all talk about?" It was not bad after all, but talking about beautify coastal scenic drive, the East Coast of Taiwan has no match as far as I have seen. After that experience, I became more skeptical about the famous scenic drives.

However I did not know it would turn out to be one of the best driving experience I ever had when I started the day.

Utah Scenic Byway 12

On the map, Utah Scenic Byway 12 starts from a junction off US-89 heading toward Bryce Canyon, and ends at Torrey, UT just before the Capital Reef NP. It is a perfect match to where I was heading to, so I chose to travel the full length of the road.

The itinerary of the day started out by following the same route I took to visit the Bryce Canyon yesterday. Instead of turning into Bryce, I continued on Byway 12, and as I traveled further, there were less sign of human habitation. I left the civilization behind and headed into the wilderness for every additional mile I drove.

The view here is very different from what I was familiar with in my life. I lived mostly in cities where the eyesight is always limited by man-made objects. But down here, nothing is between me and the horizon, in almost all directions. Surrounded by the openness, I felt that some invisible shackle deep in my soul lifted, and I felt happy basically for no reason. I simply enjoyed the view and the drive all along the way.

It is difficult to describe the view I saw on this day. All I can say is that the languages are not enough to describe it. Even photography falls short to fully capture the beauty of the scene. In my opinion, all man-made objects are no compare to the great openness out here provided by the mother nature. From time to time, tears almost dropped out from my eyes due to the shock and satisfaction. Yes, it is that good. You have to be here yourself to appreciate that.

There were really few travelers on this route, so most of the time I was driving all by myself across the open field. There were lots of viewpoint providing endless view into the wilderness. There is nothing special out there yet the view is special. I stood at the viewpoints and felt happy each time that I had made the decision to come this way. Although I had to sit in the limited space of my Toyota Corolla most of the time, I didn't feel restricted confined because the view is as wide as the eyes could see. The thin air on the plateau and the sunny sky helped the visibility, and this was a very enjoyable drive all the way.

I will show you some pictures here, but let me remind you again the photos are not the best way to convey what I shocked me so deeply that day. You have to be there to confirm what I described above.

Red Canyon (at the west end of the Utah Byway 12)

Driving through a tunnel at Red Canyon

The road cuts through an opening between two hills

Heading East on Utah Byway 12 with open view in front of the car

Half way on the road I passed by the visitor center of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I took just a quick in the visitor center without further exploration of the place. However, one quote on the wall in the visitor enter hit into my heart. Well said, Mr. Williams.

I drove further East from the visitor center the view is even better. Every turn provides a potential of surprise. I remember I kept shouting "Wow!" as if I was riding a roller-coaster. The view on this segment of Byway 12 is simply spectacular, perhaps the best I have seen since entering US. Taiwan is a small, mountainous island. Therefore I am familiar with views of mountains or seashores, but have little experience with open views on a plateau. This route fit nicely in the void, provided what I considered as an eye-opening experience for me, and this is one of the major reasons people enjoy traveling.

Looking down from a vista point, the road cuts through the barren land like a snake. A sense of loneliness arose while I stood here. I must travel this lonely road to reach the destination.

Heading down into the valley I just saw above.

A place called Boynton Overlook. Another amazing view.

Finally I met someone on the road so I could ask them to take a picture for me.

Another view.... Forget the name of the place.

A view featured a big basin underneath. On a board at this point, it says the area I could see is as large as the state Connecticut or the European country Luxembourg!

Another view... There are so many nice viewpoints that I took much longer time to drive through the Byway 12 than I expected.

A nice peek through the passenger side window into a basin.

A high-rising cliff ahead.

Finally I arrived at the junction of Utah 12 and Utah 24. I took a break and had a late lunch at the Subway at the intersection. Looking back at the junction into Byway 12, I realized I might have just had the best driving experience so far in my life. It was unlike any place I had been. With a high spirit, I continued my day, driving on Utah 24 into the Capital Reef National Park.

This intersection marks the East end of Utah Byway 12.

8/21 - Bryce Canyon National Park (2)

Satisfied with the views I took in at the viewpoints, I went to the visitor center to get some information about the National Park. To my surprise, Bryce Canyon got its name thanks to a couple of early settlers with the family name Bryce. At that time, Mr. and Mrs. Bryce settled their house in front of the unnamed canyon, and the place was known as Bryce's Canyon ever since. This was a bit hard to imagine for me since I was brought up in an era that almost all lands on the Earth have been named. Today people pay huge amount of money to have a building, a school, or a sports arena named after them, but back in the nineteen century you could have a canyon named after you if you came to the right place at the right time. All I can say is that we live in a different era for sure.

Hike Down into the Canyon

At 3 P.M. the Sun moved to the west side of the sky and it was not as hot as the noon. So I continued on my plan of hiking down the canyon. I drove to the Sunset Point, the last viewpoint I had not visited and started from there. The plan was to hike down the canyon and complete a loop hike to walk up to the Sunrise Point. Then I can take the rim trail to the Sunset point, just in time for the sunset.

I once had a plan to go hiking in Grand Canyon with a friend, Kevin. But due to time constraints we were not able to carry it out before I left LA. But I had read about hiking in grand canyon - The potential danger of dehydration and all sorts of that. Now that I was at another canyon with similar weather condition - high elevation, low humidity, and direct exposure to the sun - I thought it would be a good place to have a taste for how it is like to hike down and up a canyon.

As I had already learned my lesson yesterday, hiking downhill is not as easy as it sounds. With each step I could feel some muscles in my legs complained for working it in two consecutive days. These were not the muscles I use when I walk on flat ground, so they are not well-trained. But the urge to have a close-up look at the strange stones was strong enough for me to carry on with the sore legs.

The trail again featured zig-zag switchbacks, and soon enough I came far from the rim that the crowds at the viewpoints were out of sight or earshot. There were plenty people down here too, but considerably quieter than the world above. It seemed to me that everyone had been influenced by the mysterious atmosphere emitted from the huge stone formations now just next to us. Watching these stones from atop was totally different to standing next to it. First, I realized that they are actually much larger than I perceived. Hence it was more awe-inspiring to look at them down here. Instead of considering myself as a king ruling a huge army, I now felt like a child getting lost in a crowd of giants. Second, I got to observe the details of the stones. They are actually very fragile, with a lot of slits and crumbs on its surface. There is clear evidence that the force of mother nature has been constantly working on these stones to give its current look. I was actually walking in a studio that had been in production for thousands of years. I pondered on that thought for a bit longer and felt happy that I decided to come down here.

I followed the routes in the canyon and visited several interesting sites. Again, I think it is better to let the pictures speak for me.

The start of descent into the Bryce Canyon
Endless switchbacks... Luckily I was taking this road downwards
A site named "two bridges" in the canyon
Close-up shots of the cracks and crumbs of the rock
Look up to the sky at the bottom of canyon
This is the main character of the cartoon "Chip and Dale", I assume.Standing among the stones, they seem to be much bigger.
The way up.

Finally there came the unavoidable up-hill climb. It was then I realized I had came far from the canyon rim. I labored my way up hill, and really thought about whether hiking in the Grand Canyon is for me - This was a two-hour hike and I felt tired, then how about a three-day hike in an obviously larger scale? I'd better seriously reconsider that now. But, hiking down Bryce Canyon was a good decision for this trip, as I had the opportunity to experience the canyon from a very different perspective I couldn't have had otherwise. It showed me a delicate, quiet, remote world I was not familiar with - A very worthwhile getaway from my daily life.

The sunset

Finally I came back up to the rim, walked to the Sunset point and had some time to rest and waited for the sunset. I didn't know exactly what I should look for, so I just sit and watched. The sky turned cloudy in the late afternoon, so there was not much sunlight. I stared at the canyon and expected something miraculous to happen - such as the stones would suddenly turn alive and walk around in the canyon. Perhaps I expected for the wrong thing or the weather was not good, nothing really caught my eyes until it turned dark. If someone had seen some wonders at the Sunset Point, please drop me a note to let me know what I missed. Thanks.

Waiting for the sunset at the Sunset Point. It was getting dark.
The far side of the canyon glowed. But the canyon itself did not change a bit since it was cloudy.

It was getting really dark, but I did not see much interesting.

Finally I drove back to my motel room at Hatch after dark. Another nice day spent at the second stop of my national park tour.

8/21 - Bryce Canyon National Park (1)

Today I woke up at around 6 A.M. I went to bed early last night partly due to the long hiking I had, but mostly because I wanted to wake up early enough to see the sunrise at the Sunrise Point in Bryce Canyon NP. Almost every information source I referred to recommend it. In the book I brought with me, it says (about the Sunrise and Sunset Points), "At their appointed hours, these overlooks are irresistible.... Unless you are utterly jaded, don't pass these off as mere cliches." I checked the sunrise time online and figured that waking up at 6 would be good enough to catch it before going to bed.

However, when I stepped out of the room, it was obviously to bright outside considering there was more than one hour to the sunrise. I checked the alarm clock in the room and realized it hadn't been adjusted for daylight saving time. I should be more careful about that! I was really kicking myself on the way to Bryce Canyon, but there was obviously no way to turn the clock back.

The viewpoints-hopping tour

When I arrived at the park entrance the ranger at the toll station greeted me with a nice smile saying I was really early. I told her I was in fact late for the sunrise, reminded about the clock incident again. When I finally arrived at the sunrise point, the sun was already high in the sky hidden in the clouds, and there were plenty of visitors down in the canyon. It was my first glance at the Bryce Canyon. Although I was late, the canyon at the sunrise point still glowed under the morning sunlight. It has plenty of rocks in interesting formations. All of them appear very similar yet none of them are exactly the same. Some spikes atop of the stone piles reminded me bamboo shoots, some set of columns of stones appeared like ruins of an ancient palace, and most interestingly, some stone piles has a small, white, round stone on top of a larger, red, long up-side-down cone. They resemble the figures of gigantic human statues. In fact, later I learned in the visitor center that there was indeed such legend that someone allured bad guys into the canyon and turned them into stone as punishments for their deeds.

The sunrise point after the sunrise

Early birds hike down the canyon in a cool morning

Formation of the stones in Bryce Canyon makes an interesting subject of study

I thought about hiking down the canyon and join the visitors underneath there but soon remembered the lesson from yesterday. The sun was getting higher into the sky, and I probably should postpone the hike until late afternoon. So I just walked along the rim trail to get different views down into the canyon as the starter. There were significant fewer visitors here as compared to Zion, since I had left the major interstate highways and entered the backcountry part of Utah. These places are not easily accessible, and I hoped they can make a good experience that is worth the detour.

Next to a small pavilion on the trail, I saw two quotes put up on the wall:

"I need solitude. I have come forth to this hill.... to see the forms of the mountains on the horizon - to behold and commune with something grander than man."

"Silence alone is worthy to be heard."

Both quotes are from Henry David Thoreau. They fit nicely with the scene in front of me. If this is the type of trip experience you are looking for, put the national parks in Utah on your wish list.

Since it was getting hot I walked back to my car and followed the suggestion of my tour book. When visiting the vista points along the Bryce Canyon, it is better to drive to the southmost point in the park first, and visit all the vista points on your right (as the canyon lies in the East) one by one on the way back up. I hit each of the vista points of the south part of the park to take in various view. The drive is not that long as Bryce is a small park. On the way back, I also saw a group of deers along the roadside.

The first stone arch I saw on this trip. There are many more to appear later.
Deers playing merrily with each other.

The Ruby Inn

It was a clear sky when the sun moved high, and it became unbearably hot. I retreated to the Ruby Inn, which is perhaps the closest lodging to the Bryce Canyon NP available. This is a perfect location for park visitors, but I did not stay here due to the high cost (100+ dollars per night, and I tried with Priceline but failed). However, I could use some rest here and eat something at the moment.

They have a gift shop with various interesting Indian stuff. I wandered around the shop and looked at various objects, imagining which objects fit into what kind of setting. This is the usual way I browse gift shops - Not only trying to find something I like, but also coming up with my own way to dispose each item if I have it. There were plenty of things to think for in the shop, so it turned out to be a good rest for my over-heated body. Then I moved on to the lobby of the Ruby Inn, and sit there to finish my postcard at this stop. I had decided to send a postcard home at each of the stop I made, so it makes a good supplement to photos and souvenirs as parts of my collections for this trip. The lobby of Ruby Inn is decorated just right to match with the setting of this hotel - A historic site (established 90 years ago!) at a far-away but well-renowned attraction. I could feel a welcoming atmosphere with a good balance and blend of the old-timer and the modern renovation. I liked this place from the first sight.

Some beautiful objects at the shop in the Ruby Inn

Decorations at the lobby of the Ruby Inn

The lighting in the lobby combines the natural light with lamps

The lobby at the Ruby Inn

More View-points

After a good rest at the Ruby Inn, I headed back to Bryce Canyon to pick up the view at the remaining view points. I left out the Bryce Point and the Inspiration Points in the morning because they are easily accessible (close to the park entrance). And I was really happen that I kept the best for the last.

The views at these two points are magnificent. Standing tall at the top of the cliff, I saw all the rocks lay underneath in the canyon. The rocks stand there in a tidy formation, and I felt like a king reviewing my huge army of stone soldiers waiting for my command in the valley.

I think I should save my words and let the pictures speak at this point. After all, it is hard to describe the beauty of these national parks unless you see it yourself. People say a picture is worth a thousand words, and that certainly applies here.

Panorama at the Bryce Point

Panorama at the Inspiration Point

I with my stone army at the Bryce Point
A close-up view for the Bryce Point