Day #10 – Capitol Reef NP, Bryce Canyon NP
We left Moab behind and drove west to Bryce Canyon NP. We chose this route so that we could at least drive through Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. I have only read that these two were supposed to be magnificent. I have published the route in an internet forum about a month before our departure and some people got a little agitated because we didn’t include a stop in or close to either sight. With hindsight, I still believe that our decision was sensible, because we have seen so many stone formations and stone sculptures that no one of us felt that we should dedicate additional time to seeing stones…
Capitol Reef is alright to drive through. It offers one or two interesting hikes (which we didn’t do) but you can see almost everything from the car. The last bit of the designated scenic drive is a nice gravel road through narrow canyons – a really nice drive.
Other must sees in Capitol Reef are the Fruita school house and petroglyphs by Hopi Indians. The former was built in the early days of the 20th century to educate the children of Mormon farmers during the winter months. The building is tiny and it is hard to imagine that 28 children of all grades were educated there at the same time; the latter are animals and images of man which were etched into stone in the 15th century or later. The Fruita farmers had some fun with those petroglyphs and added some exotic animals like elephants and reindeer.
I was in the passenger seat when we entered Grand Staircase and I have to tell you: You really have to trust your driver when driving the steep roads and across ridges there. For instance, there is a road which runs on a ridge which is about 7m (yards) wide and on both sides slopes drop by about 100m (yards). There is no guardrail whatsoever.
In the evening we arrived at Ruby’s Inn at Bryce Canyon and hoped to see a Rodeo (the main reason why we hurried to get there). Unfortunately, there are no rodeos in Tuesday nights so we had to settle for an extended dinner and some TV…
Capitol Reef is alright to drive through. It offers one or two interesting hikes (which we didn’t do) but you can see almost everything from the car. The last bit of the designated scenic drive is a nice gravel road through narrow canyons – a really nice drive.
Other must sees in Capitol Reef are the Fruita school house and petroglyphs by Hopi Indians. The former was built in the early days of the 20th century to educate the children of Mormon farmers during the winter months. The building is tiny and it is hard to imagine that 28 children of all grades were educated there at the same time; the latter are animals and images of man which were etched into stone in the 15th century or later. The Fruita farmers had some fun with those petroglyphs and added some exotic animals like elephants and reindeer.
I was in the passenger seat when we entered Grand Staircase and I have to tell you: You really have to trust your driver when driving the steep roads and across ridges there. For instance, there is a road which runs on a ridge which is about 7m (yards) wide and on both sides slopes drop by about 100m (yards). There is no guardrail whatsoever.
In the evening we arrived at Ruby’s Inn at Bryce Canyon and hoped to see a Rodeo (the main reason why we hurried to get there). Unfortunately, there are no rodeos in Tuesday nights so we had to settle for an extended dinner and some TV…
posted by Funkbandit @ 8:36 AM
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