BRYCE AND KODACHROME

Jim and I had camped at Bryce Canyon years ago so we knew we weren’t going to spend a lot of time there today. But the first view we saw from Sunset Point still took our breath away - both literally and figuratively because there was a very cold wind blowing hard.



At 8,800 feet it is still winter here and the snow makes the gorgeous red rock formations stand out even more. Paiute legend says that this valley was full of bad people and Coyote turned them in to stone.

Deeper into Bryce we were treated to this wonderful sight:

These were two of a family of 8-10 deer and they were totally confident that this was their road.

We backtracked out of Bryce and headed for new territory on the scenic Hwy 12 - Kodachrome Basin State Park. This area was named for the Kodak film of the same name during the 1949 National Geographic expedition of the area. We checked out was a trail to Shakespeare Arch. The first thing we noticed as we got out of the car was the incredible silence. We had the park to ourselves. Here’s the trail.

I found that some of the rock formations here looked a lot like real things, like this “camel”

and this Indian Chief. It was so quiet on the trail that when the sound of a light wind came up it was a bit eerie. At the end of the trail I spied Shakespeare Arch.


Even with his bad knee Jim made it far enough down the trail to see some of the basin country.



No matter where you look in Kodachrome Basin State Park you see fabulous formations, rainbow colors and broad vistas.


After this peaceful park we continued onward on Highway 12 through Escalante National Wilderness. We had thought Highway 9 was scenic but Highway 12 outdoes it!



Not many towns out here and we were getting hungry. A very tiny town called Boulder had a restaurant which was open and featured home made food. I saw this interesting item on the menu but chose not to sample it.

The homemade turkey taco that I had was quite tasty and too filling to try the dessert of “Cajun Blueberry Pie.”

Our day had started at 8,800 feet, dropped down below 6,000 feet, gone back up over 8,800 feet, back down to 7,700 feet and now we hit a pass above tree line at 9,600 feet. As we came back below the treeline we were treated to this beautiful site

and then this over view of the northern edge of the Escalante National Wilderness looking toward the Henry Mountains.


It’s hard not to think about early pioneers and covered wagons when in this country. I have nothing but admiration for their tenacity. I am sure I would have felt very discouraged to come over top of the Henry Mountains and be faced with miles upon miles of deep canyon lands.

Tomorrow we check out Capitol Reef and maybe Arches.

Audrey