The Pitts Stop

Utah – Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef, Torrey, Cannonville

May 13:  Moab, UT to Hanksville, UT

After almost two weeks, we left Moab.  We really liked Moab – good parks, good pizza, good golf – what more could we want?  We bought gas at $2.39/gallon – yikes! 

Drove up route 191 to I-70 and then to 24 west.  Stopped at Goblin Valley State Park – a wonderful surprise.  Mushroom and goblin rocks all over. 

   They allow folks to climb and walk among them.  We’d love to come here with the grandchildren.  They’d have a ball playing hide and seek and discovering caves.  Jack and I were both wearing red when we were playing among the mushrooms – hummingbirds were attracted and they would buzz us to check us out for nectar. 

The scenery from Goblin Valley to Hanksville gre prettier with every mile.  Mostly large rounded red rock outcroppings, but different than the sheer cliffs of Arches mixed with sand dunes.  The RV park in Hanksville is ok, but no phone service. 

We decided we had time to drive east along route 95 – the Bicentennial Highway – a scenic highway that we didn’t travel before this because we would have had to backtrack from Moab to Blanding in the RV.  We are trying to use the car for drives instead of the RV.  Plus, it’s difficult to make stops for roadside pictures in the RV. 

Bicentennial Highway is beautiful.  Out of Hanksville, it's mostly desert and sand dunes.  Then the rocks appear – red, green, gold, brown, and cream – just astounding.  All different shapes – rounded, sheer cliffs, buttes, spires and the scenery changes with every turn in the road.  We stopped at a picnic area where a trail led into a canyon.  We hiked about ½ mile in – I only had on flip flops and was too lazy to go back to the car for my sneakers.  The trail was very pretty with a stream (Dirty Devil River) and big cliffs.  Here the cliffs have pockmarks all along the sides.  We drove as far as the Colorado River and Hite Marina on Lake Powell.  But there is no lake!  The water is down too far.

May 14:  Hanksville to Torrey, UT
Up early this morning, just as the sun was coming up and lighting the distant gray cliffs into a brilliant red.  Sat outside writing the journal, listening to cows mooing and birds singing.  A beautiful sunny day, just like yesterday.  We’re on to Torrey for a few days to explore Capitol Reef Park.   Capitol Reef National Park has multi-colored cliffs, the Waterpocket Fold, and impressive rock domes that give the park its name.  This area was a hideout for Butch Cassidy.

 Driving along route 24, we pass through the park – incredibly colored cliffs of gray, purple, rust and blue-green.  Some gray hills just before the park had acres of yellow wildflowers spread out.  Drove through the park to the town of Torrey.  A small town with a few motels and restaurants. 

After lunch, we drove to the park ranger station to find out what roads and trails we would explore.  We decided to hike the 4½ mile Grand Wash trail – it was really impressive with lots of tall canyon walls with all kinds of holds and pockmarks.  The trail was easy except for the fairly long section hiking in the sandy riverbed wash – walking in sand is tough.  We went out for dinner to a small local restaurant – very basic, but the food was decent.

May 15:  Torrey – Capitol Reef Park, UT
Hiked up the two-mile Hickman Bridge trail to the Hickman Natural Bridge.  The bridge was pretty, but the hike was tougher than expected because it was steep and we were starting at high altitude – 9,000 feet.  We also stopped at Sunset Point and Gooseneck Overlook, requiring short walks.

May 16:  Torrey – Capitol Reef Park, UT

Drove down route 12 over Boulder Mountain to the Burr Trail Road.  The temperature dropped from 70 to 55 within a couple miles.  Lots of snow still on top of Boulder Mountain.  Broad vistas of the valleys below.   

The Burr Trail road is fantastic – up and down through sheer-walled canyons of different colors.  Then down incredible switchbacks over the Waterpocket Fold to a valley where the temps shot up to 80.  Instead of returning the same way, we decided to take the Notom Road Scenic Backway up to route 24 – about 35 miles on dirt, but it was pretty decent.  

We did laundry the rest of the day.  A power failure occurred before the clothes dried.  Laundry is the one thing I hate about RVing.  The wind has picked up and large gusts blew in the late afternoon and evening.

May 17:  Torrey – Capitol Reef Park, UT

 Our last day in Capitol Reef – it’s very cold, so we delayed leaving the RV till after lunch.  We hiked Capitol Gorge.  The drive down the dirt road to the trailhead is spectacular – similar to the Burr Trail Road, but the hike was disappointing.     The canyon walls and scenery were ho-hum (or are we just spoiled?).  The petroglyphs and early Mormon pioneer signature wall were interesting.  The weather was at least 10 degrees warmer in the park that in our RV campground. 

I mailed my security token back to AT&T – the final piece of my 5 year long attempt to retire, so we decided to celebrate with a nice dinner.  We cleaned up and went out to a fine restaurant – El Diablo with nouvelle southwestern cuisine.  The place was simple – tiled floor, wood tables, no tablecloths and one artist’s unusual paintings on the walls (you can see it at www.coyotearts.com).  The food was art form – incredible sculptures.  The lamb was fabulous, but Jack’s flank stead was a bit tough, but good flavor.  It was a wonderful retirement celebration.

May 18:  Torrey, UT to Cannonville, UT

We were on the road about 10am to go about 100 miles west on scenic route 12 which is an All America Highway.  It goes over Boulder Mountain with snow, then into rock country traversing the hog back which is a narrow strip of land between two canyons.  A very pretty drive with huge elevation changes – about 4000 feet.  The RV handled the ups and downs without any problems. 

We stopped at Cannonville, about 12 miles east of Bryce so we could explore Kodachrome Basin State Park.  We arrived right after lunch and immediately went to the park.  No ranger station – self pay entrance booth.  No information available about the park except a simple brochure.  We first hiked 1 mile to two box canyons-nothing special except for spotting a hummingbird sitting on its tiny nest.  We got some good pictures.    

We then drove within the park to Shakespeare arch trailhead.  We hiked for about 1/3 mile up to a pretty arch, noticing serious cougar prints in the washes.  Instead of returning the same way, we decided to take the Sentinel Trail – big mistake.  It said one mile, but somewhere we lost the trail and ended up hiking more like three miles.  It was steep in many places, both up and down as it circled the mountain about ¾ of the way up.  Lots of animal trails all over the mountain!  We finally made it back and looked it up – it was rated strenuous.  Whew!  We expected a short, easy hike and instead we got a good workout and Jack’s vertigo was sorely tested.  We’ve seen pretty much everything at Kodachrome.  We’ll leave for Bryce tomorrow. 

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