Looking over my SPOT map, it's August 25th when I left Hurricane and headed towards Escalante.
So, where were we. Oh yeah, Grand Staircase.
What a beautiful ride. Each turn layed out another great view.
Now, last year Mom and Pop did a tour of the country towing their trailer from campground to campground and generally living like retired folk do. They mentioned something about a petrified forest somewhere. Looking at my map, there happened to be one right on my way to Escalante, Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. I thought I should check things out.
A two minute departure from Rt. 12 and I was at the Ranger Station. I got some park literature, was pointed where to park the bike, and shown the trailhead to get to said forests.
Once again, time for a stroll. I grabbed my sunglasses, a bottle of water and set off.
Ut oh:
Now, I reside at maybe 100 feet above sea level. I was already feeling this altitude each time I had to push the bike around a bit. Oh well, I wouldn't have to push the bike around on the trail. Onward I went.
Just past the trailhead, a view of the lake below:
Some interesting sights on the trail, at least I thought so:
Now, I was expecting a dead looking tree that was hard as a rock for the petrified stuff. Boy, was I wrong. These pieces were colorful. Almost looking like glass. And there was quite a bit all around.
I couldn't stop inspecting each and every one I came across. They amazed me with how they were frozen in time. And the sheer size of them resembled nothing that was growing there today. I tried to imagine what the scene must have been like when these giants were still pointing towards the skies.
I think the hike was about a 1.75 mile loop. I was gassed afterwards.
I took a break in the air conditioned ranger station, reading the letters that were sent with returned pieces of petrified rock that were taken from the park. Seems if you take a piece bad luck will befall.
Once back on the bike I continued through Escalante and into another world:
I continued through this landscape, up over a 9200 foot pass and down into Capitol Reef National Park. I was getting chased by a pretty severe storm, so my time in this park was cut short. This could be a park I would spend days exploring. The scenic drive road was closed (I would have surely gotten hit by the storm had it been open), so I made my way through the park on Rt. 24.
I went through here way too fast, but once again, that straight line lightning had me a bit worried.
Onward I pushed, through lunar looking landscapes along Rt. 24.
I turned South in Hanksville onto Rt. 95. I soon was seeing Glenn Canyon National Recreation Area:
After riding through there, I decided on trying to get to Blanding for the evening. But my map showed one more area theat peaked my interest. Natural Bridges National Monument. Neat stuff:
The park literature said there were arches in the park as well, but they were a bit harder to spot. I saw these two walking back from taking a picture of one of the bridges. The arch might be 4 inches tall:
Onward to Blanding I pushed. And, there went Blanding.
I was now on UT191 heading North. Maybe Monticello would be the place to stop. Well, it should have been the place to stop. I fueled up there, donned all my gear for the darkening skies and kept the push North going.
About 20 miles outside of Moab, the skies opened up. Again, that straight line lightning I love. I kept my head low and pushed on into Moab. There I found a place for the night.
-darrell