I’m so late with writing, it gets a bit hard to remember what we did. Seems so remote. Sorry, if the postings are missing some detail.
In the morning, we drove from Kanab down south to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We saw what happens when a fire burns down a large forest and how it recovers after time. The North Rim is by far not so touristy as the South Rim, but still we met some guys from the trip up the Narrows of the Virgin River (and later again at Bryce). Some of the chipmunks on steroids are actually squirrels and it was a bit tricky to get them onto camera.
At first it was a bit clouds, but it cleared up later with rays of light breaking through clouds. We relaxed and had a coffee and chai on a sun terrace before driving back up north in the direction of Bryce Canyon, passing by the Red Canyon. By the time we got there, it was rainy again with the occasional lightning — not the best time to stand at the edge of a canyon with iron railings all around.
But what is the Bryce Canyon? A natural wonder. Rain and frost has eroded sandstone away, creating tall pillars of stones and also a few natural bridges. The stone towers, called Hoodoos look like groups of people, making the Native Americans believe that people had lived here a time ago, but they were bad, and were turned into stone.
We took a few photos, but it just wasn’t a good idea to walk down into the canyon with bad weather — and also the guy at the visitor center promised a fantastic sunrise. So we drove back to our motel in the middle of nowhere, drove even further to find a not so touristic place to eat our dinner. This region was obviously a bit underdeveloped, we thought. Hah, how naive — later it would get even more desolate.
The next morning, Andrea didn’t want to get up that early. It was her birthday and it gave me the chance to obtain a cake, some candles and decoration and a little birthday present on my way back from the sunrise. Not an easy job in that region, but I managed.
Speaking of the sunrise: When I got up and checked the weather outside the sky, although still completely black was cast with clouds. I almost stayed in. I’m glad I didn’t, because there was a little gap at the end of the horizon and when I made it back to the Bryce Canyon just in time, I was rewarded by spectacular light and colours. It only lasted about ten minutes before the sun was behind the clouds again. But these ten minutes were worth it. The sunlight filled the canyon with a splash of gold and orange, while the sky remained the intense grey-bluish colour.
When Andrea and I returned to the same spot a few hours later, it was raining. So we drove to the next village, had breakfast, wasted some more time and returned, driving through patches of rain a couple of times. But still, we decided we needed to down the canyon. Again, a good decision as it cleared for the three hours we were hiking through the wonderous landscape. I took millions of photos. I think you’re glad I’m only uploading a fraction of them.
A few minutes after we left the park: rain. We were lucky. We drove past the Kodachrome Basin State Park through the Carcass Canyon Wilderness Study Area, seeing more deer and other wildlife than during my whole trip accumulated. When reaching Capitol Reef National Park we had already seen a dramatic change of landscapes and it kept going.
Our motel was situated in Caineville. Downtown. That’s what the guy at the reception called it. In fact, it was the only building along the freeway. Population… maybe ten? He had moved from Phoenix to this place to raise his children. Away from the busy, polluted, anonymous city. Now he has two neighbours and he knows both. That’s a slightly extreme change. I mean, even Hanksville 20 miles away has about 200 people. That’s why we drove there for a some tasty burgers (I think it was the only open venue anyway). A pleasant end to a packed (birth)day.
