Wednesday morning we drove to Navajo Lake and hopped on our mountain bikes. We'd ridden the trail on the northern side of the lake two weeks ago but, without a map, couldn't find the trail on the southern shore. This time, we were set with both map and trail description. What a great trail--a fun ride with enough technical stuff to keep you challenged and enough dip-si-doos to keep you smiling, beautiful scenery, lovely wildflowers and perfect weather! There was no way it could have been any better.
The volunteer at the visitor center had recommended a short hike to 'The Pinks' which started near where we parked the Jeep. So, after riding we embarked on a hike--straight up! The route took us to a cliff-top beneath a wall of pink hoo-doos whic looked down the Virgin River drainage and out to the peaks of Zion National Park. Although it was a nice view, it wasn't much different from similar, more impressive ones we've see. And we probably didn't need a strenuous hike after a 12-mile bike ride.
We drove to Cedar City, checked in to our motel, made ourselves presentable and walked across the parking lot to Denny's, Fred's new favorite restaurant. After dinner he returned to the room while I did a bit of shopping.
After a morning stock-up at Walmart, we drove north to Parowan and took Route 143 to Yankee Meadows in Dixie National Forest. We had sketchy descriptions for two trails there and picked Noah's Ark over Vermillion Castle via the eeny-meeney-miny-moe method.
The trail was 1.3 miles long and gained 1100' in elevation. In other words, we climbed almost 100' every 1/10 mile. Our quads, stressed by the previous day's exertion, let us know they were not happy! The trail was steep with long drop-offs in many places and crossed talus slides in several places, making the descent more difficult than the ascent. At the top, we had no trouble spotting Vermillion Castle but weren't sure which rocky outcrop was Noah's Ark. On the return trip, a group heading up asked us if the view was worth the effort. We advised them to stop at an well below the summit which provided virtually the same view.
The visitor center volunteer had suggested that we stop at Hidden Haven and walk to its two waterfalls. This turned out to be a pleasant stroll (with no elevation change) through a lush, North Carolina-esque woods bisected by a shallow creek. The first water fall was small and pretty; the second was higher and cascaded into a small pool surrounded by vines, shrubs and a few yellow monkeyflowers. A refreshing and relaxing final event in a short, busy trip.
The return route to Tropic went through Cedar Breaks NM, a beautiful place we'd visited two weeks ago--and a great spot for a quick picnic. We found a table among tall pines on the edge of a wildflower-filled meadow to enjoy the lovely view and cool temperature. Then it was back in the Jeep and 'home' to the RV with another work week starting in the morning.
