Days Off # 3 & #4

Day Off #3:  Doing the Wash

No, this isn't a post about laundry!  We hiked 8 miles in Campbell Wash this afternoon.

We planned to go up the wash into Bryce National Park then hike the Fairyland Loop.  But when  we reached the trail, the temp went down, the wind picked up and raindrops fell.  So we headed back down the wash, saving Fairyland for a better day. 



Next time, we'll access it from inside the park because the wash is difficult to walk.  Its bed is river stones ranging in size from  pebbles to boulders.  Most are smooth and slide very easily; we'll need Tylenol tonight for our ankles and knees.



Pix:





Looking down the wash toward Powell Point



A relatively smooth stretch of the wash

  



Fred in the wash




The view from home is one of the best!

Day Off #4--Bryce Point-to-Point


What a great day we’ve had!  Fred washed the Jeep while I vacuumed and scrubbed the RV’s interior. This afternoon we went to Bryce National Park and played tourist.  We stopped at all but two of the viewpoints. The furthest and highest is Rainbow Point,18 miles from the entrance gate and 9115’ elevation.  Even in the bright sunshine, it was windy and cold up there—with plenty of snow on the ground.

A friend told us that a couple we’d worked with at  the North Rim in 2007 is at Bryce so we stopped in the gift shop and found  them.   We’ll try to co-ordinate our schedules for hiking or Jeeping together.

*Right now, we're working on our downhill technique.  Not only is it much easier than uphill, it provides a fantastic view.

Pictures from various BCNP viewpoints:

Sticker Shock

Coming from an area where tourism is an important segment of the local economy, we expected to see high prices.  But not quite so high... 

A few days after we arrived, the gas station  (the only one between Cannonville, 5 miles south, and Ruby's Inn, 13 miles west) raised its price from $3.89 to $3.99/gal.   Yesterday we  shopped for the first time at the grocery store.  It is a bit larger than a WaWa or 7-11 convenience store and carries just the basics. These are some random prices:
--16 oz. prepackaged shaved turkey breast,  $6.99
--Voila frozen dinner, $7.99
--12-can carton of 12 oz. Coke, $6.59

On the positive side, though, the store is close so we won't burn a lot of gas and carries small selections of fresh produce and meat.

We bought two nice chicken breasts which cooked nicely with the microwave's convection feature.

Weather...or Not

The weather here is just as dramatic and variable as the landscape!  Or perhaps it's dramatic and variable because of the landscape.  Whatever that relationship is, the weather has changed many times in many ways since we arrived 11 days ago.  A cold front moved in Sunday night bringing sporadic rain showers throughout the day yesterday.  By late afternoon, a few patches of blue sky were visible briefly, then obscured by billowing towers of ominously dark clouds.

We went 'up on the mountain' (to the plateau where the national park is located) for dinner at Ruby's Inn* last evening.  We were surprised to see how much snow clung to the surrounding cliffs.  It was beautiful but we're glad to be located in Tropic, 1500' lower in altitude. 

The front is expected to move east during the day, leaving the meterological door open for clear skies and pleasant temps for the rest of the week--and our days off tomorrow and Thursday.

[*Ruby's Inn is a large tourist complex at the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park.  It includes several motels, a campground, lots of gift shops, a restaurant, diner, pizza place,, a rodeo stadium, concessionaire sites for ATV tours, horseback rides, fishing trips, helicopter flights--basically anything you can convince people on vacation to spend money on is available there.

We went with our co-work-kampers, Keith and Sandy, and ate at the restaurant.  We had a good meal of the 'down home' variety and a good time.] 


These pictures were shot from our RV site, looking up into Bryce Canyon.



Monday afternoon




About 6 PM Tuesday...

huge, feathery flakes tumble from the sky...



wrapping everything in winter's blanket...

until morning sun regains the sky.
(Wednesday AM)

A Better Day

Saturday had been a long, tough day for us.  We reported at 6:45 to watch breakfast prep and assist with serving and clean-up.  Then there were rooms to 'do' (get ready for new guests) as well as others to 'service' (freshen up for current guests).  We returned to the inn to handle check-ins from 3:00-8:00.  Even though there were only two arrivals, both dishwashers had to be unloaded and the inn's laundry had to be done.  The most stressful part was trying to resolve a guest's complaint that the air conditioning didn't work.  (Night-time temperatures often dip below 32* until mid-May so the inn doesn't flip its system from heat to cool until then.  Wish we'd known that...)


We had no breakfast duties on Sunday and only two rooms to clean so we were finished by 11:30.  After lunch we headed back to Red Canyon State Park and hiked the Losee  (pronounced 'lucy') Trail.  The route hops back and forth along a wash which carried a small amount of snow-melt; we crossed that stream 48 times over 6 miles!  Rain clouds masked the usual bright sunlight and provided dramatic backgrounds for the red cliffs.  There were few wildflowers, one snake (probably a non-poisonous gopher snake) and lots of horse 'evidence.'

A gentle rain began after dinner and continued sporadically through the night.  Showers and chilly temps are forecast for today and tomorrow.   We don't plan on anything beyond working and going out to dinner tonight with Keith and Sandy, our co-work-kampers.

Update

The weather has gotten much warmer during  the six days we've been here.  Although the days get hot, it cools down fast as the sun goes down and we appreciate the furnance at night.

Our workload has been quite light so far.  Part of the reason is that tourist season hasn't begun (many of the early-season guests are Europeans); the other aspect is that we've only been trained on cleaning rooms in the inn.  We need to learn how to do the cabins and guest house; how to prepare and serve breakfast; and how to check-in guests and take reservations.

Yesterday we went up on the mountain, at least 1000' higher, where the national park is located, for lunch at "Soup and Pie."  We didn't have soup but their sour cream and raisin pie is heavenly!  Afterwards we went into the park's visitor center and found out about the summer star parties.  Bryce has the darkest skies in the lower 48 providing exceptional opportunities for astronomy..

Late in the day we went for a very difficult run.  We found it exceptionally hard because:  #1.  injuries, weather and travel have kept us from the trails since before Christmas, #2.  the elevation here is 4000' higher than we're used to and #3.  the route out was uphill.  We're going to keep at it and maybe even do the Bryce 5K in August.

This afternoon we went to Kodakchrome Basin State Park, just 14 miles from here.  It's as indescribable as the rest of this area but in a different way.  It's often called a microcosm of the color country southern Utah is known for.  An unusual feature is the spires, which resemble concrete columns.  They are actually vents from defunct geysers that filled with fine, whitish sand which compacted into stone over the millenia.  When the softer surrounding layers eroded, the spires were exposed.   I'll attach some pictures of Kodakchrome's sights so you can see for yourself.





 

These hand impressions looked as if they were pressed into wet clay rather than incised into rock.   Wish we knew how/when they were create and by whom and why.

The Ballerina Spire

Obligatory picture of dessicated tree

Second Day Off

Our regular days off will be Wed. and Thurs.  However, we were off on Sunday and Dixie wants us to have check-in training this afternoon so we decided to take Wed as day off #2 for this first week.

After the propane man attached a line between the RV and the suppy tank (YAY!), we headed 50 miles east on Route 12 to Lower Calf Creek Falls.  What a wonderful hike--little elevation change, varied terrain and scenery, some wildflowers, a few archeological tidbits, a lovely little creek with brook trout and a waterfall at the end.  Lower Calf Creek Falls cascading 126' into the pool at its base was spectacular enough to awe North Carolinians from 'the land of waterfalls.'

We encountered a couple hiking with their pet cockatiels.  Each carried a cage containing two birds all six miles out and back.  They told us their pets "just love to hike."

On the way home we stopped at the Kiva Koffeehouse.  Perched on a cliff, it looks down and
into Calf Creek Canyon and out to the high desert beyond.  The building recreates a circular native American kiva using immense juniper logs. 

At 8 we strolled up the gravel road to watch Mike's 'Freedom Fire,' a bonfire of the debris he's cleared in the process of building his golf training center.  From the fireside conversation, we gleaned that Mike really likes bonfires and Bin Laden's removal provided a rationale for accompanying this one with John Phillip Sousa marches played over loud-speakers. 

Attached are some photos from the Lower Calf Creek Falls hike.

Pictographes

 Lower Calf Creek Falls

prickly pear cactus blossoms



Lower Calf Creek Canyon
from Kiva Koffeehouse

Freedom Fire

The weather is gradually warming; nights are still cold, just not as cold.  The propane
company will come this morning to hook us to a large tank so we won't have to ration usage for heat, hot water and cooking
.
We had more training yesterday.  Fred cleaned two bathrooms and I learned how to 'do' the bedroom portion.  It's not rocket science but there's a lot to remember until it becomes more automatic.  The rooms are beautifully decorated and each is unique--Ivy, Cedar, Juniper, Wildflower and two others.  All have stunning views into Bryce Canyon--a work environment few jobs can rival.

Since it was a 'light' day, we finished about 11:15 and decided to hike the Tropic Trail into the floor of Bryce Canyon. 

 Although it's officially named Bryce 'Canyon,' Bryce is more of an amphitheater.  Imagine looking down on an upper-case letter C flat on the ground.  Its lower end is flush with the ground.   Elevation increases as one moves from this end toward the center of the curve and decreases back to ground level at the upper end.  The Stone Canyon Inn is positioned back from the C's opening, facing up into the amphitheater.  Most visitors to the national park encounter Bryce from the high center part of the C, looking down into the 'bowl' filled with hoodoos.

Attached are some pictures from yesterday's 5-miler:






Snow at base of the cliffs




There's a story here somewhere



Navajo Trail along the floor of Bryce's amphitheater



Incredibly vivid blue sky




Huge teetering boulder





Intrepid Explorer!



Breath-taking!