Red Canyon

 On Thursday we were slated to finish our drive to Flagstaff but since it was only going to take 4 or 5 hours of driving we decided to fit in a hike or two before we left for good.

First was Mossy Cave. It's a short walk on the edge of the park that doesn't require you to go to the main entrance. It was a good warm up hike and unusual in that there was water!

Next stop was Red Canyon, touted as the hidden gem of the area. It's a part of the Dixie National Forest and not a National Park so doesn't get the same kind of traffic. But our hike was truly spectacular. It's not as breathtaking as Bryce but it's more accessible somehow. You hike in washes and through scrub forest and slowly making your way to the top of a mesa that opens up to show you what feels like the entire state of Utah. We were hiking for two hours and saw zero people. I guess they were all looking for parking spots at Bryce.

Hiking at Bryce

 We got up early on Wednesday the 7th and hit the National Park before the crowds started to build. The Queen's Garden and Navajo Loop trail is the most popular trail in the park and I can see why. We started at Sunset Point, walked along the rim of the canyon to Sunrise Point, then dropped down to the floor on the Queen's Garden trail where you can look back up at the hoodoos and cliffs along the rim. Then back up the slope on the Navajo Loop and back to Sunset Point. 

There was plenty of parking when we arrived at 7:30 but by the time we finished the hike there were cars waiting for parking spaces.

Here's a sampling of the many photos I took.

After the Hoodoo hike we drove up the main road in Bryce and stopped at the Sheep Creek trail. There were 2 or 3 cars in the parking lot and we saw no other hikers on our journey, with exception the of some park rangers who were, apparently, tidying up the trail. The trail was on top of the mesa and completely different than our first hike.

By the end of that hike we were pretty pooped so drove further up the road to a picnic area. The travel gods were smiling and delivered to us a food truck with iced coffee and bacon wrapped hot dogs. Life is good.

We did finally drive to the end of the park, only to discover a long line of cars waiting for parking so Lee did a quick u-turn and we headed back to our room at Stone Canyon Inn.

Final views from the high point of Bryce Canyon Road.

So now I'm catching up

We left Salt Lake City on July 6 and drove to Tropic, Utah outside of Bryce Canyon National Park. The drive was an uneventful four hours with beautiful changing scenery that brought us into the stunning red rocks of southern Utah.

We stayed for two nights at the Stone Canyon Inn which was a higher end "hotel" with free standing cabins and treehouse suites. It sure beat staying at a roach motel, although our dinner in their fancy restaurant was way over priced. It was delicious and the views were amazing, but still. We spent more for one dinner here than three dinners in SLC.

This was the view from our room's backdoor patio. The star gazing was fabulous.

This is the backdrop for the Stone Canyon Inn.

Last hiking day in SLC

 We managed to hike in three completely different biomes in our three full days in Salt Lake City. Day one (Big Cottonwood Canyon) was high alpine forest with wildflower meadows and aspen groves. Day two (Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake) was wide open, dry and rocky. 

For day three we chose Mill Creek Canyon and the Pipeline Trail. It was scrub oak and pine, with lots of shady areas in the tree cover and spectacular views of the canyon and down into the Salt Lake valley.

It was a morning well spent, about 4 miles of hiking at 6000 feet. We thought we'd try to find a nice lunch spot on our way back to town but the lines for a table were wrapped around the parking lots. Fourth of July long weekenders, presumably. So we ate leftovers at home, rested up during the heat of the day - high 90's yet again - and visited the Natural History Museum of Utah in the late afternoon.

This museum is one of the best I've ever been to. The architecture was gorgeous and the layout inside was really well done. Easy to follow floor plan and excellent exhibits - great overview on the history of the First Nations People plus loads on the geology and prehistoric animals. Plus every time you came to a bank of windows the view was absolutely stunning.

That's Antelope Island way off in the distance on the far right.

The solar panels on the rooftop are the biggest array of panels in Utah. It was a bit underwhelming. I think there are bigger fields than this in Simsbury. But it produces 25% of the electricity for the museum so good on them.

Day 2 in Utah

 The forecast called for another hot day so we got out early and headed to Antelope Island at the Great Salt Lake. When we arrived at 7:30 the temperature was around 70 degrees, but by the time we left four and a half hours later it was 95. It's definitely an advantage to be morning people!

The view of the island from the beginning of the causeway.

Our first hike was at Buffalo Point. Whoever named the point was unaware that the American Bison is not a buffalo. The views of the lake and the mountains in the distance were spectacular.

It looks like mist on the water but is actually the reflection of the clouds.

Here are my attempts of a selfie with Lee and one with my shadow, both from Buffalo Point.

Our next hike was at the Gravel Pit. (They really could use some help with naming things around here.) It was beautiful in its own way but some other adjectives come to mind first - desolate, harsh, barren. 

The knoll on the right is Buffalo Point.

You may not believe it but there's an antelope in this picture. We saw some more later but this one was special because it was the only other living mammal we saw on our Gravel Pit hike.

During the day we also saw a lizard and an owl and a whole lot of bison.

There was a herd of 300-500, or so the brochure said. We didn't count them ourselves.

This papa bison held up traffic while some females and their babies crossed the road.

We drove down to the Frary Ranch at the end of the paved road and walked around a bit but by then the heat was really building so called it a day. (But first zoomed in with my extended family for a quick 4th of July hello.)

The Wasatch Mountains overlooking Ogden.

Dinner was at the Red Iguana. It's unlikely we'll be able to stay up late enough tonight to see any fireworks.

Back on the plane

 Yesterday was the first time on a plane since we went to Hawaii for Christmas 2018. Some of that was unrelated to the pandemic. We'd been to Peru in 2017 and New Zealand in 2018 and didn't imagine that taking a summer off from traveling in 2019 would extend another two years, but here we are in 2021 and finally on a plane again. But not internationally. I'm not ready for that yet. The pandemic isn't over. 

But life is full of opportunities to weigh one's options and domestic travel feels safe enough. So we revamped our plans from a trip cancelled last year because of covid, packed our masks and hand sanitizer and took the leap. Here goes...

Salt Lake City. It's hard to believe that it's been nearly 45 years since I lived here. I really am that old. So much of what I've seen driving around the city, Holladay and Big Cottonwood Canyon looks unfamiliar. I think it's because I haven't had any interim moments to remind me of my life here. Anyway, I'm glad to have the chance to see it again.

Today we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to do some hiking. Keeping in mind that we are out of shape and a day earlier had been essentially at sea level, we chose a boardwalk hike around Silver Lake.

One mile boardwalk around the lake

We decided pretty early on that we could handle more and took a side trail to Lake Solitude. It was about 4 miles with an elevation gain of about 500 feet, starting from 8700 feet. We did okay for a couple of old, out of shape New Englanders. And boy, was it worth it. Beautiful.

The wildflowers were stunning.

We did not see any flying bikers. 

But we did see a sweet little family of ducks.

This little bird landed on a nearby branch and sang us a tune.
I'm on a quest to identify it.

We thought about doing another hike near the Brighton ski resort but decided we weren't up for more high altitude work so headed back to the valley. We drove through Holladay and saw my old house on Wildwood Road.

Then we went by my old junior high and high schools. They didn't seem all that familiar but it was cool to see them anyway. Plus we found a nice coffee shop in town with a pretty fabulous view of Mount Olympus.

The temperature is hovering in the high 90's with a relative humidity of 15% so we're spending a big chunk of the rest of the day lounging on the couch in our air conditioned Airbnb.