Day 42

Day 42: 6/28/15 (Bryce Canyon to I-70 Exit 181)

244 miles

We tried waking up this morning to catch the sunrise then go for an early hike, but our alarms just got turned off and we slept in – we needed it especially since our neighbor woke us up in the middle of the night with his snoring.  Seriously, it sounded like a wheezing donkey on his last breath of life.  We thought an animal was going to maul our tent, but the sound never got closer - meaning it stayed 10 ft away.  We woke up about an hour or so past sunrise and went for the hike at Bryce point. Originally we weren’t going to hike the whole loop, but we ended up feeling ambitious and did the whole 5.2 miles, switchbacking most of the way. 

Once we got down into the canyon we came across a horse tour that was about to take off so we walked a bit and then let them pass us.  We spent the first half mile of the loop trailing behind 10 horses which was not fun because they kept pooping and peeing, they were walking slower than us, and not to mention  the unease we felt with our heads being at kicking level.  Eventually, we couldn't take it anymore and we ran in front of them and never saw them again (thank god).

The hike wasn’t bad until the last mile which was a pretty steep switchback up to the parking lot that seemed to never end.  The close-up views of  all the hoodoos were really cool and made it all worth it. After the hike we checked out the rest of the outlooks that we had missed the day before.  Rico insisted that we find Thor’s Hammer, which we did, only after walking a half mile in the wrong direction.

Once we had seen all that Bryce had to offer, we stopped for lunch at the General Store.  In order to have a quick and easy lunch, Jillian thought to ask the guy at the register if we could use their microwave to heat up our hot dogs, to which the guy enthusiastically responded “oh yeah!”.  Rico then asked how much the showers were and he said with a wink that they were "$2 but what happens back there is priceless" –he had quite the quirky personality.  We enjoyed our hot dogs and finished off the beers we had purchased the day before at a picnic area close by.  After lunch we went back in to buy shower tokens, yes a shower.  If you've been keeping track, you know we needed one badly.  Rico asked to buy two magical showers from the strange cashier. He gave us 4 shower tokens and said they were good for two 8 minute showers, but if we were to take a shower together, it could be one long one.  We were confused, but he further explained that women were allowed to shower in the men’s room, but if men went into the women’s room it was considered a felony – it was then we realized why he was winking before - did we mention this guy was weird?  Anyway, we took our 8-minute showers, and it felt so good to be clean.

From Bryce we drove 2 ½ hours to Capital Reef National Park.  On the way, we drove through some pretty scenic areas where the hills were covered in white birch trees.  When we reached the visitor’s center at the park, Jillian spotted a flier advertising free fruit picking.  We asked the rangers and they pointed out a couple places on a map where we could pick some apricots.  We headed straight there and found a few trees with ripe fruit.  You aren't supposed to take any out of the orchard, but we bagged up a few for snacks later on.  We continued on through the park, and come to find out, Capital Reef isn't much of a national park aside from a few petroglyph areas and a naturally-made bridge which we hiked 2 miles to see.

Since we knew there were not many sites at Canyonlands National Park, the plan was to sleep as close to the park as possible to have the best chance at snagging a campsite in the morning.  We already had our minds set on reaching a rest stop not too far from the park, but it was quite a ways before we got there.  We were hoping to find pizza for dinner, but after looking at a map, we realized we were in the middle of nowhere – legit no towns around us and the sun was going down.  The surrounding landscape was a scene straight out of The Hills Have Eyes, creepy camping trailers and all.

We spent the drive dodging daredevil bunny rabbits sprinting across the highway. Finally, we reached a town where it looked promising to find something to eat, but at that time of night the only option was to think Arby’s.  While we were waiting in line, staring at Arby's menu board, a guy walked by and said "you can tell when a someone's in love, and she's got it bad."  I'm not sure what we were doing, but I guess Jillian was just loving the way Rico was deciding between turkey or roast beef.  After we filled our bellies we drove another 20 miles before we reached the rest stop to sleep for the night – a very hot and uncomfortable night.

Day 42 Video

Fact:

Humans hike faster than horses (or at least in Bryce Canyon)

Lesson:

If you’re craving pizza and have access to it, just get it – don’t wait!


Eat Well; Travel Often
Rico & Jillian