Southwest US trip - Day 6
This post is part 6 of the "southwest_us_trip-2009" series:
- Southwest US trip - Day 1
- Southwest US trip - Day 2
- Southwest US trip - Day 3
- Southwest US trip - Day 4
- Southwest US trip - Day 5
- Southwest US trip - Day 6
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The plan for the day was to drive back into Utah. We were hoping to drive the Cottonwood Canyon Road through Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.
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Cottonwood Canyon Road is unpaved for its full 46 miles length. While it was supposed to be passable in a normal passenger car, weather can always play a role. We made it about 10 miles up the road before reaching a point, along the Paria River where the road narrowed, and there were deep ruts with large, sharp rocks protruding. After some discussion, we agreed that it wasn't worth the risk to the car, and we had to turn back. I was a bit disappointed, as the best scenery was further north, but we made the right choice. A sampling of the pictures from the first 10 miles is above.
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Since we couldn't cut through the monument, we had to drive the long way around it, up to Bryce Canyon National Park. Our first stop was at the visitor center, and then to grab a campsite for the night. We found a really nice spot in the C loop of Sunset campground (above 1st from left), and then drove to the Mossy Cave trail. The name of this trail is a bit of a misnomer, as there's not really cave as much as an alcove with some moss in it. Additionally, in my opinion the highlights of the trail are the rocky formations, pristine river & waterfall (above 2nd, 3rd & 4th from left).
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Afterwords, we drove the length of the main park road to stop at all the viewpoints. The images above and at top are a sampling of what we saw.
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Following dinner, David & I headed down to the southern most viewpoint in the park (Rainbow Point) to get some sunset pictures. The half hour drive was well worth it, and I got alot of nice pictures (above).
All the pictures are posted here and here(landscapes).
This post is part 6 of the "southwest_us_trip-2009" series: