September 11

Still in Bryce:
--started the day with a huge Ruby’s Inn breakfast--yummy hotcakes
--drove the canyon out beyond where the shuttle goes--another 15 miles or so up to an elevation of 9100 ft and saw the large Natural Bridge (arch)

--saw a couple of pronghorn along the way--fastest animal in the Western Hemisphere with populations believed to have once been in the tens of millions--Mike leapt out of the truck to take the pictures so I don’t have any
--sadly the Utah Prairie Dogs are already hibernating
--enjoyed seeing LOTS of ravens

--saw gnarled ancient Bristlecone pines--some in the park are up to 1,600 years old!!

Left Bryce and drove southeast about 45 minutes to Kodachrome State Park
--no more reservations so eager to snag a campsite which we did
--Kodachrome was not completely explored until 1948 (a National Geographic expedition) and was renamed at that time; it is known for its strange sand pipe formations
--we laughed at a cartoon in the visitor’s center which showed some rangers hauling away the Kodachrome Basin State Park sign and replacing it with a sign reading Digitally Enhanced and Pixilated State Park
--in fact, our isolated campsite was within view of the infamous Big Stoney--a “phallus-shaped sand pipe… so explicit that it doesn’t need a sign,” according to our guidebook

After lunch at our shaded picnic table, we set out for what sounded like a good 6 mile hike called Panorama Trail. One ranger had encouraged us to do all the side trails (to intriguing sounding places like “Secret Passage” and “Cool Cave” and “The Hat Shop”) if we really wanted to do that hike. She suggested two shorter hikes instead. We should have listened to her. We REALLY should have been taken aback by a typed up message posted at the trailhead which warned of “rerouting and remarking“ and missing signs. It ended with, ”Because of this, the trail may be hard for many people to follow, even with the aid of a map.” But did that deter us? It did not! We at least saw some good formations.......

We are still not sure whether we found some of the side trails. We’re thinking we did about 4 out of the 6 miles before all three of us had had enough. It was in the 80’s and the sun was hot and we were tired from all our other previous days of hiking.

Back at the no hook-ups campsite, Mark and I discovered a plug outside the bathrooms and spent a pleasant hour sitting in the shade at a picnic table sipping cold drinks and organizing pictures on the computer with the aid of a long extension cord.

Mark and I took a walk after dinner while Mike was doing the dishes and on the spur of the moment walked up the 1.5 mile Angel’s Palace Trail (one of the trails recommended by the ranger). We were going up as all the folks with massive cameras were going down. We were without our cameras entirely and had just missed the sunset but it was still beautiful up top. We scrambled back down as dusk set in. The rest of the evening was spent around a roaring campfire indulging in our newly concocted s’mores takeoff--Nilla wafers with M&M studded roasted marshmallows.

The night sky was glorious; the Milky Way flowing deep and wide and thick.