And This Is Just Day One

This commercial campground will be our base for a week.

It is just a well made gravel lot with RV sites, but the setting is beautiful.

This unusual rock formation is right across the street.

We are still in Utah, now just back a little south and a bit further east. We are near Bryce Canyon National Park, Kodachrome Basin State Park and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, so there is plenty to see.

I am going to run out of superlatives describing this country.

When we checked in here they gave us a sheet on scenic side trips in the area. This morning we decided to drive 17 miles out Cottonwood Canyon Road Scenic Backway to see Grosvenor Arch.

Just the drive out was pretty entertaining.

And here is the arch, it’s one of only two developed day use areas in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.

The approach is even wheelchair accessible.

And it is worth approaching.

As we walked up to it you could see how massive this double arch is.

It is impressive…

and beautiful from any angle.

On the drive back we noted how we just kept descending from one beautiful valley to another.

Bud stopped at the crest of a hill so I could get out and take a couple of photos…

of the incredible country spread below.

After lunch we went out Skutumpah Road for a short slot canyon hike…

at Willis Creek Canyon.

After a short approach trail…

you walk right along Willis Creek.

The open canyon is pretty enough…

with its stone and trees.

Then you round a corner…

and come to the first slot canyon.

These are otherworldly.

You exit the slot and follow the creek through more rugged and colorful country.

At one point the creek flowed into a space too narrow to enter and the trail went around.

Then there was another slot, a bit taller and narrower than the last. I noticed that as we descended this gravel bottomed canyon the creek got smaller. I think much of the water was now flowing through the gravel, so we didn’t get our feet wet in the narrow canyon.

I let Bud get ahead of me so you could see how deep these slots were getting.

In an open part of the canyon we passed this massive ponderosa pine.

And then we entered the last and deepest slot.

Notice how the creek is just damp gravel at the bottom of this gorgeous sculpted passage.

After about a mile and a third we came out into more open canyon. We thought we were at the end of the slots (the hike was listed as 2.6 miles out and back) so we turned around.

The light shone on the walls differently going back,

I don’t think a cathedral could be more lovely or holy than this.

Bud noticed this modest bush with an incredible root looking for water and minerals in that rock.

On the way back we skipped the approach trail and followed the creek further. We found this sweet little falls, so I took a video.

We didn’t have to worry about exiting the creek, the road crossed it, we just walked out the road.

Then it was a drive back out through this boring country,

This road was more than entertaining. At one point this was the steep and stunning view out my passenger window…

and this was the steep and stunning view on the driver’s side.

After seven more nights here we’re staying seven nights at a state park just 35 miles from here, so even though this is just our first day I thought I better post some pictures. Who knows what we’ll find tomorrow.