Red Canyon and Panguitch

While in the area of Bryce Canyon, the WINs stayed at an RV Park (gasp!) in Panguitch, UT. It was quite far to Bryce Canyon NP, but it was closer to go to Red Canyon, part of the National Forest. There were quite a few good hikes there.

One day, Leda, Elaine and I went on the Golden Wall and Castle Bridge trails. The hoodoos were pretty spectacular.

I think this is Castle Bridge, reached after a bit of a climb.

Leda on the way down.

And Elaine showing that she made it to the top.

That night we went to the Senior Pro Rodeo in Panguitch. It was pretty dark in the arena, so this is the best photo I got.

The next day, Dave and I did the Arches trail in Red Canyon. It was great - with 15 arches to be seen.

We didn't find them all, but saw quite a few.

Dave on the trail -

And me in front of some of the arches.

Panguitch is famous for the "Quilt Walk," which happened in 1864, when 7 Mormon men saved the town by going across the mountain in winter to get supplies. They were unable to go any farther, until they discovered that if they walked across the quilts they had, they could get over the snow.

The town is really cute, and we certainly enjoyed our time here.

WHAT WAS I THINKING !?!

One day, Dave, Don, Lyn and I drove over to hike down Bull Valley Gorge. Don's white truck is parked over where the road goes over the gorge.

Underneath the "bridge" is the remains of a pick-up truck that ran off the road in 1954, killing the 3 occupants.

Five years ago, we were there on Memorial Day, and the son of the driver was there with his daughter and grandkids. He was only 18-months old when his father died.

We did not hike down into the gorge then, but I have always wanted to do it.

We walked up to the head of the gorge and then started down. Quite quickly, we came upon a 10-foot drop where you had to get down by rope. Uh-oh...

Dave got down just fine, but I didn't think I could do it.

But Lyn was willing to do it, so I thought I shouldn't be the wimpy one to turn around. So down I went, with some help from Dave.

Okay, I'm down, but how in the world am I going to get back up???

We went down the gorge some more, scrambling over more obstacles, but none as bad as the rope.

Until we got to another spot, that was even worse. Now we had to turn around. I got out, but not without Dave pushing and Don pulling. Fortunately, there aren't any pictures of that...

But I did get a shot of the 2 musclemen who got Lyn and I out.

After this debacle, we drove back 2 miles to walk some of Willis Creek.

It is much easier and just as pretty. The only obstacle is the water running down the canyon, which makes for a lot of hopping back and forth.

I found some not-so-ancient pictographs done by someone named Victoria.

And thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the day.

Bryce Canyon - Another Great Utah National Park

The WINs next moved on to Panguitch, UT so we could experience Bryce Canyon NP and some other great nearby attractions.

At Bryce, we decided to do the Navajo/Queens Garden loop, the most popular trail in the park.

The first part is really easy - it's all downhill. This is me walking past Thor's Hammer.

Down and down we go.

At the bottom, we got under a ledge -

Which everyone helped to hold up.

We then wandered among the hoodoos for a while -

Until the trail started up again.

We took a little side trip to Queen's Garden to see Queen Victoria.

There she is!

If you can't see her, there's a sign explaining which hoodoo she is.

Then we had a big climb back up to the rim.

Getting a group shot is a good excuse to stop and rest.

More of Zion

One day we went into the valley of Zion National Park to see the sights. Zion has gotten to be a very popular park, and you must get there early to get a parking place so that you can ride the shuttle. We started out at the Grotto and hiked over to the Emerald Pools. There are great views from the trail.

We went first to Middle Emerald Pool, which used to be more scenic before the trees and bushes grew so big.

And then we went down to Lower Emerald Pool.

We walked out another trail, and got back on the shuttle at the Lodge.

We said hi to this Black-headed Grosbeak -

And then headed over to Weeping Rock -

Where we saw some deer.

And this cute little guy having lunch.

WE hopped back on the shuttle and went down to the Zion Human History Museum. The view out the back door Of the Altar of Sacrifice and the West Temple is amazing.

In the movie at the museum, we saw pictures of an unknown arch nearby. We asked where it was at the Visitors Center, and I was able to get a long shot of it. I sure wish I could walk to it.

On another day, Les took us on one of his many hikes on the East side of Zion, to a place called "Diana's Throne."

Here's my throne!

And on another day, we went on a tour of nearby Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. It was hard to get a picture of the cute puppies, who were scampering all over to get the most petting possible.

The cats were a lot easier to photograph.

I managed to leave without an animal, but it was hard...