Red Rocks All Around

Sunday Oct 6 - Another cold morning in Bryce Canyon City. We decided to go out to breakfast and ended up at the same restaurant because the diner was closed on Sunday. We had a good breakfast and got on the road relatively early.
The drive contained many interesting sights.

Pardon the car antenna in the picture. I take a lot of pictures through the windshield. This mountain seemed to have all the colors of the rainbow due to the changing foliage.

We arrived at the Zion Canyon Campground in the afternoon.

At Bryce Canyon visitors travel the rim of the canyon in the shuttle bus and can hike down into the canyon. At Zion the shuttle bus drives the floor of the canyon and visitors can hike up. Also at Zion there is a town with hotels, shops and restaurants all along the shuttle route. Our campground was a half mile from the park entrance, stop number 3. It was slightly uphill so we took the shuttle 'up' but walked the half mile back to the campground.
First time was just to go to the brewpub at the park entrance.

The beer and food were delicious here. It was nice to sit outside and be comfortable. Will is having a better time than he appears to be having in this photo.
We returned to the campsite and enjoyed the sun set then had a nice campfire before bedtime.

Mon Oct 7 Another cold morning. We thought we'd just huddle inside until 'the sun came up' but due to the high canyon walls it was 10:00 before the sun shone in the campground! We finally got up and got ready to explore Zion Canyon.
We queued up to take the shuttle bus into the park(a different shuttle than the one that brought us to the park entrance from town). This should have been a warning. Although there was a near-continuous line of shuttles we waited 15 minutes in a snaky line to get in a shuttle bus. Tons and tons of people are visiting Zion and it is a much smaller park that Bryce.
We took the shuttle to the end and then hiked further into the canyon. At times it was a conga line of people walking along the path.

We sometimes had the path to ourselves.

 

At the end of the trail the hike continues in the river. Lots of people rented waterproof shoes and pants to wear while hiking this part. We just turned around here.

 We hopped on the shuttle and off again at another stop where we took another short walk where there were fewer people.

The day turned warm and we were happy to stop at the Brewery again for our meal of the day.

 And another interesting sunset in the campground.

We hadn't expected the crowds at Zion. We also didn't attempt to hike up the canyon walls. We heard at one famous lookout at the top that there were 100 people waiting in line to look at the view. We were glad we hadn't tried to go up there. Between the fear of heights and the strenuous climb, it just isn't for us at this time.

Tues Oct 8
Up earlier and on our way. Lots of nice views along the way

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Page, Arizona which is at the southern end of Lake Powell.

Wed Oct 9
Today's drive took us to Monument Valley, which straddles Arizona and Utah. Everyone is probably familiar with it as it is the backdrop for many western movies.

We got to the Visitor's Center and determined we could drive ourselves through the park. The road was pretty rough but we made the drive and were amazed at the formations. This one is called the Three Sisters.

 

We landed at the nearby KOA and had a nice view

 and another great sunset

Thurs Oct 10
We didn't travel far this day but we did make a circle of our route through Utah by going back up to Blanding where we did laundry before returning to Bluff to camp at the Cottonwood Campground and had dinner at the Cottonwood Steakhouse.
Still plenty of interesting sights along the way.

Didn't manage to capture an image of the campsite but these Twin Rocks were next to a restaurant at the other end of town.

Fri Oct 11 Another short driving day, we made our way into Colorado passing through Four Corners.

 Our base was Cortez, Colorado where we stayed at the KOA campground which was preparing to close for the season.

We stopped in at the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument Visitor Center and got information about how to visit the site. Seeing how much there was to do here we decided to spend 3 nights instead of the originally planned 2 nights.
It was very cold overnight, forecast 19 degrees. We woke up to 37 degrees inside the van. We managed to make coffee and have breakfast but it was still rather cold. We started the engine to warm us up but it took about a half hour which seemed rather inefficient. We decided to look for a small electric space heater at Walmart. We found one for under $20. It made a huge difference. As long as we have electricity, we'll be able to stay warm.

Sat Oct 12 Cortez KOA
We woke up and made the van warm and cozy inside quickly with the heater. We set out to explore the Canyon of the Ancients. We started with a hike which could have been as long as 12 miles but we only walked one mile out and back again. Mostly it was a gentle uphill which made it a little tougher for us.

 This area is where several different civilizations lived including early Pueblo populations. Evidence of their lives exists in the form of stone walls, remnants of their homes. A lot like the Edge of the Cedars

 And some interesting rock formations

Some of the antique sites were not well marked which gave us a sense of discovery.

It was a challenging walk for us although many hikers and bikers passed us as we walked. We felt good when we reached the site above as it indicated we'd completed the first mile of the hike and we returned, downhill most of the way, feeling accomplished.
Next stop was a site called Hovenweep the access to which we'd passed from 2 other angles, one in Blanding and the other near Bluff. At those times we didn't know what it was and decided not to travel 20-40 miles to find out. So it was interesting that this was on our agenda now.
Hovenweep is a narrow canyon with over a dozen old dwellings, some resembling castles.

There was a walk around the rim of the canyon but to complete the circle the path descended to the canyon floor and returned to the top. It wasn't huge distance but my knee was already bothering me and most of the interesting things were viewable from the rim. We walked about halfway around and back. Also remember we're at 7000+ft of elevation.

Next stop was the Lowry Pueblo which had been extensively excavated by George Lowry in the 1930's. I neglected to take pictures here. Somehow knowing the sites are considered sacred by the current native tribes I think that made me reluctant to photograph them. See the links for more complete information.
We returned to Cortez and realized we'd driven over 100 miles. There is a lot more to explore here but it would require a lot of time and hiking. We felt we'd captured the spirit of the place. We stopped at the J Fargo Brewpub on the way back to the campground and met a guy who'd also had a good experience in the Canyon that day.

Sun Oct 13 Today we visited Mesa Verde National Park which was a lot closer to the campground but involved driving up to a canyon rim and a lot of scary, cliffside driving. We should have anticipated this but somehow missed this detail.
So, our enjoyment was inhibited by the treacherous driving.

To really see the cliff dwellings, a reserved trip with a ranger is required. We didn't feel compelled to descend ladders and squeeze through narrow openings.
Also, it seems we may finally be burning out on sightseeing. We find ourselves less compelled to make any extra effort to immerse ourselves in the spirit of the parks.
Maybe it is time to go home. We enjoyed the full moon rising over the mountains.

Monday Oct 14
We had no agenda today. Just drive and see how far we could get without pushing too hard. We headed East in Colorado. We crossed the Continental Divide again(We think that makes 8 times?)

We decided if we pushed to drive 300 miles, we'd stay in a hotel. And we found a Holiday Inn Express in La Junta, CO. We ate at the Boss Hog Saloon where we caught the Early Bird Filet Mignon special 6oz wrapped in bacon. $12.99 and just delicious. Came with a nice salad.
No pictures today.

Tuesday Oct 15 Continued to drive East through Colorado. We crossed the border into Kansas and saw all of the cows, and all of the hay fields. The 'feed lots' beside the road contained hundreds and hundreds of cows, well, steers actually. Getting fattened up in crowded pens. As we drove on the single lane highway cattle carriers passed us regularly in the opposite direction. There was a fair wind out of the North as we made our way East. The cattle carriers would cause a huge amount of turbulence around the van. It made for tense and uncomfortable driving. We managed to make it to Pratt, KS where we checked into the Holiday Inn Express. Google pointed is to the Uptown Cafe which provided a delicious steak. A nice friendly bar with folks from Louisiana and Minnesota made for an enjoyable evening.

Wed Oct 16 After 2 long days of driving we drove a shorter distance today. But we decided to stay in a hotel because the cooler smelled bad and needed careful cleaning, not always possible in a campground.
We ended up in Iola, KS in a Super 8 Motel. Had a nice Mexican meal in El Charro, downtown.
So here we are. The current plan is to head for the Blue Ridge Parkway, then possibly toward Kent Narrows, a favorite place for us to eat blue crab, and home.
Stay tuned to see where we end up. I'll try to take pictures. For the last few days I haven't been taking any.