Tuesday was an interesting day. It turned out to be long, too long, due to the dallying at Arches National Park and some poor planning on my part. The morning dawned on the mountain top where I was camped with a brisk temperature of about 40. It quickly rose as the sun began to peek through the huge pines surrounding me. These are "biguns" here.  

I passed nearby the Dinosaur National Monument but since I saw the dinosaur dig two years ago I just kept going.  The first sight-seeing was at Arches NP which is quite a dramatic driving tour. There are numerous photos in the gallery. It was hot there, but I drove all the way to the "Windows" area, took a few pics, and came back out. Even at that, I was there about two hours and although that's not enough time to thoroughly tour the canyon, it was enough to add a critical crunch to the day's overall goal, which was to reach the KOA near Bryce Canyon.

The major goal thereafter was to go via Moab and Utah's Scenic Byway hwy 12. All of that seemed simple enough until a bit of rain came up after Moab. Not enough to worry about, and in fact it was a long while before I even stopped to put on the rain jacket.  Somewhere after Monticello, UT I got into the mountains again and was just behind the rain all the time. It was cool and getting late in the day. Turning South just after passing through the Capitol Reef National Park Utah 12 began. The sun was quickly trying to sink behind the pine-laden mountain tops and I was pushing a bit, but took an interesting turnout and the view was stupendous. I'll try to locate that from my GPS later -- but there, in addition to an awesome landscape -- was a rainbow. Which became a double-rainbow and as I glanced back at it again (after photos, of course), there was another rainbow cutting across the double.

At that turnout I met a couple in a VW Vanagon who said "hi" and "how was the hail?"  Hail? Good grief. No, I had missed it and glad to have done so.

I got out of the heavily wooded mountains before hard dark but was still way too late to be in the mountains. I had to slow my pace, keep all of the lights on bright (and I have LOTS of light) to illuminate the possible deer or, cattle. This is open range. Lots of it. Lots of dark brown and black cows. Why they have to graze beside the road is beyond me but by the time I got to the KOA my neck and shoulders were totally tensed.

And enroute I saw where the Devil lives. Between Boulder, UT and Escalante is a formation named Hell's Backbone and it has to be where the Devil himself lives. Let me see if I can describe it and keep in mind that it's now after official sunset but still a good bit of light.  This part of the road goes for, probably, 15 miles. This is country with deep canyons of white, chalky looking rock.  Stark, and not pretty. On my left is a deep canyon with ripples and gulleys on the sides that I can see, and it's deep enough that I cannot see the bottom. The road is narrow, very narrow, and quite twisty. And hilly. And some twists that occur just behind hills. There is no guardrail and it is quite steep just off of the road surface.  I would estimate that if from the pavement you went out horizontally 10 feet you would drop 20 feet before beginning an endless tumble all the way to the bottom -- where I know the Devil must live.

 That is, he must live there unless he lives down in the canyon on the right side which is identically deep with extremely steep sides.  The road is running on top of what I would call a "rib" between these two deep, unforgiving canyons. In the full daylight it would be a great view and ride. At dusk with a 10-15 mph cross-wind (gusting), it was not as much fun.

So the arrival and pitching of tent at the KOA was late and dark, but thankful to be there. 

 SUMMARY:

Date of this writing: Wednesday, July 12, 2006  8:40 PM
Photo Gallery: click link at left
Riding date:  July 11  Day No.  9
From:  Flaming Gorge, high on a mountain
To:  Near Bryce Canyon National Park
Via:  Moab, Escalante,
Stayed at:  KOA
Location:  Cannonville, UT

Stops and Sights:

Arches National Park. This is the first of the Southern Utah canyonlands that I will be touring. It was hot, but worth the ride. Took quite a few pictures but had to cut the tour here to about 2 hours as I was trying to get close to Bryce for an early start on Bryce and Zion the next day.

Miles today: GPS -  640
Cumulative:  4499

Weather: Cool, then warm, then hot as the dickens, then downright cold, then simply warm. Going from deserts to high mountains makes a difference!

The roads:  Outstanding, one in particular which is discussed above.