Wednesday, June 3 we left Bryce Canyon National Park en route to Capitol Reef National Park. We were surprised and very pleased with the drive on Scenic Byway 12. We drove 12 almost all the way to Capitol Reef. We both agree that this is the best scenic highway we have experienced. The scenery was amazing. We can’t say enough good things about the drive. Highly recommend! We hope the pictures come close to what we actually experienced. We hope to return to spend several days driving and camping along Highway 12 between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef national parks.
Arriving at Capitol Reef National Park we first stopped at the Visitor’s center with the next stop being the Bakery at the Gifford Homestead. That’s where you purchase your pie or pies in our case. Anything you read about Capitol Reef will surely make mention of the pies. They sell out every day – usually before 3pm. They also sell cinnamon rolls, but we had to wait until Thursday morning for those because they were already sold out. They say you must be there before noon to get the cinnamon rolls so we were there by 10:00 on Thursday. Of course, Capitol Reef is much more than the bakery and we did some nice hiking and drove the scenic loop as well before departing for our next destination.
One of the giant trees in the park
Our Thursday morning hike was the Hickman Bridge Trail
Lots of steps at the beginning of the trail
One of several domes which contributed to the park’s name
This is the first bridge we came to on the trail. When we came back out some one asked us if this was the Hickman Bridge
Hickman Bridge. Anne is in front as a size reference.
The other side of the bridge
Almost back home
Unlike yesterday’s hike, today we went uphill first instead of last.
We made it back to the the bakery in time to get two cinnamon rolls. (We weren’t fast enough to get pictures of the pies, but they were the same size as the rolls.)
One of the features the early settlers called “reefs”
We have seen a lot of red rocks on this trip but we keep finding something different on each drive.
This formation made us think of barber poles.
Since we didn’t have all our logistics planned out we made use of the campground dump station and water fill before we left.
Still interesting but somewhat less scenic after we left the park
Our next few days are going to be heavy driving days hoping to avoid some of the heat.
After leaving Kodachrome State Park, we had a very easy drive day of about 1 hour to our destination at Bryce Canyon National Park. We visited this park a number of years ago but since we had a friend camp hosting there this year we decided to revisit the area and visit our friend John. We got set up at our site, had some lunch and then visited with John. Later in the afternoon we hiked from our camp site, to the Rim Trail, to Sunset campground, picked a site for Tuesday night and back to our campsite – 4 ½ miles. Didn’t plan to hike that far when we started but…we just kept going. There is a lot of beautiful scenery and many improvements since our last visit such as the new General Store.
Our first campsite at Bryce Canyon
Hiking the Rim Trail
Tuesday, we relaxed and worked on preparing for our Wednesday Bible Study. About 10:00 we visited with John again and then drove the scenic drive through the park – so nice. At the end of the road we stopped and hiked the Bristlecone Pine Loop – about 1-1/2 miles. Bristlecone Pines are very interesting trees, looking a lot like a bottle brush and can live for as long as 5,000 years. The remainder of Tuesday we got set up at the new campsite, Sunset Campground, visited with our neighbors and finished our preparation for Bible Study.
Hiking the Bristlecone Pine Trail
Bristlecone Pine
Natural Bridge
Our second campsite in Bryce Canyon NP
Deer in the campground
Wednesday morning we packed up BB for another travel day but not before we decided to hike the Navajo Loop Trail. We had done a portion of this trail on our last trip but today we did it all. It is only 1.5 miles but has over 500 feet of elevation gain at the end. It is a hard hike by our definition but the Park seems to think it is moderate. It is a great hike – very pretty but…we may be sore tomorrow.
Starting on the Navajo Loop Trail
One of us had to duck for this tunnel.
A tree in Wall Street
Wall Street
Twin Bridge
What Bryce Canyon is famous for
After saying goodbye to John, we began our travel to our next destination.
We arrived at Kodachrome Basin State Park Saturday afternoon, May 30. We were tired from the day’s drive and activities, so we settled in on our site, had some dinner, walked around the campground a little and got some great sleep. It was a very quiet and peaceful night.
Our campsite at Kodachrome Basin
Afternoon view from our campsite
Sunday morning we watched Lester Memorial’s 8:30 am service – 7:30 am for us since we are now on Mountain Daylight Time. After an excellent service, we had breakfast and then headed out for a hike on the Panorama Trail at about 10:30. The information on the hike advised that this was a 3 mile hike that winds its way across the western side of the park. You can view several sedimentary pipes and explore interesting geological features such as Secret Passage, Ballerina Spire and Mammoth Spire Overlook. Difficulty was rated as easy to moderate. This was a great hike even though we started a little too late and it turned into a 4 mile hike for us because we started at the campground instead of the trail head. Gorgeous scenery!
Watching our home church service in the beauty God created
Starting the Panorama Trail
The sandstone features look bigger in the pictures. 🙂
One panorama
Not sure how this one got its name
Hiking the not-so-secret passage
Wide variety of sandstone features along the trail
Looking down at Mammoth Spire (off in the distance)
More desert beauty
Panorama Trail hike stats
After returning to the campground, we met a couple that has a Beyond RV that is the same year as BB with a slightly different floorplan. They followed us into the park on Saturday afternoon but we didn’t meet until Sunday afternoon. They have had their RV for less than a year and had lots of questions. We enjoyed getting to make some new friends and being able to answer some of their questions. The rest of the day we recovered from the morning hike.
Monday morning we wanted to hike one more trail, Angel’s Palace Trail. This trail was tagged as an excellent trail for photographers, and it did not disappoint. It was a little over 1.5 miles depending on how many of the side ventures you took. We of course took them all. The trail has magnificent views of Kodachrome Basin, Bryce Canyon and all the surrounding areas.
Our Monday morning hike
This trail started a little differently …
… then became more familiar.
On top it was mostly rock
On top of the mesa as sign advises that the trail diverges and to find your way back to this spire to start back down.
Looking down into the valley
Another strange gray spire in the red rocks.
The Basin Campground
Shadow selfie
Angel’s Palace hike stats
After the hike and another visit with our new Beyond friends we left the park around 11:30 for the short drive to our next destination.
Our last post on May 8, we drove through some beautiful scenery to reach our home for the night in Cottonwood AZ. After refilling the refrigerator and the propane we had a good night of sleep. We really appreciated hospitality of the Methodist church. On May 9 we began our drive to Mingus Mountain, our home for the next 3 weeks. It was a beautiful although harrowing drive. We drove up through Jerome, but it was before anything was open. We plan to stop there as well as Sedona when we leave. Both areas are interesting and beautiful, but it was time to just get settled in after eighteen days on the road.
The drive from Cottonwood to Mingus Mountain was another interesting …
… but beautiful drive.
Our home for three weeks
The fireplace detail in dining hall
The outdoor worship center at the camp
This deer herd walks through the camp frequently.
They look a little different from the deer back east.
We arrived at Mingus Mountain Camp and Retreat before lunch, found our place to park and set up our campsite. We were greeted by our NOMADS leader Suzanne and later that afternoon the rest of the team, Steve, and Doyle and LouAnn arrived. Suzanne went ahead with our opening meeting since we were all gathered together and asking her questions. It was nice though since it gave us all a free day Sunday. Monday we met the camp director and program director when they joined us for devotion. After a tour of the facilities, we began our work for the week. We made a lot of repairs. Repairs to the entrance signage and painting it, the pump house roof, the heat strip on the pavilion roof, a door, lots of painting, built a trash can enclosure, an entry ramp for the dinning hall, repaired the 9-square game and began working in the men’s rest room which is a big three-week project. We began by removing all the tile, preparing the flooring for new vinyl laminate and started the painting. By the end of the week we had it so the rest room could be used by guests for the weekend.
Preparing the entrance sign for painting
Steve and Doyle repairing the pumphouse roof
Doyle and Steve re-installed a door that was blown off by the wind.
Repaired 9-square game
Doyle and Steve made the dining hall more accessible.
Suzanne painting the men’s bathroom.
Removing the old floor tile …
…took a lot of scraping.
Repairing heat tape on pavilion roof. We were probably the only people in Arizona working on heat tape this time of year.
The camp director wanted enclosures for the trash cans to keep animals out.
Steve working on the trash can enclosure
Finished trash can enclosure
Over the weekend we visited Prescott Valley. Wow! Another steep drive with minimal side rails. You can see the roadway, way, down below. We also bought groceries and visited Culver’s while there. Saturday, we hiked to the top of the mountain where there is an area for hang gliding. No one jumped off the mountain while we were there but the scenery was beautiful.
Up the road from the camp is a hang glider launch. We’ve seen hang gliders in the air, but none were launching when we walked to the launch.
One of many wild Rocky Mountain Irises on the mountain
One of the ancient alligator junipers we found around the mountain
The Claret-cup cactus is sometimes called strawberry cactus. Many are starting to bloom at the camp.
Claret-cup cactus and alligator juniper
On Sunday, we streamed our 8:30 am service from our home church, Lester Memorial Methodist. By the way, that was at 6:30 am here.
Enjoyed working with this hardworking team this week. We have accomplished a lot. Two more weeks to go.
RVing With a Purpose 