Tag: travel

Bryce Canyon National Park

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

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.

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.

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.

After saying goodbye to John, we began our travel to our next destination.

Kodachrome Basin State Park, Utah

Tuesday, June 2, 2026

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.

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!

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.

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.

A Day of Three Short Hikes

Monday, June 1, 2026

We awoke to a very quiet Walmart in Page, Arizona on Saturday morning May 30.  We had done our shopping Friday night so after a restful night, we were ready for some adventures.   We stopped to top off our propane and then went to the back of the Shell station for our first hike.  The actual name of this location is Biidi “The Arch”, according to the sign we found.   But when looking it up online all the YouTuber channels refer to it as the Cave behind the Shell station or the hidden gem behind the Shell station or something similar.  I guess it’s because most of us don’t know the correct pronunciation of the actual site.

You can trudge through the sand for a way and climb a hill and end up in a beautiful cave.  It’s a great place for pictures.  For most who make this stop that’s the end of the visit.   For those who are a little more inquisitive there is much more to see when you start walking around the base of some of the boulders, as you can see from the pictures below.  Such a great place to start the day.

After leaving Biidi “The Arch” but while still in Page, we drove to the Hanging Garden Trail about ten minutes away.  This was a short one-mile hike but certainly worth the effort to see. The payoff is an alcove full of maidenhair ferns.  The temperature drops as you approach the alcove.  Along with the maidenhair ferns there were also orchids.  We didn’t see it but there has to be a spring feeding the garden because the plants are thriving.

After we left the garden, we drove to Kanab, Utah, about 1.5 hours, for our big hike of the day – the Sand Caves.  This was a super fun and unique hike, 1.2 miles round trip.  It is an easy .5 mile walk in the sand and then there is a steep climb up “slickrock” to reach the caves.  Twice Anne needed some assistance due to having legs that were just a little bit too short, but the payoff was worth the effort.  The interconnected chambers feature large window-like openings carved right into the Navajo sandstone cliffs.  BTW, shoes with good traction are highly recommended. We discovered after our hike that the caves are totally man-made. They are the remains of a 20th century mining operation excavated to harvest high-quality silica sand for glass production.

In case anyone is wondering, all three of these hikes were absolutely free.

Leaving our fun time at the sand caves, we drove an additional 1 ½ – 2 hours to the beautiful Kodachrome Basin State Park where we will stay for the next two nights.

This was a great day!!

NOMADS – Mingus Mountain, AZ 2026 – Week 3

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Week 3 of the NOMADS project at Mingus Mountain Camp and Retreat was a push to the end for everyone.  Those working to repair and improve the men’s bathroom completed that task Wednesday afternoon.

It was everyone working on the Camp Store on Thursday.  Wednesday had been an extremely windy day and high winds were predicted for Friday.  We really needed to get the tin roofing installed but Wednesday we couldn’t safely manage the tin in the 40mph winds.  We decided to give it a try first thing Thursday morning and God answered our prayers. The winds remained manageable and we safely completed the roofing about 10:00 am Thursday. After that, we painted the store, installed shelving and cleaned up the construction debris. We didn’t quite complete the painting on Thursday but two of our members were staying until the first of the week and they completed the second coat of paint on Saturday.

Below is a list of all the projects completed by NOMADS the past three weeks.  It was another successful project and the Camp Director seemed very pleased.