Highway 12 to Bryce Canyon was one of the more enjoyable rides of the trip so far. At an overlook 14 miles south of Torrey, we met a guy from England named Torrey. He was riding a 1200 GS, and I asked him about his trip. As he rolled a cigarette he explained that he had been laid off from his job in the UK, had his bike shipped to the US, and was about 11,000 miles into his trip. Having traveled across Alaska and the Arctic Circle, he was now making his way through the US and then down through Central and South America. He wins!
We arrived in Bryce in the midday and were recommended at the visitors’ center to do the Sunrise to Sunset hike. On the trail map in the park newspaper it claimed that the loop was the “best three-mile hike in the world.”
Alex and I changed, loaded up on water and set out with high expectations. Having never seen or really heard about Bryce, the canyon was a real surprise. The rock formations look like a giant sand castle, the kind you make by letting wet sand drip from your hand into piles.
The fingerlike spires, called Hoodoos, give the canyon the feel of an abandoned fairyland. We had fun exploring the trails for a few hours and returned to the restrooms to clean up, change and fill up on water before heading towards Zion NP.
We left Bryce satisfied and set out to look for camping closer to Zion NP. Alex and I stopped for fuel about an hour away from Zion. We bought two microwaved hot dogs to hold us over, two cans of baked beans, some cubed cheese, and a bag of “scoop” corn chips. It was getting dark, and the guy behind the counter pointed us in the direction of some possible camping.
Just off of a little mountain road, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, and with the trip odometer reading 6586miles we took a gravel road back into the trees and stumbled upon a stone fire ring. It was an ideal spot for the night and the sun was just preparing to drop over the pines. We found plenty of wood and Alex built and nice warm fire. We cut the tops off of the bean cans with Alex’s knife and set the cans in a pile of hot coals that I had separated from the fire. We let them boil for a few minutes before removing them. Huddled over the little cans we prayed, broke the remaining bagel and dug in first sopping us the liquid with the bread. Next, we mixed in the cheese, let it melt amongst the warm beans and scoped out the precious delight with the corn chips. Practically gourmet!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment