Day 3 of the GCOL commenced when we awoke in the lodge in Zion National Park; a great place to wake up! It was another clear day with a few clouds in the sky, and warmer than anticipated - no frost on the car this morning. We left the park in convoy at 8am and retraced our route out of the park to US-89 North.
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| Do not do this at home.... |
While travelling north on US-89 Debbie and passed this police pickup vehicle with the officer at the window of the pickup he had just pulled over. We had seen the whole drama on the road ahead of us. We were driving north on US-89 with two vehicles in sight ahead of us. A saloon car was being followed closely by a pickup. A some point, the pickup driver became impatient and pulled out to overtake the saloon on a right-hand curve. He probably couldn't see the road ahead, and clearly didn't see the pickup travelling in the opposite direction. Finally, when alongside the saloon, the driver saw the oncoming vehicle and swerved to the right cutting off the saloon. The oncoming pickup was forced off the road to avoid a head-on collision. At this point, the red and blue lights lit up on the pickup that had been forced off the road! It was a police pickup!! Oops. He turned and quickly pursued the offending pickup. We passed them by the side of the road. Imagine the conversation. "Do you know why I pulled you over, Sir?" I think someone might be spending the night in the local jail....
After this entertaining (though it could easily have become tragic) interlude, our route took us onto Rte 12 towards Bryce National Park. As the road climbed in altitude, the ground and trees along the roadside were covered in snow. There had been a heavy snow fall the previous night. Fortunately it was melting, so the road was not unduly slippery. After stocking up with supplies for lunch, we drove into the Bryce National Park where we split up to explore the park.
Bryce Canyon became a National Park in 1928. It covers an area of approximately 56 square miles. It is known for it's crimson-colored hoodoos, which are spire-shaped rock formations. The park's main road leads past the expansive Bryce Amphitheater, a hoodoo--filled depression lying below the rim of the canyon. There are multiple overlook points, the most famous being at Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Inspiration Point and Bryce Point. Debbie and I visited many of the overlooks and met many of the leakers on our travels. Others hiked some of the trails in the canyon among the hoodoos.
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| If you defocus your eyes a little, the hoodoos appear to be a crowd of people or statues |
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| Other hoodoos appear to be buildings |
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| Les and Phil, cameras at the ready at one of the overlooks |
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| An arch rock formation in the red sandstone |
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| A large field of hoodoos viewed from Bryce Point |
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| The area is immense |
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| See the tiny people walking the trail in the center. Snow on the ground |
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| View from Sunset Point |
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| This appears (to me at least) to be a cathedral building |
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| Hikers down among the hoodoos |
At 2:30pm we met up at the Visitor's Center to drive to our overnight stay in Torrey, Utah. We took an interesting route via UT-12. This was an fun road to drive, with minimal traffic, though we did get stuck behind slower moving vehicles on a few occasions. The convoy took the route which at one point reached an altitude of 9600 feet.
At one point the road went through an area where cattle were free to roam on the road. This slowed us - some more than others...
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| The cows appeared to be eating the center yellow line! Too busy driving to aim the camera... |
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| Snow at the higher altitudes |
We arrived in Torrey a little before 5pm. Later we enjoyed dinner in the restaurant at our overnight accommodation at the Broken Spur Inn and Steakhouse. Tomorrow we have a full day of driving. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.
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