November's Scenic Wonders Of America Takes Me To Bryce Canyon National Park

I flipped my Scenic Wonders of America wall calendar to November, this morning, to see that this month's scenic wonder is one of my favorite American Scenic Wonders.

Bryce Canyon National Park.

I have only been to Bryce Canyon twice, with the most recent time being Easter weekend of 2096.

Unlike Grand Canyon, and other canyon, Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon. Why the canyon word is in its name, I do not know.

What I do know is Bryce Canyon is quite similar to Grand Canyon in one aspect, that being that one begins those canyon hikes from the "canyon" rim, hiking far below the "canyon" rim.

Going down is easy. The hike back to start is not so easy, what with the high elevation of both hiking venues making oxygen more scarce than what one is used to.

I remember the Grand Canyon hike to the Colorado River, via the Bright Angel Trail as being so easy, heading down, and so brutal heading back up, with the final hiking hour in the dark.

I remember the names of the Bryce Canyon trails I hiked, the Peekaboo Trail and Navajo Loop Trail. I recollect going down a long series of switchbacks to get to the trails. Going down those switchbacks was easy, hiking back up those switchbacks required a lot of heavy-duty breathing, trying to get oxygen.

I wonder how well, at my current elderly age, I would handle hiking into Bryce or Grand Canyon? It is highly unlikely I will ever find out...

Thanksgiving In Utah Not Throwing Rocks With Spencer Jack

That which you see here showed up last night, sent by Spencer Jack and his favorite dad, my eldest nephew, Jason.

I saw this photo and had zero clue as to what I was looking at, besides it appearing to be Spencer Jack and Jason on some sort of mass transit device.

Train, bus, trolley, tram, monorail? What? I had no clue.

And then a follow up email arrived, with more photos and a text message from which I could make a slightly educated guess as to what Spencer Jack is taking is dad for a ride on.

First the text message...

Spencer Jack and I had a mighty fine time exploring NV, AZ, and UT.

Spencer had this week off from school and desired a return trip to some of our favorite National Parks.

After a late night on the Las Vegas Strip, we headed north on I-15 and followed the Virgin River to Springdale, UT.

Hiked the Narrows in Zion, before climbing to Inspiration Point in Bryce.

Had my first, and hopefully, last, 'almost ran out of gas' moment.  That's another story.   Nonetheless, Spencer and I coasted into Richfield, UT on fumes and called it a night.

Have a Happy Turkey Day.

Thought you'd enjoy the pictures and video (and of course, we checked for hikers, before rock tossing).

-FUD and FNSJ

So, gleaning the info in the above text, and looking at the below photo of Spencer Jack, clearly in the Zion Canyon Narrows, I am guessing the above transit device, on which Spencer Jack and Jason are riding in scream mode, is a bus taking them into Zion Canyon. But, I thought that that traffic reducing means was only active during heavy duty tourist season. So, I may be erroneous in my transit assumption.

There is a big parking lot at the entry to the Zion Narrows. Every time I have been at that location it has been a bit of a challenge to secure a parking spot.

Moving on...

Above I am guessing Spencer Jack is swimming at the motel he and his dad spent the night in in Springdale, the town at the west entry into Zion National Park.

Continuing on...

Here we see Spencer Jack at Inspiration Point in Bryce National Park. The text message indicates a climb was required to reach Inspiration Point. I do not remember a climb. Instead I remember a walk from a parking lot. I do remember a climb via the Navajo Loop, which, if I remember correctly, has its trail head near Inspiration Point.

Bryce Canyon is at a high elevation. In the 8,000 to 9,000 feet above sea level type high elevation. I remember the Navajo Loop hike being incredibly scenic, with multiple other trails, like Peek a Boo, accessed from the Navajo Loop. I also remember the series of switchbacks back to the starting point being brutal, what with extreme oxygen debt.

Bryce Canyon National Park is my favorite of the Utah National Parks.

And below we have the video mentioned by Spencer Jack and his dad in their text message. I really do not think the boys were so irresponsible as to throw rocks off the Inspiration Point edge. That would be an extremely bad thing to do....

The Top Ten Places I Want To Escape To

Washington Mutual's Problem Resolution Center called and left a message. I called back. And left a message. I've no clue as to which of the Washington Mutual Problem's the caller was seeking to resolve. Right now I don't care.

Instead I'm in the mood to muse as to where I'd like to go to escape here, someplace fun that I've already been to and know is fun. I'm not in the mood for anything new right now. Though I am taking the TRE train to Dallas tomorrow morning. I live on the edge.

So, where do I want to go if I could right now? I'll try and think of the Top Ten. That should occupy 10 more minutes of waiting for Sarah Palin to have her meltdown.

In no particular order.

Bryce Canyon National Park. I love everything about this place. It's otherworldly scenery. It's great hikes. Ruby's Inn. I spent an Easter weekend at Bryce Canyon a few years ago. It was in late Spring. There was still snow at Bryce. It's at a high elevation, as in over 9000 feet above sea level at the highest.

Grand Canyon National Park. I've been there several times. Have stayed overnight twice. Once at the South Rim. Camping. I hate camping. And the most recent time, at the North Rim, staying in log cabins. A blizzard roared in overnight leaving us snowbound til snowplows from Utah could rescue us. I've only hiked down into the Grand Canyon once. It's a real good thing.

Arches National Park and Moab. Well, also Canyonlands National Park. Moab is your base town and in all directions there is good stuff to do. Like the photo at the top, that's me biking the Slick Rock Trail by Moab. That's a group hike in Arches NP, called The Fiery Furnace, on the left. You have to pay a fee and it has to be ranger led. You can get lost in there.

Yosemite National Park. The first time I saw this place was in fall. I was not all that thrilled. Then sometime in the 90s we rented a big ol' Cadillac, 3 other guys and me, and went on a road trip, ending up in Yosemite at Curry Village. It was spring, the waterfalls were out of control. I loved it.

Disneyland & California. I've not been to Disneyland since 1994, not since they've added Disney California. I've loved Disneyland ever since I was 13 and got taken there on what was to be my next to the last family vacation. We loved Disneyland so much we went again the next year. I was 14. I never went on a family vacation again. 7 years later I was in California on my own, staying at San Clemente State Park. And remembering back 7 years prior. That seems like such a short time now, but then it seemed like so much had changed. Over the following years I've lost count of the number of road trips to California and Disneyland. I guess the last one was in 2000. But I didn't get to go to Disneyland. Yuma instead. To spend Christmas with my mom and dad. It was real tempting when you saw road signs saying it was only 120 miles to Anaheim to take a right and skip Yuma. But I'm not one to ignore my mom and dad. Even though, apparently, they and others think I do. (That's called slipping in an Easter Egg to see if anyone reads this drivel)

Lake Powell. You need to, at least once in your short life, go to Lake Powell. You don't need to rent a houseboat to have Lake Powell reveal its charms. But a houseboat helps. Good housemates on the houseboat are important also. I've houseboated Lake Powell twice, both times in the 1990s. The water is warm and clear. The scenery is among the best on the planet. Which is why you'll be sharing the lake with so many darn foreigners.

Las Vegas. Any longer than 4 days and Vegas wears out its welcome. But I always have fun there. It can be exhausting. It's not the gambling that attracts me, it's the way over the top over stimulating nature of the whole place. I've only been to Vegas once since I moved to Texas. That was on a roadtrip back to Texas after spending a week or two in Washington. Those trips back were so much more pleasant than the more recent ones. Why? I do not know. That's Nephew Joey and me riding the roller coaster at the New York New York casino when I took Joey and his brother to Vegas the summer before I moved to Texas.

Taos, New Mexico. There was nothing I did not like about Taos. I love the southwest adobe style. The great places to eat. How fun it was to ride my bike around Taos and discover interesting things, like the grave of Kit Carson. And the Taos Pueblo. Even the Taos McDonald's is special.

Yellowstone National Park. I've not been to Yellowstone since the fall before wildfires burned most of the park. Yellowstone is one place I don't mind camping. Hiking over all the boardwalks to see the bubbling water and exploding geysers, loved it when I was a kid, loved it when I wasn't a kid. Yellowstone has been a fond memory ever since my little brother and me were awakened by our mom screaming, standing on top of the picnic table, because a bear was running through camp.

Bears remind me of Stehekin. I've only been there once but everything about it was perfect. A long boat ride up Lake Chelan, staying in the National Park Lodge. Stehekin is in the North Cascades National Park zone of Washington. We brought bikes and pedaled daily up to one of the best bakeries ever, the Stehekin Pastry Company. For dinner each night we'd take a long bus ride up the valley to the Stehekin Valley Ranch where the Courtneys would make a real good dinner for us and a lot of other people.

Stehekin is related to another place I'd like to escape to right about now. That being hiking deep into the North Cascades. The trails are good. What you see when you get to the end of the trail is amazing. Some summers I would go on a hike up in Cascades several times a month, til the snows returned in October. It always amazed me, when I lived up there, how many northwesterners had never experienced the sea of peaks, that being the seemingly endless sea of mountain peaks that extends north and south, with things like Mount Rainier sticking up higher.

I've gone up to 10 places I wish I could escape to right now and I left out Zion National Park. It should be in the Top Ten too. I don't remember ever being so surprised by a place as I was by Zion the first time I saw it. The tunnel into the canyon remains one of the finest moments of my pretty much un-momentous life.