Wed, Sept 30: On the road to Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

It started raining late last night and the wind rocked the rig all night. This morning it is still raining when Carolyn wakes at 9AM, but the wind has died down. We have a light breakfast and stop by the office to pay. The office was locked up tight last night and Dick could not find anything that told him how to register and get the gate open. Two people went in and out while we were debating what to do. At all the other places we have stayed, the directions were to pick a site and pay in the morning. Since it was already almost 9PM, we were tired and the gates stayed open a long time, we just drove in and found a nice site. The night watchman came over and was a bit upset we just drove in without calling first to make arrangements...well now we know why...Dick found a call number as he goes in the office to pay. It was well hidden and we were tired!


We are heading south on I-15 by 10AM and it is still raining. Through the clouds, we see the mountains are covered in snow almost down to the valley.

Within an hour, we are out of the rain and the sun is out. The mountains around us are covered in a layer of light snow and there are travel advisories for the areas north and east of Salt lake City. We are glad that we made it a long day yesterday and are not driving the rig in the snow today!

We find a subway in the middle of nowhere and stop for sandwiches that we eat while enjoying the view. A little later we turn off I-15 onto Hwy 20

and head over to Hwy 12.

We are getting into the land of colorful bluffs now. We stop for some pictures at Red Canyon and then drive on to Bryce Canyon National Park.

We find a nice camp site at Rudy’s Inn just outside the Bryce park entrance, get the rig set up for two days and head for the park. At 5PM we are at the Visitors’ Center which is open to 8PM! We get a map and some information on Bryce and other parks in the area. Then we head up the 18 mile road to see the park.

We stop at Paria Point, Bryce Point, Farview Point,Natural Bridge and Rainbow point. At Rainbow point we have climbed to 9,105 feet and it is cold! The sun is almost too low for good pictures as we head back, but we stop one more time for Black Birch Canyon.Bryce Canyon is beautiful. The formations are interesting and very colorful. We will come back tomorrow to see some more. On the way back to the rig we see mule deer, a pronghorn antelope and a grouse.

Dick cooks a steak and after dinner he goes for a walk. It is clear and calm with a three quarter moon and 34 degrees. It is going to be cold tonight!