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Day 8: Green River, UT to Cedar City, UT It was going to be hard to top Arches National Park. Even the monstrously large rocks carved by the Fremont River of Capitol Reef National Park weren't impressive enough to stop for any photos. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, there was a lot of traffic at Arches and still much traffic in Capitol Reef. We were hoping for fewer cars in Bryce Canyon later in the day. We met some fellow travelers at a gas and food stop in Torrey: two GSers were on a loop through Arizona and Utah. They were inquiring about the Aerostich Roadcrafter, so I explained about the inevitable leakage in some private areas. If they wanted to try it on for size, Mary suggested that they ride up to Minnesota. After all, one of them was from Michigan. Those Midwestern folk are so practical. They had ridden north from Bryce Canyon National Park and recommended stopping at the viewpoints there. We promised that we would, but we weren't sure if we could get to Zion National Park. First, we would ride through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, an impressive landscape with even more colorful rocks. To beat the heat, Mary stopped for slushee in Escalante and I discovered Starbucks Energy Drink: good stuff with caffeine, ginseng, and guarana. Normally, I'm not a fan of energy drinks, but I do enjoy coffee as a pick-me-up. Mary took a few sips and found it tasted just like a frappucino. Once we arrived at Bryce Canyon, we found that the park was even more crowded than Arches. All we did was zip to the very last viewpoint, Rainbow Point, and enjoy the scenic vistas of tectonic movement and erosion. The Paria River that carved the Bryce Canyon feeds the Colorado River, which carved the Grand Canyon. Looking at Bryce Canyon does evoke the same feelings as looking at Grand Canyon. In fact, the green hills in the background are the top of Kaibab Plateau, which forms the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. With sunset coming early down in the South, we scooted down the road. Route 14 turned out to be surprisingly good as we twisted and turned through the mountains and around lakes towards Cedar City, UT where we had hotel reservations at the Abbey Inn, which had great ratings at Expedia and TripAdvisor. It was a nice room with friendly staff. This place topped $100/night, but there was a decent breakfast included the next morning. After parking the bikes, we wanted to find a decent bite to eat. Through Mary's sleuthing through the room's local directory and me asking the hotel desk where I could find a beer, we ended up walking down the street to the Bard Food & Drink Establishment. It seems that this part of town is quite Shakespearean! Even the restaurant host was wearing Shakespearean garb. Of course, we had Shepherd's Pie for dinner; it was so big that Mary took half of hers back to the hotel refrigerator. A pleasant walk back to the hotel ended a day full of colored rocks. |
View Larger Map  Bryce Canyon National Park, Rainbow Point  Hoodoos  300 days of freezing temperatures create impressive weathering and erosion.  Bryce Canyon now vibrates with the sound of pine bark beetles. Warmer winters and longer summers allow these beetles to grow twice as fast. Most of the trees along the road were dead from fire and beetles. Onto 2009 STN National Meet Day 9... |
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