Cedar Breaks National Monument

There is no air up here. I was out of breath just getting the camp set up. The air is cool, it has been in the 70s since we got here. We got here early enough that we were able to do some exploring. There are wildflowers in abundance everywhere. The scenery is spectacular but we are becoming somewhat callused to spectacular scenery. There are only a few hiking trails in the park. The canyon walls are too steep to allow any trails down to the bottom so all the trails are on the rim. We have no hookups at the campsite but there are flush toilets and believe it or not, showers. That's unusual but fantastic. Weirdly, the T-Mobile signal is the strongest and we happen to have a T-Mobile hotspot. We are powering it with our Jackery battery so all is well. More tomorrow.

Best Friends day 2

Today we will have a one way discussion on the Origin of the name (Escalante, Grand Staircase National Monument). I am not sure how Escalante got thrown in there but there is a town of Escalante where the monument headquarters is located. The stairs ascend from South to North with the bottom stair located at the Northern rim of the Grand Canyon. The steps are 5 gigantic rock layers extending from the Grand Canyon into Southern Utah. There are 5 steps. The Pink Cliffs, the highest and youngest layer can be viewed around Bryce Canyon. The Gray Cliffs, a sloping slab of sandstone. The White Cliffs: Jenny and I could see the White Mountains off in the distance during our drive today.The Vermilion Cliffs which are south of Page Az and the Chocolate Cliffs, the lowest and oldest step near Kanab, where we are now. The Monument covers 1.9 million acres. Bill Clinton established it in 1966. We move tomorrow to Cedar Breaks MN near Cedar City Utah. I've said this before but I don't believe we will have any cell while we are there. The campground is at 10,000 feet and the morning temps have been in the 40s. We won't be back in civilization until Tuesday.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

We were here for a day earlier in the trip. The campground is immaculate with wide, cement, level pads. We are out of town and off the road so it is very quiet. This is a good place to recharge. We might do a drive tomorrow. The town of Kanab has a big shindig planned for the 4th. The main road through town is lined with lawn chairs so we figure there's going to be a parade. That road is the only way in or out of town so I'm wondering how that is going to work. We will probably do a scenic drive tomorrow that apparently has some local history stops. We have been exposed to so much scenery the last few weeks it becoming difficult to absorb any more. That flower is a Desert Willow.

Final Picture

Our next stop is Kanab. It's not far, which is good, because we need a day or 2 to decompress. We are now headed West and will be for a few weeks.

Day 4

One more day. As we have gotten closer to The marina unoccupied campsites that are acceptable to the mob have been more difficult to find. It took us a while to find this one. We are 18 miles from the end. Transition days are always a hassle. We are getting siked up for the inevitable. We move back into the MP tomorrow and the kids head to a hotel in Phoenix for their flights home on Friday.

Day 3

We moved to mile 42. This will be our turn around point. The wind has returned. Believe me when I say it causes problems. There is a multi million dollar house boat just around the corner from us that got blown up on the rocks on Saturday. It is half submerged. We are hoping we have enough fuel to get back to Wahweap. We have to run the generator for at least 10 hours a day to keep the batteries charged. Nothing like a little stress to add to the vacation. We have two more nights on the lake and I'm pretty sure everyone still likes everyone. Amazing!

Day 2

Today was interesting. We found out last night that the owners of this boat rental establishment let us leave the marina with an empty propane bottle for the grill. We got on the radio and were assured that they would drive a boat out here (25 miles) and replace the empty bottle. The only problem with that is they won't drive out 26 miles. We were stuck at the 25 mile marker. We found a place to hang out that was close to some cliffs for the kids to jump off of. We did that for awhile and roamed around the 25 mile marker for what seemed like a long time. Actually, it was a long time. Eventually the boat showed up with the propane and we motored up lake until we found a nice spot at around mile 31. There was the issue of the forgotten shovels at the last campsite but I prefer not to address that at this time. Everyone seems to be having fun. The grandkids enjoy the water. Scenery is spectacular, as always. The winds have dropped dramatically. All is well, as it should be, except maybe my liver.