USA tour Day 25

Day 25 Monday 9th August 2010

Torrey to Kanab via Grand Canyon - 640klm - 360 miles. (By Vic)

Alan promised a great day with a lot to see and do.

Had a thunderstorm during the night and woke to a clear crisp morning. We left Torrey about 7.30 am with all our warm gear on as we were to climb up through mountains again for most of the morning before dropping down to 6000ft for the Grand Canyon.

The road was wet from the storm but again great sweepers with a smooth road surface, we came across cattle (Angus) crossing the road and a few deer in the field but the antelope weren’t out roaming.

We went down the other side of this range through a few valleys and then started to climb through a section of the Escalante Park (means the Grand Staircase), wow what a road, at the top it runs and twists along a ridge with either side of the road falling steeply away and without guard rails of any sort. It was hard to look at the fantastic view and maintain concentration on the road.

Dropped altitude again and turned from the highway into Bryce Canyon National Park, we are running out of superlatives. The mountains have eroded into thousand of stalagmite like columns in varying hues of pink through to white, Lyn thought they looked like the terracotta warriors in China. There were individual monoliths caused when the softer layers below a hard cap rock is weathered away. See attached photo.

Coming out of the park we rode through a Prairie Dog jam and then an Antelope jam – bloody tourists.

For the animal lovers the Utah Prairie Dog is the rarest of its kind in the United States, almost as rare as the Jackalope.

Alan had planned to stop at a restaurant specialising in game steaks but it didn’t open until 4.00 pm so we went on to a place that specialises in fruit pies.

We passed through Kanab and rode on about 75 mile further to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon; we entered the Grand Canyon Park and meandered along at the speed limit of 45 mph on a road that could be ridden at twice this speed. But as all National Parks over here are policed by Park Rangers that carry handguns we don’t think it wise to speed.

What can be said of the Grand Canyon that we haven’t read or heard before; it is truly spectacular and much vaster in the flesh than we imagined. We walked out along a narrow path to an overlook that was on a point. Even though there were vertical drops on either side of the path, there were only the occasional 18 inch rock walls, and a 4 ft high fence only for the viewing section.

After looking around the visitors section and an ice cream we returned to Kanab for a shower and dinner. Went out to a restaurant that was a surprise, the meal was as good as you would find anywhere.

Kanab is known as the Hollywood of Utah as there have been many movies made in the area