Return to Bryce

October 21st, 2024

My route for the trip south, took me to Salina, where I re-fueled, emptied my tanks, and ate at Denny’s for breakfast. Then I turned west on Interstate 70, and curved to the south where I exited onto Highway 89. That road immediately starts a winding climb up the Sevier River Canyon.

As I came around one of the curves, I looked ahead and discovered a place I had heard about many years ago in my childhood. I had never visited it before, but I knew right away what it was called, even before seeing the name on the large billboard. It was a small mountain in the shape of a Hershey Kiss, of a tan color similar to the inside of a malted milk ball. Here and there were outcrops and bands that looked like caramel and chocolate. A red barn shaped building sat at the foot. It was The Big Rock Candy Mountain. I has been many years since I had heard of it. I don’t believe it is familiar to children today. Back in the early 1960s, it was seen on Saturday morning cartoons. I am not positive, but I think it appeared occasionally on Captain Kangaroo. There was a hobo song about it and a video with humans dressed in fleece animal costumes.

“In The Big Rock Candy Mountains
there’s a land that’s fair and bright
where the handouts grow on bushes
And you sleep out every night.
Where the boxcars all are empty
And the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees.
The lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
In The Big Rock Candy Mountains” – Harry McClintock

I didn’t stop. Candy is no longer on my list of desirables.

My first choice of campgrounds, Red Canyon, was closed for the winter. I continued on, passing the designated dispersed areas in favor of the Bryce Canyon National Park’s North Campground. I had discovered, using the Recreation.gov website, that the sites there were switched over to first come first serve on October 8th, the day I was arriving. Since it was Tuesday, I thought that I might be able to find an unoccupied site.

The North Campground is a very nice paved area with flush toilets and showers. With my pass, the cost would be $15 per night. The sites are partially shaded, and being close to 8,000 feet in elevation, stay cool during the day, but not yet below freezing at night. Also, you are located close to the Rim Trail of the canyon and a short hike to the General Store, Visitor Center, and Lodge. There were only 5 sites that were vacant. I picked one that was a “pull through” and had some sun exposure for the solar panels. I checked the weather. The temperatures were still reported to be above 100 to the south. So, I signed up for 14 days at site #10. That is a little longer than most places I have camped this year. There are lots of trails, including Red Canyon back a few miles on the way in. I could run the few miles down to the town of Tropic for groceries and mail.

I set up and relaxed on my arrival day. The next morning, I backtracked to Red Canyon and hiked the Pink Ledges Trail just after sunrise. The colors of the canyon walls and surrounding fins and spires were amazing blends of red and pink, contrasting with Ponderosa Pines. After completing the hike, I drove back to Panguitch for groceries.

On Thursday, I spent the day relaxing and keeping the solar panels aimed towards the sun. In the afternoon, I hiked the half mile to the park’s Visitor Center. Many of the people there spoke various languages from around the world. Many were from Eastern Europe.

My next hike was from my campsite, along the canyon rim just at sunrise, to the Lodge, where I stopped for their breakfast buffet. I had cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon, strawberries and blueberries. On the return trip, I stopped to watch 4 Mule Deer, grazing near the trail.

That afternoon, I spent replacing the solar charger for my roof panel, taking care of some loose wiring, and climbing up to squeegee off the solar panel that had collected a lot of dust from the road.

My next hike was on the Butch Cassidy Trail in Red Canyon. The famous outlaw was born and raised just to the north on a small ranch. He often was seen in Red Canyon throughout his life. He was believed to have died in Bolivia, but some locals said they had seen him later in this area. The trail follows a dry creek up the red rock canyon.

The daily temperature continued to be in the high 60s and low 70s for a week and 1/2. Then a cool front came through and dropped the temperature down to the 40s and 50s. It rained most of one night, and I no longer heard the rain drops on the camper roof around 4 a.m. I didn’t know then, but when I got up to make breakfast, I discovered that 2 inches of snow had come down. The trees limbs were caked with wet snow.

I spent the next few days trying to keep the batteries from getting to low. Today, Monday the 20th, the sun finally re-appeared. The batteries bottomed out at 36%.

I made one final trip down to the Tropic Post Office to get my forwarded mail, before cleaning up and preparing the trailer for tomorrow’s departure for the southern tip of Nevada. It appeared I would be going from a 52 degree day to 81 northeast of Las Vegas.

Bryce is a very nice park to spend autumn. It has cool weather where one can idle while waiting for temperatures in the desert to become more comfortable. The scenery and trails are excellent. I saw numerous Mule Deer and Elk. I also met a good number of friendly people at the campground, including a fellow who was travelling with a Wenonah canoe. We compared information about canoeing destinations in the Midwest as well as Arkansas and Florida.

After 2 weeks, I am ready to hit the road. I have 2 locations picked out to the south where I will spend 3 days, and then will make the final leg to the Long Term Visitor Area (LTVA) near Quartzsite, Arizona for the winter. If all goes well, I will arrive there early enough to get set up to avoid travelling through the elections. I am a little worried about things that could happen in the early part of November. Better safe than sorry.