A visit to Kodachrome Basin

We went on a nice day trip to Kodachrome Basin State Park on Saturday.  Before that we had two quiet days, resting in the Alfa and watching it rain and snow. Brrr! 


It was still a little threatening Saturday morning, but we decided to chance it. We had a bit of sporadic rain, but the day was mostly sunny.

Kodachrome Basin is about 25 mile from Bryce Canyon. The road is good and the scenery was beautiful.

I'm sure I will get to the point when I will not want to see another rock wall, but I haven't gotten there yet. Each place is so different. At Kodachrome Basin the upper part of the rim walls are colored grayish-green by the minerals mixed with the limestone. The rusty reds are caused by iron oxides.

Because the weather was threatening, we kept our walks short.

It s really hard to show how steep a trail is, but from Craig's careful stance I think you can get the sense that this was not flat ground. The path going to the right of the picture was also quite steep.

One feature of the basin was the varied large single rocks and pipes standing here and there without many other rocks around them.

This one was very odd.

As we drove past this one Craig called it a "Widow Rock". The larger rock behind this one was really quite far away. If  you look carefully you can see rain coming down in the distance. It started to rain on us shortly after we took this picture.

Kodachrome Basin State Park is a nice added day trip if you are staying in the Bryce Canyon area. There were very few people there when we were, but it may be because the weather was so "iffy".

We don't leave here until Wednesday. I can't say I recommend Panguitch, UT as a place of interest or entertainment. The weather forecast is for possible rain and moderately cold temperatures,  so we may continue to just relax and hang out at the rig until it is time to roll.

A Hike in Snow Canyon

After a rainy night, the weather at Sandy Hollow State Park was just about perfect for a nice hike. The forecast was for temperatures in the 70s with partly cloudy skies. The ankle I sprained in early March has been getting better slowly, but it is still not 100%, and I am trying not to overdo. I wear a pressure bandage and good hiking boots whenever I have to walk for any length of time.

Although I try to limit the number of books we carry, I couldn't pass up "Hiking the Southwest's Canyons" by Sandra Hintchman. I think it will come in very handy for finding just the right hikes for us. Tuesday was the first time I have used it and found the perfect place for us to start our Red Rock May. 

Snow Canyon State park is near St. George, Utah. The book gave pretty good descriptions of the short hikes I selected: Butterfly Trail which connected with Lava Cave Trail for a little over a two mile total distance. I could probably do three with no significant pain, but I want to work into it slowly. 

We started on the trail, and made the correct first turn, but then were distracted by this wonderful swirly rock formation. In a sandy area it can be easy to lose the trail, and since the sand was wet from the previous nights rain, other people's footprints showed up quite well. 

We followed the footprints and lost the official trail.





But then we came to an area of slide rock where there were neither foot prints nor any trail markers.

Craig started to climb up this petrified dune, but I didn't agree that that was the way to go. We consulted the map and were even more confused because the line on the map seemed to be going over the swirly sandstone formation. I wasn't sure about that because the Butterfly Trail was marked as an "easy" hike. Then, I spotted a trail about 40 feet down the hill that was going in the right direction too.  But how to get to it?

As we backtracked to the last marker we had seen, we noticed footprints in the sand going many different ways. It looked like a lot of people had been confused.

The trail description in the book says the trail goes down a reddish Navajo Sandstone Slope. We found it.

 The upright in the center on top is a trail marker. There was a matching one at the bottom, so we knew we were going the correct way. It looks harder than it was. Although they were rounded and irregular, the ridges in the sandstone were like cut steps, and I was glad I had my hiking poles for balance. 

Once down, the trail became very nice. There were not many people on the trail, but we did pass a group of teenagers going in the opposite direction. They warned us about a rattlesnake on the trail. We didn't see it, and assumed the gaggle of rambling guys had scared it off.

About halfway through our hike the Butterfly Trail ended and we continued along the Lava Tubes trail.

The black, rough lava rock was a contrast from the wind-carved red, yellow, and white sandstone. There were several lava tubes in the area, but we didn't feel inclined to explore them.

The sandy floor of the canyon was covered by lush green mountain sage, creosote bush, hearty grasses, and blooming wild flowers. Cactus plants were far and few between. The red rock walls of the canyon were immense, and rival similar formations we saw in Sedona.

The trail brought us back to the road, and we completed the loop back to our Jeep with a nice, easy, downhill road walk. Before heading back to Hurricane, we found a picnic table to sit at and enjoy our lunch sandwiches.  Smoked trout!

Snow Canyon State Park does have a RV campground with full hook-ups. We drove by it and saw a couple of large Class As and fifth wheels. I am going to put it on my list of wonderful places to camp, and if we ever come back this way, we will try to get a space.

Finally, a bit of trivia: this canyon was the site of the Hollywood movies Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Electric Horseman, and Jeremiah Johnson.

Don't miss it if you are in the area.

Verde Canyon Railroad Ride

We had planned on taking the train from Williams up to the Grand Canyon after our Sedona visit, but when our friend John suggested taking the Verde Canyon Train Ride we decided to do that instead. Several other people had also recommended it as a nice trip. 

Both Bev and I thought it was a bit overpriced, but as Craig would say "the dollar isn't what it used to be!"

We opted for the First Class coach which included access to both a comfortable enclosed car and an open car where a guide pointed out the features that we passed. Craig had a good time taking lots of pictures.

Near the start we passed several Native American dwelling places from 400 to 900 AD.  None of them seemed very tall, more sleeping places than walking-around-in places.

Sometimes the train was quite close to the rocks, at other times they were quite distant.  The Verde River accompanied the tracks most of the time.

A few sandstone expanses interrupted the red rocks.

Most of the Western US seems to be composed of layers.

The ability of cactus and other plants to grow in rocks is amazing.

Looking up at close rocks.

Th train went over several trestles and through a dark tunnel, but we've omitted those images in favor of the scenery.

Bev and I found the first class seating quite comfortable. Although I have not been drinking alcohol for the last month or so, Craig and I shared a bottle of Chardonnay. The view out the window is the ranch land where the engines are brought around for the ride back.

On the ride back the sun had gone lower, which made some of the scenes look better.

The ride is about four hours long. 

[From Craig]  Shooting pictures from a train is much easier than on a hike :-)

On Thursday we drove 100 miles northwest to Williams. From here we will drive the Jeep up to the Grand Canyon for a day trip, possibly Sunday. Other than that, the next few days are devoted to rest and chores around the rig. I am also looking forward to using the heated indoor swimming pool and hot tub. 

The weather is going to be a bit cold for the next few days, with possible snow on Sunday. I hope we can see some snow in the Canyon.  

Sunday - Tuesday, Small Repair and The Valley of Fire

When we were preparing to pull out of Grand Canyon National Park on Sunday morning, we had some trouble with getting the bedroom slide to come in. Craig tried pushing it in from outside, but that didn’t help much. We had the engine on fast idle to provide more voltage to the slide motors, but then turned it off. Craig kept trying the “in” switch lots of times, and was about to give up when one activation made the slide twitch a bit inward, the next made it come in a little more, and the next depression of the switch brought the slide all the way in. We were thankful that we didn’t have to get a mobile fix-it man into the Park to fix a balky slide.

But this was the second time this slide had problems coming in, and it was definitely time to do something about it. We were headed toward Nevada, so we looked up “Las Vegas” on the Alfa repair forums. This yielded only references to “Johnnie Walker”. No, they weren’t about drowning your repair worries in Scotch, there is a company called “Johnnie Walker RV” in Las Vegas.

We drove to Las Vegas and boondocked at a nearby Walmart.  It seemed a reasonable idea after cuddling through a bunch of cold GC mornings, but the Vegas heat quickly got to us.  It was about 95° Sunday afternoon, and Walmart hasn’t gotten around to providing hookups so we could run our AC. Going to an RV park was mentioned, but lethargy had set in. We opened all the windows and enjoyed a few breezes along with the sound of the many 50 MPH vehicles on the road that was 20 feet away.

But we like to think of ourselves as tough, like when Merikay said at about 4 AM “I don’t know when I’ve slept so well!”.  We were up bright and early and pulled into JWRV at 7:30, which put us second in line for service.

They got right to work and had our problem solved by 9:30. The switch was bad.  If you ever have an RV problem in or near Las Vegas, look up Johnnie Walker’s RV. Their price was reasonable and the fact that they fit us in so quickly was very nice.

While we were on our last trip to Death Valley in January, Cyndi sent us an email suggesting we make our way up to Valley of Fire State Park, north of Las Vegas. Unfortunately, our reservations conflicted with getting there at the same time she and her husband were there, but we put it on our “someday” list as a place we wanted to go.

Thank you Cyndi. We spent two days there, and were delighted by the unusual rock formations.  You would think that after almost a week at the Grand Canyon we might be tired of looking at rocks, but each park has its own specialness.

Here is a sample of the sights in the Valley of Fire Nevada State park.  

  

Our RV spot was $30 per night with water and power hookups. A dump station is available. Sites were first come first serve, no reservations, cash or check only. There were only a few sites with hook ups, so early arrival is recommended.