Gods, Hitchhikers and dirt roads

Spent yesterday driving through Valley of the Gods on our way back north. Even more amazing up close. On our way to Capitol Reef we stopped to see the Natural Bridges, including some speed hiking. In Capitol Reef we enjoyed some fresh baked bread, homemade pie and a few short hikes to boot. Beautiful - but after so many days, some of the features of each national site are starting to blur. Capitol Reef had bridges, striped sandstone, and threatening flash floods - much like other places we've been. We even met an old hitchhiker who had taken the bus into the area and walked to the campsite. He wanted a ride to the U-Pick Peaches place. We gave him a lift and saw him multiple times throughout our stay. We ended the visit with dessert at Sunset Point until it started to rain.




We camped in the Dixie National Forest for $9. This morning while heading towards Escalante we passed 4 frantic backcountry campers. They were on a 28 day training course for survival and one of their friends was suffering from kidney failure and needed immediate help. We gave two of them, Ben and Robert, a lift to their training site in Boulder, UT.

At the Escalante Visitor Center, we got some good info from the friendly ranger there. Most roads are inaccessible to us, due to their being closed or only open for 4WD vehicles. There's been lots of rain, and therefore flooding. I was a bit disappointed to hear it, but we made the best of it and went down Hole in the Rock Road to get to Peek-a-Boo and Spooky canyons. We also stopped for a quick tour of Devil's Garden (very different from the one at Arches). We also took the scenic drive on Hell's Backbone, but it was mostly just a drive through forest. The bridge and Christina's speedy driving around tight curves made it pretty exciting though.



We went to the local market to restock some food - and some the same ranger from the Visitor Center there (nice to know we are going where the locals go - not that there's much choice in this town). We are checked in at a fancy campsite with wireless...hence the update.

That's my update for now. I'm off to bed (i.e. sleeping pad in a tent under a tree).