May 22 Staycation Exploration
Jen had the day off from training, and
we used it for a personal Bryce Canyon tour for Gary so she could get the park
verbiage back into her bones.
On the way to the park, we stopped at Clark's General Store
in Tropic to buy paper pads and pens for Jen to take notes in the field. We
found what we needed!
On the road up from Tropic, Jen "scared the crap out of" Gary by pointing out the "fixed" cracks in the asphalt of the outer lane of Highway 12. Yesterday, tour company co-owner Oskar said the way that road looks like now is the way it looked six months prior to the road eroding down the cliffside last time. Gary now much prefers to drive home instead of away!
Once we passed the cliffhanger part of the highway, we looked for the pronghorn (caribou called antelope) Jen saw yesterday. We got lucky and saw at least five of the beautiful animals grazing on a meadow by the road. These animals evolved while there were cheetahs on the North American continent so they are now the fastest on the continent. At three days of age, they outrun humans. We also saw a HUGE bull with the biggest chest, neck, and horns but also beer belly in the rodeo pasture. We're thinking it is Ferdinand.
We started at Fairyland Point where a bunch of tourists (WHAAAAT?!) threw Jen off immediately. But then she started talking rock formation, dinos, and flowers, and things got sort of back on track. We walked down the Fairyland Loop to see Jen's favorite hoodoo, Alice in Wonderland, and her favorite Bristlecone Pine. Gary was brave on the badland paths that were showing clear signs of recent flood damage. In spite of shaking knees, he thought Fairyland was “super cool.”
While in the Fairyland parking lot, we called the Swedish Embassy in D.C. to check on Jen's passport. After 10 minutes on hold in both Swedish and English, we received the good news that the passport has shipped from Sweden to D.C. and on to Salt Lake City. We are now waiting for confirmation that going to Salt Lake (Jen's first time!) on Thursday for an 11 a.m. appointment is the way to go.
While on hold, we got to the national park gate. Unusual for May, there were lines to get in. Once inside the park, we saw plenty of prairie dogs in their natural habitat…on the side of the road. We tried to find parking at Sunset Point, but the lot was already full (WHAAAAT?!). We backtracked to the Lodge parking instead and found a perfect spot.
After a restroom break, a view of the Centennial photo exhibit, and a glance at the merchandise in the gift store, we set out to the rim.
As we closed in on the edge, Jen set the stage for Gary to imagine the successful proposal one of the tour guests made to another guest yesterday. She said yes!
Gary thought the vastness of Bryce Amphitheater was impressive regardless of the perspective. Jen also showed Gary her (and Liz’) favorite ponderosa pine and talked about all the ways in which it protects itself from death by fire (no worries, Jen’s got this!). We stopped by Jen’s favorite Juniper (remembered the details!) which is flowering, and the sign showing Ebenezer Bryce and his wife Mary. Jen could not remember a single year or number involved with the namesake so back to the books she’ll go tomorrow.
Once we reached Sunset Point, Jen pointed out the repairs being done to the damage of the Wall Street ascent of the Navajo Loop. This feature will probably be closed for the entire season. Basically, Wall Street crashed!
We looked at the most photographed tree in the park, a limber pine, and the Silent City where folks should go for the sunset. Then, Gary smelled a ponderosa and it smelled like vanilla. This makes sense since both the two of us and the tree were chilly in the high-elevation spring air. Jen briefly mentioned the erosion-stopping manzanita groundcover, and then we began our trek down the Two Bridges trail (WHAAAAT?!).
Because Wall Street is closed, the tour company can no longer use it for its combo hiking route. In training, Jen was told to go down Two Bridges and go up the Queen’s Garden trail. This review hike would settle the score for Jen to decide if “backwards” is the way to go even though she spent all last summer telling tourists NOT to go that way because coming up Sunrise Point is demoralizing due to long and sometimes steep stretches of uphill paths instead of engineered switchbacks.
Going down Two Bridges, the ground was bumpy and slippery from yesterday’s hail melting. Violet-green cliff swallows dive bombed and swooped around the red-orange hoodoos from a bright blue sky. We saw Thor’s Hammer and King Henry (Jen could not remember the names of his beheaded queens).
Gary immediately felt that this should be
the way up, not down because of the shade at the ends of the switchbacks.
Jen
tried to find cool things to say during the descent, but even approaching the
actual two bridges from above rather than from the bottom made them seem less noteworthy
somehow. The good news is that the Oregon grape holly (neither grape nor holly
but invasive) was blooming in yellow along the ledges.
Eventually, we got to the intersection of the trails and Jen pointed out the places she used to have her guests rest, drink water, and eat granola bars last summer. The lower altitude and early afternoon sun caused Gary to walk shirtless. This did not last long though as the rain divide offered both shade and a somewhat cold breeze.
Jen pointed out her favorite photo opportunities and her favorite tree that
looks like a squid coming out of the creek bed to hug another tree. A tree hugging
tree! Gary smelled a sun-warmed ponderosa pine and announced that it smelled
like butterscotch. Score!
Queen Victoria’s hoodoo still looks like her statue and Jen even found Oskar and his brother Mabry’s Donkey Kong hoodoo. Unfortunately, we startled a French tourist who was hiding private business in the bushes while trying to find the digital ape. The victory here was that Jen remembered that the tree under which we took a water break is a Douglas Fir. Breaking PR!
The ascent from the Queen’s Garden was daunting. Every step was uphill. Gary
counted 20 ledges (to be compared to Wall Street’s 17) and Jen tried to catch
her breath. The good news is that Jen remembered the best places to place
guests for photo opportunities regardless of which way she came at them.
By the time we reached the rim, there was no doubt that Jen will take her 2023
guests from Sunrise to Sunset this year as well. It is a bummer that Wall Street
is out of the loop, but there are some great resting spots up Two Bridges and
that’ll have to do.
During a restroom break by the Lodge, Gary overheard the directions to get to
Valhalla Pizza which opened for the season only three days earlier. The pizzeria
never opened last year, so Jen needed to check it out on behalf of her guests.
The place was designed in Gilbert Stanley Underwood’s “Parkitecture” style with
locally sourced timber and stones. 
The customers were invited to place pins in a map to mark their hometowns. We pinned Stockholm and Pensacola. By the
time the rustic pepperoni pizza got on our table, rain had begun to bounce off
the driveways around the Lodge, marking a second day in a row for hail in the
park. We took our time recovering from the hike and enjoying half the pizza
with free water since the soda fountain was out-of-order. The hail had subsided
and the rain had turned to mist on the cold breeze by the time we rushed to the
car. The temperature dips remarkably low at the park after rain so Gary put on
his cosmic kitty beanie when we got into the car.
With the sun back up again, Jen drive Gary to Bryce Point to show him the spot
where her mom and her best friend since first grade, Kajsa, found themselves at
a loss for words while taking in The Cathedral. Gary was not a fan of the road
being right on the edge of the rim but things got better when we received
directions from a traffic ranger. It was cold and drizzly, but the Walls of
Windows and The Cathedral did not fail to impress. We skipped the actual point
of Bryce Point to get re-warned up in the truck.
Next, Jen drove to Natural Bridge to show Gary the Natural Arch and the quaking
aspen stand. Jen could do this part of the tour in her sleep any day of any
year. Unfortunately, the other plants she usually mentions here, like the
arrow leaf balsam root, Oregon grape holly, and manzanita are still under snow.
The aspen leaves had not even emerged yet. Ugh. Still, when Gary saw The
Blowfish, he immediately said that the hoodoo looked like an Olympic torch, so
Jen made the “Blackened fish taco” joke about the hoodoo that had already been
named once.
The road back to the central viewpoints seemed just as long as last year so Jen
will study Butch Cassidy, dinosaurs, and Southern Paiute astronomy to fill the
silence on the tour bus. On the way back to civilization, we stopped at Farview
Point where Jen showed Gary the steps of the Grand Staircase. On a clear day
(not today), it is possible to see the pink, white, gray, vermillion, and
chocolate steps of the stairs from here. Bryce Canyon is the only place in the
world from which one can see 1.8 billion years of geological history across 100
miles. There’s also a restroom at Farview Point. And a raven called Edgar.
Close to civilization, Jen showed Gary Inspiration Point. It was too cold for
inspiration, but Jen pointed out the great granddad of all the region’s
bristlecone pines and the steps where Liz likes to tell the Southern Paiute story
about the hedonistic creatures who were turned into colorful stone by Sinawava,
the trickster coyote god.
After the (re-)tour, Gary said he liked the long hike the best with the
different sceneries that played with all the senses and shifts in the weather
from shirt-off summer, to drizzly spring rain, to pelting winter hail. He said
he also liked knowing the kind of wild Jen is working in.
On the way back to camp, we stopped in Panguitch, (home of the) big fish. Jen
showed Gary Liz’ favorite antique store which is equally nice now but also
brimming with handmade jewelry.
Jen is planning to quilt the nature experience, and across the street she
spotted a quilting shop. Quilting is an important part of Panguitch’s history,
see https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/p/PANGUITCH.shtml:
“In March 1864 fifty-four pioneer families
led by Jens Neilson arrived the area from Parowan and other settlements. They
came over much the same route followed later by Highway 20. A fort was built on
the present school square. Cabins were built around the perimeter, pens and
corrals were included for cattle, horses, and sheep. Land was soon cleared and
irrigation ditches and canals were surveyed and dug. However, crops planted the
first year failed to mature; the settlers gathered and ate frozen wheat.
During the first winter, supplies ran out. Seven men were sent to Parowan for grain. They drove teams as far as the base of the mountain, then proceeded on foot. The snow was deep, and the men sank and could not walk. One man accidentally dropped his quilt on the ground and found that it supported him. All seven men formed a line, laying their quilts on the snow and then walking across the quilts. This procedure was repeated all the way across the mountain, and the trek became known as the quilt walk. Parowan pioneers came to meet the men, who were fed, sheltered, and given grain. The men and food were taken as close to Panguitch as possible, but the grain still had to be carried across the mountain to the waiting teams. A happy welcome greeted the successful adventurers.”
The quilt store was loaded to the brim with fabric and notions. When Jen asked about nature-inspired colors, the young female shop keep pointed out great fabrics on heavy bolts. “Grunge” is a series that resonates with the craggy cliffs and evergreen trees out here.
Gary also found fat quarters that rivaled
the bolted fabrics. In a back room, we also found dinosaur-patterned fabrics. So
much fun!
