We woke up a bit on the late side this morning. Our plan had been to wake up bright and early to begin heading south. I heard water dripping and thought the hotel was leaking. Realizing that was stupid I thought it odd that we could hear someone else taking a shower. Realizing that was also stupid I opened my eyes, saw it was 7:00 and that Molly was already in the shower. At least our plans today weren’t too time sensitive. We’ll have to do better on our mountain hikes though.
We did manage to get the room packed up pretty quickly and after checking out and grabbing our last Kimpton coffees for a couple weeks we were on the road. The 4 hour drive to Cedar Breaks National Monument flew by pretty quickly for me. As we crested a hill and we got our first glimpse into the amphitheater I couldn’t help immediately comparing it to Bryce Canyon. Other than noticeably smaller number of hoodoos they look almost identical. I ended up asking a ranger about their similarities and it seems that there is a good reason for it. They are formed from the same rock in the same way. They are both located on fingers of rock formed at the same time just a few tens of miles apart. Cedar Breaks faces toward the West and Bryce to the East.
We were, for some reason, expecting to encounter hot weather. We were quite wrong. As we climbed up the entrance road to the park the temperature steadily dropped to about 53 degrees with winds that pounded us relentlessly. We all made a quick wardrobe change and set out on a hike around the southern part of the rim. The views all along the hike were spectacular, probably even more impressive than the view from the rim of Bryce.
There were two primary overlook points. The first a mile along the trail and the second two miles in. We took lots of pictures today which I’m sure Molly will share. The pictures and track we followed are here. The 10,000 foot elevation and nearly 1,200 feet of elevation gain was a good training hike for us as we get ready to head into the mountains in a couple weeks. After the hike the girls completed their junior ranger activities and claimed their 4th badge of the trip. For some reason the junior ranger program isn’t proving nearly as annoying for Molly and I as it did last year. Maybe the because the girls are at the point where they can do most of the activities on their own.
Our last bit of driving today took us East for the first time. We actually reached the Westmost point of the entire trip this afternoon at the end of the trail we hiked. It’s kind of weird to feel like we’re turning around already when we’re not even 1/4 of the way into the trip. We reached Tropic, UT and the Bryce Canyon Log Cabins (the same place we stayed last year) by 5.
There’s really not a lot to Tropic. Last year there were two restaurants to choose from: a trailer selling burgers and chicken and the restaurant. It seems the the trailer went out of business since last summer leaving us with exactly one option. At least the have cold beer. I don’t think I’ve mentioned Utah liquor laws yet, but they’re wacky. Mol and I ordered a pitcher of beer because it made sense to do that. After delivering it our waiter realized we hadn’t ordered nearly enough food and quickly doubled back to reassure himself that we’d be ordering dinner. They also have a solid wi-fi connection which is rare around here so we’re lingering while we write before ordering dinner.
We have big plans for tomorrow. A major hike into, around, up, back down, and out of Bryce Canyon. I don’t remember the milage, but I do know it’s significant. The weather looks like it will be perfect, 73 and sunny. We’ll all be well rested and we have an extravagant lunch at the Bryce Lodge planned. As spectacular as today was I can’t help thinking that tomorrow will be even more bright.
