As I noted in my previous post, it was cold enough for frost inside the car. So I was a late riser. But after breakfast I packed up the car (which requires minimal work in this setup) and headed over to the “General Store” in Bryce. I had seen in the handout I had picked up that it had showers. So I figured I’d snag an early parking spot, explore the park, shower and then head out.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d do in Bryce and my first view of the “canyon” left me a bit underwhelmed. I’ll stop here a second to note that Bryce Canyon is a misnomer. It’s not carved by a river and really only has one rim. In fact the area I was in, which is often said to be the most beautiful section is actually called the Bryce Amphitheater.

That said, my next views corrected my initial impression. Bryce is amazing.

Bryce is known for what are called hoodoos. The pictures below give an idea of what they are, but one could call them water and wind eroded fingers of rock sticking up. Bryce claims to have the largest collection of them in a single area in the world. I’d believe it.

I’m a firm believer to really experience a park like this, you can’t see it from just the rim, but have to go down into it. So I did. I descended near Sunrise Point towards The Queen’s Garden. From there I continued to the junction with the Navajo Loop and then followed the Peekaboo Loop trail up to Bryce Point. A quote from the Apollo 10’s Gene Cernan as they were nine miles above the Moon’s surface and seeing everything in great detail kept coming to mind: “We is down among ‘em”. I was definitely down among the hoodoos. All told I did about 4.1 miles. It was well worth it. I started out all bundled up because of the cold, but partway through stripped off my upper outer layers to avoid overheating.

Once at Bryce Point I caught the shuttle to Inspiration Point. I got off there, got more photos of the Amphitheater and then reboarded the shuttle to the Bryce Canyon Lodge. I wanted to check it out and wasn’t disappointed. All the great National Parks have some really incredible architecture in their lodges.

From there I visited the Visitors Center and then headed back Sunset Point for a ranger led talk (in this case on birds of prey at Bryce. After that I wandered over to my car to get stuff to shower. It has been several days since my shower at the Grand Canyon and may be my last chance before I get home. This was a better deal. $3 for 8 minutes versus $2.50 for 5 minutes at the Grand Canyon.

I headed back to the Visitors Center to refill some water (and after getting on the road and tasting it realizing I should have swapped some my less tasty water for more of the Bryce water. It’s probably the best water I’ve tasted yet in the parks on this trip.)

After that, I honestly wasn’t sure where I was staying. I decided to head towards Page, Arizona and check out Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell and hope to snag a spot in a campground there. Frustratingly, I had finally gotten around to downloading the Reservations.Gov app while on the Bryce Canyon Visitor Center’s Wi-Fi, but it wasn’t working well to actually show me available dates. So after arriving at the closed (due to my lateness) Glen Canyon Dam Visitor’s Center and taking some photos I removed the app and tried again. Just about 1 mile away was Beehive Campground which is a primitive site (i.e. no running water). I figured I’d check it out. I lucked out. There were two available sites left. So after self-registering, I set out to make some dinner and catch up on journalling.

Interesting enough, because there’s no trees here and I’m overlooking Lake Powell, I’d say it’s perhaps one of the prettiest sites I’ve camped at yet.

And now to clean up and set up for bed and see what tomorrow brings.

One of my goals on this trip (yes, this road trip has goals, albeit not set in stone ones) was to visit Zion and Bryce. As noted in a previous post, I had postponed them by a day do to the cold went to Death Valley instead. But now it was time to finally hit them up.

One of the ongoing issues I kept having was the lack of available camping at Zion. It normally has two campgrounds but one is closed for refurbishment. So despite checking daily, I had no lucking securing a campsite. This meant at best I could do a day visit and then hurry over to Zion for a camping site. It was doable but less than ideal.

I was fortunate enough to get a spot at the visitor center. Failure to do so would have required me to backtrack into town and catch the visitor center shuttle into the park. After checking out the visitor center, I boarded the in-park shuttle to go up to the top of the road into Zion Canyon. Once there I did what everyone else did and hiked upstream on the dry path until I hit the water itself and turned around. While the trail does continue, and I’d say is probably worth it, I really didn’t want to deal with wet feet. I then caught the shuttle back down and hopped off at a couple of stops and walked between a few so I could get more hiking in and more pictures. I caught a shuttle back to the visitor center. On the way it stopped by the museum where the bus driver pointed out we had 1 whole minute to catch the museum before it closed. Now I’m going to commit heresy, but I’ll be honest: Zion wasn’t my favorite park so far. I’ll admit to failing to give it a full shot and there are other parts to see, but honestly, while still very pretty and impressive, I’m not sure I’d rush to go back. It also struck me in some ways as one of the more crowded parks. I suspect that’s because probably a very high percentage of the visitors are all crowded into the one main canyon. There are other parts to visit and I intend to someday. Perhaps I’ll enjoy it more.

From there it was time to head east. Now this road is impressive. It has some incredible views and even if you do nothing else in Zion, I’d say this drive is worth it. Included in the drive is passage through a 1 mile long tunnel. My dad would have hated it. He had an irrational fear of tunnels.  By his own admission. I recall our drive across the country when it turned out we had to go through some tunnels on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. He was white-knuckled.

One detail that makes these tunnels interesting is along the north side are 3 large “windows” in the rock that open up over the valley. You can’t stop to look out, but you do pass them. You may have come across a click-bait article that talks about the “mysterious windows in the rock in Zion Canyon”. Well there’s no mystery. They’re openings into this road tunnel.

Eventually the road opens up into wide open spaces and from there it’s a pretty, but also somewhat non-noteworthy drive into Bryce. Since I got there after hours no one was at the gate to greet me (which is fine because my Park Pass would have covered the entrance fee). I got to my campsite. Well, the slight pull-off from the paved loop that was called my campsite. I literally had to make sure my passenger door wasn’t left open, lest another car come by and sideswipe it. Zion had been cool, in part because of the altitude and slightly the latitude. Bryce, even more so. The Sun was setting behind me as I quickly made dinner and looked to find the restroom. Well the restroom for this loop wasn’t too far away. It was also closed for renovations. I have to admit, I was far from pleased. The next closest was frankly a long walk and two of the times I used it, I actually drove over. I’ll probably complain to the NPS at some point that the website had no warning of this, because had I known, I would have probably picked the other campground that also had free spots. Anyway, it was annoying but that was the sum of it.

Given how cold it already was and it was late, I didn’t relish setting up my tent in the dark so again I bedded down in the car. This time with full long-underwear on. I knew it would be a cold night. Apparently it was. After I got up on the morning, I noticed frost on the inside of my windshield. Yes, inside. The moisture from my breathing was the source of the frost.

And with that, I settled in for a long winter’s nap. Ok, a decent cold spring nap.

My original plan after the Grand Canyon was to head to Zion for the day and then over to Bryce where there was available camping, Zion already being full. But I had been wanting to check out Hoover Dam again, since I hadn’t been there since I was a kid and at the time we only drove over it (and perhaps walked around a bit). We had not taken the tour. In my original thinking, there was no way to do this and get to Zion and Bryce in a practical amount of time. Fortunately, with the suggestion of Las Vegas Bay campground as an option, I realized I could make this happen.

So, shortly after dawn I was off to Hoover Dam. My concern though was gas. While driving around the various spots at the Rim of the Canyon, my gas gauge was reading a bit lower than I would have liked. I knew there were a couple of gas stations before Williams Arizona, where I’d hit the Interstate again, but I also knew they were taking advantage of their remoteness and their prices were about 40 cents a gallon more expensive than what Williams had to offer. When I had arrived, this wasn’t an issue. But now, my car was estimating 80 miles left in the tank for about a 60 mile drive. It would be close.

And of course as soon as I turned out of the campground, the computer re-estimated the numbers down to 70 gallons left. If I didn’t stop to get at least one gallon of gas, I’d be cutting it close. I hate to pay more than I have to, especially when they’re obviously taking advantage of their location, but such is life.

But I also knew my car estimates based on most recent usage and other factors. So I figured I’d play it by ear. Sure enough about 20 miles down the road my car now estimated I had about 80 miles left. Yes, it had gone up. By the time I reached a gas station in Williams my car was estimating it had at least 60 miles to go. I was happy. I had “beat the system”. Or something.

Williams also happens to be the location of the start of the Grand Canyon Railway, so I figured I’d drive over and snap a few pictures. Well my timing was great because I was able to catch the departure of the northbound train. My day was getting even better! With that I then continued to the Hoover Dam.

The last time I had been there, the highway itself still crossed the top of the dam. I knew they had built a new bridge to change this, partly to alleviate the traffic jams, but also because in a post 9/11 world, the idea of a truck bomb being on top of the dam probably made more than a few people nervous. Though, truth to be told, given the mass of the dam, and sadly the lower water levels these days, I don’t think anything short of a nuke would do enough damage to endanger the dam or anything downstream.

While crossing over the new bridge I noticed a walkway along the side of it. I added this to my list of things to check out. I got off at the exit which interestingly enough is about 2-3 miles beyond the dam so you have to double-back.

I had forgotten the dam is a Department of Reclamation site, not a National Park so my new Park Pass wouldn’t help me here. I also didn’t realize if I had bypassed the large, obvious parking garage I could have driven across the dam, driven up the other side a bit and parked for free, saving myself $10. Ironically enough, at the end of the day I decided to do this drive anyway to get some other pictures. So, my advice, if you go, drive all the way across the dam, avoid the one paid parking lot on the other side and continue up. You’ll probably find free parking. Yes, it’s a bit more of a walk, but if you’re like me, you would end up walking over there anyway to check out the views.

Once parked I took the escalator down to the entrance and decided to do the full dam tour (or whatever it’s called). It gets you into a few more places. It’s $30. I’ll admit, I’m still not sure I got my money’s worth. But off I went. First a video of the making and history of the dam and then waiting for my tour time.

Finally I was off for the tour. First we saw one of the bypass tunnels used to divert the Colorado River during the construction. It’s a rough hewn rock tunnel about 50’ in diameter. It’s pretty cool. You stand in a room built inside it atop one of the main penstocks that’s 30’ in diameter. There’s a dull rumble and hum below your feet as thousands of gallons of water per second flow by.

From there you get to see the generator room on the Nevada side. One thing most people don’t realize (and I’ll admit I had forgotten) was that the primary reason for building the dam was flood control and to provide a steady water supply for communities like Las Vegas. The power was secondary and in some ways runs contrary to its primary goal (because the more power they generate, the less water they preserve behind the dam). This is particularly important today with the ongoing climate change because there’s a definite need for the power for communities like Las Vegas, but there’s also been far less snowfall the past winters so there’s far less snowpack, which means less snowmelt, which means the reservoir is far from capacity. In fact as of now, it’s only about 33% full. It’s 165.6’ below what’s considered “full”. Full is considered 1229’ above seal level. It’s at 1063.4’ as I write this. What’s known a deadpool level is 8% capacity and a water level of only 895’ At this level no power can be generated and now water can make it past the dam (since the only outlets for water are through the intake towers and down the penstocks.) I’m sadly betting that some of my readers will see Lake Mead reach deadpool in their lifetimes. (I think there’s a chance I might see it!)

If you only paid for part of the tour, there’s apparently not much more to see. But as I paid the whole dam price, we were taken to see other things, including what’s actually an air vent, but acts like a window on the side of the dam you can look out of. You also get to see an internal staircase that runs from the bottom of the dam all the way to the top. Yes, this is within the dam. The dam itself is not solid but as a number of access tunnels. One purpose of these tunnels is to permit inspection of the large concrete blocks that make up the dam and to monitor any stress cracks forming, other deformation, and more. Also, internal to the dam are seismometers. Originally these were apparently very low tech: literally bowls of mercury on tripods. Being dense, mercury won’t spill out unless something pretty strong shakes the tripod. These have since been replaced by electronic devices, which are in a box on the floor along the path of the tour. So you’re asked VERY firmly to NOT kick the boxes. I think the threat that it stops all the elevators and we’d have to walk that staircase up and out also helps people from doing that.

Another interesting detail about the dam is that it is in fact not attached to the side walls of the canyon in anyway. The mass of water pushes against the arch shape of the dam, holding it in place. This also means that when an earthquake does occur (and it’s near a fault line so they do occur) basically the dam can find its new equilibrium with the canyon walls.

After the tour, I wandered the dam area and took a lot of pictures. On the drive out I pulled over at the parking lot for the pedestrian bridge I mentioned earlier.

This is actually a very well done display and I recommend it. It costs nothing. Well, it might cost you your nerves. Once you’re up on the  bridge, there’s a VERY strong wind. I held on to my phone extra hard here because I was truly worried the wind might rip it out of my hands. You’re also 800’ above the Colorado at this point. But the view of the dam is incredible and I recommend it.

After that I headed into Boulder City for dinner and the Las Vegas Bay campground for the night. The campground itself was nothing much. I’m pretty sure when Lake Mead was higher there was an actual by nearby. But tonight, the shore was miles away. You can see on the drive in how much the lake shore has retreated and how some of the boat launch facilities, etc have had to move down the shore more and more to keep up.

I did manage to see a massive thunderstorm far across the lake, but it never bothered me. And with that, I was off to sleep.

My goal was to get an early start and beat the heat. After my last hike (29 years ago on my honeymoon with Randi) we failed to do that. In spectacular fashion. But let’s just say if running out of water on the hottest (or nearly so) day of the year in the Canyon can test a marriage and here we are 29 years later, I suppose we did ok.

The Backcountry Office had given me two options. One was to catch a 6:00 AM shuttle to the Kaibab trailhead or to try to snag one of the 12 spots at a small lot just off the road to the trailhead. I figured I’d wake up in the morning and see what my time looked like. Each had its benefits, but waiting for the shuttle meant a possibly later start.

I went to bed soon after dark and so I woke up around 4:00 AM (without an alarm!). I quickly packed and figured I’d risk the parking lot. Sure enough there were plenty of spots available. So after a scramble to grab a last few items from the car (I still forgot some hand sanitizer) I was off. I had to hike to the trailhead (Google says about .7 miles) before I could officially start my hike at 6:15 AM. This gave me about a 20 minute head start over the shuttle bus.

Often when I hike I set two goals: an optimistic one and a pessimistic one. This is even more true when it’s a trail I’m not familiar with or when, like now, I’m not in as good a shape as I’d like to be (and not nearly as young as I used to be!) So, I had an optimistic goal of about 2 miles an hour. That may sound easy, but on a steep trail, much in the Sun, and with a heavy backpack, and given the above age/in-shape factors, I figured I could hope for that. But I’d expect something like 1-1.5mph. My first major goal was the Tonto Trail where it crosses the South Kaibab Trail. There were a few points along the way I’d use to measure my progress.

Well the good news is I did make good time. Based on landmarks, even with stopping to take photos, I was averaging at least 2 mph. I was content. This was my 4th time down the trail, but to be honest, it’s been so long I didn’t remember much, just the general fact that it’s VERY exposed to the Sun and there’s no water. There were some spots that seemed familiar though. Mostly this trail, especially the further you go, is really only recommended for in-shape, experienced hikers who are planning on spending the night. I had two of those three parameters down. So I felt comfortable. And it appears most of the folks I passed on the way down (and I in fact did pass some people who were going down more slowly than me) fit that group. What I didn’t expect to pass was Christopher Robin.

Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you. Winnie-the-Pooh.

I first spotted this hiker from a switchback perhaps 30′ above him and a few hundred yards away. At first I thought he was standing next to some sort of small structure or something that perhaps the Park Service had put there to monitor the weather or something. It looked flat, smooth, and very obviously man-made.

But as I got closer I was even more confused. It was in fact not something the Park Service had put there. In fact I’m not 100% sure they would have approved of it being there at all.

It was… a kayak. Yes, you read that right a kayak.

I asked him what his plan was and it was in fact to hike to the Colorado and put in and canoe down some number of days (I forgot how many he said). I wished him luck and continued on my way.

It was a few minutes later when I took a water break that I could here the thump thump of the kayak as it bounced down the trail behind him. That’s when I named him Christopher Robin and his kayak Winnie-the-Pooh. Strangely, about 30 minutes later I met 3 folks hiking up from the river (or at least the Tonto Plateau) who asked if I had seen a guy with a kayak. I’m not sure if they were friends or had simply heard about him. In any event, I never saw him again and hope he made it.

Once at the trail junction I noticed what I’m pretty sure is a new structure since I was there 29 years ago, a Sun shelter. This is in addition to the composting toilets that have been there for as long as I’m aware. Randi and I could have used this last time.

I got here at 8:15, so I was definitely making good time. After a 10 minute potty break and water/food break I was on my way to terra incognita: the Tonto Trail headed west to Havasu Gardens. This was a trail I had never done before. I wasn’t too concerned. It’s fairly flat and there’s non-potable, but treatable, water along the way if I really needed it. The only concern was the Sun. But off I set. I won’t bore you with details. It was uneventful, I saw very few hikers. And I made good time. I will note it’s very obvious in the Canyon where water is. The Cottonwoods grow.

Again, I was making excellent time and was pleased with my progress. I even managed to find a few stretches that still had some shade. My plan of starting very early was paying off.

That said as I approached Havasu Gardens I was in for a bit of a surprise and disappointment. Due to the trail construction and pipeline work, rather than hiking into Havasu along the contour I was on, I had to turn away from the Gardens, descend, cross back up a steep section. It was both physiologically and mentally draining. So close and this small hurdle.

But I made it, and well in the time I wanted. I was at Havasu Gardens by 10:53. I was content.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, reading, and some photo taking. One of the other hikers spied something that caused the Park volunteer to put out a warning sign. I’ll pause to say, if you don’t like snakes, don’t look at the final picture!

Overall, a great day of hiking and I loved being back in the Canyon again and getting the chance to try a new trail! My only concerns… the hike out. Again I wanted an early start. Which I managed to get. More in the next post.