October 13, 2004—Breathing in Bryce
We finished up our Escalante escapade fairly shortly due to mostly bad weather. Most of the roads are dirt and we didn’t want to get too far afield in the Saturn, caught out on bad roads. We did do one hike through the Devil’s Garden area, which featured some really dark red slickrock, which we had never seen before. After much more spectacular scenery to the east, around Moab, this was pretty tame stuff for us.
Initially, we thought we would stay at Kodachrome Basin, a Utah state park just south of the small town of Cannonville, but after pulling in and finding nothing we could fit into, we had to do the ol’ back out trick and headed the wagon towards Bryce. Kodachrome Basin is a scenic small park and well worthwhile if your rig is on the smaller side.
Bryce seemed busy as we approached but since we arrived in very early afternoon we were able to just manage one of the larger spots left in the North Campground. The other campground within Bryce, Sunset, is not suitable for big rigs and at this time of year both campgrounds are half closed. By day’s end, nearly every available spot was taken, even this late in the season. A new policy is that prior to October 1 you must have a reservation to enter the campground, but that is not the case in this off-season. Be prepared for very uneven sites that are typically jammed in, as seems to be the case in many national parks. When you figure the Bryce entrance fee is $20 per vehicle and times that by 1.7 million visitors per year, the government seems to be doing something else with this money besides making the sorely needed improvements to its national park campgrounds.
Wednesday dawned another clear but cold morning at this 9000 foot elevation. It soon developed into a windy one as well, but Marc and I got a slow start anyway on hiking the Navajo Loop trail, one of several that drop down into the canyon floors. The switchback start of the trail, called Wall Street, is a little taxing on the knees as you lose about 500 feet in elevation in a short span. It does however, make for some great photos.
Soon enough, you’re walking towards the valley’s floor with the sudden appearance of fir trees and see another side of hoodoos as they tower above you. Not long after, a sign signals that you have a choice of extending the hike on other loops.
We stuck to the Navajo Trail and began the ascent. The views got better the higher and steeper the trail got. My title caption is not just a play on words: take your time coming up these trails; breathing at exertion level at this elevation is not easy!
October 14, 2004—Driving through Bryce
To see most of Bryce doesn’t take a long time since the dead end road only reaches to Rainbow Point, a total distance of approximately 19 miles. We head out on this beautifully sunny day and join the throngs headed for the viewpoints.
Much of Bryce sits on the plateau above the amphitheater which provides all the color and spectacle, and to look at the following forest picture you wouldn’t realize that the canyon edge is a mere 20 feet away.
Most visitors spend the majority of the time at the main portion called Bryce Amphitheater, which contains the shortest hikes which drop into the canyon itself. Bryce Canyon Lodge is also close to this area. Although of historic importance, built in 1922, the lodge’s interior is a great disappointment because it is small and newly remodeled with what appears to be cedar rough sawn paneling, typical of what we used to see on living room walls in the 1970’s. It’s definitely worthwhile however to take the time to drive to the other end of Bryce and to hike its trails as well.
We started at Rainbow Point and worked back, selecting most but not all of the observation pull off area for pictures. I’ll include some of the most interesting for inclusion here, which include Rainbow Point, the Natural Bridge area, and Bryce Point. In the days ahead as we get more acclimated to the elevation, we intend to do some of the longer hikes, one of which shows in the photo with the trail going through the hoodoo tunnel.
October 16, 2004—New Camp Hosts
Our time in Bryce has been extended beyond what we initially planned. We learned from the one set of camp hosts left at North Campground that they were leaving the next day and the National Park Service had no one on line to take their place and help out so we’ve volunteered for a few days. We were given uniform shirts, jacket and hats, radios, the keys and orientation, and we promptly moved into the full hookup camp host spot which easily accommodates our rig.
Our primary job is keeping track of the pay stubs and sites as they fill up, helping campers understand the registration system, where they can park, and giving general information about the park. We do no cleaning or maintenance and we do not deal with unruly customers either—there is an excellent staff of very friendly rangers here who take care of that end of this business. We’ll be working four days/week but most of the “work” occurs for about two hours in the morning and again about 7 p.m. as we do our drive through in our golf cart making sure all the pay stubs and dates match up and that campers have actually paid. It’s amazing to us how many seem to let it slip their minds! Our day starts about 7 a.m. with the first tasks and we’re required to be on call until 9 p.m. on the days we work. The staff here has been very accommodating about arranging our schedule to our specifications and also very appreciative of all their volunteers’ efforts.
Bryce’s campgrounds are old with historic log chink bathrooms, some of which are having severe plumbing problems, but plans are underway for major restoration and revision of the campgrounds in 2006. Until then, they’re trying to make do. We found out from the head ranger that the only funds that Bryce gets to keep to make improvements and operate on is the income earned from its campgrounds. Entrance fees collected go off to our big uncle in Washington DC and disappear into some black hole, probably to be used in Iraq or Bosnia or fighting drug war lords in Columbia.
Bryce has just had a major repaving job done to all its main roads and parking areas and the visitor center is a new masterpiece featuring a film auditorium, museum, and well stocked store and information area. Upstairs, where we as employees get to go, is office after office serving park and ranger personnel, research and archive rooms and a historic volume-laden library. Since the skies at Bryce are some of the United States’ clearest, there is actually a lot of astronomical research done here and some of the most popular ranger programs are those involving the night skies and the public’s use of NPS telescopes. We can see over 7500 stars with the naked eye here in Bryce, whereas other light-clear areas of the U.S. average only 2500 stars seen.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of this job is meeting people from many countries and hearing of their travels. This is a picture of a custom owner built, go anywhere four wheel drive rig, driven and made by Ludwig Jackl, from Germany. Ludwig is a helicopter pilot for the police and rescue and frequently flies rescues over the Alps. In spring and summer he can found traveling the U.S. in this rig.
The picture of the bike shows Marc talking about the travel route of a Swiss national who has ridden this BMW 850 dual sport with an 11 gallon gas tank about 30,000 miles from the tip of Peru to Alaska and back and now is cross country U.S. He talked of riding the back roads of Escalante, including Hole in the Rock and the sandy, boulder strewn washes where he nearly crashed his heavily laden motorcycle. After a quick peek at Bryce, he is off to Monument Valley. We wish him well on his travels and are not sure how much longer we ourselves might be here since snow is called for soon.
