Moab-between Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park 2, 3, 4 May

We thought we had hit the big smoke when we arrived in Moab for three nights.  It is really a holiday town with lots of hotels, restaurants and places to rent bikes, all terrain vehicles, motor bikes, etc.  Debbie and Dan were back in their A frame and we stayed in a Hampton Inn.

The first excursion was to Canyonlands.  This was viewed by driving around the rim and stopping off  at various trails.  A lot of fit cyclists shared the roads too.

To get to the bottom you needed to be brave enough to go in an all terrain vehicle or, like these intrepid souls, cycle down.

Typically most of the trails in the parks are marked by these little cairns.

A window to the world.

Here's the view.

This hungry chipmunk shared our picnic lunch.

Joy on the edge.

A long horned mountain sheep on the skyline.

One theory about the origin of this huge crater in Canyonlands is that it was formed by  meteorite impact.

The Colorado River from Dead Horse Point.

Mexican Hat - near Monument Valley 1 May

This is the view from the motel we were all in at the one horse town of Mexican Hat.

.... and this is why it is called Mexican Hat.

Tex, cooking our steak at the Swinging Steak.  The grill swung back and forth as it cooked.

Here's the result, very Southern.   It was amazingly delicious.

Monument Valley is owned by the Navajo Native Americans and we decided to go with a Navajo guide  so we could access the restricted areas.

Calamity Jane rides again!

That's Dan climbing the sand dune.

Debbie and Bill enjoying the view.

Here we all are again!

Some of the magnificent monuments.

Amazing background.

Two hands with thumbs.

The local flags.

Torrey - near Capital Reef National Park 30 April

A Native American below ground home at the Anasazi State Park Museum, Boulder, on route to Torrey.
 

We all stayed at this bed and breakfast at Torrey.  It was the old school house built 1916.

Our bedroom inside the B&B.

View of our closest neighbour from our room.

Anasazi petroglyphs from sometime before the 12th century in Capital Reef National Park.  After this time they left the area, probably because of severe drought.

Bill and Dan on the trail to Hickman Bridge in Capital Reef.

Debbie enjoys the view on the trail.

We've arrived at Hickman Bridge - well worth the trip.

Later a humming bird came to entertain us while we dined. 

An even older school house than the B and B we stayed in.

Old uranium mine -you could smell the ozone produced by the radioactivity.

View over Lake Powell.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument 28, 29 April

We were joined for two nights by Cathy and Tim, old friends of Debbie's, in a nice house at  Escalante, facing the desert. 

From here we did the Petrified Forest Trail.

Petrified wood and cacti.

Looking down the trail to canyons we visited the next day.

Peel a Boo Canyon, the next day.  There was a sheer 12 foot climb  to reach this canyon, with very few foot holds and even fewer hand holds.  Joy made it half way up, was scared witless and gave up.  Bill didn't even try after that.  However our more intrepid companions made it.

Dan, Debbie, Bill, Joy, Cathy and Tim inside a slit canyon.

Bryce Canyon 26, 27 April

The road out of Zion National Park is spectacular.  It was built in the 1930's as one of Roosevelt's  unemployment relief program.  Here come Dan and Debbie negotiating one of the switchbacks.

Another view from the road.

We stayed at Bryce Canyon for two nights.  It is full of glowing rock formations called Hoodoos (pillars of rock left by erosion).  As the Americans say, the whole canyon is "drop dead gorgeous". 

Looking down a canyon.

A beautiful  but steep hike down the Navajo Loop Trail takes you to the bottom of the canyon.

The very bottom of the trail.

Arriving back up to the top.

We encountered Queen Victoria on the Queen's Garden Trail.

At Brice our accomodation was Ruby's Inn Lodge.  We were in a motel type unit and Debbie and Dan camped in the RV park.  Ruby's Inn is like a village with lots of accommodation, a huge general store, various other shops and also restaurants.

 A rainbow shinning over the canyon.