Sightseeing Mileage in Hurricane area: 75
Starting Mileage leaving Hurricane: 9773
Ending Mileage arriving Cannonville, UT: 9914
Miles Driven: 141
Avg. MPG: 7.7
Gas Price: $3.61--Hurricane, UT
Overnight: Cannonville, Utah
Cannonville / Bryce Valley KOA
Travel Day
We left this morning at 10:15 A.M. We had to head toward Zion NP for a bit and then head north out of La Verkin, UT, toward I-15. The driving route for today is strange becuase we had to head north 50 miles, then east 25 miles, and then southeast for 25 miles. And wallah, we ended up about 25 miles north of where we began; however, we had to drive 100 miles to get to that location.
The first part of our trip was a bit in the hills, but not extreme.
After driving about 8 miles, we passed through a very small town called Toquerville. And, here was it's claim to fame. Can you guess what those items are hanging in the tree?
Yup, those are shoes. There seems to be no special reason for the shoes, just something someone started because they saw it in another town.
Then before we knew it, we had a very steep grade to go down. It didn't seem that we had climbed very high, but we had an 8% grade.
We stopped for lunch at a nice cafe in Panguitch (pronounced like sandwich, but with pan instead of san as the first syllable).
When we left Panguitch, we were driving on a scenic road. We turned off of US Highway 89 and onto State 12. As soon as we turned, we noticed the beauty of the hoodoos. Now, what are hoodoos, you ask. They are those spires of sandstone as in the following pictures. As I learned, the difference between hoodoos and pinnacles or spires is that hoodoos have a variable thickness often described as having a "totem pole-shaped body." A spire has a smoother profile or uniform thickness that tapers from the ground upward.
We stopped at a visitor's center, which is not really for Bryce National Park, but for the scenic State Highway 12. We learned that this scenic highway is 124 miles long.
When we got out of the car, I was surprised at how cool the temperature was in this area. It had been in the mid-80s and now it was only in the low 70s.
We gleaned a lot of information about the area from a woman that is a volunteer at this visitor's center. And, here's the kicker, she's from Gainesville, GA, and her daughter lives in Dacula, GA. Small world! This woman has been full-time volunteering and RVing for 3 years.
After we got the scoop on Bryce Canyon and Highway 12, we headed on down the road toward Bryce NP. Here's some pictures of the hoodoos that we saw as we headed toward our campground.
As we traveled past the entrance to the National Park and on toward our campground, the landscape changed quite a bit. The hoodoos were gone. These hills fascinated us as it almost seemed as if you could see where the lake (a billion years ago) had settled against these hills.
We have lovely views in this campground. It isn't fancy, but really fits well with its surroundings.
Although the campground area is about 10 degrees warmer than the visitor's center area, we've heard the night temps are going to be in the upper 40s. So, I've turned on our electric mattress and turned on the thermostat for a cozy night to dream about hoodoos!
Sorry
11 years ago
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