Charlie Stein's Photoblog

Hunt Parker & Mt. Holly Sanctuaries, Westchester County, NY

Posted on April 18, 2010 by Charlie

I wanted to do a moderate hike, and checked the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference website for suggestions. A contributor named Jane Daniels had suggested this 7.6-mile route in northern Westchester County, New York, that visits two sanctuaries. I decided to give it a try.

I woke up early on Sunday morning, and left home by 7:30 a.m., driving north about an hour.

The hike begins at the Hunt-Parker Memorial Sanctuary, a 318-acre property owned by the Bedford Audubon Society. I parked in the small parking lot, and found a kiosk with a map of the sanctuary. Following Jane’s directions, I followed the orange-blazed trail uphill, starting around 8:30 a.m. A “blazed” trail means that trees are marked with a splash of color, typically with spray paint, though sometimes with a plastic or metal marker.

8:37 a.m.: I saw quite a few stone walls on these hikes. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to collect stones and pile them in walls that were a foot or two high, apparently to delineate property boundaries. At the far right of this photo, you can see a tree with orange blazing. The trail is on the right side of the wall; I stepped over it to take this shot. To the left of the orange-blazed tree, you can see a branch on the ground with an interesting shape to it. I’ll have a closer shot of that in a moment.

Stone wall

Here’s another view of the wall, from a different angle.

Stone wall

As promised, here’s a closer photo of that oddly-shaped branch:

Fallen branch

8:39 a.m.: Here’s yet another wall:

Stone wall

8:50 a.m.: The orange trail came to an end, and the blue trail began. And here’s a very strangely-shaped tree root. It looked like a giant spider was trying to hide behind that tree, so that it could pounce on an unsuspecting hiker. Scary! The blue trail makes a loop, and I was moving clockwise on it.

Tree root shaped like spider

8:51 a.m.: The blue trail led me through a break in this particular stone wall. Whoever is in charge of blazing the trail must have run out of dark blue paint, and used light blue paint part of the time.

Stone wall

9:02 a.m.: The trail leads to a short wooden bridge over a tiny stream.

Bridge

Here are two views of the tiny stream:

Stream

9:15 a.m.: The blue trail continued. In addition to looking for blaze marks on trees, in many cases the hiker can follow a path left by other hikers. Here, leaves crushed by others mark the way:

Crushed leaves show path to follow

9:29 a.m.: Here is a more substantial stream, which I encountered after having covered about half of the blue trail. Following the directions, I left the blue trail and continued on the white trail.

Stream

9:32 a.m.: Jane’s description is that the white trail goes through wetlands on puncheon. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that word before. My dictionary defines it as a plank road. Well, I found the plank road, but the wetlands appeared to be bone dry.

Puncheon

I met a woman on this trail, the first person I’d seen since beginning the hike. I asked if this was the way to North Salem Road and the Mt. Holly Sanctuary. She confirmed that the white trail led to the road, but did not believe there was an entrance to the Mt. Holly Sanctuary anywhere nearby. But I had my directions, which did not fail me. The white trail soon ended at the road, I turned left, walked past a house on the right and found an AT&T pole, which had a metal gate next to it. An AT&T right of way led between the house on the right and another house on the left. Is it really okay for a hiker to walk along an AT&T right of way? I don’t know. A right of way (or an easement, in legal terms), gives AT&T the right to plant poles and to run wires underground, and to have their people come onto the property to service their easement. But does it also allow AT&T to give permission to someone else to enter the property for an unrelated reason? And has AT&T consented to this? Interesting questions, and I don’t know the answers. But I continued to follow the directions for the hike and no one challenged me.

9:50 a.m.: I soon entered the Mt. Holly Sanctuary, 209 acres owned by The Nature Conservancy, and found a pond, with another rock wall right in front of it.

Rock wall

9:53 a.m.: Now following a yellow-blazed trail, I continued to walk for a while along wetlands that were actually wet.

Wetlands

9:58 a.m.: Still wet.

Wetlands

9:59 a.m.: Some types of algae are healthy to eat, right?

Algae

10:10 a.m.: Still wet.

Muddy area

10:39 a.m.: I then hiked along a blue trail and then a red trail. At one point, I met a couple and a dog on the trail. It was only mid-morning, but I had worked up an appetite, so I sat down on one of the walls and enjoyed lunch.

Stone wall

10:47 a.m.: This looked like a manicured lawn and was right next to a building. I don’t know if the building and lawn were also part of the Mt. Holly Sanctuary, or if it is private property adjacent to the sanctuary, so I did not investigate.

Lawn

10:51 a.m.: While I know nothing of geology, this rock looked out of place. The other rocks were dark, and were smaller or bigger, and weren’t round. I wonder what the story was with this guy:

Round rock

10:53 a.m.: A fallen tree with lichens, and a lot of them:

Fallen tree with lichens

At this point, the route that Jane mapped out exited the Mt. Holly Sanctuary, again making use of the AT&T easement. I walked the short distance along North Salem Road back to where I had exited the Hunt-Parker Memorial Sanctuary. A man in a truck passed me. I re-entered the Hunt-Parker sanctuary, retracing my steps along the
white trail over the nonexistent wetlands. Rejoining the blue trail, I continued moving clockwise on it, covering new territory.

11:44 a.m.: I came across some thorny bushes. Do you think this would hurt? Luckily, I avoided learning the hard way.

Thorns bush

11:53 a.m.: I came to more puncheon. (See, I learned a new word!) This time there was actually some water. But my path was blocked by a fallen branch. Luckily I was able to hop over it.

Fallen branch on puncheon

12:02 p.m.: Another fallen tree with lichen:

Fallen tree with lichens

I completed the blue loop, which took me back to the orange trail, then hiked downhill to my car.

Jane had estimated the 7.6 mile hike should take 5-1/2 hours, but
it only took me 4 hours.

Posted in Hikes | Tagged New York, Westchester County | Leave a comment

Zion Canyon, Utah – September 3, 2009 (P.M.)

Posted on September 6, 2009 by Charlie

Thursday afternoon: Re-energized, I rode the shuttle back north, stopping at the “Court of the Patriarchs” exit. Whereas Bryce Canyon had “overlooks,” featuring beautiful vistas from the canyon rim looking down, I suppose that one could say that Zion had “underlooks,” featuring beautiful vistas from the canyon floor looking up at the cliffs.

A Methodist minister and a local boy had traveled into Zion Canyon and began naming the prominent mountains and features, and many of the names stuck. The Patriarchs are three mountains named, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob is actually the white peak hidden behind the rust-colored peak at the foreground of the photo below. That rust-colored peak is called Moroni, a figure from the Book of Mormon (and I suspect that mountain wasn’t named that by the Methodist minister). I also don’t know if there is a view possible from a different angle that will show Abraham, Isaac and Jacob without Moroni blocking most of Jacob. (Moroni is about 5700 feet high, while the three Patriarchs are 6800 feet high, so perhaps from a higher elevation it’s easier to focus on the three Patriarchs alone.)

Three Patriarchs

Returning to a different shuttle, I rode to the next stop, Zion Lodge, and crossed the road to climb to the Emerald Pools. This was probably a 3-mile hike, and wasn’t too strenuous. I hiked up to the Upper Emerald Pools, then worked my way down to the Middle and Lower Pools.

Water dripping down the rock face carries different minerals, which create quite a canvas of color:

Emerald Pools

Behind a waterfall:

Standing behind a waterfall

Greenery:

Emerald Pools

Some sort of bugs that float on water:

Floating insects

Emerald Pools

Apparently big rocks sometimes just fall off the cliff face. I wondered if someone good at puzzles could figure out where this one on the ground came from:

Emerald Pools

I don’t know what the story is about these piled rocks.

Emerald Pools

I don’t know if I’d call the algae emerald-colored, but it’s definitely some shade of green:

Emerald Pools

While the 3-mile hike wasn’t as strenuous or as inspiring as the morning hike to Angel’s Landing, it did give me an opportunity to eat another energy bar and I think to polish off another 1.7 liters of water.

Returning to the shuttle, I rode back to the Visitor Center. A short walk away is a rock on which the Native Americans had left some symbols. Unfortunately, so have some recent visitors, as well.

South Gate Petroglyphs

I have no idea what’s Native American and what isn’t. I suspect the curly item and pitchfork (snowshoes?) may be Native. I’m skeptical that Snoopy is.

South Gate Petroglyphs

This is really shocking: Amy & Greg 1982 chipped onto the surface of a rock alongside ancient graffiti. One would think that people who travel great distances to visit a precious resource like a national park would know better than to deface it!

Friday morning, September 4:

I broke camp, this time packing up my tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. I drove back to the eastern entrance of the park to take a few photos, then drove back through the park and exited to the west, driving to I-15.

I then exited a few miles to the north, to visit the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park. I drove to the top of the Kolob Canyons Road, where I found the Kolob Canyons Viewpoint. This features a number of small “finger canyons.” This photo shows Beatty Point and Nagunt Mesa:

Kolub Canyons Viewpoint

I then went on my last hike, a one-mile roundtrip on the Timber Creek Overlook Trail. I even forgot to put on my boots, just walking in my casual shoes.

From this trail, one can see south to the Kaibab Plateau on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. (I won’t guarantee that I was pointing the camera in the correct direction, though.)

Kolub Canyons Viewpoint

I continued my drive north to Salt Lake City, where I checked into a motel about 0.7 miles from Chabad.

Friday evening, September 4:

There were only about 13 men for services at Chabad, including myself and another out-of-town guest.

Rabbi Zippel and his wife had me as one of their guests for Friday night dinner. He mentioned that he had recently been invited to an upsherin, and had brought his shofar as it was Elul, and that while blowing it, a dog had come up behind him and started howling. Someone was recording this, and it ended up on YouTube.

Saturday, September 5:

For morning prayers, there were only about 18 men. The rabbi did almost everything: led all the prayers and also read the Torah. Another man, a professor of Hebrew at the university, read the haftorah. He read it without a melody, but with a dramatic emphasis on the words. That was interesting.

I then went back to the hotel and managed to sleep for a few hours. I had not been wise enough to purchase a book, but I had one or two alumni magazines that I read very slowly.

For afternoon prayers, there was not even a quorum of men.

Sunday, September 6:

In the morning, I flew back to New York, arriving in the afternoon. That’s how I spent my summer vacation.

Posted in Hikes, Vacations | Tagged Utah, waterfall, Zion Canyon | Leave a comment

Zion Canyon, Utah – September 3, 2009 (A.M.)

Posted on September 6, 2009 by Charlie

Thursday morning: With my backpack, an energy bar, an apple, and a one liter and 700 ml bottle of water, I boarded the shuttle at the Visitor’s Center. As the shuttle pulled away, I saw a man wearing a red knitted yarmulke. It’s too bad that I didn’t get a chance to greet him. The shuttle drove north on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, and I exited at The Grotto stop, where I walked across a footbridge across the Virgin River and began climbing the West Rim Trail toward Angel’s Landing.

The hike is 2.5 miles each way, so 5 miles round-trip. It is estimated to take 4 hours; I think I stopped for about ½ hour on the way back to enjoy the scenery, so it took me about 4-1/2 hours.

I started at about the same time as a lady who was probably around 70. I spoke to her briefly, but she told me she thought that she would move slowly, so that I should go on ahead and not let her hold me back.

The path at first was level and was sandy, with the river to my right.

West Rim Trail

After a short while, the trail became paved. Some of the other hikers speculated on what had been involved in paving the road. Originally, pack horses and mules were involved.

West Rim Trail

While Bryce Canyon had been desert, I don’t remember seeing any cactus there. However, I saw many of them at Zion, though typically Opuntia ficus-indica (prickly pear):

Prickly pear cactus

I looked back every few minutes, and the older lady seemed to be not so far behind me. I should have taken her photo.

Gaining some elevation, the river appears to shrink.

West Rim Trail

Getting higher still, and the switchbacks begin. The older lady seemed to be drawing closer.

Walter’s Wiggles

The series of 21 short switchbacks is called Walter’s Wiggles, in honor of the park’s first superintendent, Walter Ruesch. In 1925, with no engineering background, he designed and built this trail. Here’s a close-up of one of the Wiggles. This area was repaved more recently, with the aid of helicopters instead of pack animals:

West Rim Trail

This shot shows a number of the switchbacks winding back and forth below. At one point, I stopped to catch my breath, and the 70-year-old lady passed me.

West Rim Trail

After about 75 minutes, we had walked 1.9 miles (and climbed 1,000 feet), to Scout Lookout. There are actually two prefabricated restrooms up here! They must have been brought in by helicopter.

The paved trail ended, and the final 0.5 miles (and 500 feet in elevation) to Angel’s Landing involved scrambling over rocks. In many places a heavy metal chain had been added, either to keep people away from a dangerous edge, or to aid people in their
scrambling up the rocks (or down the rocks, when descending). I sat and rested for a few minutes, enjoying my energy bar and some more water, contemplating the next step of the way.

Scout Lookout, with warning sign

Warning sign for Angel’s Landing

The older lady decided that Scout Lookout was far enough for her, so I finally passed her for good.

Here’s a great view of the Virgin River and Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, about 1,000 feet below:

View from Angel’s Landing Trail

Getting closer to the top:

Angel’s Landing Trail

And closer:

Angel’s Landing Trail

A look down at some of the rocks I’d scrambled up, and the helpful chain:

Angel’s Landing Trail, Zion Canyon National Park, UT

Looking at an adjacent cliff:

View from Angel’s Landing Trail

Different minerals are carried by rainwater and paint the sides of the cliffs:

View from Angel’s Landing Trail

Finally made it! At the summit of Angel’s Landing:

Posing on Angel’s Landing

Here I am modeling my Columbia Dillon Ridge boots (the Virgin River is 1,488 feet below) [the rest of my body was behind a heavy chain]:

Looking down from Angel’s Landing

On the way downhill, I overheard a couple of blonde-haired women talking about Birthright and how someone they knew had taken advantage of the program to go to Israel. I stepped aside in a safe place, allowing them to ascend the chains. One thanked me for stepping aside, and I answered, “Shalom Aleichem.” They laughed, and one said, “I guess he heard us.” But they didn’t stop to talk.

Further down the trail, but before getting back to Scout Lookout, I saw that there was a tiny cave under the trail, just big enough for one man. I sat in there for many minutes, eating my apple and watching people as they walked by. The people heading uphill never looked back at this point, and thus never saw me in this little cave. The people going downhill may have seen me. A squirrel ran into the little hole, was shocked to see a human in there, and ran out again.

Cave under Angel’s Landing Trail

As I noted earlier, the hike took me 4-1/2 hours. I drank my 1.7 liters of water as I returned to the trailhead. I rode the shuttle back to the Visitor Center and walked the short distance to my camp, where I changed clothes, ate lunch and drank more water. The experts recommend that people drink a gallon of water each day in the desert, and I was on track to do so.

Next: Emerald Pools.

Posted in Hikes, Vacations | Tagged Utah, Zion Canyon | Leave a comment

Zion Canyon, Utah – September 2, 2009

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Charlie

Wednesday morning: I drove the 75 miles from Bryce to Zion, arriving while it was still morning. I entered the park through the East Entrance, which includes a 1.1-mile tunnel through a sandstone mountain, which, when completed in 1930, was the longest tunnel in the U.S. The tunnel and the road were actually constructed to make it easier for tourists to access Zion from Bryce and from the Grand Canyon.

The tunnel is rather narrow and has no lights, so if a wide RV wants to go through, they make the tunnel one-way until it passes through. But the tunnel wasn’t that intimidating for a car.

This feature is called Checkerboard Mesa. The pattern is natural. (I actually took these East Entrance photos on Friday morning.)

Checkerboard Mesa

Passing through the tunnel and looking back:

East entrance tunnel

Another shot from the eastern side of the park. [That’s Datura inoxia in the foreground, a plant native to South and Central America, but introduced to Utah by the Mormons.]

Datura inoxia

I arrived at the campground and quickly confirmed that there were still camp sites available, as I had guessed from my conversation with the ranger at Bryce. I selected a site and set up my tent.

Unlike Bryce, Zion did not have a camp store and did not have showers in the park. A store was located a short distance outside of the park, and showers were also available outside the park. I have no idea how a park decides what amenities to offer visitors/campers. I can imagine that the businesses outside the park would not be happy if Zion granted a license for someone to open a camp store/shower facility within the park, but at Bryce, there were also businesses located a short distance outside the park, which no doubt lost business to Bryce’s camp store.

The road that enters the park through the East Entrance, State Road 9, continues on through the park and exits to the west, continuing on to Interstate I-15. Branching north off the east-west State Road 9 is
the park’s Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, which runs into the canyon. For the Spring through the Fall, this road is only open to the park’s shuttle service, to minimize vehicular traffic in the park. Bryce Canyon had a voluntary shuttle service, but it was of limited scope and I did not use it. That is, it traveled between the Visitor Center, Lodge, and the Bryce Amphitheater, but did not travel to the southern terminus of the park road, and thus did not visit many of the overlooks that I enjoyed, or the trailheads at Bristlecone Loop Trail or into Swamp Canyon. However, at Zion, the shuttle service ran from the Visitor Center (which was close to my campsite) to the far end of that Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, which was where the most popular hikes are.

I checked in at the Zion Visitor Center to learn what ranger-led programs were available. There was a ranger-narrated shuttle ride at 6:00 that evening, so I signed up for that. I also learned that there had been a rock slide that morning that had wiped out 50’ of the Weeping Rock Trail, a short (1/2 mile trail), and so the rangers had closed it for repair.

While only 75 miles away from Bryce, Zion is very different. Geologically, there has been more erosion here, so a deeper strata of rock is exposed here than at Bryce. The Grand Canyon is a lower strata than Zion. These stepped-down rock layers from Bryce to Zion to the Grand Canyon are referred to as the “Grand Staircase.”

Whereas Bryce had red Navajo sandstone, Zion had darker rock. At first I didn’t think that Zion was as pretty as Bryce, but it grew on me. Zion does have a river, the Virgin River, running through the canyon, which is also different from Bryce, which is typically dry. Another difference is that at Bryce, the park road runs along the top of the canyon, and hikers hike down into the canyons. At Zion, the park road runs along the bottom of the canyon, and hikers hike up to the tops of the cliffs. The elevation at the campgrounds was probably around 4,000 feet, about half the elevation of the campgrounds at Bryce. This led to a much warmer environment. Whereas temperatures dropped to 42 a couple of nights at Bryce, the temperatures were around 70 or in the 70s during my two nights at Zion. I did not think the days were much warmer, though.

I rode the shuttle to the most northern stop on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. This was the “Temple of Sinawava,” the trailhead for the Riverside Walk. The trail appears in the lower right of the photo below, and there are not many elevation changes.

Riverside Walk

Moving down the trail, I spotted a non-venomous gopher snake. They eat mice, rats and other rodents. Unfortunately, the photo isn’t focused that well.

Gopher Snake

At the end of the Riverside Walk, the canyon becomes too narrow to have a dry trail running alongside the river. This was the end of the hike for me, but not for others. “The Narrows” continues to run for 10 miles or so. Visitors were welcome to wade through the river a while if they wanted to, though if they intended to hike the entire distance through The Narrows, they needed to register with the Park Service, and arrange for a ride at each end.

The park recommended waders and also a staff or poles if one wished to go into the Narrows, and lacking either, I passed. If I’d had more time there, I would have loved to continue. I didn’t see anyone with waders. I guess people didn’t mind getting their boots soaked. As I only had one pair of boots with me, I wasn’t about to do that. Many people had staffs or poles; I don’t know if they all had joint problems, or if there’s a belief that such equipment can help prevent such problems. I can understand having such equipment in a river, where you can’t necessarily see every rock or know how stable the rocks are, but people were also using staffs and poles on the other trails at Bryce and Zion, and it seemed odd to me.

Here are some people who don’t mind getting their boots wet:

Riverside Walk

Hiking in the Narrows

This was a shot looking up between the canyon walls along the Riverside Walk. There might have been a bit of an overhang here.

Riverside Walk

At Bryce, I had seen many chipmunks, but few squirrels. At Zion, this was reversed. This squirrel was standing on top of a rock, and was chirping loudly and repeatedly. I’m not used to squirrels being vocal and shot a couple of seconds of video of him. I’ll have more to say about this guy a little later.

Chirping squirrel

This is another view from the Riverside Walk, showing the Virgin River and Zion Canyon.

Riverside Walk

I then rode the shuttle back four stops to the Zion Lodge, a beautiful place for people who don’t like sleeping in tents:

Zion Lodge

A ranger was giving a talk on the lawn about different mammals that may be encountered in the region, and he had a number of pelts with him. The talk was very interesting. If I remember correctly, the pelts represent: wolf, coyote, badger, fox, beaver, skunk, bobcat, cougar. He said that coyotes were brilliant, and that skunks were very sweet animals!

Animal pelts

I returned to my campsite for dinner, then went to the Visitor Center at 6:00 for the ranger-guided tour. We rode a shuttle back along the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, repeating the same trip I’d done on my own a couple of hours earlier. We stopped a few times and she spoke, but I was not that impressed with that program.

Here are random photographs that I took along the way.

Zion Canyon National Park

Plant

Zion Canyon National Park

One of the other tourists told the ranger that he had seen a big fat squirrel sitting on a rock along the Riverside Walk. She said that the rangers called that squirrel Buddha. I showed her the video in my camera of the chirping squirrel, and she thought that was Buddha.

After the tour, the shuttle returned to the Visitor Center, and I went back to the campground, watched some video and eventually went to sleep.

Next: Angel’s Landing.

Posted in Hikes, Vacations | Tagged snake, Utah, Zion Canyon | Leave a comment

Bryce Canyon, Utah – September 1, 2009 (P.M.)

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Charlie

Tuesday afternoon: I had mentioned that on the previous day’s three mile hike into the Bryce Amphitheater, I had developed a slight sunburn. At the camp store, I found a choice of two sunblocks and selected the Bull Frog SPF 50 Super Block Lotion Sunblock with Titanium Dioxide. Try saying that real fast. After applying this, I remembered that titanium dioxide is a white pigment, and I guess that’s what elderly people use when you see people on the beach with their noses painted white. This was only 7% titanium dioxide, so it wasn’t quite that bad, but it still left my skin looking much whiter than it should, so I wasn’t that fond of it. It was also so waterproof that a shower didn’t entirely remove it. This led me to buy a different brand of sunscreen, which was more pleasing.

After lunch on Tuesday, I drove south on the park road, past the Amphitheater and toward the overlooks I had seen in the morning. I stopped at Swamp Canyon, the trailhead for what was supposed to be a 4.3 mile hike, with a change in elevation of 800 feet.

I had printed out a little map and description from the park’s website, which I had with me, but for some reason I didn’t have the park brochure and map, which would have been very useful. I believe that I accidentally left it in the car. I had a description that read, “From the Swamp Canyon overlook, hikers can descend to either side of the prominence on a trail that will connect with the Under-the-Rim Trail and then return on the other side, making a loop.”

So I descended from the overlook, reaching a branch in the trail. To the left was a field with pronghorn in it. Unlike the deer I encountered, the pronghorn seemed more skittish, and even though they were quite far from me, seemed intent on keeping that great distance.

Pronghorn

To the left was the Sheep Creek Connecting Trail, and to the right was the Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail. This is all clear looking at the park brochure and map (which I didn’t have with me). Apparently the 4.3 mile hike was to go left on the Sheep Creek Connecting Trail, turn right when that trail ended at the Under-the-Rim Trail, and then turn right when the Under-the-Rim Trail intersected the Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail. (Or conversely, one could have gone right on the Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail, gone left when that trail ended at the Under-the-Rim Trail, and then gone left when that trail intersected the Sheep Creek Connecting Trail.)

Not realizing this, and with my printout not saying anything about a Sheep Creek Connecting Trail, and instead describing this as a Swamp Canyon hike, I turned right on the Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail. Then, when that trail ended at the Under-the-Rim Trail, I did not turn left on that trail, as the website had apparently intended, but instead I turned right . . .

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

About eight minutes later, the trail began descending to the bottom of the canyon floor. This was an interesting rock formation beside the trail. Note the hard cap rock on top.

Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail

This cap rock is apparently a different formulation of minerals that was deposited in some areas, so that while erosion allowed rain water to erode the surrounding rock, the cap protected this particular spot and prevented the rain from eroding the softer sandstone underneath. This is how the hoodoos and other formations in the park were created. It appeared that the trail continued straight ahead, and I stepped over a log and continued on, but a few feet later the trail appeared to vanish, and there was a very steep slope downward. I turned my attention back to formation in the photo above, and noticed a small hole with what appeared to be a nest of twigs and leaves. It was above my head level, but I used my camera to shoot a photo into the hole. There was nothing interesting there, though, so I don’t know if it was an old nest of birds or a squirrel or chipmunk.

I again considered the fact that the trail had appeared to vanish, and turned back toward the trail I had come from, thinking that I would abandon this hike. I then saw the continuation of the trail, as a switchback that I had not noticed as I descended the trail to this rock formation.

I continued on the trail, descending lower into the canyon. I quickly came to an area where there had been a forest fire.

Burned trees

One good thing about hiking on trails is that one avoids hazards that he might face walking in an area without a trail. One such hazard are tree stumps, which may eventually decompose to leave a deep hole in the ground. As I hiked through this burned area, I saw a few holes, close to the trail, where fire had consumed tree stumps, leaving deep pits in the ground.

Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail

Around this point, I reached the end of the Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail, and as discussed above, turned right onto the Under-the-Rim Trail. I should note that this entire time, I did not see a single person. This was a very different experience than on my other hikes on the trails in the park.

Burned trees

The damage from the forest fire continued. In some cases, trees still had pine needles, but they were a brownish color, and I wondered if the tree could survive or if it was already dead. I wondered how long ago this fire had occurred. I knew that I was not the first one to have entered the area since then, as there were other boot prints in the ashes.

The Under-the-Rim Trail then intersected the Whiteman Connecting Trail, which was not on my printout from the website, but which I realized was in the correct direction to lead to the top of the canyon and the road. I also knew that the Under-the-Rim Trail continued on for miles, to the southern end of the park. So I decided that the Whiteman Connecting Trail was the way to go.

The burned trees continued, and once or twice I thought I saw some smoke arising from the ashes, or felt some heat from it, and again wondered how recent the fire had been. I thought that the ashes were just being blown in the breeze. However, at one point I passed a hole in the ground, where a tree or at least its stump had formerly stood, and it was still smoking!

Smoking hole

The Whiteman Connecting Trail began moving upward, toward the canyon rim, and the scenery improved.

Whiteman Connecting Trail

Loud grasshoppers were flying around. I heard one and spotted him flying through the air near me, and then he landed. Can you spot him toward the bottom center of this photo? He blends in very well with the rocks and twigs. Even having watched him land, I had a hard time seeing him on the ground. I think it’s a band-winged grasshopper (Dissosteira spurcata Saussure).

Grasshopper

Climbing uphill is even better exercise than climbing downhill, but I finally made it to the top of the Whiteman Connecting Trail:

Whiteman Connecting Trail

I was becoming a little concerned about the length of the hike, especially as I didn’t have the park brochure and map that would have clearly showed me where I was going. I began wondering if I should turn back, but thought that I must be nearing the roadway, and so I continued on a few more minutes and the trail did indeed end at the road.

I knew that I was south of the Swamp Canyon overlook and where I had left my car, and a map at the head of the Whiteman Connecting Trail confirmed that I was 3.6 miles away from Swamp Canyon overlook. I knew that walking 3.6 miles on a paved (and relatively level) road would only take an hour and would not be too exerting, so that didn’t concern me.

Along the way, I stopped to photograph a bee enjoying some nectar.

Bee

Right around an hour later, I hiked to the Swamp Canyon overlook, the beginning of my hike. So instead of the 4.3 mile hike I had expected, I had about a 5.5 or 6 mile hike. At the overlook, I saw a posted notice about the forest fire, which I had not seen at the start of my hike. It had apparently begun five or six weeks earlier. It is amazing to me that a tree trunk was still burning weeks later. I did not report it, and don’t know if I was supposed to. It didn’t look like there was much fuel remaining to burn, so it was probably not much risk.

Bridge Fire news release

Bridge Fire facts

That evening, I went to a program at the visitor center at 8:00 pm, on the Night Sky at Bryce. I have previously mentioned that the air quality is usually excellent (when there aren’t forest fires at New Harmony), and as there aren’t many big cities around, there also isn’t much light pollution. Thus, there are usually grand views of the night sky at Bryce Canyon. The program was to discuss this, and afterwards to allow people to view the sky through telescopes.

I arrived at the visitor center a few minutes early. I heard one young woman talking to an older woman in Hebrew, and we made eye contact. During the day, when I was out on hikes, I wore a “boonie hat” to protect myself from the sun, but at night I was just wearing my yarmulke, so she no doubt realized that I identified her speech as Hebrew.

I fell asleep during the lecture, but can’t say whether that was due to having been hiking most of the day or whether the lecture wasn’t that interesting. After the lecture, I saw that the sky was still cloudy, whether with rain clouds or smoke clouds. I still felt tired, as well, so I decided to pass on the telescope viewing party and return to my campsite. I watched another Warehouse 13 video and then went to sleep.

The next morning, I packed up my tent and sleeping bag (well, I didn’t need to pack that well, since I wasn’t backpacking but rather “car camping.” So I threw the gear into the trunk of my car, without having to fold it and pack it too much.

On the way out of the park, I stopped at one last overlook that I had not yet visited, Fairyland Point:

Fairyland Point

I then bid farewell to Bryce Canyon, and drove to Zion National Park, about 75 miles away.

Next: Zion Canyon!

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Bryce Canyon, Utah – September 1, 2009 (Midday)

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Charlie

Late Tuesday morning and early afternoon: I drove north on the park road, stopping at overlooks along the way. Most of these overlooks do not have any trails associated with them, but are simply small parking areas and sidewalks with an interpretive sign telling visitors what they are seeing.

The first stop was at the parking area to Black Birch Canyon. Years ago, when using a film camera, I would carry a notebook and write down what I was shooting in each frame. I didn’t write notes on this trip. However, I realized that with digital cameras, there’s no need to worry about wasting film, and that I could shoot photos of signs that would help to identify a set of photos. This is an example of one such identifying photo, and I include it because it also shows the typical signage and short paths leading from some parking areas to the overlook. Also, note the elevation here. Some people have problem with higher elevations, especially with exertion, but luckily I haven’t had such problems. Years ago, on my previous trip to the Four Corners states, I spent time camping with the Sierra Club near Aspen. I recall that we were camping at around 10,000 feet, and working on a trail that led to a mountain lake around 13,000 feet. So what’s a mere 8,800 feet above sea level?

Black Birch Canyon

The next stop on the park road was the overlook from Ponderosa Canyon:

Ponderosa Canyon

Next up was Agua Canyon:

Agua Canyon

The next overlook was Natural Bridge.

Natural Bridge

Next up was Farview Point, which included a short trail to another overlook, Piracy Point. I think that this photo is actually from Piracy Point, though I’m not certain:

Piracy Point

I spotted a small arch or bridge, and zoomed in:

Piracy Point

I then drove past the Swamp Canyon overlook, knowing that I’d be returning there in the afternoon for my afternoon hike. I drove back toward the Bryce Amphitheater and went to my campsite, where I had lunch. There wasn’t much of a view from the campsite itself, which was in a small bowl, but then I spotted a trail from the campsite leading up a hill, and went to have a look. The trail was the Rim Trail, a trail running along the western half of the Amphitheater. So just a hundred yards from my campsite I topped a hill and had a very nice view, once I knew where to find it.

Rim Trail

As I mentioned, just driving on the park road, it’s not unusual to see animals. Here are two photos of deer that were taken from the road, either from my car or standing close to it:

Deer

Next: A hike through a burned and still smoking Swamp Canyon.

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Bryce Canyon, Utah – September 1, 2009 (A.M.)

Posted on September 1, 2009 by Charlie

Tuesday morning: In the morning, I drove down the park road to the southern terminus, Rainbow Point. This is the trailhead for the Bristlecone Loop trail.

Here’s the view from Inspiration Point, about ½ mile to the south of Sunset Point.

Inspiration Point

I began walking down the Bristlecone Loop trail, a short trail that’s only about a mile long. As you can see, it’s very different from “The Amphitheater,” in that the visitor is surrounded by green trees instead of red hoodoos and cliffs. I saw deer along the path and was able to walk pretty close to them, but didn’t get any good shots. I have two other good shots of deer taken along the road, which I’ll post later. I also saw Pronghorn in the park, an animal referred to as an “antelope,” though it’s not a true antelope. Wikipedia notes that, “true antelope have horns which are unbranched and never shed, while Pronghorns have branching horns, shed annually.”

Bristlecone Loop Trail

There’s an overlook a short distance off the Bristlecone Loop trail called Yovimpa Point, so I detoured there. During most days, visitors can see Navajo Mountain, the mountain that is sacred to the Navajo tribe, about 80 miles distance. However, it was a hazy morning, probably due in part to the forest fire near New Harmony, Utah, as you can see in the photo below. In the center of the shot one can see No Man’s Mesa and Molly’s Nipple, an eroded sandstone cone, about 25 miles away.

Yovimpa Point

Returning to the Bristlecone Loop trail, the trees soon gave way to additional vistas:

Bristlecone Loop Trail

A sign indicated that this bristlecone pine tree is 1,600 years old:

Bristlecone pine tree

Bristlecone Loop Trail

A close-up of the needles of a bristlecone pine:

Bristlecone pine needles

Bristlecone Loop Trail

A friend of a friend suggested that this flower is a bloom of the
genus Castilleja, commonly known as Indian paintbrush. Looking
through Wikipedia’s listings of that genus, it looks most like Catilleja linariifolia:

Indian Paint Brush

Bristlecone Loop Trail

Next: Mid-day in Bryce Canyon.

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Bryce Canyon, Utah – August 31, 2009 (P.M.)

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Charlie

Monday afternoon: After lunch, I drove about five miles to the north, into an area of the park called Water Canyon. It is actually outside the entrance to the park, so one can visit this area without paying admission. This area is home to Mossy Cave and a small waterfall. The trail is only about 0.9 miles, each way, with an elevation change of 300 feet.

The higher elevations of this canyon have the texture typical of Bryce Canyon and its hoodoos, while the lower section is without hoodoos.

As you can see, a nice stream runs through this canyon.

Water Canyon

Mossy Cave is not a cavern, but only a “shelter cave.” In the winter, it is supposedly filled with giant icicles. On the last day in August, there was no ice left.

Mossy Cave

Here’s the view from inside the cave, looking out:

Mossy Cave

Here’s a view of the stream meandering through the canyon:

Stream

This is the small waterfall, which flows from May to October.

Small waterfall

The Mossy Cave trail here is not a loop, so one returns on the same path. Here’s a view on the way out:

Footbridge

The National Park Service sometimes does a lot to make areas accessible to visitors. They lay out trails, and then preparation can be as simple as making sure that it’s fairly well marked and clear of large obstructions, to more complex preparations, such as adding fill to create a safer, more manageable slope, or in this case adding a pedestrian footbridge. However, the Park Service tries to minimize the environmental impact of the changes they make. For example, if they add walls, they may assemble them from local rocks, or make them from bricks that are a color close to the surrounding terrain. Here, the bridge is painted a dark brown shade that blends well.

Monday late afternoon, August 31:

After leaving Mossy Cave and returning to the main part of the park, I paid short visits to three overlooks. In addition to trails, parks may have overlooks where a visitor can see beautiful scenery without leaving his car, or at least without having to walk more than a few feet from it.

I previously mentioned Sunrise Point and Sunset Point as the start and end points of my three mile hike that morning on the Queens Garden Trail and Navajo Trail. Those were overlooks into Bryce Canyon itself, also referred to as “the Bryce Amphitheater.”

I returned to that general area, and visited the two other overlooks into the Bryce Amphitheater. If you can imagine the Amphitheater as a clock, then Sunrise Point is at the 10 o’clock position, Sunset Point is at the 9 o’clock position, Inspiration Point is at the 8 o’clock position, and Bryce Point is at the 6 o’clock position.

So here’s the view from Inspiration Point, about ½ mile to the south of Sunset Point.

Inspiration Point

Here’s the view from Bryce Point, about a mile to the southeast of Inspiration Point.

Bryce Point

I also took a zoom shot from Bryce Point. I don’t have a superzoom camera; rather, it’s only a 4x-zoom, from 25mm equivalent (a wide angle) to 100mm (twice the normal view). The air quality in that area of the country is excellent, so on a clear day one can see 150 miles! However, as I mentioned, there had been a problem with forest fires, so the sky did appear hazy at times.

Bryce Point

The third overlook that I visited that late afternoon was Paria View. It’s about a mile southwest of Bryce Point, and it’s not on the rim of the Bryce Amphitheater, but rather has a view toward the park’s “Pink Cliffs.” However, between the haze and the late afternoon lighting, I don’t think the view is as pleasing as those of the overlooks into the Bryce Amphitheater.

Paria View

I returned to my campsite for dinner. My camera battery had run down, so I plugged it into the charger and plugged the charger into an outlet at the campground restroom nearest to my campsite.

There was an evening program at the Lodge. The Parks frequently have programs run by rangers. This may include some hikes, or talks at observation points, or talks at the Visitor Center, campsite, or a lodge. This night, the program was on endangered animals. This talk was given by a volunteer, rather than a Park ranger. She mentioned a number of species that were close to extinction that have rebounded to some extent. One species is the Utah prairie dogs, a colony of which lives in Bryce Canyon National Park. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any of them. She claimed that they can run as fast as 40 mph, which is why the speed limit in some areas of the park is 35 mph. I don’t really believe that: it’s not unusual for parks to have such speed limits, as roads are narrow, winding, and drivers need to watch out for other drivers who pull over to admire a site or an animal. Thus, I really doubt that the speed limit was set to allow prairie dogs to run away from a car. The speaker claimed that prairie dogs traditionally lived near the buffalo herds, eating buffalo droppings. At Bryce Canyon, a company has a concession to offer horse rides, and the prairie dogs have found horse droppings to be tasty. Thus, a driver may see these prairie dogs in the road, enjoying something left behind by a horse. She also said that if a prairie dog dies above ground, such as being run over on a road, the other prairie dogs will cannibalize it. She said that they don’t do that if one dies underground. She speculated that they do this so that predators won’t see the dead prairie dog and realize that there are live ones nearby.

After the program, I returned to my campsite and retrieved my camera battery, which had been recharged. People are trusting enough to leave some items plugged in for a couple of hours to recharge, such as an electric shaver, and walk away, expecting they will be there when they return. For that matter, people leave their tents and sleeping bags at the campsite and go away for hours.

I watched the end of the Warehouse 13 episode from the night before, and went to sleep.

Next: The Bristlecone Loop Trail.

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Bryce Canyon, Utah – August 31, 2009 (A.M.)

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Charlie

Monday morning: By the way, what are Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks? There’s a geological region called the Colorado Plateau, which takes up a big chunk of the “Four Corners” states: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. This plateau has the greatest concentration of national parks in the United States. Scientists say that the region was once flat land, was then pushed up by tectonic activity, then slowly eroded over millions of years.

Bryce Canyon wasn’t eroded that much, so it’s still near the top of where the plateau originally was. Zion has been eroded more, so it’s at a lower elevation and exposes lower geological formations than Bryce does. The Grand Canyon is the lowest level, exposing even lower geological formations. This reduction in geological layers across the three national parks is referred to as The Grand Staircase.

Bryce is known for red Navajo sandstone, striking in color. It’s also known for “hoodoos,” the name given to pillars of rock that are left standing. Native Americans believed that they were people who had been turned to rock.

I woke up and went for a shower. Typically, state parks have nice shower facilities (though that may vary by state), whereas national parks may be deficient in that regard. Bryce Canyon actually had a “Camp Store,” run by consignment, I imagine, which had showers. A shower was two dollars. The machines took dollar coins, which I obtained in the camp store. I didn’t know how long the shower would run, but it was more than enough time needed. There were five or six shower stalls, so there was no line.

I was at the park during a quiet week, as school had just started. Half of the tourists seemed to be foreigners, with half of those being German. I also heard French, Italian, and a few other languages. Of the Americans, many were retirees.

Also at the camp store, I bought a bottle of chocolate milk to supplement my breakfast bars. When I had first planned the trip, six weeks earlier, I had wanted to visit both Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. However, the campsites could be booked over the Internet, and the website showed that the Zion campsites were already full. I decided to book five nights at Bryce Canyon, thinking that perhaps I could drive over to Zion for a day trip. The website showed that Bryce Canyon’s campsite was also filling up, and I couldn’t find one site available for five nights. The best I could do was to get one site for one night, and then an adjacent site for four nights. Check-out was 11:30 and check-in was noon. The people at the adjacent campsite left early in the morning, and I was wondering if I could just carry my tent over there without disassembling it, but I didn’t know what to do about the fact that they were expecting no one to be at that campsite between 11:30 and noon. In the end, I decided that it would be simple enough to break down the tent, only taking a few minutes, and reassemble it. So I took it apart, put it in my car, and prepared to drive off, intending to return later in the day to the adjacent campsite.

I didn’t make it far. I backed the Corolla out of the driveway of my first campsite, and saw there was a pole behind me that I didn’t want to hit, so I didn’t back up too far. (Since it was a rental car, I wasn’t that comfortable with how close or how far I was from objects.) I then turned the wheel to the left and put the car into drive. I knew there was a drainage ditch in front of me, but I thought I cleared it. However, as I started to creep forward, I felt the car drive onto soft gravel and then quickly slide into the ditch. An Asian man camping nearby came over and with the help of another man tried pushing the car out of the ditch, but it was hopeless. At least the car wasn’t at all damaged, just stuck:

Stuck

The Asian man’s wife used her cell phone to call the Park headquarters and reported that there was a car stuck in the mud. Her children tried correcting her that it was gravel, as this was a desert environment that had been pretty dry. [In fact, on the drive down to the Park, I had heard on the radio about forest fires that were threatening to destroy homes in New Harmony, and the radio said that residents should be prepared to abandon their homes at a moment’s notice!]

A friendly Park law enforcement ranger arrived, and asked how I was doing. “Embarrassed,” I answered. He laughed. He confirmed that I would need a tow truck to extricate the car, and said that at least it was right outside the park, so it wouldn’t take long to arrive or cost much. It took about a half hour for the driver to arrive. The tow truck driver said that the Park headquarters had told him that a car was stuck in the mud, and he thought it was a practical joke. He attached hooks to the frame of the car and quickly winched it back onto the road. This only cost me $65.

However, something good came of this incident. The ranger had said, “Oh, since you’re in this campsite, I guess you reserved online. We don’t like that program too much, because we have to give up a part of the camping fee to the company that has the website consignment, but the National Park Service makes us participate. However, we only list about a quarter of our campsites online.” I said, “you mean that you have other campsites that have vacancies?” “Oh, yes,” he answered, “there are only about four days a year that we totally fill up all our campsites.”

I guessed that the situation was the same at Zion, and that while I had thought that it was booked, there were probably many unlisted campsites there that were available. So I decided that I would spend two days at Bryce and then relocate to Zion! The campsites at Bryce were only $15/day, so the fact that I was abandoning the campsite after having paid for two days that I wouldn’t use only meant that I was throwing away $30.

My rental car free from the clutches of the gravel, I drove a short distance to Bryce’s Sunrise Point, put on my boots and enjoyed what some have called, “the best three-mile hike in the world,” hiking down into the canyon on the Queens Garden Trail and back up to the rim on part of the Navajo Loop Trail.

This is what I saw:

Queen’s Garden Trail

I recorded my presence in this beautiful place.

Self portrait

Queen’s Garden Trail

Tunnel on Queen’s Garden Trail

Queen’s Garden Trail

In addition to the grand rock formations, there were also pretty flowers there. Perhaps some botanist will be able to identify this one for me, and I’ll edit my report to include the name.

Flower

At the bottom of the Queens Garden Trail were a couple of benches, and while sitting there, a chipmunk came to visit. They were all over the park. The Parks ask people not to feed the animals, and make the pitch from several angles. One angle is that if you feed animals with human food, it will hurt their digestive system and they will die. Another angle is that if you feed animals, they will not learn how to forage for food on their own and will starve to death during the winter months when there are no tourists. Another pitch the Park makes is that the animals could be harmful to humans. At Zion, they had a photo of someone’s hand with a few scratches and a number of stitches between two knuckles and other stitches visible near the webbing of the hand, which they said was caused by a squirrel. But I hadn’t seen that photo yet, nor heard that rodents can carry a form of plague and Hantavirus, so I watched with amusement as this chipmunk jumped onto the bench next to me, put his paws on the leg of the German tourist sitting there, and then ran across the man’s arm.

I didn’t see anyone feed any animals, but I think that it must happen, considering how tame they are, and some other tourists at this site saw this chipmunk approaching so closely and said that he must have been fed quite a lot. He later came to visit me, climbing up my backpack (which was hanging from my knee as I was sitting on the bench) and sniffing my fingers. My only complaint was that the fellow wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to get a focused photograph.

Chipmunk

Finally, I decided it was time to continue on, returning to the rim of the canyon by the Navajo trail. The great scenery continued:

Navajo Trail

A different chipmunk, saying ‘hello’:

Navajo Trail

Red wall on the Navajo Trail

Navajo Trail

Hoodoo, Navajo Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

Another self-portrait, with a hoodoo behind me, and a balancing rock in the background.

Self portrait with hoodoo

Navajo Trail

The Navajo Trail returns to the rim of the canyon at Sunset Point, where I shot a couple of photos, before walking along the Rim Trail the short distance back to Sunrise Point, where I had left the car.

Sunset Point

At some point on the hike, I met a nice older couple from Arkansas. I also developed a bit of a sunburn. I rarely use sunscreen, but I decided to reconsider that.

Next: A trip to Mossy Cave.

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Bryce Canyon, Utah – August 30, 2009

Posted on August 30, 2009 by Charlie

Years ago, I had enjoyed a vacation to the Four Corners states, especially enjoying Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Other tourists had told me that I should visit Bryce and Zion, and I always hoped to return. I finally decided that this would be the year.

Unfortunately, my friends were busy with work or school and thus I had to go by myself. I hadn’t been camping in a while, and about the only equipment that I still had was a sleeping bag. I also had an old “closed cell” sleeping pad, which is useful for providing padding under the sleeping bag, though I had doubts that it would fit into the duffel bag I planned to use.

I bought a Eureka Backcountry 1 Tent. It’s a one-man tent, but unlike some one-man tents, which are sized for a child or small woman, this one has a generous 3′ x 8′ of floor space. Many people buy a “footprint” to put under the tent. The idea is that a camper puts an additional layer of material under the tent, to protect the floor of it from being punctured by any sharp stones or pine needles that may be present. If the footprint is punctured, it’s easy to replace. However, for some reason, Eureka only makes a few sizes of footprints, and the one they advertise as being appropriate for my tent is 4′-9″ x 6′-8″. That makes absolutely no sense for a tent that is 3′ x 8′. The 6′-8″ dimension would mean that there’s 1′-4″ of the length of the tent that’s not protected. And the 4′-9″ dimension means that there’s 1′-9″ of footprint sticking out from the sides of the tent, ideal for collecting water in the event of rain and allowing the tent to then sit in a puddle of water. A footprint is supposed to be sized for the exact size of the floor of the tent, or perhaps an inch smaller. I considered buying a plastic paint tarp and cutting it to fit, but didn’t have enough time to go to a hardware store before my trip.

I bought a tiny little LED flashlight, a Gerber Infiinity. I bought some camping cutlery from E-Bay. From Lands End, I ordered a rain jacket and a couple of pairs of very lightweight pants, made from a cotton/poly blend. They are lightweight to carry, to wear, and they dry very quickly.

I still had an olive cotton bucket hat from long ago, and sometimes I wear it, but in a heavy rain it will become soaked. So I instead bought a Teva Goretex boonie hat.

I went to Sports Authority to try on boots, selecting a pair of Columbia boots. I had previously worn cotton socks when hiking, but have read that cotton is horrible because it retains moisture. I decided to mail order some mid-weight Merino wool socks, Columbia Falmouth II. A few weeks before my trip to Utah, I went hiking on a Sunday in New Jersey, and I was very happy with both the socks and boots. The socks didn’t itch, and while some people think that wool socks are too warm, I didn’t have any complaints.

Sunday, August 30:

As I had suspected, my sleeping pad wouldn’t fit in the duffel bag, so I left it. I took the bus and AirTrain to JFK, where I checked in my duffel bag. I was nervous that Delta would lose it, or that the zipper would fail because I had stuffed it so full, which would seriously affect my vacation. After all, it’s hard to camp without any gear. My carry-on only held a few items, such as my lunch for the flight and electronics: GPS, digital camera, portable video player, cell phone.

My flight left JFK at 9:30 a.m. and took over 5 hours, flying into a headwind. However, Utah is on Mountain Time, so I gained two hours flying there, arriving around 12:40 p.m.

The Salt Lake City Airport is surrounded by mountains, and the view from the terminal is prettier than most airports can offer.

Airport in Salt Lake City

By the time I walked to the baggage claim, my duffel bag was waiting for me, which was a big relief. I walked to the Hertz counter. I had reserved a midsized car, and their website had indicated that a typical car in that class was a Mazda 6. However, they instead give me a white Toyota Corolla. I wouldn’t have thought of the Corolla as a midsized car, but maybe it’s not any smaller than a Mazda 6.

My first stop in Salt Lake City was to REI, where I purchased a sleeping pad, a Therm-a-Rest ProLite 4. You open the nozzle, and it is supposed to self-inflate, though you can blow more air into it if you wish. Then close the nozzle and put your sleeping bag on top of it and go to sleep. To put it away, open the nozzle, fold it and sit on it, continuing to roll it as you squeeze out the air. I also bought a Rubbermaid cooler at REI.

I then drove across the street to a Smith’s grocery store, a division of the larger Kroger chain, and bought food, four gallons of water (and also a 1 liter and 700 ml bottle) and two bags of ice.

By the time I got out of there, it was 2:30 p.m. I had estimated the drive to Bryce Canyon would take about 4 hours, though the GPS estimated it would take 5-1/2 or 6 hours. I wanted to find my campsite and set up my tent before dark.

I left Salt Lake City, driving south. I stopped at a WalMart about a half hour away, where I bought a few additional food items and toiletry samples in tiny containers.

I then resumed driving southwest on I-15. Signs marked the speed limit at 65 mph, then 75 mph, and then finally there are at least two “test areas” which were marked at 80 mph.

I arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park at 7:15 p.m. and for $80 bought an annual pass good for all National Parks and Monuments. I found my campsite and set up my tent, which only took a few minutes. I unrolled my brand new sleeping pad, which didn’t do a great job of self-inflation. (They supposedly don’t when they are brand new, but do a better job later—we’ll see.) So I blew air into it and tried to move the air around to inflate the edges of the pad. I put that in my tent and then my sleeping bag.

Here’s my campsite. My tent is tiny compared to the space available.

Campsite at Bryce Canyon

I turned on my cell phone and got a signal, roaming. I called my mother and reported that I arrived in one piece. I ate dinner, got in my tent, and using my Cowon S9 video player, watched 20 minutes of Warehouse 13. I then went to sleep. I had expected temperatures as low as the upper 40s at Bryce Canyon, which is about 7,900 feet above sea level at the campsites and top of the canyon. However, it was even colder than that, around 42. My sleeping bag is supposedly rated down to 30, I believe, but I don’t find it to be adequate for that. Also, the design of my tent is such that I don’t think it’s great for keeping in heat. So I had to add a couple of layers of clothing, and even then I found it a bit cold.

Next: The best three mile hike in the world!

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