We spent two nights at Ruby's Inn near Bryce Canyon, but spent most of one day tooling
through the boondocks of Utah in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. We took
off down through Cottonwood Canyon, stopped in Page to buy some apples and more water,
then turned around and headed back up Cottonwood Canyon to return to Ruby's for dinner.
The Cottonwood Canyon Road is, for the most part, a pretty well graded dirt road. Four
wheel drive isn't necessary, but if it rains, it sure would come in handy.
We stopped for the obligatory photo op at the Kodachrome Basin State Park sign
(and, per tradition, we didn't actually visit the park, just the cool park sign.)
Just beyond the sign for Kodachrome Basin is a small spur road that takes you to Grosvenor Arch.
Technically, this is a triple arch, as there are small portals on either side of the main span.
This is the most colorful part of Cottonwood Canyon.
Ok, THIS is the most colorful part of Cottonwood Canyon.
As we were driving along, I could see some weird tracks in the dirt as we drove along. It looked like someone was
pushing a baby carriage down the middle of the road. As it turned out, it was this guy from Idaho riding his recumbant
bicycle from Boise to Flagstaff. We wished him luck, as he would need it in some of the sandy parts of the road.
More free range cattle.
This section of Cottonwood Canyon is called The Cockscomb.
We had considered heading off into some more serious boondocks, but since it was clouding up and roads made of
dryed clay are no place to be in the rain, we headed for relative civilization instead. Civilization reared its ugly head in
the form of Page, Arizona, a former US Government work camp established in the late '50s for the construction of the
Glen Canyon Dam, seen above. We didn't spend much time in Page, just long enough to pick up some groceries.
Google Earth image of the Glen Canyon Dam.
We also made a brief stop at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at the Glen Canyon Dam. Its the only visitor
center that I know of in the whole of the National Park Service that requires you to go through a metal
detector, mainly due to security issues pertaining to the dam itself. We saw the videos on how the dam was
made, hit the gift shop and then I had to drag Linda away kicking and screaming from this Navajo rugloom.
After our brief stop in Page, we hit the Cottonwood Canyon Road again, this time heading north. It was
about here that our XM radio played a Talking Heads song called "Road to Nowhere." It was apropos.
On our way back north, we stopped periodically so I could get contingency dirt
samples from some of the different colors of dirt that we passed through.
Off collecting dirt samples.
Looking back down The Cockscomb.
"I am F*ck! F*ck of the Mountain! Tune in again next week for F*ck of the Mountain!!"
(obscure George Carlin reference.)
My woman and my Jeep, as viewed by F*ck of the Mountain.
A view of Powell Point off in the distance.
Next...Yet more Utah Boondocks
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