Blog 1.7

When we got up this morning it was pouring rain and completely boxed in with fog. It wasn’t the gorgeous sunrise you hope for but the view was unique and stunning in its own way. We even saw a family of deer cross our path and head down in to the canyon.

Bryce canyon, fogged in at sunrise point

The forest near the canyon completely fogged in

After the sun had come up we went and made some breakfast back at the van while we waited for some of the fog to clear out. It wasn’t long before we were able to head back towards the view point that looks out over the canyon filled with hoodoos. We ended up taking the path down to the “Wall Street” hike when we saw how few people were on it. This hike can get pretty busy at certain times of the year, but a combination of things ended up giving us a fairly quiet hike through the park.

Trees at the bottom of the canyon growing towards the light 📸 (Chantelle)

Once we got out of the canyon we took the trail towards “Queens Garden”. One of the hoodoos resembles a statue of queen Victoria which is where it gets the name. I did notice the trails through here had quite a bit of vegetation compared to some of the places we had been the previous days.

We spent about 2 hours hiking through Bryce Canyon before eventually heading back to the van. We had blown a fuse in the van earlier in the morning and we were both feeling the need for a shower, so we head in to a little town nearby called Panguitch.

Once we had taken care of those things and found a place to use some WiFi we decided to head north east along the “Capitol Reef” scenic route, and then towards the M.D.R.S (Mars Desert Research Station).

Heading out of the small town of Panguitch near Bryce Canyon 📸 (Chantelle)

An old piece of the American Highway (The Shamrock)

Although we didn’t end up going in the national park here, there ended up being a ton of things to see along the scenic route. There were petroglyphs, old Mormon homes, bentonite hills and old cars left to rust on the side of the highway.

Signs of Bentonite on the side of the highway 📸 (Chantelle)

Old Mormon home on the side of the highway

Chantelle was definitely having some doubts once we hit the dirt road towards the M.D.R.S and with sunset not far away, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous myself. Thankfully the road was fairly well packed and we were able to drive in and have a peak at the facility from a distance. It should be noted if you’re thinking about going here, there aren’t any tours but you can definitely have a look from a distance and imagine what it would be like living in a mars like terrain.

Desert near the Mars Desert Research Station 📸 (Chantelle)

Mound/Dramatic clouds near the Mars Desert Research Station

Once the sun started to fade we got ourselves back to the main highway and found another small store in the side of a hill. We gassed up the van and decided we were going to head back to Moab to try and redeem our Canyonlands experience. It was a several hour drive to Moab but this time we knew the good spot to park the van for the night. Now for a bit of rest before our final day of exploring the desert.

Blog 1.8

Blog 1.6