We interrupt this adventure.

Making a run for Alberta to apply for teaching work in the fall.   So sad to leave Utah!!!!   So not done yet.  Don't expect to see us- it'll be a hit and run.

Reptiles and insects.

Monty Python says:  And now for something completely different.  Greg has of course changed it to: And now for something completely else....going to the desert, going south, going to high and dry elevations fed Anna's fascination for insects and reptiles.  Here are a few of her photos.



dead snake hanging from a tree

 

Flowers

So many blooms.

Posey Lake

Another 25 mile gravel road trek, but this time to a mountain lake at 9000 ft for fishing.  It's a small little lake that doesn't allow motors so they used the oars to tootle around and Greg taught them to fly fish.   There were some hikes too.  Also a good spot to hide out for the US Memorial Day long weekend which we only found out about that week.  Yikes. 

Beautiful little brookies- that we didn't eat. 

Meet Fizz!

Next was The Grand Staircase and the town of Escalante.   Petrified Forest State Park and a reservoir for fishing- both together.   We had purchased a 11ft inflatable boat and a 10hp Mercury Outboard when we were near Vegas, but because of some weird rules in Nevada and Arizona we hadn't had a chance to use it yet- which of course was killing Greg and the kids!  But we could use it in Utah.  They got it inflated and bought fishing licences.  Super excited- her name is Fizz!

 

First morning out on Wide Hollow Reservoir a 4lb Rainbow.

 I think Greg was the official catcher- but it belongs to everyone.

We ate it for lunch.

 

 

Rock Shops and Red Canyon.

Driving north on the back route from Kanab, UT toward Bryce Canyon there is a little section of road that has about five rock shops.  Of course we stopped, but we only visited three.   Piles of rocks by the pound, fossils, polished, cut.....We bought some big hunks of obsidian for Leland and Greg to make arrow heads.  Anna and I were limited in the interests of gas mileage.
We ended up in Red Canyon.   Lots of rock hounding, hiking and reading too.

We had heard about Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, but with the dogs we are very limited as to where we can go in national parks and the weather was getting too hot to be able to leave them in the truck- so we have been going to state parks and National Forests which are really cool too- just not famous. 

Kindness.

As we were headed to the Grand Canyon we heard a new sound from the truck.   Upon investigation the exhaust pipe had started to break away from the catalytic converter.  Greg used some time, skin off of his knuckles, some clamps, wire and a tomato can  cut open to repair it enough for us to carry on.  When we got into Utah we visited a number of garages and repair shops until we found one who said they could weld it the next day.   We get up, we're there on time, we unhook the trailer, we're ready for the big wait and the big bill.   The guy pulls in the truck, welds it, says "That'll last you for awhile- ten buck."  Greg gave him twenty.  Ten extra for a case of beer- because you can do that with ten bucks here.  :)  Wow.  There are kind, generous people everywhere you least expect it. 

The Grand Canyon Three Ways

First Way:

We have met some amazing people in the last few months, some of whom have told us of their very favourite out of the way places to go.  So we took Irv's advice and got a back road atlas for Arizona and headed for a remote part of the Grand Canyon called Turweep.   It is still part of Grand Canyon National Park but a very small number of people a year go there....we found out why.   As Anna writes in her journal about the road from St. George, Utah to Turweep.

To sum it all up it was a clay washboard steep curved, cliff edged middle of nowhere 75 miles of road.  Greg of course is calm. 

The toilet paper is on the dash for when I either throw up or crap myself.  (I did neither, thank you very much)  And the worst was yet to come.  Apparently Irv, who told us we could just drive right to the end of the road and camp right on the edge of the Grand Canyon hadn't been here for awhile and things had changed.   We got most of the way down to the end of the road and met a volunteer park ranger who suggested we not go any further.   Sand road, lumps of slick rock jutting out just waiting to gut the bottom of our trailer like a fish.   This picture does not do it justice. 

It's a great thing that Greg can back up like a champion because it was about half a mile of backing down a curved downhill rocky stretch until we could turn around.  Then it was about 5 miles back to the park boundary where we camped at the Tuweep International Airport. 

That white speck in the middle of this photo is our trailer.  The wind blew and the cows visited.  The road had shaken our trailer to pieces and filled it with fine red dust.  The pickles spilled in the fridge, ran down the inside and outside and across the floor.  Pickle juice + red dust = not good.  Was it worth it? 

At this section of the Grand Canyon the two sides are pretty close together without a lot of side canyons and it is a mere 3000 ft to the bottom!

 By Anna:

Good evening.  I am going to tell you all about the Grand Canyon.  Around the Grand Canyon there is this cool biological crust.  It  is very, very fragile and that means that even a footstep can be fatal.  That is why we had to step on rocks and stay on the path.  Believe it or not it is really hard not going over to a pretty flower and getting a picture! 

 Anyway, the sight was AMAZING!  The Grand Canyon goes for ever and ever.  I took a lot of pictures.  The coolest thing was that we saw the part of the Grand Canyon that not a lot of other people have seen.       

Second Way:
The beginning of the Grand Canyon is Lees Ferry.   No need to hike all the way down, just drive off of the plateau and head upstream where the Grand Canyon starts. 

Third Way;
We were at the North Rim area of the Grand Canyon on opening day- May 15th.   There was still some snow in the shade on the road to get there-  being at 9000ft of elevation.  About one-tenth of the visitors to the Grand Canyon go to the North Rim- the rest go to the South Rim-  but it still felt pretty busy.   We went to some lookouts and the visitor centre. 

                  You feel really small here.