East through Utah...

11th April

I wake to find the storm has blown through and there isn’t a cloud in the sky, although it’s not warm… I set off and turn towards Bryce Canyon. Unfortunately, the data card in my camera containing all the early pics of Red Canyon & Bryce, corrupted and (unless I manage to get it to recover the data) the pics are lost…

I get in to Bryce Canyon, named for Ebenezer Bryce, who lived by cutting timber on the plateau here in 1875. It is a spectacular location…



…with breathtaking scenery wherever you look…



…it has a natural arch…



…the snow on the slopes shows that it’s not warm. The highest point in the park is over 9000ft, and you really feel the lack of oxygen if you do anything strenuous (like get on and off the bike, for instance ). I’ll bore you with one more shot…



I leave the park and head off along Highway 12, a ‘Scenic Byway’ which fully lives up to its name. It winds its way through Escalante…



… Boulder (Utah, not Colorado )…



…Calf Creek…



…Torrey…



…Cainville…



…before I end up at Hankville, at the Slick Rock Motel, where I sit out on the verandah and write my journal…



…and share a couple of beers with Russell, a retired software engineer, who comes here every year and tries to get stuck somewhere in the canyons in his 4x4 …



…today he was unsuccessful - though, looking at the state of his truck, not for lack of trying

12th April

After a good breakfast, I face the prospect of another 300 miles of scenic roads in perfect weather… I suppose there are worse ways of spending a Monday …

The mountains to the South have snow capped peaks, although I’m still in the high desert – I take a short detour on a dirt road but, finding nothing terribly exciting up there, rejoin Highway 95 heading South East.



I reach Hog Springs, a spectacular overlook…



The river you can see supplies Lake Powell, where I crossed the bridge by the dam a few days ago.



Russell told me yesterday evening that the lake’s water level is a hundred feet low at the moment – the legacy of a continuing 10 year drought…



The road winds its way down into the valley, crossing the bridge you can see in the centre of the previous picture.

I divert into Natural Bridges National Park. These are formed by streams cutting into the soft sandstone, eventually forming bridges which, in time, will be undermined and will collapse…



…except this one – the river has actually naturally diverted away from the bridge, which should ensure its survival.



Pressing on towards Moab, where I intend to spend the night, I divert once again into the Canyonland National Park, another of the seemingly endless ranges of buttes and mesas which Utah has in abundance…



…this is ‘Wooden Shoe Arch’ (on the horizon). I ride down a 5 mile dirt road to find scenery which, anywhere else, would be spectacular – here it’s almost run of the mill…



I rejoin Highway 191 and, after a quick picture of Wilson Arch…



…arrive in Moab at 1630.

13th April

A fine morning. I continue the ride North - via some more scenic routes - life is hard...

I turn up the 128 , which follows the Colorado River upstream...



...it looks deceptively calm - further downstream this is the same river that provides the rapids in the Grand Canyon. I eventually cross the river on a new concrete bridge - the old suspension bridge has been presevered as a monument alongside...



I join the Interstate 70 East for 30 miles or so, before turning North again on the 139, just inside Colorado. The road winds its way up through the Douglas Pass...



...which tops out at just under 8500 ft...



...before descending onto the Roan Plateau, and heading towards the town of Dinosaur...



Dinosaurs are big business in the area - as is raising extremely well-endowed cattle, if this one is anything to go by...



I stop for the day in Vernal - how could I resist?