Friday July 11, 2025 Day 1 Beginning
We left SLC pretty early for us about 8:10.
We left with almost full battery, but we made two charging stops, in Scipio at the Flying J and in Beaver at the Days Inn. Both good charges in less than 20 minutes We exited the freeway at Parowan and after driving a windy, steep ascent on route 143 we passed through the Brian Head ski area. Arrived at Cedar Breaks National Monument about 12:50. Officers from the Interior Department's Dixie National Faorest were on hand handing out swag. We picked up items for distribution to the grandkids. Took a 1:30 wild flowers NPS Ranger tour. The wildflowers are abundent in the Monument now and 86 species of birds are in the Monument, including the Californai Condor.
At the edge of the trail looking into the ampitheater we saw some "young", only about 1500 years old, Bristlecone pine trees. These were not as big or as gnarled as the examples we saw on Great Basin NP, but all of their species are found on dry, windswept ridges where there is little competition from other trees. Bristlecones have 5 needles
We ate a picnic lunch in the Monument at the Point Supreme Campground under some very welcome shade.
Drove mostly downhill on routes 143 and then 14 into Cedar City and checked into the Remada Inn. An older but serviceable lodging.
We went over to the Shakespeare festival center for a 6:45 seminar about the plays.
We attended an 8:00 pm showing of Anthony and Cleopatra. It was tough to understand all the dialogue, but at least I know what was going on from reading a summary, a "green stage" production of the play outside the theatre and the seminar. It was almost 11 when we drove back to the hotel, tired and skipped dinner.
Saturday July 12, 2025 Day 2
Breakfast at the hotel. The drove back to Shakespeare at 9 for two seminar talks. The discussion about Anthony and Cleopatra gave me new insight into the play. I was surprised to learn from the history professor that there is no certainty about Shakespeare's scripts and that as a result the productions are frequently altered to fit the needs of the production. A and C is about 4 hours long and it was reduced to about 2.5 hours for this production. The play as written has two navels battles which were represnted by actors walking around waving flags. In the green stage production the actors walked around in boats Without the preparation I would have not known what was going on.
We left the Shakespeare campus to get a car charge at Walmart and cash at a US Bank branch. No Chase or BoA branches in Cedar City so I paid a fee to get access to my money.
Returning to the campus we purchased tickets for Dear Jack and Dear Louisa play in August when we are returning from LA. We decided to purchase after listeing to the seminar talk. We also walked around the sculpture garden feeaturing characters in Shakespeare's plays.
At 2 we saw A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. A musical about someone killing off all those ahead of him in line to inherit a royal title and a fortune It was very entertaining and understandable dialogue.
After the play we drove up I-15 and then on route 89 to Panguitch to our AirBnB, the Panguitlch House. An attractive building with nicely landscaped grounds. Our room was on the second floor.
Panguitch is a very small town of about 1500 residents which is the gateway to Bryce NP.
Walking to downtown for dinner we visited the Panguilch Museum and had a very informative tour by a docent whose family had been there for several generations. Some of her relatives, including a 25 year old who had been killed by lighting, were in pictures in the museum. She claimed that the sawmill in the town was shut down by the environmentalists thereby destroying the town's economy, but the town is now growing with tourism being the main economic engine. The tombstone in the museum of John Dunning, a polygamist, demonstrated a problem with polygamy. He had two wives, but they didn't get along so one lived in Panguitch and the other in Beaver. When he died, he was buried in Panguilch, but the Beaver wife had his body exhumed. However while she was transporting it and the tombstone to Beaver, the tombstone fell off the wagon and was not rediscovered for many decades. So while his body is in Beaver, the Tombstone ended up back in Panguilch.
We continued our walk into town and ate dinner at the Cowboy Saloon. A very busy place. Large portions of meat and resonable prices. A 4% cash discount. We walked around the historic Main Street block.
The AirBnB wanted $10 to charge on a Level 1. Way too much. Instead I charged the car at a nearby hotel whose charging station was not listed on Plugshare. A 80 year old clerk guided me throught the process to initiate the charging and took a credit card charge for $10. After plugging in the car I walked back to the lodging and sat on an outdoor swing at the sun went down. I spoke at length with another guest who had traveled down from Vernal to observe the motorcycle rally. He said that he usually participates in the rally but it was too hot to drive that distance on a motorcycle. There were a lot of mostly very noisy motorcycles riding around town. He was a retired Army veteran who now is "double dipping working for the BLM". He regretted that he had been unable to take advantage of the buyout offer since he was short of the 5 years needed to retire, again. He left with his spouse when their pizza arrived. When I returned to the hotel at 10:45 to pick up the car he was gone and the office was closed, so I couldn't pay the balance of the high priced, .50 per KwH, charging fee. A very good charge, 11 KwH for a level 2 charger
Sunday July 13, 2025 Day 3
Tasty french toast for breakfast in the adjoining "barn", but a bit light on volume. Paid for the lodging with a cash discount, but I was a dollar short. The owner waived it. That was all my cash.
Sat out in the garden after breakfast on the swings and made phone calls.
Drove a few miles to the beginning of Scenic Byway 12 which runs 124 miles west to east from Panguitch to Torrey. Along the way it weaves in and out of the Dixie National Forest, passes Bryce NP, Escalante National Monument, several state parks and it ends just north of Capital Reef NP. It reaches its highest point at 11,322 ft at the foot of Blue Bell Knoll on Boulder Mountain toward the eastern end of the byway. It is supposedly one of the most scenic roads in America and one of the reasons for the trip. There was no internet along most of the route. The route took us through diverse, remote and stunning landscapes ranging from deserts to lush forests.
After a very short drive on route 12 our initial stop was at the beginning of Red Canyon. This is a four mile stretch along the byway of sculptered Claron limestone . The most striking features are weirdly sculpted erosional features variously described as turrets, hoodoos, pinnacles or spires. There are also lots of striking and tall trees. We initially walked the "world class" Thunder Mountain Trail which had many interpretive panels. It was a very pretty walk. Lots of brillent red rocks and soil contrasted with the green pines.
We only went about .75 up the trail since there were several other activities on our schedule. It was a very short drive to the Red Canyon Visitor Center. We walked the Photo and Pink Ledges trails. They were pretty flat, but very scenic and one of the trees smelled like butterscotch. We skiped the Hoodoo trail .
It was getting late so we left about 12:30 to drive east on route 12 through two tunnels passing Tropic, population 486 with very expensive hotels, to Cannonville, population 186, (the Visitor Center was closed.) and then 9 miles south on a 2 lane road to Kodachrome Basin State Park. (Beyond the turn-off for Kodachrome the road becomes a dirt road which leads to a number of interesting geological formations. Those will have to wait for another trip, preferably not during the summer heat.) $5 entry fee for senior Utahas. The Park was empty, There was one other car in parking lot and we passed one couple during our walk. The Kodachrome Basin is a spectacle of towering sandstone chimneys, or sand pipes, as well as sheer rock cliffs with multiple layers which reveal layers reflecting the different chapters in the area's history including an inland sea, raging rivers and land upheavel. The relentless wind and water have then shaped the cliffs. The 70 monolitic spires range from 6 to 170 feet in height looking as if they are sentries guarding the basin.
Geologists are uncertain about the origin of the pipes, but offer three theories. I like the ancient springs theory - the springs became choked with sediments which eventually became fused together and over time the softer rock around them was eroded away. There was very fine sand in the Basin and the red rocks easily turned into sand if you rubbed them. I was a bit disappouinted in that the Basin was adverised as changing in color as the daylight changed. The contrasting colors prompted the National Geographic Society to name the park Kodachrome, with the consent of the Kodak Corp.
I suspect that we didn't stay late enough in the park to see the changing colors. Disappointing, but still it was worth going to the Basin. We walked to the Parade Ground trail around the floor of the basin. Walked into two box canyons and was surprised at the variety of vegetation, including trees and flowering plants. Except for ants and lizards, I didn't see any animals. Probably too hot.
Toward the end of the trail we stopped at the laundramat, mainly to get some shade and a face wash..
It was very hot, 104 degrees. We finished our walk about 3:30 and drove a short loop to the end of the Basin. We did see several RVs in the campground, but no people. We retraced our drive on Kodachrome Road back to route 12, but not before passing a small residential development with about ten recently built structures with a sign, Welcome to Hom. No sign of people, but several of the outdoor lights were on. A failed Covid 19 development? We resumed our trip on Route 12. Before getting to Henriville we saw a group of domed structures. They were the Clear Sky Resorts star gazing domes. Very expensive lodging. We stopped at an overlook.
The next stop was the Upper Valley Granaries. This was a small stone and mud arch constructed by the Ancient Puebloans to store corn, grain and other foods. There were telescopes thoughtfully provided to enable us to see what was otherwise hard to see.
We arrived at our lodging, Slot Canyons Inn outside of Escalante about 4:45. It is a beautiful facility with multiple levels running down the hillside. The common areas were beautifully decorated and the kitchen had a guest refrigerator. I started charging the car after a hunt for an outdoor outlet. Just made it using the extension cord.
We had a long discussion with the female owner and her friend. Both older than me. The owner said she moved here with her late husband decades ago and with one of their sons, she pointed out a family picture showing 8 children and about a score of grandchildren, they built the resort. She lives in a very old cabin that they moved to the site, but she no longer actively runs the Inn. That is done by a couple who moved there from Riverton to escape big city hassles. The friend moved to Escalante about 30 years ago with her late husband after an eclectic career. She is an artist and runs a gallery in town.
Drove into Escalante, about 5 miles to the only restaurant open on Sunday night, the Outfitters. Busy informal place serving pizzas, salads and sandwiches. High prices, but the pizza and salad we ordered were very good and abundent. We boxed up the leftovers
Returning to the lodging I plugged in the car and we sat out on the balcony as it stayed light until about 9 and watched the sunset over the mountains.
Monday July 14, 2025 Day 4
Woke up early and both watched the sunrise and a small army of animals, horses, turkeys and cows march into the meadow. A very good and ample breakfast. The car charging stopped at 87% for unknown reasons. Taking advantage of the air conditioning in the Inn we didn't leave until 10:30.
Escalante is a small town, population 786, which was named after a Franciscan missionary who lead an expedition into southern Utah in 1776. He was on a mission to establish a route from the New Mexico missions to California. The expedition made it as far as present day Arizona, but he never made it to California or even the area around Escalante. The Southern Utah militia came through the area in 1866 while chasing Indians during the Black Hawk Wars. Finding wild potatoes growing there they named it Potato Valley. In the early 1870s settlers from Panglitch seeking a longer growing season and milder climate and at the direction of the leaders of the LDS church came to survey the area and met members of the 2d Powell expedition. At their suggestion the settlers named the town Escalante in honor of the explorer. The first permanent settler, Josiah Barker, arrived in 1876 in two wagons with his family including 16 year old daughter Mary Barker, who became a mid-wife and delivered over 600 babies. More settlers followed. Those settlers built homes from native bricks and as a result many are still standing today. The settlers engaged in farming and ranching, but the federal government's stricter regulation of land use beginning in the 1940s caused the town's population to decline by 50% over the next several decades. However since the establishment of the Monument in 1996, there has been a large increae in tourism and the Town has grown.
We drove into town but found that the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center was closed on Monday. However there were information pamphlets and maps available outside. We took a short drive around the town off route 12. The per capita income in the town is low, but the house albeit modest seemed well maintained. We continued on Route 12 eastward for two miles until we came to the Hole in the Rock Escalante Heritage Center. It was closed but most of it was an outdoor exhibit.
This facility told an amazing story of an expediition of Mormans to find a more direct route across the Colorado River to southeastern Utah in an effort to colonize it and establish a settlement on the San Juan River. In the fall of 1879 about 250 people, assembled with 83 wagons in Escalante for what was anticipated to be a 6 week 200 mile journey. The expedition encountered immense obatacles as it jounneyed southwest, but the biggest hurdle was crossing the Colorado River in the Glen Canyon area. There was a sheer sandstone cliff 1200 ft high at the river's edge.The pioneers found a crevice in the rock, later called the hole in the rock which they painstakingly widened over the course of several weeks. They lowered the wagons down the slot using horses and ropes. Amazingly no one died during this endeavor, indeed 3 babies were born during the remaining 140 miles of the expedition. The trip took 6 months, but they ultimately reached their goal and established the town of Bluff. The route they took is now a dirt road, called Hole in the Rock, which ends at the river. We did not take that road.
The road west to Panguiltch was not paved until 1956. but the road east of Escalante to Boulder was not completed by the CCC until 1940. It took 5 years to build and was nicknamed the Million Dollar Highway. Its completion was marked by an all night dance and barbecue. But the road was not paved until 1984. Prior to that the only access to Boulder was on the unpaved Hell's Backbone byway which was not open during the winter. For several decades supplies had to be brought to Boulder by horse drawn wagons and mule trains.
Head of the Rocks Overlook provided an expansive view out to the Escalante Canyons and slickrock as far as I could see as well as the meandering route 12 below. Boulder Mountain was visable to the south east and to the north the Henry Mountains were visable. Those mountains were the last mountains to be added to the map of the continentail US. they were named by Thompson in honor of Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
After we had pulled into the parking area for the overlook, four RVs pulled in and lots of people spilled out. They were a group of Frenchmen and families who took lots of pictures. I took a group picture for them and then they piled back into the RVs. It was odd seeing the convoy of RVs on the road below.
Boulder is a small town of about 230 residents. It was called the last frontier in Utah. In addition to not havning any road access until 1940 it did not get electricty until 1947. Just before entering the town we turned onto the Burr Trail. This road is paved for about 30 miles but then becomes a dirt road on its way to Capital Reef NP. The Trail winds its way through deep and narrow slickrock canyons and rolling desert forest.We traveled about 11 miles on the Trail until we came to Long Slot Canyon. This is a very narrow canyon , about 4 miles in length, within which you can almost reach out from the car and touch the walls. We stopped at a box canyon and walked about 1/2 mile to the end. We ate lunch there. The temperature in the box canyon was noticably cooler than along the trail.
After retreating our drive back to Route 12 we drove a very short distance to Hells Backbone Grill and Farm. This is a 25 year old women owned culinary destination which offers a menu based on southwestern recipes and mainly locally sourced food, much of it from the restaurant's 6.5 acre garden. We arrived early for our reservation. I found a woman by the entrance and asked if we could advance the reservation. Turned out she is one of the co-founders and owners so we had a nice little chat about the are and the restaurant. She informed me that they had recently purchased the adjoining Inn, largely through an Internet funding campaign which also rescued the restaurant from the financial ills of the pandemic. The meal experience was rustic, unassuming, cozy and expensive, but very good. Cowboy meatload and jencilada. Worth the trouble of trcking to the middle of nowhere on the edge of the Escalante Monument.
To my surprise there were charging stations, regular and Tesla, in the parking lot so we got enough charge to get us to the next EV fast charger.
Our last stop was at the Lars Hollow Overlook, about 15 miles before Torrey. On this part of the route we were in think pine forests. The overlook offered a panoramic view of southeastern Utah, the Henry Mountains and Capital Reef NP.
We arrived in Torrey about 6. We checked into the La Quinta Inn which is about a mile south of the center of Torrrey. A newer facility, it was fine. We took an evening walk along route 24 hoping to walk into town. The Visitor Center across the street was closed and traffic moved quickly on this stretch of route 24. Fortunately there was a biking/walking trail along the road. We walked about .75 mile passing a few homes and a hotel before the trail abruptely ended, before the town center. Not willing to risk road mayham we turned around, but not before we took some pictures of an oddly colored sun, distorted by the smoke from the many wild fires in the southwest.
Tuesday July 15, 2025 Day 5 Going home
The usual mediocre La Quinta breafast was served, filling but not thrilling. We got on the road about 9. In a mile we drove through Torrey. Since it is the eastern gateway to Byway 12 and only 9 miles from Capital Reef National Park it was surpriseingly very small.
After a couple of charging stops we returned home at about 5.
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