And Ye shall know fear

Today we popped by Canyonlands for about 2 hours, Island in the Sky. At Grandview Point, you can see an indescribable expanse. Off into the distance, you see different levels of buttes and canyons and mountains ascending like a tremendous staircase. There’s also a dirt road clinging to the side of the cliff that you can drive around, if you’re nuts and want to die.

Then we rode through central utah via route 24 and route 12. Route 12 is a pretty famous road, starting in Torrey, UT and ending near Bryce Canyon. It goes as high as 9600 feet, and down into valleys of varying colors of nothing but rock.

There’s also one fun section I’ve decided should be named “Rue de Pantalons de Merde” or Shit Pants Road. I don’t know how high it is, at least 7000 feet and the sign just before you get to it says that there are steep grades and sharp turns. What the sign doesn’t tell you is that it’s a set of curves where the cliff drops off about 6 inches on either side of the road. I have no idea how they paved it. I had ridden it with Clare on our honeymoon so I knew what to expect. Michael, on the other hand, was having a fresh experience of fear. This was the only time I have ever been able to leave Michael behind on a motorcycle. I’m sure I’ll pay for my malicious laughter

There’s a spot on 12 where you can pull of and just see the entire southwest, it seems. Different mountains, different deserts, different terrains all in one sweeping view. Magnificent.

We got into Bryce about 5 and just rode directly into the park before checking in. Bryce is my favorite of the parks, I just think the hoodoos are so cool. The weird part about Bryce is the “South of the Border” style fake western town outside the park to rip off the tourists. None of the other parks we’ve been to has anything like that yet.

Tomorrow we’ll go back into bryce to hike some, then down to Zion for a little bit and ending up in Vegas in the evening sometime.

If any of you ever find yourself in Torrey, UT, go to the Capitol Reef Inn for lunch or dinner.

Total mileage: 1397
Pigment Quotient: stabilized at fried chicken brown
Money situation: looks pretty good going back into Vegas Baby