Bryce, Kodachrome and Route 12 through Capitol Reef 14 & 15 Nov

Sat 14
We woke up this morning to ice on the inside of the windows! We were snug in bed and so the blinds (and the towels we had put up over the top to stop the dawn waking us up) had done their job at keeping out the cold. We got up slowly to allow the sun to melt any ice on the road before starting off to travel about 20 miles to Bryce Canyon. Even before we got to the canyon the sights were amazing, salmon pink sandstone had been carved into a series of pinnacles and we even had to drive through two tunnels carved through the sandstone. Then on into the park itself and amazing views over a huge valley full of these multi-layered strawberry cheesecake pinnacles. We went for a hike down through some of the formations and it began to snow, great big, dry, dollops of white. It was breathtakingly beautiful down there and quite extraordinary that some trees had managed to take route in this incredibly dry place. After a fabulous walk, we drove on down the park to have a look at some more views always keeping one eye on the weather just in case in turned really nasty. We met a very disabled Spanish guy who had come over on his own and was driving around but he didn't want to make the effort of getting out of the car if the view was covered in the clouds that kept rolling in. He had an amazing pair of cameras that Celso took photos with and became very jealous and convinced that we need to buy a better camera. I think our camera is doing a good job!
As the snow came down again we left the park and moved further east. We saw a sign for Kodachrome Park 9 miles off our road so we decided to go and take a look. We found a little state park with amazing sandstone formations in reds, pinks and cream; tall sedimentary pipes (formed when ancient springs clogged with silt which formed more erosion resistant rock); and a large number of enormous hares! We also found that the campsite was open so we decided to stay the night and see if the park looked as good and colourful in the morning.
Sunday 15
Again we woke to ice on the windows and also to 3 large hares and a bunny nibbling at the grass around the van. Again we took our time getting up to allow any ice on the roads to thaw and then we had another look around the park before setting out to drive the nearly 100 miles along Scenic Route 12 that winds through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (a 91,000 acre piece of public land that protects the main watershed of the Colorado River) and ends after passing through Capitol Reef National Park. It was the most glorious drive with towering cliffs sometimes in the salmon pink; sometimes looking like huge piles of dried up concrete; some with multi coloured stripes like brown mint humbugs; and some with amazing sculpted shapes. On parts of the drive we were up above 8000 ft with snow on the ground and the view of snow topped mountains in the distance, at one point the whole mountainside was covered in silver birch trees, then fir trees covered in a sprinkling of snow with a frozen stream tumbling over rocks next to the road. At one high point the road passed along a ridge that was no wider than the road itself so there were huge drops on both sides. At many of the high points the ground was covered in football sized volcanic rock like it had just been sprinkled onto the land from the sky - perhaps it did right after an eruption though I don't know where the volcano is!?
When we were at the lower levels (below 6000 ft) the terrain was mainly desertlike but at times, when we were alongside a river, there were trees in amazing autumn browns, yellows and golds.
Every corner we turned there was yet another amazing view, so much so that we got a little blazee (how do you spell that?), it was a big case of senses overload!
In Capitol Reef National Park there is a beautiful valley that was inhabited by an early indigenous community that have been called the Fremont people after the river in the valley. They have left petroglyphs on the walls of the canyon, strange human figures plus deer and some beetles. More recently in the early 1800s a Mormon community settled here starting a town they called Fruita for fruit they grew (apples, peaches and pears) as the valley has a milder climate than the surrounding area and year round water. After the 1940s when the paved road came through the community scattered and the park was made.
Finally we turned north through the pink sanded San Rafael Desert that was punctuated with huge pink pinnacled cliffs and as the sun went down red cliffs were glowing in the distance. Wow.
We have given in to the cold weather and checked in to a motel. After a steak in a local restaurant we are now washed and warm in our room. However we wouldn't have missed all these amazing panoramas for anything... I think we can put up with a bit of cold for this, any day.