After finally catching up on sleep from Vegas, on my last days off, a few of us from Bryce went on a hike called Lower Calf Creek Falls, which is about an hour away. The hike was through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and was absolutely gorgeous. There isn't a lot of water flowing about this part of the country, so it was really nice to see, and surprising after the hike and following a very small stream with three or fish in it total, to find such a big waterfall at the end.
Becky, commonly referred to as "Georgia" here, and I decided for some unknown rediculous reason that it would be in our best interest to go for a swim in the freezing cold water. Our muscles were pretty sore afterwards, and poor Becky (also my suite-mate, in that our rooms share a bathroom with eachother) is still coughing into all hours of the night. I'm quite fond of the abilities revealed over the years by my own immune system as the only thing that seems to make me sick is the food in the Employee Dining Room.
In some places along the hike, the indian paintbrush was four or five feet tall at least. It was absolutely beautiful combined with the green and purple combination expressed by the cacti this time of year. In my true fashion, I forgot my glasses (as I left them in Megan's purse from our Vegas trip), but fortunately the petroglyphs on the canyon walls across the valley were big enough that I didn't even need my glasses.
The whole trip was wonderful and much warmer than up here in Bryce Canyon. We were all regretting wearing long pants, but we survived. Round trip, the trail was about six miles, and consisted mostly of sand and loose rock. It was fairly level however which made it much easier to do. Round trip, including swimming, the hike took us about three hours. There was a sign at the beginning however that cautioned people to make sure they had enough time as it often takes four hours to really do. We were quite confused as this would be hiking about 1.5 per hour... Isn't that slow? On average a human will hike 2 miles per hour, but that also includes elevation gain and such. Hmmmm.....
If you're ever in this area though, Lower Calf Creek Falls is a phenomenal hike to do, and you have to at least see Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. There is an Upper Calf Creek Falls which looks amazing in pictures, however may be slightly more strenuous. Then there is also an Upper Upper Calf Creek Falls, which supposedly has a natural waterslide or something like that. They are all adventures on my list.
For some unkown reason, my boss has developed the notion that I am just as cheerful and hardworking at 7:30 am as I am when I wake up at noon. It's been a struggle. But one of the nice things about the morning shift is that I get off at four. As a result, my friend Dash and I decided to go exploring in the backcountry last Thursday afternoon. So we drove down Cottonwood Road looking for a place called the Grosvenor Arch. We didn't find the arch, but although I thought he was joking at first, we did end up driving all the way to Page, Arizona. This dirt, and well-rutted road, drove straight through the heart of the Grand Staircase (I'm abbreviating that as it's getting tiring typing let alone thinking the entire name of that monument which takes up something like 1.7 million acres or some such number).
Along the way we found this really cool slot canyon which we took a mini twenty minute hike down into. They are just amazing. The walls slide almost completely straight up and parallel to eachother and they're narrow places where water has surged through over time. Truly amazing and immense geologic features.
The wild flowers, just like this entire area were absolutely beautiful. Dash's four runner was parked in front of these cliffs in the picture below with the indian paintbrush and yellow flowers framing it. I think I should pitch the idea to Toyota as a location showing the rediculously awesome places your four-runner can take you. It was shocking and the below picture was taken right across the road from the slot canyon above.
After a while, the canyon opened up a bit, and you had what can only be described right now as rolling cliffs. They would just jut out from nowhere and fade into the distance, just to have another crop up into it's place. Absolutely shocking, and since it was not a well maintained road, we had the backcountry to ourselves. This area is one of the great great places in our world. Supposedly the Grand Staircase is one of the ultimate last places to actually be mapped in the United States, and I can understand because of the sheer vastness, diversity and uniqueness of the whole monument.
The whole trip was well worth it. We stopped for Mexican Food in Arizona, and I had my first real margarita in a very long time, as they are relatively unheard of here. There's actually a place nearby that supposedly makes wine margaritas as such few places in Utah serve hard liquor let alone any liquor. I also got to pick up a six-pack of Mirror Pond which I miss terribly. I am branching out and trying other beers, but it just makes my Oregon beers taste so much better each time I drink them. It was also really nice not to eat in the employee dining room, which just pains me to even think about right now... it's not the most enjoyable experience. Anyways, today is my friday and the world is full of so many places. I may go back into the Grand Staircase, I may finally go to Zion, I may do so many many things. The options are almost too numerous. Until next we meet...
After finally catching up on sleep from Vegas, on my last days off, a few of us from Bryce went on a hike called Lower Calf Creek Falls, which is about an hour away. The hike was through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and was absolutely gorgeous. There isn't a lot of water flowing about this part of the country, so it was really nice to see, and surprising after the hike and following a very small stream with three or fish in it total, to find such a big waterfall at the end.
Becky, commonly referred to as "Georgia" here, and I decided for some unknown rediculous reason that it would be in our best interest to go for a swim in the freezing cold water. Our muscles were pretty sore afterwards, and poor Becky (also my suite-mate, in that our rooms share a bathroom with eachother) is still coughing into all hours of the night. I'm quite fond of the abilities revealed over the years by my own immune system as the only thing that seems to make me sick is the food in the Employee Dining Room.
In some places along the hike, the indian paintbrush was four or five feet tall at least. It was absolutely beautiful combined with the green and purple combination expressed by the cacti this time of year. In my true fashion, I forgot my glasses (as I left them in Megan's purse from our Vegas trip), but fortunately the petroglyphs on the canyon walls across the valley were big enough that I didn't even need my glasses.
The whole trip was wonderful and much warmer than up here in Bryce Canyon. We were all regretting wearing long pants, but we survived. Round trip, the trail was about six miles, and consisted mostly of sand and loose rock. It was fairly level however which made it much easier to do. Round trip, including swimming, the hike took us about three hours. There was a sign at the beginning however that cautioned people to make sure they had enough time as it often takes four hours to really do. We were quite confused as this would be hiking about 1.5 per hour... Isn't that slow? On average a human will hike 2 miles per hour, but that also includes elevation gain and such. Hmmmm.....
If you're ever in this area though, Lower Calf Creek Falls is a phenomenal hike to do, and you have to at least see Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. There is an Upper Calf Creek Falls which looks amazing in pictures, however may be slightly more strenuous. Then there is also an Upper Upper Calf Creek Falls, which supposedly has a natural waterslide or something like that. They are all adventures on my list.
For some unkown reason, my boss has developed the notion that I am just as cheerful and hardworking at 7:30 am as I am when I wake up at noon. It's been a struggle. But one of the nice things about the morning shift is that I get off at four. As a result, my friend Dash and I decided to go exploring in the backcountry last Thursday afternoon. So we drove down Cottonwood Road looking for a place called the Grosvenor Arch. We didn't find the arch, but although I thought he was joking at first, we did end up driving all the way to Page, Arizona. This dirt, and well-rutted road, drove straight through the heart of the Grand Staircase (I'm abbreviating that as it's getting tiring typing let alone thinking the entire name of that monument which takes up something like 1.7 million acres or some such number).
Along the way we found this really cool slot canyon which we took a mini twenty minute hike down into. They are just amazing. The walls slide almost completely straight up and parallel to eachother and they're narrow places where water has surged through over time. Truly amazing and immense geologic features.
The wild flowers, just like this entire area were absolutely beautiful. Dash's four runner was parked in front of these cliffs in the picture below with the indian paintbrush and yellow flowers framing it. I think I should pitch the idea to Toyota as a location showing the rediculously awesome places your four-runner can take you. It was shocking and the below picture was taken right across the road from the slot canyon above.
After a while, the canyon opened up a bit, and you had what can only be described right now as rolling cliffs. They would just jut out from nowhere and fade into the distance, just to have another crop up into it's place. Absolutely shocking, and since it was not a well maintained road, we had the backcountry to ourselves. This area is one of the great great places in our world. Supposedly the Grand Staircase is one of the ultimate last places to actually be mapped in the United States, and I can understand because of the sheer vastness, diversity and uniqueness of the whole monument. 
The whole trip was well worth it. We stopped for Mexican Food in Arizona, and I had my first real margarita in a very long time, as they are relatively unheard of here. There's actually a place nearby that supposedly makes wine margaritas as such few places in Utah serve hard liquor let alone any liquor. I also got to pick up a six-pack of Mirror Pond which I miss terribly. I am branching out and trying other beers, but it just makes my Oregon beers taste so much better each time I drink them. It was also really nice not to eat in the employee dining room, which just pains me to even think about right now... it's not the most enjoyable experience. Anyways, today is my friday and the world is full of so many places. I may go back into the Grand Staircase, I may finally go to Zion, I may do so many many things. The options are almost too numerous. Until next we meet...
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