Bryce

When we got to Bryce, Monday, and got a campsite we went for a short walk along this ridge near the campsite. It was starting to get late and the orange from the sun helped make the canyons (which were mostly orange rock) really stand out. We made dinner over a fire and went to sleep. It got really cold that night. Tuesday we went on a fairly strenuous hike around the canyon. There were these things called "hoodoos" which are towers of rock remaining after eons of errosion. When we were hiking the trail started to look familiar to Will, (not to me, though) and it started to cloud up and drizzle. Getting stuck in the rain would have sucked. We turned around and quickly found the spot where we should have turned to go back to the entrance to the park, and got out of the canyon before the rain hit. The rain was kept mostly to the valley that the canyon opened up to so we just watched the storm clouds drift by and soak the nearby land. We went back to the campsite and rather than stay another night we decided to get going and drive to Canyonland. Every time I hear Canyonland I think Candyland, and start imagining a huge national park made out of rock candy.

The drive to Canyonland is a long one, and we stop along the way for food at a restaurant/inn called the Devils Backbone Inn or something like that. The food was great. Probably the best thing we'd eaten all week. After dinner, and more driving, we got out on the side of the highway, in the middle of nowhere, to see the stars. It gets real dark out there between the lack of major nearby cities, high altitude (less air to scatter light) and relatively dry air (less moisture to form clouds.) I can't remember the last time I saw the Milky Way, or that many stars in general. We finally make the last turn to get to the park and I notice that we have a quarter tank of gass and still a while to go. I mention this to Will but we decide that we should be fine, and that they probably have a gas station near the park. We get to the park, and not only are there no gas stations, there are no available campsites, and it's around midnight. Now I start to get nervous. Little gas, nowhere to sleep, our situation looks grim. We figure the best idea is to head to the nearest town and get gas and go to a motel for the night. I set cruise control to 55 to conserve gas and head out of the park. At this point we don't know how far we're going to have to drive, but it's at least 30 miles on less than an eigth of a tank of gas. As we're heading toward the highway, through open grazing land for cows, at 55 miles an hour, one appears just barely off the side of the road. When you can't see much in the dark, and all of a sudden an animal the size of a small car shows its head and looks at you, approaching at nearly a mile a minute, one can feel less than safe. We get to the highway and go toward the closest town, and on the way the "Low Fuel" message appears and we still don't have much of a clue how far we have to go. We roll into town and stop at the first gas station we see, and fuel up. The gas tank is a 12 gallon tank, and we put in around 12.06 gallons, which leads me to believe that we were moments from running out of gas in the middle of night, in the middle of Utah. We find a motel, each take a shower, and go to sleep. Wednesday morning we hit up a convenience store and head back to Canyonland.