Day 10

Thursday – July 26

(So, I ‘m following Caryn’s advice at this point and just posting the day’s events and maybe one picture until I get caught up because the picture downloading and the Google Map route are taking forever.)

Arrived at the Four Corners early this afternoon. The whole affair is basically a circle with about a fifty-yard diameter, the actual 4-corner spot in the middle surrounded by flags and a photo taking platform. All of this surrounded by tiny booths, about 10’X10’, housing Navaho vendors selling their crafts as well as t-shirts, a kazillion trinkets and some food. We sampled Navaho tacos served on Navaho Fry Bread, which was quite satisfying.

The next adventure was exceedingly cool. Rather than swing well west and north to avoid both mountains and desert on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park, we headed due north on a winding, narrow unpaved “road,” spanning about fifty miles, which took us next to some of the most remarkable territory yet covered. The road was entirely washboarded except where it was sand. We passed five vehicles going south. Made two water crossings and passed several draws that you didn’t want to be in when the flash floods hit. Came across a wandering bull who didn’t seem too friendly in spite of my attempt to call to it in bull. We accompanied the Cottonwood River through Cottonwood Canyon with mountains and other landforms rising immediately next to the road. Talk about getting off the interstates! Incredible!
Found a great camp site at Bryce Canyon. Annie describes it as a 30 second walk to the rim. Well, let me tell you. It may have been thirty seconds for her but for these exercise-deprived lungs at 7,000 feet it was just a tad more than 30 secs. The view, both east and west from that point was truly breathtaking. Dinner at the Lodge. Lodge was nice – dinner was awful.