There
was still snow here May 22-23, with a nice fresh wind blowing through the
long-needle pines making a wonderful sound. The colors were spectacular, the
odd "hoodoos" that look like rows of people waiting in lines (as
if for movie tickets?) were most unusual, and the scale was
"large", in common with most of the other western national parks.
Unfortunately, the one trail (the Navajo loop trail) that led down among the
hoodoos that looked "do-able" for David in advance of the visit
had been destroyed the winter before our visit - darn! The alternative
Queen's Garden trail felt too strenuous for David at this high altitude. We
took a short walk below the canyon rim, where Bob hiked further down the
trail so that David could take some distant pictures of him. It was
extremely windy out on the trail. This photo of Bob is in this set - can you
find it? (Not the one in orange - that's David, and the Ravens were
amazingly friendly here.)
At
a restaurant near our motel, David bought a piece of petrified wood, and we
also had our first encounter with "Utah Sauce", something packaged
or served like mayonnaise or mustard, etc., but unlike anything we had had
before. It looked like thousand island dressing, but didn't taste like it -
and it went well with hamburgers, fries, and many other food items. We have
no idea what it actually is, but we both liked it.
We
drove eastward and stopped to hike the Mossy Cave trail along Highway 12. It
was a scenic trail along a creek, with hoodoos above the trail. We took some
pictures, then hiked back to the car. At Cannonville, we turned off the main
road for a side trip to Kodachrome Basin State Park.
