Along the 40 mile gravel road from Escalante, Utah, to the famous Hole in the Rock is Devil’s Garden, a hoodoo labyrinth that could be an original Star Trek set.
With each narrow corner I turned, horn-heavy danger music from the original series blasted through my head. And I kept expecting a love-sick Vulcan to jump out at me, exotic polearm in hand.
It’s a lovely spot for a picnic! Wonder if Gene Roddenberry ever stopped by to munch on some chicken salad?
At over 9,000 feet and 20+ miles into the park, Rainbow Point isn’t nearly as photographed as Bryce Point, but it’s amazing in its own way.
From here, you can see the mountains and plateaus of southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado – perhaps hundreds of miles!
Being there, I felt as if I were at the top of the world – maybe not even this world. In “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C.S. Lewis, the heroes – Edwin, Lucy, and Eustace – enter Narnia at Aslan’s Mountain, which overlooks all of the Narnian world. That’s what Rainbow Point made me think of.
And because Rainbow Point feels like Aslan’s Mountain, and because it’s more quiet than the chief tourist attraction of Bryce Point, I laid a milkweed seed ball here. Liz would have approved, I think.
Kodachrome Basin State Park in Cannonville, Utah, is must see near Bryce Canyon and, at 2,000 ft. (600 m) lower elevation, a warmer place to camp. And for the latter, I was truly grateful to be below the snow line.
After all the effort of excavating Kennel from the snowbank, I didn’t have the energy to enjoy Bryce Canyon National Park. I know, I tried. After a late breakfast, the girls and I drove up into the park and to a few viewpoints. They were pretty, but I hardly cared. Forget about getting out of Kennel to walk anywhere.
Instead, we drove down the plateau to get a campsite at Kodachrome. Then I didn’t do anything for the rest of the day but sleep and absorb painkillers into my tissues.
But this morning, I took the girls on a 3-mile walk from our camp and around the Grand Parade Trail. It’s an easy trail, but it meanders along the edge of the Kodachrome Basin, among and through its common features.
I was grateful to get a nice, long walk with the girls in the warm sun. It was also fun to explore the slickrock crevices and snap some photos. It made me feel like Ansel Adams.
Fun fact: Kodachrome Basin was named such by the National Geographic Society with permission of Kodak. This is according to the park’s newsletter. I’m glad they answered that question. I wondered if the the state of Utah had any risk of trademark infringement. But I guess they don’t.
