Around St. George

St. George is a great jumping off spot for visiting National Parks, but there are some fun things to do around town.  We went to Sand Hollow State Park thinking we might kayak in the reservoir, but when we got there there was a warning that "swimmer's itch" was active.  I'm not sure what that is, but I didn't really want to find out, so we rented a canoe instead of a kayak.  The canoe paddled more like a bath tub that a canoe, but it was a nice day and the surroundings were pretty in a barren kind of way.

We went to Tuacan theater one evening for a show. We saw "Little Mermaid" which was done well, but the best part was sitting in the spectacular outdoor amphitheater. 

We took a walking tour around historic St George and toured Brigham Young's Winter Home.

On our walk we saw an advertisement for the St. George Musical theater and went to their performance of "The Spitfire Grill"

We saw lots and lots of petroglyphs, but that is a topic for another post.

North Rim of Grand Canyon and Snow Canyon

Our first day in St. George was kind of stormy so we decided it was a good day to make a car trip to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  We had been there before, but I'm not really sure when.  I remember it being cold and snowy the day we visited.  This year it was windy.  We stopped a scenic viewpoint for the Grand Staircase on the way and the view was just spectacular, but it was so windy I couldn't hold the phone still enough to take a clear picture.

The explanation of the view was equally pretty

We took lots of pictures and the Grand Canyon, but photos just don't do it justice...

and it was very windy.

The next day we stayed closer to home and explored Snow Canyon State Park. There are a dozen hiking trails in the park but we just explored three of them. We started with the Hidden Pinyon nature walk. Wandering along a trail until we found the "hidden pinyon" behind Calvin.

Then we took a very short walk to Jenny's Canyon, a slot canyon.

 Another day Calvin rode his mountain bike and I hiked Johnson's Canyon to a very impressive red wall that ended the hike.

I was so intent on watching the trail that I almost missed this very impressive 200 foot arch. Sadly you could only view it from the trail, not hike up to it.

Kolob Canyons

We had a short drive from Cedar City to St. George where our check-in time was 4pm, so we spent the day exploring the Kolob Canyon section of Zion National Park.  We have been to Zion several times, but never to this area.  We started with a drive to the end of the road to the Kolob Viewpoint.

Then we drove back down the hill to a pullout where we spotted an interesting canyon.

We started to hike into the canyon and ran into this rather aggressive turkey. 

We decided the trail was a little challenging for me and turned around. On the way out we ran into 3 fit young men draped in climbing gear. We mentioned that there was a turkey down the trail, but they didn't seem interested. Then a few minutes later we heard one of them squeal and come racing back up the trail. I guess they found the turkey.

We continued back down the road to the Taylor Creek trail head. The parking lot was full, but just as we pulled in another car pulled out. Amazing luck. It was a truly spectacular hike.

The trail description says there are a few creek crossings. We counted 63...each way.  Fortunately the water was low and the rocks were well placed, so I only got a foot wet twice.

 About two miles up the trail we came to a homestead cabin from the 1930's. Not a bad view out the front door.

End of the trail: Double Arch Alcove

A "Lonliest Road" Road Trip

A few weeks ago Calvin made his 6th trip across Nevada by bike. The route follows Highway 50, dubbed the Lonliest Road in America, from the California state line to the Utah state line.  

 Lunch in Eureka 

Calvin and Vance coming into the last rest stop.

I joined Calvin in Ely, NV on Thursday night before Friday's last push to the border.

Ely isn't a large town, but they make the most of their attractions.  They have a "mural walk" highlighting the murals on many of the town's buildings.  They were fun to see, but my favorite was the oldest, dating from the 1930's. Pure Nevada.

The road approaching town passes through Ruth, which is now a giant open pit copper mine. In the late afternoon sunlight the colors of the tailings were quite spectacular, but when I took a picture in the morning they didn't look quite as bright. This is just part of the Robinson mine. You need a panorama shot to get it all. The mine reopened in 2012 and they plan to work it until 2022 when they will begin reclamation.

While Calvin was riding Friday morning I went garnet hunting. Garnet Hill is a BLM site just outside of Ely where you can go rock hounding and keep what you find. I was totally unprepared to hunt garnets, no rock hammer, goggles gloves etc., so I just looked around on the ground. I did find garnets, although you almost need a microscope to see them.

Just after lunch I picked Calvin up from his ride and we proceeded along another really lonely road to Cedar City.

The last time I picked Calvin up from this ride we spent two day touring around Cedar City, so this time we just stayed over night, but we did get the chance to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. (Not exactly Shakespeare but always entertaining.)