We departed the Page Lake Powell Campground just before 9 am
for a rendezvous with all the members of our tour group at the Glen Canyon Dam
site. Some needed fuel and others were ready to go, so it was easiest to meet
at the dam, plus it gave some of us … one more photo opportunity.
Here is a
picture of some of the rigs staging.
Before we got to the dam site, we passed the golf course in
Page Arizona, it is amazing how green the greens are. It is very interesting
how the fairways are designed in between the rock formations that crop up in
the landscape.
The meeting site at the dam, is on Route 89 N. This is the
same route we took to Lake Powell, our first day in Page to enjoy our sunset
dinner cruise. We did not enter the park, but Route 89 follows the lake along
the west side. It again gave the photo bug in me a chance for more pictures of
the beautiful blue water against the rock formations.
It is less than 15 miles from Page Arizona to the Utah
border. We were greeted by the “welcome to Utah” sign, proclaiming “life
elevated.” Seeing all of the rock formations, it is easy to see why life is
elevated in Utah. Utah is home of the Latter Day Saints, that could be another
reason their life is elevated.
Either way, the scenery is picture perfect and I
was snapping away during drive.
Along the way, in a rather cloudless sky, I found this one
cloud formation that looks like a dove to me. We have often spoken of the
beauty God has created for us to see on this caravan and I wonder if this cloud
formation was just one more of those sights! I am not one who can often see
shapes in the clouds, but this one just stuck out to me!
We traversed through the southern edge of the Grand
Staircase – Escalante National Monument which became the newest National
Monument in Utah in 1996. It covers just short of 2 million acres … can you
imagine that … 2 million acres! Wow … It is located on the Colorado Plateau
between Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Bryce Canyon and Capital Reef
National Park. We are visiting two of these parks. The topography of the Grand
Staircase Escalante is made up of three different sections; the wonderful hues
of the sandstone cliffs, the high mesas with deep canyons and the red rock
wilderness.
There was some up and down on this portion of the trip, but
not nearly the heights we had in Arizona! The highest summit on this leg of the
caravan was only 5,690 feet in elevation. There was not many towns on Route 89,
but the lack of towns was surpassed by the beauty on the highway.
The most misplaced sight we saw on this trip was a “tudor”
style two story home outside of Kanab, Utah.
The biggest town we came to on this route was Kanab Utah.
It’s welcome sign indicates it is a “western classic.” The town looked very
interesting and it is only about 20 miles to our campground, so we will
definitely head back to check it out. The signs made me think of Zephyrhills …
everything seems to be about 60 to 90 miles away from Kanab!
Outside of Kanab, I spotted one of my favorite items to
photograph and blog about …. Crossing signs! I found an ATV crossing sign! It
was located close to an area that looked like it was well suited for ATV or
UTV. Speaking if a UTV or RAZR, the Pink Coral Sand Dunes State Park is a great
place to go with your RAZR. My question is, are they really coral pink?
Along this route is the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. It is
the largest no-kill shelter in the US. It really is a sanctuary, all the
animals there do not “want” for anything. They are very well taken care of and
loved. They have separate dog houses and cat houses, as well as pig palaces and
pastures for the horses. They offer daily tours and are 100% non-profit. They
survive on donations, volunteers and their thrift store.
In Mt Carmel Utah, we turned off of Route 89 N and headed
west on Route 9. There was some steep downgrades on this road, but then when
you think about it, we were heading to Zion and that is the bottom of a canyon.
We arrived at the Hi-Road Campground, a mere 3 hours after
we departed Page. It was a 92 mile trip … 3 hours! What were we poking along?
No, Arizona is Mountain Standard Time and Utah is Mountain Daylight Time, so we
lost an hour! Oh well, it is only time … which was have plenty of on this trip!
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