Epic Road Trip 2017 (Day 2)

Published on July 30, 2017

After an unexpected delay, I spent the second day traveling from the North Rim to Bryce Canyon National Park. It's a short drive (slightly over 100 miles), which gave me time to hike among the hoodoos.

Day 2

The second day of the trip was a bit more eventful thanks to my phone deciding to brick itself (it was a Nexus 5X and there is apparently a problem with it going into a “boot loop”). After leaving Jacob Lake filled up on a hearty breakfast that comes with the presence of a support vehicle, I dropped into the valley north of the Kaibab Plateau with a panoramic view of the prismatic cliffs in the distance (I later learned these were the chocolate, white, gray, and pink cliffs leading to the Paunsaugunt Plateau.

After a stop off in Kanab at the nearest Verizon store, where I learned my existing phone was beyond help and purchasing a replacement, I was off winding through the canyons along the East Fork of the Virgin River before coming to my starting point on Highway 12 and Bryce Canyon. Even with my delay, I made it to Bryce Canyon and set up camp before any rain showed up. I even managed to hike the Rim Trail and the Navajo Loop. I really wanted to hike the Fairyland Canyon, but I hadn’t yet had lunch and my stomach was telling me to head back to camp.

After a (very) late lunch and some quick shelter in the tent while the brief summer storm passed by, I made it over to the general store and enjoy the remainder of the evening staring at the sky and doing nothing.

On this part of the trip I learned that angry clouds do not always make a storm. The clouds at Bryce were very dark and ominous, but produced very little actual rain. I also learned that the last uncharted territory of the United States wasn't in Arizona, Montana, or California, but in Utah. Highway 12 follows the exact path that the Powell Expedition did in 1872, when Major John Wesley Powell launched the Second Powell Expedition to survey the last unexplored region of the West. Powell Point was named for him because of this accomplishment.

Colorful cliffs
Gateway to Highway 12
overview of Bryce Canyon from the Rim Trail
Fariyland Canyon
Bryce Canyon
Navajo Loop descent