Ken's Journal Bryce Canyon, Utah - 07/13 - 07/17/2004 |
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Continuing our drive down Cottonwood Canyon Road -- |
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A view down the road - these are the real colors you'll see. All the shades of red, green, yellow and blue you can imagine. I didn't fiddle this in Photoshop! |
Likewise - these are the actual colors! |
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Bighorn sheep. It's rare to see these guys this close. There were three of 'em. The third one, the first I saw, jumped out of a gulch and onto the road right in front of me. While I stopped to take pictures of her (looked like she was nursing condition), these two passed behind me. The female got too far away for a good picture, but these guys stuck around for a while. Unfortunately, the lighting was poor - the sun was almost directly overhead. And the sheep are the same color as the rocks!! |
After 50 miles of dirt road I reached US89, traveled west a few miles to another dirt road and then another several miles to what was supposed to be the western movie town. This is it I think. There were only three buildings near the end of this road. Further was supposed to be the remnants of the real town of Parea - abandoned by the Mormons after yearly flooding of the Parea River wiped them out. My charts indicated the real town was across the river so I tried to get there. Continuing on after this 'town' the road dropped to the river bottom. There were several trails cut through the Cottonwoods so with my GPS, I tried to follow them to the other side of the river. No luck. I wandered in a maze of trails through a thicket so thick that sometimes the brush was over the top of the Jeep. I gave up as soon as I found the way back! Maybe next time when I have someone with me, I'll try it again. | ![]() |
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Now I had a choice. I could return to Bryce the way I came - another 50
miles of dirt road, or I could continue on US89 to Kanab and eventually back
to Bryce on hard surface roads - about 100 miles. While at Parea I had been
keeping my eye on a couple thunderstorms circling the area and watched one
dump in the area of Cottonwood Canyon Road. I decided on 100 miles of hard
surface road. I ran through a couple thunderstorms on the way back and the
next day the news was of a car and it's occupants washed off Cottonwood
Canyon Road and into a gulch. Both occupants survived, but the car didn't.
Next stop - Capitol Reef National Park. |
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Page 13 |
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