11.-17.09.2006: Capitol Reef NP - Grand Staircase-Escalante NM - Bryce Canyon NP - Grand Canyon NP We continued along the dirt track taking lots of photos of the fold formation which looked like sharks teeth and was so colourful it looked like someone had painted it! We did a 2.5 mile walk along Surprise Canyon but had to stop at a huge boulder blocking our way which we didn't think we could safely get back over on our return. We did another 2.5 mile walk along Headquarters Canyon that ended in a 45° angle water chute. Half way up the chute there was a large, deep pool which we would have to negotiate via narrow ledges, so we decided to head back. Then we drove up steep switchbacks into Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and onto Burr Trail Road. There is now 15 miles more of the paved road than the last time we were here nearly three years ago. So it was nice to get back onto a smoother road. On Tuesday we carried along Burr Trail Rd and then drove along the Scenic Byway 12. After stopping for fuel, supplies and a library, we headed down another dirt road called Hole-in-the-Rock Road. We stopped off at Devils Garden to walk around the odd shaped rocks and then went further along the road to find a place to stop for the night, where it seemed we had the whole place just to ourselves! On Wednesday it took us an hour to drive one mile along a very badly rutted road to a trail head car park. From there we walked 5 miles down into various gulches. First we went to Spooky Gulch - a really, really narrow slot canyon. The narrowest we've ever been to and great fun! In Coyote Gulch we could see how the top layer of mud was curling up in the sun and looked like chocolate - not that we were going to taste it, of course! We couldn't get into Brimstone Gulch because of boulder and a huge drop into a pool of mud. Apparently one man got stuck after he'd got down over the boulder but then found he couldn't get back up on the way back. He had to wait eight days for the next people to come along and help him out!!!! Outside Peek-a-Boo Gulch there were some lovely lilies that looked as if someone had brought and planted here. Unfortunately the Gulch was way too muddy with a large pool in front of the entrance. We saw some people coming out and they were covered in mud up to their waists! So we tried to get to the other end and go in from there. We climbed a steep hill, went over the tops of the gulch, jumping over crevices and finally finding the other end. Then we scrambled and climbed through the gulch for a while until the mud and water pools turned us back. Finally we walked along Dry Fork Canyon and then headed back up the steep hill to Winnie. It was a great walk and well worth driving 26 miles along a rough dirt road to get here. We drove back along the road to the junction with Scenic Byway 12 and stopped in a kind of camping area. Thursday was a rainy day so we decided to stay where we were. We watched part of a film - "Monster-in-law" with Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez until the computer ran out of battery power. Then we played Dominoes. Later the storm got really bad. The storm got even worse after we went to bed. Kirsten kept getting up to check how big the hail stones were!! Every two or three seconds there were lightning strikes that lit up the sky making it look as though it was during the day! We found out later that this storm caused a lot of damage in the Grand Canyon and washed away a helicopter pad. On Friday we saw that our front right tyre was going flat so the first thing we had to do was drive the 5 miles into Escalante and get it fixed. We got propane and went to the visitor centre and found out that the weather forecast for the Grand Canyon was good for the next few days. So we drove off in that direction. We stopped off at Mossy Cave in Bryce Canyon National Park to do a short 1 mile walk up to the waterfall. As we continued driving we had such a bad head wind that Winnie was really struggling and we weren't getting anywhere fast. So we pulled off the road and parked up for the night. Overnight the temperature dropped considerably and it was still very cold the next morning. We drove down to Kanab on the Utah and Arizona border and found out that the petrol was cheaper in Utah. Last time Arizona was cheaper. We drove towards the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and picked up information at the National Forest Visitor Centre. We also found out we had gained an hour as Arizona doesn't change their clocks in Spring or Autumn. So we drove down to the North Rim and went to the visitor centre there and went to the lodge with its great lookout over the canyon. We went for a shower at the campground in the park and Kirsten managed to wet everything! Then we drove just outside the park to the National Forest area and found a free spot to park for the night. The temperature went below freezing overnight and we got woken up at 4-30 am by lots of hunters driving off. It wasn't until after 7-30am that the traffic subsided! It was still very cold when we got up and we drove into the park and did a scenic drive to see different rim views and overlooks. The views are better from the North side because you can look right down into the canyon and get a far better sense of how deep it is. From the South side, the plateau obstructs the view so the canyon doesn't look as deep. We stayed for the sunset and then drove back to our camping spot.