2022

Founded in 1692 and rebuilt in the late 1700s

Saguaro NP is readily assessable from Tucson in both the East and West sections

The food in Tucson is varied and wonderful.

The cats did their best to remain catlike in their visit to Arizona.

Can't say enough about the relaxing lifestyle and warmth and friendship.

White House BLM campground south of Kanab Utah was a gem.

A final three nights at Zion's NP let us prepare for a long travel day back to a (hopefully) warmer Logan.

Making friends with the local cats just outside the park entrance.

There are more than 5 campgrounds in the Great Basin NP and we chose to stay at the Baker Creek Campground. Only the Lower Lehman CG is open year round, but most of the campgrounds were open by the 8th of May. No water was turned on but we could haul water from the visitor center.

One of the hikes had a few caves with striking petroglyphs at the openings. This cave entrance was within hiking distance of our campsite.

Lehman caves has been known and exploited for a long time, but is being preserved under the park service. It is known for its shields which we were told were rare formations in caverns.

A hike up the south fork of Baker Creek and back down the Timber Creek trail provided exposure to some fantastic scenery in the mountains.

Home to one of the southmost glaciers in the continental US, Wheeler Peak is 13161 ft (4011 m) elevation and is the highest peak in Nevada.

After a chilly hike it was time to relax by the fire and prepare for a travel day to Bryce.

After the Isolation of Great Basin, Bryce was hopping. Two campgrounds were open, each with about 100 spots. The North campground seemed to shoehorn in tents and trailers and was essentially full when we arrived around 1:45pm, but the Sunset campground had spots and was slightly less crowded in it's layout. By Friday, it was full as well. Water was turned on and flush toilets were available as well as a double sink dish washing room with hot water.

Bryce canyon, despite the name, is not really a canyon since no river flows through it. Instead it is an amphitheater discovered by a rancher from nearby tropic who had some cattle wander away and into the area. As he supposedly said about the formations, "It is a hell of a place to lose cattle".

A hike down the queen's garden trail connects with the Navajo trail and the rim can be accessed again by the Wall Street leg of the Navajo trail.

After a very non-strenuous hike down a few hundred meters, the rim reminds me of how far back up I need to hike to get back to the campsite.

The Navajo trail is one of the most popular hikes in the park and there were always people around to talk to when resting on the climb back.

The wall street section was very steep but shaded by towering walls on both sides. Overall it was preferable to travel down by the more gradual Queen's Garden trail and back up this way.

Rainbow point is one of the furthest points in the park accessible by road, but sadly budget cuts seem to have required removing the rainbow.

The scenery at Bryce is spectacular and the geological formations are almost beyond comprehension.

My last hike was down the under the rim trail about 1.2 km then back. The under the rim trail continues for close to 35 km and descends, then climbs back over 300 m. It is recommended to take 2 to 3 days and requires a backcountry camping permit. Instead I finished with rim trail back from Bryce point to Sunset point and out campground. Time to prepare for the trip back to Cache Valley.