June 27, 2015, Saturday, Moab, UT (Arches NP)
Day 58

The tourist info lady said the best time to visit Arches National Park is 6 to 10 am due to the heat. Well not being one to get up at 5 am, we set the alarm for 6:30.  At the park at 7:40 and start our visit. Many arches are only short hikes from the road.  First set are the North and South Windows and the Turret Arch. Look closely at the photo of the Turret Arch. That is not a bug in the opening but yours truly.  The next photo is me taking a picture of Rosemary (although I zoomed in on her) after she just took the “bug shot”. Arches was lots of fun, lots of climbing on relatively smooth rocks. By the time we hiked to the Pine Arch, temp was already triple digits and we had had enough.  Called it a day at 12:15 pm.  Back to the coach for lunch and both a/c’s still running and coach is cool. During lunch, lost the front a/c.  Went tot the lone optical place to fix the earpiece on Rosemary’s glasses but closed weekends.  Went to the 2 barber shops in town as it has been over 2 months since my last haircut, closed on weekends.  Hung out at the tourist info center to use wifi and upload photos.  Then to coffee shop for gelato and uploaded more photos. Supper at Singha Thai.  Back to coach in evening and temp is ok as we have a very shaded lot and back a/c did well.   Tomorrow we depart the desert and hopefully find cooler climes in Colorado.

June 26, 2015, Friday, Moab, UT
Day 57

We departed the campground in the morning and parked the coach and car at the Hickman Bridge parking lot for a trail of 1.8 miles (roundtrip) to a natural arch.  The trail was correctly rated moderate and although not easy, it was considerably easier than the .2 Capitol Gorge hike yesterday.  Although we started early, the temps were still quite hot.  The arch itself was cool as we stopped underneath it which was a breezy shaded spot. Back to the parking lot, attached the car and headed to Moab, about a 3 hour drive.  Moab high temp was 104.  Needless to say, we lost the front a/c on the way.  Checked into the Canyonlands RV Park in downtown Moab.  Supper at the Moab Brewery was 3 fish tacos.  Rosmary had salmon.  After sampling 3 different beers, I ordered a Raven Stout which really hit the spot with the tacos and the heat. The brewery also makes its own gelato. Unfortunately, they were out of bourbon and rootbeer flavors so we had to settle for coconut sorbet.  After supper, grocery shopping at City Market, our first real grocery since Flagstaff.

June 25, 2015, Thursday, Torrey, UT (Capitol Reef NP)
Day 56

We departed Bryce Canyon City and headed east on Highway 12, one of the top ten scenic byways in the U.S., for a 110 mile trip to Torrey for our base to see the Capitol Reef National Park.  The drive took 3 hours and 15 minutes.  Talk about scenic, and harrowing.  Along the way was a portion along the crest of a mountain with barely enough room for the 2 lane road and substantial drop offs on each side.  The white knuckles I experienced brought back memories of Mount Washington last year. Rosemary was near tears. The ride also passed a 9600 foot summit. The coach spent significant time coughing and wheezing while climbing up hill and it refreshed my memory of our Camp Freightliner instructor’s warning that the chassis does not perform well above 7000 feet.  We finally made it to Torrey and checked into Wonderland RV Park. About 4 pm, we drove the car to the NP. Visited the Gifford House (an original house in the former Mormon settlement of Fruita) and bought 2 ice creams for $1 each to eat on the spot and  a strawberry rhubarb pie for later.  Then headed along the scenic drive in the park (8 miles paved) to the end (5 miles unpaved) to the Capitol Gorge hike.  The 1 mile (one way) hike was rated easy to see the “tanks” which are pools of water in the rocks for which the water cannot escape by flow.  After we walked along a dry riverbed about .8 miles we came to a sign that said tanks .2 miles and an arrow pointing up.  We began a climb up the rocky cliff looking for the cairns (small piles of rocks marking the trail).  After awhile, we began debating whether to continue since the climb was in no way “easy” and even required all fours in spots.  We pushed on with the encouragement of other (much younger) hikers.  We finally see a “tank” and it has maybe 5 gallons of water.  A little further and we see a sizeable tank and take a photo and a rest.  We proceed down and all of the rocks seem to look alike.  Could not find one cairn and tried a couple wrong paths (which lead to a cliff) until we found the right trail.  Back to the car. This 2 mile hike took almost 2 hours.

June 23 & 24, 2015, Tuesday-Wednesday, Bryce Canyon City, UT (Bryce Canyon NP)
Day 54 & 55

Slept late, easy drive to Bryce Canyon City and checked into Ruby’s Inn RV Park & Campground for 2 nights at elevation 7600.  After lunch took the shuttle bus into Bryce Canyon National Park.  If the Grand Canyon was “Wow!”, this park is Wow Wow!  Incredible colors and “hoodoo” formations. These formations are not formed by any river but by a freeze thaw cycle.  This unique area has 200 days per year of freezing temps at night and above freezing temps by day so that the water in the rocks freezes and thaws creating cracking and eroding. The white layer is limestone, the red is sandstone and the ugly cement gray is manganese.  The limestone and sandstone are the softer layers which results in some columns with the manganese still intact on top and the softer layers eroding underneath. The park consists of 10 “amphitheaters” of hoodoos over about 18 miles.  The best part is there are numerous hiking trails which take you from the rim down to the canyon floor to walk among the hoodoos. We viewed the Bryce, Inspiration, Sunset and Sunrise Points and then walked the Navajo Loop, a trail of about 1.3 miles. The walk was incredible.  This park should be on everyone’s bucket list. We returned to the coach finally after 8 pm.  The next day we took the free Rainbow Bus Tour (3.5 hours and reservations required).  The tour takes you to along the entire 18 mile road with several stops at several points with the tour guide describing the geology and pointing out what we were looking at including views of the north rim of the Grand Canyon and other views of over 100 hundred miles.  We spent the afternoon at Mossy Cave and Waterfall, remembering to bring our water shoes this time for a wade down the river.  Supper was at the Bryce Canyon Lodge (built in 1924) was delicious.  After a bowl of Elk Chili, my main courses was birch black boneless short ribs, black bean risoto cake and green beans together with a Squatters Organic Amber Ale brewed in Utah.  Rosemary had salmon in a chili lime sauce, cilantro jasmine rice and green beans. Great meal, great park, great time.  Almost forgot, a/c’s working great and heater at night due to temps in the 50's.