Wed - Day 14 & Thur Day 15

Paid $2.999 for fuel at the campground Wed. Paid $2.719 at Cameron, AZ today. Have driven 1980 miles since we left.

Wednesday morning I was still TIRED from all our walking on Tuesday. I told Kathy I wasn’t going to do anything but get out of the truck, take a look and get back in the truck. No walking for me.

First thing in the morning we drove 5 miles past the Bryce Canyon entrance to the small town of Tropic, Utah, just to look it over. On the way over we noticed a few cars stopped at a point of interest. On the way back we stopped to check it out.

It was for Mossy Cave and a chance to view a small waterfall if you walked back in along the path. I said lets go.

 We crossed 2 bridges like this one. Both were spliced at mid-span. I still wonder how in the world they go them back in here.

 The rock formations are just awesome.

 The waterfall. The original Mormon settlers diverted some of the Seveir River to provide water to this area they hand dug a many miles long canal. Where possible they used existing canyons. This is a section where they used an existing canyon for the canal. The waterfall is probably 25' tall.

 I went up the path to the waterfall. This is a photo looking back downstream.

 Then I had to walk up the path to Mossy Cave. There is a spring in the cave that feeds down into the canal waterway. I was feeling pretty good about my stamina until I started back down and met a young lady pushing a baby in a baby stroller up the hill. My ego was CRUSHED! 😊

 I took this photo from while walking back to the truck. Mossy Cave is up in the rocks, just on the left side of the large pine tree.

 This is the rock formation shown in an earlier photo, from the backside.

After that we went into the Park and had lunch at one of the hotels. The lunch was a buffet that was overpriced (thought we were in Alaska) but adequate. The shuttle we had ridden on yesterday only took people about 3 miles into the park. Rainbow Point is 15 miles into the park, on a nicely paved road. In addition there are a lot of other viewing places along the road. We drove into park to take a look. Our National Park Senior Passes got us on yesterday’s shuttle for free and saved us the $30 vehicle entry fee Wed. I can’t describe the scenery. Below are a few photos but they don’t come close to giving an idea of how grand it is.

 Rainbow Point is the highest we have been.

 You can see for miles. The ridge for off in the distance, at the top of the photo, is about 15 miles away.

This rock is larger than my truck.

Between the rock formations we took photos of yesterday, and the ones from today, are acres and acres of meadows. We saw about a dozen antelope grazing in one area about 100 yards off the road. They were in a place where is wasn't a good idea to pull off and stop so we didn't get a photo.

 Thursday morning we took our time getting around and headed for The Quality Inn & RV Park inTuba City, Arizona. It had been windy Wed. but today it was really WINDY. Constant winds, mostly headwinds from 10-30 mph, and some 5+ mile long 6% grades gave the GMC a workout. This morning we were 7,750 feet above sea level at the campground. Nowhere were there any significant stretches fo road that were level. It was always “down one hill” then “up the next hill”. At the Glen Canyon Dam bridge we were only about 3,900 feet above sea level. Within just a few miles we climbed 2,200 feet to elevation 6,120.

We stopped at a Bureau of Land Management Visitors Center near Lake Powell. Kathy fixed us lunch and then we walked around the Center. It had some interesting displays of dinosaur fossils that have been found in the area. 

The bridge at Glen Canyon Dam is 700 feet above the water below. It has nice walkway on both sides so that you can look downstream from the dam and upstream at the dam. The wind was blowing so hard while we were standing on the dam that you could actually feel it move slightly sideways in the gusts. It was COOL!

 Below are small motorized pontoons that you can rent.

 The dam generates electricity, in addition to impounding a massive amount of water.

 Looking downstream. To bad the color is all washed out. The rocks walls are varying shades of pink and the water is as blue as blue gets.

 Looking further downstream.

 Another view of the dam. The green at the bottom is not grass, it is scummy water.

 The bridge.

 Temperature last night got down to about 50. The highest we saw today was mid 80’s. Here in Tuba City tonight’s low is supposed to be around 60. Tomorrows high/low at the Grand Canyon is forecast to be 65/26. We are at the campground in Tuba City, instead of at the Grand Canyon because I didn’t want to deal with below freezing temperatures. We will leave the trailer here, do a day trip to the Grand Canyon tomorrow, stay in Tuba City tomorrow night and then head to Cortez, Colorado Saturday morning. Tuba City’s overnight low is forecast to be 38 Friday night.

No WiFi in tonights campground, nor the one we stayed at the last couple of nights. Have to go to the office to connect. Hope this isn't to garbled. I didn't do a lot of proofreading.

God is good, may He bless you and yours.