Grand Staircase Escalante-Capital Reef National Park

Although we had originally planned to stay in Escalante National Monument, after looking into the plans further, decided against it and to go right from Bryce to Capital Reef with plans to take side trips into Escalante if so desired.

The highway from Bryce to Capital Reef travels right through the heart of Escalante and is designated Scenic Highway 12 – I must add with good reason! This was gorgeous driving along this highway! We soon found ourselves more or less traveling with a guy in a small car who stopped at all the same scenic turnouts. He said he was a sucker for this scenery and I had to agree. He was from California and was awed by this landscape.

We met some folks from Germany at one of the turnouts as well and they have purchased a small class C motor home for a two-year stint here in North America. They LOVE it here and say we have it ALL! They were traveling in opposite direction but were just as much awed as we were by the scenery and said they had already traveled most of USA, Canada and some of Mexico. Their plans are to return to Germany and probably sell off everything so they can return to full-time here in USA. Says a lot for our natural beauty in this country.

The pass was 9600+ft and a mighty climb north of town of Boulder. Can you guess why they named it that? No doubt about it, there is boulders everywhere of every shape and color and it is just plain fun to see it all. We were a bit surprised when 3 cows entered the roadway but were patient and let us pass without any harm to any one. Thank goodness!

The quaking aspens were lovely and so colorful it was a thrill to see them. Entering the Capital Reef National Park from the west was a wonderful treat because we had such a build up on the way here. This place is not stupendous like Bryce – it is Tremendous! The size of this reef is gigantic and so colorful besides all the other scenery, orchards and lovely campground with many deer hoping for a handout from the orchard. The orchard has apples and pears at this time of year and you pick for $1.00 a pound on the honor system. It’s a wonderful thing so of course we picked 10 pounds… goodness now I have to start baking again I guess.