I’m sitting in an open pavilion containing a ping-pong table, hot plate, and sinks for campers, at a KOA in Cannonville, UT. Still, the view is not bad:
Our plan was to spend three nights here and visit Bryce Canyon NP one full day and Zion NP one full day. This would have added up to three of our greatest National Parks in four days. Too much! We did Bryce yesterday and it was of course the place that defines “scenic.” But this morning we are so tired we are just hanging out at camp. We will pack up tomorrow, reserve a motel near Zion and give Zion a day and a half.
We got here day before yesterday after driving across what may be the most outrageously scenic interstate in the US: I-70 west of Thompson Springs starts out as flat desolation and then as you go west the geology just gets wilder and wilder. This is the huge sedimentary seabed from the inland sea that used to occupy the center of the US, which dried and a piece the size of Nevada, roughly centered at the Four Corners, was shoved upward tectonically—to about 9000 feet above today’s sea level. It is called the Colorado Plateau and all the canyons and fabulous features of Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon are nothing more than cuts and carvings made by rainfall and river erosion, ice and sandblast into that plateau, which has hundreds of layers of different hardnesses and colors.
Every 5 miles or so on I-70 you see a sign: “scenic turnout,” and you should, because each one throws some unbelievable panorama at you, with a sign explaining the geology. For example:
In the end we only got a few exciting drops after we set up. Meanwhile. before we got there we needed a place for our PB&J lunch and saw a “rest area” sign; turned out it was an amazing little place with nice bathrooms and covered picnic tables (nice given it looked like we were going to be rained on), hidden in the woods away from the road and next to a pretty creek (in this country any running water is beautiful to see).
Saw a western tanager almost immediately, also a spotted towhee and black-beaked magpie. Rest area was apparently maintained by the “Hoover” community, though we never saw the community! It was so pretty after a long drive. It was really appreciated, Hoover!
We arrived in Cannonville, UT and its’ KOA late afternoon yesterday, but in plenty of time to set up. We saw some glimpses of the rocks on the edge of Bryce and it was clear we would be in for a treat.
Overall the Cannonvile camping was a good experience; it would have been great if the wind had been just a little warmer:
Picture of Mary freezing; I have pictures of Mary Freezing at all the National Parks...
Being aged (Bella too), we would have to crawl out of bed (which really was comfortable and warm, Mary admits) in the night and walk over to the bathrooms, taking Bella to the pet walk as well. But the KOA was friendly, well-maintained, the sites spaced nicely among the trees and hills, and our gear worked very well. I had a prejudice againt KOA's, having been told that they typically really crowd the campsites together. Not true at the Cannonville UT KOA.
KODACHROME BASIN STATE PARK VALLEY
After a very nice day just hanging out in camp but getting restless, in the late afternoon we ran down to a small UT State park called “Kodachrome Basin,” named (with permission from Kodak) by the National Geographic because of the colors. Turned out it was an absolute gem! We took a small nature trail (we could take Bella, this not being a National Park) and it was a chance to get close to the sticky-shoe rocks, which I and Glen and Neal loved to run around on in 1972. This time I carefully inched around trying not to inflame my knees.
Because we did this walk at our leisure, we had time to contemplate individual stone sculptures and made a game of naming them; for example:
An Old Couple Snuggling In Bed
The Buddha Speaks
The Monk Contemplates
The White House
The area is famous for its many stone columns; here is “Chimney Rock”
Note Mary at the bottom
Dead pinon pines make some nice scuptres too:
What started out as a little side excursion turned out to be a very fine evening, wouldn’t you say? The last thing we saw was a scrub jay.
Your photo caption for Mary freezing made me laugh out loud- it's the same for us. We are freezing in each and every single camp photo we have- perhaps the worst and most fun was Yellowstone. I still can't believe how cold it was for mid June.Thanks for the info. Fingers crossed I can get a spot in Kodachrome for a couple of nights in July.
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