Back and forth on Utah's "89"

Next day we went back to were we headed off from to The Wave. The same place is a trailhead to  Buckskin Gulch, which was our next destination. This was out substotiturion for Antelope Canyon, which we had planned to see some time ago in Arizona, but it's on Indian territory and it just costs too much... You have to hire an Indian guide plus pay the entrance fee. At least that's what we understood, correct us if we're wrong.

Now it was too far as well. We would have to spent more than 50 USD only for gas. Oh well, it wasn't meant to be. To do in the future. So we decided to see a similar place - Buckskin Gulch (for only 6 USD per person, kids under 12 free) and we weren't disappointed at all. There are two ways to get there - the longer one starts at Buckskin Gulch Trailhead. We took the shorter one - from Wire Pass, same place The Wave trailhead is. 

After more or less an hour of dragging Maciek behind (he must have used all his energy a day earlier) on sand and rocks (in a dry riverbed), so probably after like half an hour of regular, full-size person without kids walk, gorge gets narrow. From then on it's really beautiful. It gets so narrow that in some places you have to squeeze in with your shoulders touching the walls, light gets through narrow slots…we'll just let the pictures talk.

Canyon goes on for over 12 miles, we just walked for a short while but for lng enough to be amazed. Some time later Buckskin Gulch goes into Paria River canyon and it goes on and on…

We met some Polish people on the way - two women, one from Poland, one from Chicago and one guy from Florida, he walked even though he twisted his ankle just a few days earlier. He really wanted to see Buskskin Gulch as it is the longest and deepest slot canyon in the southwest United States and as Wikipedia clamis may very well be the longest in the world. Anyway, it is definitely worth seeing.

After going back on "89" we stopped at one more place, 2 miles east - just by the road there is a rock with petroglyphs and pictograms. Some of them are around 6000 years old, some are much younger as in 19th century cowboys liked to paint their "graffiti" there. Go to milepost 24 on "89" and (going south) just after going steep downhill look for a turn and gate with a chain. Remember to close it after you go through. 

At the end of sandy road there is a trailhead leading to Catstair Canyon. Rock art is just as you enter the canyon on your left. If you came just to see it there is no use going further into the canyon. Although it is quite a nice place for a walk… You can get more information at BLM office in Kanab or in seasonally open Paria Contact Station, located on "89", near where it crosses Paria River. 

On "89" further east there are also Toad Stools, which are local hoodoos. Hoodooare rock formations Bryce is famous for. Having not too much time and knowing we'll see them in Bryce we skipped them.

Around marker 30 on "89" there is also a movie set Pahreah, built in place of a ghost town bearing the same name. Many western movies were shot there but 4 buildings that served in movies, didn't have too much luck. In 2000 they were destroyed by a flash flood, in 2006 they were burnt to the ground by a fire. We're not sure if they were rebuilt. We passed the sign for Pahreah Movie Set but we decided not to go. 

If you are aroung looking for a place for a night, we heard there is a free campground in Pahreah with picnic tables, fire rings and vault toilets. As the area is really beatiful it may be not only free but scenic as well..

Polish people we met in Buckskin Gulch recommended Cottonwood Road, one of a "very back" scenic backroads. In Utah many scenic byways, just like in Idaho or eastern Oregon are paved old settlers trails. Some of those trails were not appreciated by a modern man and stayed gravel. One of them is Cottonwood Road, which goes north-south and connects "12" with "89". It is a very nice shortcut passing by a few national parks. We do not recommend bypassing them but being in Utah you have to take a few of those roads. They are bumpy as hell and it's better to have 4x4 car although it's usually not required. Good suspension is a must though…

Eddie on backroads

Those roads are good for avoiding crowded and popular paths, besides it's easy to find drycamping there. Although with camping you have to be careful, as for some places you need a permit. For example Cottonwood Road in part is of Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. BLM offices issue a free permit for camping there, sometimes you can also find them in boxes at trailheads, you just need to sign them. Going from south (from "89") campsites start after about a mile and you can stay there with no permit. Going from north (from "12") you pass national monument boundaries almost right away and a permit is reqiuired. We'll write more about backroads as we get there.

Eddie left alone next to a dirt road close to "89" to be robbed by thieves, damaged by vandals or shot at by gun amateaurs (guessing from the amount of bullet shells on the ground around this one was not that completely irrational fear) survived for three days. Shells and shot-through cans don't impress us any more. They are at almost every free campsite and sometimes at paid cheap campsites too.

Finally it was time to charge the electronics, get some water, empty grey/black water tanks and take a shower longer than 2 minutes. It was time for a paid campground. We chose one that, as we found out later, was managed by Lutheran Church. It was located less than half an hour drive north from where we were. We liked it not only for its price (12.50 USD with Passport America discount) but also for location - it's on the junction of  "89" and "14", which leads to Cedar Breaks. 

Road to Cedar Breaks

Lutherwood campground is not far from where we were but the temperature went down significantly - we climbed up to over 7000 feet/2300 meters. Though we felt cold our hosts told us that it's the nicest day for a long time so we did't complain.

We were afraid that it may be full as we were there on Memorial Day weekend and campground was half way through between Cedar Breaks and Bryce National Park. Surprisingly they had a lot of free sites. We arrived, we plugged in all the chargers and we went to look at the cedars.

We got there two weeks too early. It was already possible to get there (they opened the road 2 days earlier), it was windy but we managed to survive without winter coats. Not bad, remembering it's situtated on elevation of 10,000 feet.

Cedar Breaks is a full of colors amphitheater carved by erosion on a western edge of Markagunt Plateau. It gives an impresison of being almost alive, you can look at it for hours and find different shapes. 

There are rock formations shaped like skyscrapers, temples, animals - camels, monkeys, birds. There was snow here and there too. It gave it even more surrealistic touch. Pretty good considering it's a place called by some people only a preview of Bryce. And by the way, both Bryce and Cedar Breaks have names that are not really appropriate: Bryce is not canyon and there are no cedars in Cedar Breaks…

We did some quick sightseeing, we went to all of view points sometimes getting out of a car for just a few minutes. Visitors center was still closed and a ranger at the gate gave us a map saying that until June 7 they don't charge the entrance fee as all the trails are still coveredwith snow, sometimes 8 foot deep. If you happen to be in the area before mid-June remember to check if "148" leading to the park from "14" is open. This year it opened last week of May.

Both roads are pretty too so it's worth a trip anyway. "14" is ohv fans area, everyone is going crazy on their quads there (we'd love to do this too some day, if we weren't with the kids we'd probably rent one for a day despite the prices...oh well, next time, with older kids and fatter wallet). "14" is also one of Utah scenic byways leading through hills covered with lava beds, that look like volcano has just erupted there, and it goes up really quickly so the views change a lot on the way.

We spent next morning doing laundry, bathing kids, charging electronics and Eddie's battery, so on everything we give up when we decide to stay on free campsites. Much later than we planned but after a very nice goodbye with campground hosts we headed east. It was time for Red Canyon and Bryce.