DAY 14
4/1/26 Wednesday
Rained some last night. No snow at camp this morning when we woke up. It rained a bit more in the morning. We were in no rush to get going as it was really cold outside… in the 30’s. We were glad we chose that campsite when we saw some of the other roads people had to drive on… kind of “greasy” from the rain.
It was almost noon when we departed camp and we saw a snow plow on the park highway heading down from thd end point. At this point we were experiencing a squall on the drive to the end of the park road at Rainbow point… no snow sticking. Temp is 33’.
We’re at 9915’ and there’s some snow on the hillside by the road. We cannot see anything below the rim, the views are socked in below..maybe we will see Bryce Csnyon hoodoos with snow!
As I sitting in the van I’m notickmg people’s readiness for inclement weather… or lack thereof. It’s really wet snow and slush. One dad is with 2 girls all in shorts, tennis shoes and cotton sweatshirts. They obviously did not check the weather when they got in the car this morning!
Next was a mom, dad 2 kids… all in rain coats, hats, gloves and hiking boots. They’re ready for the day…
You get the idea… some had warm clothes.. some did not.
We stick around sitting in the van waiting for the sky to clear a bit and the fog to lift out of the valley below to see the snow and sun effect on the hoodoos. Once it cleared a bit we give the photos another try. But it’s cold and windy. We are at the end of the road called Rainbow Point.
Our last stop here today is called Natural Bridge.
The truth is that today the weather wins…with my attitude. It’s cold and windy and I don’t feel like being “outdoorsy” today. The sun did come out later (3:40-4) this afternoon but too late to motivate me! So we picked up our tethered lawn chairs from our morning camp and headed out of Bryce heading south toward Zion National Park.
Coming out of Bryce you go through a little area called Red Csnyon. It’s a little like Bryce with fewer hoodoo. Geologically it’s many years older because most of it was already eroded to big Sandhills. There were two arch bridges at the end of the canyon the highway passes through saying hello or goodbye to Bryce Country… so to speak.
We made it to a little town named Glendale. It’s very tiny but has a little RV campground that’s not full. So we tried to get a tent site (no electricity, no water). The tent sites are in a little orchard area. Grassy and quiet. But… there’s a problem we discovered after driving in. It rained a lot more down here in the Virgin River valley than up in the mountains! The ground was saturated and we very nearly got stuck! We backed out carefully and ended camping in a regular RV site. (No hookups). Driving skill test #5!
Jim said the young teenager in the office who sent us down the tent lane was probably going to get an earful later when her boss sees the tent road! Right after us she sent another van in there… he almost got stuck too before he quickly backed out. Oops!
cinnicrew 