Monday, November 6/2017

It is a travel day today and we will be saying goodbye to this cute little spot we found.   It is time for us to continue our travels.
The sun is shining again today and that makes for a nice day for travelling.  We will head up to Hanksville, Utah and then head west towards Bryce Canyon Park.  The scenery should remain awesome!!

Headed out

Utah 95 West

We headed out this morning and travelled through some scrubby juniper and sagebrush desert.  It was pretty but the Ohhs and Awes were to come later in the day.  As we continued the scrub turned into canyons and incredible scenery thanks to the sandstone rock formations of Fry Canyon where it was open range and then Glen Canyon with its incredible views.
Once again.....according to Google, Glen Canyon in a natural canyon in the Vermillion Cliffs area of South Eastern and South Central Utah.  Covering 1.25 million acre's, it is part of the immense system of canyons carved by the Colorado River.  In 1963, Lake Powell Reservoir was created by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam thus flooding much of the Canyon in hundreds of feet of water.  Although the reservoir remains controversial, it provides numerous opportunities for water recreation and other sports such as hiking, canyoneering and off roading.  The recreation possibilities are endless.  It truly was quite spectacular to see some of it from the highway but I am sure the kodak moments are endless once you actually start checking out the area!!

Tall mesa in the distance

Cheese Box Butte

Mountains behind mountains - it goes on for miles and miles

The highway winds amongst several of these rock formations

Open Range in Fry Canyon

Incredible Vistas

Jacob's Chair - rock formation

Welcome to Glen Canyon

Highway meandering through the various sandstone mountains

As one travels the highway which takes us around, beside and often times through he various sandstone mountains, one can not help but marvel at the wonders of the engineering that must have gone into creating this highway.  It truly is mind boggling.

Colorado River

Travelling around, through and amongst the giant sandstone structures

Yes, the highway goes between these two rock formations

Huge wind erosion - looked like swiss cheese

It may have taken several tries......but I finally got one
West 95 Utah Scenic Byway

Once out of the canyon, the area opened up onto the plains where there were several ranches spread out over the miles.  With the mountains in the distance, Hanksville lies nestled in the Fremont River Canyon area and was our stop for propane before we started looking for a place to dry camp for the night.

Distant mountains.  The picture really shows no depth

West 24 Highway at Hanksville, Utah

The color of the sandstone has changed

As we left Hanksville, we noticed a very distinctive change in the color of the surrounding sandstone mountains.   They were more white and grey and apparently is called White Navajo Sandstone.  It follows the Fremont River Canyon and eventually into the Capital Reef National Park.

White Navajo Sandstone

Again, a color change

Heading in to find a spot for the night
Fremont River Canyon

Of course John always manages to find an interesting place to camp for the night and found this little gem along side the Fremont River.  We couldn't see the river but we could certainly hear it and that was good enough for us.   The sun was starting to set and there was a chill in the air so it was time to get the satellite system up so that Monday Night Football could be watched.
Of course we had been in and out of cell service all day and when we stopped, unfortunately had no service and that sucked!!   Oh well......at least the TV clicked in so all was not a bust at this site!!

Our spot for the night beside the Fremont River

It was a good day of travel.  We saw some incredible sights and took some nice pictures for this blog. I even managed to get John's bloody road signs today!!   Well.....most of them anyway!!   LOL
Life is Good,