We parked our car at the end of the drive and started on the Capitol Gorge Trail, listed as an easy hike. The one-mile walk on sand and rocks displayed incredible rock walls all around us, and then we followed signs for the Tanks, large, naturally-occurring pools of water that sustain the wildlife in the area. It wasn’t entirely clear where the trail, which took us up the rocks, went, and so we found ourselves walking sideways at times on the rocks to try to find the tanks, which we ultimately did locate and found quite cool. We were similarly confused on how to get back down to the trail but figured it out. This was definitely one of our favorite hikes of the trip.
We returned to our car and drove a few miles to Gifford House, where we had heard they had fresh pies. While Arielle might have preferred strawberry rhubarb, we decided to split the apple pie, which was very good. We ate our pie outside and spoke with a couple that was traveling on an organized two-week tour from Las Vegas. Our last two stops in the park were at orchards near the entrance, where we picked apples that cost one dollar per pound (to be left in a box on the honor system). Arielle even snagged a pear that looked cute but tasted terrible, probably because the season had ended a day earlier.
Getting up early has its perks, and so we made a choice at 1:45pm to drive the scenic route recommended by Abe’s friend Kim that would take a full hour longer to get to where we were staying. We went back past our hotel and made a left on Scenic Byway 12. We drove for 112 miles until we reached Bryce Canyon. We preferred our drives in Wyoming, but this was a beautiful drive nonetheless.
With an hour and twenty minutes left to go to Brian Head, UT, we stopped in Bryce Canyon City at Ruby’s Inn, a giant general store and Best Western hotel where USY on Wheels had stayed in the past. We walked across the street to an ice cream shop, where Arielle saw the last of the mint chip being finished. Fortunately, the cherry chocolate chip was good too (the chocolate flakes were as delicious as Baskin Robbins, according to Arielle) and Abe got a great chocolate flavor called Brownies on the Moon. The small “scoop” was only $1.99 and it was so much ice cream!
We enjoyed it as we walked back to our car and started the drive to Brian Head, quickly realizing that we weren’t going to be passing any major towns or stores on our way to our friend Alex’s condo, since the scenic route didn’t take us past the bigger places he had suggested stopping for groceries. The 70-mile drive was woodsy and nice, and we had a little bit of trouble finding the condo because Arielle was reading the directions we had gotten from Alex wrong and looking for all the wrong markers. We still pulled in by 6:15pm, and took a few essential items up the many staircases to the beautiful condo. We settled in and even started a load of laundry! Thanks, Alex and Kate, for this wonderful place to stay! We cooked some pasta we found in the pantry for dinner, and Arielle finished her Arches Thai leftovers. We watched some TV, folded some laundry, and Abe even managed to convince Arielle to go to sleep early so that we could get up at 6:45am the next morning!
Approximate number of miles covered: 176
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