FJ60Cam an' Fam Get High AF

[spressomon]

RE: The LV Pyramid aka The Luxor. When it first opened the intense beam of light they projected out of the top of the Luxor was so bright it was said you could read a newspaper in space 10-miles above it. It was such an annoyance to pilots they were able to lobby the FAA to get the Luxor to reduce the output of light. God only knows how many gajillion watts of electricity it converted...

 

[FJ60Cam]

RE: The LV Pyramid aka The Luxor. When it first opened the intense beam of light they projected out of the top of the Luxor was so bright it was said you could read a newspaper in space 10-miles above it. It was such an annoyance to pilots they were able to lobby the FAA to get the Luxor to reduce the output of light. God only knows how many gajillion watts of electricity it converted...

You misspelled Bass Pro Shop...

 

[FJ60Cam]

Vegas to SW Utah is a pleasant 2 hour drive, and takes you through some cool scenery.

You also clip the corner of Arizona before hitting the Utah border.

We stopped in St. George to visit my cousin before continuing on to our Airbnb in Cedar City

 

[FJ60Cam]

We continued on to Cedar City in the dark, waking up to a sweet view from our deck in the morning:

 

[FJ60Cam]

Today’s destination was Bryce Canyon NP. We took the northern rout
up I-15

It was less eventful than the more direct route, but we knew we would take that home.

The trees were starting to pop in the early sun...

 

[FJ60Cam]

The park itself is not very big, with the main attraction being the Bryce Amphitheater, who’s backdrop is an impressive army of hoodoos.

We took a quick look from the paved trail up top before venturing in...

 

[FJ60Cam]

You don’t normally think of Utah as high elevation, but Cedar City is at 5800’, and Bryce Canyon is even higher, which explains why breathing took a little more effort than normal.

We packed some water bottles in a small backpack and headed down the Navajo Loop trail, which zig-zags a series of switchbacks to the bottom of the hoodoos:

Zoom in to see how far it goes...

 

[FJ60Cam]

Once you get to the bottom, you are in total shade, which is welcome in the intense Utah sun. The temps never got above the high 70s, but direct sun made it feel like 95. The shade, though, felt like it was in the 60s.

Here’s a Google Street View 360 from about halfway down:

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[FJ60Cam]

Look up and the sky is blue blue blue. 100% pure...

 

[FJ60Cam]

 

[FJ60Cam]

Down at the bottom, total shade...

The hike out looks like we were walking directly into a furnace:

No filters or photo editing here, it looked exactly like we were headed for hot coals.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Almost there...

As soon as you emerge, BOOM - Double!!

Next thing you know, you’ve been spit back out into the sun...

Looking back at the hoodoos from below:

 

[FJ60Cam]

Continuing on the trail...

 

[FJ60Cam]

The sun on this end of the loop is harsh. And we were heading back uphill. You can practically smell your skin cooking. You don’t sweat, though, thanks to single digit humidity and 70 degree weather.

Even the trees are trying to climb out of the ground in search of water and shade.

 

[Ol Yeller]

Spectacular scenery!

 

[FJ60Cam]

The Navajo Loop & Queens Garden Trail took us from Sunset Point to Sunrise point, which we are thankful to have finally reached.

 

[FJ60Cam]

We took the more direct route back, which even included some gravel NFS roads...

 

[FJ60Cam]

This took us right by Cedar Breaks National Monument, which is absolutely high AF

The views were insane:

 

[FJ60Cam]

From here we headed back down to civilization...

...and a sunset view on the deck. Cheers!

 

[FJ60Cam]

We planned to visit Zion the next day, but were unable to obtain shuttle tickets. (Much of) the park is closed to private vehicles, and visitors enter & move about on shuttles.

Due to coronavirus regulations, every other row have been removed where they used to be packed to standing room only.

Since there are limited shuttle seats, they pre-sell these in advance - most are available two weeks out, and a handful are reserved for 24 hour advance purchase.

Somehow we missed the detail about the two week tickets and only tried to get them 24 hours out.

So on our first day, we logged in early and constantly refreshed when the NPS clock struck 9:00 AM. I selected a time window, and... SUCCESS! I had 15 minutes to make a payment or I lose them.

That’s when I noticed I only reserved one ticket. I tried to add more but they were already sold out. I searched the later blocks, but they were disappearing right before my eyes.

All of this happened by 9:00 and 15 seconds.

This was disappointing.