OUT WEST ADVENTURES Day 3

June 3: RED CANYON and CEDAR BREAKS

Today is 2 smaller excursions - one in the morning to Red Canyon and then back to the cabin for lunch and a little relaxing and then out again to go to Cedar Breaks where there will be a ranger talk at 4:00 and star gazing into the night.

Red Canyon is on the way to Bryce Canyon and about 45 minutes away from the cabin.  Sometimes the smaller, less well known places can be the best.  We got to the park before 10:00 before the heat of the day.  The volunteer at the visitor's center gave us some good suggestions of hikes to take and ways to lengthen or shorten them.  There were numbered stops with little nature tidbits.  The best part of the hike was being up close and personal with the hoodoos and having the trail almost entirely to ourselves.

One thing that was really amazing is how after seeing all the red of the rock and dirt, our eyes started adjusting and seeing more blue in the greens and grays of the vegetation.  Really felt like we were looking at the world through a red filtered lens.
Paula, Jorge and Roddy took the path to the left which led back to the parking lot and visitor's center and  Nick, Myra, Betsy and I took a longer path up more into the hoodoos.  There was one place that the path was narrow, sloped to the drop off and I got spooked.  I think if I had just gone quickly across it, I would have been fine but I didn't.  With encouragement, I made it across and was able to continue the hike.

We met back up at the visitor's center where Paula and Roddy had made friends with 2 of the volunteers.  Turns out they are  retired teachers from the Tampa area and are volunteering for the summer months.  In the museum there was an interesting quilt commemorating a group that had gotten stranded for the winter without enough supplies.  Some of the men set off to get help.  They found that if they spread their quilts out in front of them, the quilts worked as snow shoes so they didn't sink as far into the snow.  The quilts were what saved them and helped them get to a place for food to take back.

We headed back to our cabin for lunch and a little relaxation before heading out again later in the afternoon.  Our afternoon destination is Cedar Breaks.  There is a 4:00 ranger talk about the geology of the area.  At 7:30 there is a ranger talk about the stars which leads into a star gazing event.

We find out that Cedar Breaks was named after what they thought were Cedar trees but turned out to be Junipers.

 Yes, it's high enough that there is snow on the ground.  They get about 15 ' a year.  After the ranger talk, we go down to Cedar City where we stock up on a few groceries and a have a good dinner at a local diner.

 We're back up at Cedar Breaks in time for sunset and the star gazing.

 Ranger Dave gives us some background info about the stars and constellations.

 The clouds make for a beautiful sunset but the star gazing isn't so good.  The temperatures are dropping.  Luckily, we all dressed pretty warmly but it is still cold.  There are about 6 volunteers who have telescopes focused on various planets and stars.  We can see Jupiter and 3 of its moons, Arturus, the big dipper and a double star.   Jorge keeps walking in order to stay warm.

We get back to the cabin late but happy with a full day.